Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
If Congress Can Assure Her Safety, Kavanaugh Accuser Says She's Open To Testifying
The Wall Street Journal: Kavanaugh Accuser Open To Negotiations To Testify Before Senate Panel
An attorney for the California college professor who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were teenagers said she would be willing to testify next week before the Senate Judiciary Committee, an offer that could break a partisan logjam over whether the FBI should investigate her allegations. Christine Blasey Ford isn’t willing, however, to go before the panel by Monday, when a hearing is now scheduled, her lawyer wrote in an email Thursday to committee staff members. “She wishes to testify, provided that we can agree on terms that are fair and which ensure her safety,” wrote the lawyer, Debra Katz, who added that Dr. Ford had been receiving death threats. (Peterson, Nicholas and Andrews, 9/20)
The Washington Post: Kavanaugh Accuser Christine Blasey Ford Won’t Testify Monday But Open To Doing So Later Next Week
The chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), said through a spokesman late Thursday that he would be consulting with colleagues on how to proceed. Kavanaugh wrote to Grassley in a letter released by the White House that he looks forward to testifying. “I continue to want a hearing as soon as possible, so that I can clear my name,” Kavanaugh said in the letter. “Since the moment I first heard this allegation, I have categorically and unequivocally denied it. I remain committed to defending my integrity.” Amid the maneuvering, the nomination was roiled further late Thursday by incendiary tweets from a prominent Kavanaugh friend and supporter who publicly identified another high school classmate of Kavanaugh’s as Ford’s possible attacker. (Kim, Dawsey and Brown, 9/20)
The New York Times: Christine Blasey Ford Opens Negotiations On Testimony Next Week
Meantime, Gov. Bill Walker of Alaska, an independent, and his lieutenant governor, Byron Mallott, a Democrat, came out on Thursday against Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation. They said they worry that Judge Kavanaugh would jeopardize Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act, adding that his “record does not demonstrate a commitment to legal precedent that protects working families.” They also said that he has been hostile to laws that are favorable to Alaskan Natives. And, they added, “We believe a thorough review of past allegations against Mr. Kavanaugh is needed before a confirmation vote takes place.” The statement from the governor and his lieutenant governor increased the pressure on Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska and a key undecided vote in the narrowly divided Senate. (Stolberg, 9/20)
The Associated Press: Memory's Frailty May Be Playing Role In Kavanaugh Matter
She says he sexually assaulted her; he denies it. Is somebody deliberately lying? Not necessarily. Experts say that because of how memory works, it's possible that both Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford — the woman who says a drunken Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed and groped her at a party when they were teenagers in the early 1980s — believe what they say. And which one of them believes his or her version more strongly is no tipoff to what really happened. (Ritter, 9/21)
