Inside a room in the basement of the Capitol, senators grappled with the latest turn in the saga of controversial Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh: an FBI report on allegations of sexual misconduct against him, prepared over the last week at the behest of a reluctant White House. The report was not available to the public or the press. Its contents remain unknown, even as Kavanaugh’s supporters say it is exculpatory. Detractors have characterized the same report as woefully incomplete.

As the full Senate vote on Kavanaugh nears, the public rancor that has surrounded his nomination shows no sign of abating. Thousands amassed on Thursday in front of the Pennsylvania Avenue courthouse where, for the past 12 years, Kavanaugh has served as a judge on the D.C. Circuit Court. They bore signs that called Kavanaugh “angry” and “entitled,” in reference to his contentious appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee last Thursday. “Vote No on Boozin’ Brett,” said a sign hoisted by one woman. Another sign depicted a cartoon rendering of a crying Kavanaugh saying, “I love my beer.” The reference is to Kavanaugh’s avowed fondness for beer.
Shutting down traffic, the protesters marched toward the Supreme Court, which earlier this week opened its term with the seat previously occupied by Justice Anthony Kennedy still empty. Republicans hope to change that very shortly.

The FBI report on Kavanaugh was provided to senators under conditions seemingly borrowed from a Dan Brown thriller: There was a single copy of the report, and it was made available to senators and a limited number of their staff members on Thursday afternoon. The contents of the report could not be divulged.

The White House — which imposed narrow limits on who investigators could question — sought to portray the report as a full exoneration of Kavanaugh, who has been accused of sexual assault by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and other women. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, had much the same message on Thursday morning, declaring that there was “no hint of misconduct” in the new report.

Democrats, unsurprisingly, disagreed. In a press conference in the Capitol, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, read brief statements as reporters and photographers pressed in around them. (Yahoo)

•Activists hold a march and rally to protest against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh near the Capitol in Washington Thursday. (Photo: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)