The attorney for Deborah Ramirez, woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct dating back to their college years, says GOP members of…
The attorney for Deborah Ramirez, woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct dating back to their college years, says GOP members of the Senate Judiciary Committee were no-shows for a scheduled phone call earlier Tuesday.
John Clune told CNN’s Anderson Cooper Tuesday night that only members of Senate Democrats’ staff showed up to the call, which was scheduled for 7 p.m. EST.
“We finally had a phone call scheduled for 7 o’clock Eastern this evening, we got on the phone, and only the minority party showed,” Clune told CNN. “So, feels like there’s a lot of game-playing that’s going on right now by the majority party.”
A previous phone call, Clune added, was canceled due to a demand from Senate Republicans for “a list of all the evidence that you have and break it down for us before we’ll even talk to you by the phone.”
“I don’t know what else we can do if they’re not going to engage, but blaming us for being non cooperative is just, you know, flat out not consistent with how things have gone and what the emails show,” Clune said.
“[E]very time we try to set up a phone call, the majority party either changes the rules of the phone call or they want additional information as a condition of even having a phone call with us,” he continued.
Clune went on to echo calls for an FBI investigation from Kavanaugh’s first accuser of sexual misconduct, Christine Blasey Ford, who told the Washington Post that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her during a high school party in an interview last week.
“This has to be done by FBI…with the threat of perjury,” Clune added on “Anderson Cooper 360.”
“Our client’s willing to do that. I’d be very interested to see whichever witnesses Judge Kavanaugh actually has remaining…if they’d be willing to do the same,” he added.
The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a hearing Thursday to hear from Kavanaugh and Ford on the initial accusations, with the panel’s vote on Kavanaugh’s confirmation set for Friday .
Democrats on the panel say it’s unclear whether Ford will testify, as her attorneys have repeated calls for an FBI investigation that have so far been denied. The committee’s chairman, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), told ranking Democratic member Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) on Tuesday that Friday’s vote would not be delayed pending an FBI investigation.
“I respectfully decline your request. I am not going to silence Dr. Ford after I promised and assured her that I would provide her a safe, comfortable, and dignified opportunity to testify,” Grassley wrote in a letter.
