Kavanaugh accuser considered moving to another country, husband says

Christine Blasey Ford, the woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault, considered moving to another country following Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement earlier this year, her husband says.

“She was like, ‘I can’t deal with this. If he becomes the nominee, then I’m moving to another country. I cannot live in this country if he’s in the Supreme Court,’ ” her husband, Russell Ford, told The Washington Post for a story published Saturday. “She wanted out.”

Kavanaugh was long considered a potential future nominee for the high court, being on a list Trump released during his 2016 campaign of people he would consider picking should a vacancy arise.

{mosads}Ford’s husband told the Post that she was relieved when Trump picked Neil Gorsuch last year to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. But worries resurfaced after Kennedy announced his retirement, he said.

“Her mindset was, ‘I’ve got this terrible secret … What am I going to do with this secret?’ ” he said.

Christine Blasey Ford’s lawyers have said that her family has faced threats and been forced to leave their house after she went public last Sunday with allegations that Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed and tried to remove her clothes during a high school party in the early 1980s when both were teenagers.

The allegations have upended the confirmation process for Kavanaugh and Ford is in negotiations with the Senate Judiciary Committee to arrange her public testimony.

She initially expressed openness to testifying Monday, but reneged, saying she wanted the FBI to investigate her claims first. Her lawyer later proposed a testimony for next Thursday if she could testify after Kavanaugh, he would not be in the same room as her and she would only be questioned by members of the committee.

The Judiciary Committee has rejected several of her requests while accepting others. Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) late Friday gave Ford more time to decide whether she would testify next Wednesday as part of a counteroffer from Republicans that would involve her testifying first.

Ford has until 2:30 p.m. on Saturday to respond to the GOP counteroffer.