Senate Judiciary Democrats raised the possibility Wednesday that previous FBI background checks into Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh probed either sexual misconduct or alcohol abuse.

Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., demanded Wednesday that Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee correct a tweet stating there was never "a whiff" of any issue with inappropriate sexual behavior or booze in Kavanaugh's past six FBI background inquiries.

"While we are limited in what we can say about this background investigation in a public setting, we are compelled to state for the record that there is information in the second post that is not accurate," Durbin wrote in a letter to the panel's chairman, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. "We urge you to ensure that these Twitter posts are promptly corrected."

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This tweet is not accurate. Committee Republicans must correct it. See our letter here: https://t.co/trJ9ymDjee https://t.co/cCVpAwCzEI — Senator Dick Durbin (@SenatorDurbin) October 3, 2018



But two of Durbin's Senate Judiciary Democrat colleagues did not sign the letter: Sens. Chris Coons, D-Del., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.

Republicans on the committee said Durbin's call Wednesday promoted "baseless innuendo and more false smears."

"Nothing in the tweet is inaccurate or misleading," GOP members of the panel tweeted. "The committee stands by its statement, which is completely truthful. More baseless innuendo and more false smears from Senate Democrats."



Nothing in the tweet is inaccurate or misleading. The committee stands by its statement, which is completely truthful. More baseless innuendo and more false smears from Senate Democrats. https://t.co/x7VUEKnFRV — Senate Judiciary (@senjudiciary) October 3, 2018



Kavanaugh's nomination was delayed for up to a week when Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., told the Senate Judiciary Committee he could not support the judge without the FBI looking at sexual misconduct allegations dating back to the 1980s.