by Ruby Henley
I cannot imagine what the Kavanaugh family is experiencing tonight, as the Democrats won their FBI investigation. Senator Grassley fought hard, and he ended the Committee meeting abruptly without explaining to the whining Feinstein.
President Trump has, of course, done the only thing he could do at this point.
“I’ve ordered the FBI to conduct a supplemental investigation to update Judge Kavanaugh’s file,” Trump said in a statement released by spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Twitter. “As the Senate has requested, this update must be limited in scope and completed in less than one week.”
Trump ordered the investigation after two key Republican senators — Jeff Flake and Lisa Murkowski — said the FBI should investigate Christine Blasey Ford’s claim that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in high school. Kavanaugh categorically denied it.
The Senate Judiciary Committee’s Republican majority asked Trump to order an investigation “limited to current credible allegations” against Kavanaugh with a one-week deadline. Republican leaders agreed to wait a week for a confirmation vote.
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“Throughout this process, I’ve been interviewed by the FBI, I’ve done a number of ‘background’ calls directly with the Senate, and yesterday, I answered questions under oath about every topic the Senators and their counsel asked me,” Kavanaugh said Friday in a statement released by the White House. “I’ve done everything they have requested and will continue to cooperate.”
The drama is unfolding just over a month before the Nov. 6 congressional elections. Republican leaders are concerned their supporters’ enthusiasm could ebb if the party is unable to deliver confirmation of a Supreme Court justice who could tilt the ideological balance of the court.
Flake called for the probe a day after tense and emotional testimony by Ford and Kavanaugh to a committee starkly divided along party lines.
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After a dramatic flurry of last-minute negotiations, Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh cleared a key procedural hurdle Friday, but his confirmation prospects were still deeply uncertain as Republicans agreed to ask for a new FBI investigation into sexual assault allegations.
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In the hour before the Judiciary Committee was set to vote Friday on advancing Kavanaugh, Flake — who had already announced he was “yes” vote on confirming the judge — engaged in private discussions with Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) and other Democrats in a backroom next to the hearing room.
“What really I wanted to do is to meet with some of my Democratic colleagues and say, ‘What would cause you to say we have a better process? Not to say that you’ll vote for Judge Kavanaugh,’” Flake recalled to reporters later Friday.
Judiciary members of both parties shuffled in and out of the hearing room as the committee slipped past its plans to vote at 1:30 pm ET. About 20 minutes later, Flake announced he was seeking a delay in the floor vote to allow time for an FBI probe, even as he would vote to advance the nominee out of the committee. The committee quickly took a party line in favor of advancing Kavanaugh, and Judiciary Republicans rushed to McConnell’s office to discuss Flake’s proposal, where they were joined by Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK).
Murkowski, after the announcement of the delay was made, said the agreement for the investigation showed that the “Senate is going to do its due diligence, as it needs to do”
Under pressure from moderate members, Republican leaders said they would allow the new probe for up to one week, slowing their rush to confirm Kavanaugh shortly after the new high court term opens on Monday.
President Donald Trump then ordered the new FBI probe, which he said must be “limited in scope” and be completed by October 5.
The talks were forced by Sen. Jeff Flake, a moderate Republican who surprised colleagues by announcing his support for Kavanaugh early Friday only to call for further investigation a few hours later.
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In conclusion, we wait just like Judge Kavanaugh and his family waits. And we pray.