Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh faced a crucial vote Friday as a Senate panel decides whether to move his nomination on to the full Senate a day after he adamantly denied sexually assaulting Christine Blasey Ford, who insisted she's "100 per cent" certain he did.
Meanwhile, there were signs the remarkable testimony before the panel in which Kavanaugh angrily declared his innocence and Ford calmly recounting the moment in which she says he attacked her had registered negatively with two organizations whose support Kavanaugh had earlier received.
The American Bar Association urged the Senate Judiciary Committee and the full Senate to delay the vote until the FBI could do a full background check on the assault claims something President Donald Trump has refused to order.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders dismissed that Friday, telling reporters that Kavanaugh has already "been through six separate background investigations by the FBI."
Late Thursday, the magazine of the Jesuit religious order in the United States withdrew its endorsement of Kavanaugh, saying the nomination was no longer in the interests of the country and "should be withdrawn."
"Were he to be confirmed without this allegation being firmly disproved, it would hang over his future decisions on the Supreme Court for decades and further divide the country."
"The committee is going to vote."
The retiring senator, who has stayed quiet in recent days, told reporters late Thursday, "this isn't easy."
Flake said the marathon hearing left him "with as much doubt as certainty."
He said, "We just do the best we can."
She admitted gaps in her memory as she choked back tears and said she "believed he was going to rape me."
Kavanaugh entered the hearing room fuming and ready to fight, as he angrily denied the charges from Ford and other women accusing him of misconduct, barked back at senators and dismissed some questions with a flippant "whatever."
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