Key senators Jeff Flake and Susan Collins suggest there is no evidence against Brett Kavanaugh in FBI report

First confirmation vote is likely to take place on Friday

Brett Kavanaugh appears set to be confirmed to the Supreme Court – a major victory for Donald Trump and social conservatives – after two crucial Republican senators suggested they had seen nothing in an FBI report to prevent his progress.

Susan Collins, one of a handful of Republicans who will determine the fate of Mr Kavanaugh, said an FBI probe into his background appears to have been “a very thorough investigation”. Shortly afterwards, Jeff Flake, another Republican whose vote has been in question, said “we’ve seen no additional corroborating information”, against the 53-year-old judge.

While neither of the senators said how they planned to vote when the confirmation comes to the floor of the senate – an initial vote is expected on Friday with a second vote on Saturday – their comments appeared to indicate they would support Mr Trump’s nominee.

The only possible worry for Republicans was that Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, a Democrat who they hoped might vote for Mr Kavanaugh, said she would not. It means Republicans can afford to lose the votes of none of their own senators.

Democrats claimed that the FBI background check on Mr Kavanaugh, ordered by the White House after the nominee was accused of sexual assault and misconduct by at least three women, was narrow in scope and that agents had been told not to investigate the judge’s allegedly-excessive student drinking and whether he ever blacked out. A number of his college classmates from Yale University painted a picture of him as hard-partying student, something he denied when he testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee last month.

Mr Kavanaugh had denied all the allegations.

On Thursday morning, senators were making their way to a secure room on Capitol Hill to read a copy of the report, which the FBI completed and passed to the White House late on Wednesday.

Senator Dianne Feinstein, the senior Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee which last week voted 11-10 along party lines in favour of Mr Kavanaugh, said it appeared the White House had “blocked the FBI from doing its job”. She said that while Democrats had agreed to limit the probe’s scope, “we did not agree that the White House should tie the FBI’s hands”.

She said agents had not even spoken to Mr Kavanaugh or Christine Blasey Ford, one the judge’s accusers, who delivered a moving and emotional testimony to senators when she appeared on Capitol Hill the same day as him.

Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats’ fears that the “very limited process” laid out for the investigation would restrain the FBI have been realised. “I disagree with Senator Grassley’s statement that there was no hint of misconduct.”

New Jersey’s Robert Menendez was more blunt. “If that’s an investigation, it’s a bull**** investigation.”

But with the prize of another conservative justice on the Supreme Court now looking likely, Republicans were swaggering. “There’s nothing in it that we didn’t already know,” committee chairman Chuck Grassley said in a statement. He said he based his view on a briefing from committee aides. “This investigation found no hint of misconduct.”

Earlier White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Mr Trump remained “confident in his selection and his support of Judge Kavanaugh”.

While declining to say if the president had spoken to senators from either party who may have wavering, she told Fox News: “The president, as well as a number of White House officials, have been engaged throughout the process. We’ve talked to a number of senators and we’ll continue to do so until the vote takes place.”

Asked if Mr Kavanaugh had the votes for confirmation, she added: “We certainly hope so. We feel, as Chairman Grassley said a few minutes ago, we didn’t learn anything new. And based on what we knew before we felt very confident.”

As it was, the Associated Press said the Republican leader in the senate, Mitch McConnell, had already started a process that will produce a crucial test vote in his chamber on Friday. Should Republicans get the majority of votes they need, and vice president Mike Pence is available to cast the tie-breaker if needed, that would set up a decisive roll call on his confirmation, likely over the weekend.

Speaking about Mr Kavanaugh on the senate floor, Mr McConnell claimed Democrats had sought to “smear this good man, to drag him through the mud”.

“The fact is that these allegations have not been corroborated. None of the allegations have been corroborated by the seven investigations. Not in the new FBI investigation. Not anywhere,” he said

Republicans in the senate – where they have a thin 51-49 majority, have been worried about the voting intentions of five senators – three Republicans and two Democrats. In addition to Ms Collins and Mr Flake, Lisa Murkowski had also raised questions about Mr Kavanaugh.

She, like the two other Republicans, was critical of Mr Trump’s recent mocking of Ms Ford’s testimony at a campaign rally, saying it was “just plain wrong”. Ms Murkowski has yet to comment on the report.

Ms Heitkamp of North Dakota said she would not vote for Mr Kavanaugh, citing “concerns about his past conduct” and questions about his “temperament, honesty and impartiality” after his angry testimony a week ago.

“When I listened to Dr Ford testify, I heard the voices of women I have known throughout my life who have similar stories of sexual assault and abuse,” Ms Heitkamp said.

That left Joe Manchin, a senator from West Virginia, as the only undecided Democrat. “Heidi made her decision, I’ll make mine,” he said.

Mr Manchin’s spokesman Jonathan Kott said there would probaly be “no decision” until Friday morning – the day when there is a procedural vote scheduled for Mr Kavanaugh’s nomination.