WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump left the door open Friday to a reopening of the FBI investigation of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, saying he wants Republican Senate leaders to do “whatever they think is necessary" to get to a decision on whether to confirm him.

A day after an emotional hearing in which Christine Blasey Ford testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee about her allegations against Kavanaugh of sexual assault, Trump told reporters at the White House he thought her testimony was "compelling" and said "she looks like a very fine woman to me."

However, he continued to stand by Kavanaugh. Asked if he had thought of replacing Kavanaugh, Trump said: "Not even a little bit."

Trump, when pressed on his views about a potential FBI investigation, said he would rely on what Senate Judiciary Committee Chuck Grassley and other Republican leaders wanted to.

"That’ll be a decision that they’re going to make," he said.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has approved, along party lines, the nomination of Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court – with a request that the FBI conduct an investigation into sexual assault allegations before the full Senate takes a vote. However, any FBI investigation would require Trump's approval. </s> WASHINGTON: Agreeing to the demands by Democrats, US President Donald Trump has ordered a limited FBI investigation into the allegations of sexual assault against his embattled Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, throwing his Senate confirmation in doubt.

The FBI has been asked to complete its investigation in a week, meaning the confirmation of Kavanaugh, 53, as Supreme Court judge would be delayed by at least a week. “I’ve ordered the FBI to conduct a supplemental investigation to update Judge Kavanaugh’s file. As the Senate has requested, this update must be limited in scope and completed in less than one week,” Trump announced Friday.

In an accompanying statement issued by the White House, Kavanaugh promised full co-operation in the investigation. “Throughout this process, I’ve been interviewed by the FBI, I’ve done a number of ‘background’ calls directly with the Senate, and yesterday, I answered questions under oath about every topic the senators and their counsel asked me. I’ve done everything they have requested and will continue to cooperate,” Kavanaugh said.

At least three women have now accused Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct while drunk. On Thursday, Christine Blasey Ford, 51, during a televised public hearing before the committee recounted the alleged sexual assault by the conservative judge, which “drastically altered her life”.

The two were in high schools when the alleged incident happened in the early 1980s. Kavanaugh, making appearance before the same Senate committee after Ford, denied the allegations. Trump’s decision on a limited FBI investigation against Kavanaugh came after the Republicans agreed to it. The Republicans hold a 51-49 majority in the Senate,

“The Senate Judiciary Committee will request that the administration instruct the FBI to conduct a supplemental FBI background investigation with respect to the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to be an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court,” the committee said in a statement.

“The supplemental FBI background investigation would be limited to current credible allegations against the nominee and must be completed no later than one week from today,” it said after Republican Senator Jeff Flake demanded the same. Flake called for a delay in the Senate vote to allow for an FBI probe into the claims leveled against Kavanaugh. While Trump continued to back Kavanaugh and said he would not change his Supreme Court nominee, he also praised Ford.

“I thought her testimony was very compelling, and she looks like a very fine woman to me. A very fine woman. And I thought that Brett’s testimony, likewise, was really something that I haven’t seen before. It was incredible. It was an incredible moment, I think, in the history of our country,” he told reporters during a media appearance with the visiting Chilean President Sebastian Pinera in the Oval Office. “Certainly, she was a very credible witness. She was very good in many respects,” Trump said.

Kavanaugh is the second judge to be nominated by Trump on the nine-member US Supreme Court. Trump’s first nominee, Judge Gorsuch, was confirmed by the Senate on April 7, 2017. Unlike India, where Supreme Court judges have a retiring age, the judges to the US Supreme Court are appointed for life. As a result, all nominations to the apex bench have long-term implications – mostly generational.

For instance, Judge Clarence Thomas, who was nominated by George H W Bush, has been a Supreme Court judge for nearly 27 years and Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who was nominated by the then president Bill Clinton, has served on the bench for over 25 years. Judge Stephen Breyer, also nominated by Clinton, has been a Supreme Court judge for more than 24 years now. PTI </s> President Trump had said he would be paying close attention to the testimony of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, the woman accusing him of sexual assault decades ago. </s> The FBI has reached out to a second woman who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault -- a day after President Trump ordered the bureau to conduct a new background investigation.

An attorney for Deborah Ramirez, who claims that Kavanaugh exposed himself to her at a Yale college party several years ago, said that the FBI had reached out to her.

"We can confirm the FBI has reached out to interview Ms. Ramirez and she has agreed to cooperate with their investigation," attorney John Clune said in a statement. "Out of respect for the integrity of the process, we will have no further comment at this time."

The development was first reported by The Washington Post.

The FBI background check comes after Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., joined Democrats on Friday in calling for the investigation into sexual assault allegations made against Kavanaugh.

Kavanaugh has repeatedly denied all accusations against him.

FLAKE DEFENDS CALL FOR KAVANAUGH DELAY: 'WE'RE COMING APART AT THE SEAMS'

On Thursday Kavanaugh testified to a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing after Christine Blasey Ford testified that he had assaulted her at a high school party in 1982. In a blistering response, he called the circumstances surrounding his nomination a "circus."

On Friday, the committee voted to recommend Kavanaugh to the Senate for confirmation to the high court post, but Flake requested the “limited” weeklong background check. With Republicans holding a very slim majority in the Senate, Trump ordered the investigation despite GOP leaders having previously argued there was no need for further investigation.

The inquiry is expected to wrap by Friday.

Republicans have accused Democrats of trying to delay the vote until after the midterms, when Democrats are hoping to have retaken control of the Senate. Democrats, in turn, have assailed what they say has been a rush toward confirmation regardless of the allegations against the judge.

On Friday Flake defended his decision to press for the further inquiry, saying he wanted to protect the credibility of America’s institutions.

“Two institutions, really,” he told The Atlantic. “One, the Supreme Court is the lone institution where most Americans still have some faith. And then the U.S. Senate as an institution — we’re coming apart at the seams. There’s no currency, no market for reaching across the aisle. It just makes it so difficult.”

However, he also said that the delay could eventually help both Republicans, and Kavanaugh himself.

“Obviously. I’ve felt that this delay is as much to help him as us. My hope is that some Democrats will say, “Hey, we may not change our vote, but this process was worthy of the institution, and we feel satisfied.”

"That means something,” he said. “The country needs to hear that.”

A third woman has also leveled charges against Kavanaugh. As was the case with Ford and Ramirez, she said the events occurred decades ago.

In a sworn declaration, Julie Swetnick of Washington, D.C., said she witnessed him "consistently engage in excessive drinking and inappropriate contact of a sexual nature with women in the early 1980s."

As with the other cases, the judge has maintained his innocence. </s> Reversing course, President Donald Trump bowed to Democrats ' demands Friday for a deeper FBI investigation of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh after Republican Sen. Jeff Flake balked at voting for confirmation without it — a sudden turn that left Senate approval newly uncertain amid allegations of sexual assault. 

 

 Kavanaugh's nomination had appeared back on track earlier Friday when he cleared a key hurdle at the Senate Judiciary Committee. But that advance came with an asterisk. Flake indicated he would take the next steps — leading to full Senate approval — only after the further background probe, and there were suggestions that other moderate Republicans might join his revolt. 

 

 The abrupt developments gave senators, the White House and millions of Americans following the drama at home hardly a chance to catch their breath after Thursday's emotional Senate hearing featuring Kavanaugh angrily defending himself and accuser Christine Blasey Ford determinedly insisting he assaulted her when they were teens. 

 

 Emotions were still running high Friday, and protesters confronted senators in the halls. 

 

 "The country is being ripped apart here," said Flake. 

 

 After he took his stance, Republican leaders had little choice but to slow their rush to confirm Kavanaugh, whom they had hoped to have in place shortly after the new court term begins Monday. 

 

 Trump quietly followed suit, though he had vigorously resisted asking the FBI to probe the allegations of sexual misconduct by Kavanaugh, now being raised by three women. One day earlier, he had blistered the Senate process as "a total sham," accused Democrats of a conspiracy of obstruction and declared on Twitter, "The Senate must vote!" 

 

 The new timeline puts Trump's nominee in further peril and pushes the politically risky vote for senators closer to the November congressional elections. It also means that any cases the Supreme Court hears before a ninth justice is in place will be decided by just eight, raising the possibility of tie votes. 

 

 It was clear Republicans were still short of votes for final Senate approval after Thursday's hearing. They convened late into the evening in a room in the Capitol with various senators, including Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, raising pointed questions, according to those familiar with the private meeting but granted anonymity to discuss it. 

 

 Republican leaders said — and Trump ordered — that the new probe be "limited in scope." But there was no specific direction as to what that might include. Two other women besides Ford have also lodged public sexual misconduct allegations against Kavanaugh. 

 

 Democrats have been particularly focused on getting more information from Mark Judge, a high school friend of Kavanaugh who Ford said was also in the room during her alleged assault. Judge has said he does not recall any such incident. In a new letter to the Senate panel, he said he would cooperate with any law enforcement agency assigned to investigate "confidentially." 

 

 Kavanaugh issued his own statement through the White House saying he's been interviewed by the FBI before, done "background" calls with the Senate and answered questions under oath "about every topic" senators have asked. 

 

 "I've done everything they have requested and will continue to cooperate," said the 53-year-old judge. 

 

 Flake, a key moderate Republican, was at the center of Friday's uncertainty. In the morning, he announced he would support Kavanaugh's nomination. Shortly after, he was confronted in an elevator by two women who, through tears, said they were sexual assault victims and implored him to change his mind. 

 

 "Look at me and tell me that it doesn't matter what happened to me," said 23-year-old Maria Gallagher, a volunteer with a liberal advocacy group. 

 

 The confrontation was captured by television cameras. 

 

 Soon he was working on a new deal with his Republican colleagues and Democrats in a Judiciary Committee anteroom. 

 

 Flake announced he would vote to advance Kavanaugh's nomination to the full Senate only if the FBI were to investigate. Democrats have been calling for such a probe, though Republicans and the White House have insisted it was unnecessary. The committee vote was 11-10 along party lines. 

 

 Attention quickly turned to a handful of undeclared senators. 

 

 Two other key Republicans, Collins and Murkowski, said they backed the plan after they and other GOP senators met for an hour in Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's office in the Capitol. 

 

 West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin said he supported Flake's call for a further probe "so that our country can have confidence in the outcome of this vote." 

 

 With a 51-49 majority, Senate Republicans have little margin for error on a final vote, especially given the fact that several Democrats facing tough re-election prospects this fall announced their opposition to Kavanaugh on Friday. Bill Nelson of Florida, Joe Donnelly of Indiana and Jon Tester of Montana all said they would vote no. 

 

 Flake's vote on final approval is not assured either. 

 

 Some Republicans still resisted the delay but went along with the plan that may be the only way salvage Kavanaugh's confirmation. 

 

 "I think it's overkill," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. "But they have a right to request it." 

 

 The FBI conducts background checks for federal nominees, but the agency does not make judgments on the credibility or significance of allegations. It compiles information about the nominee's past and provides its findings to the White House, which passes them along to the committee. Republicans say reopening the FBI investigation is unnecessary because committee members have had the opportunity to question both Kavanaugh and Ford and other potential witnesses have submitted sworn statements. 

 

 Agents could interview accusers and witnesses and gather additional evidence or details that could help corroborate or disprove the allegations. 

 

 ___ 

 

 Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Matthew Daly, Juliet Linderman, Eric Tucker, Julie Pace and Padmananda Rama contributed to this report. 

 

 ___ 

 

 For more coverage of Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination, visit https://apnews.com/tag/Kavanaughnomination 

 

 Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. </s> WASHINGTON — President Trump on Friday ordered the FBI to reopen the investigation of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s background, a stunning turnaround in an emotional battle over sexual assault allegations that has shaken the Senate and reverberated across the country.

The dramatic developments capped an extraordinary day on Capitol Hill, which began with a sense of momentum for Kavanaugh but then sharply changed when one of Trump’s fiercest Republican critics, Sen. Jeff Flake, Ariz., who at first endorsed the nominee, emerged from a private meeting with Democrats to call for a renewed inquiry into misconduct allegations.

Flake’s move puts in doubt the fate of Kavanaugh, who has in recent days drawn strong support from Trump and other top Republicans, but now faces another week of scrutiny and must watch as senators in both parties endure mounting pressure from their respective bases to either rally to his side or block his confirmation.

Maine Sen. Susan Collins also tweeted her support for an FBI investigation.

Collins was involved in the discussions of a plan Friday morning to reopen the background investigation of Kavanaugh, according to the senator’s spokeswoman, Annie Clark. She and another moderate Republican senator, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, spoke with Flake before he announced the deal to advance Kavanaugh’s nomination out of the Judiciary Committee while reopening FBI investigation. They later met with Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to nail down the details.

Conservatives have demanded that Republicans confirm Trump’s second Supreme Court pick, a judge who could shift the high court to the right for a generation, or face political consequences in midterm elections in six weeks, with control of Congress at stake.

The delay once again thrusts the FBI, an increasing target of Trump’s ire, into the center of a politically charged controversy in the #MeToo period.

Flake, a member of the Judiciary Committee, was confronted at one point Friday by two women who tearfully and angrily urged him to consider the pain of sexual assault survivors.

“There’s lingering doubt out there among a lot of people that we haven’t taken every measure that we should to make sure that these allegations are dealt with,” Flake told reporters Friday after the committee said it requested the White House call for an FBI probe. “That’s what this effort is about.”

The request for a supplemental FBI background check will almost certainly delay Kavanaugh’s confirmation vote beyond Tuesday, the tentative date eyed by Senate Republican leaders. But Trump and McConnell had no choice but to placate the small core of undecided senators whom Trump has little power to influence.

Late Friday, by voice vote, the Senate took an initial step to move ahead on the nomination. Barring no major revelations from the FBI, the Senate could vote on confirming Kavanaugh next weekend, days after the start of the high court’s session.

The FBI has already cleared Kavanaugh through six background checks for his previous public-service jobs, a point the nominee underscored in a statement Friday while adding, “I’ve done everything they have requested and will continue to cooperate.”

Trump said the investigation “must be limited in scope and completed in less than one week.” The Judiciary Committee said the probe would cover “current credible allegations,” although committee spokesmen did not respond to a request to elaborate on what those accusations are.

The rapid-fire events Friday came a day after dramatic, searing testimony from Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault when both were in high school, and from the nominee, who denied the allegation in an emotional presentation.

Attorneys for Ford praised the decision to reopen the probe and added, “No artificial limits as to time or scope should be imposed on this investigation.”

The announcement followed a vote along party lines by the Judiciary Committee to advance Kavanaugh’s nomination – an 11-to-10 roll call that was left significantly in doubt amid a contentious yet odd debate as senators dashed into an anteroom behind the hearing space.

The committee fight already was tense, as several Democrats – including Sens. Richard Blumenthal, Conn., Mazie Hirono, Hawaii, Kamala Harris, Calif., and Sheldon Whitehouse, R.I., – walked out in protest. Flake often appeared conflicted and pained as senators engaged in a contentious debate over the nomination.

After Sen. Christopher Coons, D-Del., implored Republicans to join Democrats in calling for an FBI probe, Flake walked over and gestured to Coons to join him in the anteroom. The two close friends, as well as Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., left – prompting immediate speculation about whether they were working on a deal to delay the vote.

The curiosity inside the Dirksen Senate Office Building hearing room grew as more and more senators shuffled in and out of the back room for the discussions, which Collins called into via phone. Besieged by colleagues, Flake and Coons even sought privacy for their conversations in one of the Senate’s old-fashioned phone booths.

The senators eventually returned, and Flake announced that he would still vote to advance Kavanaugh’s nomination, on the condition that a final vote would be delayed no more than a week to allow for an investigation.

Shortly afterward, Murkowski, Collins and Sen. Joe Manchin III, D-W.Va., said they supported his call for a limited FBI probe. Manchin said in a statement that “the American people have been pulled apart by this entire spectacle.”

“What I’m encouraged by is that in an anteroom, back-hall conversation – first with Sen. Flake and then with Sen. (Dianne) Feinstein and then with many other senators of both parties, there was broad agreement that this committee has been too divided and too partisan with this process,” Coons said.

Senate Republican leaders have yet to lock down the minimum 50 votes to confirm Kavanaugh. Sen. Doug Jones, D-Ala., announced late Thursday that he would oppose the nominee, and on Friday, Sen. Joe Donnelly, Ind., – one of just three Democratic senators who supported now-Justice Neil Gorsuch in April 2017 – said he would reject Kavanaugh as well.

Collins and Murkowski have not declared a position on Kavanaugh’s nomination; neither has Manchin nor Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D.

Trump told advisers in meetings Thursday and Friday that prolonging the vote doesn’t help Kavanaugh but that if an FBI check came up clean, he could use that as a cudgel to get more votes. But the biggest concern in the White House is that with more time, more women, more accusations and more stories could emerge.

“It’s not the FBI investigation that sparks the fear like it is just another week of this,” one White House official said. “How much longer is this sustainable?”

On Thursday, Trump was elated with Kavanaugh’s fiery testimony, in which he defended his character while furiously denying the allegations. Trump was “fired up” in a phone call with McConnell about Kavanaugh’s ultimate confirmation, according to two people familiar with the call, and said senators needed to take the vote.

It was a reversal from an earlier call with McConnell in which Trump was upset as Ford delivered her emotional testimony, according to the two people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.

McConnell, as well as White House counsel Donald McGahn, has urged Trump to hold his fire and let the confirmation battle play out, advisers to both men said. Both Trump and McGahn had told others that they did not want an FBI investigation, two senior officials said – but that it was inevitable once it became clear that Kavanaugh could not be confirmed without one.

McGahn and informal Trump judicial adviser Leonard Leo – rather than the president – have been calling senators. McGahn has told others that he has good relationships with Collins and Murkowski.

Trump is telling advisers that he wants to stick by Kavanaugh. But he also says that “Republicans have been played like a fool,” according to a senior White House official. Still, one official involved in the confirmation process said that while Trump has expressed some frustration with the timing, he generally believes that McGahn and McConnell have the Supreme Court and other judicial nomination fights figured out.

Mark Judge, a friend and high school classmate of Kavanaugh’s, is likely to be a prominent figure in any inquiry by the FBI. Ford claims he was present when Kavanaugh allegedly attacked her. Another Kavanaugh accuser alleges that Judge and Kavanaugh sought on multiple occasions in high school to drug inebriated girls for nonconsensual sex with multiple boys – an accusation Kavanaugh has strongly denied.

“If the FBI or any law enforcement agency requests Mr. Judge’s cooperation, he will answer any and all questions posed to him,” Judge’s lawyer Barbara Van Gelder said.

Judge met with his lawyer Friday morning in Washington, after returning from Bethany Beach, Del. The Washington Post found him there Monday, where his lawyer said he had fled to try to avoid an avalanche of media requests and criticism.

Judge told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Friday that he either does not recall or flatly rejects the allegations about his and Kavanaugh’s behavior in high school.

“All I can say is that next week, this will be over,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said. “I really believe, I believe he will be on the court.” </s> (CNN) -- Comedian Amy Schumer and model-actress Emily Ratajkowski were among more than 300 people arrested Thursday in protests over Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.‏

Hundreds of people turned up at a US Senate building in the nation's capital to challenge Kavanaugh's nomination after three women accused him of various forms of sexual misconduct. Schumer and Ratajkowski were among them.

Capitol Police said they arrested 302 people during the demonstrations. Video from the scene shows the two actresses being detained after an officer asks if they want to be arrested.

Additional footage shows them waiting to be processed near a wall with officers. Schumer told a CNN producer she was arrested. Ratajkowski said on social media that she was arrested, too.

"Today I was arrested protesting the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh, a man who has been accused by multiple women of sexual assault. Men who hurt women can no longer be placed in positions of power," Ratajkowski tweeted.

Schumer and Ratajkowski appeared in the 2018 comedy "I Feel Pretty."

The two were among crowds of activists who descended on Capitol Hill while lawmakers reviewed the FBI report on the allegations against Kavanaugh.

Protesters gathered at the Hart Senate Building atrium after Capitol Police barricaded the front of the Capitol. The Women's March, a liberal organization that originated as a grassroots movement in opposition to President Donald Trump, was one of multiple groups tweeting from the protest at the Capitol building.

Following Kavanaugh's nomination and his initial hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Christine Blasey Ford came forward with an allegation that Kavanaugh sexually and physically assaulted her while they were both at a party during high school more than three decades ago.

Kavanaugh and Ford both appeared before the committee last week, where lawmakers and a sex crimes prosecutor asked the two questions about the alleged incident.

The day after the hearing, Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee agreed to ask Trump to call on the FBI to conduct another supplemental background investigation into the allegations.

Trump did so -- and on Thursday, the Senate began reviewing the FBI's results after receiving the report early that morning. Lawmakers are expected to vote on Kavanaugh's nomination in the coming days. </s> WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump has ordered the FBI to reopen Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s background investigation after several women accused him of sexual misconduct. Just what the FBI will investigate remains a mystery.

The SenateJudiciary Committee asked the White House to ask the FBI to conduct the supplemental investigation, which will be “limited to current credible allegations” and must be done by Oct. 5.

An FBI spokeswoman did not immediately respond to questions about the investigation, including how many agents would be assigned and whether it could be completed in a week.

A look at what a reopened FBI investigation would and wouldn’t do:

WHAT IS THE FBI‘S ROLE?

The FBI conducts background checks for federal nominees but does not make judgments on the credibility or significance of allegations.

Investigators compile information about a nominee’s past and provide findings to the agency that requested the background check; in this case, it’s the White House. The information would be added to the nominee’s background file, which is available to senators.

Typically, background investigations do not go back decades, but that’s what is needed in Kavanaugh’s case because the allegations are about incidents said to have happened during his teenage years. Kavanaugh is now 53.

COULD THE FBI INVESTIGATION BRING CLARITY TO WHAT HAPPENED?

Perhaps. The FBI has wide discretion in determining the scope of the investigation.

The committee questioned Kavanaugh and one of his accusers, Christine Blasey Ford during a hearing Thursday; other potential witnesses have submitted sworn statements. FBI agents could interview the other accusers and witnesses and gather additional evidence or details.

David Gomez, a former FBI counterterrorism supervisor in Seattle, said officials at FBI headquarters typically will divide up leads that get assigned to different field offices across the country for further investigation and will set a quick deadline. The local offices generally will assign as many staff as necessary to pursue those leads.

A good agent, he said, “would address Kavanaugh’s behavior and demeanor and credibility during his high school years.”

Kavanaugh’s high school friend, Mark Judge, who Ford says was in the room when a drunken Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her, said Friday that he will cooperate with any law enforcement agency that will “confidentially investigate” sexual misconduct allegations against him and Kavanaugh.

Both Judge and Kavanaugh have vehemently denied any allegation of misconduct.

Lawyers for PJ Smyth and Leland Ingham Keyser, two others who Ford said were in the house when she was attacked, have said their clients are willing to cooperate “fully” with the FBI’s investigation.

CAN AN INVESTIGATION BE DONE IN A WEEK?

Experts say the work can be done in a matter of days in most circumstances.

Ron Hosko, a former FBI assistant director, said background investigations done by the bureau typically have short turnaround times because the requesting agency needs the information quickly in order to make a decision on the nominee.

The FBI cannot force someone to talk to them as part of the process.

“Based on what we publicly know as far as the universe of people, I don’t see any reason why the FBI could not complete an investigation within one week,” said Mark Zaid, a Washington lawyer and expert in security clearance and background investigations. “Remember, they’re not reaching a decision or recommendation. They are just compiling the investigation and reporting on it.”

WHAT DOES KAVANAUGH SAY ABOUT THIS?

Kavanaugh wouldn’t answer directly when he was asked Thursday if he would agree to an FBI investigation, but said he would do whatever the Judiciary Committee wanted.

In a statement released by the White House on Friday, Kavanaugh said he was interviewed by the FBI throughout the selection process and participated in several background calls with the Senate.

“I’ve done everything they have requested and will continue to cooperate,” he said.

Associated Press writer Eric Tucker contributed to this report. </s> WASHINGTON – While re-opening an FBI background check of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump on Friday praised the testimony of accuser Christine Blasey Ford and said senators should do “whatever they think is necessary" to get to a vote.

A day after an emotional hearing in which Ford testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee about her sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh, Trump told reporters at the White House he thought her testimony was "very compelling" and said "she looks like a very fine woman to me."

However, he continued to stand by Kavanaugh, saying his testimony "was really something that I haven't seen before" and "an incredible moment, I think, in the history of our country."

Asked if he had thought of replacing Kavanaugh, Trump said: "Not even a little bit."

"As the Senate has requested, this update must be limited in scope and completed in less than one week," Trump said in a statement.

Kavanaugh pledged to cooperate, saying in a statement issued by the White House: "Throughout this process, I’ve been interviewed by the FBI, I’ve done a number of 'background' calls directly with the Senate, and yesterday, I answered questions under oath about every topic the Senators and their counsel asked me. I’ve done everything they have requested and will continue to cooperate.”

Both Trump and Kavanaugh had resisted calls in recent days for a renewed FBI investigation.

Ford testified that Kavanaugh and a friend pulled her into a bedroom at a house party when they were teenagers. She said an inebriated Kavanaugh pinned her to the bed and tried to remove her clothes but she broke free and ran out of the room. Kavanaugh has vehemently denied the allegations.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has approved, along party lines, the nomination of Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court – with a request that the FBI conduct an investigation into sexual assault allegations before the full Senate takes a vote.

When speaking with reporters earlier on Friday, Trump was pressed on what he thought about a possible reopening of the FBI investigation. "Well, I'm going to let the Senate handle that. They'll make their decisions and they do a good job," he said.

It was a change in tone for Trump from Thursday night, when he described Kavanaugh's testimony as "powerful, honest, and riveting." Trump did not comment publicly on Ford's testimony in a Thursday tweet but denounced Democrats for what he called a "search and destroy strategy," and urged immediate Senate action.

On Friday, the president also said he had no message for senators who are undecided about whether or not to support Kavanaugh, saying they have to do what they think is right and they "have to be comfortable with themselves."

In his comments about Ford's testimony, Trump said, "certainly she was a very credible witness. She was very good in many respects."

Trump said he didn't know how things will play out, but he expressed optimism.

"I think it will work out very well for the country," Trump said. "I just want it to work out well for the country."
U.S. President Donald Trump orders an FBI investigation into the sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.