October 4th 2018, 1:59 P.M.
This past Friday, the F.B.I. was given a week to investigate the allegations of sexual misconduct against Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump's Supreme Court nominee. The Bureau finished its work early, on Wednesday, and Mitch McConnell, the Senate Majority Leader, started warming up the machinery, setting things up for the Senate to start voting on Kavanaugh's confirmation as soon as this Friday, with a final vote possible as soon as Saturday. The time crunch has been one of McConnell's signature tactics in his time at the top of the Senate. "There will be plenty of time for members to review and be briefed on the supplemental material," McConnell said, as word of the status of the F.B.I.'s work became public. On Thursday morning, senators were taking turns reading the F.B.I.'s report, which, having been deemed too sensitive for the eyes of the public, was being kept in a secure room in the Capitol.
Predictably, Democrats and Republicans are leaving that room with conflicting conclusions. Republicans are saying that there is nothing in the report to further "corroborate" the allegations against Kavanaugh. Democrats are saying key witnesses weren't interviewed, leaving the findings incomplete. (My colleagues Jane Mayer and Ronan Farrow have reported more on the people whom the F.B.I. didn't talk to.) For however much longer this nomination process goes on, there will be a political debate about what counts as a "thorough" investigation, as if thoroughness were just another issue that liberals and conservatives view differently, and not something that can be verifiably assessed. Still, the votes are the thing here, and whatever doubts or reservations Senator Jeff Flake, of Arizona, had last week when he called for the F.B.I. to be given time to review the Kavanaugh situation, he appears to have been assuaged. "We've seen no additional corroborating information," he told reporters. Senator Susan Collins, of Maine, another Republican whose support for Kavanaugh wasn't considered assured, made similar comments. "It appears to be a very thorough investigation," she said. As was the case during the fights over the Affordable Care Act repeal and last year's tax bill, the "moderates" in both parties appear to be clinging less to any particular policy goal and more to a concept of proper process. Some argument about propriety is their prize. That's not what others are after, though. "We're going to plow right through it and do our job," McConnell told a gathering of conservatives last month, after the first of the allegations against Kavanaugh became public. He is close to fulfilling that promise.