A new letter from Deborah Ramirez’s legal team says she is “willing to cooperate” with the Senate Judiciary Committee about her allegations of sexual misconduct against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
In an interview with The New Yorker, Ramirez, 53, accused Kavanaugh of exposing himself to her at a dormitory party when they were students at Yale University. Kavanaugh and the White House have denied the allegation.
“Ms. Ramirez has no agenda. She did not volunteer for this. But nor has she, or will she, shy away from truthfully recounting the facts. She asks only to be treated fairly,” one of her attorneys, William Pittard, wrote in a letter Wednesday to Chairman Chuck Grassley and the top Democrat on the committee Dianne Feinstein.
The letter from her attorney reiterated her request to the committee for the FBI to investigate the alleged incident, arguing that it would “allow a credible, efficient, and professional development of the facts – free from partisanship.”
Pittard also accused the GOP staff on the Judiciary Committee of refusing to speak with Ramirez’s legal team, adding, “instead, that staff has insisted that Ms. Ramirez first ‘provide her evidence.’”
“Respectfully, that demand misunderstands the process,” Pittard wrote. “Ms. Ramirez has not conducted an investigation to gather materials that she now somehow can present, gift-wrapped, to the Committee.”
He added, “She is not a litigant, and she is not a partisan.”
He argued that the “majority’s confusion on this issue” supports the request for an FBI investigation.
CNN obtained a separate letter from John Clune, another attorney for Ramirez, sent Tuesday to the FBI’s Denver office, requesting that the “facts” reported by Ramirez be included in the agency’s background investigation for Kavanaugh’s nomination.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to hear from Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, the first woman who came forward in accusing him of sexual misconduct decades ago, on Thursday.
In a letter from Grassley to Feinstein on Tuesday, Grassley denied her request to delay Thursday’s hearing in the wake of Ramirez’s allegation and for the FBI to look into the claim. He said he’s “unclear” as to why Ramirez’s accusations should have “any bearing” on Ford’s testimony.
Grassley also wrote that the committee will decide how to proceed if Ramirez submits testimony and evidence, “which committee investigators have requested.”
CNN’s Katelyn Polantz contributed to this report.
