FBI completes interview of Kavanaugh's high school friend

WASHINGTON (AP):

The FBI has finished interviewing a friend of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh who was said to have attended a high school gathering in the early 1980s where a woman says she was sexually assaulted by Kavanaugh, the man's lawyer said Tuesday.

Mark Judge, who has denied any wrongdoing, completed his interview with FBI agents as part of the reopened background investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct by Kavanaugh, said his lawyer, Barbara 'Biz' Van Gelder.

She declined to say exactly when it ended or what Judge was asked. She had said Monday night that the interview was not completed.

Democrats, meanwhile, were raising new questions about the truthfulness of Kavanaugh's sworn testimony to the Senate, shifting tactics against President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee as they await the results of the FBI's background investigation.

Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democrats' leader from New York, accused Kavanaugh of delivering a "partisan screed" during the Judiciary Committee hearing last week. He said Kavanaugh seemed willing to "mislead senators about everything from the momentous to the mundane" to ensure his ascension to the high court.

"The harsh fact of the matter is that we have mounting evidence that Judge Kavanaugh is just not credible," Schumer said on Monday.

Not so, argued Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, contending the Democrats are simply looking to "move the goalposts" to prevent Kavanaugh's confirmation. He pledged that the full Senate would begin voting on Kavanaugh's nomination this week.

"The time for endless delay and obstruction has come to a close," he said.

Kavanaugh has emphatically denied Christine Blasey Ford's allegation that he sexually assaulted her at a gathering when they were teens. He has also denied an accusation from Deborah Ramirez, a classmate at Yale, who said he exposed himself to her at a dorm party more than 25 years ago. A third claim - from Julia Swetnick, who is represented by attorney Michael Avenatti - accuses Kavanaugh of excessive drinking and inappropriate treatment of women at parties in the early 1980s. Kavanaugh denies that as well.