WASHINGTON – Republicans are planning a careful choreography for the results of the FBI's background probe into Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, including sending only a single copy to Capitol Hill that will be housed in a safe.
The FBI report, which officials said will include interviews about Kavanaugh's conduct in high school, will first go to the White House and then to the Senate Judiciary Committee, where lawmakers will read it in a secure location.
Senate Republicans are planning the cautious approach amid a debate over how much of the FBI's investigation into Kavanaugh's past – including allegations of sexual assault – should be available for public view. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said only senators will be able to see the results of the FBI's work.
A handful of Senate aides may view it as well.
Republican senators, meeting for lunch Wednesday afternoon, requested that multiple copies be available inside the secure space so there isn't a backlog, according to Sens. Bob Corker of Tennessee and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin.
“It’s possible that they have conflicting accounts, I hope that’s not the case,” Corker said. “My understanding is they’re just gonna send us raw data.”
Corker said lawmakers always knew it would not be a summary report.
Republicans described the steps taken to protect the report as standard, noting a bipartisan 2009 bipartisan memorandum of understanding dictates the handling of similar files. But a number of Republican senators have said they believe, in this case, that at least some portion of the document should be available for public review.
“I hope the FBI report is made public, normally it is not out of respect for the privacy for the person being investigated, but this is an unusual circumstance,” said Sen. John Kennedy, a Republican on the Judiciary Committee.
Kennedy said if all findings couldn't be released, he'd like an objective summary of the report to be shared, to avoid senators in bad faith leaking "selected versions that advance their position." But Kennedy said it would be "silly" to threaten to withhold his vote over the report being made public.
White House officials expect the report as early as Wednesday and Republican senators were told to expect documents as soon as Wednesday afternoon.
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Once the White House receives the report, a single copy will be sent to Capitol Hill, where it will be housed in a safe in the office of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said George Hartmann, a committee spokesman.
Nine staff members are cleared to review the document, in addition to all 100 senators, Hartmann said.
The report will amount to a background file with separate documents, including either interview summaries or the transcript of interviews, officials said. White House officials said they do not expect to comment publicly on the report but may confirm its receipt because of the extraordinary circumstances surrounding Kavanaugh's nomination.
The Justice Department has referred questions about the probe to the White House.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders did not directly answer a question Wednesday about whether Trump wants the report made available to the public.
“We’ve been very open and transparent throughout the process,” she said.
The FBI had not contacted Ford as of Wednesday morning, her lawyers said.
Early Wednesday afternoon, Democrats didn’t seem to have much information about the FBI report and how it would be rolled out.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s top Democrat, said she didn't know when they'd see the report.
“They’re trying to push it soon, the Republicans are, which means less findings,” she said.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., a committee member, said it would be ideal to make public as much information as possible, allowing for redactions of private or compromising information.
“But I think if the report disappears into a black hole from which no fact emerges it will just add to the dissension here and to the questions,” he said.
Sen. Mazie Hirono, another Democrat on the committee, called for as much transparency as possible, and she would not rule out reading the report on the Senate floor if none of it was released publicly.
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It is not clear whether the document will draw conclusions about the allegations, but experts say they think that is unlikely.
Michael Mukasey, a former U.S. attorney general under President George W. Bush, said the supplemental FBI background investigation would cover current and credible allegations of misconduct. But the FBI likely won't try to resolve disputes between conflicting witnesses, and witnesses wouldn’t be tested by polygraph, he said.
Mukasey spoke with reporters on a call organized by Judicial Crisis Network, a conservative group that backs Kavanaugh's confirmation.
“The FBI doesn’t make credibility determinations about ultimate facts,” Mukasey predicted. “They simply present the statements of witnesses so that the senators who are the ultimate deciders can make their decision.”
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The report was the result of a dramatic and emotional hearing before the Judiciary Committee last week in which both Ford and Kavanaugh told their stories. Sen. Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican, voted to advance Kavanaugh's nomination but called for the reopening of the investigation into his background.
Flake, who is retiring after this year, said the nomination would be "over" if the FBI found Kavanaugh lied to the committee.
Contributing: John Fritze, Bart Jansen, Nicole Gaudiano
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