Senate Republican leaders are moving ahead with Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation, as members of the chamber will begin viewing material from an FBI supplemental background check to investigate claims of sexual assault against the nominee on Thursday morning.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell took action to advance the nomination at around 9:45 p.m. Wednesday, before Congress received the FBI report overnight. This will allow Republicans to follow through on McConnell’s repeated pledge to hold Kavanaugh’s final confirmation vote later this week. Under Senate procedure, an intervening day will occur on Thursday before a vote to end debate on Friday, setting up a potential confirmation vote for Saturday.
The Washington Post reports that just one copy of the documents will be held in a secure room in the Capitol Visitor Center, which only senators and a few committee staffers will be able to access. Republicans and Democrats will take turns reviewing the information beginning on Thursday morning, apparently rotating in and out of the room every hour.
The interviews are not expected to be made public, Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn told reporters on Wednesday afternoon. He suggested that a summary of some sort may be released, but when asked who would be writing such a summary—partisan committee staffers, or the FBI—the answer was unclear.
The White House suggested early Thursday after its review of the FBI’s additional investigation that there was nothing within the new information to support halting Kavanaugh’s confirmation.
“The White House has received the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s supplemental background investigation into Judge Kavanaugh, and it is being transmitted to the Senate,” said White House spokesman Raj Shah. “With this additional information, the White House is fully confident the Senate will vote to confirm Judge Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court,” he wrote early Thursday morning.
The New York Times reports that the FBI interviewed nine out of the 10 people it contacted to investigate two sexual assault claims against Kavanaugh—including people who were allegedly at a gathering where Christine Blasey Ford says Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were teenagers, as well as a couple of Kavanaugh’s high school friends. But the FBI did not interview Ford herself, which Senate Democrats have perceived as an indication that the investigation was not comprehensive enough.
Ford’s lawyers criticized the handling of the matter on Wednesday night. “An FBI supplemental background investigation that did not include an interview of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford—nor the witnesses who corroborate her testimony—cannot be called an investigation,” the statement said. “We are profoundly disappointed that after the tremendous sacrifice she made in coming forward, those directing the FBI investigation were not interested in seeking the truth.”
Senate Republicans such as Cornyn have defended the decision not to have the FBI interview Ford again, saying that her recent testimony under oath before the Senate Judiciary committee should suffice.
The state of play within the chamber should become more clear throughout the day Thursday and Friday as key senators read the FBI’s work. There are three key Republican members to watch, those who forced a one-week delay in order for the FBI to carry out the latest background investigation in the first place: Jeff Flake, Lisa Murkowski, and Susan Collins. Democratic senators Heidi Heitkamp and Joe Manchin remain undecided.
Collins and Murkowski are two moderate members of the Republican caucus, both of whom support abortion rights and have been under pressure to oppose Kavanaugh since he was nominated. The two senators have kept their cards close to their chests during the confirmation process, with Collins at times sounding marginally more willing to support him than the ever-inscrutable Murkowski. Flake, who is retiring at the end of this Congress, has announced his support for Kavanaugh, but he remains open to additional evidence that may sway him otherwise.
President Donald Trump may have hurt his cause with the trio of swing votes when he openly mocked one of Kavanaugh’s accusers at a rally on Tuesday night.
“How did you get home? I don’t remember. How’d you get there? I don’t remember. Where is the place? I don’t remember. How many years ago was it? I don’t know,” Trump said on stage in Southhaven, Mississippi, mimicking and misrepresenting Ford’s testimony. “I don’t know. I don’t know,” Trump added. “What neighborhood was it in? I don’t know. Where’s the house? I don’t know. Upstairs, downstairs—where was it? I don’t know—but I had one beer. That’s the only thing I remember.”
Flake condemned Trump’s remarks on Wednesday, calling them “kind of appalling.”
“There is no time and no place for remarks like that, but to discuss something this sensitive subject at a political rally is just not right,” he said on NBC’s Today Show. Still, he told CNN’s Manu Raju that Trump’s mockery of Ford would not affect his vote.
Murkowski, on the other hand, told reporters in response that “I am taking everything into account.”
