WASHINGTON - With the FBI poised to report as soon as Wednesday night on sexual misconduct allegations against U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump's mocking remarks about one of Kavanaugh's accusers raised concerns among three Republicans whose votes could decide the confirmation fight.
Several people with information related to allegations against Kavanaugh told Reuters they had not heard from the FBI, suggesting its report may be narrower than was desired by some of the lawmakers who demanded it just days ago.
Christine Blasey Ford, a college professor from California who accused Kavanaugh of assaulting her in 1982 when they were high school students, has not been contacted by the FBI, her attorneys said.
As Senate Republican leaders marched toward a final vote on Kavanaugh's nomination, perhaps over the weekend, the three Republicans who could be key to whether Kavanaugh is confirmed, criticized Trump for his remarks about Ford at a political rally in Mississippi on Tuesday night.
Senators Jeff Flake, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski were among lawmakers who objected to Trump's comments about Ford's testimony on the alleged assault.
Ford, who testified last week at an extraordinary Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, said she could not remember the precise date or location of the alleged assault or how she got home later, but offered a detailed account of the incident. She said a drunken Kavanaugh pinned her down, tried to remove her clothing and covered her mouth when she screamed.
Imitating Ford's testimony, Trump, who was himself accused during the 2016 presidential race of sexual misconduct with numerous women, said: "What neighborhood was it in? I don't know. Where's the house? I don't know. Upstairs, downstairs, where was it? I don't know. But I had one beer. That's the only thing I remember."
"And a man's life is in tatters," Trump added.
Flake told NBC's "Today" show that "there's no time and no place for remarks like that, that discuss something this sensitive at a political rally ... It's kind of appalling."
Collins told reporters: "The president's comments were just plain wrong." She did not respond when asked if his comments would affect her vote on Kavanaugh's confirmation.
Asked whether Trump's comments would affect her vote, Murkowski told reporters: "I am taking everything into account. The president's comments yesterday mocking Dr. Ford were wholly inappropriate and, in my view, unacceptable."
A day after the hearing, Trump had called Ford "a very credible witness" who provided "very compelling" testimony.
Kavanaugh has denied Ford's accusation as well as allegations by two other women, all dating from the 1980s.
'CLEARLY A REASON'
Flake was instrumental last Friday in getting Trump to order an FBI investigation into the allegations against Kavanaugh, a conservative federal appeals court judge nominated by Trump for a lifetime job on the top U.S. court.
Trump limited the investigation to no more than a week.
Senator Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, complained in an interview with Reuters that the White House had not responded to requests for documents detailing its instructions to the FBI about the scope of its investigation of Kavanaugh.
“There's clearly a reason for that and I assume the administration doesn't want members of Congress and the public to see it,” Durbin said.
It was not immediately clear whether the FBI report, which will be made available to senators, would be released to the public.
The No. 2 Senate Republican, John Cornyn, said the report could be given to senators as soon as Wednesday. Republican Senators John Kennedy and Roy Blunt said the FBI report should be made public.
Trump's fellow Republicans control the Senate by a 51-49 margin. If all the Democrats oppose Kavanaugh, Trump cannot afford to lose the support of more than one Republican for his nominee, with Vice President Mike Pence casting a tiebreaking vote. No Republicans have said they will vote against Kavanaugh.
Opposition among Americans to Kavanaugh has increased since last week's hearing, Reuters/Ipsos polling data showed on Wednesday.
In the latest seven-day average in a survey of 4,057 U.S. adults, 41 percent of respondents opposed Kavanaugh, 33 percent supported him and 26 percent said they did not know. Opposition to Kavanaugh grew 4 percentage points after the hearing, apparently driven by people who previously were undecided.
In a Twitter post on Wednesday, Trump did not back away from his rally comments, instead attacking Kavanaugh's Democratic critics. Trump said when he goes to political rallies, which are organized by Republicans, he sees that voters are angry at the "vicious and despicable" way Democrats are treating his nominee.
At a White House briefing, Trump's spokeswoman Sarah Sanders defended his remarks in Mississippi and said he was not concerned the comments may have jeopardized the votes of key senators. "The president was stating the facts" about the gaps in Ford's recollection of the alleged incident, Sanders said.
The FBI has interviewed Mark Judge, a high school friend of Kavanaugh who Ford said was in the bedroom where Kavanaugh allegedly assaulted her.
Judge has denied any memory of such an incident, as have at least three others with information about Ford's allegations and those of a second accuser, Deborah Ramirez, who has said Kavanaugh exposed himself to her when they were Yale University students.
A person familiar with the matter said the FBI questioned Ramirez for more than two hours on Sunday and that she provided the FBI with a list of more than 20 possible witnesses.
Two Yale classmates of Ramirez told Reuters on Tuesday that they had reached out to the FBI over the weekend but had not yet heard back.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
WASHINGTON - A one-time classmate of President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee said Monday that Brett Kavanaugh was a habitual heavy drinker, challenging the judge's Senate testimony to the contrary.
The comments came days after the FBI opened a Senate-requested probe into allegations by three women that a drunken Kavanaugh sexually abused them or engaged in sexual misconduct while they were students in the 1980s.
"I can unequivocally say that in denying the possibility that he ever blacked out from drinking and in downplaying the degree and frequency of his drinking, Brett has not told the truth," Chad Ludington told reporters.
The North Carolina State University professor, who said he had contacted the FBI with his information, indicated in a statement Sunday that Kavanaugh was "belligerent and aggressive" when he drank.
Earlier, Trump had defended his pick but admitted that the appeals court judge has had a "bit of difficulty" with alcohol.
In a White House press conference, the US president sought to excuse excessive drinking by teenagers, while going beyond Kavanaugh's own testimony on his past use of alcohol to the Senate Judiciary Committee last week.
"I was surprised at how vocal he was about the fact that he likes beer," the president said.
"He's had a little bit of difficulty. He talked about things that happened when he drank. This is not a man that said... he was perfect with respect to alcohol."
He also questioned why investigators needed to examine the 53-year-old Kavanaugh's high school record.
"I think it's very unfair to bring up things like this," Trump said.
"I graduated from high school and while I did not drink, I saw a lot of people drinking," he said.
"They drink beer and go crazy and they were in high school... Does that mean that they can't do something they want to do in their life?"
He returned to the theme during a campaign rally in Tennessee, where he accused opposition Democrats of being motivated by politics.
"They have been blind in a blind rage ever since they lost the 2016. They have gone loco," he told supporters.
'I LIKE BEER'
In Thursday's extraordinary hearing, Kavanaugh vehemently denied the sexual abuse allegations, and also aggressively challenged suggestions he had a drinking problem at the time.
"I drank beer with my friends. Sometimes I had too many beers," he told the panel.
"Yes, we drank beer. I liked beer. I still like beer," he said.
"If every American who drinks beer or every American who drank beer in high school is suddenly presumed guilty of sexual assault, it will be an ugly, new place in this country."
The New York Times also reported that Kavanaugh was questioned but not charged by police after a 1985 bar fight in New Haven, Connecticut where he was accused of throwing ice on a fellow patron.
A witness said that a friend of Kavanaugh's then threw a glass that hit the same patron in the ear, causing bleeding.
US media meanwhile reported that the FBI had begun their interview of Mark Judge, Kavanaugh's former best friend and a key figure in the misconduct allegations leveled by Christine Blasey Ford.
Judge's interview started but "has not been completed," his attorney said in a statement quoted by Fox News.
In last week's hearing, Blasey Ford said Judge witnessed Kavanaugh's alleged assault and jumped on top of them as it happened, sending all three tumbling and allowing her to escape.
CLOCK TICKING
Trump meanwhile said the White House would not restrict the new FBI probe, requested by senators before they take a final vote on Kavanaugh.
"I think the FBI should do what they have to do to get to the answer," Trump said.
"I want it to be comprehensive... With that being said, I would like to go quickly," he added.
"We don't want to go on a witch hunt, do we?"
Senators, including Republican Jeff Flake, struck a deal Friday that gives the FBI one week to conduct its investigation and deliver its report.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the Senate, made up of 51 Republicans and 49 Democrats, will be "voting this week" on advancing the Kavanaugh nomination, setting up a possible final confirmation vote this weekend or early next week.
"The time for endless delay and obstruction has come to a close," McConnell said.
Last week, Flake expressed eagerness to see Kavanaugh confirmed but said he wanted a "better process" for assessing the allegations. Flake said over the weekend that he would vote for Kavanaugh unless the FBI finds something in its investigation.
bur-ia/amz
source: news.abs-cbn.com
WASHINGTON - Democratic U.S. senators expressed concern on Sunday over reports the White House was working with Republicans to narrow the scope of an FBI investigation into sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
President Donald Trump bowed to pressure from moderate members of his Republican Party on Friday and ordered the probe after Christine Blasey Ford, a university professor, detailed her allegations at a Senate hearing that Kavanaugh assaulted her in 1982, when the two were in high school.
The stunning reversal capped two weeks of allegations, followed by furious denials, that roiled prospects for Trump's nominee, a conservative federal appeals court judge once expected to easily become the second Trump nominee to win a lifetime appointment to the top U.S. court.
Kavanaugh has denied Ford's accusation, as well as those of two other women.
Republicans, who are trying to retain control of the U.S. Congress in November elections, are seeking to balance their desire for another conservative justice on the court with sensitivity about how they handle sexual misconduct allegations amid the reverberations of the #MeToo movement.
It did not take long, however, for the FBI probe to become an object of partisan divide.
A White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters the White House had defined the parameters of the probe for the FBI, and that the investigation would start off with interviews with only four people.
NBC News, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal previously reported that the White House was constraining the investigation, prompting Senate Democrats on the Judiciary Committee to express concern.
Senator Dianne Feinstein, the panel's top Democrat, wrote to White House counsel Donald McGahn and FBI Director Christopher Wray and asked that the committee be provided with a copy of the written directive the White House sent to the FBI, as well as the names of any additional witnesses or evidence if the probe is expanded.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The administration denied it was trying to control the probe, which the Judiciary Committee said on Friday "would be limited to current credible allegations" and wrapped up within a week.
"We're staying out of the way" and letting the FBI do their job," White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told "Fox News Sunday."
But the administration made clear there would be limits. "It's not meant to be a fishing expedition," White House adviser Kellyanne Conway said on CNN's "State of the Union."
Trump vowed on Saturday that the FBI could interview "whoever they deem appropriate." On Sunday, he criticized Democrats for expressing concerns about the length and scope of the probe.
"For them, it will never be enough!" he wrote on Twitter.
FBI PROBE
The FBI will question Deborah Ramirez, who said Kavanaugh exposed himself to her at a party when both were students at Yale University, the White House official told Reuters.
It will also question Mark Judge, a friend of Kavanaugh who Ford said witnessed the assault, and Leland Keyser and P.J. Smyth, who she said were at the gathering.
A third accuser, Julie Swetnick, was not on the initial list of witnesses to be interviewed.
Senate Republicans compiled the list of four witnesses, and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell shared it with the White House, the official and another source familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The New York Times, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that the White House asked the FBI to share its findings after the initial interviews and that Trump and his advisers would then decide whether the accusations should be investigated further.
Neither the FBI nor a Judiciary Committee representative would comment on the probe.
Asked on Friday which allegations would be investigated, Republican Senator Jeff Flake, who was instrumental in forcing the investigation, told reporters: "We'll leave that to the FBI." His office did not respond to a request for comment on the latest reports on Sunday.
Senator Susan Collins, among a handful of moderates who joined Flake, said in an email: "I am confident that the FBI will follow up on any leads that result from the interviews."
Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, said it would not be unlawful for the White House to restrict the investigation's scope since the FBI is under the executive branch.
But Tobias said FBI agents were usually allowed to act independently and it would be a "clear conflict of interest" for White House officials involved in Kavanaugh’s confirmation process to interfere with the FBI’s investigation.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
WASHINGTON - Christine Blasey Ford began her testimony in front of a Senate committee by saying she was “terrified,” and at times she looked it.
But by the time she finished detailing her allegation that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were teenagers, Ford was being widely praised as credible and brave.
Before the Senate hearing on Thursday, Ford had never appeared on camera, and was only depicted in news media reports with a grainy photo lifted from the internet.
She emerged in the eyes of many American women as a compelling figure in the #MeToo movement that is usually associated less with the names of victims and more with a list of high-profile men accused of misconduct.
Thousands of conservatives took to social media to accuse Ford of lying to bring down Kavanaugh, who angrily and tearfully denied her accusations in a day of dramatic, high-stakes testimony from both the accused and the accuser.
While Republican senators depicted her testimony as part of a partisan attack orchestrated by Democrats, they -- and Kavanaugh -- were careful not to attack Ford personally.
And outside Congress, even many prominent conservatives were willing to praise Ford.
e"Dr. Ford comes across as a credible person who has suffered the serious emotional impact of a disturbing incident in her teens," said Alice Stewart, a conservative strategist who has worked on several Republican presidential campaigns. "This will boil down to the sincere credibility of someone with nothing to gain versus the sincere credibility of someone with everything to lose."
Right-wing commentator Mike Cernovich tweeted, "Ford seems kind. This doesn’t strike me as partisan." Fox News commentator Chris Wallace called Ford’s testimony “extremely credible" and a "disaster for the Republicans."
Moira Donegan, a writer and prominent voice in the #MeToo movement, said Ford struck a chord among American women.
“So many women around the country were watching it together in rooms and texting one another about what they were seeing, identifying with her,” said Donegan said.
Still, even many Republicans who believed Ford was honestly recounting what happened to her took the view that it was a case of mistaken identity, believing Kavanaugh's emotional testimony that was not there and did not attack her.
The Republican Party posted online videos of women supporting Kavanaugh throughout Ford’s testimony.
Ford, a 51-year-old psychology professor from California, began her appearance by asking for a cup of coffee, her jaw tight with nerves. Her voice cracked at times as she then gave an emotional account of the alleged assault in 1982.
When a male senator read Kavanaugh’s denial, Ford appeared to shudder. She appeared to be close to tears at times, but she was firm and dignified throughout.
A GoFundMe page to support Ford and pay for her security and legal expenses quickly doubled its fundraising total after it was mentioned during the hearing.
It had already raised the initial target of $150,000 before the hearing and that jumped about $250,000 on Thursday to over $412,000 -- from a total of 8,888 people with average donations of about $46.
RAINN, a group that provides a support hot line for victims of sexual assault and crimes, said it saw a 147 percent increase above the normal volume of people reaching out for help.
An analysis of social media sentiment conducted by the Ipsos polling firm using an artificial intelligence prototype found that positive sentiment directed toward Ford increased each time she spoke, said pollster Chris Jackson.
“People were responding to her very strongly,” Jackson said, although he also cautioned that it measured posts on Twitter and Facebook and was not a representation of total public sentiment.
It was Ford's telling the committee she now has two front doors at her home -- a decision she said she made because of the lasting trauma of the alleged assault -- that convinced Kathleen Pierman, 66, who watched the testimony at home.
"She didn't seem in it for gain,” said Pierman, who lives in the suburbs of Cleveland. She said she found Kavanaugh more convincing than she expected, but said confirming him would be a "huge mistake" because "no one will trust the Supreme Court."
Three political scientists who specialize in voting behavior and political psychology told Reuters they expected Ford’s testimony to galvanize female Democratic voters to vote in November.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
WASHINGTON - Fighting to salvage his nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh angrily and tearfully denied on Thursday a university professor's accusation that he sexually assaulted her 36 years ago after she told a dramatic US Senate hearing she was "100 percent certain" he did it.
Christine Blasey Ford, her voice sometimes cracking with emotion, appeared in public for the first time to detail her allegation against Kavanaugh, a conservative federal appeals court judge chosen by President Donald Trump for a lifetime job on the top U.S. court. Ford told the committee she feared Kavanaugh would rape and accidentally kill her during the alleged assault when both were high school students in Maryland.
Kavanaugh testified after Ford finished her appearance, and they were never in the hearing room together.
The clash pitted her word against his.
"I swear today, under oath, before the Senate and the nation, before my family and God, I am innocent of this charge," Kavanaugh told the Judiciary Committee.
Calling himself a victim of "grotesque and obvious character assassination," Kavanaugh, speaking passionately, said he "unequivocally and categorically" denied Ford's allegation.
"I will not be intimidated into withdrawing from this process," Kavanaugh added.
Kavanaugh at times choked back tears, especially when he mentioned that his daughter suggested they pray for Ford, when he spoke of his father and when he mentioned women friends who have rallied to support him.
The momentous hearing could determine whether Kavanaugh will be confirmed by the Senate after a pitched political battle between Trump's fellow Republicans and Democrats who oppose the nominee.
Kavanaugh sharply attacked Democratic senators, calling himself the victim of "a calculated and orchestrated political hit" fueled by anger on the left at Trump's 2016 election win. Kavanaugh tangled with Democratic senators, at one point repeatedly interrupting Senator Patrick Leahy.
Ford, a psychology professor at Palo Alto University in California, said over four hours of testimony that a drunken Kavanaugh attacked her and tried to remove her clothing at a gathering of teenagers when he was 17 years old and she was 15 in 1982.
The hearing, which has riveted Americans and intensified the political polarization in the United States, occurred against the backdrop of the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment and assault.
"With what degree of certainty do you believe Brett Kavanaugh assaulted you?" Democratic Senator Richard Durbin asked Ford.
"One hundred percent," she replied, remaining firm and unruffled through hours of testimony even under questioning by a sex crimes prosecutor hired by the committee's Republicans.
Ford said "absolutely not" when Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein asked her if it could be a case of mistaken identity, as Kavanaugh has suggested.
Democrats lauded Ford's testimony as credible, brave and, in the words of Senator Cory Booker, "nothing short of heroic."
"I want to thank you for your courage. And I want to tell you I believe you. ... And I believe many Americans across the country believe you," Democratic Senator Kamala Harris said.
While some Republicans and Trump have called the allegations by Ford and the two other women part of a smear campaign, Ford told the committee she had no political motivation, adding, "I am an independent person and I am no pawn."
Ford was seated at a table in the packed hearing room flanked by her lawyers, facing a bank of senators. Cameras from news photographers clicked as she entered the room and took her seat, smiling nervously. Ford told the senators she was "terrified" to testify but felt it was her civic duty come forward.
"Brett groped me and tried to take off my clothes. He had a hard time because he was very inebriated and because I was wearing a one-piece bathing suit under my clothing. I believed he was going to rape me. I tried to yell for help," Ford said, adding that Kavanaugh and a friend of his, Mark Judge, were "drunkenly laughing during the attack."
Democratic senators sought to score political points during their five minutes apiece of questioning Ford. The panel's Republican senators, all men, did not question her, assigning that task to Rachel Mitchell, a sex crimes prosecutor.
While Mitchell sought to probe Ford's account including any gaps in her story, her questioning seemed disjointed. She took turns with the Democratic senators to ask questions in five minute segments, disrupting her flow.
The controversy has unfolded just weeks ahead of the Nov. 6 congressional elections in which Democrats are trying to seize control of Congress from the Republicans. Kavanaugh's confirmation would cement conservative control of the high court as Trump moves to shift it and the broader federal judiciary to the right.
'VICIOUS AND FALSE'
Kavanaugh, sitting alone at the witness table, said he wanted to testify as soon as Ford's allegation first emerged last week and was not surprised that other allegations followed.
"In those 10 long days, as was predictable and as I predicted, my family and my name have been totally and permanently destroyed by vicious and false additional accusations."
The delay in scheduling a hearing "has been horrible to me and my family, to the Supreme Court and to the country," Kavanaugh said.
Looking somber, Kavanaugh was accompanied by his wife as he entered the hearing room.
He accused the Democrats of "lying in wait," with the Ford allegations, only revealing them publicly after his original confirmation hearing was completed. He thanked Trump for his "steadfast support."
He was careful not to denounce Ford, noting that he wished her "no ill will." He said that he was not questioning that Ford may have been sexually assaulted by some person in some place at some time, but that he had never assaulted her or anyone.
Supreme Court appointments must be confirmed by the Senate. The Republicans control the Senate by a narrow 51-49 margin. That means that a handful of moderate Republican senators who have not announced whether or not they support Kavanaugh could determine his fate.
One of them, Senator Lisa Murkowski, told Reuters: "I find Dr. Ford's testimony to be credible."
The committee could vote on Kavanaugh's confirmation on Friday, with a final Senate vote early next week.
Some Democrats have called on Kavanaugh to withdraw in light of the allegations. At the hearing, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham castigated Democratic senators, seeking to rally Republicans not to abandon the nominee.
"This is the most unethical sham since I've been in politics," Graham said, adding that voting against Kavanaugh would legitimize the attacks on the nominee.
Ford said Kavanaugh put his hand over her mouth to stop her from screaming during the assault, adding, "This was what terrified me the most, and has had the most lasting impact on my life. It was hard for me to breathe, and I thought that Brett was accidentally going to kill me."
Her strongest memory of the incident, Ford said, was the "uproarious laughter between the two (Kavanaugh and Judge) and their having fun at my expense." She said the laughter has haunted her ever since.
A White House official described Trump's reaction to Kavanaugh's dramatic defense as positive, saying the nominee significantly helped his case after Ford's testimony. "People are going to walk away from this thing feeling that there are two passionate, credible people talking," the official said.
"I think every Republican has a fair reason to vote for him and not a real fair reason not to vote for him," the official added.
Two other women, Deborah Ramirez and Julie Swetnick, have accused Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct in the 1980s.
Ramirez accused Kavanaugh of exposing himself during a drunken dormitory party during the 1983-84 academic year when both attended Yale University.
Swetnick said she witnessed efforts by Kavanaugh and others to get girls drunk at parties so they could be raped. She said Kavanaugh was present at a 1982 party where she was raped.
Trump, who has himself faced accusations of sexual misconduct, chose Kavanaugh to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy, who retired effective in July.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
* Trump stands by nominee: "I feel so badly for him"
* Accuser Ford facing death threats, attorney says
* Republican senator: Panel to vote next week with or without hearing
WASHINGTON - A woman who has accused President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, of sexual assault decades ago wants her allegations to be investigated by the FBI before she appears at a U.S. Senate hearing, her lawyers said on Tuesday.
The development further roiled a confirmation process that once seemed smooth for Kavanaugh, whose confirmation to the lifetime post could consolidate the conservative grip on the top U.S. court.
Christine Blasey Ford, a university professor in California, has accused Kavanaugh of attacking her and trying to remove her clothing while he was drunk at a suburban Maryland party in 1982 when they were both high school students, allegations Kavanaugh has called "completely false.
The Senate Judiciary Committee, which is overseeing the nomination, had called a hearing for Monday to examine the matter, and the White House had said Kavanaugh was ready to testify.
In a letter to the committee's chairman, Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, Ford's attorneys said an FBI investigation needed to come first.
"A full investigation by law enforcement officials will ensure that the crucial facts and witnesses in this matter are assessed in a non-partisan manner, and that the committee is fully informed before conducting any hearing or making any decisions," the lawyers wrote. A copy of the letter was posted on the committee's website.
Grassley said there is no reason to delay Ford's testimony and an invitation for her to appear before the committee on Monday stands.
"Dr Ford's testimony would reflect her personal knowledge and memory of events. Nothing the FBI or any other investigator does would have any bearing on what Dr Ford tells the committee, so there is no reason for any further delay," Grassley said in a statement.
Democrats, already fiercely opposed to the nominee, have also been seeking an FBI investigation, a request that Republicans have rebuffed. Trump and other Republicans said they did not think the FBI needed to be involved.
A hearing would represent a potential make-or-break moment for the conservative federal appeals court judge's confirmation chances, as Trump pursues his goal of moving the federal judiciary to the right.
"The Supreme Court is one of the main reasons I got elected President. I hope Republican Voters, and others, are watching, and studying, the Democrats Playbook," Trump tweeted late on Tuesday.
Republicans control the Senate by only a narrow margin, meaning any defections within the party could sink the nomination and deal a major setback to Trump.
Earlier on Tuesday, Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the committee's Republicans, said the panel would vote on the nomination next week whether or not Ford testified. A vote in committee would be a precursor to action in the full Senate.
"If she does not want to come Monday, publicly or privately, we're going to move on and vote Wednesday," he told Fox News Channel.
TRUMP STANDS BY NOMINEE
In a statement on Monday, a representative for the Justice Department said the FBI had followed protocol forwarding information about the allegation to the White House.
"The FBI's role in such matters is to provide information for the use of the decision makers," the statement said.
Trump earlier on Tuesday stepped up his defense of Kavanaugh and expressed sympathy toward his nominee, who met with officials at the White House for a second straight day, although not with the president.
"I feel so badly for him that he's going through this, to be honest with you," Trump told a news conference. "This is not a man that deserves this."
"Hopefully the woman will come forward, state her case. He will state his case before representatives of the United States Senate. And then they will vote," Trump added.
Senator John Cornyn, a member of the Senate Republican leadership, appeared to cast doubt on Ford's allegations.
"We just don't know what happened 36 years ago and there are gaps in her memory. She doesn't know how she got there, when it was, and so that would logically be something where she would get questions," Cornyn told reporters.
Cornyn's fellow Republicans have generally avoided criticizing Ford, instead castigating Democrats for not revealing her allegations earlier.
The confirmation fight comes just weeks before the Nov. 6 congressional elections in which Democrats are seeking to take control of Congress from Trump's fellow Republicans, which would be a major blow to the president's agenda.
'HATE MAIL, HARASSMENT, DEATH THREATS'
Ford detailed her allegation in a letter sent in July to Senator Dianne Feinstein, the committee's top Democrat. The letter's contents leaked last week and Ford identified herself in an interview with the Washington Post published on Sunday that included details about the alleged assault.
In a statement, Feinstein, said the committee should accede to Ford's wishes and postpone Monday's hearing.
"A proper investigation must be completed, witnesses interviewed, evidence reviewed and all sides spoken to. Only then should the chairman set a hearing date," she said in a statement.
Lisa Banks, an attorney for Ford, told CNN her client was dealing with "hate mail, harassment, death threats" and that her immediate focus was protecting herself and her family.
Democrats have objected to the proposed hearing format, with Feinstein arguing there should be more than just two witnesses, possibly to include people in whom Ford previously confided. The committee's Democrats said witnesses should include Kavanaugh's friend Mark Judge, who Ford has said witnessed the alleged incident.
A lawyer representing Judge sent a letter to Grassley saying Judge did not want to speak publicly about the matter.
"In fact, I have no memory of this alleged incident. Brett Kavanaugh and I were friends in high school but I do not recall the party described in Dr Ford's letter. More to the point, I never saw Brett act in the manner Dr Ford describes," the letter quoted Judge as saying.
Judge is the author of a 1997 memoir titled "Wasted: Tales of a Gen X Drunk," which recounts his experiences as a teenage alcoholic.
One Democratic senator, Richard Blumenthal, said Kavanaugh should withdraw his nomination.
"I believe Dr Ford. I believe the survivor here," Blumenthal said. "She has come forward courageously and bravely, knowing she would face a nightmare of possible and vicious scrutiny."
The showdown has echoes of current Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' contentious confirmation hearings in 1991 involving sexual harassment allegations lodged against him by a law professor named Anita Hill.
Thomas, the court's second black justice, was ultimately confirmed, but only after a nasty televised hearing in which Hill faced pointed questions from Republican senators and the nominee said he was the victim of "a high-tech lynching for uppity blacks."
source: news.abs-cbn.com
