Republicans hire sex-crimes prosecutor to question Ford, schedule Friday vote on Kavanaugh.

Brett Kavanaugh answers questions during a
Fox News interview on Sept. 24, 2018,
about allegations of sexual misconduct.
 (Photo:Jacquelyn Martin/AP)

Perhaps confident that they have the votes to confirm Brett Kavanaugh as the next justice on the Supreme Court, Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee have scheduled a Friday vote to move his nomination to a vote by the entire Senate.

The vote, scheduled for 9:30 a.m. ET, will come the day after the committee hears testimony from Christine Blasey Ford, a professor at Palo Alto University who has accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault when the two were high school students in Maryland.

Rather than face the potentially awkward spectacle of an all-male Republican contingent questioning Ford, Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, will turn over the questioning to a woman, a sex-crimes prosecutor he refused to name in advance.

By David Knowles.   

Full story at Yahoo News.