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Sex claim against top court pick should be heard: Trump aide
WASHINGTON, Sept 17, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The woman accusing US President Donald
Trump’s Supreme Court pick of sexual assault should be allowed to testify
before a Senate committee, Trump’s top female aide said on Monday.
Kellyanne Conway’s comment came as the lawyer for the accuser, college
professor Christine Blasey Ford, said Ford is willing to testify publicly
about the decades-old incident which she already described to The Washington
Post.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is due to vote on the nomination of
conservative Judge Brett Kavanaugh on September 20, but in light of Ford’s
comments a number of committee members have urged holding off on a vote.
“She should be heard,” Conway said on “Fox and Friends.
“This woman should not be insulted and she should not be ignored,” said
Conway, who added that Kavanaugh should also have an opportunity under oath
to address Ford’s allegations.
He is “a man of character and integrity” who has been widely lauded by
other women, she said.
The testimonies “would be added to the very considerable mountain of
evidence and considerations that folks will have when they weigh whether or
not to vote for Judge Kavanaugh to be on the Supreme Court.”
But Conway said such testimony “should not unduly delay the vote.”
Asked on CNN whether Ford would be willing to testify publicly before the
Judiciary Committee, her lawyer Debra Katz said: “The answer’s yes.”
Lawmakers have not, however, made any such request for her testimony, the
lawyer said.
After initially guarding her anonymity, Ford “decided to take control of
this and tell this in her own voice” after the allegations were leaked, Katz
said.
Ford told the Post that Kavanaugh “was trying to attack me and remove my
clothing” at a teenagers’ party one summer in the early 1980s.
Kavanaugh has flatly denied the allegation, saying he did not do this “at
any time.”
BSS/AFP/BZC/2015HRS