Democratic Rep. Anna Eshoo told Christine Blasey Ford that she believed her claim that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when both were teens, The Mercury News reports.
Eshoo, of California, was the first lawmaker to hear of Ford’s allegations, which have roiled Kavanaugh’s hearing and delayed his confirmation vote.
“What she was sure of, she was positive about,” Eshoo, said Tuesday, describing the mid-July meeting with Blasey Ford. “At the end of the meeting, I told her I believed her.”
Eshoo suggested Blasey Ford write a letter about the incident to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the lead Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Blasey Ford did, and Eshoo’s office hand-delivered it to Feinstein in late July. Feinstein delivered it to the FBI six weeks later.
Blasey Ford went public with the accusations Sunday. One day later, Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Republican chairman of the Judiciary Committee, invited Blasey Ford to testify before the panel next week.