Senators Reach Deal For Kavanaugh Sex Claim Probe

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court by a party line 11-10 vote on Sept. 28 but agreed also to let a key member negotiate for up to a week’s delay for an FBI investigation before the nomination goes to the full Senate.

In a dramatic reversal Friday, Republican Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona, right, announced that he sought an FBI probe of sexual misconduct investigations before a vote by the full Senate, where Republicans hold a 51-49 majority.

Two other undecided senators, Republican Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia, announced that they would join Flake’s position. That would put Kavanaugh’s final approval in doubt if other senators vote as expected nearly along party lines.

As one sign of that, Senators Joe Donnelly of Indiana and Jon Tester of Montana, two Democrats facing re-election in November in heavily Republican states, announced that they would oppose Kavanaugh.

Their decisions followed the powerful testimony on Friday by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, a California research professor in psychology. She alleged that Kavanaugh had tried to forcibly rape her when she was 15 and he was 17.

Kavanaugh angrily denied the allegation at a nine-hour committee hearing.

Blasey Ford and Kavanaugh are shown in file photos taking their oaths before their separate testimony in Thursday’s nine-hour hearing.

Meanwhile, independent researchers have been busy identifying potential clues for official investigators that are drawn from the hearing.

@Soyachika, the Twitter name for a longtime sexual assault researcher, published results of a search that purportedly identified a house that could have been the locale for an assault of the kind that Blasey Ford described. 

Separately, @Soyachika located an undated book publisher’s announcement stating that author Mark Judge was available for interviews.

Blasey Ford has said that Judge, a close friend of Kavanaugh’s during high school, was present during the nominee’s assault on her. Judge has denied any memory of such an incident and has asked not to be interviewed.

Democrats have repeatedly demanded a thorough investigation to include an FBI interview of Judge. His attorney consented to such an interview Saturday if the FBI so desires.

Democrats repeatedly protested during the hearing and before the Saturday’s vote that the committee’s confirmation process has failed to investigate the allegations adequately.