WASHINGTON — Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were teenagers, is willing to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee if certain conditions are met, according to congressional aides.
Ford is open to appearing before the Judiciary Committee, though not by the scheduled Monday hearing, her lawyer said in an email to committee staff members, according to Hill aides from both parties. Ford’s lawyers requested a phone call Thursday to negotiate the terms of her appearance. Late Thursday, Kavanaugh sent a letter to Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, formally accepting an invitation to appear at a hearing scheduled for Monday.
Ford, a psychology professor at Palo Alto University, had previously requested that the Federal Bureau of Investigation reopen a background investigation into Kavanaugh — looking into her allegation that he sexually assaulted her when they were teenagers in the early 1980s — before she would agree to testify. Kavanaugh has denied the allegations.
Separately, Kavanaugh’s wife, Ashley Estes Kavanaugh, received violent threats this week following the allegations against her husband, a senior Trump administration official said Thursday. The U.S. Marshals Service is investigating the emails.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.
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