Washington fights over FBI report
Document opens door to confirmation vote on Brett Kavanaugh
WASHINGTON — A high-stakes partisan row quickly broke out Thursday over a confidential FBI report about allegations that Brett Kavanaugh sexually abused women three decades ago, with Republicans claiming investigators found “no hint of misconduct” and Democrats accusing the White House of slapping crippling constraints on the probe.
The battling commenced as the conservative jurist’s prospects for winning Senate confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court remained at the mercy of five undeclared senators, with an initial, critical vote looming Friday. It followed the FBI’s early-morning release of its investigation, which President Donald Trump reluctantly ordered under pressure from a handful of senators.
“There’s nothing in it that we didn’t already know,” Senate judiciary committee chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said in a written statement. He said he based his view on a briefing from committee aides, adding, “This investigation found no hint of misconduct.”
In a potential sign of momentum for Kavanaugh, Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., told CNN that “we’ve seen no additional corroborating information” and that investigation had been comprehensive. Flake, who’s not stated his position on the nomination, was among three Republicans who pressed Trump to order the renewed FBI background check.
Another GOP lawmaker who has publicly taken no stance, Susan Collins of Maine, called the probe “a very thorough investigation” and said she’d read the documents later. Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski said she’d read the report.
Democrats Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Manchin of West Virginia have also not declared how they will vote.
Top Democrats fired back at Grassley after getting their own briefing.
The judiciary panel’s top Democrat, Dianne Feinstein of California, said it appeared the White House had “blocked the FBI from doing its job.” While Democrats had agreed to limit the probe’s scope, she said, “we did not agree that the White House should tie the FBI’s hands.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has already started a process that will produce a crucial test vote in his polarized chamber Friday on Kavanaugh’s fate. Should Republicans get the majority of votes they need — and Vice-President Mike Pence is available to cast the tie-breaker, if necessary — that would set up a decisive roll call on his confirmation, likely over the weekend.
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said agents reached out to 10 witnesses but spoke only to nine. Five were witnesses connected to accusations by Christine Blasey Ford and four involved a separate claim by Deborah Ramirez, he said.
Feinstein complained Thursday that agents had not interviewed Kavanaugh or Ford, who has testified that he sexually attacked her in a locked bedroom during a high school gathering in 1982.
She also said lawyers for Ramirez, who’s claimed Kavanaugh exposed himself to her when both were Yale freshmen, had no indication the FBI had reached out to people she’d offered for corroboration.
Grassley said the FBI could not “locate any third parties who can attest to any of the allegations,” adding that there is “no contemporaneous evidence.” He provided no specifics.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Democrats’ fears that the “very limited process” laid out for the investigation would restrain the FBI “have been realized.”
He also said, “I disagree with Sen. Grassley’s statement that there was no hint of misconduct.” Neither side provided any detail about what the report said, constrained by years-old arrangements that require the results of FBI background checks to remain confidential.
With Republicans clinging to a razor-thin 51-49 Senate majority and five senators — including three Republicans — still publicly undeclared, the conservative jurist’s prospects of Senate confirmation could hinge largely on the file’s contents.