Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley issued a statement on Friday saying that a vote will be held on Monday for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh if the woman who has accused him of sexual misconduct chooses not to testify in front of the committee.
“I’m extending the deadline for response yet again to 10 o’clock this evening. I’m providing a notice of a vote to occur Monday in the event that Dr. Ford’s attorneys don’t respond or Dr. Ford decides not to testify,” Grassley said in a statement. “In the event that we can come to a reasonable resolution as I’ve been seeking all week, then I will postpone the committee vote to accommodate her testimony. We cannot continue to delay.”
It also stated that the committee would be willing to push back Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony to Wednesday should she be willing, should she agree to testify.
The statement also included a letter that Grassley sent to Blasey Ford’s lawyer. In it, he accepted some demands and pushed back on others.
“Some of your other demands, however, are unreasonable and we are unable to accommodate them. You demanded that Judge Kavanaugh be the first person to testify. Accommodating this demand would be an affront to fundamental notions of due process. In the United States, an individual accused of a crime is entitled to a presumption of innocence. And, further, the accused has the right to respond to allegations that are made about him,” it said.
It’s unclear at this point if she has made any attempt to reach out to the committee following this offer.
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