Brett Kavanaugh's accuser reaches an agreement to testify

Talks between the two parties on Sunday morning resulted in an agreement on the general form of the hearing, said a negotiator. It will be open to the public there will be breaks at 45-minute intervals, or on request; and while Dr. Blasey prefers Judge Kavanaugh to testify first, she will agree that she should go first. There will also be security for Dr. Blasey, who has received death threats, and she will have two lawyers at the witness table with her.

But other blocking points remain. The first is whether the committee will assign Mark Judge, a friend of Kavanaugh J.'s high school, whom Dr. Blasey said was in the room at the time of the assault, or anyone else who allegedly witnessed the assault. Mr. Judge stated that he knew of no such incident.

Two other potential witnesses identified by Dr. Blasey – who she said were not in the room at the time of the attack – provided statements to the Judiciary Committee along the same lines. A man, Patrick J. Smyth, told the Republican Commission in a letter last week that he had "no knowledge of the party in question". And a woman, Leland Keyser, told Republicans through a Kavanaugh attorney and she did not remember being at a party or rally where he was present, with or without Dr. Ford .

She later told the Washington Post that she believed in Dr. Blasey's story anyway. Nobody answered the door when a reporter knocked on Ms. Keyser's home in suburban Maryland on Saturday.

Republicans, including White House officials, quickly seized the statements of potential witnesses in an attempt to undermine Dr. Blasey's testimony. But his attorneys say that at least in Ms. Keyser's case, the statement is anything but meaningless; she was not in the room when Dr. Blasey said that she had been assaulted, they said, and Dr. Blasey did not tell her, or any other, about it at the time. 39; era.

Republicans have resisted the call for additional witnesses. Dr. Blasey's lawyers also requested outside witnesses, including two trauma experts and the former F.B.I. agent who administered a polygraph examination to Dr. Blasey, the person familiar with the call said. But these questions remain unresolved.

His lawyers' statement added that Dr. Blasey "agreed to conduct a hearing even though the committee refused to summon Mark Judge. "They also refused to invite other witnesses who are essential for a fair hearing that gets to the truth about the sexual assault."