WASHINGTON--A woman who had anonymously accused U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct in the early 1980s went public on Sunday, prompting Republicans to plan further discussions about his nomination before a committee vote this week.
In an interview with the Washington Post, Christine Blasey Ford said that as a high school student in suburban Maryland decades earlier, a "stumbling drunk" Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed, groped her and attempted to remove her clothing.
Last week, Kavanaugh, Republican President Donald Trump's second nominee for a lifetime appointment to the nation's highest court, said he "categorically and unequivocally" denies the allegations. The White House did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Senate Judiciary Committee spokesman Taylor Foy said Senator Chuck Grassley, the panel's Republican chairman, was working to set up follow-up calls with Kavanaugh and Ford before the committee's scheduled vote on Kavanaugh on Thursday, given the revelation of Ford's identity and "the late addendum to the background file."
"The Chairman and Ranking Member routinely hold bipartisan staff calls with nominees when updates are made to nominees' background files," Foy said in a statement.
Because Trump's fellow Republicans control a slim 51-49 majority in the Senate, Democrats cannot stop Kavanaugh's appointment unless some Republicans make a rare decision to break with their party and vote against Trump. At least one Republican member of the Judiciary Committee, Senator Jeff Flake, told the Post on Sunday that Ford "must be heard" and urged the panel not to vote on Kavanaugh's nomination until it can hear from her. Republicans hold only an 11-10 majority on the committee, so Flake's vote could make a difference.
The Senate Judiciary Committee has completed its hearings on Kavanaugh and plans to vote on Thursday on his nomination. A positive vote would set up a debate following by a vote in the full Senate.
Two moderate Republican female senators who support abortion rights and are not on the Judiciary Committee, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, have been under particular pressure not to back Kavanaugh, who is seen as a social conservative. Responding to the latest developments in the Kavanaugh nomination, Foy had said, "It’s disturbing that these uncorroborated allegations from more than 35 years ago, during high school, would surface on the eve of a committee vote."
