Ford asks for one more day to consider testifying before Senate

(RNN) – The attorneys for Christine Blasey Ford have requested an additional day to decide if she will testify at a planned hearing on Monday to hear from her and Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

Ford, a psychology professor at a California college, has accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her at a party when the two were in high school in the 1980s in suburban Maryland.

Her lawyers had been negotiating the possible conditions for appearing at the proposed Monday hearing, which was announced by Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Charles Grassley, R-IA, earlier this week.

Ford had expressed her reluctance to appear so soon through her lawyers, who had requested a federal investigation first to “ensure that the crucial facts and witnesses in this matter are assessed in a non-partisan matter.”

But Grassley on Friday said that he would give Ford’s lawyers until 10 p.m. ET to decide whether she would testify or not.

If she would not, Grassley said he would cancel the hearing and proceed with a committee vote on Kavanaugh’s confirmation, which would pave the way for a full Senate vote.

“I’m providing notice of a vote to occur Monday in the event that Dr. Ford’s attorneys don’t respond or Dr. Ford decides not to testify,” Grassley said in a Friday statement. “In the event that we can come to a reasonable resolution as I’ve been seeking all week, then I will postpone the committee vote to accommodate her testimony.”

He added: “We cannot continue to delay.”

Friday evening, about a half hour before the deadline, her lawyer Debra Katz shared a letter she sent in response which, according to CNN, said in part: “The 10:00 p.m. deadline is arbitrary. Its sole purpose is to bully Dr. Ford and deprive her of the ability to make a considered decision … Our modest request is that she be given an additional day to make her decision.”

It is unclear how Grassley will respond.

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