Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's sex assault accuser to testify next week

A university professor who has accused Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee of sexual assault has agreed to testify against him in court next week.

Christine Blasey Ford has accepted a Senate Judiciary Committee's request for her to tell her story of Brett Kavanuagh’s sexual misconduct.

But her lawyers said in a letter to the committee's Republican majority that they want to continue discussing the terms of her appearance.

Ms Ford, a 51-year-old California psychology professor, claims an inebriated Mr Kavanaugh pinned her on a bed, muffled her cries and tried removing her clothes when they were both teenagers in the 1980s.

Mr Kavanaugh, a District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals judge, has repeatedly denied the accusation.

President Trump, who nominated Mr Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court, has waded into the issue, claiming that if the alleged attack was that "bad", she would have filed charges at the time.

He tweeted on Friday: "I have no doubt that, if the attack on Dr. Ford was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement Authorities by either her or her loving parents. I ask that she bring those filings forward so that we can learn date, time, and place!"

On Saturday, vice-president Mike Pence described Mr Kavanaugh as "a man of integrity with impeccable credentials".

He said the judge's record and career deserve "the respect of every member of the United States Senate".

He made no reference to Ms Ford, but he said he is confident Mr Kavanaugh will soon join the high court.