Sen. Charles E. Grassley set the rules Thursday for senators to review the supplemental FBI investigation into sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh.
The Judiciary Committee chairman explained that Republicans and Democrats will have equal access to the report and alternating turns to review the document.
Supplemental FBI background file for Judge Kavanaugh has been received by @senjudiciary Ranking Member Feinstein & I have agreed to alternating EQUAL access for senators to study content from additional background info gathered by non-partisan FBI agents 1/3
— ChuckGrassley (@ChuckGrassley) October 4, 2018
Per the memorandum of understanding set between President Obama and the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2009, the report will be kept under strict supervision and held in a locked safe inside the Office of Senate Security.
All 100 senators will be able to review the document.
The Senate Judiciary Committee stressed in their statement that, “This is how such files have been handled for several administrations.”
Sen. Durbin said he was “troubled” by the fact that there was only one copy of the FBI report.
“I’m not saying 100 copies need to be made, but let’s make it easy enough so that members of the Senate have the opportunity to personally review it,” he said on CNN’s “New Day.”
The FBI was tasked with looking into the sexual assault allegations against Judge Kavanaugh put forward by Christine Blasey Ford and Deborah Ramirez.
Ms. Ramirez, who claimed Judge Kavanaugh exposed himself to her at a dorm party during their freshman year at Yale, was interviewed by the FBI over the weekend.
Neither Ms. Blasey Ford, a California professor and the first woman to come forward, nor Judge Kavanaugh was interviewed by the FBI.
Ms. Blasey Ford’s lawyers complained in a statement Wednesday and said the investigation should not be considered legitimate.
“An FBI supplemental background investigation that did not include an interview of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford — nor the witnesses who corroborate her testimony — cannot be called an investigation,” they said.
The White House confirmed that it received the FBI report on Thursday and were “fully confident” that Judge Kavanaugh would be confirmed.
“With Leader McConnell’s cloture filing, Senators have been given ample time to review this seventh background investigation. This is the last addition to the most comprehensive review of a Supreme Court nominee in history, which includes extensive hearings, multiple committee interviews, over 1,200 questions for the record and over a half million pages of documents,” White House Spokesman Raj Shah said in a statement.
Mr. Shah said on CNN’s new day that the FBI reached out to 10 individuals, expanding from 4. He could not comment on the witness list.
The full Senate’s first vote on Judge Kavanaugh is scheduled for Friday.
• Gabriella Muñoz can be reached at gmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.