Trump insists he wants to hear Kavanaugh accuser's testimony

President Donald Trump on Wednesday insisted that he is interested in hearing the testimony of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who has endangered Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court by accusing him of trying to rape her when they were both teenagers.

The President said he very much wants to hear what Ford has to say, commenting on the matter moments before departing Washington for North Carolina, where he is scheduled to meet with emergency response personnel working in the area to mitigate the effects of Hurricane Florence, Efe reported.

On Monday, the White House announced that the president was interested in hearing both Kavanaugh's and Ford's versions of the alleged incident after the latter's accusation put the judge's confirmation by the Senate Judiciary Committee in doubt, although the committee had been set to vote on the matter this week.

Both the nominee and his accuser have been invited to appear before the Senate next Monday to give their respective versions of Ford's accusation that the judge attempted to rape her when they were at a high school house party in Maryland in the 1980s.

However, in recent hours, Ford has said that she will not appear before lawmakers until the FBI has conducted an investigation into her claim.

"It would seem that the FBI really doesn't do that. They've investigated about six times before and it seems like they don't do that," Trump said, adding that "I really would want to see what she has to say. But I want to give it all the time they need.

When asked about the possibility that Ford might opt not to appear in the Capitol to make her allegation before lawmakers, Trump said: "If she shows up, that would be wonderful," Trump said. "If she doesn't show up, that would be unfortunate."

Despite the fact that the president clearly wants to give the appearance of remaining evenhanded about the matter, Trump said that Kavanaugh is being treated "very badly" and that he feels that the situation is "very tough" for the judge's family.

"I can only say this - he's such an outstanding man, (it's) very hard for me to imagine anything happened," said the president.

--IANS

ahm/