AP/Andrew Harnik
FBI Director Christopher Wray meets with Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, in Washington DC, June 29, 2017.
- FBI agents were homing in on a potential witness to interview on Friday night, shortly after President Donald Trump authorized the agency to conduct a supplemental background check on Judge Brett Kavanaugh, according to a Los Angeles Times report.
- FBI agents reportedly took steps to schedule an interview with one of the two additional women who came forward with their own accusations of sexual misconduct against Kavanaugh.
- The attorneys for one of the two women were reportedly contacted by the FBI to schedule an interview "as early as tonight," a source for the LA Times said.
FBI agents were homing in on a potential witness to interview on Friday night, shortly after President Donald Trump authorized the agency to conduct a supplemental background check on Judge Brett Kavanaugh, Trump's nominee for the Supreme Court, sources in a Los Angeles Times report published Friday.
FBI agents reportedly aimed to schedule an interview with one of the two additional women who came forward with their own accusations of sexual misconduct involving Kavanaugh. Christine Blasey Ford, a California-based professor who alleged Kavanaugh was "stumbling drunk" when he sexually assaulted her during a small party in the 1980s, was the first accuser who was publicly identified.
Following the publication of Ford's account in a Washington Post report on September 16, Deborah Ramirez, a fellow Yale classmate, and Julie Swetnick, a woman who claimed to have witnessed Kavanaugh display "abusive and physically aggressive behavior toward girls," came forward with their own reports about Kavanaugh.
It was unclear if the woman the FBI reportedly took interest in on Friday was either Ramirez and Swetnick - the LA Times report did not reveal the woman's identity.
The attorneys for one of the two women from the report were reportedly contacted by the FBI to schedule an interview "as early as tonight," a source for The Times said. The sources added that the process could start sometime during the weekend.
On Thursday, lawmakers from the Senate Judiciary Committee listened to emotional testimonies from both Kavanaugh and Ford.
Ford recounted how Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed, groped her over her clothes, and covered her mouth with his hand when she started to yell. Kavanaugh "categorically and unequivocally" denied the allegation, but stopped short of claiming Ford had fabricated the incident.
Asked multiple times by lawmakers if he believed an FBI investigation would be prudent, Kavanaugh dodged the question and deferred the decision to the Judiciary Committee.
"I welcome whatever the committee wants to do, because I'm telling the truth," Kavanaugh said during the hearing.
On Friday, the committee voted along party lines to move Kavanaugh's nomination to the Senate floor. During the procedural vote, Republican Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona conditioned his approval by asking that an FBI investigation, one that was "limited in time and scope," be conducted prior to a formal vote by the entire Senate.
The final confirmation vote for Kavanaugh is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday.