WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump is open to having both accusers of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh testify on Thursday in the Senate, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said.
Sexual abuse allegations brought by Christine Blasey Ford and Deborah Ramirez have ignited a political firestorm that now threatens the conservative judge's bid for a seat on the highest US court.
Blasey Ford, who accuses Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her at a party when they were both teenagers, has agreed to testify Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, followed by Kavanaugh.
In an interview Tuesday with ABC's "Good Morning America," Sanders said the White House would be open to adding Kavanaugh's second accuser, Ramirez, to the hearing.
"Certainly we would be open to that and that process could take place on Thursday," she said.
"Again the president has been clear: let them speak but also let Judge Kavanaugh speak and let's let him tell his side of the story before we allow allegations determine his entire future," she added.
Ramirez, a former classmate of Kavanaugh's at Yale University, told The New Yorker magazine that he exposed himself to her at an alcohol-fueled dorm party in the early 1980s, causing her to touch his penis as she pushed him away.
Kavanaugh vehemently denies the accusations, vowing to fight what he has denounced as "smears, pure and simple."