Senators View New Background Check On Brett Kavanaugh
U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley said Thursday morning that the committee has received the supplemental background check on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh as senators get their first look at the document.
In a series of Twitter posts, Grassley said U.S. senators will be able to view the report in a secure area, in agreement with Democrat ranking member Dianne Feinstein. The FBI supplemental report started after Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony last week on alleged sexual assault charges against Kavanaugh.
Supplemental FBI background file for Judge Kavanaugh has been received by @senjudiciary Ranking Member Feinstein & I have agreed to alternating EQUAL access for senators to study content from additional background info gathered by non-partisan FBI agents 1/3
— Chuck Grassley (@ChuckGrassley) October 4, 2018
FBI supplement requested Friday sept 28 by bipartisan group of senators w specific scope of current/credible allegations. Dr Ford & Judge Kavanaugh had opportunity to testify under oath b4 public/cmte to tell senators what they know 2/3
— Chuck Grassley (@ChuckGrassley) October 4, 2018
This FBI material will b handled per 2009 memorandum of understanding/MOU signed btwn Obama WHCounsel & then-SJC Chairman Leahy. Thats latest memorialization of this “loan agreement” of ExecBranch material. Feinstein, Durbin, Schumer, & others were on SJC in 09 & didnt object 3/3
— Chuck Grassley (@ChuckGrassley) October 4, 2018
The results of the supplemental background check will not be open to the public. Kavanaugh’s rise to Supreme Court hangs in the balance as the current federal appeals court judge has fought to save his nomination after sexual misconduct charges from Ford and several other women.
According to CNN, Senate Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell started paving the way for a procedural vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination on Friday, leading to a possible final vote on the nomination Saturday.
CNN wrote that the background check examined in more detail Ford’s accusations against Kavanaugh, the judge’s denial, and other questions about the judge’s character. The report gives some background on Kavanaugh’s candor and truthfulness in fighting the allegations, the network stated.
Kavanaugh’s former Yale roommate James Roche told CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 that the judge lied about his past drinking during last week’s hearing.
“We were in a room together — our beds were 10 feet apart for a couple of months,” Roche said on the news show. “And what struck me and made me more interested in speaking out about it is not only did I know that he wasn’t telling, you know, the truth, I knew that he knew that he wasn’t telling the truth.”
With a slim two-seat majority, the public will be watching particularly the reaction of three Republican senators who could hold the swing votes to confirm or deny Kavanaugh’s seat on the Supreme Court.
Arizona’s Jeff Flake, who set the supplemental background check in motion last week by calling for it in exchange for his vote to move Kavanaugh’s nomination out of the Judiciary Committee, is one of the key Senate members.
The others include moderates Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. All three blasted President Donald Trump this week for comments he made during a rally in Mississippi where he appeared to mock Ford’s testimony.
“There’s no time and no place for remarks like that,” Flake said on NBC’s Today show Wednesday when asked about Trump’s comments. “To discuss something this sensitive at a political rally is just not right, it’s just not right. I wish he hadn’t done it. It’s kind of appalling.”
