Earlier this week a former classmate of Kavanaugh’s accuser wrote on Facebook that the esxual assault did happen and said she supported Ford through all of this.
But now she’s saying she has no idea whether it really happened and doesn’t want to do anymore interviews:
NPR – A former classmate of Christine Blasey Ford tells NPR that she does not know if an alleged sexual assault by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh took place as she first suggested on social media.
“That it happened or not, I have no idea,” Cristina King Miranda told NPR’s Nina Totenberg. “I can’t say that it did or didn’t.”
That’s different from what Miranda wrote Wednesday in a now-deleted Facebook post that stated definitively, “The incident DID happen, many of us heard about it in school.”
This is the letter, posted on Facebook, from a woman who knew Kavanaugh, Judge and Blasey Ford and claims that the attack did happen, that "many of us heard about it in school," and that it was talked about for days afterward.
The FBI should interview her and others. pic.twitter.com/OZmEGP1Q1G— Jay Bookman (@jaybookmanajc) September 19, 2018
Miranda’s new comments are a significant development in what remains a largely “she said, he said” account of events between Ford and Kavanaugh.
“In my [Facebook] post, I was empowered and I was sure it probably did [happen],” Miranda told NPR. “I had no idea that I would now have to go to the specifics and defend it before 50 cable channels and have my face spread all over MSNBC news and Twitter.”
Miranda on Twitter noted that she did not have “first hand knowledge” of the incident.
To all media, I will not be doing anymore interviews. No more circus. To clarify my post: I do not have first hand knowledge of the incident that Dr. Christine Blasey Ford mentions, and I stand by my support for Christine. That's it. I don't have more to say on the subject.
— Cristina King Miranda (@reinabori) September 19, 2018
Miranda said staff from the Senate Judiciary Committee had reached out to her, something she was not expecting. She said she will not go through with a committee interview if asked.
Well that was fast. This was the only person that I know of that was actually vouching for Ford’s story, and now she’s recanting her deleted facebook post and going into hiding.
Amazing.
In related news, Grassley has given Ford until tomorrow morning to accept his request to testify, either publicly or privately:
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley is giving Christine Blasey Ford until Friday morning to say whether she will take lawmakers up on their offer to testify about her allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
Grassley, in a letter to Ford’s attorneys on Wednesday, set a 10 a.m. Friday deadline to respond to the invitation “if she intends to testify on Monday.”
“You have stated repeatedly that Dr. Ford wants to tell her story,” Grassley wrote in the letter. “I sincerely hope that Dr. Ford will accept my invitation to do so, either privately or publicly, on Monday.”
It’s still not clear if Ford — who claims Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her more than 35 years ago while in high school — will ultimately accept the invitation to testify on Capitol Hill.
Earlier this week, her attorney said Ford was willing to do so. But her legal team now says she won’t testify until the FBI investigates the allegations, something Republicans and the bureau have rejected.
I think I heard on the news this morning that Ford is now saying she doesn’t want to testify if it’s just going to be her and Kavanaugh. She wants the other people there who she suggested were witnesses to show up as well.
I really hope she doesn’t accept so we can all move on from this. It’s been an awful distraction to Kavanaugh getting nominated and very unfair to him and his family.