Seven GOP congressmen call for House and Senate Ethics investigations into leaking of Ford letter

Seven Republican congressmen formally requested on Wednesday that the House and Senate Ethics Committees investigate Democrats' handling of Christine Blasey Ford's letter detailing sexual assault allegations.

Representatives Andy Biggs, Steve King, Jeff Duncan, Bob Gibbs, Ralph Normal, Rod Blum, and Louie Gohmert sent two letters to each chamber's Ethics Committee targeting Rep. Anna Eshoo and Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

They requested that both California Democrats and their staff be investigated in other to determine how Ms. Blasey Ford's letter was leaked to the press.

"Deliberately outing Dr. Ford without her consent may have a lasting impact on women's willingness to report future assaults," the letters read. "For these reasons, we are calling for an immediate ethics investigation to identify the individuals who are responsible for this breach and take appropriate action."

Ms. Eshoo explained in interviews that Ms. Blasey Ford came to her earlier in the summer with the allegations. She said after talking for an hour and a half that her constituent wanted her to move the allegations forward, so she spoke to Ms. Feinstein about them.

After that conversation, Ms. Feinstein requested that Ms. Blasey Ford send a letter to her office detailing the allegations. That letter was dated July 30th, but was not publicly disclosed until September.