She called their bluff. Via The Post:
The Senate Judiciary Committee and lawyers for Ford have been in negotiations for days about whether she would appear before the panel. Ford has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her in the 1980s when both were teenagers.
Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), who chairs the Judiciary Committee, had given Ford until 2:30 p.m. to respond to a revised offer to testify at a Wednesday hearing. Her lawyers asked the committee for a call later Saturday to work out other specifics.
This is a developing story. It will be updated.
From what I’ve read, I get the impression Dr. Blasey and her attorney are sharp. For one thing, they’re insisting that the senators question Dr. Blasey directly rather than bring in counsel to question her. In other words, sanctimonious old farts like Grassley and Hatch will be grilling the professor rather than imported female Republican operatives to soften the optics.
The Post also has an interesting piece on Christine Blasey Ford’s escape from the DC suburbs to California. An excerpt:
When Donald Trump won his upset presidential victory in 2016, Christine Blasey Ford’s thoughts quickly turned to a name most Americans had never heard of but one that had unsettled her for years: Brett M. Kavanaugh.
Kavanaugh — a judge on the prestigious U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia — was among those mentioned as a possible replacement for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in 2016. When Trump nominated Neil M. Gorsuch, Ford was relieved but still uneasy.
Then Justice Anthony M. Kennedy announced his retirement and Ford, 51, began fretting again.
“Her mind-set was, ‘I’ve got this terrible secret. . . .What am I going to do with this secret?’ ” her husband, Russell Ford, 56, recalled…
“She was like, ‘I can’t deal with this. If he becomes the nominee, then I’m moving to another country. I cannot live in this country if he’s in the Supreme Court,’ ” her husband said. “She wanted out.”
She came forward instead, which took a ton of courage. I have no idea if her testimony will derail the nomination. I suspect not since the Republicans who control congress are spineless, evil or both. But I’m grateful to Christine Blasey Ford anyway. She’s a patriot.