A woman who has accused US Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault has agreed to testify before a Senate panel, her lawyers have said.
The Senate Judiciary Committee had delayed a vote on Mr Kavanaugh's confirmation after California professor Christine Blasey Ford's allegations emerged last week, and her lawyers and committee staff were negotiating the conditions of her testimony.
"Dr Ford accepts the committee's request to provide her first-hand knowledge of Brett Kavanaugh's sexual misconduct next week," Debra Katz and Lisa Banks, Dr Ford's attorneys, said in astatement.
US Senate Republicans had threatened to go ahead with a Senate panel vote on US President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee Mr Kavanaugh on Monday unless a deal could be reached with Dr Ford.
Earlier yesterday, Mr Trump sought to cast doubt on Dr Ford's allegation that Mr Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in 1982 when both were high school students in Maryland.
Mr Kavanaugh has denied the allegation and pledged to testify at Monday's hearing.
The Republican-controlled Senate judiciary panel has struggled on how to proceed with Mr Kavanaugh's nomination.
Democrats have demanded more time for scrutiny, and Republicans want to move ahead quickly with a confirmation vote in an increasingly volatile political climate ahead of the congressional elections on 6 November.
Approval of Mr Kavanaugh would cement conservative control of the Supreme Court and advance a White House effort to tilt the American judiciary farther right.
Mr Trump and the White House had been careful not to malign Dr Ford after her allegations surfaced, but Mr Trump dropped the restraint in his tweets yesterday.
"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," Mr Trump said.
"I ask that she bring those filings forward so that we can learn date, time, and place!
"Judge Brett Kavanaugh is a fine man, with an impeccable reputation, who is under assault by radical left wing politicians who dont want to know the answers, they just want to destroy and delay," Trump wrote.
Senator Susan Collins, a moderate Republican and potentially a key vote on Mr Kavanaugh's nomination, said at an event in Portland, Maine, that she was "appalled" by Mr Trump's tweet.
"We know allegations of sexual assault are one of the most unreported crimes that exist," Ms Collins said, according to the Portland Press Herald.
"So I thought that the presidents tweet was completely inappropriate and wrong."
If the hearing proceeds, Republicans will be forced to walk a careful line in questioning Dr Ford's account without alienating women voters ahead of the elections. Before the 2016 presidential election, more than a dozen women accused Mr Trump of making unwanted advances.
