Schiff: Republicans Want Kavanaugh Accuser to 'Go Away'

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said Thursday that Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee want the woman who accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault to “go away.”

Schiff said in an interview on MSNBC on Thursday that he hopes Christine Blasey Ford will testify before the Senate about the accusation.

"I hope that she does, because I'm afraid that what the Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee really want is, they want her to go away," he said. "They don't want the country to hear from her, and they certainly don't want the country to hear from her live and on television.”

Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, invited Ford to testify earlier this week, but her attorneys say she will only testify after the FBI conducts a formal investigation.

“The Senate shouldn’t simply rely on hearing two conflicting accounts and decide ‘well, we’re okay with not knowing, we’re okay with the fact we might be putting someone who committed attempted rape on the Supreme Court of the United States,’ Schiff said.

“They should get to the bottom of this. It wouldn’t take that long to do. This is the same crowd that waited a year to fill the last vacancy during the Obama Administration on the Supreme Court, so why this rush?”

• Supreme Court May Avoid High-Profile Cases After Kavanaugh Controversy
• Sen. Perdue: Time to Vote on Kavanaugh, With or Without Accuser