Klobuchar says Trump administration cannot limit scope of FBI's Kavanaugh investigation

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, speaks to reporters during a break from testimony by Christine Blasey Ford on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 27, 2018. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Sen. Amy Klobuchar said that the White House cannot limit the scope of the FBI’s investigation into the allegations leveled against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

Klobuchar, D-Minn., who had a combative back-and-forth with Kavanaugh during his hearing on Thursday, said that there should be no limits on the investigation that the Trump administration ordered ahead of the Senate’s vote to confirm the judge.

“They [the White House] cannot say, 'Oh hey, only interview the people in their neighborhood on one side of the street.' Or 'Only interview people from a certain period of their life,’” Klobuchar said during an appearance of CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “You let the men and women of the FBI, the professionals, do their jobs.”

During Kavanaugh’s appearance on Capitol Hill, Klobuchar pressed him if he ever drank so much he blacked out. He replied, "Have you?" After a break in the proceedings, he came back and apologized to Klobuchar. She said her father was an alcoholic.

Speaking on “Face the Nation,” Klobuchar defended her questioning of Kavanaugh’s drinking during high school, saying:  “I think that is relevant because when I was asking him about whether or not he had blacked out, or maybe partially blacked out in the past because of excessive drinking, he just turned it back on me instead of really answering that question.”

She added: “The reason it's relevant is perhaps he doesn't remember what happened because there were repeated incidences of this excessive drinking.”

Klobuchar also praised Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., for his role in forcing the FBI investigation into the allegations and delaying the vote on Kavanaugh for at least a week.

“I was so pleased when Senator Flake rose to the occasion and said it was beneath the dignity of the Senate and beneath the dignity of the Court basically if you don't follow up,” she said.

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Flake, who is retiring this year, said he would not be ready to vote for Kavanaugh until the FBI conducted a background investigation into the sexual misconduct claims.

Flake stopped short of where Democrats hoped he would land, which was putting a hold on a committee vote. Instead he wanted the one-week delay on a final vote on Kavanaugh's confirmation while allowing the nomination to move out of committee to the full Senate.

The announcement, however, upended his party's plans to move quickly to confirm Kavanaugh and made clear what many had suspected: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., did not have the votes to proceed to Kavanaugh's nomination over the weekend. McConnell soon called for the investigation as well, after resisting that step since the allegations became public.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.