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Kavanaugh Confirmation -- Scenes from Jeff Flake's Supreme Court rebellion

The Arizona Republican's head-snapping moves Friday left Washington in shock and Brett Kavanaugh in renewed jeopardy.

By BURGESS EVERETT, ELANA SCHOR and JOHN BRESNAHAN
09/28/2018 10:13 PM EDT
Updated 09/28/2018 10:53 PM EDT

Four senators undecided on Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination gathered Thursday night for a quiet chat with earth-shaking consequences. The topic: How to handle sexual assault allegations against the judge without embarrassing their chamber.

In Susan Collins' third-floor office in the Capitol, she and her Republican colleagues Jeff Flake of Arizona and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — joined by Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia — agreed they had the power to make or break Kavanaugh. And without settling on precise details, they decided to use their leverage to insist on a process that would allow them to reach a comfort level with Kavanaugh's confirmation process and seek more information, rather than to kill his Supreme Court nomination outright, according to two people familiar with the meeting,

What resulted on Friday afternoon threw Washington into chaos and guaranteed another week of uncertainty and suspense surrounding Kavanaugh's confirmation. Just hours after Flake endorsed Kavanaugh and seemed to put him on a path to the high court, the Arizonan said he first wanted a week-long FBI investigation into Christine Blasey Ford’s allegation that the judge assaulted her. It was a victory for Democrats who'd been demanding such a probe, to no avail, and promises to define the retiring Flake's legacy as someone who refused to let Kavanaugh get a vote while under a cloud of doubt.

The 18 hours between the Thursday night gathering in Collins' office and Flake's surprise announcement capped an epic week filled with emotional testimony, brutal partisanship and a nearly unanimous feeling that the Senate had stumbled in front of the nation. But the Flake-led rebellion, however long it lasts, had been building for nearly two weeks.

Though Murkowski, Collins and Manchin all endorsed the FBI investigation on Friday, Flake needed another partner to pull off his move because none of them serves on the Judiciary Committee. So Flake, who's been mocked for writing a book blasting the Trump presidency only to vote for his agenda, teamed up with a Democrat.
Flake requests FBI probe then votes with committee's GOP

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Kavanaugh Confirmation
Kavanaugh confirmation hits major snag after Flake seeks FBI probe
By ELANA SCHOR, BURGESS EVERETT and JOHN BRESNAHAN
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/28/flake-will-vote-to-confirm-kavanaugh-to-the-supreme-court-851291
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Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) has spent his eight-year Senate career making earnest attempts to build relationships with Republicans, at times to liberals' annoyance. He and Flake have taken trips around the world together as part of their duties. And on Friday afternoon, with a Supreme Court seat on the line, it all paid off.

Coons and Flake vacated the Judiciary Committee shortly before the panel was expected to vote to advance Kavanaugh, a seemingly innocuous moment that left onlookers increasingly bewildered as more senators joined them in the back room. They returned minutes later with a deal that forced GOP leaders to bow to the minority's demand for an FBI probe, delaying the confirmation for as much as a week.

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https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/28/jeff-flake-brett-kavanaugh-backstory-853839