Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee hired an Arizona sex-crimes prosecutor to ask questions on their behalf at a scheduled hearing during which Christine Blasey Ford will speak about her sexual assault allegations against Brett Kavanaugh, multiple news outlets reported on Tuesday night.
Rachel Mitchell, a Maricopa County attorney, will lead a round of questioning at the Thursday hearing.
Committee chairman Chuck Grassley initially did not reveal Mitchell's identity, but he changed course after some sharp rebukes from Ford's attorneys and others.
Ford has accused Kavanaugh of holding her down, fondling her over her clothes, and covering her mouth so she couldn't scream when they were teenagers in the 1980s. Kavanaugh denies the allegation.
The hearing set for Thursday is happening as Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee clamor to get Kavanaugh confirmed to the Supreme Court. A vote on that is scheduled for Friday.
Additionally, there were lingering questions about whether Deborah Ramirez, Kavanaugh's second accuser, would testify. Ramirez says Kavanaugh exposed himself to her while they were students at Yale, a claim Kavanaugh also denies.
Ramirez's attorney, John Clune, said that Republican members of the Judiciary Committee were no-shows for a scheduled phone call on Tuesday. Clune told MSNBC, "They won't talk to us."
"The demand that they keep making to us is, 'Give us every piece of information that you have now and then we can talk about scheduling a phone call,'" Clune said.
In an interview with CNN, Clune said a phone call was finally scheduled for Tuesday night at 7 p.m. ET, but only the Democrats showed up. Clune is among those asking that the FBI open a new investigation into the sexual assault claims against Kavanaugh.
The wrangling has exasperated some Republicans who are eager to confirm Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court and notch another victory for President Donald Trump ahead of the November midterm elections.
Trump last week indicated he was open to Ford sharing her story with the lawmakers, but has since turned away from that idea. This week, Trump has also sought to discredit Ramirez. He's now accusing Democrats of using the women as part of what he called a "con game" to destroy Kavanaugh.
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