WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley has asked the Committee Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., to give him a copy of the letter she received from Dr. Christine Blasey Ford regarding sexual assault allegations against President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
'It's critical for the full committee to have access to the original letter in order to conduct a fair and thorough investigation,' the Iowa Senator said in a letter he sent to Feinstein.
It was in a letter she sent in July to Feinstein that the 51-year old clinical psychology professor first made an allegation that Kavanaugh attempted to rape her on the sidelines of a party in Maryland more than three decades ago, when they were teenagers.
The allegations in the letter were published on Washington Post Sunday, after which Grassley invited both Ford and Kavanaugh to testify before it regarding the allegation.
But Ford wants an FBI inquiry ahead of the hearing, which the Committee chair rejected.
Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said he made a formal request for a copy of the letter Feinstein received. 'While Feinstein eventually referred the letter to the FBI last week, which was then redacted and added to Judge Kavanaugh's background file, committee Republicans have not yet been able to access an unredacted version of the letter,' Grassley said.
He added that sexual assault allegations should not be deployed strategically for political gain.
Feinstein says the FBI routinely investigates allegations like Dr. Ford's. 'They did it with Anita Hill's allegations 27 years ago and they did it this year with allegations against Rob Porter. The FBI needs to investigate and the Senate needs to wait until that's done', said the California senator.
'In 1991, Senate Republicans said an FBI investigation was the 'the very right thing to do' - but now, those same Republicans insist the FBI cannot investigate whether Judge Kavanaugh committed sexual assault. Why?' she asked on Twitter.
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