[ pause in proceedings ] >> judge, i won't start until you tell me you're ready. >> i'm ready. >> okay. i'm going to wait for senator feinstein.

or do you want me to go ahead without feinstein? >> wait for her. i always wait for you. >> i hope i showed up. >> senator leahy? >> thank you, mr. chairman. judge, you said before and again today that mark judge was a close friend of yours in high school. now, dr. ford, as you know, has said that he was in the room

when she was attacked. she also says you were, too. unfortunately, the fbi has never interviewed him. we've not been able to have his attendance here. the chairman refuses to call him. if she's saying mark judge was in the room then, then he should be in the room here today. would you want him called as a witness? >> senator, this allegation came into the committee -- >> no, i mean, just answer the question, would you want him to be here as a witness? >> he's already provided sworn testimony to the committee. this allegation has been hidden by the committee, by members of the committee. >> no, it hasn't been -- it has not been investigated by the fbi. the committee has refused to allow it to be. >> it was dropped on me. it was sprung. >> it was not investigated by

the fbi. he's not been called or -- >> should have been handled in a due course, senator. when it came in. >> i would -- i would disagree with that. identi i've been on this committee 44 years. both republicans and democrats. i've never seen somebody that critical and not allowed to be here, called to testify or an fbi background. >> he's provided sworn testimony and, senator -- >> he has not -- >> senator, let me finish. he -- the allegation came in weeks ago and nothing was done with it by the ranking member. and then it's sprung on me. >> judge kavanaugh, i've heard your line and you state it over and over again, and i have that well in mind, but let me ask you this. he authored a book titled "wasted: tales of a gen-x drunk." he references a bart o'kavanaugh vomiting in someone's car during beach week then passing out. is that you that he's talking about?

>> senator, mark judge was -- >> to your knowledge, is that you that he's talking about? >> i'll explain if you'll let me -- >> proceed, please. >> mark judge was a friend of ours in high school who t developed a very serious drinking problem, an addiction problem, that lasted decades and was very difficult for him to escape from. he nearly died then he had leukemia as well on top of it. now, as part of his therapy, or part of his coming to grips with sobriety, he wrote a book that is a fictionalized book and an account. i think he picked out names of friends of ours to throw them in as kind of close to what, for characters in the book. so, you know, we can sit here -- >> we don't know whether that's you or not? >> we can sit here and can make

fun of some guy who has an addiction. i don't think that really makes -- >> judge kavanaugh, i'm tryinging to get a straight answer from you under oath. are you bart o'kavanaugh you're referring to? yes or no? >> you'd have to ask him. >> well, i agree with you there. that's why i wish that the chairman had him here under oath. now, you talked about your yearbook. in your yearbook, you talked about drinking and sexual exploits. did you not? >> senator, let me take a step back and explain high school. i was number one in the class. freshman -- >> i thought -- >> no, no, no, no. >> i thought only -- >> you got this up. i'm going to talk about my high school -- no, no, i'm going to -- >> let him answer. >> i'm going to talk about my high school record if you're going to sit here and mock me. >> we were -- i think we were all very fair to dr. ford.

shouldn't we be just as fair to judge kavanaugh? >> i busted my butt in academics. i always tried to do the best i could. as i recall, i finished one in the class, first freshman and junior year right up at the top with steve clark and eddie ayala. we were always kind in the mix. i played sports. i was captain aftof the varsity team. i ran track in the spring of '82 to try to get faster. i did my service projects at the school. which involved going to the soup kitchen downtown. let me finish. and going to tutor intellectually disabled kids at the rockville library. went to church. and, yes, we got together with our friends. >> does this reflect what you are? does this yearbook reflect your focus on academics and your respect for women? that's easy, yes or no, you don't have to filibuster the answer. does it reflect your focus --

>> i already said the yearbook? my opening statement, the yearbook -- >> judge, just wait a minute. he's ask add questied a questio. i'll give you time to answer it. >> the yearbook, as i said in my opening statement, was something where the students and editors made a decision to treat some of it as farce and some of it as exaggeration. some of it celebrating things that don't reflect the things that were really the central part of our school. yes, we went to parties, though. yes, of course, we went to parties and the yearbook page describes that and kind of makes fun of it. and, you know, if we want to sit here and talk about whether a supreme court nomination should be based on a high school yearbook page, i think that's taking us to a new level of absurdity. >> miss mitchell? >> we got a filibuster but not a single answer. >> miss mitchell? >> judge, do you still have your calendars there?

>> i do. >> i would like you to look at the july 1st entry. >> yes. >> the entry says, and i quote, "go to timmy's for skis with judge, tom, p.j., bernie, and squee." >> that's a nickname. >> okay. to what does this refer and to whom? >> so first says tobin's house, workout. so that's one of the football workouts that we would have that dr. fenizio would run for guys on the football team during the summer. so we would be there. that's usually 6:00 to 8:00 or so. kind of until near dark. then it looks like we went over to timmy's. you want to know their last names, too? i'm happy to do it. >> if you could just identify,

is judge mark judge? >> it is. >> and is p.j. p.j. smith? >> it is. so it's tim gaudet, mark judge, tom kane, p.j. smith, bernie mccarthy, chris garrett. >> chris garrett is squee? >> he is. >> did you in your calendar routinely document social gatherings like house parties or gatherings of friends in your calendar? >> yes. it certainly appears that way. that's what i was doing in the summer of 1982. you can see that reflected on several of the -- several of the entries. >> if a gathering like dr. ford has described had occurred, would you have documented that? >> yes. because i documented everything, those kinds of events, even small get togethers. august 7th is another good example where i documented a

small get together that summer. so, yes. >> august 7th. could you read that? >> think that's go to becky's, matt, denise, lori, jenny. >> have you reviewed every entry that is in these calendars of may, june, july, and august of 1982? >> i have. >> is there anything that could even remotely fit what we're talking about in terms of dr. ford's allegations? >> no. >> as a lawyer and a judge, are you -- we've talked about the fbi. are you aware that this type of offense would actually be investigated by local police? >> yes. i mentioned montgomery county

police earlier. yes. >> okay. are you aware that in maryland, there is no statute of limitations that would prohibit you being charged even if this happened in 1982? >> that's my understanding. >> have you at any time been contacted by any members of local police agencies regarding this matter? >> no, ma'am. >> prior to your nomination for supreme court, you've talked about all of the female clerks you've had and the women that you've worked with. i'm not just talking about them. i'm talking about globally. have you ever been accused either formally or informally of unwanted sexual behavior? >> no. >> and when i say informally, i mean just a female complains, it doesn't have to be to anybody else but you. >> no. . >> since dr. ford's allegation

was made public, how many times have you been interviewed by the committee? >> it's been three or four. i'm trying to remember now. it's been several times. each of these new things, as absurd as they are, would get on the phone and kind of go through them. >> so have you submitted to interviews specifically about dr. ford's allegation? >> yes. >> and what about deborah ramirez's -- >> yes. >> -- allegation that you waved your penis in front of her? >> yes. >> what about julie swetnick's allegation that you repeatedly engaged in drugging and gang raping or allowing women to be gang raped? >> yes. yes, i've been interviewed about it. >> were your answers to my questions today consistent with the answers that you gave to the committee in these various interviews?

>> yes, ma'am. >> okay. amount of time. >> senator durbin? >> thank you, mr. chairman. judge kavanaugh, earlier today, dr. christine ford sat in that same chair and under oath she said clearly and unequivocally that she was the convict of sexual assault at your hands. she answered our questions directly and she didn't flinch at the prospect of submitting herself to an fbi investigation of these charges. we know and i'm sure she's been advised by her attorneys that a person lying to the fbi can face criminal prosecution. you have clearly and unequivocally denied that you assaulted dr. ford. with that statement, you must believe that there is no credible evidence or any credible witness that can prove otherwise. you started off with an impassioned statement at the beginning and i can imagine, try to imagine, what you have been through, your family's been through, and i'm sure i wouldn't get close to it. >> i bet you wouldn't. >> i'm sure i wouldn't. it's an impassioned statement.

and in the course of it, you said, "i welcome any kind of investigation." i quote you. "i welcome any kind of investigation." i've got a suggestion for you. right now, turn to your left in the front row to don mcgahn, counsel to president donald trump, ask him to suspend this hearing and nomination process until the fbi completes its investigation of the charges made by dr. ford and others and goes to bring the witnesses forward and provides that information to this hearing. i'm sure that the chairman at that point will understand that that is a reasonable request. to finally put to rest these charges if they are false or to prove them if they are not. you spent two years in a white house office that approved judicial nominees. you turned to the fbi over and over and over again for their work. let's bring them in here and now. turn to don mcgahn and tell him,

it's time to get this done, an fbi investigation is the only way to answer some of these questions. >> senator -- >> stop the clock. this committee is running this hearing. not the white house. not don mcgahn. not even you as a nominee. we are here today because dr. ford asked for an opportunity here. i know you did, too, as well. in fact, maybe even before she did. we're here because people wanted to be heard from charges that they all thought were unfair or activities like sexual assault was unfair. so i want to assure senator durbin regardless of what you say to senator don mcgahn, we're not suspending this hearing. proceed to answer the question, or whatever -- or if the gentleman -- >> i'll just say this, if you,

judge kavanaugh, turned to don mcgahn and to this committee and say for the sake of my reputation, my family name, and to get to the bottom of the truth of this, i am not going to be obstacle to an fbi investigation, i would hope that all the members of the committee would join me in saying, we're going to abide by your wishes and we will have that investigation. >> i welcome whatever the committee wants to do because i'm telling the truth. >> i want to know what you want to do. >> i'm telling the truth. >> i want to know what what you want to do, judge. >> i'm innocent. i'm innocent of this charge. >> you're prepared -- >> they don't reach conclusions. >> no, but they do investigate questions. >> i'm innocent. >> you can't have it both ways. you can't say -- >> i wanted a hearing. >> -- i welcome any kind of investigation. >> this thing was sprung on me. this thing was sprung at the last minute after being held by staff. you know -- >> judge. >> i called for a hearing immediately. >> if there is no truth to her charges, the fbi investigation

will show that. are you afraid that they might not? >> come on. >> the fbi does not reach -- you know, you know this -- you know that's a phony question because the fbi doesn't reach conclusions. they just provide the 302s. 302s, so i can explain to people who don't know what that is, they just go and do what you're doing. ask questions and then type up a report. they don't reach the bottom line -- >> this morning i asked dr. ford, i asked her about this incident where she ran into mark judge in safeway, and she said, sure, i remember. six or eight weeks after this occurrence. well, someone at the "washington post" went in and took a look at mr. judge's book. and has been able to -- the run that he wrote about his addiction and his alcoholism. they have narrowed it down what they think was a period of time, six or eight weeks after the event. and he would have been working at the safeway at that point. so the point i'm getting to is we at least can connect some dots here and get some information. why would you resist that -- >> there's some dots --

>> -- kind of investigation? why would you resist that kind of investigation? >> senator, i welcome, i wanted the hearing last week. >> i'm asking about the fbi investigation. >> the committee figures out how to ask the questions. i've been on the phone multiple times with committee counsel. i'll talk to -- >> judge kavanaugh, will you support an fbi investigation right now? >> i will do whatever the committee wants to -- >> personally, do you think that's the best thing for us to do? you won't answer? >> look, senator, i've -- i have said i wanted a hearing and i said i was welcome anything. i'm innocent. this thing was held, held when it could have been presented in the ordinary way. it could have been held and handled confidently at first which was what dr. ford's wishes were, as i understand it. it wouldn't have caused this, like, destroyed my family like this effort has. >> i think an fbi investigation

will help all of us on both sides of the issue. >> senator graham asks for the floor. but before he does, it seems to me that if you want to know something, you got the witness right here to ask him. and secondly, if you want an fbi report, you can ask for it yourself. i've asked for fbi reports in the past. in the 38 years i've been in the senate. senator graham. >> are you aware that at 9:23 on the night of july the 9th, the day you were nominated to the supreme court by president trump, senator schumer said 23 minutes after your nomination, "i'll oppose judge kavanaugh's nomination with everything i have. i hope a bipartisan majority will do the same. the stakes are simply too high for anything less." if you weren't aware of it, you

are now. did you meet with senator dianne feinstein on august 20th? >> i did meet with senator feinstein. >> did you know that her staff had already recommended a lawyer to dr. ford? >> i did not know that. >> did you know that her and her staff had this allegations for over 20 days? >> i did not know that at the time. >> if you wanted an fbi investigation, you could have come to us. what you want to do is destroy this guy's life, hold this seat open and hope you win in 2020. you've said that. not me. you got nothing to apologize for. when you see society tomayer an kagan, say hello because i voted for them. i'd never do to them what you've done to this guy. this is the most unethical sham since i've been in politics and if you really wanted to know the truth, you sure as hell wouldn't have done what you've done to

this guy. are you a gang rapist? >> no. >> i cannot imagine what you and your family have gone through. boy, you all want power. god, i hope you never get it. i hope the american people can see through this sham. that you knew about it and you held it. you had no intention of protecting dr. ford. none. she's as much of a victim as you are. god, i hate to say it because these have been my friends, but let me tell you, when it comes to this, you're looking for a fair process, you came to the wrong town at the wrong time, my friend. do you consider this a job interview? >> the advice and consent rule is like -- >> do you consider that you've been through a job interview? >> i've been through a process of advice and consent under the constitution which -- >> would you say you've been through hell? >> i've been through hell and

then some. >> this is not a job interview. >> yeah. >> this is hell. >> this -- >> this is going to destroy the ability of good people to come forward because of this crap. your high school yearbook. you have interacted with professional women all your life, not one accusation. you're supposed to be bill cosby when you're a junior and senior in high school. and all of a sudden you got over it. it's been my understanding that if you drug women and rape them for two years in high school, you probably don't stop. here's my understanding. if you lived a good life, people would recognize it like the american bar association has the gold standard. "his integrity is absolutely unquestioned. he is the very circumspect in his personal conduct, harbors no

biases or prejudices. entirely ethical. is a really decent person. he has wais warm, friendly, unassuming. he's the nicest person." the aba. one thing i can tell yoou you should be proud of, ashley, you should be proud of this. that you raised a daughter who had the good character to pray for dr. ford. to my republican colleagues, if you vote no, you're legitimizing the most despicable thing i have seen in my time in politics. you want this seat, i hope you never get it. i hope you're on the supreme court. that's exactly where you should be. and i hope that the american people will see through this charade. and i wish you well. you well. and i intend to vote for you, and i hope everybody who's fair minded will. >> senator whitehouse.

>> should we let things settle a little bit after that? >> if you want to, we'll take a 60-second break. >> no, i'm good. >> okay. go ahead. >> one of the reasons, mr. kavanaugh, that we are looking at the yearbook is that it is relatively consistent in time with the events at issue here, and because it appears to be your words. is it, in fact, your words on your yearbook page? >> we submitted things to the editors, and i believe they took them. i don't know if they changed things or not, but -- >> you're not aware of any changes. as far as you know -- >> i'm not aware one way or the other but i'm not going to sit here and contest that. have at it, if you want to go through my yearbook. >> yeah, i'm actually interested. you know, lawyers should be

working off of common terms and understand the words that we're using. i think that's a pretty basic principle among lawyers, won't wouldn't you agree? >> it is. if you're worried about my yearbook, have at it, senator. >> let's look at beach week ralph club biggest contributor. what does the word ralph mean in that? >> that probably refers to throwing up. i'm known to have a weak stomach and always have. in fact, the last time i was here, you asked me about having ketchup on spaghetti. i always have had a weak stomach. >> i don't know that i asked about ketchup on spaghetti. >> you didn't. someone did. anyone who's known me like a lot of these people behind me, have known me my whole life, know, you know, i got a weak stomach, whether it's with beer or with spicy food or anything. >> so, the vomiting that you reference in the ralph club reference related to the consumption of alcohol? >> senator, i was at the top of

my class academically, busted my butt in school, captain of the varsity basketball team, got into yale college. when i got into yale college, got into yale law school, worked my tail off. >> and did the word "ralph" you used -- >> i already answered the question. >> did it refer to alcohol? did it relate to alcohol? >> i like beer. i don't know if you do. do you like beer, senator, or not? what do you like to drink? >> next one is, judge, have you -- i don't know if it's buffed -- how do you pronounce that? >> that refers to flatulence. we were 16. >> okay. and so when your friend, mark judge, said the same -- put the same thing in his yearbook page back to you, he had the same meaning, it was flatulence. >> i don't know what he did but

that's my recollection. we wanted to talk about flatulence at age 16 on a yearbook page, i'm game. >> you mentioned the renata -- i don't know how you pronounce that. that's the proper name of an individual you know? >> renata. >> it's spelled re-n-a-t-e. >> correct. >> and then after that is the word, alumnius. what does that mean in that context? >> i explained that in my opening statement. she was a great friend of ours. bunch of us went to dances with her. she hung out with us as a group. the media circus that has been generated by this thought and reported that it referred to sex. it did not. never had any -- she herself said on the record, any kind of sexual interaction with her and i'm sorry how that's been misinterpreted and sorry about that, as i explained in my opening statement because she's a good person and to have her name dragged through this hearing is a joke, and really an

embarrassment. >> devil's triangle? >> drinking game. >> how's it played? >> three glasses in a triangle. >> and? >> you ever played quarters? >> no. >> okay. it's a quarters game. >> ann daugherty's? >> she had a party on the fourth of july in the beach in delaware. >> and there are, like, one, two, three, four, five, six seven fs in front of the fourth of july. what does that signify, if anything. >> one of our friends, squee, when he said the f word, starting at a young age, had kind of a wind-up to the f word. kind of fff. and then the word would come out. and when we were 15, we thought that was funny and it became an inside joke for the -- how he would say f -- and i won't

repeat it here. >> and referring to georgetown versus louisville. >> do you want any more on the f snz. >> orioles versus red sox, who won that game anyway, should we draw any conclusion that a loss of recollection associated with alcohol was involved in you not knowing who won the games that you attended? >> no. first of all, the georgetown-louisville was watching on tv, a party, and the -- >> that's not inconsistent with drinking and not remembering what happened. >> i'm aware. and the point of both was we, in essence, were having a party and didn't pay attention to the game, even though the game was the excuse we had for getting together. i think that's very common. i don't know if you've been to a summa super bowl party, for example, senator, and not paid attention to the game and just hung out with your friends. i don't know if you've done that or not but that's what we were referring to in those two occasions. >> senator cornyn. >> judge, i can't think of a

more embarrassing scandal for the united states senate since the mccarthy hearings. when the comment was about the cruelty of the process toward the people involved. and the question was asked, have you no sense of decency. and i'm afraid we've lost that, at least for the time being. do you understand you've been accused of multiple crimes? >> i'm painfully aware, for my family and me, to read about this. >> and -- >> breathless reporting. >> and of course the sexual assault that dr. ford claims that you denied, then the claims of ms. ramirez that not even "the new york times" would report because they couldn't corroborate it and then stormy daniels' lawyer released a bombshell accusing you of gang

rape. all of those are crimes, are they not? >> they are, and i'm never going to get my reputation back. it's -- my life is totally and permanently altered. >> judge, don't give up. >> i'm not giving up. >> the american people are listening to this and they will make their decision, and i think you'll come out on the right side of that decision. >> well, i will always be a good person and try to be a good judge, whatever happens. >> so this is not a job interview. you've been accused of a crime. if you have lied to the committee and the investigators, that is a crime in and of itself, correct? >> that's correct. >> so, in order to vote against your nomination, we would have to conclude that you are a serial liar and you have exposed yourself to legal jeopardy in the way in your interaction with this committee and the investigators. isn't that correct? >> that's my understanding.

>> you talked in your interview on -- with martha the other night about a fair process. some of my colleagues across the aisle say, well, the burden is not on the accuser because this is a job interview. the burden is on you, but you said you weren't there and it didn't happen. it's impossible for you to prove a negative. so, i would just suggest that you have been accused of a crime and that a fair process under the united states constitution, under our notion of fair play, means that the people who make an accusation against you have to come forward with some evidence. isn't that part of a fair process? >> yes, sir, senator. >> and part of that means that if you're going to make an allegation, there needs to be corroboration. in other words, you're not guilty because somebody makes an accusation against you in this country. we're not a police state. we don't give the government that kind of power. we insist that those charges be

proven by competent evidence. and i know we're not in a court. i've told my colleagues if we were in court, half of them would be in contempt of court. but you have been accused of a crime, and i believe fundamental notions of fair play and justice in our constitutional system require that if somebody's going to make that accusation against you, then they need to come forward with some corroboration, not just allegations. and you're right to be angry about the delays in your ability to come here and protect your good name because in the interim, it just keeps getting worse. it's not dr. ford. it's this story that not even "the new york times" would report, the allegation of ms. ramirez, and then stormy daniels' lawyer comes up with this incredible story accusing you of the most sordid and salacious conduct.

it's outrageous, and you're right to be angry. but this is your chance to tell your story, and i hope you have a chance to tell us everything you want to tell us, but the burden is not on you to disprove the allegations made. the burden under our system, when you accuse somebody of criminal conduct, is on the person making the accusation. now, i understand we're not -- this isn't a trial, like i said, but i just wanted to make sure that we understood. it's hard to reconstruct what happened 36 years ago, and i appreciate what you said about dr. ford, that perhaps she has had an incident at some point in her life and you are sympathetic to that, but your reputation is on the line, and i hope people understand the gravity of the charges made against you and what a fair process looks like.

>> senator klobuchar. >> thank you, mr. chairman. judge, we're talking here about decency and you understand we have this constitutional duty to advise and consent. and for me, when this evidence came forward, i decided that i needed to look at this, and i needed to find out about it, and i needed to ask you questions about it as well as others that were involved. so, again, i'm not going to take quite the same approach as my colleagues here and talk about don mcgahn or any of this. why don't you just ask the president -- this is -- dr. ford can't do this. we clearly haven't been able to do this. but just ask the president to reopen the fbi investigation. >> i think the committee is -- you're doing the investigation. i'm here to answer your questions. >> no. >> and i should say one thing, senator klobuchar, which is i appreciate our meeting together, and i appreciate how you handled

the prior hearing and i have a lot of respect for you. >> well, thank you. all of that aside, here's the thing. you could actually just get this open so that we can talk to these witnesses and the fbi can do it instead of us and you've come before us, but we have people like mark judge who dr. ford says was a witness to this. we have this polygraph expert that my colleagues were raising issues about the polygraph. we would like to have that person come before us. and i just think if we could open this up -- >> i don't mean to interrupt, but i guess i am. but mark judge has provided sworn statements, saying this didn't happen and that i never did or would do -- >> we would like the fbi to be able to follow up and ask him questions. you know, we talked about past nomination process and you talked about those, and i note that president george bush, in

the anita hill, justice thomas case, he opened up the fbi investigation and let questions be asked, and i think it was helpful for people. so, was his decision reasonable? >> i don't know the circumstances of that. what i know, senator, is i'm here -- >> but he just -- the circumstances are that he opened up the investigation so the fbi could ask some questions. that's what he -- he opened up the background check. >> i'm here to answer questions about my yearbook or about, you know, what i did -- sports or summer basketball. >> i'm not going to ask about the yearbook. so, most people have done some drinking in high school and college, and many people even struggle with alcoholism and binge drinking. my own dad struggled with alcoholism most of his life and he got in trouble for it and there were consequences. he is still in aa at age 90, and he's sober, and in his words, he

was pursued by grace and that's how he got through this. so in your case, you have said here is and other places that you never drank so much that you didn't remember what happened. but yet, we have heard, not under oath, but we have heard your college roommate say that you did drink frequently, these are in news reports, that you would sometimes be belligerent. another classmate said it's not credible for you to say you didn't have memory lapses. so, drinking is one thing. >> i don't think -- i actually don't think that's the second quote's correct. on the first quote, if you want to -- i provided some material that's still redacted about the situation with the freshman year roommate, and i don't really want to repeat that in a public hearing but just so you know, there were three people in a room, dave white, jamie roach, and me, and it was a contentious situation where jamie did not

like dave white at all and, i mean, this -- so dave white came back from home one weekend and jamie roach had moved all his furniture out into the courtyard. >> okay. >> and so he walks in and so that's your source on that, so there's some old -- >> so, drinking is one thing. >> and there's much more. look at the redacted portion of what i said. i don't want to repeat that in a public hearing. >> i will. could i just ask one more question. >> redacted information about that. >> okay. drinking is one thing but the concern is about truthfulness and in your written testimony, you said sometimes you had too many drinks. was there ever a time when you drank so much that you couldn't remember what happened or part of what happened the night before? >> no, i -- no. i remember what happened, and i think you've probably had beers, senator, and so -- >> so you're saying there's never been a case where you drank so much that you didn't remember what happened the night before or part of what happened.

>> you're asking about, yeah, blackout. i don't know -- have you? >> could you answer the question, judge? just so you have -- that's not happened? is that your answer? >> yeah, and i'm curious if you have. >> i have no drinking problem, judge. >> nor do i. >> okay. thank you. >> senator hatch. >> since this fbi thing keeps coming up all the time, let's get back to basics. first of all, anybody, including any senator that's brought up this issue, could ask for an fbi investigation. what the fbi does is gather information for the white house, then the file is sent to the committee for us to make our own evaluations. we're capable of making our own determination about the accuracy of any of those allegations. the fbi has put out a statement over now, i suppose, a month ago clearly stating this matter is

closed as far as the letter being sent to them. and there is no federal crime to investigate. if senator -- senate democrats hope for the fbi to draw any conclusions on this matter, i'm going to remind you what joe biden said. i said this in my statement but maybe people aren't listening when i say and maybe they won't even hear this. joe biden, quote, the next person who refers to an fbi report as being worth anything obviously doesn't understand anything. the fbi explicitly does not in this or any other case reach a conclusion, period. they say he said, she said, they said, period. so, when people wave an fbi report before you or even bring it up now as something prospectively, i'm not -- that wasn't in his quote. understand they do not -- they

do not -- they do not reach conclusions. they do not make recommendations. senator hatch. >> mr. chairman. >> i need a break. >> no, no, don't take a break. let me do this. >> mr. chairman, may i say for the record that actually we have asked -- you said that nobody's asked the fbi or we could ask the fbi. i actually have. i think others have. and i think that the issue is that part of what an fbi report does is to investigate and seek either corroborating or exculpatory evidence. it's not so much the conclusion that it draws as the breadth of the evidence that is sought out through the investigation and the difference between what somebody might say to an fbi agent when they're being examined and, for instance, mr. judge's letter, signed by his lawyer, sent in. it's just a different thing. and i believe still that this is the first background investigation in the history of background investigations that hasn't been reopened when new

credible derogatory information was raised about the subject, about the nominee. so, you know, i just didn't want let the point you made stand without referencing what we had tried to do. >> pardon me, but i'll just add to the point you made. the letter was sent to the fbi. the fbi sent it to the white house with a letter saying the case is closed. we're taking a break now for senator -- we're taking a break now. >> 15-minute break. >> also there, the house and

senate floor speeches and rallies supporting and opposing the nomination. the senate judiciary committee voted 11-10 to move the supreme court nomination out of committee. senator jeff flake only cast the deciding vote after negotiations with democrats to delay the floor vote on this nomination for up to a week, giving the fbi time to investigate the sexual assault allegations against judge kavanaugh. here is how the hearing played out on friday.