US Supreme Court nominee’s accuser won’t testify on Monday but open to doing so later next week
A lawyer for Christine Blasey Ford says her client ‘wishes to testify, provided that we can agree on terms that are fair and which ensure her safety’
A lawyer for Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were teenagers, said on Thursday that her client’s appearance at a hearing on Monday to detail her claims is “not possible” but that she could testify later in the week.
Debra Katz, Ford’s lawyer, relayed the response to top staffers on the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, requesting to set up a call with them to “discuss the conditions under which [Ford] would be prepared to testify next week”.
“As you are aware, she’s been receiving death threats which have been reported to the FBI, and she and her family have been forced out of their home,” Katz wrote to the committee.
“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.”
Katz continued: “Dr. Ford has asked me to let you know that she appreciates the various options you have suggested. Her strong preference continues to be for the Senate Judiciary Committee to allow for a full investigation before her testimony.”