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Ohio Sen. Rob Portman briefed on FBI report but will wait to read it himself before weighing in

Portman waiting to read FBI report for himself
Posted at 1:38 PM, Oct 04, 2018
and last updated 2018-10-04 18:05:42-04

U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) will wait to read the full report on the FBI's further investigation into the sexual assault allegations leveled by Christine Blasey Ford against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh before weighing in on their findings.

Portman and his Senate colleagues were briefed this morning by Senate leadership on the findings. 

"The briefing was helpful, but I actually want to read it cover to cover and I'm going to be doing that later this afternoon," he said.

When asked if he heard anything that would cause him to change his support for Kavanaugh? 

"Well I want to read it myself. The chairman has said as you know publicly that there's nothing in there that corroborates or adds supportive evidence to what Dr. Ford has alleged," he said.

"I was supportive as you know of having a second hearing after the whole process was finished because these allegations came out after the normal process and just before the vote," he said. "So I'm going to look at it carefully just as I listened to the entire hearing carefully."

"My hope is that we will be able to figure out a way to do a better process next time. I mean this has really been tough on everybody. Tough on Dr. Ford, tough on Judge Kavanaugh, tough on the American people, you know I think folks are really divided and upset about this partly because of the way the process has unfolded," said Portman.