Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to be the next associate justice to the Supreme Court looked like a done deal when the Senate Judiciary Committee gaveled in this morning. While Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony Thursday about her alleged sexual assault at the hands of a drunken Kavanaugh when the two were in high school was riveting and compelling, Kavanaugh put up a vigorous defense. President Trump loved the performance of his nominee, and it appeared that Kavanaugh did enough to keep the Republicans in his corner.

Then Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz. turned the tables, requesting at the last minute that the full Senate floor vote be delayed until the FBI conducted a one-week investigation into the multiple allegations made against the D.C. Circuit Court judge. In the senator’s words: “I think it would be proper to delay the floor vote up to but not more than one week in order to let the FBI do an investigation limited in time and scope [on] the current allegations that are there.”