Flake In Boston: Wants ‘Real’ FBI Investigation Into Kavanaugh

BOSTON — Addressing hundreds of people Monday at City Hall Plaza, Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona said he found Dr. Christine Blasey Ford's testimony "credible" but didn't like Judge Brett Kavanaugh's partisan tone during a hearing last week before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Flake also called for a full and open-ended FBI investigation of Ford's charge that Kavanaugh, President Trump's nominee for the Supreme Court, sexually assaulted her when they were both teenagers. The GOP senator was referring to reports that Trump had limited the scope of the bureau's probe into Ford's charges, drawing strong criticism from Democrats and sparking protests around the country.

"We certainly want the FBI to do a real investigation," Flake told the crowd. "And we are working to make sure that that happens."

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He said he had been talking with his colleagues and the White House to make sure that any current credible allegation that has been made is fully investigated.

“It does no good to have an investigation that just gives us more cover,” Flake said. “We actually need to find out what we can find out and we have to realize we may not be able to find out everything that happened.”

On Friday, a day after dramatic testimony from Ford and Kavanaugh before the Judiciary Committee, Flake announced that he would support moving the judge's nomination to the Senate floor. Shortly afterward, however, he suggested he would not vote for final confirmation unless Ford's explosive charges had been investigated.

“I felt that we weren’t doing due diligence with a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court," Flake said. "We don't do bipartisan things in the Senate anymore, but I felt like it was important to do this.

"We ought to have more information, not less," Flake said to applause.

The decision to request the FBI inquiry came after a confrontation in a Capitol elevator with two women who told him they were victims of sexual assault. That, combined with a deluge of letters, emails and phone calls, and the urging of his friend Democrat Sen. Chris Coons, who made an'“impassioned plea” for for a short extension, got to him, Flake said.

The Boston talk, arranged as part of a Forbes 30 Under 30 event, was originally scheduled for the Colonial Theatre at Emerson College. But the possibility that hundreds of protesters might turn out for the event led to Flake's appearance instead at City Hall Plaza.

On Monday morning, hours before that appearance, hundreds of protesters thronged the plaza to oppose Kavanaugh's nomination.

Flake was scheduled to head to New Hampshire Monday evening, where a similar protest was also planned.

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• Harvard Students Protest Supreme Court Nominee Kavanaugh

Photo by Jenna Fisher/ Patch Staff