Senate Majority Leader: “The time for endless delay and obstruction has come to a close.”

TUESDAY FEATURE

Not Thinking. You Never Do.”

The White House has given permission for a slight expansion of the FBI investigation of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, accused of sexual assault by three women.

But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Monday that the GOP intends to rush through Kavanaugh’s confirmation, with a vote “this week”.

The White House and McConnell were forced, after days of opposition, into a one-week FBI inquiry after the testimony of Professor Christine Blasey Ford — the first of Kavanaugh’s accusers — and a last-minute personal condition attached by GOP Senator Jeff Flake to his vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee passing the nominee to the full Senate.

But the Trump Administration immediately restricted any investigation, according to multiple sources, with instructions that only four people could be interviewed. Three of them were in the house when Kavanaugh allegedly assaulted Ford in 1982: Mark Judge, whom Ford says was in the room; P.J. Smyth, and Leland Keyser. The fourth is Kavanaugh’s second accuser Deborah Ramirez — third accuser Julie Swetnick, who said Judge and Kavanaugh were present when vulnerable teenagers were drugged and gang-raped at parties, is not being interviewed despite a court affidavit and multiple requests by her lawyer.

After criticism over the restrictions, the White House has said more people may be interviewed, “according to two people familiar with the matter”, but the terms are unclear and the Administration still sees the inquiry as limited and time-sensitive.

The FBI will not review Kavanaugh’s drinking or his statements, including before the Judiciary Committee, that may have been deceptive. However, as claimed excess by the nominee is linked to the sexual assault allegations, it could be raised in that context.

The lawyer for one of the first four people to be interviewed, P.J. Smyth, held the line in a statement on Monday: “He indicated that he has no knowledge of the small party or gathering described by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, nor does he have any knowledge of the allegations of improper conduct she has leveled against Brett Kavanaugh.”

But outside the investigation, more witnesses came forward in the media to describe drunken and aggressive behavior by Kavanaugh, including his questioning by police after a 1985 bar fight, and said the nominee lied to the Committee.

One witness, who said he was friends with both Kavanaugh and his second accuser Ramirez, asserted that the judge had begun discussing in July how to answer her claims — two months before she came forward and in direct contradition of his testimony that he only learned of her account last week.

Democrat Chris Coons, whose motion for a one-week investigation was defeated in the Judiciary Committee before Flake’s reversal, said on Monday that he urged White House counsel to open up the inquiry, noting a standard FBI investigation would allow agents to reach out to more witnesses about whom they learn during initial interviews. But, Coons said, “I came away from our conversation with the impression that was not the case.”

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader McConnell declared, “The time for endless delay and obstruction has come to a close. Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination is out of committee. We’re considering it here on the floor. We’ll be voting this week.”

A first test vote could be held on Friday, with the final confirmation vote over the weekend.

Success for the White House and GOP leadership still appears to rest on three Republican senators: Flake; Lisa Murkowski of Alaska; and Sus

Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) — who are considered key swing votes — have yet to announce how they would vote after the FBI completes its work. A Collins spokeswoman said the senator “was consulted about the White House authorizing the expanded FBI approach to the Kavanaugh background check and it is her understanding that the work will still be completed in the original one-week timeline.”

Collins is pressing for the FBI to investigate the allegations of misconduct leveled by a third woman, Julie Swetnick, against Kavanaugh.

Speaking in New Hampshire, Flake — who has talked about a run in 2020 for the Presidency — challenged Trump without indicating his position on the nominee’s confirmation: