Judiciary Committee still negotiating Ford’s testimony

Christine Blasey Ford, who accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct when they were both teenagers, won’t testify Monday at a continuation of Kavanaugh’s Senate confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, but she could appear on Capitol Hill later in the week. Ford’s terms for testifying are that Kavanaugh appear first, that senators, rather than outside counsel, ask the questions, and that she and Kavanaugh are never in the same room. She also asked the Judiciary Committee to subpoena Kavanaugh’s classmate, Mark Judge, who Ford said was in the room at the time of the alleged assault.

In a call Thursday night with committee members from both parties, Ford’s attorneys floated the idea of a hearing next Thursday, Politico reported. In an email earlier in the day, attorneys Lisa Banks and Debra Katz said Ford “wishes to testify, provided that we can agree on terms that are fair and which ensure her safety.”

President Donald Trump weighed in Friday, tweeting that Kavanaugh was “under assault by radical left wing politicians who don’t want to know the answers, they just want to destroy and delay. Facts don’t matter.” He also asked why a police report was not filed at the time of the alleged incident: “I ask that she bring those filings forward so that we can learn date, time, and place!” According to the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics, a majority of rapes and other sexual assaults are not reported to police.