Christine Blasey Ford’s friend will cooperate with FBI, not ‘refuting’ Ford’s account: lawyer

A lawyer for a friend of Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault, said in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee that she does not refute Ford’s allegation against Kavanaugh and will cooperate with the FBI in its investigation of the alleged assault.

{mosads}Leland Ingham Keyser said through her lawyer, Howard Walsh, that she believes Ford’s account, but she does not remember the alleged incident between Ford and Kavanaugh.

“Ms. Keyser does not refute Dr. Ford’s account, and she has already told the press that she believes Dr. Ford’s account,” Walsh wrote in the letter to the committee, according to CNN. 

“However, the simple and unchangeable truth is that she is unable to corroborate it because she has no recollection of the incident in question,” Walsh continued, adding that Keyser will “cooperate fully” with the FBI investigation into Ford’s allegation.

Ford testified Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee that she attended a high school party with Keyser and several others, including Kavanaugh and his friend, Mark Judge, during which Ford says she was sexually assaulted by Kavanaugh in an upstairs bedroom. Kavanaugh has forcefully denied the allegations.

Keyser, Ford said, was unaware of the assault at the time.

“Oh no, she didn’t know about the event,” Ford told the committee, “She was downstairs during the event and I did not share it with her.”

Keyser, Walsh wrote, felt the letter to the committee was necessary to clarify that she did believe the party to which Ford referred in her testimony had occurred.

A previous statement from Keyser’s attorney claimed that Keyser “does not know Mr. Kavanaugh and she has no recollection of ever being at a party or gathering where he was present, with, or without, Dr. Ford.”

Ford’s attorney, Debra Katz, previously said in a statement that it was not surprising that Keyser would not recall attending a party with Ford and Kavanaugh, as she was not informed about the assault at the time.

“It’s not surprising that Ms. Keyser has no recollection of the evening as they did not discuss it. It’s also unremarkable that Ms. Keyser does not remember attending a specific gathering 30 years ago at which nothing of consequence happened to her,” Katz said.

President Trump announced Friday that he would direct the FBI to conduct a new weeklong investigation into Kavanaugh’s background following a request from members of the Judiciary Committee.

“I’ve ordered the FBI to conduct a supplemental investigation to update Judge Kavanaugh’s file. As the Senate has requested, this update must be limited in scope and completed in less than one week,” Trump said in a statement from the White House. 

Trump’s order came after the Senate panel voted Friday to send Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Senate floor on a party-line vote. Several Republican senators stated that they wanted an FBI investigation to conclude before they vote on Kavanaugh’s confirmation.