GOP sticks by nominee for Supreme Court; Kavanaugh’s accuser named

Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh during his Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing in Washington on Sept. 6, 2018. MUST CREDIT: Bloomberg photo by Andrew Harrer.
Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh during his Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing in Washington on Sept. 6, 2018. MUST CREDIT: Bloomberg photo by Andrew Harrer.

WASHINGTON -- The White House on Sunday stood by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh after a woman publicly accused him of committing sexual misconduct decades ago, while a Republican member of the Judiciary Committee joined Democrats in urging for a delay in the confirmation process.

In an interview, Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., said the woman, Christine Blasey Ford, "must be heard" and urged the committee not to vote on Kavanaugh's nomination until it has a chance to hear more from her.

"I've made it clear that I'm not comfortable moving ahead with the vote on Thursday if we have not heard her side of the story or explored this further," said Flake, who is one of the committee's 21 members. Republicans hold an 11-to-10 majority on the panel.

Flake would not specify exactly what form the communication with Ford should take or how he would vote at this point in time.

The White House said Sunday that it is not withdrawing its nomination of Kavanaugh. A vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee remains scheduled for Thursday.

The spokesman for committee Republicans, Taylor Foy, issued a lengthy statement vouching for Kavanaugh's integrity and saying it was "disturbing that these uncorroborated allegations from more than 35 years ago, during high school, would surface on the eve of a committee vote after Democrats sat on them since July."

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said he agreed with the committee's concerns about the "substance and process" regarding the woman's allegation -- although he said he would "gladly" listen to Ford if she wanted to talk to lawmakers.

"If the committee is to hear from Ms. Ford, it should be done immediately so the process can continue as scheduled," Graham, a member of the committee, said Sunday afternoon.

The comments signaled that Republicans planned to move ahead and try to confirm Kavanaugh by the end of the month, even as Senate Democrats in leadership and on the committee swiftly called for them to delay a vote to advance Kavanaugh's nomination.

"To railroad a vote now would be an insult to the women of America and the integrity of the Supreme Court," Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement.

The Washington Post published a story Sunday afternoon that included an on-the-record interview with Ford. The report marked the first time her identity had been revealed publicly and her first public comments about the allegation.

Kavanaugh "categorically and unequivocally" denied the accusation in a statement.

The allegation injects uncertainty into the prospects for President Donald Trump's second nominee for the court, roils the midterm elections with a record number of women seeking elected office and carries high-stakes implications for the court.

If the White House withdrew the nomination or Kavanaugh bowed out, the Senate would not have enough time to confirm a justice before the start of the new court session Oct. 1, leaving it with eight justices as Anthony Kennedy has retired. The court operated with eight for almost a year after the February 2016 death of Antonin Scalia and Republicans' refusal to consider President Barack Obama's nominee Merrick Garland.

If Republicans press ahead with the nomination despite the allegation, they face a potential backlash from female voters, especially suburban women. In 1992, anger over the Senate confirmation of Justice Clarence Thomas despite allegations of sexual misconduct from his former colleague Anita Hill led to the election of dozens of female candidates.

As Democratic senators quickly responded to the report Sunday afternoon, many Republicans remained quiet. Foy said the committee vote has not been rescheduled.

A representative for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., did not comment on the allegations Sunday, saying only, "If the Leader makes any new scheduling announcements, we'll be sure to let you know."

FORD INTERVIEW

The contents of Ford's confidential July letter received widespread public attention in news reports the past few days. But they also triggered many questions, some of which Ford addressed in her interview with The Post.

Ford told The Post that one summer in the early 1980s, Kavanaugh and a friend -- both "stumbling drunk," Ford alleges -- corralled her in a bedroom during a gathering of teenagers at a house in Maryland's Montgomery County.

While his friend watched, she said, Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed on her back and groped her over her clothes, grinding his body against hers and clumsily attempting to pull off her one-piece bathing suit and the clothing she wore over it. When she tried to scream, she said, he put his hand over her mouth.

"I thought he might inadvertently kill me," said Ford, now a 51-year-old research psychologist in Northern California. "He was trying to attack me and remove my clothing."

Ford said she was able to escape when Kavanaugh's friend and classmate at Georgetown Preparatory School, Mark Judge, jumped on top of them, sending all three tumbling. She said she ran from the room, briefly locked herself in a bathroom and then fled the house.

Ford said she told no one of the incident in any detail until 2012, when she was in couples therapy with her husband.

The therapist's notes, portions of which were provided by Ford and reviewed by The Post, do not mention Kavanaugh's name but say she reported that she was attacked by students "from an elitist boys' school" who went on to become "highly respected and high-ranking members of society in Washington."

Notes from an individual therapy session the next year, when she was being treated for what she says have been long-term effects of the incident, show Ford described a "rape attempt" in her late teens.

Ford contacted The Post through a tip line in early July, when it had become clear that Kavanaugh was on the shortlist of possible nominees to replace Kennedy but before Trump announced his name publicly.

A registered Democrat who has made small contributions to political organizations, she contacted her congressman, Democrat Anna G. Eshoo, around the same time. In late July, she sent a letter via Eshoo's office to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.

In the letter, Ford described the incident and said she expected her story to be kept confidential.

As the story snowballed, Ford said, she heard people repeating inaccuracies about her and, with visits from reporters, felt her privacy being chipped away. Her calculation changed.

"These are all the ills that I was trying to avoid," she said, explaining her decision to come forward. "Now I feel like my civic responsibility is outweighing my anguish and terror about retaliation."

WHY NOW?

Hours before The Post report was published Sunday, a centrist Democratic senator and two of his Republican colleagues argued that the allegation against Kavanaugh -- which at that point Ford had not confirmed publicly -- should have been raised sooner in the Senate and predicted it would not prevent the chamber from moving forward with Kavanaugh's nomination.

In televised interviews, Sens. Doug Jones, D-Ala., Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and John Neely Kennedy, R-La., expressed concerns that a letter outlining the allegation that Feinstein received was not shared with fellow lawmakers earlier in Kavanaugh's nomination process.

Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a statement that now that Ford has shared her story "it is in the hands of the FBI to conduct an investigation. This should happen before the Senate moves forward on this nominee."

The FBI doesn't plan to investigate the allegation as a criminal matter, but Feinstein wants the bureau to review it as part of Kavanaugh's background check, a spokesman said.

The California Democrat also penned an op-ed published in the Los Angeles Times on Sunday formalizing her opposition to Kavanaugh's nomination and briefly referring to her decision to share the letter's contents with the FBI.

Jones, a potentially key swing vote who has not announced whether he will support Kavanaugh's nomination, said earlier Sunday that he hoped to meet with the judge and intended to raise what he called the "very serious allegation" with him if they are able to speak.

"This was a very brave step to come forward. It is more important than ever to hit the pause button on Kavanaugh's confirmation vote until we can fully investigate these serious and disturbing allegations. We cannot rush to move forward under this cloud," Jones said in a tweet after The Post's report.

Senate Republican leaders have been aiming to confirm Kavanaugh before the high court begins its fall session next month.

Tillis, who is a member of the Judiciary Committee, said Sunday morning on CBS' Face The Nation that he was "shocked" that the allegation was not raised during Kavanaugh's public or private confirmation hearings. He said he has not seen the letter and planned to seek more information about the timing of its release. Tillis said he puts "some weight" on Kavanaugh's denial.

Kennedy, who also sits on the committee, singled out Feinstein for criticism before Sunday's report in The Post.

"Senator Feinstein's had the letter since July," he said on Fox News Sunday. "For three months, she said nothing, nothing, zero, nada, zilch. She didn't say anything in the confirmation hearing, she didn't say anything in our confidential session with Judge Kavanaugh when the senators and nominee met privately. And now, after it's all over, she produces the letter."

Committee Republicans on Sunday called on Feinstein to release the letter. Her spokesman said Republicans have access to the letter already as part of the background check file, although that information is private and access is limited to just senators and about eight aides.

Republicans hold a 51-to-49 Senate advantage over Democrats. Many Democratic senators have declared their opposition to Kavanaugh but not a single Republican has publicly opposed him.

Information for this article was contributed by Emma Brown, Beth Reinhard, Alice Crites and Julie Tate of The Washington Post.

A Section on 09/17/2018

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