Reporting by CBS News’ Alan He and Kathryn Watson
Republican senators told reporters Wednesday they believe the FBI’s report on its findings from its background investigation of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh will be completed sometime Wednesday.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said there was “some indication” during a meeting with Republicans Wednesday afternoon that the report would be available Wednesday afternoon. Grassley’s committee has been leading Kavanaugh’s confirmation process, and — at the request of Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona — asked the White House to have the FBI conduct the supplemental background probe.
“All I can tell you is I have not talked to the FBI, I have not talked to the White House,” Grassley told reporters Wednesday afternoon. “We had some indication at the Republican meeting that it’d be sometime this afternoon. That’s all I know.”
Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, also said he hears the report will come Wednesday.
“I heard it’ll be today, I just don’t know when,” Cornyn told reporters.
“And I hope some conclusion or some summary will be made public because I hate to see Judge Kavanaugh be subjected to these allegations in public, which have to be embarrassing and destructive and not see the vindication if in fact that’s what we see made public,” Cornyn added.
Whether that report will make its way into the public’s hands is unclear.
The White House, which has expanded the initial scope of the background probe, has insisted the review must take less than one week. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said the Senate will take up a vote on Kavanaugh this week.
A handful of Republican senators — including the staunchest defenders of Mr. Trump and Kavanaugh — criticized the president for appearing to mock the testimony of Kavanaugh accuser Christine Blasey Ford at a rally in Mississippi Tuesday night.
“How did you get home? ‘I don’t remember,'” Mr. Trump said at the rally in Southaven, appearing to alternate between acting as a questioner and giving an impression of Ford. “How did you get there? ‘I don’t remember.’ Where is the place? ‘I don’t remember.’ How many years ago was it? ‘I don’t know.'”
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, said he’d tell the president to “knock it off.”
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, a key swing vote, called the president’s remarks “wholly inappropriate.”
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