Dear Commons Community,

The news media today will be dissecting as much as possible the conclusion of the FBI investigation of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.  The FBI sent its report to the White House last night which in turn sent it to the Senate.   

The information “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 deputy press secretary Raj Shah said on Twitter. “With this additional information, the White House is fully confident the Senate will vote to confirm Judge Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.”

The FBI reportedly wasn’t able to corroborate the allegations of sexual misconduct, people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal. According to The New York Times, the bureau ended up reaching out to 10 people and interviewing nine of them. 

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) yesterday called for a Friday vote ― before the findings were even released ― to end debate on the Kavanaugh issue, with a final vote on his nomination as early as Saturday. The Senate Judiciary Committee will review the FBI’s findings today.

Committee chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) claimed Wednesday that there was never once a “whiff” of sexual misconduct unearthed in the investigation or any previous FBI probe carried out on Kavanaugh since 1993. Democrats attacked the statement as false, furthering the partisan back-and-forth that has swirled since three women came forward with allegations against the judge. Kavanaugh has vehemently denied the claims.

It’s likely that Republicans will largely vote in favor of Kavanaugh’s nomination, although Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) said they haven’t yet made up their minds.

This saga may be coming to an end!

Tony