Monday morning news: September 24, 2018

Christine Ford to testify Thursday » Lawyers for Christine Blasey Ford say she will testify this week to lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary Committee. She has agreed to appear on Capitol Hill Thursday at 10 a.m. in an opening hearing. That agreement ended a week of wrangling between the committee and Ford’s lawyers.

Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the committee’s Republican members, said Sunday…

GRAHAM: She made 10 conditions through her lawyer. We accepted six. We’re not going to turn over to the other side how many witnesses to call. There will be two witnesses, Dr. Ford, then Judge Kavanaugh, and we will hire our own counsel. 

Among the conditions granted by the committee: Ford will testify separately from Kavanaugh, security will be tight, and she’ll testify in a smaller hearing room with less press access.

Ford claims that as a teenager the Supreme Court nominee sexually assaulted her at a high school house party. Kavanaugh remains emphatic that the attack never happened.

Democratic Senator Patty Murray complained Sunday that Republicans are not allowing other witnesses, reducing the matter to a he-said-she-said scenario.

MURRAY: The way Senate Republicans have now set this up, that is what we’re not going to have—is do you believe her or do you believe him. That is exactly why we have been pressing for an FBI investigation that should only take a few days. 

But Republicans on the Judiciary Committee say other supposed witnesses have already spoken and that three people allegedly in the room when the attack occurred say that have no knowledge of any party matching Ford’s description.

On Sunday, a new report from The New Yorker’s Ronan Farrow and Jane Mayer claimed that the former girlfriend of one of those alleged witnesses said she remembers him speaking about the party.

That report also detailed allegations against Brett Kavanaugh from a second woman. Deborah Ramirez claims Kavanaugh exposed himself to her at a dormitory party at Yale in the early 1980’s.

Kavanaugh responded saying “This alleged event from 35 years ago did not happen. The people who knew me then know that this did not happen, and have said so. This is a smear, plain and simple. I look forward to testifying on Thursday about the truth, and defending my good name”

Rosenstein denies report that he floated impeachment of Trump » Advisers to President Trump are reportedly urging him not to make good on a threat to fire more officials within the Justice Department.

At a political rally in Missouri Friday night, President Trump told supporters…

TRUMP: You got some real bad ones. You’ve seen what’s happened at the FBI. They’re all gone. They’re all gone! They’re all gone, but there’s a lingering stench and we’re gonna get rid of that too. 

The president did not explicitly mention The New York Times report about Rosenstein but he complained about anti-Trump bias within the Justice Department.

A person who heard Rosenstein’s remarks said he was being sarcastic. The Times also reported that Rosenstein brought up using the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to declare Trump unfit for office and remove him. Rosenstein called the report “inaccurate and factually incorrect.”

Iran blames U.S. after attack on military parade » Iranian President Hassan Rouhani lashed out at the United States on Sunday after a terror attack killed 25 people at a military parade in Iran on Saturday.

Rouhani said a country in the Persian Gulf allied with the U.S. was behind the attack though he did not name that country.

He said—quoting here—“All of those small mercenary countries that we see in this region are backed by America. It is Americans who instigate them and provide them with necessary means to commit these crimes.”

That despite an Arab separatist group in Iran claiming responsibility on Saturday. A spokesman for the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz wants that area of southwest Iran to become its own nation.

U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley responded Sunday to Rouhani’s claim, telling CNN the Iranian government is oppressing its people, and…

HALEY: I think the Iranian people have had enough and that’s where all of this is coming from. But having said that, he can blame us all he wants. The thing he’s got to do is look in the mirror. 

Rouhani is in New York today, along with other world leaders, for the UN General Assembly. President Trump will address the group tomorrow.

Florence flood waters still a threat » More than a week after Hurricane Florence slammed the Carolinas many roads and communities are still underwater.

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said for many displaced residents, it will be weeks or months before they can return home. He added that the state is working with FEMA to provide housing options.

COOPER: The Transitional Sheltering Assistance Program, which is essentially temporary housing, will be initiated Monday in nine counties. 

Meantime, officials in South Carolina had to order more evacuations over the weekend as rivers continued to rise.

Tiger Woods wins first title in more than five years » Tiger Woods delivered the perfect ending to his amazing return from four back surgeries on Sunday with a performance that felt like old times. He left the competition feeling hopeless after he built a five-shot lead early and hung on to win the Tour Championship.

Woods raised both arms over his head after a two-shot victory over Billy Horschel. It was the 80th victory of his PGA Tour career but his first in more than five years.

I’m Kent Covington. Straight ahead: Legal Docket. And Mary Coleman on the recent “Statement on Social Justice and the Gospel.” This is The World and Everything in It.

(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, file) In this Sept. 4, 2018, file photo, Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is sworn-in before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington. 

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.