Republican Senate leaders agreed to allow time for an FBI investigation into sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh on Friday afternoon, after a visibly distraught Jeff Flake surprised leadership by asking for a weeklong delay before holding a vote on his confirmation.
Flake, after consulting with Democratic senator Chris Coons and others during a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting to advance Kavanaugh on Friday, announced that he would support moving forward with the nominee if the Republican leadership would accept his demand for an FBI investigation.
“I think it would be proper to delay the floor vote for up to, but not more than, one week in order to let the FBI do an investigation limited in time and scope to the current allegations that are there,” Flake said. The Arizona Republican, who holds leverage on the committee because Republicans control it by only one vote, announced Friday morning that he would support Kavanaugh’s confirmation, but he appeared to grapple with the decision throughout the meeting.
“We want a more fulsome process that the country can be proud of,” Flake told reporters later on Friday. He lauded the committee’s willingness to hold a hearing to address the allegations on Thursday but added, “Still, there’s lingering doubt out there among a lot of people that we haven’t taken every measure that we should to make sure that these allegations are dealt with. And so that’s what this effort is about.”
There was some confusion within the committee regarding the veracity of Flake’s pronouncement, because he did not have a finalized deal with GOP leaders and it was uncertain that Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would go along with his demands. But when undecided Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski expressed her support for Flake’s gambit, along with Maine Republican Susan Collins, it became clear that the retiring senator had enough support to force McConnell’s hand on the matter.
“I support the FBI having an opportunity to bring some closure to this,” Murkowski said, adding that she had spoken with Flake about the issue before his maneuvering during the committee meeting.
After a group of key Republican swing votes and members of the Judiciary Committee met with GOP leaders Friday afternoon, the committee announced in a statement that it would ask the White House to instruct the FBI to conduct a supplemental background investigation, which “would be limited to current credible allegations against the nominee and must be completed no later than one week from today.”
The White House requested that the FBI proceed with the investigation soon after.
Republican Whip John Cornyn told reporters as he left that the next order of business would be a vote on Saturday at noon on a motion to proceed to debate on the nomination. And discussing specifics of his deal with GOP leaders, Flake said that McConnell had agreed not to hold a vote on cloture until a final FBI report had been released.
Afterward, Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley looked on the bright side: “We’ve had a good day today by moving the nominee. A good day,” he said. “We’re very happy with the progress we’ve made.”
Senate Democrats have called repeatedly for the FBI to look into Christine Blasey Ford’s allegation that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her at a house party in the early 1980s. A lengthy and emotional hearing involving both Ford and Kavanaugh on Thursday was intended to shed light on the matter, but no other witnesses were called and it left many questions unanswered. Republicans had previously planned to push the nominee through quickly after the hearing, aiming for a final vote early next week, on Tuesday or Wednesday.
South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham, who loudly and angrily expressed his frustration with Democrats’ opposition to Kavanaugh during a remarkable moment in Thursday’s hearing, responded with slightly more serenity to Flake’s decision to ask for the investigation on Friday.
“I think the process has been abused, but the people who are asking for this are very sincere, they’re good people, and this is called democracy, so I’m OK,” said Graham.
A number of Democrats supported the move, saying that it would allow for a more thorough accounting of the sexual assault allegations.
“There is perhaps increasing sense in the Republican caucus that they risk getting in real trouble if they vote this guy through without a proper investigation and then some of these claims prove out,” Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, told TWS.
