Sen. Bob Corker believes Democrats “overplayed their hand” in their smear campaign against Brett Kavanaugh and is confident Republicans will have the needed votes to confirm the Supreme Court nominee.
The Tennessee Republican was asked in an interview Tuesday with The Hill if he felt Kavanaugh would win confirmation. Corker replied “I do.”
And with the release of the FBI’s supplemental background check on allegations of sexual misconduct against the Supreme Court nominee, key GOP Senators weighed in on the results.
Sen. Susan Collins pronounced the latest FBI report to be “very thorough.”
The Maine Republican, considered a swing vote along with Sen. Murkowski from Alaska and Sen. Jeff Flake from Arizona, spoke to reporters after viewing the report, which is not being released to the public.
“It appears to be a very thorough investigation. But I’m going to go back to personally read the interviews,” she said.
New: GOP swing vote Sen Susan Collins tells CNN: “It appears to be a very thorough investigation” @jeremyherb reporting.
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) October 4, 2018
Collins was among the senators calling for the additional FBI check, the seventh federal probe in the process to confirm Kavanaugh to the high court, though she has not yet indicated how she will vote.
Susan Collins just went into the FBI report secret viewing room pic.twitter.com/HRLdzxmtor
— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) October 4, 2018
Flake appeared to agree with his colleague.
“We’ve seen no additional corroborating information,” the Arizona Republican who called for the FBI investigation as a pre-condition to his vote, said about the alleged sexual misconduct by Kavanaugh in high school and college.
SIREN: Jeff Flake tells us there is no additional corroboration in the fbi file. Agrees with Collins that it was thorough
— Erik Wasson (@elwasson) October 4, 2018
“I think Susan Collins was quoted saying it was very thorough but no new corroborative information came out of it. That’s accurate,” Flake told reporters Thursday after reviewing the report, according to The Hill.
“I wanted this pause; we’ve had this pause. We’ve had the professionals, the FBI, determine — given the scope that we gave them, current credible allegations — to go and do their review, which they’ve done,” Flake said. “Thus far we’ve seen no new credible corroboration, no new corroboration at all.”
Flake returns to SCIF. says he has to do “more reading” of FBI report
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) October 4, 2018
Murkowski, another undecided GOP senator, skipped the staff briefing but headed into the secure room in the Capitol basement where the report is being kept to see it for herself.
“I didn’t go to the briefing because I’m going to read it myself. I’m going to go in, put my eyes to it,” the Alaska Republican said, according to Politico.
Murkowski on Alaskans who oppose Kavanaugh: “My job is to listen to the concerns of everyone.” Murkowski on when she will make up her mind:
“There is a decision point..I’m not wasting any daylight”— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) October 4, 2018
Murkowski says that there are “readers” in the SCIF, who “read” the report to the senators aloud. That’s because there’s only one copy of the report and multiple people can’t look at the same piece of paper at once.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) October 4, 2018
Naturally Democrats are already pushing back, scrambling to move to goal posts again even as Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell announced he was filing for a cloture vote and that the Senate would vote for Kavanaugh’s confirmation by Saturday.
.@SenFeinstein on the FBI report of Kavanaugh investigation: “We have seen even more press reports of witnesses who wanted to speak with the FBI but were not interviewed.” pic.twitter.com/FOyG6KSW7X
— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 4, 2018
Feinstein’s comments earned her a scorching response from the GOP-led Senate Judiciary Committee.
Sen. Chris Coons, who influenced his friend Jeff Flake to call for the FBI probe, said the investigation “falls short of my expectations for this investigation.”
But for Republicans like Sen. Lindsey Graham, who gave his colleagues a scathing rebuke during Kavanaugh’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, the blatant delay tactics of Democrats have run their course. He told reporters Thursday after viewing the report that he is more confident than ever in Kavanaugh’s qualifications and is “ready to vote.”
Graham comes out swinging in defense of Kavanaugh: ‘Why don’t we dunk him in water and see if he floats’ https://t.co/1zC0EtX0Ar pic.twitter.com/l3kNxVdk4U
— Conservative News (@BIZPACReview) October 4, 2018
Fox News’ Chad Pergram broke down the latest numbers in terms of votes on Fox Business Network Thursday morning.
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.
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