By SHERYL GAYSTOLBERG
WASHINGTON — The woman who has accused Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh of sexual assault has told the Senate Judiciary Committee, in an apparent bid to jump-start negotiations, that she “would be prepared to testify next week,” so long as senators offer “terms that are fair and which ensure her safety,” according to an email her lawyers sent to committee staff members.
In the email, obtained by The New York Times, the lawyer for Christine Blasey Ford said that testifying Monday — the timetable Republicans have set for a hearing — “is not possible and the Committee’s insistence that it occur then is arbitrary in any event.” The lawyer reiterated that it is Blasey’s “strong preference” that “a full investigation” occur before her testimony — wording that stopped short of demanding an FBI probe and suggested she is open to testifying without one.
Blasey has accused Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, of sexually assaulting her when the two were in high school at a gathering of teenagers in Montgomery County, Maryland. Kavanaugh has categorically denied the allegation and has said he would be willing to testify.
In the email, addressed to top Republican and Democratic aides on the committee, the lawyer, Debra Katz, wrote that she would like to set up a call later on Thursday to “discuss the conditions” under which Blasey would be prepared to testify.
“As you are aware, she has been receiving death threats, which have been reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and she and her family have been forced out of their home,” the email said. “She wishes to testify, provided that we can agree on terms that are fair and which ensure her safety.”
Earlier on Thursday, committee Republicans had decided to hire an outside counsel to lead their questioning of Blasey, rather than the committee members themselves, according to a Republican Senate official familiar with the decision. Although they have yet to hire someone to fill the role, the Republicans have been eager to avoid the image of 11 male senators questioning Blasey about her account.
Instead, they are seeing to enlist the help of an experienced litigator familiar with assault cases.Democrats had been sticking to their position that an FBI investigation should precede any hearing.
“Our view on the Democratic side seems to hardening and deepening that an FBI investigation should be done, and I’m going to be reaching out to my Republican colleagues to set a timetable,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said in an interview before the Blasey email.
But after it came to light, he softened. Blasey, he said, has “a right to decide how and when she tells her story. So if the terms are acceptable to her, I certainly would be there.”
A spokesman for Sen. Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, had no comment when asked if Grassley would agree to a date other than Monday.
“We’re glad to hear back, but that’s about the extent to which we can comment,” the spokesman, George Hartmann, said.