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.
The Hart Senate Office Building is swarming with anti-Kavanaugh protesters who are hoping to put enough pressure on senators to vote against the nominee when the Senate takes an expected vote on Satuday.
Senator Chris Murphy is on the Senate floor describing why he has decided to vote against the nomination of Mr Kavanaugh.
"I have come to the conclusion that Brett Kavanaugh is perhaps the most dangerous nominee to the Supreme Court in my lifetime," Mr Murphy said.
He noted that he had decided to vote no before allegations of sexual misconduct were brought against Mr Kavanaugh, and said that he had decided to do so because he does not think Mr Kavanaugh's judicial record is appropriate for the Supreme Court.
Mr Murphy described speaking to his constituents about healthcare, and said that he is worried that the Supreme Court could be weaponised to essentially repeal the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
The senator from Connecticut said that he believes that Mr Kavanaugh was chosen by the president in order to unravel that healthcare law through the judiciary, instead of through the legislature — where Mr Trump was unable to repeal Obamacare.
Mr Murphy also said that he believes that Mr Kavanaugh has been clear about his position on women's access to abortions — and that he believes Mr Kavanaugh would oversee an unraveling of American rights to access safe abortion procedures.
Senator Bob Menendez, a Democrat, has posted some choice words on his Twitter account regarding the FBI investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct that have been brought against Mr Kavanaugh.
"Just read the FBI report on Kavanaugh - if that’s an investigation, it’s a bulls*** investigation," Mr Menendez's Twitter account reads, with a video of the senator saying essentially the same thing.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, a potential Democratic candidate for president in 2020, is now on the Senate floor speaking against Mr Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court.
She has lauded Dr Ford for her testimony and courage, saying that she believes her accusations against Mr Kavanaugh.
"It was a performance that would've been right at home on talk radio or in a Republican primary campaign or at a Donald Trump rally — but it was delivered by a judge who is asking the United States Senate to confirm him to a lifetime appointment" on the Supreme Court, Ms Warren said, describing Mr Kavanaugh's testimony after Dr Fords as wild and erratic.
Senator Tom Udall has taken to the Senate floor to express support for Dr Ford, and to say he believes her allegations against Mr Kavanaugh.
"At its core sexual assault is a crime of power. Dr Ford has confronted some of the most powerful in our nation and told the truth," Mr Udall said.
"At this point with so much unknown there are serious consequences to elevating Judge Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court," he said, arguing for continued investigation into the nominee.
Actress Amy Schumer is among those protesting the nomination of Mr Kavanaugh in the Hart Senate Building in Washington.
Schumer recorded a quick video for the daughter of a fellow protester, saying that she thinks she and her mom are going to get arrested together.
Protesters are being arrested in the Hart Senate Building, where hundreds of people have packed into the building and begun occupying multiple floors to demonstrate against Mr Kavanaugh's nomination.
Senator Susan Collins, an important swing vote for Mr Kavanaugh's nomination, has returned to read more of the FBI's investigative documents regarding allegations against the nominee.
It turns out that actress Amy Schumer did, in fact, get detained by police.
Video posted by a Huffington Post journalist from inside the Hart Senate Office Building shows Schumer being led with a group of people by police.
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