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WASHINGTON — The full Senate on Friday advanced the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh, 51-49, a critical step to open debate before a planned final vote this weekend.
As of Friday morning, four key senators still remained publicly undecided on whether to ultimately confirm the embattled nominee: Republican Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, along with Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.
Murkowski voted against the Friday morning measure. It remained possible that some of the undecided senators who voted to advance Kavanaugh’s nomination Friday might not ultimately vote to confirm him.
The clock now begins on up to 30 hours of debate. A final floor vote is expected to take place on Saturday.
Collins said ahead Friday morning that she would vote to advance the nomination to a final vote, and would announce her position on that vote later in the afternoon.
Ahead of the vote, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said on the floor, there was “absolutely no corroborating evidence for these allegations” of sexual assault against Kavanaugh.
“All the Keystone Cops were on the case,” he said. “And Senate Democrats cheered them on.”
Friday morning’s vote came hours after Kavanaugh said in an op-ed published Thursday night that he might have been “too emotional” in his congressional testimony last week.
“I was very emotional last Thursday, more so than I have ever been. I might have been too emotional at times,” he wrote in an op-ed headline “I am an Independent, Impartial Judge,” published by The Wall Street Journal.
The op-ed was published the same day the FBI made a report on its speedy investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against Kavanaugh available to senators. Republicans said Thursday the report had vindicated him, while Democrats blasted it as incomplete.
The vote also came amid large-scale protests against Kavanaugh’s nomination that have swept Capitol Hill in the last two weeks. President Trump took aim Friday morning at protesters who targeted Flake last week ahead of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s vote to advance Kavanaugh’s nomination to the full Senate.
“The very rude elevator screamers are paid professionals only looking to make Senators look bad. Don’t fall for it!” he tweeted. “Also, look at all of the professionally made identical signs. Paid for by Soros and others. These are not signs made in the basement from love! #Troublemakers.”