“The woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault says the FBI should investigate the incident before senators hold a hearing on the allegations,” CNN reports.

Christine Blasey Ford’s attorneys argue that “a full investigation by law enforcement officials will ensure that the crucial facts and witnesses in this matter are assessed in a non-partisan manner, and that the Committee is fully informed before conducting any hearing or making any decisions.”

The letter from Ford’s lawyers Ford has “been the target of vicious harassment and even death threats” and has been forced to leave her home.

“We had a good saying that we’ve held firm to to this day, which is: What happens at Georgetown Prep, stays at Georgetown Prep. I think that’s been a good thing for all of us.”

— Brett Kavanaugh, quoted by Politico, in a 2015 speech at Catholic University.

“Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee are considering having their aides question psychology professor Christine Blasey Ford should she testify about her sexual assault accusations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh,” the HuffPost reports.

“There’s a reason for this unusual move: Every Republican senator on the committee is male, and aggressive questioning of Blasey could backfire for them. If they use their aides, they would be able to rely on female staffers.”

Mark Judge, the third person identified by Christine Blasey Ford as having been present in the room during what she alleged was a sexual assault by Judge Brett Kavanaugh, wants no part in next week’s Senate Judiciary Committee scheduled proceedings, Roll Call reports.

Said Judge: “I did not ask to be involved in this matter nor did anyone ask me to be involved… In fact, I have no memory of this alleged incident.”

President Trump said that Brett Kavanaugh “is not a man that deserves” to be facing a sexual assault allegation at this point in his confirmation process, saying that he feels “so badly” for his Supreme Court nominee, Politico reports.

Said Trump: “I feel so badly for him that he’s going through this, to be honest with you. I feel so badly for him. This is not a man that deserves this.”

Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) “sharply questioned the credibility of the woman” who has accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault, “as GOP leaders indicated they will limit witnesses at next week’s hearing to just the Supreme Court nominee and his accuser.”

President Trump said that he “does not believe the FBI should delve any further into the decades-old sexual assault allegation leveled against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, claiming the FBI does not want to be involved,” CNN reports.

Said Trump: “I don’t think the FBI really should be involved because they don’t want to be involved. If they wanted to be, I would certainly do that. But as you know, they say this is not really their thing.”

Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles Grassley (R-IA) said that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh has agreed to participate in Monday’s committee hearing but that his staff has not heard from Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who has accused the judge of sexual assault while they were in high school, the Washington Post reports.

Said Grassley: “It kind of raises the question do they want to come to the public hearing or not. We still haven’t heard from Dr. Ford, so do they want to have the hearing or not?”

Grassley suggested the hearing could be called off if Ford declines to appear.

Rebecca White told the San Jose Mercury News that Christine Blasey Ford had told her about the alleged sexual assault by Brett Kavanaugh — without naming him — in late 2017 during the height of the #MeToo movement and long before Kavanaugh was a Supreme Court nominee.

Last year, White had added her own #MeToo story about being raped as a teenager to a Facebook post.

Said White: “She reached out to me afterward, supporting me and my story and that she had something happen to her when she was really young and that the guy was a federal judge. She said she had been assaulted. She said hers had been violent as well, physically scary, fighting for her life.”

“Mitch McConnell, preeminent cut-throat political tactician, is going with a softer touch to salvage Brett Kavanaugh’s suddenly endangered Supreme Court confirmation,” Politico reports.

“With Kavanaugh’s seemingly slam-dunk elevation to the Supreme Court facing resistance from a handful of key GOP senators, McConnell convened a marathon meeting with Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans and his leadership team on Monday.”

“Holed up for nearly two hours in McConnell’s Senate office, they devised a process to satisfy Kavanaugh’s defenders and appease Republicans uncomfortable with forging ahead until the nominee’s accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, gets a full public hearing.”

“The sexual-misconduct allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh may remove pressure that some Democratic senators faced to back his confirmation as a way of reassuring conservative voters in congressional elections just seven weeks away,” Reuters reports.

“Since Kavanaugh was nominated to the high court by President Donald Trump, Democratic senators from states that Trump won in 2016 were locked in a dilemma. If they didn’t vote in favor of Kavanaugh’s confirmation, they would have appeared to be out of step with voters at home and risked losing re-election.”

Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who accused him of assaulting her in high school, will both testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday.

New York Times: “The hearings will set up a potentially explosive public showdown, one that carries unmistakable echoes of the 1991 testimony of Anita Hill, who accused the future Justice Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment in an episode that riveted the nation and ushered a slew of women into public office. They will play out against the backdrop of the #MeToo movement, which has energized Democratic women across the nation.”

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) “told reporters on Monday that if Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh lied in denying that he sexually assaulted a woman at a high school party in the early 1980s that it would ‘obviously’ disqualify him from a seat on the nation’s highest court,” CNBC reports.

Said Collins: “Obviously if Judge Kavanaugh has lied about what happened that would be disqualifying.”

President Trump called the notion that Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination for the Supreme Court might be withdrawn over sexual misconduct allegations from his high school days “ridiculous,” Roll Call reports.

“But he backed delaying the confirmation process so the nominee and his accuser could speak with senators.”

Said Trump: “If it takes a little delay, it’ll take a little delay. I’m sure it will work out very well.”