Top Republicans voiced confidence on Thursday that Brett Kavanaugh will be confirmed to the US Supreme Court this weekend, asserting that an FBI probe had found nothing to support sexual assault allegations against President Donald Trump's nominee.
"Judge Kavanaugh should be confirmed on Saturday," Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told reporters, according to AFP.
"Hopefully, we're 48 hours away from having a new person on the Supreme Court," he added.
"I hope we can just move forward and get this done," said Orrin Hatch (R-UT).
"I apologize to him for the way he's been treated," Hatch added.
He defended the FBI investigation into the sexual assault accusations against the judge, which Democrats have criticized as "incomplete" and "very limited."
"We have found nothing, nothing to corroborate accusations against him," Hatch said. I'm grateful to the FBI for their efforts in doing a thorough, very important investigation."
Kavanaugh's confirmation for the appointment on the nation's top court hinges on the votes of three Republicans, Jeff Flake of Arizona, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski, in the Senate, where Republicans hold a slim 51-49 majority.
None of the three was present at the press conference by the senior Republican lawmakers.
Last week, Christine Blasey Ford provided the Senate with an account of an alleged assault against her by Kavanaugh when they were in high school. Kavanaugh followed with an emotional performance of his own, blasting the confirmation proceedings as “a national disgrace” and accusing senators of letting the chamber’s constitutional role of “advice and consent” become twisted into a mission to “search and destroy.”
Following that hearing, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to advance Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination.