Good morning from Augusta. The U.S. Senate is set to begin voting on Friday to confirm embattled Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh after the FBI delivered a confidential report to senators on allegations of sexual assault against the appeals court judge.
Kavanaugh’s nomination is teetering in part because of Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who is one of three Republicans alongside Sens. Jeff Flake of Arizona and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska who forced the FBI’s expanded background check last week. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, is also undecided.
To get Kavanaugh confirmed, President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, need to woo at least one of those swaying senators with a confirmation vote likely to come over the weekend.
That means Collins — a centrist who has been under immense pressure from liberals — will have to make a long-awaited decision soon. It will be one of the most-watched votes of her career, alongside her vote to acquit former President Bill Clinton of impeachment charges in 1999.
To read the rest of “Susan Collins faces her most pressure-packed vote since Clinton impeachment,” an article by contributing Bangor Daily News staff writerMichael Shepherd, please follow this link to the BDN online.
