UPDATE: 7:00 P.M. EST: The Judiciary Committee announced Tuesday night that the committee will vote on Kavanaugh’s confirmation Friday morning at 9:30.

Republican senators were told to be in D.C. this weekend to vote on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation, Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) told reporters Tuesday.


Following the GOP’s weekly lunch, Corker told reporters the caucus was asked to remain in Washington to process the Kavanaugh nomination quickly. The Hill quoted a Senate GOP aide a short while later as saying the final Kavanaugh vote would likely happen next Tuesday.

Senate GOP aide says final Kavanaugh vote would likely happen Tuesday but GOP leaders need to run time off procedural clock. https://t.co/sm5X9GzlRC — Alex Bolton (@alexanderbolton) September 25, 2018

The rush to confirm Kavanaugh comes in the wake of multiple sexual assault allegations against the nominee.

On September 16, psychology professor Christine Blasey Ford told The Washington Post that Kavanaugh attempted to rape her at a high school house party in the early 1980s, when the two were teenagers.


Ford, who also goes by “Blasey” professionally, claimed Kavanaugh forced himself on her, groped her over her clothes, and tried to pull off her clothing. When she tried to scream, he then covered her mouth with his hand.

“I thought he might inadvertently kill me,” she said.

Just one week later, on Sunday, another woman came forward, telling The New Yorker that, at a party in college, Kavanaugh allegedly thrust his penis to her face against her wishes.

“Brett was laughing,” the woman, Deborah Ramirez, told the magazine. “I can still see his face, and his hips coming forward, like when you pull up your pants.”

Kavanaugh has denied both women’s claims.

The same day, lawyer Michael Avenatti said on Twitter that a woman he was representing had come to him “with credible information against Judge Kavanaugh and Mark Judge.” Judge is another student from Kavanaugh’s high school who Ford says was in the room when Kavanaugh allegedly assaulted her.

Republicans are trying to force the vote through regardless.

The New Yorker reported Sunday that senior Republican staffers learned of Ramirez’s allegations last week, and that they were concerned about its impact on Kavanaugh’s nomination. Soon after, the report noted, they renewed calls for a quick committee vote.

Despite the allegations, Corker — one of the only Republicans who called to delay Kavanaugh’s confirmation in order to first hear from Ford under oath — said Tuesday he has “very positive thoughts” about the nominee.


“I think you’ve got a serious allegation that’s been made so I want the proper process to hear that out,” Corker said. “But I enter it with very positive feelings about the nominee and note the process needs to be handled in the appropriate way.”