Trump ordered to initiate FBI investigation against Kavanaugh

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The Judiciary Committee of the U.S Senate has approved the nomination of Donald Trump of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S Supreme Court with a vote 11-10 on party lines. The Republican Senator Jeff Flake also called for an FBI investigation into sexual misbehavior allegations against the judge prior to the final Senate vote.

The U.S President Trump later ordered the FBI to arrange a background investigation. The intervention of Flake means a final Senate vote on the nomination could be delayed for more than a week so that the FBI investigation can be completed. Kavanaugh had denied the allegations from three different women.

Flake said, “I will vote to advance the nominee to the floor with that understanding”. Christine Blasey Ford informed U.S Senators during 4-hours of compelling testimony took place on Thursday; Kavanaugh had assaulted her at a house party in 1982.

The judge also testified before the committee, strenuously denying Ford’s allegations as well as those filed by Deborah Ramirez and Julie Swetnick. The American Bar Association has called on the Senate Judiciary Committee to delay a vote Brett Kavanaugh’s appointment to the Supreme Court so the FBI can investigate the sexual assault accusations against him.

In a letter to the committee on Thursday evening, the organization’s president Robert Carlson wrote: “The basic principles that underscore the Senate’s constitutional duty of advice and consent on federal judicial nominees require nothing less than a careful examination of the accusations and facts by the FBI”.