Washington
According to multiple people familiar with Saturday discussions that took place between Ford’s lawyers and committee representatives, a Thursday hearing — Ford’s favored date for the session — would not be a sticking point if the parties are able to work out other terms of her appearance.
The emerging accord marked the most concrete signs of progress yet in high-stakes negotiations that seemed to be at an impasse at the start of the weekend. Still, the Senate has made no public announcement of a hearing and those close to the situation cautioned that they still needed to resolve some disagreements.
“Dr. Ford accepts the Committee’s request to provide her firsthand knowledge of Brett Kavanaugh’s sexual misconduct next week,” said attorneys Debra Katz and Lisa Banks in an email to Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles Grassley’s, R-Iowa, staff, though they stopped short of accepting Grassley’s offer of a Wednesday hearing. They called much of Grassley’s offer “inconsistent with the Committee’s promise of a fair, impartial investigation into her allegations” and requested a follow-up conversation later in the day to continue negotiating.
Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., a key swing Republican vote on the panel, said Saturday that he would not mind if the hearing took place on Thursday.
As negotiations continued, Leland Keyser, a woman Ford told The Washington Post was present at the party where she alleges Kavanaugh assaulted her, came forward to say she had “no recollection of ever being at a party or gathering where he was present,” according to an email her lawyer sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee, obtained by The Post.
Before her name became public, Ford told The Post she did not think Keyser would remember the party because nothing remarkable had happened there, as far as Keyser was aware. Ford has said she did not tell anyone about the alleged assault until 2012.
The email marked the latest turn in the tense showdown between Republican senators and Ford that has hovered over Kavanaugh’s nomination for days. Ford first told her story publicly in an interview with The Washington Post published last Sunday. Kavanaugh has firmly denied her allegations.
Ford’s legal team planned to continue to press for a Thursday hearing, according to a person familiar with the lawyers’ thinking. During a Saturday call, the parties discussed the option of holding the hearing on Thursday and agreed to continue their negotiations on Sunday, according to people familiar with the conversation.
Several Republicans were skeptical of Ford’s offer. Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, tweeted the hashtag “#Rope-a-dope,” referencing to a boxing strategy of trying to tire out an opponent by making them consistently go on offense.
“We have heard about different dates, conditions, and ever-changing schedules, but today we appear no closer to a fair hearing,” White House spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said late Saturday. “But one thing has remained consistent: Brett Kavanaugh remains ready, willing and eager to testify as soon as possible.”
A senior White House official charged that Ford’s legal team was trying “to continue ‘negotiations’ without committing to anything.”
“It’s a clever way to push off the vote Monday without committing to appear Wednesday,” the official said.
The official was referring to plans Grassley had set in motion Friday for the Judiciary Committee to vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination Monday if his demand for a Wednesday hearing was rejected by Ford or he did not receive a response. After Katz asked for more time to reply, Grassley had extended his deadline for a decision to Saturday afternoon.
The email from Ford’s lawyers — sent to reporters shortly before the 2:30 p.m. cutoff time Grassley had set — does not specify which day Ford would agree to appear.
As the talks have continued, Ford has expanded her legal team. Michael R. Bromwich, a former Justice Department inspector general who has been representing former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, announced Saturday that he was resigning from his law firm, Robbins Russell, to work with Ford.
In an email to the firm’s staff — sent two minutes after Ford responded to Grassley’s invitation to testify — Bromwich said he was resigning because of objections within the firm to his representing Ford while employed there.
Ford has alleged that while she and Kavanaugh were teenagers in high school at a house party in the early 1980s, he drunkenly pinned her to a bed, groped her and put his hand over her mouth to stifle her screams as he tried to take off her clothes. Kavanaugh has repeatedly denied the allegation.
If a final agreement on the details of a hearing is reached, it would set the stage for a dramatic, searing confrontation in the coming week. Kavanaugh has said that he wants to testify before the Judiciary Committee about the matter. The panel has invited him to do so.
The negotiations between Ford’s lawyers and Republicans on the Judiciary Committee have been contentious. They have centered on several points that have spurred some disagreements, including the prospect of a hearing on Wednesday instead of Thursday.
Republicans said they would accommodate several of Ford’s requests, including ensuring that she had adequate security at the Capitol and that Kavanaugh would not be in the room when she speaks.
But the GOP also declined her other requests, including that Kavanaugh testify first and that the committee subpoena Mark Judge — a Kavanaugh friend who Ford says was present during the alleged incident — and call other potential witnesses to the hearing.
The Republican-led committee had wanted to reserve the option of having female staff attorneys on the committee do the questioning, while Ford said she would rather be questioned by senators.
“If this process to secure her testimony falls apart, the fault is totally and clearly on the Republican leadership,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said in a telephone interview on Saturday.
The person familiar with Ford’s legal team’s thinking said Saturday that the attorneys will continue to push for their other demands, including whether senators will question Ford directly or whether they will use staff attorneys, and whether they will subpoena Judge. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe strategy.
Meanwhile, a temporary communications adviser to Grassley during the Supreme Court confirmation fight abruptly resigned after a past accusation of sexual harassment surfaced, which he denied.
Garrett Ventry submitted his resignation Friday, he said in a brief telephone interview Saturday. He said he stepped down “in order to not be a distraction” as Senate Republicans continue to try to get Kavanaugh confirmed.
Also Saturday, Vice President Mike Pence joined the chorus of renewed Republican support for Kavanaugh, telling a crowd of around 2,000 conservative activists at the Values Voter Summit that Kavanaugh “is a man of integrity, with impeccable credentials and a proven judicial philosophy” and that he would soon be confirmed.
Pence then took aim at the conduct of Democratic senators during the confirmation process, describing it as “a disgrace and a disservice to the Senate and the American people.”
President Trump, who took to Twitter to cast doubt on Ford’s credibility Friday, was quiet on the issue Saturday.
As the discussions continued late Friday night and into Saturday, Republican senators on the Judiciary Committee were growing weary of the extended talks. Grassley lamented in a tweet Friday that with all the deadline extensions, he felt like he was playing “2nd trombone in the judiciary orchestra,” and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., was the conductor.
Some Republican senators had just about reached the limits of their patience by Saturday, according to one of them, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to candidly describe the mood. Senate GOP leaders have argued that they have been very accommodating to Ford’s requests, while Democrats say Republicans have bullied Ford with unreasonable deadlines.
At least one Republican on the Judiciary Committee struck a hopeful chord. “Progress on a Judiciary Committee hearing is being made,” Flake tweeted. “This is good.”