WASHINGTON – After a week of contentious discussions and negotiations, the nation is still no closer to knowing whether Dr. Christine Blasey Ford will testify before Congress about allegations that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were teens.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, agreed late Friday to give Ford another extension to consider the terms of her testimony before the committee.
"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," Grassley wrote on Twitter. "She shld decide so we can move on I want to hear her."
Lawyers for Ford had asked the committee to extend the Friday night deadline to give her one more day to consider whether she would testify.
Grassley expressed frustration.
"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," he tweeted. He added a plea: "Dr Ford if u changed ur mind on testifying, say so, so we can move on. Come to us or we to u."
The extension capped off a week of dizzying debate over Ford's allegations, and whether she would share them before the committee voted on Kavanaugh's confirmation.
Grassley had given Ford and her attorneys the Friday deadline and threatened to call a vote Monday on the confirmation if an agreement wasn't reached. He went as far as adding the vote to Monday's agenda.
As the deadline loomed, an attorney for Ford said Republicans had inflicted "tremendous and unwarranted anxiety and stress" on her by rushing the decision, and requested more time to examine the terms.
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"Your cavalier treatment of a sexual assault survivor who has been doing her best to cooperate with the Committee is completely inappropriate," attorney Debra Katz wrote to the committee leadership staff Friday evening in the letter obtained by USA TODAY.
Ford spent part of Friday with the FBI reporting threats she's received since coming forward with accusations that Kavanaugh held her down, groped her and tried to remove her clothes at a party when they both attended Washington-area high schools.
Kavanaugh has denied the accusation.
"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," Katz wrote. "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."
Even with the extension granted, it appears the contentious back-and-forth could continue even spilling into next week, delaying Kavanaugh's confirmation vote further.
Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee and attorneys for Ford have for days discussed the terms of Ford's testimony.
Ford offered a list of 10 demands, Grassley said, and the committee was willing to meet "halfway," calling some of her demands "unreasonable." Grassley later directed his ire at Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer in an early Saturday tweet.
"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," Grassley said on Twitter.
Republicans have offered Ford time to testify in front of the panel Wednesday, a day earlier than she requested, but a delay from Monday's scheduled hearing. They insist that she speak first, against her wishes, so that Kavanaugh can defend himself after her allegation is aired. But they agreed to her requests for security measures and that Kavanaugh be out of the room when she testifies.
Still unresolved is who will conduct the questioning. Grassley said Friday evening that the committee will "reserve the option to have female staff attorneys" also question Ford. The committee, though, has not officially announced whether it will elect that option, which would save the panel's 11 Republican men from the optics of questioning a woman claiming sexual assault.
The committee also declined to subpoena Mark Judge, a friend of Kavanaugh who Ford says witnesses the assault, and others. "The Committee does not take subpoena requests from witnesses as a condition of their testimony," a letter from the committee to Ford's attorneys states.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Committee, fired back at Grassley's threat of a Monday vote and the strict deadline, calling it "bullying" of a sexual assault survivor.
"Bullying a survivor of attempted rape in order to confirm a nominee—particularly at a time when she’s receiving death threats—is an extreme abuse of power," she said. "I’m shocked and appalled by the Republicans’ refusal to wait 24 hours for a hearing and instead rush forward with a vote on Monday."
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Rhode Island, a member of the Judiciary Committee, criticized the “counteroffer” and emphasized that senators, rather than committee counsel, must be able to question both witnesses.
"I will not forfeit my ability to question Judge Kavanaugh and anyone else who comes before the committee with testimony, no matter how uncomfortable it may make the 11 men across the dais," he said, referring to the panel's Republican members.
All 10 Democrats on the Committee wrote a letter to Grassley saying "the Committee majority’s treatment of Dr. Ford has unquestionably been worse than the disgraceful treatment that Anita Hill received 27 years ago." Hill accused now-Justice Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment in 1991 and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle were criticized for their handling of the situation.
The Democrats called for more witnesses than just Ford and Kavanaugh, including the FBI, Kavanaugh's friend who Ford alleges was in the room, character witnesses and outside experts.
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