Republican senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee voted down a motion Friday from Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Ct., to issue a subpoena to Mark Judge, the high school classmate of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
The vote, along partisan lines, followed an explosive day of testimony on Thursday from Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her decades ago while Judge watched and laughed. In a fiery response later in the day, Kavanaugh dispensed with the accusation and said the allegation was part of "a calculated and orchestrated political hit."
"I'd like to make a motion to subpoena Mark Judge as a witness before our committee," Blumenthal said Friday.
Describing Ford as a "courageous, strong survivor," Blumenthal said the committee "heard her provide details in that story that can be corroborated and other facts that can be uncovered if we hear from other witnesses who have very relevant, important knowledge about what happened to her on that evening, in that room."
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"Evidently, he has never been interviewed by the FBI, he has never been questioned by any member of our committee, he has never submitted a detailed account of what he knows, and so I move Mr. Chairman that we have him before this committee as a witness," Blumenthal said.
Through his attorney, Judge has repeatedly denied having any knowledge of the incident that Ford described. Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said that Judge, a recovering alcoholic who has battled leukemia, suffered with anxiety and worried about speaking in public.
"I do not recall the events described by Dr. Ford in her testimony before the US Senate Judiciary Committee today," Judge said in a letter addressed to Grassley Thursday. "I never saw Brett act in the manner Dr. Ford describes."
In her testimony Thursday, Ford said that Judge "seemed ambivalent" about the assault, "at times urging Brett on and at times telling him to stop."
"A couple of times I made eye contact with Mark and thought he might try to help me," Ford said. "But he did not."
This story is developing. Check back for updates.
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