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John Wagner
National journalist heads up the political press team at The Post newspaper
Three hours before a crucial vote on Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) said Friday that he did not know how to go.
"At the moment, I do not really know, and I do not know if anyone else knows it," said Grassley, who chaired Kavanaugh 's confirmation hearings, at the same time. an appearance on Fox & Friends on Fox News.
A key procedural vote is scheduled at 10:30 am on the appointment of Kavanaugh by President Trump, who has been charged with sexual misconduct in high school and college. If the nomination advances, Republican leaders hope for a final confirmation vote this weekend.
By the end of Thursday, other Republican leaders have expressed confidence in their ability to gather the necessary votes to confirm Kavanaugh.
Three Republican senators who have not yet announced their vote: Sens. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz), Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska). Flake and Collins both expressed satisfaction Thursday with an FBI report on the allegations against Kavanaugh, based on interviews with nine people.
Nearly all Democrats have united in opposition to Kavanaugh, including some from conservative states who are in a race for tight re-election this year.
Senator Heidi Heitkamp (DN.D.) announced Thursday that she would reject Kavanaugh's inauguration, leaving Senator Joe Manchin III (VV) the only Democrat to have yet to announce his position .
In another interview with Fox on Friday morning, White House advisor Kellyanne Conway called Manchin a "generic card".
[Kavanaugh moves closer to Senate confirmation as GOP argues FBI report exonerates the judge]
Conway argued that Manchin belonged to "a state where the vast majority of electors who elected him also said they would like Kavanaugh to be confirmed in the Supreme Court."
"Do you listen to the will of your constituents at home or do you listen to the leaders of a Democratic party who have been so dishonest and duplicative in this whole process?" Kavanaugh.
With their low margin in the Senate, Republicans can only afford to lose a vote if all Democrats vote against Kavanaugh. In this scenario, Vice President Pence would be called to break the tie.
The final debates to confirm Kavanaugh's votes take place as senators examine the long-awaited FBI report investigating two allegations of sexual misconduct against Kavanaugh dating back several decades.
Republicans argued that he exonerated Kavanaugh of any wrongdoing, giving senators more confidence to vote in his favor. But Democrats challenged Republicans' assertions, in part because they said the scope of the investigation was too limited.
The 46-page FBI report can not be made public and senators are not allowed to discuss it in detail. Throughout the day from Thursday to Friday morning, successive senators sat in a secure facility on Capitol Hill to read the report, which included copies of interviews with key witnesses and piles of documents taken from an FBI phone line.
The FBI investigated the allegation brought by Christine Blasey Ford, a professor of psychology in California, who accused Kavanaugh of having sexually assaulted her in a suburban Maryland home while she was a teenager.
Officers also examined Deborah Ramirez's charge that Kavanaugh was allegedly exposed to him at a party while they were students at Yale University. Kavanaugh categorically denies both charges.
[Kavanaugh: I said things I ‘should not have said’ during Senate testimony]
The allegations of a third accuser, Julie Swetnick, were not at the center of the investigation. Swetnick, who is represented by celebrity attorney Michael Avenatti, alleges that Kavanaugh was physically abused towards girls in high school and that she was attending a party at home in 1982, where she would have been victim of a gang rape.
The FBI contacted 10 witnesses, although nine were finally interviewed, according to Senators and the White House. Ford and Ramirez lawyers said they had offered the FBI numerous other witnesses who could corroborate women's claims.
Following Friday's procedural vote, Senate Republicans hope to have a final vote on Kavanaugh's confirmation as early as Saturday.
Senator Steve Daines (R-Mont.) Announced Thursday that he was planning to go Saturday to his daughter's wedding for the wedding of his daughter.
But the vote of Daines will not be needed on Saturday unless there is a Republican vice and the Democrats remain united against Kavanaugh. In this case, a Saturday night session could be open until Sunday so that Daines, who supports Kavanaugh, can return to Washington after the wedding and vote.
In Boca Raton, Florida, retired Republican Justice John Paul Stevens on Thursday expressed concern over Kavanaugh's temperament, according to the Palm Beach Post.
"I thought about it [Kavanaugh] had the qualifications for the Supreme Court where he was to be selected, "Stevens said. "I changed my mind for reasons that have nothing to do with his intellectual abilities. . . . I think his performance at the hearings has finally changed. "
Kavanaugh addressed the issue in an extraordinary editorial in the Wall Street Journal published Thursday night, acknowledging that he was "very moved" during his testimony and "I said a few things that I would not have not have to say ".
"In the future, you can count on me to be the same kind of judge and person I am in my 28 years of legal career: hardworking, equal, open-minded, independent and dedicated to the Constitution and the public good. Wrote Kavanaugh.
Trump named Kavanaugh in July as successor to retired Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, triggering an intense partisan battle for the court's future that began well before sexual misconduct charges were laid. appeared.
Kavanaugh, 53, lives in the suburbs of Maryland, is a member of the US Court of Appeals for the DC circuit, and worked at George W. Bush's White House before becoming a member of the federal judiciary. In the early 1990s, he was Kennedy's clerk alongside Judge Neil M. Gorsuch, whom Trump had proposed to the Supreme Court last year.
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