ALL KAV ALL THE TIME – AT 12:52 P.M. ET:  The senators are reading the FBI background report on Judge Kavanaugh.   It appears that, not only is there no smoking gun that can hurt him, there isn't even a bow and arrow.  Or a flying paper clip.  From Fox: 

Fresh from viewing the much-anticipated FBI supplemental report on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley declared nothing in the document changed his mind and that it was time for the Senate to vote on the jurist's high-court confirmation.

“I’ve now received a committee staff briefing on the FBI’s supplement to Judge Kavanaugh’s background investigation file," the Iowa lawmaker said Thursday. "There’s nothing in it that we didn’t already know. These uncorroborated accusations have been unequivocally and repeatedly rejected by Judge Kavanaugh, and neither the Judiciary Committee nor the FBI could locate any third parties who can attest to any of the allegations.

“It’s time to vote," Grassley added. "I’ll be voting to confirm Judge Kavanaugh.”

Grassley was the first senator to view the document, which was ordered by the White House after allegations of decades-old sexual misconduct emerged against Kavanaugh after his nomination hearing before Grassley's committee had ended last week. Other members of the committee and the full Senate will be permitted to view the documents in a secure facility later today.

The FBI interviewed nine potential witnesses in search of possible corroboration of Christine Ford's claim the now 53-year-old Kavanaugh forcibly groped her when they were teenagers. Although the report is not expected to be made public, potential witnesses named by Ford previously said they had no knowledge of the party where she claims the attack occurred.

COMMENT:  So far, so good.  But we still have not heard definitively from Flake, Collins, and Murkowski, the three Republicans who are publicly uncommitted.  Nor have we heard from Democrats from red states.

The next big event, barring public announcements from the holdouts, will come tomorrow, possibly early, when the Senate will vote to cut off debate, an act known as cloture.  If it passes, a 30-hour waiting period will go into effect.  The Senate could vote on confirmation as early as late Saturday.

If Cavanaugh is confirmed, I wonder what kind of swearing-in he'll have.  Considering the circumstances, and knowing Trump, I think the president will go big.

October 4, 2018