Trump defends Supreme Court nominee, accuser faces deadline

By Lawrence Hurley and Roberta Rampton

 

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh listens during his U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., September 4, 2018. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Wednesday stepped up his defence of his U.S. Supreme Court nominee, saying it was hard to imagine Brett Kavanaugh committed a sexual assault and that it would be unfortunate if his accuser did not testify before the Senate.

 

With Trump's effort to cement conservative control of the nation's highest court on a knife's edge, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley set a Friday morning deadline for Christine Blasey Ford to decide if she will talk to lawmakers.

 

Ford, a psychology professor at Palo Alto University in California, has said Kavanaugh, a federal appeals court judge, sexually assaulted her in 1982 when both were high school students in Maryland. Kavanaugh has called Ford's allegation "completely false."

 

If Ford opts not to testify, Kavanaugh's chances for confirmation in the Republican-led Senate could be boosted, with senators in Trump's party so far remaining largely supportive.

 

"I think it's not fair to Judge Kavanaugh for her not to come forward and testify," moderate Republican Senator Susan Collins, whose vote could be crucial, said in a radio interview.

 

Grassley's committee wants prepared testimony from Ford by Friday and an answer on whether she will accept its invitation to testify to the panel on Monday, either publicly or privately. The committee also has invited Kavanaugh to testify on Monday.

 

Ford's lawyers said on Tuesday she would testify before the committee only if the FBI first investigated her allegation. The FBI has said it is not investigating the matter, a decision backed by Republicans.

 

"It is not the FBI's role to investigate a matter such as this," wrote Grassley, who also sent a letter to committee Democrats formally rejecting their bid for the FBI to investigate.

 

'MULTIPLE WITNESSES'

In a statement on Wednesday, a lawyer for Ford said her client was willing to cooperate with the committee, but criticized its plan to have only Ford and Kavanaugh testify.

 

"There are multiple witnesses whose names have appeared publicly and should be included in any proceeding," Ford's lawyer Lisa Banks said.

 

"The rush to a hearing is unnecessary, and contrary to the committee discovering the truth," Banks said.

 

Ford's allegation has jeopardized Kavanaugh's nomination to the lifetime post on the Supreme Court, which previously was on track towards confirmation.

 

"Look, if she shows up and makes a credible showing, that will be very interesting and we'll have to make a decision," Trump told reporters at the White House.

 

"But I can only say this: he's such an outstanding man - very hard for me to imagine that anything happened," Trump said.

 

"If she shows up, that would be wonderful. If she doesn't show up, that would be unfortunate," Trump added, calling the situation "very unfair" to his nominee.

 

Ford has accused Kavanaugh of attacking her and trying to remove her clothing while he was drunk at a party in 1982 when he was 17 years old and she was 15. Ford's lawyers said in a letter to Grassley on Tuesday she had faced "vicious harassment and even death threats" since coming forward on Sunday. Grassley said he was disturbed to learn of the threats.

 

The confirmation fight comes just weeks before Nov. 6 congressional elections in which Democrats are seeking to win control of Congress from the Republicans.

 

Any defections from Republicans' narrow Senate majority could sink the nomination and deal a major setback to Trump, who has been appointing more conservatives to the high court and the broader federal judiciary.

 

'FINDING THE TRUTH'

Republican panel member Lindsey Graham said on Twitter that requiring an FBI investigation of a 36-year-old allegation "is not about finding the truth, but delaying the process till after the midterm elections."

 

The Justice Department has said the FBI sent Ford's initial letter making the allegation against Kavanaugh to the White House and considers its role in the matter complete.

 

Democrats have said the White House can order a more detailed FBI investigation, as occurred during the 1991 confirmation process for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas after he was accused of sexual harassment. Republicans have said the FBI would be doing nothing more than what committee staffers could achieve by interviewing Kavanaugh and Ford.

 

A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday showed a growing number of Americans opposing Kavanaugh's nomination. In the poll, conducted from Sept. 11-17, 36 percent of U.S. adults surveyed did not want Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court, up 6 percentage points from a similar poll a month earlier, while 31 percent favoured Kavanaugh's appointment.

 

Palo Alto University issued a statement supporting Ford. The university's president called Ford's decision to come forward courageous.

Committee Republicans have planned for only Kavanaugh and Ford to testify, but Democrats want other witnesses, too.

 

Democratic Senator Doug Jones said Mark Judge, Kavanaugh's high school friend, should be subpoenaed if he refuses to testify. Ford has said Judge witnessed the alleged assault.

 

Judge's lawyer said in a letter to the committee on Tuesday Judge did not recall the incident and did not wish to testify.

 

Separately, a former classmate of Kavanaugh denied attending the party where the assault allegedly occurred. Patrick Smyth wrote to Grassley and top committee Democrat Dianne Feinstein. In the letter he said he did not see any "improper conduct" by Kavanaugh, a classmate at Georgetown Preparatory School, according to CNN, which obtained a copy of the letter.

 

Cristina Miranda King, who said she attended the same school as Ford, wrote on Twitter that the alleged incident "was spoken about for days afterwards in school" at the time. King later deleted the post and a similar one on Facebook.

 

"I do not have first hand knowledge of the incident," King, who did not respond to requests seeking comment, said in a subsequent Twitter post. She later deleted her account.

 

(Reporting by Roberta Rampton, Doina Chiacu, Andrew Chung, and Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Will Dunham, Kevin Drawbaugh and Peter Cooney)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-09-20

Why the hurry? Why the deadline? Scammers and hustlers always pressure marks for quick decisions. I take more time choosing a new car than this. Time factor is bogus also, considering Republicans had no problem with empty SC seat for over year, simply because they didn't want Obama doing his executive duty of naming a new justice. Republicans shown themselves to be totally corrupt and trashing supposed American Democratic values

Obviously the man's character is beyond reproduce and should be confirmed forthwith. 

7 minutes ago, Boon Mee said:

Obviously the man's character is beyond reproduce and should be confirmed forthwith. 

I know another thing that's "beyond reproduce"...

1 hour ago, Boon Mee said:

Obviously the man's character is beyond reproduce...

 

I agree, a sexual predator should not reproduce.

1 hour ago, Boon Mee said:

Obviously the man's character is beyond reproduce and should be confirmed forthwith. 

Man who can't spell the word 'reproach' asks that his political viewpoint be taken seriously. 

An excellent article that speaks towards the integrity of Dr. Ford.

 

Friends ask WHY Kavanaugh's accuser Christine Ford would risk losing her idyllic family life in California - unless she was telling the truth

 

Quote

'She clearly has nothing to gain and much to lose by going public with her story,' said friend Jim Gensheimer

 

This is what happens to reporters of sexual abuse. They get attacked for being the victim. Why would Dr. Ford, who would know that this type of backlash would happen, be making false allegations?

 

Christine Ford Is Getting Death Threats & Being Harassed After Her Allegation Against Kavanaugh

 

Quote

When women make public allegations of sexual misconduct, they're often accused of fabricating their stories "for attention." This ignores the fact that, for many women, that "attention" takes the form of abuse, harassment and threats to their lives. Exhibit A: Days after accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of attempting to rape her while they were in high school (an allegation Kavanaugh denies), Christine Ford has been getting death threats, her lawyers said, and has moved herself and her family out of her house as a result.

 

Edited September 20, 20187 yr by Silurian

Okay, all Trupsters and defenders of Kavanaugh...answer me this:

 

If you were accused of attempted rape and you were absolutely innocent...wouldn't you welcome all and every investigation, that (you know!) would wash you clean of all allegations?

Even if it would take some time?

I would!

 

Donald is running scared he needs this guy to protect him he doesent care about the country or our national security least of all a woman being preyed on 

The Republicans are desperate to see another conservative in the supreme court , shouldn't they care more about the absolute certainty that he is the right candidate ?

Incidently the reverse would also be true if the situation was reversed , such important decisions should never be decided by political stooges !

6 hours ago, Boon Mee said:

Obviously the man's character is beyond reproduce and should be confirmed forthwith. 

Are you a natural English speaker?

 

if so... I believe you misunderstand the meaning of the word “obviously” (lol... and reproduce)

 

anyway... moving on.... having seen/ heard the dumb assed questions coming out of senators mouths, and their insistence on answers to match their agenda (by regigging their questions over and over again), I am astounded that anyone could assume a senate question session could act as a defacto investigation.... senators are not qualified to investigate ( in general) and should leave investigations to qualified and trained investigators.

Edited September 20, 20187 yr by farcanell