The Senate Judiciary Committee will likely propose holding a hearing next Wednesday where they will hear testimony from both Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, the woman accusing him of sexual assault, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter.
The proposed hearing, according to the sources, will include an outside counsel who would ask questions. The proposal calls for Ford to testify first and Kavanaugh second.
But a source told CNN that Republicans are dealing with internal disagreements about whether they should even use an outside counsel. Multiple senior members of the committee are pushing for one, while others are less interested, according to the source, making it unclear whether this will make it into the final proposal to Ford.
Her lawyers previously suggested that the committee’s senators question their client, not an outside counsel.
A Senate Republican aide told CNN Friday that a special counsel would prevent the politicization of Ford’s questioning.
“Senate Democrats rightly said that the Senate should not bully Dr. Ford … the way to depoliticize that and ensure that is with an outside counsel,” they said.
Kavanaugh has denied the sexual assault allegation.
The order of testimonies is the opposite of what Ford, through her lawyers, has requested, according to a senior congressional source.
Ford also requested that at no point during any potential hearing could Ford be in the same room as Kavanaugh.
The use of an outside counsel is already receiving push back from Senate Democrats. An aide to a member of the Senate’s Democratic leadership told CNN that, “outside counsel doesn’t vote on Kavanaugh. Senators do. Republicans need to do their jobs and not hide.”
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