Lawyers: Kavanaugh Accuser Has Received Death Threats

She wants an FBI investigation before she testifies
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 19, 2018 12:17 AM CDT
Updated Sep 19, 2018 12:31 AM CDT
Kavanaugh Accuser Wants FBI Investigation Before Hearing
Senators had expected a dramatic hearing on Monday.   (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

The woman who accuses Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her doesn't want to relive the "traumatic and harrowing incident" until the FBI has carried out an investigation. Lawyers for Christina Blasey Ford released a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday saying an investigation should be the "first step" before a Senate hearing that had been scheduled for Monday, the New York Times reports. The statement said that since going public on Sunday, Ford's "worst fears have materialized" and she has been "the target of vicious harassment and even death threats." "Her family was forced to relocate out of their home. Her email has been hacked, and she has been impersonated online," the lawyers said.

Ford's lawyers had previously said she was willing to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Hill reports. The letter, however, says an investigation to present the facts in a non-partisan manner should happen before she is called upon to "testify at the same table as Judge Kavanaugh" in a hearing that "would include interrogation by senators who appear to have made up their minds that she is 'mistaken' and 'mixed up.'" A spokesman for Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley said there had never been a plan for Kavanaugh and Ford, who says he attacked her at a party when they were teenagers, to testify together, the Washington Post reports. Grassley said Tuesday night that the invitation for Ford to testify Monday still stands—but there is "no reason for any further delay." (More Christine Blasey Ford stories.)

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