Grassley Calls for End to Personal Attacks on Ford, Kavanaugh

Senator Chuck Grassley, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, issued a plea on Wednesday for people to refrain from personal attacks against Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and Judge Brett Kavanaugh.

Ford, a California psychology professor, has accused Kavanaugh, President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, of trapping her in a room, pinning her to a bed, and covering her mouth with his hand as he tried to remove her clothing at a party when they were both in high school. She went public with her allegation last month and testified about it before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week.

Kavanaugh has fiercely denied Ford’s allegations and those of several other women who have accused him of sexual misconduct since Ford went public. Testifying before the Committee following Ford’s appearance, he offered an emotional defense of his and his family’s reputations.

Both Ford, who has two teenage sons, and Kavanuagh, who has two young daughters, have received death threats since Ford’s allegation burst into the news cycle.

The Committee voted along party lines on Friday to advance Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Senate floor. In exchange for his deciding vote, Senator Jeff Flake (R., Ariz.) secured a promise to delay a final confirmation vote for no more than one week, so that the FBI could conduct an investigation of the allegations against the nominee.

“I think it’s very close,” Grassley said Wednesday of the conclusion of the FBI’s investigation. “I have not talked to the FBI, and I don’t think I should talk to the FBI. People that seem to know said it’s getting close, but when, I haven’t heard.”

The Republican senator from Iowa said a cloture vote to end debate on Kavanaugh’s nomination could come as early as Friday.