The Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee has given Christine Blasey Ford until midafternoon Saturday to respond on whether she will testify next week on her allegation of sexual assault against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
The new deadline of 2:30 p.m. Saturday comes after the committee chairman, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, extended a previous deadline of 10 p.m. Friday night.
Grassley tweeted Friday night he “granted another extension” to Ford “to decide if she wants to proceed with the statement she made last week to testify to the Senate.” He was referring to Ford's account to The Washington Post on Sunday of the alleged assault by Kavanaugh when the two were teens in the Maryland suburbs in the 1980s.
The Republican committee chairman tweeted that he had granted Ford "five extensions" in setting terms for her testimony and he apologized to Kavanaugh, saying he's not normally so indecisive.
Grassley has also said that if Ford’s attorneys do not respond by the new deadline or if she refuses to testify, the committee will move ahead and vote on Kavanaugh's nomination Monday.
Ford's lawyer, Debra S. Katz, sent a letter Friday accusing Grassley of setting "aggressive and artificial deadlines" on the negotiations.
"The imposition of aggressive and artificial deadlines regarding the date and conditions of any hearing has created tremendous and unwarranted anxiety and stress on Dr. Ford," Katz wrote. "Your cavalier treatment of a sexual assault survivor who has been doing her best to cooperate with the Committee is completely inappropriate."
Katz has said her client is willing to talk to the committee if specific requirements are met.
Prior to the extension Friday, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee also questioned why Republicans could not wait another day to get a response from Ford.
“It’s clear that Republicans are doing all they can to cement another conservative seat on the Supreme Court—at any cost—even pushing through a nominee with a cloud of controversy hanging over his head,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California said.
“Brett Kavanaugh could serve on the court for 40 years, what’s another 24 hours to make sure we get this right?” she said.
ABC News' Trish Turner and Ali Rogin contributed to this report.
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