Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley said in a statement late Tuesday that there’s no need for an FBI investigation into the allegation by California college professor Christine Blasey Ford. He didn’t say if the hearing on Monday would go on without Ford or when the panel would vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination without hearing her testimony.

Republican Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee said he sees no reason to wait. “Republicans extended a hand in good faith. If we don’t hear from both sides on Monday, let’s vote,” Corker wrote on Twitter.

GOP Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said earlier on Fox News he’s ready to vote next week whether or not Ford testifies. Yet plowing ahead with the nomination, which seemed all but assured before going sideways less than a week ago, carries the risk of alienating moderate Republican senators, like Maine’s Susan Collins, Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski and Arizona’s Jeff Flake, in a chamber where the party holds a very narrow majority.

Flake on Tuesday night tweeted that the committee had put off its vote to confirm Kavanaugh at his request and “I now implore Dr. Ford to accept the invitation for Monday, in a public or private setting.”

Republicans want the Senate to confirm Kavanaugh before the Supreme Court begins its new term Oct 1.

Grassley, an Iowa Republican, said Ford’s testimony “would reflect her personal knowledge and memory of events. Nothing the FBI or any other investigator does would have any bearing on what Dr. Ford tells the committee, so there is no reason for any further delay.”

In a letter to the Judiciary Committee, lawyers for Ford said she is prepared to cooperate with the panel but that an FBI investigation should be “the first step” before she appears before the senators to describe her allegation.

Kavanaugh has repeatedly denied Ford’s claim that he sexually assaulted her at a party in Maryland when they were in high school. The Judiciary panel had been scheduled to vote on his nomination Thursday, but postponed it and scheduled the public hearing for Monday. Ford was invited to testify only after the hearing had been set.

“The hearing was scheduled for six short days from today and would include interrogation by senators who appear to have made up their minds that she is ‘mistaken’ and ‘mixed up,’” Ford’s lawyers, Debra Katz and Lisa Banks, said in the letter. “A full investigation by law enforcement officials will ensure that the crucial facts and witnesses in this matter are assessed in a non-partisan manner.”

Pressure on Trump

The demands for an investigation also puts pressure on President Donald Trump, since it’s up to the White House to ask the FBI to step in. Trump said earlier Tuesday he feels “terribly” that Kavanaugh is facing the allegation.

“I feel so badly for him. This is not a man who deserves this,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “Hopefully the woman will come forward, state her case. He will state his case,” he said, adding, “We will see what happens.”

Trump also said he didn’t want the FBI to look into the allegation against Kavanaugh.

“I don’t think the FBI should be involved because they don’t want to be involved, if they wanted to be I would certainly do that,” the president said. “This is not really their thing. The senators will do a good job.”

However, a person familiar with the matter said the FBI did not tell the president or the White House that it doesn’t want to be involved in the allegations against Kavanaugh or that it’s not their thing. The FBI could do further investigation if the White House requests it and provides direction, the person said.

On Tuesday night, Trump took the debate to Twitter, saying, “The Supreme Court is one of the main reasons I got elected President. I hope Republican Voters, and others, are watching and studying, the Democrats Playbook.”

Death threats

Ford’s lawyers said she has received a “stunning amount of support” since going public with her claim over the weekend, but she also “has been the target of vicious harassment and even death threats,” and has moved her family out of their home.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and the Judiciary panel’s top Democrat, Dianne Feinstein of California, backed the Ford attorneys’ call for an FBI investigation – a step Democrats have been demanding.

“I agree with her 100% that the rushed process to hold a hearing on Monday has been unfair,” Feinstein said in a statement.

In 1991 the FBI did investigate Anita Hill’s allegations of sexual harassment against then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas before their testimony on the matter to the Judiciary Committee. Hill accused him of harassing her when he was her supervisor at two federal agencies.

Feinstein said Tuesday the plan to hold a hearing in only a week was “reminiscent of the treatment of Anita Hill.” Thomas was confirmed, but Hill’s allegation caused a nationwide uproar, and many women contended she was unfairly treated by the then all-male Judiciary Committee.

Only Ford and Kavanaugh, who has strongly denied her allegation, were being called to testify at Monday’s hearing, and Democrats strongly objected to that arrangement. They said they needed testimony from Kavanaugh classmate Mark Judge, who Ford said was present during the alleged attack.

“He is identified specifically as an eyewitness” and should testify, said second-ranking Senate Democrat Dick Durbin of Illinois.

No memory

“I have no memory of this alleged incident,” Judge said in a statement sent to the committee by his lawyer, Barbara Van Gelder. “Brett Kavanaugh and I were friends in high school but I do not recall the party described in Dr. Ford’s letter. More to the point, I never saw Brett act in the manner Dr. Ford describes.”

Judge’s statement added that he didn’t want to speak publicly about the matter.

Ford says that Kavanaugh was drunk at a house party in about 1982, pinned her down on a bed, tried to remove her clothes and put his hand over her mouth to stop her from screaming. She said she was able to escape, but the Washington Post reported that she described the episode to a therapist in 2013 as a “rape attempt.”

Kavanaugh said in a statement released by the White House Monday, “This is a completely false allegation. I have never done anything like what the accuser describes – to her or to anyone.”

He was at the White House again Tuesday, after spending about nine hours there on Monday.