Senate Judiciary Democrats call for Kavanaugh vote to be delayed

All 10 Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee are demanding that Republicans postpone a Thursday vote on Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination.

Democrats sent a letter to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the chairman of the committee, saying the vote should be delayed and the FBI given a chance to investigate after Christine Blasey Ford spoke publicly for the first time about her allegation that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in the early 1980s, when they were both in high school.

“Now that her story is public, it is even more important that we give the Bureau the time it needs to follow up. All Senators, regardless of party, should insist the FBI perform its due diligence and fully investigate the allegations as part of its review of Judge Kavanaugh’s background,” the Democratic senators wrote.

They added that the “lack of the nominee’s full record, combined with his incomplete and misleading answers during the hearing and beyond, demonstrate a clear need for this Committee to postpone moving forward this week.”{mosads}

Ford’s lawyer said on Monday that her client would be willing to testify publicly before the Judiciary Committee. Meanwhile, Kavanaugh, while denying wrongdoing, said he would be willing to speak to the committee.

Senate Republicans are preparing to move forward with a Judiciary Committee vote scheduled for Thursday at 1:45 p.m. despite growing calls for senators to speak with Ford.

Grassley is working on setting up staff calls for both Ford and Kavanaugh before the Thursday vote.

But Democrats on Monday argued that a “staff-level examination” of Ford’s allegation “should not go forward until the FBI’s career professionals with the requisite investigative expertise have completed their review.”

“Once the FBI has completed its independent work, we hope that we can work together in a bipartisan manner to decide on next steps,” Democrats added.

Ford’s allegation against Kavanaugh first surfaced last week when Senate Democrats said they gave a letter describing the alleged incident to the FBI.

A government official told The Hill late last week that a criminal investigation had not been opened into the allegation. The FBI added the letter as an update to Kavanaugh’s background file. The update was then given to the White House and the Judiciary Committee.