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

WASHINGTON — Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh again denied Monday that he sexually assaulted a woman when the two were in high school, and said he was willing to testify publicly in response to the allegation.

“This is a completely false allegation. I have never done anything like what the accuser describes — to her or to anyone,” Kavanaugh said in a statement released by the White House. “Because this never happened, I had no idea who was making this accusation until she identified herself yesterday.

“I am willing to talk to the Senate Judiciary Committee in any way the Committee deems appropriate to refute this false allegation, from 36 years ago, and defend my integrity.”

The committee’s chairman, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said in a statement Monday that the woman, Christine Blasey Ford, “deserves to be heard,” but did not say whether he will call her and Kavanaugh before the committee to testify.

For now, Grassley said that he’s in the process of setting up follow-up phone calls with each of them, complaining again about the timing of the news.

“Unfortunately, committee Republicans have only known this person’s identity from news reports for less than 24 hours and known about her allegations for less than a week. Senator Feinstein, on the other hand, has had this information for many weeks and deprived her colleagues of the information necessary to do our jobs,” Grassley said. “The Minority withheld even the anonymous allegations for six weeks, only to later decide that they were serious enough to investigate on the eve of the committee vote, after the vetting process had been completed.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Monday morning that the committee should delay its scheduled Thursday vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination, saying in an interview on ABC’s “The View” that to push the process along at this point without a pause would be “an insult to the women of America.”

“I think the allegations of Professor Ford are extremely credible,” Schumer said. “She took a lie detector test. She talked [about] this to her therapist. They were having family counseling, in part because of what happened to her, five years ago and told all the details. Third, to come out and say something like this puts you and your family through incredible scrutiny. People throw brick bats at you and everything else. She didn’t do it on a whim. I don’t think she did it for political reasons, so she has a great deal of credibility.”

Kavanaugh arrived at the White House just after 10 a.m. Monday morning, remaining there as of early afternoon.

The lawyer for Ford, 51, said in an interview on NBC’s “Today” that Ford was willing to publicly testify about the experience.

Ford is “willing to do whatever it takes,” said her attorney, Debra Katz. Ford revealed her identity in an article published online Sunday in The Washington Post.

Katz added that her client believes Kavanaugh’s actions were “attempted rape” and she’s willing to testify publicly about it.

“She believes that if it were not for the severe intoxication of Brett Kavanaugh, she would have been raped,” Katz said on “Today.”

The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination on Thursday, but Democrats have called for a postponement pending an investigation into the allegations. Two Senate Republicans — Jeff Flake of Arizona and Bob Corker of Tennessee — also called for a pause on Sunday, saying that they’d like to hear from Ford.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, considered a swing vote on Kavanaugh, said in a tweet Monday that both Ford and Kavanaugh should testify under oath before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Collins, who is not a member of that committee, spoke to Kavanaugh by phone on Friday about the allegations.

Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, one of several vulnerable red state Democrats up for re-election in November who have been considered potential votes for Kavanaugh, said in a statement posted on Twitter Monday that Ford’s allegation is “serious” and should be “thoroughly investigated.”

“Ford should be given an opportunity to testify before the Committee and she is willing to do so. Judge Kavanaugh has also expressed his willingness to discuss the issue with the Committee,” Heitkamp said. “It takes courage for any woman to speak up about sexual assault, and we need to respect Prof. Ford by listening to her and hearing her story.”

GOP leaders have been aiming to have Kananaugh confirmed before the Supreme Court’s new term begins in October. And they are crunched for time this week because the Jewish High Holy Day of Yom Kippur means the Senate will be out on Wednesday.