US REPUBLICAN Senator Jeff Flake has thrown a last-minute curve ball at Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination, saying he wants an FBI investigation.

Senator Flake voted with his Republican colleagues to move Mr Kavanaugh’s confirmation out of the committee stage and to a full Senate vote, but said he wants to delay the final confirmation vote for an FBI investigation into the sexual assault allegations levelled against Mr Kavanaugh.

“Someone’s gotta explain this to Trump. I guess that will be my job,” Republican Senator Lindsay Graham told reporters after the 11-10 vote to move the nomination to the Senate floor.

Another key moderate Republican Senator, Lisa Murkowski, told CNN she supports Senator Flake’s proposal for a delay.

“Yes I do. It has to be limited in time and scope,” she told the broadcaster.

“I support the FBI having an opportunity to bring some closure to this.”

Without Senator Murkowski and Senator Flake, Republicans wouldn’t have enough votes to move forward on a floor. The vote would therefore be delayed until the FBI can do the investigation Senator Flake has asked for.

While Senator Flake cannot demand an FBI investigation, if Senate leader Mitch McConnell and US President Donald Trump don’t agree to the probe then they could lose his key vote.

Senator Flake had earlier said he would vote for Mr Kavanaugh’s confirmation but was caught by two women on his way to the vote who told them their own personal stories of being sexually abused. It is unknown if that changed his mind.

The Republicans hold a slim 51-49 edge in the Senate, meaning just two Republicans need to switch their votes for Mr Kavanaugh’s nomination to be defeated.

Speaking to reporters after the committee adjourned, President Trump called Dr Christine Blasey Ford “a very fine woman.”

“I thought her testimony was very compelling and she looks like a very fine woman to me, very fine woman,” he said.

However, Mr Trump expressed optimism on what the Senate will ultimately decide regarding his Supreme Court nominee.

“I’m sure it will all be very good,” he said, adding that he hadn’t thought at all about a replacement, “Not even a little bit.”

Mr Trump had wholeheartedly reaffirmed support for Mr Kavanaugh to join the nation’s top bench yesterday after watching him furiously refute the testimony of Dr Ford, 51, who delivered to a packed hearing room her stark account of what she said was an attempted rape by Mr Kavanaugh 36 years ago.

But the country’s leading legal organisation, the American Bar Association — which initially proclaimed the conservative Mr Kavanaugh highly qualified for the job — came out following the hearing urging a postponement until an FBI investigation could be carried out.

The appointment “is simply too important to rush to a vote,” the ABA said in a strongly worded letter to the committee’s top senators.

Democrats on the Senate committee expressed outrage and some walked out on Friday morning after the majority Republicans unanimously backed moving forward to a vote without further investigation of the accusations against Mr Kavanaugh.

“I strongly object. What a railroad job,” said Democratic Senator Mazie Hirono, after the decision.

UNEQUIVOCAL DENIAL
President Trump nominated Mr Kavanaugh to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy, who had been a swing vote on a court now divided between four conservative and four liberal justices.

The allegations by Dr Ford, a psychology professor in California, have threatened to derail Mr Trump’s bid to tilt the court to the right.

The 53-year-old Kavanaugh came out with defensive guns blazing on Thursday, insisting the assault never happened, accusing Democrats of destroying his reputation, and condemning his confirmation battle as a “national disgrace.”

“I categorically and unequivocally deny the allegation by Dr Ford,” Mr Kavanaugh said, his voice shaking with anger as he fought back tears.

“I’ve never sexually assaulted anyone, not in high school, not in college, not ever.”

In addition to Dr Blasey Ford, two other women have come forward with allegations of assault against Mr Kavanaugh, against the backdrop of the #MeToo movement.

Thursday’s hearing included sharp exchanges between Republicans and Democrats mirroring the bitter atmosphere in Washington.

And as the nine-hour marathon wrapped up, Mr Trump weighed in to stand by his man. “Judge Kavanaugh showed America exactly why I nominated him,” he tweeted, minutes after the hearing adjourned.

“His testimony was powerful, honest and riveting. Democrats’ search and destroy strategy is disgraceful and this process has been a total sham and effort to delay, obstruct and resist. The Senate must vote!”

‘I AM TERRIFIED’
During four hours of emotionally intense testimony, Dr Blasey Ford said she was “100 per cent” certain that Mr Kavanaugh was the person who assaulted her at a high school party in suburban Maryland in 1982, and that it was “absolutely not” a case of mistaken identity.

She said a drunken Mr Kavanaugh and a friend of his, Mark Judge, pushed her into a bedroom, that Mr Kavanaugh pinned her down and muffled her cries as he tried to pull off her clothes.

She told the hearing, she feared she would be raped, or accidentally killed.

“I am here today not because I want to be,” said the married mother-of-two. “I am terrified.” “I am here because I believe it is my civic duty to tell you what happened to me.”