Tries to confine hearing to Ford allegations

Senate Judiciary Committee Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) says the attorneys for two of the accusers of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh have stonewalled committee efforts to collect evidence of the allegations.

The chairman cited that in explaining that Thursday's hearing with Kavanaugh and accuser Christine Blasey Ford would be confined to her accusation, which was that Kavanaugh forcibly sexually assaulted her at a party in high school.

Grassley said committee investigators had made eight requests for evidence from the attorney for Deborah Ramirez, and another six from the attorney for Julie Swetnick.

Despite Grassley's suggestion the hearing would be about Ford, ranking member Dianne Feinstein briefly outlined the allegations of Ramirez and Swetnick, and renewed her call for an FBI investigation into all the allegations.

Grassley said he was sorry Feinstein brought up the "unsubstantiated allegations" of Ramirez and Swetnick, and said those would be dealt with at another time.

For her part, Ford said during her testimony that her life had been picked apart by people on TV, on social media, and by members of Congress. She said she had been accused of political motives, but those who did that did not know her. She said she was nobody's pawn and that Kavanaugh's actions had damaged her life.