In a shift in strategy, Democrats to meet with Kavanaugh

Washington (AP) — After weeks of refusing to meet with Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, Democrats in the Senate plan to begin meeting with him when they start returning to Washington in mid-August, a senior Democratic aide said Friday.

The aide said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee tasked with holding hearings for Kavanaugh, will be among those meeting with him.

Only one Democratic senator, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, has met with Kavanaugh as lawmakers sparred over access to records from the nominee's time as White House staff secretary under President George W. Bush.

Kavanaugh's lengthy public record has emerged as a key battleground as senators scrutinize the 53-year-old appellate judge, a conservative whose views on gay marriage, abortion and executive power could move the court rightward for a generation.

The National Archives and Records Administration is compiling records from Kavanaugh's time in the White House counsel's office. But leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee are at odds over what records should be turned over from Kavanaugh's time as Bush's staff secretary.

A senior Democratic aide said the senators will demand the records in dispute from Kavanaugh directly and question him about their contents during their meetings with him.