WASHINGTON - Confidence grew among
President Donald Trump's fellow Republicans on Thursday that
Brett Kavanaugh would win Senate confirmation to the U.S.
Supreme Court, after positive comments from two wavering
lawmakers about an FBI report on accusations of sexual
misconduct by the judge.
The report, sent by the White House to the Senate Judiciary
Committee in the middle of the night, was denounced by Democrats
as a whitewash that was too narrow in scope and ignored critical
witnesses.
The report was the latest twist in a pitched political
battle over Trump's nomination of the conservative federal
appeals court judge, and comments by two crucial Republican
senators - Jeff Flake and Susan Collins - indicated it may have
allayed concerns they had about Kavanaugh. Flake was
instrumental in getting Trump to order the FBI investigation
last Friday.
Republicans control the Senate by a razor-thin margin,
meaning the votes of those two could be crucial in securing
Kavanaugh's confirmation to the lifetime post on the country's
highest court.
Collins said the investigation appeared to be thorough,
while Flake said he saw no additional corroborating information
against Kavanaugh, although he was "still reading" it.
A previously undecided Democratic Senator, Heidi Heitkamp,
said she would vote against Kavanaugh. She had voted for Trump's
previous Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch, last year.
Heitkamp's decision left Senator Joe Manchin as the only
undecided Democrat.
Most Democrats opposed Trump's nomination of Kavanaugh from
the outset. If confirmed, he would deepen conservative control
of the court. The sharply partisan battle became an intense
political drama when three women emerged to accuse Kavanaugh of
sexual misconduct in the 1980s when he was in high school and
college. Kavanaugh has denied the accusations.
Even before the FBI report was given to lawmakers, Senate
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell took steps to hold a key
procedural vote as early as Friday, which could pave the way for
a final vote on Kavanaugh's confirmation over the weekend.
The battle over Kavanaugh has riveted Americans weeks before
Nov. 6 elections in which Democrats are trying to take control
of Congress from the Republicans.
"It smacks of a whitewash," Democratic Senator Richard
Blumenthal told reporters, saying the report should not give
political cover for Republicans to vote for Kavanaugh because
"it is blatantly incomplete."
Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein noted that the FBI did
not interview Kavanaugh himself or Christine Blasey Ford, a
university professor who has accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault
in 1982.
Thousands of protesters, some holding signs saying "Believe
Survivors" and "Kava-Nope," rallied in front of the Supreme
Court in opposition to Kavanaugh, whose nomination has become a
flashpoint in the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment and
assault. The nomination battle boiled down to a "he said, she
said" conflict requiring senators to decide between
diametrically opposed accounts offered by Kavanaugh and Ford.
Trump, himself accused by numerous women during the 2016
presidential race of sexual misconduct, wrote on Twitter that
the FBI report showed that the allegations against Kavanaugh
were "totally uncorroborated."
The report was not released to the public. Senators were
allowed to read it behind closed doors in a secure location in
the Capitol, without taking notes or making copies.
Amid the accusations of sexual misconduct against Kavanaugh,
Republicans have stood by the judge. The party leadership said
on Thursday the FBI report had not changed their view of
Kavanaugh's fitness for the job.
A senior Senate Republican aide said there was growing
confidence that Collins, Flake and Manchin - all swing votes -
would support Kavanaugh. If so, that could be enough for a Trump
victory in this battle. Murkowski has been heavily lobbied in
her home state of Alaska to oppose Kavanaugh.
Republicans control the Senate by a 51-49 margin. If all the
Democrats oppose Kavanaugh, Trump cannot afford to lose the
support of more than one Republican for his nominee, with Vice
President Mike Pence casting a tiebreaking vote. No Republicans
have said they will vote against Kavanaugh.
Collins, Flake and Lisa Murkowski, a third undecided
Republican, entered the secure room on Thursday afternoon.
'UNCORROBORATED MUD'
"When the noise fades, when the uncorroborated mud washes
away, what's left is the distinguished nominee who stands before
us. An acclaimed judge," McConnell said on the Senate floor
after the report's release.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley said after
receiving a staff briefing on the report:
"There's nothing in it that we didn't already know. These
uncorroborated accusations have been unequivocally and
repeatedly rejected by Judge Kavanaugh, and neither the
Judiciary Committee nor the FBI could locate any third parties
who can attest to any of the allegations."
White House spokesman Raj Shah said the Trump administration
was "fully confident" Kavanaugh had the necessary support.
The White House believes the FBI report addressed the
Senate's questions about Kavanaugh, Shah told CNN, adding that
the FBI reached out to 10 people in its investigation and
"comprehensively interviewed" nine of them.
"The White House didn't micromanage the FBI," he said.
Attorneys for Deborah Ramirez, who also has accused the
judge of sexual misconduct in the 1980s, wrote a letter to FBI
Director Christopher Wray saying they were "deeply disappointed"
that agents had not followed up on their interview with her by
talking to the more than 20 witnesses she identified as being
able to corroborate her account of his behavior.
Ford, who testified last week at a dramatic Judiciary
Committee hearing, accused Kavanaugh of pinning her down, trying
to remove his clothing and covering her mouth when she screamed.
He denied the allegation and painted himself as the victim of a
"political hit."