LEGAL TEAM FACES 10:00 A.M. WEDNESDAY DEADLINE
by Sharon Rondeau
(Sep. 26, 2018) — As The Post & Email reported on Tuesday, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley requested the questions and answers from a polygraph test which Judge Brett Kavanaugh accuser Dr. Christine Blasey Ford reportedly was administered in her attorney’s office in early August, with a deadline of 10:00 AM Wednesday.
President Trump announced Kavanaugh as his choice for the U.S. Supreme Court seat vacated by the retiring Anthony Kennedy in early July. Kavanaugh has been a member of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit for the last 12 years and has undergone six FBI criminal background checks, according to media reports.
The submission of documentation to the Senate Judiciary Committee in advance of any hearing, to include written testimony and a biography of the witness, is contained within committee rules, Grassley wrote in a letter to Ford’s legal team on Sunday once an agreement for her to testify Thursday was reached.
“Witnesses shall provide a written statement of their testimony and curriculum vitae to the Committee at least 24 hours preceding the hearings in as many copies as the Chairman of the Committee or Subcommittee prescribes,” paragraph 1 of the rule reads.
“In the event a witness fails timely to file the written statement in accordance with this rule, the Chairman may permit the witness to testify, or deny the witness the privilege of testifying before the Committee, or permit the witness to testify in response to questions from Senators without the benefit of giving an opening statement,” item 3 of the rule reads.
Just before 8:00 AM Wednesday, the Associated Press reported that the materials Grassley requested have not yet been provided.
Thursday morning is a rescheduling of a Monday morning hearing Grassley established on September 17 which Ford’s lead attorney, Debra Katz, said was “not possible” for her client to attend.
Late Tuesday evening, Grassley’s office announced that a special prosecutor was hired by the committee’s majority to participate in the questioning of the witnesses, which will consist only of Kavanaugh and Ford. Ford will testify first following opening statements, and longtime Maricopa County sex-crimes prosecutor Rachel Mitchell will assist in asking questions. Grassley said his purpose in hiring Mitchell is to “depoliticize the process” and make it as fair as possible to both sides.
In a letter sent late Monday evening to Grassley, Attorney Michael Bromwich, having joined Ford’s existing legal team at Katz, Marshall & Banks, LLP over the weekend, presented strong objections to the use of a special prosecutor and the committee’s declination to pursue an FBI investigation of Ford’s claim. He also requested an opportunity to meet with the special prosecutor, who at that time was unnamed.
This publication will be contacting the committee’s Majority press office at 10:00 AM to inquire as to whether or not the requested documentation was provided by the deadline.
“Deadlines” per se have not been hard-and-fast as Grassley and Ford’s four attorneys have exchanged letters about accommodations, security, and the format of the hearing.
On Wednesday morning the AP additionally reported that Ford’s attorneys have produced four sworn affidavits from her husband and three “family friends” who say that Ford told them about the alleged assault between 2012 and 2017, respectively.
On September 16, The Washington Post reported that Ford had seen a therapist for the trauma she allegedly suffered from the alleged 1982 incident but did not mention Kavanaugh by name. According to the AP, two of the affidavits specifically state Kavanaugh was identified as the perpetrator, while the other two say that Ford named “a federal judge” as the perpetrator.
The therapist’s notes from the session were also requested but not received, the AP reported.
Kavanaugh has denied Ford’s claim as well as those subsequently made by a Deborah Ramirez, who attended Yale Law school with Kavanaugh and told The New New Yorker that Kavanaugh had exposed himself to her at a party. However, the article reported that Ramirez’s details were sketchy and that she admitted being inebriated during the alleged incident. Of numerous individuals who might have had knowledge of it, The New York Times reported none could corroborate Ramirez’s claim.
On Tuesday night, Grassley said he would not “silence” Ford in the wake of Democrat calls to postpone the hearing.
Update, 10:04 AM EDT: This writer contacted the press secretary of the Senate Judiciary Committee Majority at exactly 10:00 AM and was told by the greeter that he does not know whether or not the requested materials described in Grassley’s letter were supplied. “That was literally 60 seconds ago,” he said, adding that he “only answers phones.” When we asked for a time when the information might become available, he offered to transfer us to the press secretary, whose voice mail identified him as George Hardman. However, Mr. Hartman’s voice mail greeting indicated that it is full and to try back later.
Update, 1:39 p.m. EDT: A second call to Grassley’s press office and transfer by the staffer to Hardman’s phone resulted in an inadvertent dead line from Washington.
Update, 2:29 PM EDT: Just as we were calling the Senate Judiciary Committee majority press office for a third time today, Fox News’s Julie Banderas announced that she is in possession of the results of Ford’s polygraph test. White House correspondent Mike Emanuel read the result of one statement Ford reportedly made pertaining to when Kavanaugh reportedly “put his hand over her mouth” during the alleged assault. According to the document Emanuel was reading, the examiner found that Ford was “not deceptive” in her answer when she said she found that to be the most frightening moment for her of the alleged incident.