Christine Blasey Ford Says She’ll Testify Next Week If Terms ‘Are Fair’ And Her Safety Assured

The New York Times has received an email sent by Christine Blasey Ford’s attorneys to the Senate Judiciary Committee that says Ford would be willing to testify before the Senate next week about the allegations that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were both in high school.

From the Times:

In the email, obtained by The New York Times, the lawyer for Christine Blasey Ford said that testifying Monday — the timetable Republicans have set for a hearing — “is not possible and the Committee’s insistence that it occur then is arbitrary in any event.” The lawyer reiterated that it is Dr. Blasey’s “strong preference” that “a full investigation” occur before her testimony — wording that stopped short of demanding an F.B.I. probe and suggested she is open to testifying without one.

NEW: Text of e-mail from Christine Blasey Ford's lawyer to Senate Judiciary Committee. pic.twitter.com/UlRZVEUhxm

— Sheryl Gay Stolberg (@SherylNYT) September 20, 2018

It would appear that Dr. Blasey is backing off of her demand that the FBI investigate the allegations before she agrees to testify at a Senate hearing. At the same time, she is saying that the Monday date set by the committee isn’t feasible so a new date will need to be agreed upon.

The Republican members of the committee, meanwhile, have decided to hire an outside litigator to serve as their lead questioner during a hearing featuring the professor. Although they have yet to settle on a specific attorney, it would seem almost certain that they’ll choose a woman to help battle the optics of an all-male GOP panel grilling a female over her allegations of sexual assault.

Watch the clip above, via CNN.