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The angry protests of anti-Kavanaugh militants, mingled with deep mistrust between Republican and Democratic senators, have given a glimpse of the political discord that will remain if Republicans succeed in the long quest to get it off the courts in the next days.
After a tense day on Capitol Hill, Kavanaugh's fate remains unresolved, as three incumbent Republican senators studying the FBI report still have to say how they will vote and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell can not afford to lose one of its members. troops.
But Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, who forced the FBI's additional investigation following the emotional testimony of Christine Blasey Ford against Kavanaugh last week before the Senate Judiciary Committee, said: " we have not seen any corroborating information "to support these accusations.
Senator Susan Collins, from Maine, said the report was "a very thorough investigation" and made several visits to the secure Capitol Hall, where staff read aloud the only copy of the report. report to senators.
"I will not draw conclusions until I finish reading," Collins said.
Senator Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska, said that she would not decide until she would have examined all the evidence.
Although his senators deliberated under extreme political pressure, McConnell continued his efforts to bring the tragedy to a close, in anticipation of a decisive procedural vote on Friday.
"What we know for sure, is that the FBI report has not corroborated any of the charges against Judge Kavanaugh." And the second thing we're sure of, is that it's only true. there is no chance we will do to please the Democrats, "McConnell said.
Hundreds arrested
The last twists and turns of Kavanaugh's tumultuous confirmation drama took place under intense tension.
The Capitol police arrested 302 protesters in the Hart Senate office building. Actress Amy Schumer was seen among those arrested. Earlier, at a rally in Washington, anti-Kavanaugh protesters chanted: "Hey hey, ho ho, Kavanaugh has to leave"
Madison Thomas, a sexual assault survivor and organizer of the Women's March Youth Empower organization, said the battle of confirmation had revealed the true motivation of elected US officials.
"What audiences have said is that our country, our members of Congress, value the reputation and professional aspirations of my classmates or the men of my abuser, more than my autonomy. physical, "said Thomas.
In another scene that has become typical in recent days, a group of protesters confronted Utah's Republican Senator, Orrin Hatch, in a hallway, and reacted furiously when he told them of grow".
While momentum seemed to be building for Kavanaugh, Ford's lawyers wrote to FBI director Christopher Wray complaining that the office had not questioned Ford or the witnesses who had any information. on his allegations.
"The investigation over the last five days is a blot on the process, the FBI and our ideal of American justice," reads in the lawyers' letter, Debra Katz, Lisa Banks and Michael Bromwich.
Democrats have tried to counter the Republican arguments that the FBI's investigation, which will not be made public, in no way corroborated Ford's allegations that she was assaulted by Kavanaugh while they were teenagers in the suburbs of Washington DC in the early 1980s. Kavanaugh denied the allegations.
"This seems to be the product of an incomplete investigation that has been limited, perhaps by the White House," Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the largest Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, told the press.
The leader of the Senate minority, Chuck Schumer, disputed the idea that the FBI had conducted a thorough investigation and asked for its details to be made public.
"Why should not America see the facts?" Schumer asked.
Personal destruction policy
The level of animosity provoked by the Kavanaugh confirmation process is striking and at odds with the normally respectful code of the Senate, and reflects the gaping cavern that has opened up in the country about it.
"What I have been dealing with since July 10th, the downward slope that Schumer has launched us is actually a demolition derby," said Senate Judiciary Speaker Chuck Grassley of Iowa.
"They almost destroyed a good person to sit on the Supreme Court."
Hatch accused the Democrats of participating in the "unfounded personal destruction policy".
New York Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand urged the protesters to turn their rage against the saga of confirmation into political energy.
"I leave you with one last thought: November is coming, November is coming, November next," she said, referring to the mid-term elections in which both sides hope to take advantage of the Kavanaugh controversy to energize their constituents.
Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, one of the two Democrats fighting for elections in the states where Trump won in 2016, was seen as a potential vote for Kavanaugh, but announced on Thursday that she's going to Would oppose him. She voiced concerns about her past conduct and temper after her performance before the Judiciary Committee last week.
Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who occupies such a difficult political position, has not yet specified how he will vote and plans to return to the secure room on Friday morning to complete his assessments.
"Heidi made his decision, I'll do mine," he said.
A source told CNN's Vane Ariane that the report sent to the Hill by the FBI included 45 pages of interview summaries and 1,600 additional pages of information that the office had sent from their contact line.
For once, Trump, who was criticized Wednesday by some Republicans for being mocked by Ford's testimony, did not rock the boat.
He told reporters, "I think he's fine, the judge is fine." The president's discipline will be further challenged later on Thursday when he organizes an election rally in Minnesota.
CNN's Vane Ariane, Jeff Zeleny, Devan Cole, Matt Matt, Ted Barrett, Lauren Fox, Manu Raju, Sunlen Serfaty, Clare Foran, Liz Turrell and Dan Berman contributed to this report.
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