Getty Chuck Grassley has given Christine Ford a deadline to decide on testifying.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley set a 10 p.m. Friday deadline for Christine Blasey Ford to decide whether she is willing to testify next week before the committee. As that deadline loomed, though, Ford’s attorneys asked for another day to decide.
Grassley granted it – so the deadline was shifted to Saturday, September 22, 2018 – and he also unleashed a series of late-night tweets. Specifically, Grassley has given Ford until 2:30 p.m. on Saturday to make a decision.
Before that deadline passed, Ford’s attorneys said she will testify next week. However, the conditions of that testimony are still undecided, with Ford wanting to testify Thursday and the Senate Judiciary Committee preferring that the hearing commence on Wednesday, among other issues.
“Your cavalier treatment of a sexual assault survivor who has been doing her best to cooperate with the Committee is completely inappropriate,” Ford’s lawyers wrote the Judiciary Committee on Friday night, seeking an extension to Saturday.
Christine Blasey Ford is the accuser of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh; she says he groped her in an attempted rape in the 1980s when both of them were in high school. He adamantly denies it ever happened, and the third man Ford claims was in the room does so too.
Kavanaugh has agreed to testify, but it’s still an open question whether Christine Blasey Ford, a California professor and researcher, will do so.
Here’s what you need to know:
Grassley Says He Feels Like He’s Playing Trombone in an Orchestra Conducted by Chuck Schumer
Yearbook/university photoChristine Ford participated in a women’s march protesting Trump, a report says.
In one of his more colorful Friday night quotes, Chuck Grassley compared his role as Judiciary Committee Chairman to playing second string in an orchestra.
“With all the extensions we give Dr Ford to decide if she still wants to testify to the Senate I feel like I’m playing 2nd trombone in the judiciary orchestra and Schumer is the conductor,” he wrote.
Using abbreviated language, Grassley also wrote on his Twitter page, “Five times now we hv granted extension for Dr Ford to decide if she wants to proceed w her desire stated one wk ago that she wants to tell senate her story Dr Ford if u changed ur mind say so so we can move on I want to hear ur testimony. Come to us or we to u.”
In another tweet, he wrote, “Judge Kavanaugh I just granted another extension to Dr Ford to decide if she wants to proceed w the statement she made last week to testify to the senate She shld decide so we can move on I want to hear her. I hope u understand. It’s not my normal approach to b indecisive.”
On September 19, 2018, Grassley wrote: “Learned Dr Ford’s identity from WaPo on Sunday Confidentiality no longer relevant As cmte investigators gather facts senators deserve opportunity 2read UNREDACTED letter given 2 Sen Feinstein on July 30 Havnt seen unredactd ltr myself! It’s not secret Release letter Sen Feinstein.”
Before the 10 p.m. Friday deadline passed, the Judiciary Committee sent Christine Blasey Ford a letter that accepted some of her conditions for testifying and rejected others. For example, the committee would not agree to let Ford testify last but did agree that it wouldn’t create a situation where Blasey Ford and Kavanaugh are in the same room, among other things. You can read the letter in full here.
The lengthy letter reads in part, “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. Judge Kavanaugh cannot be expected to respond to allegations that have been made to the press. He is entitled to hear the full, detailed testimony of Dr. Ford before he testifies. You have indicated that Dr. Ford has allegations that she would like to make in public and under oath. She will have the opportunity to do so before we give Judge Kavanaugh the opportunity to respond.”
Ford’s Attorneys Accused Grassley & Republicans of Causing Blasey Ford Anxiety & Stress
NEW: Dr. Ford’s lawyer asks Senate Judiciary for another day to consider counteroffer: “Your cavalier treatment of a sexual assault survivor who has been doing her best to cooperate with the Committee is completely inappropriate.”
The letter from Blasey Ford’s attorney was addressed to “Ms. Willey and Ms. Davis” and reads, “I am writing to respond to your emails from earlier today. I was stunned to see that the Judiciary Committee noticed Judge Kavanaugh’s vote for Monday morning, in the midst of our ongoing discussions regarding the terms and conditions under which Dr. Christine Blasey Ford could testify before the Committee.”
The letter continues, “Incredibly, you did so well before the 10:00 p.m. deadline you had arbitrarily imposed just hours before. The imposition of aggressive and artificial deadlines regarding the date and conditions of any hearing has created tremendous and unwarranted anxiety and stress on Dr. Ford. Your cavalier treatment of a sexual assault survivor who has been doing her best to cooperate with the Committee is completely inappropriate.”
“Yesterday, we had what I thought was a productive dialogue about the conditions Dr. Ford would find acceptable to be able to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee about her allegations of sexual assault involving Judge Brett Kavanaugh. Rather than continuing that dialogue, Senator Grassley today conveyed a counter proposal through the media, insisting that she appear for a hearing on a date I had expressly told you was not feasible for her. Hours after those media accounts first appeared, you sent me a response to the proposals that we had conveyed in good faith yesterday. You rejected a number of the proposals that are important to Dr. Ford to ensure that the process would be a fair one, including subpoenaing Mark Judge to testify.” (Judge is the Kavanaugh friend whom Blasey Ford alleges was in the room during the alleged attack; Judge denies it.)
The letter, after going on at length for a while longer, concluded, “The 10:00 p.m. deadline is arbitrary. Its sole purpose is to bully Dr. Ford and deprive her of the ability to make a considered decision that has life-altering implications for her and her family. She has already been forced out of her home and continues to be subjected to harassment, hate mail and death threats. Our modest request is that she be given an additional day to make her decision.”
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