Grassley grants Kavanaugh accuser more time

UPDATE: Christine Blasey Ford’s lawyers sent a letter Saturday afternoon to the Senate Judiciary Committee, accepting the panel’s request to testify about her decades-old sexual assault accusation against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, but her attorneys added that she wants to resume negotiations over the terms of her appearance. It was unclear early Saturday evening whether the committee and its chairman, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, would agree to reopen talks with Ford and her lawyers. It was also unclear when Ford would come to Washington and whether she was willing testify in a public or private session.

OUR EARLIER REPORT (10:08 a.m.): Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, tweeted late Friday night that he was giving Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault when they were teenagers, more time to decide whether she will testify before the committee. The committee originally gave Ford and her attorneys a Friday deadline to decide or the Republican-majority committee would proceed on Kavanaugh’s confirmation vote.

Ford lawyer Debra Katz had earlier Friday evening requested an additional day to decide, calling the Friday deadline “arbitrary,” adding that its “sole purpose is to bully Dr. Ford and deprive her of the ability to make a considered decision that has life-altering implications for her and her family.”

Earlier Friday, Grassley rejected Ford’s requests that only senators, not attorneys, ask questions and that she testify after Kavanaugh.