Abrar Hussain
President Donald Trump, reportedly under intense pressure from members in his own party over his Supreme Court nominee, ordered an FBI investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against Brett Kavanaugh on Friday at the request of Senate Republicans, a move that is expected to delay the contentious confirmation process by a week.
One of the key players of the unexpected developments was Senator Jeff Flake, a moderate Republican retiring from the Senate in January who provided the decisive vote to approve Kavanaugh’s nomination in the Judiciary Committee and send the matter to the full Senate.
But Flake, after urgent consultations with colleagues including Democratic Senator Chris Coons, cast the vote only after asking the Republican-led panel to request that the Trump administration pursue an FBI probe lasting up to seven days of the explosive allegations against Kavanaugh.
Trump, who had previously rebuffed Democratic demands for an FBI probe, granted the request, ordering the “supplemental investigation” to be “limited in scope and completed in less than one week.”
-Source: Reuters