After Christine Blasey Ford went public with her account of Brett Kavanaugh attempting to rape her when they were teenagers, at least three Republican senators have sided with Democrats to say they want to put off voting on his Supreme Court nomination.
"I’ve made it clear that I’m not comfortable moving ahead with the vote on Thursday if we have not heard her side of the story or explored this further," Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, told the Washington Post. "For me, we can’t vote until we hear more." A committee vote was planned for Thursday.
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Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, asked by New York magazine whether the committee vote should be delayed until Ford gets her say, said, "I think that would be best for all involved, including the nominee. If she does want to be heard, she should do so promptly."
Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska told CNN that the committee should consider delaying the vote. "This is not something that came up during the hearings. The hearings are now over, and if there is real substance to this, it demands a response. That may be something the committee needs to look into."
Because Republicans hold a 51-to-49 majority in the Senate, they can only afford to lose two votes against Kavanaugh's nomination. Sens. Murkowski and Susan Collins of Maine are said to be the two key GOP swing votes. Sen. Collins told CNN that she discussed the allegations over the phone on Friday with Kavanaugh, before Ford went public, but would not say whether she supports delaying the vote on his nomination.
Ford's allegations were originally published in a Washington Post article on Sunday. She claimed that Kavanaugh pushed her into a bedroom at a party, tried to take off her clothes, and put his hand over her mouth, as well as turned up the music, when she started to scream. Both Ford and Kavanaugh have said they are willing to testify about the allegations.