Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is juggling the needs of a significant number of senators queasy over the prospect of confirming Brett Kavanaugh without hearing his accuser testify. | Win McNamee/Getty Images Kavanaugh Confirmation McConnell works feverishly behind the scenes to save Kavanaugh The Senate leader's legacy on the judiciary is on the line.

Mitch McConnell, preeminent cut-throat political tactician, is going with a softer touch to salvage Brett Kavanaugh’s suddenly endangered Supreme Court confirmation.

With Kavanaugh’s seemingly slam-dunk elevation to the Supreme Court facing resistance from a handful of key GOP senators, McConnell convened a marathon meeting with Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans and his leadership team on Monday. Holed up for nearly two hours in McConnell's Senate office, they devised a process to satisfy Kavanaugh’s defenders and appease Republicans uncomfortable with forging ahead until the nominee’s accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, gets a full public hearing.


The majority leader was calm and even-keeled throughout the session, making clear he's 100 percent behind Kavanaugh and never suggesting the party bail on the nomination, according to interviews with more than a half-dozen GOP senators close to McConnell. He and the party committed to following Senate and committee rules, noticing a hearing for Ford and Kavanaugh to appear in a week, rather than trying to change precedent and rush a hearing this week.

Getting Kavanaugh through the Senate is “a big deal for him. But he wants to make sure there’s a process that’s fair and gives Ms. Ford an opportunity to be heard,” said Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the No. 3 GOP leader, of McConnell. “He’s very committed to trying to get this Supreme Court position filled as soon as possible.”

McConnell is having to balance several competing factors: Republicans furious that Ford’s allegation was made public so late in the process, especially since Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, was first contacted by Ford in July; a president who has faced repeated allegations of mistreating women himself; and the possibility that Republicans could lose control of the Senate in the midterms.

If Kavanaugh withdraws or loses, Republicans would likely try to push through another Supreme Court nominee during a lame-duck session, a move that would infuriate Democrats still furious over McConnell’s decision to block Merrick Garland’s nomination to the court.

Kavanaugh has vehemently denied Ford’s accusation, and President Donald Trump is pushing for the Senate to move forward on the nomination. That's left McConnell with one choice — press ahead, but delicately.

“I believe he has confidence that the process will produce the right result,” said Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri, another member of GOP leadership.

With a 51-seat majority and almost no room for GOP dissent, McConnell is juggling the needs of a significant number of senators who’ve grown queasy over the prospect of confirming Kavanaugh without hearing Ford testify. Jeff Flake of Arizona has been the most outspoken of the undecided GOP senators, telling McConnell and others that he’d vote against Kavanaugh in the Judiciary Committee without a more deliberative process.

Flake said most GOP senators on the panel agree with him.

"Obviously, these are serious charges. And if they're true, I think they're disqualifying,” Flake told reporters on Monday, adding that he "made clear that if we didn't give her a chance to be heard, then I would vote no.”

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) delivered a blunt message to McConnell over the weekend: “That it was very important that we hear from both Professor Ford and Judge Kavanaugh, under oath, on this issue,” she recounted.

Kavanaugh notified committee and Senate leaders on Sunday night to let them know that “he wanted to testify,” said Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who joined Flake's call to hear from Ford before advancing the nomination.

Judicial nominations are in many ways McConnell’s top priority as Senate leader, and he’s been willing to play hardball to get his way. The Kentucky Republican unilaterally blocked President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nomination of Garland in 2016, changed Senate rules to do away with filibusters on Supreme Court nominations to install Justice Neil Gorsuch, and vowed to confirm Kavanaugh before Oct. 1, the date that the high court's next session commences.

But McConnell has opted for a far different approach this time. He has accommodated his members by blessing a rare “he said, she said” forum on sexual assault allegations that will allow senators to reach their own conclusion, rather than face pressure from leadership to go along.

“Obviously Grassley’s the chairman, but I’ve got to believe Mitch has been very involved,” Corker said.

And senators said McConnell seemed to show no signs that he’s at all rattled by recent events that have imperiled the nomination.

“He’s OK. He always seems to be pretty darn good,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah).

McConnell has shown sensitivity recently to the plight of sexual assault victims. He said he believes the women who accused Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore of sexual assault last year, and also signed on to a bill from Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) to remove rape prosecutions from the military chain of command.

But McConnell is still a hard-nosed partisan, scheming throughout the year to steamroll Senate Democrats whom he believes are hellbent on slowing down judicial confirmations. On Monday, he accused Senate Democrats of mishandling Ford’s story from the moment they received a confidential letter from her in July laying out the accusations that have now come to public light.

“Now they choose to introduce this allegation. Not through the standard, bipartisan process. Not by advising the Judiciary Committee colleagues and committee staff through proper channels. But by leaking it to the press. Because the chain of custody of this letter runs through the Democrat side of the Judiciary Committee,” McConnell said on the Senate floor.

Democrats still loudly complain that things are moving too quickly. If Kavanaugh satisfies the Judiciary panel’s 11 Republican members on Monday, he could still be confirmed in the next two or three weeks.

“What’s the rush?” said Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), who opposes Kavanaugh and caucuses with Democrats. “We kept the Merrick Garland seat open for 14 months, that seemed OK. The people who did that are now saying we’ve got to have this done in the next two weeks."

And if Kavanaugh can’t be confirmed or is withdrawn — a possibility Republicans are so far refusing to entertain — McConnell is not without options. The GOP could conceivably hold the vacancy through the election and hope it motivates conservative voters enough to help them keep the Senate.

Some Republican senators said they believe they could still confirm a different nominee if Kavanaugh falls short.

“This fall, oh yeah. Stay here,” said Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.). But he added: “It’s too early for that."

Elana Schor contributed to this report.