Murkowski backs away from supporting an FBI investigation of charges against Kavanaugh

This looks like a straw in the wind, a repositioning by one of the key wobbly senators who could torpedo Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court. After seeming to tell national media she would support an FBI investigation into the charges against Judge Kavanaugh, Alaska's Senator Lisa Murkowski seems to have beaten a hasty retreat. But both statements are couched in vague language, with the first one prominent in national media and the second one, the retreat, spoken to a far smaller Alaska media outlet, and so far generally ignored by the national mainstream media – even Fox News.

Compare this: Asked if there should be an FBI investigation into Judge Kavanaugh’s past, Sen. Murkowski says: “It would sure clear up all the questions, wouldn’t it?” pic.twitter.com/jMKzXjqY8h — NBC News (@NBCNews) September 25, 2018 ...with this tweet from the Washington correspondent of Alaska Public Media (a consortium of PBS and NPR outlets in the 49th state): Murkowski told me her response to CNN was "perhaps somewhat flip" and she's not calling for the FBI to investigate. She says the committee is investigating and she wishes Sen. Grassley released more info about that. https://t.co/gfpTE05QYk — Liz Ruskin (@lruskin) September 25, 2018 The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner ("The voice of Interior Alaska") picked up the story right away: Murkowski later told Alaska Public Media's Washington reporter, Liz Ruskin, that the response to the question was "perhaps somewhat flip" and that she's not calling for an FBI investigation. So far, the national media are ignoring it. This dispatch from Fox News posted three hours ago, for instance, tells us: Just days before Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee plan to hold a critical vote on whether to recommend Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation to the full Senate, a key swing vote Republican senator, Lisa Murkowski, seemed to suggest that her support for the nominee is wavering. I wouldn't count on Murkowski quite yet. But I suspect that she has been talked to by Mitch McConnell, who has finally realized that failure to confirm could make him minority leader of the Senate and/or seen some polling numbers from Alaska. This is a hopeful sign that the tide is finally ebbing, and the absurd "recovered memory" claims have lost traction with all but the 30% or so of the country that hates Trump.