A fundraiser for Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) slated for October at the office of Katz, Marshall & Banks, LLP — the firm where Debra Katz, attorney for Brett Kavanaugh’s accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, is a partner — was canceled once news of the partisan event surfaced.
Katz and attorney Lisa Banks were listed as headliners for the “cocktails and conversation” event to raise money for Baldwin’s 2018 re-election bid, according to an invitation obtained by CNN.
Invitees were asked to pay $1,000 to attend the October 1 event at the Washington, DC, law firm, CNN reported:
After CNN contacted the Baldwin campaign and the attorneys, Katz called CNN to say that the event was being canceled. The invite was sent Thursday morning, but a campaign spokesman called it an “old invite” scheduled before Ford’s accusation became public.
“The short answer is this: We did a fundraiser for Sen. Baldwin six years ago when we ran for the Senate, we supported her then,” Katz told CNN. “We are not going to be doing a fundraiser now. We’re going to be focused on the issues involving the Kavanaugh confirmation process.”
In the eleventh hour of Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation process to be seated on the United States Supreme Court — days after long hearings and days before a scheduled Senate Judiciary Committee vote — Ford accused the federal judge of groping her at a party while the two were in high school.
Since making the allegation, Republicans in charge of the committee have scrambled to offer Ford the opportunity to testify on Monday and gave her several options for an interview venue with the committee or committee staff in D.C. or even in her home state of California.
Initially, Katz said Ford would not testify until after the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) had completed a probe into her claim — even after the agency said it would not conduct an investigation.
Now Katz has said her client would be willing to come before the committee but not on Monday.
Republicans still hope to have Kavanaugh confirmed before the high court begins its next session on October 1.
A Baldwin campaign spokesman confirmed the event was canceled, according to CNN.
“The event was scheduled before Dr. Ford made the allegations,” the spokesman said. “Dr. Ford’s lawyers are no longer involved in the event.”
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