Reposting for those who need it.

For those of you who don't quite understand what happened in the Senate Judiciary Committee on the Kavanaugh vote…. let me explain.

Jeff Flake, a Republican, was the weakest link on the entire committee, and wanted to kind of "ride the middle ground". He needed a way to vote YES to advance Kavanaugh out of committee and to the floor of the full senate for his final confirmation vote. He needed to be able to vote yes, while being seen as "middle of the road" and making it something that it really "pained" him to do.

He basically just bamboozled the Senate Democrats. They were pushing him HARD to vote no, because if they flip just ONE Republican on the committee, Kavanaugh doesn't go on. He made a deal with them, saying, "I will vote yes, but it will be contingent on the FBI conducting an investigation, okay?"

Democrats were like "Woah, you're gonna require an FBI investigation for your yes vote? Okay, we'll get on board with that!" So Flake came in to that committee room and asked to make a statement. Grassley allowed him to make the statement that he thinks the FBI should take AT MOST a week to investigate. Democrats, thinking that the vote was now a CONTINGENT vote, where the full senate would be BOUND by the committee's decision to have an FBI investigation, were confused.

In the confusion, Grassley asked the clerk to "call the roll" (a fancy term for taking a vote)… and while the Democrats were FRANTICALLY trying to figure out what the hell was going on, trying to interrupt, trying to ask questions, the clerk quickly called out each Senator's name to record their votes. 11 GOP voted yes… and while still confused by what's happened, the Democrats all voted no on the candidate.

Feinstein commented that she thought that the vote was basically "We are recommending this man to the full senate, but only if the FBI does a 1 week investigation"… she basically said as much…

But here's the dealio… the Senate Judiciary Committee does not have any authority to recommend an appointment with conditions. The vote was ONLY to pass the candidate to the full senate UNCONDITIONALLY…

Now, will Flake vote yes on the full senate vote? Not without that 1 week FBI investigation, I would presume… but here's the catch, and how Flake is operating to cover his ass.

The FBI gets a referral for these investigations. WITHIN THE HOUR, the FBI could come back and respond just like this:

"The FBI has no jurisdiction on these claims, and even if we did, there is not enough information or evidence to give us the probable cause to seek any warrants. We deem this request to be improper and invalid, and we hereby return the matter to the US Senate having concluded our 'investigation'."

Boom, the FBI requirement is fulfilled… Flake has his "cover" he needs to vote yes… and we can vote on Kavanaugh TOMORROW!