Leland Keyser Reportedly Told FBI She Was Pressured By Dr. Ford’s Friend Monica McLean to Change Statement on Allegation

A close friend of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford was reportedly pressured to revisit her statement about the attack that allegedly took place 36 years ago.

Leland Keyser, one of several people that Ford said was at the party where Brett Kavanaugh allegedly assaulted her, did not corroborate her claim, saying she did not recall the event. However, according to The Wall Street Journal, she told the FBI that efforts were made to change her tune.

Keyser alleges that Ford’s friend Monica McLean, a retired FBI agent, had urged her to “clarify” her statement. Keyser submitted their text messages to the FBI as part of their investigation.

If Monica McLean rings a bell, that’s because she was the person Ford’s ex-boyfriend named in his letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee, who he alleged relied on Ford’s help on taking polygraph exams while interviewing for jobs at the Department of Justice and U.S. Attorney’s Office.

“The statement to the FBI offers a glimpse into how Dr. Ford’s allies were working behind the scenes to lobby old classmates to bolster their versions of the alleged incident, as were Judge Kavanaugh’s,” the Journal reports.

McLean’s lawyer, David Laufman, denied the allegation made by Keyser.

“Any notion or claim that Ms. McLean pressured Leland Keyser to alter Ms. Keyser’s account of what she recalled concerning the alleged incident between Dr. Ford and Brett Kavanaugh is absolutely false,” Laufman said in a statement.

Late on Thursday, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) sent a letter to Dr. Ford’s legal team requesting the communications made by her and her team to various parties due to “recently uncovered information.”

“In addition to the evidence I requested in my October 2 letter, in light of recently uncovered information, please turn over records and descriptions of direct or indirect communications between Dr. Ford or her representatives and any of of the following: (1) U.S.  Senators or their staffs, particularly the offices of Senators Feinstein and Hirono… (2) the alleged witnesses identified by Dr. Ford (Leland Keyser, Mark Judge, and Patrick ‘P.J.’ Smyth); and (3) Debbie Ramirez, Julie Swetnick, or their representatives.”

[image via Getty]