KAVANAUGH UPDATE | Trump says 'hard to imagine' Kavanaugh assaulted woman

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said today the White House and Republican supporters of Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination would have to "make a decision" on going forward if the woman accusing him of a long-ago sexual assault delivers a compelling account to senators considering confirmation.

But amid uncertainty over Kavanaugh's fate and even whether next Monday's scheduled hearing would occur, Trump cast fresh doubt on whether the alleged 1980s attack even happened.

"Look, if she shows up and makes a credible showing that'll be very interesting," Trump told reporters as he left the White House to survey flood damage in North Carolina. "We'll have to make a decision. But I can only say this: He is such an outstanding man. Very hard for me to imagine that anything happened."

Republicans have set a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing for Monday that is supposed to feature Kavanaugh and his accuser, California psychology professor Christine Blasey Ford.

Backed by Democrats, Ford has said she wants the FBI to first investigate the alleged incident, in which she says Kavanaugh pinned her on a bed and tried taking off her clothes during a high school party.

Only the White House can order the FBI to get involved, since Ford is not accusing Kavanaugh of a federal crime. The FBI could interview Ford, Kavanaugh and others about the allegation if Trump asked the bureau to reopen its background investigation, but the president has rejected that idea, saying the FBI has already done its work.

The FBI was involved originally since it handles part of the background checks for presidential nominations of Supreme Court justices.

Republicans are hoping to win committee and full Senate approval for Kavanaugh this month, before the new Supreme Court session begins, and have shown no taste for slowing that process. A substantial delay could push confirmation past the November elections – when Democrats have a shot at winning Senate control – plus allow more time for unforeseen problems to pop up.

"I'd really want to see her. I really would want to see what she has to say," Trump said Wednesday. "If she shows up that would be wonderful. If she doesn't show up that would be unfortunate."

While most Republicans have expressed support for Kavanaugh, they've largely been careful to not criticize Ford's assertions about what she says happened. That underscores a desire to avoid antagonizing female voters at a time when the #MeToo movement has made sexual abuse a major political dynamic.

9:26 a.m.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Christine Blasey Ford wants the FBI to investigate her allegation that she was sexually assaulted by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh before she testifies at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing next week, her lawyers said in a letter to the panel.

The lawyers wrote that Ford, who is now a college professor in California, wants to cooperate with the committee. But in the days since she publicly accused Kavanaugh of assaulting her at a party 35 years ago, the lawyers said, she has been the target of "vicious harassment and even death threats." Her family has relocated, they said.

An FBI investigation "should be the first step in addressing the allegations," the lawyers wrote in the Tuesday letter, which was obtained by The Associated Press.

The development came after President Donald Trump showered sympathy on his embattled nominee and as Senate Republicans and Democrats fought determinedly over who should testify at a high-stakes hearing on the allegation just six weeks before major congressional elections.

Trump has already rejected the idea of bringing in the FBI to reopen its background check of Kavanaugh. Should he order such a review, it would likely delay a confirmation vote until after the election.

In the Senate, the issue of whether, when and if Ford might testify has ignited a furor, especially among Democratic women. Democrats in general are complaining that the process is being rushed, but some women are seeing a deeper — and possibly insidious — narrative, especially if Republicans go ahead with Monday's hearing without Ford.

"A sham hearing would send a very clear message that women are not valued in this country," said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y. "To refuse to treat this properly and try to confirm Judge Kavanaugh at any cost tells women that once again they are not important and they are not to be believed. That you are worth less than a man's promotion."

Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, said she had seen a "callousness from my colleagues that I am totally appalled by," especially if Republicans press forward with a hearing without Ford. The GOP goal is to have Kavanaugh confirmed by Oct. 1, the start of the next Supreme Court term.

"I think we all know when a situation is stacked," Hirono told CNN on Wednesday. "This is a situation that is stacked....She's already been attacked, had to move out of her house."

In a tweet Tuesday night, Trump wrote: "The Supreme Court is one of the main reasons I got elected President. I hope Republican voters, and others, are watching, and studying, the Democrats Playbook."

Republicans say Ford will have one chance to testify, and one chance only.

"Monday is her opportunity," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Tuesday. McConnell expressed confidence that Kavanaugh would be confirmed: "I'm not concerned about tanking the nomination."

The GOP chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, said an FBI investigation wouldn't have bearing on Ford's testimony so "there is no reason for further delay."

Grassley said the committee offered Ford "the opportunity to share her story" in a public or a private hearing, or staff interviews, "whichever makes her most comfortable. The invitation for Monday still stands."

The furious jockeying over Ford's testimony underscores the political potency so close to an election that will decide control of the House and the Senate, not to mention the confirmation of a conservative justice likely to serve on the high court for decades.

Democrats complain that Ford was not consulted before the hearing was announced. They also want more witnesses besides Kavanaugh and Ford, hoping to avoid what they said would turn into a "he-said-she-said" moment.

The lawyers for Ford predicted the hearing, as now scheduled, "would include interrogation by senators who appear to have made up their minds" that she is "mistaken" and mixed up.

Anita Hill, whose allegation Clarence Thomas sexually harassed her prompted a similar hearing in 1991, told ABC on Wednesday that the Judiciary Committee could be holding "just a sham proceeding" next week without the FBI investigation Ford wants. Thomas denied Hill's account and was confirmed to the Supreme Court.

Hillary Clinton, the 2016 Democratic presidential candidate, told MSNBC on Tuesday that the White House should request an FBI investigation of the sexual-assault accusation and any refusal to do so by Republicans amounts to rushing to confirm him.

Clinton says that makes it difficult to "avoid the appearance of insult" against Ford. Clinton says she thinks Republicans are trying to put Ford "in the dock and try to rush this through."

Republicans have been careful to say that Ford should have her chance to speak, and they have stressed that they are willing to move Monday's hearing behind closed doors, if she prefers.

"Were planning on a hearing Monday. It can be open. It can be closed, whatever Ms. Ford wants," said Sen. John Kennedy, a member of the Judiciary panel from Louisiana. "We're ready to hear anything she has to say. I am, anyway, and I think most of us are."

One witness the Democrats want to hear from is Kavanaugh's high school friend Mark Judge, who Ford said was in the room when she was assaulted. Kavanaugh has denied Ford's allegation, and Judge says he doesn't remember any such thing.

"More to the point, I never saw Brett act in the manner Dr. Ford describes," Judge said in a letter to the panel.

The risks of a public hearing starring the all-male lineup of Republicans on the committee could be high. Republicans said late Tuesday they were considering hiring outside attorneys, presumably including women, to question the witnesses. But that may be moot if Ford declines to appear.

Kavanaugh, 53, was at the White House on Tuesday for a second straight day, but again did not meet with Trump. The president said he was "totally supporting" Kavanaugh and felt "terribly" for him and his family.

"I feel so badly for him that he's going through this, to be honest with you, I feel so badly for him," said Trump, who has himself faced numerous accusations of sexual harassment that he's denied. "This is not a man that deserves this."

The No. 2 Senate Republican leader, John Cornyn of Texas, noted that Ford has admitted she doesn't remember some details of what happened. He called the allegations a "drive-by attack" on the judge's character.

"There are gaps in her memory," Cornyn said. "She doesn't know how she got there, when it was and so that would logically be something where she would get questions."

Criticism like that fed a Democratic narrative that the GOP's handling of Ford could jeopardize that party's election prospects in the age of #MeToo, the response to sexual abuse that has torched the careers of prominent men.

"Now this is really what #MeToo is all about, if you think about it," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Judiciary Committee Democrat. "That's sort of the first thing that happens, it's the woman's fault. And it is not the woman's fault."

Ford went public with her story Sunday, telling The Washington Post that Kavanaugh had forced himself on her in a bedroom at a party when he was 17 and she was 15, attempting to remove her clothes and clapping his hand over her mouth when she tried to scream. She says she escaped when Judge jumped on the bed.

Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Mary Clare Jalonick, Juliet Linderman and Catherine Lucey contributed from Washington.