Kavanaugh closer to confirmation

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — after a three-day long FBI investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct, the U.S. Senate decided Friday morning to move forward with Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination.

Senators passed a procedural cloture motion, which is the vote to end debating, Friday morning at 10:52 am.

The senate now has up to 30 hours of post-cloture debate time it could exhaust before a final vote takes place.

That means, if utilized, the fate of Kavanaugh’s confirmation could be decided at 3:52 pm on Saturday.

Wednesday night, the FBI delivered its supplemental background investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct by Kavanaugh to the Capitol.

Thursday morning, all 100 senators were given access to view the documents in a secured room.

The report was classified but Chuck Grassley, Iowa GOP U.S. Senator and Judiciary Committee Chair, put out a release on Thursday with a synopsis on the information disclosed to the Senate.

The FBI looked into the allegations made by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and Deborah Ramirez.

Three people were interviewed about Dr. Ford’s claims.

Two different people were questioned about Judge Kavanaugh’s calendar entry from 1982, which he used to refute her claims during last week’s hearing.

Four people, including Ramirez, were interviewed about her accusations.

Sen. Grassley concluded the summary by saying the investigation found “no corroboration of the allegations made by Dr. Ford or Ms. Ramirez.”

The senate voted 51 to 49 to move forward with the confirmation process.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska was the only Republican to vote no during Friday’s vote, while Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia was the only Democrat to vote yes.

Those two did join GOP Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Jeff Flake from Arizona as potential swing voters.

And if all Democrats vote no and two Republicans joined them, Kavanaugh’s confirmation would fail.

But Sen. Collins took to the senate floor just Friday evening to announce she would support Kavanaugh.

And seeing as Sen. Flake is likely to follow, Kavanaugh effectively secured enough votes to confirm his confirmation.

View a timeline of Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination process by Evan DaCosta.