‘No hint of misconduct’ from Brett Kavanaugh, according to confidential Federal Bureau of Investigation report
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is declining Democrats’ request for a briefing by FBI agents on the investigation into Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
Capitol police have arrested dozens of people in recent days for unlawfully demonstrating in Senate office buildings. Dianne Feinstein said “the most notable part of this report is what’s not in it”.
And that has left a lot of people, including Senate Democrats, wondering just how complete this investigation was. “There’s nothing in it that we didn’t already know”.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, made his remarks – and urged his colleagues to confirm the conservative judge – in a written statement hours after the post-midnight delivery of the Federal Bureau of Investigation document to Congress.
“Hopefully we’re 48 hours away from having a new person on the Supreme Court”, he told reporters.
The op-ed, as well as a late boost from President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Minnesota, appeared aimed at winning over the three wavering senators from the slim Republican majority – Susan Collins of Maine, Jeff Flake of Arizona and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska – and one Democrat, Sen.
Collins also expressed satisfaction, calling it “a very thorough investigation”.
Most Democrats opposed Trump’s nomination of Kavanaugh from the outset.
But White House spokesman Raj Shah said: “What critics want is a never-ending fishing expedition into high school drinking”.
“This is making a mockery of the constitutional responsibility of the Senate”, Markey added later. “Those fears have been realized”.
Christine Blasey Ford charged Judge, Kavanaugh’s friend from Georgetown Prep, was in the room when she claims Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed, groped her and covered her mouth when she screamed during a high school party in the 1980s. “I also think we have turned a corner – there used to be a time when women would be called sluts – now its the men who are being treated badly”, he said.
The poll comes as GOP leaders and lawmakers advance Kavanaugh’s confirmation process; potentially holding a full vote on the Supreme Court nominee as early as Saturday morning.
“There will be plenty of time for members to review and be briefed on this supplemental material before a Friday cloture vote”, McConnell said on the Senate floor.
While some Democrats have lent credence to her claims, most senators have avoided them.
It was a day when you could not tell who was winning by watching them.
Kavanaugh’s demeanor and conduct during the hearing alarmed the law professors.
HIRONO deflects when asked point-blank about whether FBI report contains any corroborating evidence against Kavanaugh: “This is not a comprehensive FBI investigation on which we can draw conclusions”.
They include three people Blasey Ford says were in the house at the time of the party. “I’ll be voting to confirm Judge Kavanaugh”.
The difference now is that polling since last Thursday’s combative appearance of Brett Kavanaugh at the Senate judiciary committee is showing a boost for the Republican vote in key battlegrounds.
“This has done more to wake up complacent Republican voters than anything I have seen”, said Robert Cahaly, a pollster and senior strategist at The Trafalgar Group, a Republican-leaning consulting and polling firm.