In what could be the first leak from the tightly guarded FBI report on sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, The Wall Street Journal reported early Friday that one of the FBI witnesses said she felt pressured by allies of accuser Christine Blasey Ford to revisit her initial statement on Ford's account of attempted rape at a party in high school. "People familiar with the matter" told the Journal that Leland Keyser, a friend of Ford's, informed FBI investigators that a mutual friend, Monica McLean, had urged her to clarify her statement.
On Sept. 23, Keyser's lawyers sent the Judiciary Committee a statement saying she didn't remember attending any party with Kavanaugh, though Keyser also told The Washington Post the same day that she believed Ford. On Sept. 29, two days after Kavanaugh told the committee that Keyser's statement "refuted" Ford's allegation, Keyser's lawyer sent the committee a statement saying that while she does not recall the alleged incident, "Ms. Keyser does not refute Dr. Ford's account, and she has already told the press that she believes Dr. Ford's account."
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