Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse Sheldon WhitehouseThe Hill's Morning Report - Sponsored by Facebook - Trump previews SCOTUS nominee as 'totally brilliant' Feinstein 'surprised and taken aback' by suggestion she's not up for Supreme Court fight Hillicon Valley: Murky TikTok deal raises questions about China's role | Twitter investigating automated image previews over apparent algorithmic bias | House approves bill making hacking federal voting systems a crime MORE (D-R.I.) on Tuesday said that he thinks a “smelly special interest network” of dark money was involved in Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination process.

“There is a very smelly special interest network that is operating through this nomination process and I think we’ve gotta put a spotlight on that as well,” Whitehouse told CNN Tuesday.

Kavanaugh has been under the Democrat’s scrutiny since President Trump Donald John TrumpSteele Dossier sub-source was subject of FBI counterintelligence probe Pelosi slams Trump executive order on pre-existing conditions: It 'isn't worth the paper it's signed on' Trump 'no longer angry' at Romney because of Supreme Court stance MORE nominated him to succeed Justice Anthony Kennedy in July.

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Whitehouse told CNN, “I think that to the extent that the focus in these proceedings is entirely on Kavanaugh and misses the larger environment that his nomination comes out of.”

Whitehouse listed off a variety of things he finds suspicious: “The scrutiny that the special interest behind the Federalist Society have given this so-called list that the president originated and has followed, the dark money operation that is operating right now to try to pave the political path for him to confirmation, all the funny right-wing groups that turn up before the supreme court as so-called friends of the court, filing amicus briefs, funded by these same special interests.”

Whitehouse did not explain how he arrived at the conclusions he raised, and he said he was unsure whether or not Kavanaugh could reasonably be held responsible for the process surrounding him.

“It’s not clear because he hasn’t come clean with what his role in all this has been,” Whitehouse told CNN. “How much has he been backchanneling with Leonard Leo [of the Federalist Society] to get himself onto the list and to the top of it? What does he know about the dark money funding that is supporting his confirmation? These are all questions that I think need answers.”

Whitehouse raised questions about the Federalist Society, Heritage Foundation and Judicial Crisis Network’s funding last week, saying that they use mounds of anonymous donations to advertise for Kavanaugh.

CNN reported that the leaders in the Federalist Society have advised President Trump and former President George W. Bush on their judicial nominees.

The opposition to Kavanaugh is running its own anonymously funded, $5 million ad campaign attacking the nominee through Demand Justice, a group run by former aides to Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonFox News poll: Biden ahead of Trump in Nevada, Pennsylvania and Ohio Trump, Biden court Black business owners in final election sprint The power of incumbency: How Trump is using the Oval Office to win reelection MORE and former President Barack Obama Barack Hussein ObamaObama warns of a 'decade of unfair, partisan gerrymandering' in call to look at down-ballot races Quinnipiac polls show Trump leading Biden in Texas, deadlocked race in Ohio Poll: Trump opens up 6-point lead over Biden in Iowa MORE, The Washington Post reported.