Democrats accuse FBI of ‘very limited’ investigation into Kavanaugh
Senate Democrats criticised the White House on Thursday for what they said was a limited FBI investigation of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the most notable part of a report into sexual misconduct allegations against Mr Kavanaugh “is what’s not in it”.
Mr Kavanaugh denies the accusations made by three women, and senior Republicans suggested the investigation had shown no evidence of misconduct on the part of US President Donald Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court.
Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the chairman of the committee, said it was now time for the full senate to vote on Mr Kavanaugh’s lifetime appointment to the nation’s highest court – even as opposition leaders slammed the FBI inquiry as “incomplete.”
“This investigation found no hint of misconduct,” Mr Grassley said. “There’s nothing in it that we didn’t already know.”
The FBI, at the request of Democrats and the Republican senator Jeff Flake, of Arizona, was given a week to look into allegations by a university professor, Christine Blasey Ford, that Mr Kavanaugh attempted to rape her when they were teenagers decades ago.
“These uncorroborated accusations have been unequivocally and repeatedly rejected by Judge Kavanaugh, and neither the Judiciary Committee nor the FBI could locate any third parties who can attest to any of the allegations,” Mr Grassley said.
“It’s time to vote,” he said. “I’ll be voting to confirm Judge Kavanaugh.”
The senate, where Republicans hold a 51-49 majority, could vote as early as Saturday and all eyes are on three Republican senators who could make or break the nomination – Mr Flake, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
The White House received the results overnight of the latest FBI investigation into the conservative judge, 53, and senators were reviewing it on Thursday. Mr Trump nominated Mr Kavanaugh to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy, who had been a swing vote on a panel now divided between four conservative and four liberal justices.
But his senate confirmation process has been held back by the allegations from Ms Blasey Ford, who testified before the committee last week.
Mr Trump took to Twitter on Thursday morning to say the FBI report vindicated his nominee and expressed optimism about Republican chances in the November midterm elections, where control of the House of Representatives and senate could be at stake.
“The harsh and unfair treatment of Judge Brett Kavanaugh is having an incredible upward impact on voters,” Mr Trump said.
“The people get it far better than the politicians.
“Most importantly, this great life cannot be ruined by mean and despicable Democrats and totally uncorroborated allegations.”
Democrats, meanwhile, assailed the FBI investigation as being too limited in scope.
“We had many fears that this was a very limited process,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. “Those fears have been realised.”
Mr Kavanaugh’s nomination, which comes amid an atmosphere of bitter political partisanship in Washington, could tilt the court to the right for decades to come.
Even before senators saw the
‘This great life cannot be ruined by mean and despicable Democrats,’ Mr Trump tweeted
new FBI material, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell moved to end debate on Mr Kavanaugh’s nomination, setting up a Friday procedural vote and a final vote as early as the following day.
Ms Blasey Ford testified last week that Mr Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her at a house party in the early 1980s while they were in high school.