McConnell, the Senate majority leader, has the power to decide when the Senate will vote.

McConnell previously urged Trump not to select Kavanaugh as the nominee.

Cementing a conservative federal judiciary is a primary goal for McConnell.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has accepted a surprising last-minute offer by a fellow Republican to delay the vote on federal judge Brett Kavanaugh's U.S. Supreme Court nomination.

Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona shocked the Beltway on Friday when he called for the FBI to take up to a week to look into sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh before a full Senate vote on his nomination.

"I think it would be proper to delay the floor vote for up to but not more than one week in order to let the FBI do an investigation limited in time and scope to the current allegations," Flake said. "And I will vote to advance the bill to the floor with that understanding."

The offer came not long after Flake was stopped in an elevator by a sexual assault survivor who pleaded with him to block the nomination. Flake was visibly shaken when he left for the hearing room, according to USA TODAY.

McConnell did not respond directly to questions about Flake's proposal, but a spokesman for the Kentucky senator pointed the Courier Journal to a statement from the Senate Judiciary Committee that says it will ask the Trump administration to instruct the FBI to conduct an additional background investigation.

The FBI "would be limited to current credible allegations against the nominee," according to the email. It does not define credible accusations. The investigation also must be completed no later than one week from today, according to the statement.

McConnell addressed the nomination on the Senate floor on Friday. He alluded to Ford's and other allegations by women in the past week.

"The evidence that has been produced either fails — fails — to corroborate these accusations, or in fact supports Judge Kavanaugh’s unequivocal denial," he told the Senate.

McConnell controls the Senate's calendar as majority leader, and had set up a procedural vote for Saturday on the nomination. He has hung much of his legacy on confirming Kavanaugh, which would solidify a conservative majority on the high court for decades.

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McConnell had reportedly told the White House over the summer how few votes the GOP could spare in replacing retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy.

McConnell had urged President Trump to not select Kavanaugh, according to the New York Times, due to his lengthy paper trail as staff secretary under former President George W. Bush and as an assistant for the independent counsel who investigated former President Bill Clinton.

In July, McConnell praised Kentuckian Amul Thapar, a judge on the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, in an interview with the Courier Journal, providing possible insight into one of his preferred choices.

"He's very sharp," McConnell said at the time. "But the competition at this level is pretty intense. I think the president will make a very high-quality appointment."

McConnell has made cementing a conservative federal judiciary a personal goal since he blocked former President Barack Obama's effort to fill a Supreme Court seat in 2016. Last week, McConnell guaranteed at a gathering of religious and social conservatives that Kavanaugh, who sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. circuit, will make it through the process.

The Judiciary Committee moved forward with Kavanaugh's nomination Friday on an 11-10 party-line vote, including support from Flake, who is not seeking re-election. That came a day after intense testimony from Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, who has alleged he attempted to rape her during a high school party in 1982.

"I am here today not because I want to be," Ford said during her testimony. "I am terrified."

Ford described Kavanaugh and his friend, Mark Judge, trapping her in a bedroom where Kavanaugh pinned her to the bed as he tried to remove her clothes. She said she thought that Kavanaugh was going to rape her and that he might accidentally kill her because he covered her mouth with his hand to prevent her from screaming.

Kavanaugh responded with a fiery defense before senators. He said he didn't question whether Ford had been sexually assaulted at some point but vehemently denied doing so.

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Related: What we know about the second woman to accuse Kavanaugh of assault

"I have never done this to her or to anyone," he said. "That’s not who I am. It is not who I was. I am innocent of this charge.”

Republicans hold a 51-47 majority over Democrats in the Senate with two independents caucusing with the minority party, leaving the GOP with a tiny margin to confirm a nomination on its own.

Flake did not say directly during his comments before the committee that he would vote against Kavanaugh on the Senate floor if the FBI investigation does not occur, or if other senators are considering doing so.

There are only a handful of votes in question that could determine the outcome.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, a key Republican swing vote, reportedly has sided with Flake's request for a one-week delay. And there are red-state Democrats facing close re-election in states Trump handily won two years ago who could sway the outcome.

McConnell said Friday he's pleased to announce all 51 Republicans support the motion to proceed to the nomination.

"One hundred percent of the Republican conference supports proceeding to the Kavanaugh nomination," he said on the Senate floor.

Democrat Sen. Joe Donnelly of Indiana said hours before Flake's compromise that he was voting against the nomination. Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia said in a statement Friday that the country has been pulled apart by this nomination, and that more time is needed to come to a better decision.

"I applaud Senator Flake's decision to rise above the partisan circus on display during this entire process," Manchin said. "It is what is right and fair for Dr. Ford, Judge Kavanaugh, and the American people."

Reporter Phillip M. Bailey can be reached at 502-582-4475 or pbailey@courierjournal.com. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/philb.