WASHINGTON _ Just two days ahead of an extraordinary Senate hearing with testimony from a California professor who accuses Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of a sexual assault decades ago, it's still unclear who will ask both of them questions.
Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee _ all 11 of whom are men _ agreed to have an outside counsel ask questions of Christine Blasey Ford and Kavanaugh on their behalf at the high-stakes hearing Thursday. In emails with Ford's attorneys, committee staff said Chairman Charles E. Grassley hired "an experienced sex crimes prosecutor" to serve as investigative counsel for the hearing.
But the identity of that counsel remained an enigma Tuesday. GOP Sen. John Cornyn and other members of the Judiciary Committee told reporters they did not know the counsel's identity. And committee staff also declined to tell Ford's attorneys, citing safety reasons. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday said the counsel is a woman but provided no other details about her identity.
Republicans said their decision to have counsel ask questions on their behalf was strategic for such a sensitive topic.
"It is not uncommon to have professional staff do questioning in a situation like this," McConnell said. "We want this hearing to be handled very professionally, not a political sideshow like you saw put on by the Democrats when they were questioning Judge Kavanaugh."
Ford agreed to testify Thursday under certain conditions and told Grassley she wanted it to be "a fair setting that won't disrupt families and become a media TV show."
"We know that if we don't do that, unnecessary jabs and criticisms come," said Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, a Republican committee member. "It's just better to do it that way and get someone who's professional and be able to handle it properly."
Committee member Lindsey Graham said the outside counsel doesn't mean Republican members are giving up their right to ask questions if they want.
"I think that makes sense and since I haven't been doing this for about 20 years, to have somebody that's a trained professional makes sense to me," the South Carolina Republican told reporters. "I think that's what they did at Watergate. I'm sure if I have anything I'm dying to ask, I'll ask."
Democratic committee member Sheldon Whitehouse responded to the idea that the Republicans wouldn't ask their own questions with three words: "Seems pretty lame."
Committee Democrats are planning to ask their own questions. "Senators ought to know how to ask their own questions," Sen. Patrick J. Leahy said.
And Sen. Chris Coons called it a gamble on the part of committee Republicans.
"My gut is they're trying to avoid a panel of all white men asking tone-deaf questions of someone who's bravely brought forward allegations of sexual assault," Coons said. "If instead they replace that with an overly aggressive prosecutor who conducts questioning in that style, I think that will not reflect well on them."
Judiciary Committee staff wrote in an email to Ford's attorney that for the most serious hearings in our more recent history, such as Watergate and Iran-Contra, the Senate had an experienced counsel question the witnesses.
"The Chairman's goal is to de-politicize this process and search for the truth _ instead of creating a forum for senators to grandstand or launch their presidential campaigns," the letter to Ford's attorney states.
But the committee declined to divulge the name. An attorney for Ford, Debra Katz, wrote committee staff late Monday to question if there were reasons "other than strategic advantage and unfair surprise" that the committee was not disclosing the name and resume of the outside counsel.
Families of both Ford and Kavanaugh have reported that they have received death threats in the 10 days since she went public with her allegation.
