Christine Blasey Ford seeks “fair terms and her safety”

Protests against Kavanaugh’s confirmation; 56 arrested

NEW YORK(TIP):  The woman who has accused Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh of sexual assault is prepared to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee next week, so long as senators offer “terms that are fair and which ensure her safety,” her lawyer told the committee on Thursday, September 20, according to a news report in New York Times.

The accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, ruled out Monday as a possibility, but also appeared to leave the door open to testifying even if the F.B.I. does not investigate her accusations, as she had previously requested. The surprise offer was the latest twist in an on-again, off-again negotiation between Dr. Blasey and Senate Republicans, who have scheduled a hearing for Monday and set Friday as a deadline for Dr. Blasey to tell them whether she would attend.

“She wishes to testify, provided that we can agree on terms that are fair and which ensure her safety. A hearing on Monday is not possible, and the committee’s insistence that it occur then is arbitrary in any event,” wrote the lawyer, Debra S. Katz, adding, “Her strong preference continues to be for the Senate Judiciary Committee to allow for a full investigation prior to her testimony.”

Dr. Blasey’s accusations have rocked Washington, upending the confirmation proceeding for Judge Kavanaugh, President Trump’s second nominee to the Supreme Court, only days before he was to receive a vote in the committee. A research psychologist in Northern California, Dr. Blasey — who is sometimes called by her married name, Ford — has accused Judge Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when the two were in high school in the early 1980s — an allegation he has vigorously denied.

Thursday’s email jump-started talks between Dr. Blasey’s lawyers and Democratic and Republican committee aides that continued into the evening. They centered mostly on logistical issues, such as timing and security for Dr. Blasey, and whether there might be additional witnesses; the discussions were cordial, according to several people familiar with them.

But there were a number of sticking points. Dr. Blasey’s lawyers asked for the committee to subpoena other witnesses, and for Judge Kavanaugh to testify first, but both requests are viewed by Republicans as nonstarters. Republicans had proposed bringing in an outside counsel to do the questioning, but the lawyers objected, fearing that the hearing would take a prosecutorial tone and arguing that senators themselves should be engaged.

The lawyers suggested Thursday as a hearing date, which Mr. Grassley is considering and taking up with his colleagues. And there was one point of agreement: Both Democrats and Republicans agreed that they needed to take steps to ensure Dr. Blasey’s security.

The talks came only a day after Republicans and Dr. Blasey appeared to reach a stalemate, with Republicans — backed by President Trump — demanding that Dr. Blasey testify on Monday or not at all, and Dr. Blasey resisting.

For his part, Judge Kavanaugh said he wants a hearing as soon as possible, so that “I can clear my name.”

“Since the moment I first heard this allegation, I have categorically and unequivocally denied it,” he wrote in a letter released by the White House. “I remain committed to defending my integrity.”

Dr. Blasey’s offer seemed to catch the White House off-guard. Trump advisers and people close to Judge Kavanaugh were betting that she was unlikely to testify, and her decision to do so left Mr. Trump less bullish on the judge’s chances for confirmation than he was earlier this week.

The way forward — and what effect it might have on Judge Kavanaugh’s chances for confirmation — remained unclear. On Wednesday, Republicans, sensing Judge Kavanaugh had enough support to be confirmed despite the allegations, set a committee meeting for Wednesday for a possible vote to move the nomination to the floor. That session is now in question.

George Hartmann, a spokesman for Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa and the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, declined on Thursday to say whether Mr. Grassley would accept a date other than Monday.

“We’re glad to hear back,” Mr. Hartmann said, “but that’s about the extent to which we can comment.”

The Blasey email appeared to put Republicans — who on Wednesday were accusing Dr. Blasey of backing out and calling her sincerity into question — back on the defensive. Republicans are aware that they can ill afford to look as if they are railroading a sexual assault survivor. If they stick to their position that Dr. Blasey can testify on Monday or not at all, they risk looking like bullies — just weeks before midterm elections when their party is already expected to suffer from a backlash from women.

With the Senate out of session and many members back in their home states, Republicans were noticeably silent on Thursday on Dr. Blasey’s offer. Democrats, meanwhile, appeared to be sticking to their position that an F.B.I. investigation should precede any hearing.

“Our view on the Democratic side seems to hardening and deepening that an F.B.I. investigation should be done, and I’m going to be reaching out to my Republican colleagues to set a timetable,” Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, said in an interview before the Blasey email.

But after it came to light, he softened. Dr. Blasey, he said, has “a right to decide how and when she tells her story.”

“So, if the terms are acceptable to her, I certainly would be there,” Mr. Blumenthal said.

Those close to Dr. Blasey, 51, have described her as overwhelmed and terrified. Since she went public on Sunday in an interview published by The Washington Post, Dr. Blasey has received an outpouring of support on social media, but also vulgar emails and messages, including some death threats — a point Ms. Katz reiterated in her email on Thursday to the committee.

“As you are aware, she has been receiving death threats, which have been reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and she and her family have been forced out of their home,” the email said. “She wishes to testify, provided that we can agree on terms that are fair and which ensure her safety.”

In both the interview with The Post and a letter to Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, Dr. Blasey said that she had been at a small gathering of teens in suburban Maryland when Mr. Kavanaugh and a friend pushed her into a bedroom. As the friend watched, she said, Mr. Kavanaugh pushed her onto a bed, jumped on her, groped her and tried to remove her clothing. He placed his hand over her mouth to muffle her calls for help as his friend turned up some music.

When his friend jumped on them, they all tumbled off the bed, she said. She then dashed from the room.

As the accusations play out in the era of the #MeToo movement, Dr. Blasey’s charges are invariably evoking comparisons to the 1991 confirmation hearings of Justice Clarence Thomas, who was accused of sexual harassment by the law professor Anita Hill. Those hearings infuriated women across the United States who were outraged at the sight of Professor Hill, an African-American woman, being grilled by an all-white, all-male Senate Judiciary Committee.

Some of those men — including Mr. Grassley — are still on the panel. And while there are now four women on the committee, all are Democrats.

Earlier on Thursday, committee Republicans had decided to hire an outside counsel to lead their questioning of Dr. Blasey, rather than the committee members themselves, to avoid the image of 11 male senators questioning Dr. Blasey about her account.

Instead, they were seeking to enlist the help of an experienced litigator familiar with assault cases — and are seeking a woman, according to one person familiar with the search. But because Dr. Blasey’s lawyers objected, the future of that plan is now unclear.

Opposition to Kavanaugh’s confirmation continues to grow. About 270 Yale alumni — including the actor Noah Emmerich, the novelist Claire Messud and the filmmaker Ira Sachs — signed a petition demanding that the nominee insist on the full release of records relating to his White House service. Citing their alma mater’s devotion to “lux et veritas” — truth and light — the petition said it was contrary to the professed ideals of the university to withhold some records.

Meantime, Gov. Bill Walker of Alaska, an independent, and his lieutenant governor, Byron Mallott, a Democrat, came out on Thursday against Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation. They said they worry that Judge Kavanaugh would jeopardize Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act, adding that his “record does not demonstrate a commitment to legal precedent that protects working families.” They also said that he has been hostile to laws that are favorable to Alaskan Natives. And, they added, “We believe a thorough review of past allegations against Mr. Kavanaugh is needed before a confirmation vote takes place.”

The statement from the governor and his lieutenant governor increased the pressure on Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska and a key undecided vote in the narrowly divided Senate.

Meanwhile, protests erupted against Judge Kavanaugh. Dozens of protesters opposed to the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court targeted the offices of swing vote Republican senators Thursday to pressure them to vote against President Donald Trump‘s nominee, who is denying allegations he sexually assaulted a woman when they were both in high school in the 1980s.

Capitol Hill Police said they arrested 56 people on Thursday related to Kavanaugh protests on Capitol Hill. Roughly two dozen of those were arrested outside the office of Sen. Bob Corker, a Tennessee Republican, according to a police officer on the scene.

Defiantly blocking the hallway in front of Corker’s office, the protesters, representing a coalition of progressive groups, chanted, “We believe women” and “Corker vote no” as US Capitol Police removed them.

The senator was not there, his staff said.

The protesters then moved down the hall to the office of Sen. Susan Collins, a moderate Maine Republican and a key vote who supported the Judiciary Committee delaying a vote on the judge to get testimony from his accuser, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.

The protesters continued to visit the offices of key senators throughout the day, including Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the Republican who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee.

(Source: NY Times; CNN)