Trump Defers on Whether FBI Should Investigate Kavanaugh

With a high school friend of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh expressing a willingness to cooperate on a confidential basis, President Donald Trump deferred to the Senate on Friday as to whether to ask the FBI to investigate sexual assault allegations.

Speaking to reporters from the White House, Trump was initially noncommittal about the prospect of the FBI’s reopening its background investigation of Kavanaugh (pictured above left) to explore allegations by California psychology professor Christine Blasey Ford that the nominee pinned her to a bed and tried to take off her clothes when both were high students in the early 1980s.

A little later, Trump said, “I’ve ordered the FBI to conduct a supplemental investigation to update Judge Kavanaugh’s file. As the Senate has requested, this update must be limited in scope and completed in less than one week.”

The White House also issued a statement from Kavanaugh, who said, “Throughout this process, I’ve been interviewed by the FBI, I’ve done a number of “background” calls directly with the Senate, and yesterday, I answered questions under oath about every topic the Senators and their counsel asked me. I’ve done everything they have requested and will continue to cooperate.”

Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) later told reporters on Capitol Hill that the GOP would agree to a “supplemental FBI background investigation.”

That possibility arose because Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), even as he voted to advance the nomination to the Senate floor, asked for a delay in the final vote to allow the FBI to investigate.

“I’m going to rely on all of the people, including Sen. [Charles] Grassley, who’s doing a very good job,” Trump said. “That’ll be a decision that they’re going to make, and I suspect they’ll be making some decision soon.”

Kavanaugh’s friend, Mark Judge, previously had denied Ford’s allegation that he was in the room while the alleged assault occurred at an underage drinking party in Maryland in about 1982. But he had resisted submitting himself to questioning.

On Friday, Judge’s lawyer sent a letter to Grassley, chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

“I will cooperate with any law enforcement agency that is assigned to confidentially investigate these allegations,” Judge declared in the letter.

Judge also responded to allegations made by a Washington woman represented by lawyer Michael Avenatti that he and Kavanaugh were complicit with multiple gang rapes in he1980s. Those accusations are “so bizarre that even while suffering from my [alcohol] addiction, I would remember actions so outlandish.”

Flake and one other Republican have the power to block the nomination. That makes it likely the FBI will investigate, although procedurally, that would require the president to sign off.

“I just want it to work out well for the country,” Trump said. “If that happens, I’m happy.”

Trump was uncharacteristically guarded in his words, declining to criticize Ford in any way or take potshots at holdout Republicans. Asked what his message for undecided Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Trump said, “I have no message. I mean, they have to do what they think is right. There’s no message whatsoever. But they have to do what they think is right. They have to be comfortable with themselves. And I’m sure that’s what they are.”

Related: Judiciary Committee Defies ABA, Sends Kavanaugh Nomination to Senate Floor

But Trump reaffirmed his support for Kavanaugh, who would replace retired Justice Anthony Kennedy on the now-evenly divided high court. “Not even a little bit,” the chief executive said when asked if he was looking at possible alternatives.

Trump praised the testimony of both Ford and Kavanaugh at Thursday’s contentious hearing before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary.

“I thought her testimony was very compelling,” he said. “And she looks like a very fine woman, to me, a very fine woman. And I thought that Brett’s testimony, likewise, was really something that I haven’t seen before. It was incredible. It was an incredible moment, I think, in the history of our country.”