Kavanaugh news: Susan Collins says she will vote to confirm Supreme Court nominee

With the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh hanging in the balance, Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine announced that she would vote in favor of his final confirmation.

"Mr. President, I will vote to confirm Judge Kavanaugh," Collins announced on the Senate floor to applause from her colleagues.

Collins, whose speech was briefly delayed by protesters shouting, "Vote no" and "Believe women," complained about the process of Kavanaugh's nomination, which she compared to a "gutter-level political campaign."

"Our Supreme Court confirmation process has been in steady decline for more than 30 years," Collins said. "One can only hope that the Kavanaugh nomination is where the process has hit rock bottom."

Collins also said she found the testimony of Christine Blasey Ford, who claimed Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her at a party during high school — which the Supreme Court nominee has denied — "sincere, painful and compelling." But Collins also said she didn't see enough corroborative evidence to convince her that it was Kavanaugh that assaulted Ford that night.

"I believe she is a survivor of a sexual assault and that this trauma has upended her life," Collins said. "Nevertheless, the four witness she named could not corroborate any of the events of that evening's gathering, where she said that assault occurred… Therefore, I do not believe these charges can fairly prevent Judge Kavanaugh from serving on the court."

Here are other updates from Friday surrounding Kavanaugh's nomination:

With Collins joining fellow moderate Republican Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona in supporting Kavanaugh's nomination, Republicans appear to have enough votes to put President Trump's nominee on the Supreme Court.

Flake, who pushed for the FBI's one-week investigation into sexual assault and misconduct allegations against Kavanaugh, announced he would vote to confirm Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court "unless something big changes."

Republicans, who control the Senate with a slim 51-49 majority, can only afford to lose one Republican vote if they hope to confirm Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court and no Democrats support him.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, the only Republican who voted no during the Senate's procedural vote Friday morning, told reporters she thought Kavanaugh was a "good man" but questioned if he was the right person to assume the vacant seat on the Supreme Court.

"I believe that Brett Kavanaugh is a good man… It just may be that in my view he's not the right man for the court at this time," Murkowski told reporters, adding "we're at a place where we need to be thinking again about the credibility and the integrity of our institutions."

Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, the only Democrat to vote yes on today's procedural motion, also said he would vote to confirm Kavanaugh.

In a letter sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Friday morning, the American Bar Association (ABA) said it was reopening its "well-qualified" rating of Kavanaugh due to his testimony, citing "new information of a material nature regarding temperament."

The ABA added that it wouldn't complete its review prior to the final Senate vote on Kavanaugh's confirmation, and that his current rating will stand until the review is complete.

Kavanaugh cited the ABA's support during his testimony: "For 12 years, everyone who has appeared before me on the D.C. Circuit has praised my judicial temperament. That's why I have the unanimous well-qualified rating from the American Bar Association."

Back in 2006, the ABA questioned Kavanaugh's temperament and honesty during his second confirmation hearing for his current seat on the federal appeals court. The organization also removed its "well qualified" rating – the highest the association offers – and replaced it with "qualified."

Republican Sen. Steve Daines of Montana won't attend a confirmation vote on Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination if it takes place on Saturday morning or afternoon because he'll be walking his daughter down the aisle for her wedding. But he may miss the reception of his vote is needed to confirm Kavanaugh.

"If I need to be in two places at once to walk my daughter down the aisle on her wedding day and to be the final vote to put Judge Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court, [Rep. Greg Gianforte] offered me use of his plane," Daines said in a statement on Friday.

Daines was expected to leave for Montana on Friday afternoon to attend his daughter's wedding, but if the vote for Kavanaugh's nomination is as close as it's expected to be, Republicans can hold open the final vote until Daines returns. According to Senate rules, the final confirmation vote is set to be called 30 hours after the Senate voted to cut off debate this morning, which would set up a final vote on Kavanaugh's nomination just after 5 p.m. on Saturday.

"If there is any change to timing or any announcements on votes, we'll be sure to get the info out as we always do," a spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R., Ky.) office said in a statement.

Ahead of the important procedural vote in the Senate, President Trump made the baseless claim that sexual assault victims protesting Kavanaugh's nomination were simply "paid professionals" funded by billionaire George Soros. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) told Fox Business he also believes Soros is paying protestors to fight Kavanaugh's nomination.

Ana Maria Archila, the woman who confronted Flake in an elevator last week, claimed Trump was attempting to discredit the stories of sexual assault victims.

"No one can pay for someone's lived experiences," Archila wrote in a statement. "The pain, the trauma, and the rage that I expressed when I spoke with Senator Jeff Flake in an elevator were my own, and I held it for more than 30 years to protect the people I love from it."

Trump himself has been accused of various forms of sexual assault by at least 15 woman, and told reporters at a press conference last month they were all paid to "make up stories" about him.

"I've had numerous accusations about me. I mean they made false statements about me knowing they were false. I never met them. I never met these people," Trump said, without offering any evidence to back up his claims. "And what did they do? What did they do? They took money in order to say bad things."

Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee released an "executive summary" of the FBI's extended background investigation into allegations made against Kavanaugh, revealing that bureau reached out to 11 individuals, interviewing 10 of them.

One notable absence from the list was Swetnick, who suggested Kavanaugh and his friends spiked the drinks of girls to make it easier to "gang rape" them at high school parties. Swetnick also said she was gang raped at one of these parties, but didn't claim Kavanaugh was one of the men who took part.

The FBI also didn't interview Kenneth Appold, a Yale classmate of both Ramirez and Kavanaugh, who told the New Yorker he first heard about the incident either the night it occurred or a day or two later, and that he was "one-hundred-percent certain" he was told it was Kavanaugh who was the male student who exposed himself to Ramirez.

Here is the full list:

Ahead of Friday's important procedural vote, Kavanaugh took the unusual step of writing an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal, in which he expressed regret for aspects of his emotional and angry testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"I was very emotional last Thursday, more so than I have ever been. I might have been too emotional at times. I know that my tone was sharp, and I said a few things I should not have said," Kavanaugh wrote. "I hope everyone can understand that I was there as a son, husband and dad. I testified with five people foremost in my mind: my mom, my dad, my wife, and most of all my daughters."

Kavanaugh has denied claims of sexual assault and misconduct made by three women — Christine Blasey Ford, Deborah Ramirez, and Julie Swetnick. Ford also testified before the Judiciary Committee

>> READ MORE: 'An intergalactic freak show' — Kavanaugh hearing could leave a national scar

Washington Post national political reporter Robert Costa called Kavanaugh's op-ed a "strategic move" by the White House on MSNBC Thursday night.

"They know this nomination is on the brink of maybe falling apart as all these moderate Republican senators, even conservative senators, privately voice concerns to [White House counsel] Don McGahn and others," Costa said. "[The Wall Street Journal] is the high church, really, for a lot of these elite conservative lawyers and Republican lawmakers and officials. They look to it. If you're going there it means you have a direct message for that block of the Republican party."