Sen. Claire McCaskill (D., Mo.) told reporters Wednesday that she plans to "set aside" the allegations of sexual assault against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh when deciding whether she will support him, according to Missouri reporter Will Schmitt.
McCaskill, who has been mum on whether she'll back Kavanaugh, said Wednesday that a decision would be coming "very shortly" and that the allegations from Christine Blasey Ford, who says Kavanaugh jumped on her during a party when they were high school students, would play no role in her final decision, according to Schmitt.
"Regarding allegations against Brett Kavanaugh, Sen. Claire McCaskill says she will 'set them aside' when she decides how to vote on the judge’s nomination," Schmitt wrote on Twitter.
He added that McCaskill said "she wants to focus on policy and judicial record when considering her vote on Kavanaugh."
McCaskill's statement comes a day after the accuser's lawyer said she was no longer willing to testify in front of the Senate on her allegations against Kavanaugh. Republicans have said they are willing to hear her testimony in either a public or private session, and were also willing to send staffers to California to hear from her.
McCaskill stated earlier this month that she was "uncomfortable" with the #MeToo movement, voicing concern that the importance of due process was being lost.
"I think that it is better for us to talk about the specifics of incidents and make sure that we are not in such a rush to wrap it all up into a two-word hashtag that we forget very important things like due process," McCaskill said. "And that we forget important things like making sure that there’s a system in place that everyone can be heard fairly. And most importantly, that the survivors have the support they need to make educated decisions about the way forward."