Senate approves Kavanaugh nomination for final vote 51 to 49


Kavanaugh nomination clears key Senate hurdle

The final result was 50 to 48 in favor of Kavanaugh.

Kavanaugh's confirmation was all but sealed on Friday when he won the support of key Senate Republican Susan Collins and conservative Democrat Joe Manchin. Murkowski was the only one of the four who did not support him.

Republicans can only lose a single GOP vote if all Democrats vote against the nomination.

Outside, protesters shouted "shame on you" as Manchin spoke to reporters about his decision. They raised concerns about his judicial philosophy and how he would rule on abortion and health care issues.

He also said Mr Trump had "stooped to new depths" in mocking the testimony of Mr Kavanaugh's accuser, Christine Blasey Ford.

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Mattis, however, said after four years of diplomatic effort, the U.S. is living by the treaty and Russian Federation is not. Under the 2019 NDAA, US legislators allocated $58 million to counter Russia's alleged non-compliance with the INF Treaty.

In the moment that made clear Kavanaugh would prevail, Collins delivered a speech saying that Ford's Judiciary Committee telling of the alleged 1982 assault was "sincere, painful and compelling". He was referring to Deborah Ramirez, who said Kavanaugh exposed himself to her during a drunken party while they attended Yale University in the 1980s. However, some Republicans were concerned that Flake would change his mind, since he had called for a delay in the vote on Kavanaugh's confirmation to allow the FBI to conduct a brief investigation into the allegations against the judge. He blamed his rocky confirmation process on politics.

"Just cast my vote for Judge Kavanaugh getting him one step closer onto #SCOTUS".

Yet none of that was enough to sway Republicans to oppose Kavanaugh. The FBI did interview "a number of people who submitted sworn statements that corroborated her allegations", Katz said. Others said they believed Ford was sexually assaulted by someone, but that it couldn't have been Kavanaugh.

Confirming Mr Kavanaugh to the lifetime post would hand Mr Trump a clear victory and tip the balance on the court to a 5-4 majority in favour of conservatives in possible legal battles over contentious issues such as abortion rights, immigration, and Mr Trump's attempt to ban transgender people from the U.S. military.

Meanwhile, Republicans raged against the other women's accusations.

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Later on in the press conference, however, the president addressed the Kavanaugh allegations. " You never do ", Trump responded. But Trump ignored her, telling one of his staffers to pass the microphone to another reporter. " You never do ", he said.

Melania Trump is offering some supportive words for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Jeff Flake of Arizona, followed by Republican Sen.

On Friday, the Senate voted 51-49 to advance Kavanaugh's nomination to a full Senate vote slated for Saturday afternoon around 3:30-4 p.m. ET.

Democrats railed against the nomination in Senate floor speeches Friday night and Saturday morning, and protests opposing Kavanaugh are expected throughout the day on Saturday.

"It's been a great political gift for us".

"We will be ill-served in the long run if we abandon the presumption of innocence and fairness, tempting though it may be", Collins said in remarks that stretched for more than 40 minutes but addressed the sexual-abuse allegations only near the end.

Susan Collins will vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court

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