[V]ermont Sen. Patrick Leahy has sent a letter to President Donald Trump’s White House counsel, Don McGahn, asking for information about McGahn’s knowledge of sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh before they became public last week.
The letter, co-signed by fellow Democrats Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Doug Jones of Alabama, raises questions about whether the White House was aware of 51-year-old Christine Blasey Ford’s accusations against Kavanaugh before she went public in an interview with the Washington Post on Sunday. All three signees are former prosecutors.
“Based on your unique role in choosing and vetting judicial nominees for the administration and shepherding Judge Kavanaugh through the Supreme Court nominations process, we have questions about your knowledge surrounding the allegations against Judge Kavanaugh before they became public last week,” the senators wrote in the letter sent to McGahn on Tuesday.
The letter outlined the senators’ concerns that McGahn had knowledge of the allegations against Kavanaugh and chose to stay silent in a manner similar to the way in which he reportedly handled domestic abuse allegations against former White House staff secretary Rob Porter, who resigned in February.
The senators also questioned McGahn’s role in creating and coordinating a letter signed by 65 women who said they knew Kavanaugh in high school and that he had “always treated women with decency and respect.”
The senators wrote that the letter, which the White House has used as evidence that Kavanaugh is a supporter of women’s rights, suggests that people “in the White House and members of the Senate knew about these allegations earlier than they have admitted.”
The senators ended their letter by writing they expect a response to their questions no later than by Monday, when the Senate Judiciary Committee plans to hold a hearing on the sexual assault allegations.
After committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, announced the committee would hear from both Ford, a research psychologist at Palo Alto University in California, and Kavanaugh during a public session next Monday, lawyers representing Ford said it is not confirmed that she will attend the hearing.
Ford’s lawyers said she wants the FBI to look into the incident before she testifies but that she would cooperate with the Senate Judiciary Committee, according to a New York Times report on Tuesday. In a letter to the committee, her lawyers also said Ford has been the subject of “vicious harassment and even death threats” since she spoke publicly about her claims on Sunday.
Chairman @ChuckGrassley statement on tonight’s letter from Dr. Blasey Ford’s attorney to the committee. pic.twitter.com/5PkM5tN9Xh
— Senate Judiciary (@senjudiciary) September 19, 2018
Republicans appear unlikely to agree to delay the public hearing any further. Grassley said Tuesday night he had “offered her a public or a private hearing as well as staff-led interviews, whichever makers her most comfortable” and that the “invitation for Monday still stands” if Ford decides to testify.
Grassley said he does not believe the FBI needs to investigate because Ford’s “testimony would reflect her personal knowledge and memory of events” and “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.”
President Trump has joined Republicans in arguing an FBI investigation is unwarranted. In contrast, President George H. W. Bush decided to request an FBI investigation when Anita Hill accused Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment in 1991.
On Wednesday, Leahy tweeted that “being heard does not mean skipping a full, fair, and nonpartisan investigation just so Republicans can rush to a vote” and that how “our society responds to sexual assault is bigger than this nom.”
Dr. Blasey Ford deserves so much better—she deserves our respect, and our understanding. How our society responds to sexual assault is bigger than this nom. Being heard does not mean skipping a full, fair, and nonpartisan investigation just so Republicans can rush to a vote.
— Sen. Patrick Leahy (@SenatorLeahy) September 19, 2018
