Washington (CNN) Senate Judiciary Republicans mostly questioned Brett Kavanaugh themselves on Thursday, apparently abandoning plans to use a female outside counsel to question both witnesses during their hearing to vet an allegation of sexual assault against President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee.

Republican senators on the panel brought in Rachel Mitchell, a career prosecutor experienced in prosecuting sex crimes, to question witnesses at the hearing -- a move that Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley said would help "de-politicize the process and get to the truth, instead of grandstanding," when he announced the decision earlier in the week.

The decision by GOP senators to question Kavanaugh on their own was a striking contrast to earlier in the day when they had deferred to the sex crimes prosecutor to question a woman who claims she has been the victim of a sexual assault. Senate Judiciary Republicans did not provide a comparable experience to the man accused of that assault.

Mitchell questioned Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who has accused Kavanaugh of sexual assaulting her, on behalf of the panel's Republican lawmakers during the first part of the hearing.

But when it came time to question Kavanaugh, who denies the allegation, GOP senators took over from Mitchell in favor of asking their own questions and began to defend the high court nominee.

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