Lawyers for Christine Blasey Ford say she has accepted Senate Judiciary Committee’s request to testify against Kavanaugh wapo.st/2OGQjEY?tid=ss…
2/"Lawyers for Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were teenagers, said Saturday that she has accepted the Senate Judiciary Committee’s request to testify about her allegation next week
3/"while signaling that a final deal on her testimony has not been reached. In an email sent to the committee at 2:17 p.m. Saturday, attorneys Debra Katz and Lisa Banks asked Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley’s (R-Iowa) staff to set up a phone conversation
4/"later Saturday to work out specifics. “Dr. Ford accepts the Committee's request to provide her first-hand knowledge of Brett Kavanaugh's sexual misconduct next week,” the lawyers wrote to the committee. “Although many aspects of the proposal you provided via email, on (Friday)
5/"are fundamentally inconsistent with the Committee’s promise of a fair, impartial investigation into her allegations, and we are disappointed with the leaks and the bullying that have tainted the process, we are hopeful that we can reach agreement on details.”
6/"The email — sent to reporters shortly before the 2:30 p.m. deadline Grassley had set for a response — doesn’t specifically say whether Ford has agreed to appear on Wednesday, although that was the most recent offer that Grassley had made to her attorneys. Yet Ford's legal team
7/"plans to continue to press for a Thursday hearing, according to a person familiar with the lawyers’ thinking. Michael R. Bromwich, a lawyer who has been representing former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, announced Saturday that he was resigning from his law firm,
8/"Robbins Russell, to join Ford's legal team. Aides to Grassley did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But other Republicans working on Kavanaugh’s confirmation were promptly skeptical of the lawyers’ latest response."
9/"“This is an ask to continue 'negotiations' without committing to anything,” a senior White House official said. “It's a clever way to push off the vote Monday without committing to appear Wednesday.”
10/"If a final agreement on the details of the hearing is reached, that would set the stage for a dramatic, searing confrontation next week. Kavanaugh has categorically denied Ford’s allegation and says he wants to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee about the matter,
11/"and the committee and Ford’s lawyers had been embroiled in contentious negotiations over the conditions of her testimony until Saturday afternoon. Republicans said they would accommodate several of Ford’s requests, including ensuring that she had adequate security at the
12/"Capitol and that Kavanaugh would not be in the room when she speaks. But the GOP also declined her other asks, including that Kavanaugh testify first and that the committee subpoena Mark Judge — a Kavanaugh friend who Ford says was present during the alleged incident —
13/"and call other potential witnesses to the hearing. “If this process to secure her testimony falls apart, the fault is totally and clearly on the Republican leadership,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said in a phone interview Saturday. The person familiar with Ford’s legal
14/"team’s thinking said Saturday that the attorneys will continue to push for their other demands, including whether senators will question Ford directly or whether they will use staff attorneys, and whether they will subpoena Judge."
15/"The Republican-led committee had also offered a Wednesday hearing, rather than Thursday as Ford had asked for, and they wanted to reserve the option of having female staff attorneys on the committee do the questioning, even while Ford said she would rather be questioned by
16/"senators. As the back-and-forth continued late Friday and into Saturday, Republican senators on the Judiciary Committee began to grow weary of the extended talks. Grassley lamented in a tweet late Friday night that with all the deadline extensions, he felt like he was playing
17/"2nd trombone in the judiciary orchestra,” and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) was the conductor. Republican senators had just about reached the limits of their patience by Saturday, according to one, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to candidly
18/"describe the mood. Senate GOP leaders have argued that they have been very accommodating to Ford's requests, while Democrats say Republicans have bullied Ford with unreasonable deadlines...And a temporary communications adviser to Grassley during the Supreme Court
19/"confirmation fight has abruptly resigned after an accusation of sexual harassment — an allegation he denies. Garrett Ventry submitted his resignation Friday night, he said in a brief phone interview Saturday morning.
20/"He said he denies the allegation but stepped down “in order to not be a distraction” as Senate Republicans continue to work to get Kavanaugh confirmed." ~WaPo, 9/22/18 Haven't heard anything about the 4pm phone call. Will report when I do. #SaturdayMotivation
