FBI to reopen Kavanaugh inquiry

*CORRECTION: Although the president of the American Bar Association asked that the U.S. Senate delay its vote on the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to allow the FBI to reopen its background investigation, a bar association committee’s rating of Kavanaugh as “well qualified” remains unchanged. This article did not make clear the bar association’s rating was unchanged.

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump ordered the FBI to reopen the background investigation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh after two key Senate Republicans suggested they would not vote to confirm him to the Supreme Court without additional information on allegations of sexual misconduct while he was a teenager.

The announcement followed a vote along party lines by the Senate Judiciary Committee to advance Kavanaugh's nomination, after securing a vote from Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who asked for a delay of up to a week before the full Senate decides the judge's fate.

He said he was seeking an FBI investigation "limited in time and scope to the current allegations that are there," and he hoped it would lend additional credibility to Kavanaugh's denials.

Another senator considered a swing vote on the floor, Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said she agrees with Flake, leaving GOP leaders little choice but to slow down the process, given their slim 51-49 margin in the chamber.

Republican leaders asked the White House to reopen the investigation and Trump complied. "I've ordered the FBI to conduct a supplemental investigation to update Judge Kavanaugh's file. As the Senate has requested, this update must be limited in scope and completed in less than one week," he said in a statement late Friday.

Republicans said they still plan to move ahead with a procedural vote on Kavanaugh's nomination today but will postpone a final vote on his confirmation that they had hoped would take place Tuesday.

The 11-10 committee vote came a day after hearing testimony from Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who has accused Trump's nominee of sexual assault at a house party in Maryland in the early 1980s.

After Flake's announcement, both Murkowski and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., indicated that they support his call for a delay.

"The American people have been pulled apart by this entire spectacle and we need to take time to address these claims independently, so that our country can have confidence in the outcome of this vote," Manchin said in a statement. "It is what is right and fair for Dr. Ford, Judge Kavanaugh, and the American people."

Through her attorneys, Ford welcomed the move. "A thorough FBI investigation is critical to developing all the relevant facts. Dr. Christine Blasey Ford welcomes this step in the process, and appreciates the efforts of Senators Flake, Murkowski, Manchin and [Sen. Susan] Collins -- and all other senators who have supported an FBI investigation -- to ensure it is completed before the Senate votes on Judge Kavanaugh's nomination. No artificial limits as to time or scope should be imposed on this investigation."

In a statement from the White House, Kavanaugh said, "Throughout this process, I've been interviewed by the FBI, I've done a number of 'background' calls directly with the Senate, and yesterday, I answered questions under oath about every topic the senators and their counsel asked me. I've done everything they have requested and will continue to cooperate."

While the timing of the floor vote is up to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said he would advocate for Flake's request.

"This is all a gentlemen's and women's agreement," Grassley said after the committee vote.

Speaking to reporters at the White House after the committee vote, Trump continued to stand by Kavanaugh, saying he had not thought "even a little bit" about a replacement but also said he found Ford a "credible witness."

SUPPORT FOR DELAY

The move by Flake, a frequent Trump critic who is retiring from the Senate after this year, was cheered by several Democrats, including Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, a fellow member of the Judiciary Committee.

"He and I don't share a lot of political views but we share a deep concern for the health of this institution and what it means to the rest of the world and the country," said Coons, who huddled with Flake before he announced his position.

Flake is "someone who is willing to take a real political risk and upset many in his party by asking for a pause," Coons said.

Some Republicans also expressed support for postponing the vote.

In a written statement, Sen. John Boozman said the allegations about Kavanaugh "are serious and certainly merited additional investigation from the moment they were raised."

He praised Grassley's handling of the claims.

"The additional short delay is one more good faith effort to help those with legitimate concerns feel more comfortable that due diligence has been exhausted before casting their votes," the Republican from Rogers added.

Boozman accused some of Kavanaugh's opponents of bad faith.

"Their shameless attempts to delay the vote indefinitely by withholding information until the final hours will no doubt create lasting damage to the institution," he said. "Throughout this process, I have noted that his exceptional record on the bench and the high level of respect his peers hold for him make Judge Kavanaugh a well-qualified nominee. I continue to hold that view."

Sen. Tom Cotton could not be reached for comment Friday.

After Thursday's Judiciary Committee hearing, the Republican from Dardanelle had issued a written statement calling for a prompt vote.

"Judge Kavanaugh gave compelling testimony, with specific and detailed recollection. His testimony is corroborated by multiple other statements and evidence. The Democrats' disgraceful smear campaign of character assassination must come to an end. It's time for the Senate to vote," Cotton said.

Other Republicans still resisted the delay but went along with the plan that may be the only way salvage Kavanaugh's confirmation.

"I think it's overkill," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. "But they have a right to request it."

As Kavanaugh's nomination heads to the floor, his prospects remain unclear in the full Senate.

Two other senators considered swing votes -- Republican Susan Collins of Maine and Democrat Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota -- also welcomed the investigation.

Meanwhile, another red-state Democrat, Sen. Joe Donnelly of Indiana, announced Friday that he would oppose Kavanaugh's nomination. Republicans had been courting Donnelly, one of three Democrats, along with Manchin and Heitkamp, who supported previous Trump Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch.

"I have deep reservations about Judge Kavanaugh's nomination to this lifetime position and ... we have been unable to get all the information necessary regarding this nomination, despite my best efforts," Donnelly said in a statement. "Only 113 people have ever served on the Supreme Court, and I believe that we must do our level best to protect its sanctity."

Mark Judge, a friend and high school classmate of Kavanaugh, is likely to be a prominent figure in any inquiry by the FBI. Ford claims he was present when Kavanaugh allegedly attacked her. Another Kavanaugh accuser also alleges that Judge and Kavanaugh sought on multiple occasions in high school to drug inebriated girls for nonconsensual sex with multiple boys -- an accusation Kavanaugh has strongly denied.

"If the FBI or any law enforcement agency requests Mr. Judge's cooperation, he will answer any and all questions posed to him," Judge's lawyer Barbara Van Gelder said.

Judge told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Friday that he either does not recall or flatly rejects the allegations about his and Kavanaugh's behavior in high school.

IMPASSIONED PLEAS

As the committee vote neared Friday, senators on both sides of the aisle took turns giving their reasons for supporting or opposing Kavanaugh, many in impassioned terms.

"He does not have the veracity nor temperament for a lifetime appointment to the highest court in our nation," Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said of Kavanaugh. "And no such nominee should be confirmed in the face of such serious, credible and unresolved allegations of sexual assault."

"I've never heard a more compelling defense of one's honor and integrity," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., countered, referring to Kavanaugh's testimony at Thursday's hearing.

Graham declared that judicial confirmations would now be starkly different going forward, noting the "process before Kavanaugh, and the process after Kavanaugh."

"I can say about Ms. Ford, I feel sorry for her, and I do believe something happened to her, and I don't know when and where," Graham said. "But I don't believe it was Brett Kavanaugh."

Shortly after the Judiciary Committee convened Friday, the panel voted down a motion on party lines by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., to subpoena Judge, who had said he does not want to be part of a committee hearing.

The committee then voted, again along party lines, to decide on Kavanaugh's nomination at 12:30 p.m. The votes prompted anger from Democrats.

"This is just totally ridiculous. What a railroad job," said Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii.

Several Senate Democrats -- including Blumenthal, Hirono, Sen. Kamala Harris of California, and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island -- walked out in protest.

A dozen House Democratic women who gathered to watch the Judiciary Committee stood up in the room in protest.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters before Trump's order for an FBI investigation that she thinks Trump "is trying to break the MeToo movement" with his continued support for Kavanaugh.

Trump "has his own problems -- that he could be president of the United States with all of the disrespect he has demonstrated against women," Pelosi said. "And now he's appointing somebody like him."

She added that she believed Senate Republicans, Trump and Kavanaugh himself were resisting an FBI investigation of Ford's claims because they "do not want the truth to come forward."

"The truth will reveal that Judge Kavanaugh has not been truthful with his answers," Pelosi said. "That is a cause for concern, not only for the job he wants but the job he has now."

Before the committee meeting, White House officials fanned out across morning television shows to tout Kavanaugh's performance in Thursday's hearing and press the Senate to vote.

"I think he was incredibly powerful and very clear," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said of Kavanaugh during an appearance on ABC's Good Morning America.

She suggested that Ford was mistaken about her attacker and said Kavanaugh has "been unequivocal since Day One that this did not take place by him."

Late Thursday, the American Bar Association, which had previously rated Kavanaugh "well-qualified" for the Supreme Court, called on the Judiciary Committee to halt the confirmation vote, saying it should not move forward until an FBI investigation into the sexual assault allegations against him can be completed.

Rachel Mitchell, the outside counsel hired by Republicans to question Ford, told GOP senators in a closed meeting Thursday night that she would not have prosecuted the matter because there was no corroborating evidence, according to two GOP sources familiar with her presentation. She also told the senators that Ford was a compelling witness who had clearly suffered trauma.

It remained unclear whether an FBI review would include two other Kavanaugh accusers.

Deborah Ramirez, a classmate of Kavanaugh's at Yale University, told the New Yorker magazine that Kavanaugh exposed himself to her at a party when they were both first-year students.

Julie Swetnick, a Washington resident, said in a declaration that Kavanaugh was physically abusive toward girls in high school and present at a house party in 1982 where she says she was the victim of a "gang rape." She is being represented by Michael Avenatti, whose clients also include Stormy Daniels, the adult-film actress who was paid to remain silent about an alleged decade-old affair with Trump.

Avenatti announced Friday on Twitter that Swetnick will tell her story "directly to the American people" this weekend because Republicans have not allowed her to testify under oath.

Information for this article was contributed by Seung Min Kim, John Wagner, Carol D. Leonnig, Sean Sullivan, Mike DeBonis, Paul Kane, Robert Barnes, Elise Viebeck and Karoun Demirjian of The Washington Post; by Nicholas Fandos and Sheryl Gay Stolberg of The New York Times; by Lisa Mascaro, Alan Fram, Mary Clare Jalonick, Kevin Freking, Matthew Daly, Juliet Linderman, Eric Tucker, Julie Pace and Padmananda Rama of The Associated Press; and by Frank E. Lockwood of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

A Section on 09/29/2018