Grassley: Dr. Ford Has Not Yet Accepted Invitation to Testify Monday — ‘Do They Want to Have the Hearing or Not?’

On Tuesday’s “Hugh Hewitt Show,” Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said his committee had reached out to Supreme Court justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s sexual misconduct accuser Dr. Christine Blasey Ford multiple times in the last two days to have her testify Monday and have yet to hear back.

“Has Dr. Ford accepted, and she has agreed to come?” host Hugh Hewitt asked.

“No,” Grassley responded. “We have reached out to her in the last 36 hours three or four times by email, and we’ve not heard from them, so it kind of raises the question do they want to come to the public hearing or not? And the reason we’re having the public hearing is obviously, well, number one is accusations like this deserve consideration and looking into, and that’s what the purpose of the hearing is.”

He continued, “We wouldn’t be having this hearing if it wasn’t for the fact that Dr. Ford told the Washington Post and other people publicly that she wanted to testify. And we also have Judge Kavanaugh. Even before we requested him to testify, he said he was willing to testify. As of Sunday night, I had that message. So we still haven’t heard from Dr. Ford. So do they want to have the hearing or not? We’re delaying the vote, strictly, to get all the facts out on the table.”

Grassley went on to say Ford deserves “to be heard” because of her serious accusations, but questioned the delay.

“We’re taking things step by step, but I don’t know why you would need more time. She wants to talk to us. She told us she wanted to talk to us. And you’d think that the sooner, the better,” he told Hewitt.

Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent

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