Washington - US Supreme Court nominee
Brett Kavanaugh on Friday denied an allegation of sexual
misconduct dating back to when he was a high school student, and
a senior Republican senator said there was no reason to delay
his confirmation to the court.
Senator Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate
Judiciary Committee, said on Thursday she received information
about Kavanaugh from a person she declined to identify, and that
she had referred the matter to the Federal Bureau of
Investigation.
The New Yorker magazine reported on Friday that in July,
shortly after President Donald Trump nominated Kavanaugh,
Feinstein's office received a letter detailing a woman’s alleged
encounter with Kavanaugh while they were high school students.
It said the woman had accused Kavanaugh of trying to force
himself on her at a party, holding her down and covering her
mouth with his hand, but that she was able to free herself.
Neither Feinstein nor the magazine identified the woman.
"I categorically and unequivocally deny this allegation,"
Kavanaugh, 53, said in a statement put out by the White House on
Friday. “I did not do this back in high school or at any time."
Democrats have fought Kavanaugh's nomination and are seeking
to delay his confirmation.
A spokesman for the committee’s Republican chairman, Senator
Chuck Grassley, on Friday said the planned committee vote on
Kavanaugh’s confirmation would proceed next Thursday as
scheduled.
"Judge Kavanaugh has undergone six FBI full-field
investigations from 1993 to 2018,” he said in a statement. “No
such allegation resembling the anonymous claims ever surfaced in
any of those 6 FBI reports.”
Feinstein's office did not immediately respond to a request
on Friday for comment.
A conservative federal appeals court judge nominated by
Trump to the lifetime position on the nine-member high court,
Kavanaugh made no major missteps in questioning by senators
during his confirmation hearing last week.
Trump’s fellow Republicans control the Senate by a narrow
margin. With no sign yet of any Republicans planning to vote
against Kavanaugh, he seems poised to win confirmation despite
Democratic opposition.
In party-line votes, the Republican-led Senate Judiciary
Committee on Thursday rejected motions by Democratic
senators seeking access to more documents relating to
Kavanaugh's service in the White House under Republican
President George W. Bush more than a decade ago.
A final Senate confirmation vote is likely by the end of the
month.