The Senate Judiciary Committee proposed holding a hearing next Wednesday to hear testimony from Supreme Court pick Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, who alleges he sexually assaulted her decades earlier, NBC News reported Friday.
A Republican senator on the committee told NBC about the counter offer, which would require Ford, 51, to testify under oath before Kavanaugh, 53.
No other witnesses would be called under the proposal, and the committee would pick a lawyer to conduct questioning.
If agreed upon, that proposal would skirt a number of the conditions put forward by Ford's lawyers earlier in the week.
Ford alleged in a letter obtained in late July by the committee's ranking Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California that Kavanaugh had held her down on a bed, covered her mouth with his hand and tried to undress her while highly intoxicated at a gathering in the early 1980s, when they were both in high school.
Kavanaugh strongly denies the allegation. He has said multiple times that he is willing to testify under oath before the committee.
Ford's lawyers told the committee's counsel last night that the earliest she could appear to testify was Thursday, Sept. 27.
Ford's lawyers also asked the committee to subpoena Mark Judge, a friend of Kavanaugh's who Ford alleges participated in the incident.
Judge has said he has no recollection of the incident Ford described and that he does not wish to speak publicly on the subject.
The committee could accommodate other requests Ford made Thursday night, including limited video coverage, keeping Kavanaugh out of the room while she testifies and guaranteeing her safety. Sources close to Ford told news outlets that she has received death threats and is currently living away from her home.
A senior Democratic leadership aide reacted negatively to the committee's proposal, telling NBC it was a disingenuous gesture since they already knew Ford was not willing to testify before Thursday.
from Top News & Analysis https://ift.tt/2xxlhbS
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