WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh (all times local):
5:30 p.m.
The FBI has confirmed that it received unspecified information about Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh this week.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (FYN’-styn), the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Thursday that she had notified federal investigators about information she received concerning Kavanaugh.
A Senate Democratic aide and another person familiar with the matter said it referred to an incident that occurred while Kavanaugh was high-school age.
The details of the incident and the identity of the person who provided the information were unclear.
An FBI statement said the information was received Wednesday evening and then included in Kavanaugh’s background file, which is maintained as part of his nomination. The agency says that’s standard process.
The statement gave no indication that the information in the letter was being investigated.
- Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro and Mike Balsamo contributed.
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1:20 p.m.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (FYN’-styn) says she’s notified federal investigators about information she received concerning Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
The California Democrat says in a statement that she “received information from an individual concerning the nomination.”
Feinstein isn’t saying who that person is or describing the information in any way. She says the person “strongly requested confidentiality, declined to come forward or press the matter further, and I have honored that decision.”
Feinstein - who’s on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which just finished confirmation hearings for Kavanagh - says she has “referred the matter to federal investigative authorities.”
Another committee Democrat, Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, says the matter has been referred to the FBI.
Republicans are pushing to confirm Kavanaugh to the court by Oct. 1, when the 2018-19 term begins.
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11:05 a.m.
Republicans have rejected an effort to subpoena documents on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s job as staff secretary in the George W. Bush White House. Democrats on the Judiciary Committee say the documents are needed to vet the judge’s record.
The panel’s top Democrat, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (FYN’-styn) of California, said Thursday senators “should be able to see this record.” Feinstein says it makes her wonder “what in Judge Kavanaugh’s records are Republicans hiding?”
Republicans on the panel rejected the motion on a party line vote.
The Republicans declined to pursue Kavanaugh’s staff secretary documents as too cumbersome, focusing instead on his White House counsel’s work.
President Donald Trump’s nominee for the court is the first with a lengthy email trail. Democrats say the records they’ve seen are insufficient.
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10:50 a.m.
Democrats have tried to adjourn the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing to consider Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, but Republicans have rejected the motion.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut protested as soon as the hearing gaveled opened Thursday. He says the nomination will be “tainted” and “stained” by the unusual process for vetting President Donald Trump’s nominee.
Democrats say Republicans, who have the majority, are rushing the proceedings.
Blumenthal says, “We lack the time. We lack the documents.” He calls it a “badly broken process.”
Republican Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa says he already agreed to hold over the vote on Kavanaugh for one week.
The panel will vote next week on whether to recommend Kavanaugh for confirmation. Republicans hope to confirm him to the court by Oct. 1.
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12:40 a.m.
Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh says he would have shaken the hand of a man whose daughter was killed in a Florida high school shooting if he had known who the man was.
A photo of Kavanaugh appearing to refuse to shake Fred Guttenberg’s outstretched hand last week went viral.
Kavanaugh told the Senate Judiciary Committee he assumed the man who approached him was a protester. He says if he had known who Guttenberg was, “I would have shaken his hand, talked to him, and expressed my sympathy. And I would have listened to him.”
Kavanagh’s explanation was part of a 263-page response late Wednesday to some 1,287 written questions from senators.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to meet Thursday to consider Kavanaugh’s confirmation.
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