Christine Blasey Ford has no intention of further pursuing the allegations of sexual assault that threatened to upend Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court.
Asked about the possibility of assisting Democratic lawmakers in an impeachment campaign against Kavanaugh, Ford’s attorney Debra Katz told CNN that her client does not want to see Kavanaugh removed from the bench.
“Professor Ford has not asked for anything of the sort. What she did was to come forward and testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee and agree to cooperate with any investigation by the FBI, and that’s what she sought to do here,” Katz told CNN’s Dana Bash on Friday.
“She does not want him to be impeached?” Bash later asked.
“No,” Katz replied.
Kavanaugh, who was confirmed Saturday afternoon, has vigorously denied Ford’s allegation that he drunkenly pinned her to a bed and tried to remove her clothes during a party in high school. Ford first voiced the allegations in a July letter to Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee.
Feinstein concealed the allegations, citing respect for Ford’s privacy, until the letter was leaked in early September. While Ford initially wished to remain anonymous, her other attorney, Lisa Banks, told CNN she doesn’t regret coming forward.
“I don’t think she has any regrets. I think she feels like she did the right thing,” Banks said. “And this was what she wanted to do, which was provide this information to the committee so they could make the best decision possible. And I think she still feels that was the right thing to do, so I don’t think she has any regrets.”
During her testimony before the Judiciary Committee, Ford told the panel that she was not made aware of their offer to travel to California to interview her privately. During the interview with CNN, Banks responded to the allegation that she concealed the offer from her client in order to ensure a high-profile public hearing.
“We, as her counsel, informed her of all options made available to us by the committee. We showed her all of the correspondence,” Bank said. “And what they were offering was sending staffers to speak to her. Dr. Ford wanted to speak to the committee members herself. And I think what you saw in the hearing was that Dr. Ford got a little confused and thought Sen. Grassley was suggesting that he himself would have come to California, which is not what he offered at all.”