he encouraged Democrats to accept his gesture in good faith.
Flake’s detractors accused him of pandering to the liberal media. He would be leaving the Senate in January and was looking for a television contract. But Flake loyalists said he was genuinely moved by the distress of women like those who trapped him in the elevator that morning. The additional delay frustrated Kavanaugh’s supporters, but the investigation turned out to be a godsend.
By the time Kavanaugh learned about the delay from McGahn, he had developed the habit of expecting the worst. A delay was disappointing, of course, but he told a few people that the investigation would be good for him. He knew that anyone digging deeply into the facts would be even more clearly on his side. He was comfortable. Senator Portman shared that confidence with a few others.
Mitch McConnell promptly summoned the Republicans on the Judiciary Committee to his elegantly appointed office in the Capitol to discuss the contours of the investigation. He also invited Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, since their votes were still up for grabs. The only non–committee members present, they felt a bit like they had been called to the principal’s office.
In his intimate red-walled conference room, the majority leader asked the senators what they needed to feel comfortable that the allegations were being properly investigated. They discussed the key witnesses they wanted the FBI to interview and when they could expect to receive the findings. The senators agreed that there was no need to waste time on Swetnick’s charges, but they wanted Ford’s and Ramirez’s allegations included. Later that day the Senate Judiciary Committee announced, “The supplemental FBI background investigation would be limited to current credible allegations against the nominee,” a generous description of Ramirez’s story and a subtle dig at Avenatti and his client, “and must be completed no later than one week from today.”15
Don McGahn, who planned to step down as White House counsel after Kavanaugh was confirmed, had to request the investigation, so the liberal media tried to discredit it by association with him. Eugene Robinson, a columnist for the Washington Post, said, “If it turns out, as we suspect, that on his way out, Don McGahn squashed the FBI investigation of his good friend Brett Kavanaugh so it wouldn’t find out anything bad, that will be another part of Don McGahn’s legacy and also a rallying point for Democrats in the midterms.”16
The view that McGahn was limiting the investigation was spread by an NBC report about the exclusion of Michael Avenatti’s gang rape allegations, which was depicted as a “significant constraint” that would “make it difficult to pursue additional leads” and was “at odds with what some members of the Senate judiciary [sic] seemed to expect.”17
In fact, McGahn had broadened the scope of the investigation beyond what the Senate requested. McConnell wanted it kept within narrow limits, but McGahn had heard that Flake and Coons thought the proposed investigation was too narrow. They wanted to make sure that the FBI would run down any leads that arose from the initial interviews. Coons had already announced his opposition to Kavanaugh’s confirmation, so his views carried little weight, and he had exaggerated what Flake had agreed to. But McGahn and Flake, who had known each other since Flake was in the House, wanted to be straight with each other. McGahn assured senators that the White House would not get in the way of any follow-up.
By demanding a one-week investigation, Flake had hoped to keep the confirmation on track, but some senators were not interested in abandoning their delay tactics. Bernie Sanders now demanded that the FBI also investigate Kavanaugh for perjury, charging that the judge had made numerous untruthful statements. Grassley responded sarcastically, reminding the once and future presidential candidate that he had called for a mobilization against Kavanaugh less than twenty-four hours after his nomination was announced. “Am I to take from your letter that you are now undecided and willing to seriously engage with the Senate’s advice-and-consent constitutional duties related to the nomination of Judge Kavanaugh to serve as an associate justice on the Supreme Court of the United States?” Grassley asked. “If so, we should have a conversation about what information you need to assist you in making your decision, and I look forward to that conversation.”18
As the senators waited for the results of the supplemental background investigation, the media began picking up Democratic talking points. Kavanaugh’s indignation at being accused of sexual assault and gang rape betrayed, said