Updated at 10:55 a.m. ET: Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court cleared a key procedural hurdle after the Senate voted to limit debate on Friday. A final vote on his confirmation is expected over the weekend.
Our original post continues:
The Senate is voting Friday morning on the first step to confirming Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court following the release of an FBI report on allegations of sexual misconduct by Kavanaugh.
Yet there were several senators who had still not publicly stated their position just ahead of the vote. Among them was Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who said she would vote in favor of moving the nomination forward, but said she would announce her final decision on whether he should be confirmed Friday afternoon.
In a speech leading up to the vote, Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said, "The resistance is located right here on Capitol Hill'" and urged his colleagues to "say no to mob rule" by voting to confirm Kavanaugh.
The top Democrat on the panel, Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, said Republicans have "largely chosen to ignore the testimony" of Christine Blasey Ford, who accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were teenagers.
President Trump, in a tweet Friday morning, criticized what he termed "the very rude elevator screamers," who he said are "paid professionals only looking to make Senators look bad!" Without evidence, he alleged the protesters, several of whom said they have been sexual assault victims were "paid by [financier George] Soros and others."
Senators had one day to review a confidential supplemental background check into Kavanaugh's behavior in the early- to mid-1980s when he was in high school and college. The closely guarded collection of interviews is celebrated by Republican leaders as concrete proof that Kavanaugh did not harass or abuse women. Democrats say the interviews, which they originally requested, are incomplete and inconclusive.
The FBI report has done little to alleviate a bitter partisan fight over Kavanaugh's nomination. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., says the Senate will proceed anyway on a Friday procedural vote that could pave the way for a final confirmation vote on Saturday.
"What we know for sure is the FBI report did not corroborate any of the allegations against Judge Kavanaugh," McConnell said at a news conference on Thursday. "The second thing we know for sure is that there's no way anything we did would satisfy the Democrats."
Kavanaugh took an unusual step to boost his nomination Thursday evening, writing an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal expressing regret for the heated tone of his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, including comments decrying Democratic attacks, that was seen by some wavering senators as too partisan.
"I was very emotional last Thursday, more so than I have ever been. I might have been too emotional at times. I know that my tone was sharp, and I said a few things I should not have said," Kavanaugh wrote.