--- title: Brett Kavanaugh Assault Accuser Willing to Testify Publicly description: Christine Blasey Ford's lawyer, Debra Katz, said her client was willing to speak before the Senate Judiciary Committee canonical: https://time.com/5397987/brett-kavanaugh-assault-testify-publicly/ author: Ciara Nugent article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-09-17T12:28:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T21:27:16.111Z article:section: Politics og:title: Brett Kavanaugh Assault Accuser Willing to Testify Publicly, Says Lawyer og:description: But she hasn't been contacted og:url: https://time.com/5397987/brett-kavanaugh-assault-testify-publicly/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcbfa9e1062e20441/69893a680a4a229f999d3b6e/gettyimages-1028263232.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5922 og:image:height: 3331 og:image:alt: Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearing Senate Judiciary Committee og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Brett Kavanaugh Assault Accuser Willing to Testify Publicly, Says Lawyer twitter:description: But she hasn't been contacted twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcbfa9e1062e20441/69893a680a4a229f999d3b6e/gettyimages-1028263232.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Brett Kavanaugh Sexual Assault Accuser Willing to Testify Publicly, Lawyer Says > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Ciara Nugent](https://time.com/author/ciara-nugent/)  ## Ciara Nugent Sep 17, 2018 12:28 PM UTC  Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on Thursday September 6, 2018. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on Thursday September 6, 2018. The Washington Post/Getty Images  by [Ciara Nugent](https://time.com/author/ciara-nugent/)  ## Ciara Nugent Sep 17, 2018 12:28 PM UTC Christine Blasey Ford, the professor who is [accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of attempted sexual assault when he was a teenager,](http://time.com/5397627/brett-kavanaugh-sexual-assault/) is willing to testify publicly, her lawyer said Monday. Asked by [CNN](https://edition.cnn.com/2018/09/17/politics/debra-katz-christine-blasey-ford-brett-kavanaugh/index.html?utm%5Fmedium=social&utm%5Fsource=twCNN&utm%5Fcontent=2018-09-17T11%3A47%3A43&utm%5Fterm=image) whether her client would be willing to testify in public before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Ford’s lawyer, Debra Katz, said “the answer is yes.” However, Katz said no lawmakers had contacted Ford asking her to testify. “We’ve heard from no one,” she said, calling the lack of contact “interesting” as she had seen “various statements, made on television, bandied about for political reason.” > [](https://twitter.com/NewDay/status/1041650433054322688) Kavanaugh has denied Ford’s allegations that he pushed her into a bedroom, attempted to remove her clothes and covered her mouth when she tried to scream at a high school party in the early 1980’s. “I categorically and unequivocally deny this allegation. I did not do this back in high school or at any time,” he said in a statement. Another man Ford said was present during the alleged attack, Mark Judge, has also denied that it happened. Ford, a 51-year-old professor of psychology at Palo Alto University, first made the allegations in late July in a letter to California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. She went public with her allegations on Sunday[,](http://time.com/5397627/brett-kavanaugh-sexual-assault/) identifying herself to The [Washington _Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/california-professor-writer-of-confidential-brett-kavanaugh-letter-speaks-out-about-her-allegation-of-sexual-assault/2018/09/16/46982194-b846-11e8-94eb-3bd52dfe917b%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.e10e3de7617b). She said she had come forward after realizing that parts of her story were coming out in the media. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5397987/brett-kavanaugh-assault-testify-publicly/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5397987/brett-kavanaugh-assault-testify-publicly/"},"headline":"Brett Kavanaugh Sexual Assault Accuser Willing to Testify Publicly, Lawyer Says","datePublished":"2018-09-17T12:28:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T21:27:16.111Z","description":"Christine Blasey Ford's lawyer, Debra Katz, said her client was willing to speak before the Senate Judiciary Committee","url":"https://time.com/5397987/brett-kavanaugh-assault-testify-publicly/","keywords":["Supreme Court","Congress","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcbfa9e1062e20441/69893a680a4a229f999d3b6e/gettyimages-1028263232.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ciara Nugent","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ciara-nugent/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcbfa9e1062e20441/69893a680a4a229f999d3b6e/gettyimages-1028263232.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearing Senate Judiciary Committee","caption":"Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearing Senate Judiciary Committee","creditText":"The Washington Post/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/supreme-court/","name":"Supreme Court"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5397987/brett-kavanaugh-assault-testify-publicly/","name":"Brett Kavanaugh Sexual Assault Accuser Willing to Testify Publicly, Lawyer Says"}}]}] ```