Kavanaugh accusers slam senators, FBI

Christine Blasey Ford's legal team slammed the Senate Judiciary Committee on Friday evening for their investigation into her claims that Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in high school. "We believe Christine Blasey Ford and we fully support her," Ford's legal team said in a statement. "Senators claiming to want a dignified debate should not repeat lies constructed by the Judiciary Committee that were cynically designed to win support for Judge Kavanaugh." On Saturday, Deborah Ramirez, a woman who accuses Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her while the two attended Yale, sought to knock down claims that she also does not have corroborating witnesses for her allegations — claiming the FBI did not interview potential witnesses. Kavanaugh has repeatedly denied all claims of sexual impropriety under oath. Ford testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee last week that she was "100 percent" sure Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in the 1980s, a claim he repeatedly denied in his own testimony. Ford's legal team and GOP committee staffers have argued for weeks over both her testimony and what additional evidence she would provide, if any, to the committee. Among the documents the two sides have debated over are the details of a polygraph test and notes from her therapist — the latter of which are said to document the first time she told someone about the alleged assault. In the statement, the attorneys claim Ford's decision not to grant the committee access to the polygraph or the notes should not factor into whether senators find her to be a credible witness. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who until Friday afternoon was one of the final undecided senators, pointed to the lack of corroborating evidence in her reasons for supporting Kavanaugh. "The Committee has released every document we have exchanged, and in the case of their letters to us, sometimes before we received them," the lawyers write. "We lost confidence in the Committee’s ability or desire to maintain the confidentiality of materials and information we provided, especially with respect to something as sensitive as medical records." Along with the White House, senators requested and received a limited supplemental FBI investigation into some of the allegations against Kavanaugh, including Ford's. Ford's legal team claims the bureau did not interview enough key witnesses that could have corroborated parts of their client's account. Later Friday evening, Ford's attorneys released a statement from her close friend, Keith Koegler, who claims in a sworn statement that Ford wrote to him via email that her attacker was Kavanaugh just two days after Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement, triggering the search for his replacement. Koegler added he was not interviewed by the FBI. The statement also said that a fear of flying had no effect on the timing of her testimony, and that despite Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley saying at the Senate hearing that he would have flown personally to California to interview her, that had not been an option presented initially by committee staff. A spokesman for the majority of the Senate Judiciary Committee did not respond to a request for comment. Ramirez, in her statement, also took aim at senators, accusing them of "ignoring" Kavanaugh's behavior. Ramirez did not testify in front of the committee but was interviewed by the FBI. Kavanaugh is expected to be confirmed by senators in a narrow vote Saturday. source: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/10/05/christine-blasey-ford-senate-judiciary-committee-877294 #Headlines by: bgriffiths@politico.com (Brent D. Griffiths)

Original Post: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/10/05/christine-blasey-ford-senate-judiciary-committee-877294