Jeff Flake says Trump mocking Christine Blasey Ford is ‘kind of appalling’

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the Brett Kavanaugh nomination to move on for the full Senate vote for confirmation to the Supreme Court.

President Donald Trump’s fellow Republicans gained confidence on Thursday that his US Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, could win Senate confirmation after two wavering lawmakers responded positively to an Federal Bureau of Investigation report on accusations of sexual misconduct against the judge.

The Senate, where Republicans hold a slim 51-49 majority, could vote as early as Saturday and all eyes are on three key Republican senators who could make or break the nomination – Flake, Susan Collins of ME and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) told reporters that he hoped keeping the pool of people who could read the report limited would make witnesses more likely to talk to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

But truth be told, the FBI investigation being conducted this week is unlikely to change the outcome of the nomination.

Manchin, who faces a competitive re-election next month in a state Trump overwhelmingly carried in 2016, voted to advance Kavanaugh’s nomination in a key procedural vote earlier Friday.

Republicans are looking for Kavanaugh to cement a conservative majority on the court, while Democrats say they’re alarmed he could provide the fifth vote to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, told reporters that Mr Trump’s lampooning of Ms Ford at a Wednesday night Mississippi campaign rally was “just plain wrong“. Sen.

The fight over Kavanaugh’s nomination has been unusually emotional and has unfolded just weeks ahead of November 6 elections in which Democrats are trying to seize control of Congress from Republicans.

The top Senate Judiciary Democrat, Dianne Feinstein, said the report appeared insufficient to lay to rest concerns about Kavanaugh.

Sen Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from MA and hero of the progressive left, drew a roar from the crowd when she took the microphone on a hot sunny day in the nation’s capital.

She was questioned for more than two hours on Sunday and provided the Federal Bureau of Investigation with a list of over 20 possible witnesses, the person said. The White House said their testimony before the senate committee was enough, the Times said.

Several senators said 10 witnesses were interviewed for the report.

“After doing my due diligence and now that the record is apparently closed, I will vote against his confirmation”, Senator Heidi Heitkamp said Thursday. He said five were witnesses connected to accusations by Christine Blasey Ford and four involved a separate claim by Deborah Ramirez.

Neither Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her while they were both in high school, nor Kavanaugh, himself, were interviewed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

A third woman who has leveled allegations against Kavanaugh and Judge, Julie Swetnick, evidently was never contacted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, according to her attorney. He provided no specifics. “Grassley’s statement that there was no hint of misconduct”.

White House spokesman Raj Shah rebuffed Democrats’ complaints, saying, “What critics want is a never-ending fishing expedition into high school drinking”.

“Going forward, you can count on me to be the same kind of judge and person I have been for my entire 28-year legal career: hardworking, even-keeled, open-minded, independent and dedicated to the Constitution and the public good”, he wrote.

The California psychology professor has testified that a drunken Kavanaugh sexually abused her in a locked room at a high school party in the 1980s and has said she believed he was trying to rape her. Kavanaugh has denied her assertions and those of two other women, who have accused him of other instances of sexual misconduct in the 1980s. But 84 percent of Republicans said Kavanaugh should be confirmed. Kavanaugh has denied all allegations against him.

The Trump administration expects an Federal Bureau of Investigation report soon, perhaps as soon as Wednesday, one official told USA TODAY.

Mr Trump weighed in hours later in a tweet in which he denounced what he called “the harsh and unfair treatment” of Mr Kavanaugh. “This great life can not be ruined by mean” and “despicable Democrats and totally uncorroborated allegations!” They include notes from therapy sessions and video or audio recordings of a polygraph test she took.

When Trump nominated Kavanaugh in July, Democrats leapt to oppose him, saying that past statements and opinions showed he’d be a threat to the Roe v. Wade case that assured the right to abortion.

Inside the Capitol, mounting political strains over the approaching election-season showdown were mirrored by growing anxieties over senators’ security following frequent and at times aggressive demonstrations by anti-Kavanaugh protesters. The report will not be made public.

With Republicans holding a slim 51-49 majority in the Senate, the loss of any two of their senators would doom Kavanaugh.

Democrats have complained that the FBI’s reopening of its Kavanaugh background check has been far too limited, leaving out contact with crucial potential witnesses.

“Ms. Keyser does not refute Dr. Ford’s account, and she has already told the press that she believes Dr. Ford’s account”, Walsh wrote in a letter to the Judiciary Committee last week.

Democrats argued that the investigation has been insufficient, lacking interviews with her, with Kavanaugh and others who his accusers have said could know about the alleged incidents.