Brett Kavanaugh investigation: Senator Susan Collins returns to review FBI report as protests rage against Supreme Court nominee
Trump administration 'confident' Senate will back nominee — but some swing vote senators have yet to tell what they plan on doing
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Your support makes all the difference.Senators are reviewing the FBI’s latest background check on Brett Kavanaugh, Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, in a secret Capitol Hill location.
They are expected to vote on Friday on whether to move forward swiftly on Mr Kavanaugh’s nomination to a likely confirmation vote at the weekend.
White House spokesman Raj Shah said senators “have been given ample time to review this seventh background investigation” into Mr Kavanaugh, who denies accusations of sexual misconduct when he was in high school and college. The White House was “confident the Senate will vote to confirm” the judge, he added.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley tweeted early Thursday that he had received the FBI file. He and his colleagues began reviewing the documents on Thursday morning.
Republicans agreed to ask the FBI for an additional background check on Mr Kavanaugh after his first accuser, Dr Christine Blasey Ford, testified last week that he had sexually assaulted her when they were teenagers. Arizona Senator Jeff Flake, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, voted to move the nomination to the full Senate but had asked that the FBI investigation be conducted.
Dr Ford’s attorneys have said she was not contacted for an interview. But the FBI spoke to a second woman, Deborah Ramirez, who claims Mr Kavanaugh exposed himself to her when they were in college. Mr Kavanaugh says that accusation is false.
Despite most women thinking Brett Kavanaugh should not be confirmed to the Supreme Court, Republicans say otherwise.
Both men and women in the GOP are still standing by President Trump's nominee. 84 per cent of Republicans said Mr Kavanaugh should be confirmed, according to a Quinnipiac University poll conducted in the days after Christine Blasey Ford and Mr Kavanaugh testified.
Busy Philipps and Ellen DeGeneres have recalled being sexually assaulted as teenagers, having been inspired to speak out about their experiences following the Brett Kavanaugh hearing.
The Senate are set to begin reviewing the document that is the culmination of the recent FBI investigation against Brett Kavanaugh. The White House has already seen the report and have said the additional interviews conducted show no corroboration of allegations against Mr Trump's Supreme Court nominee.
With daily protests taking place, heightened security has been put in place at the Capitol, with dozens of arrests for unlawful demonstrations. Police have been escorting some senators into and out of buildings, for example Susan Collins, a Republican Senator, who's vote is key in making a decision on Brett Kavanaugh.
Activists take part in a protest against Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination in Washington
Credit: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP
Some senators might need to wait until Friday for the chance to see the FBI report on sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
A Democratic senator says lawmakers are being told that time slots for reading the report are getting full.
Illinois' Tammy Duckworth tells reporters that "it's so backed up I might have to wait until tomorrow. They're so swamped."
AP
Democrats are now holding a briefing after reading the FBI report on assault allegations against Mr Kavanaugh.
Senator Dianne Feinstein has said that she cannot release details.
"The most notable part of this report is what is not in it. As was noted by the White House, the FBI did not interview Brett Kavanaugh. Nor did the FBI interview Dr Blasey Ford," she said.
Ms Feinstein has noted several times that senators have had limited opportunity to read through the FBI investigation.
She has suggested that the White House blocked the FBI from access to important documents, and "from doing its job".
Democrats, she said, agreed that the FBI investigation's scope should have been limited. But, she said, the FBI's investigation should not have it's hands "tied".
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is now speaking.
"Having received a thorough briefing on the documents, those fears have been realised," Mr Schumer said of the FBI investigation, which he said he had feared would be limited.
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