Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and Hurricane Florence were the top names in news headlines this past week.

"Along with the comments from President Trump this morning, what we are seeing is exactly why it's so hard for survivors of sexual assault to come forward, especially when they are traumatized teenagers as Dr. Ford was when this assault that she reports now happened", Hassan said.

Jettisoning the relative restraint he's shown on the subject the past several days, POTUS's tweets follow previous night's Vegas rally interview with Fox News's Sean Hannity in which Trump attacked Ford herself for not coming forward with her allegation 36 years ago. Kavanaugh has accepted the committee's invitation for Monday, saying he "categorically and unequivocally" denies the assault.

President Donald Trump fervently defended his Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh on September 21, tweeting that the sexual assault allegations against him are a hit job by the "radical left". "Some of us are trying to be fair and do the right thing, to not jam it through, but obviously it's been a challenge".

The accusation has jarred the 53-year-old conservative jurist's prospects for winning confirmation, which until Ford's emergence last week had seemed all but certain.

She said she is willing to testify at earliest on Thursday.

The women also questioned the claims of his accuser.

Ford wants Kavanaugh to testify first and then she will tell her story to the committee, a committee staffer said. Among the least likely to report sexual assault are women of college age, the elderly, and members of the military.

The GOP is defending House and Senate majorities in the election, and though Trump is not on the ballot November 6, the contest is widely considered a referendum on his stewardship.

Attacking Ford, as Trump did, hardened the standoff between Ford and Senate Republicans into a risky, and now direct, confrontation.

Collins has met with Kavanaugh, but she has not tipped her hand one way or the other about how she plans to vote. "Facts don't matter. I go through this with them every single day in DC".

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"She has been receiving death threats, which have been reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and she and her family have been forced out of their home", Ford's lawyers said in a letter published by United States media.

Miranda said she believes Ford, noting that it is unlikely that someone would put herself and her family through such scrutiny if it wasn't true.

Her lawyers say the professor's life has been turned upside down, having received death threats and been forced out of her home. She will have the opportunity to do so before we give Judge Kavanaugh the opportunity to respond. He said that Ford and her attorneys have until Friday to commit to appear at a hearing that could take place Monday about these allegations.

However, Prof Ford has set out conditions for her appearance which have yet to be agreed by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Republicans are considering bringing in an outside counsel, possibly a woman, to question Ford.

Trump's tweets came as lawyers for Ford continued negotiations with Republicans about conditions under which she might testify next week in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Taylor Foy, spokesman for Republicans who control the committee, said in a written statement, "We are happy that Dr. Ford's attorneys are now engaging with the Committee".

Previously, the president had led Republicans in insisting that Ford must be given a respectful, fair hearing, even if he fully vouched for Kavanaugh's character.

At issue are logistics - Christine Blasey Ford's security, her questioners, the placement of reporters and who is allowed in the hearing room.

By refusing to call Mark Judge as a witness, and refusing to direct the FBI to investigate, Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the president are in lockstep.