![\"Senate](\"http:\/\/fm.cnbc.com\/applications\/cnbc.com\/resources\/img\/editorial\/2018\/09\/04\/105431233-1536071396439gettyimages-1009586694.530x298.jpeg?v=1536071447\")
<\/a>Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images\u00a0\u00a0Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-IA) answers reporters’ questions during a news conference about Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill August 2, 2018 in Washington, DC. Republicans on the committee claim that Senate Democrats are attempting to slow or stall Kavanaugh’s confirmation with demands to see emails and other records relating to Kavanaugh’s time as staff secretary to former President George W. Bush.<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n\nIn the wake of explosive allegations against President\u00a0Donald Trump<\/a>‘s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, Republicans have hard-hitting questions \u2014 for Sen.\u00a0Dianne Feinstein<\/a>, D-Calif.<\/p>\nFeinstein, ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, has come under fire by her opponents on Capitol Hill, who suggest she withheld potentially damaging information about Kavanaugh until after his confirmation hearings had wrapped in order to cripple has candidacy.<\/p>\n
The controversy revolves around Christine Blasey Ford, a California-based university professor who alleged in a letter that Kavanaugh and his then-classmate Mark Judge had physically and sexually assaulted her in the 1980s, when they were teenagers.<\/p>\n
Kavanaugh, 53,\u00a0strongly denied the allegation, calling it “completely false.”<\/a><\/p>\nFord, 51, requested confidentiality in the letter, which was sent in late July to Feinstein through the office of Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif.,\u00a0The Washington Post reported<\/a>.<\/p>\nBut reports of the letter surfaced about six weeks later, in mid-September. Without revealing Ford’s identity, Feinstein acknowledged the letter’s existence and referred the information to federal investigators.<\/p>\n
That gap in time between Feinstein’s discovery and her public acknowledgement quickly became a central objection among key Republicans in the Senate.<\/p>\n
“Unfortunately, committee Republicans have only known this person’s identity from news reports for less than 24 hours and known about her allegations for less than a week,” said Senate Judiciary Commitee Chairman\u00a0Chuck Grassley<\/a>, R-Iowa. “Senator Feinstein, on the other hand, has had this information for many weeks and deprived her colleagues of the information necessary to do our jobs.”<\/p>\nDemocrats had already triggered a Senate rule allowing them to delay a Judiciary Committee vote to advance Kavanaugh’s nomination by one week. The vote is now scheduled for Thursday, but the entire Democratic minority on the committee \u2014 and at least two Republicans in the Senate \u2014\u00a0has called to further delay the proceeding<\/a>.<\/p>\nRepublican Sen.\u00a0Orrin Hatch<\/a>\u00a0of Utah, the most senior member of the committee, echoed Grassley’s criticism of Feinstein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
In the wake of explosive allegations against President\u00a0Donald Trump<\/a>‘s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, Republicans have hard-hitting questions \u2014 for Sen.\u00a0Dianne Feinstein<\/a>, D-Calif.<\/p>\n Feinstein, ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, has come under fire by her opponents on Capitol Hill, who suggest she withheld potentially damaging information about Kavanaugh until after his confirmation hearings had wrapped in order to cripple has candidacy.<\/p>\n The controversy revolves around Christine Blasey Ford, a California-based university professor who alleged in a letter that Kavanaugh and his then-classmate Mark Judge had physically and sexually assaulted her in the 1980s, when they were teenagers.<\/p>\n Kavanaugh, 53,\u00a0strongly denied the allegation, calling it “completely false.”<\/a><\/p>\n Ford, 51, requested confidentiality in the letter, which was sent in late July to Feinstein through the office of Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif.,\u00a0The Washington Post reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n But reports of the letter surfaced about six weeks later, in mid-September. Without revealing Ford’s identity, Feinstein acknowledged the letter’s existence and referred the information to federal investigators.<\/p>\n That gap in time between Feinstein’s discovery and her public acknowledgement quickly became a central objection among key Republicans in the Senate.<\/p>\n “Unfortunately, committee Republicans have only known this person’s identity from news reports for less than 24 hours and known about her allegations for less than a week,” said Senate Judiciary Commitee Chairman\u00a0Chuck Grassley<\/a>, R-Iowa. “Senator Feinstein, on the other hand, has had this information for many weeks and deprived her colleagues of the information necessary to do our jobs.”<\/p>\n Democrats had already triggered a Senate rule allowing them to delay a Judiciary Committee vote to advance Kavanaugh’s nomination by one week. The vote is now scheduled for Thursday, but the entire Democratic minority on the committee \u2014 and at least two Republicans in the Senate \u2014\u00a0has called to further delay the proceeding<\/a>.<\/p>\n Republican Sen.\u00a0Orrin Hatch<\/a>\u00a0of Utah, the most senior member of the committee, echoed Grassley’s criticism of Feinstein.<\/p>\n