Georgia's two Republican U.S. senators both say they will vote in support of Judge Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court despite questions raised by decades-old sexual assault allegations.
Senator Johnny Isakson said in a statement Thursday that he would support the judge after a thorough review of testimony from Kavanaugh and his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, as well as other witness testimony and records presented through the confirmation process.
Isakson's statement was released hours after the Senate Judiciary Committee received the latest FBI report on Kavanaugh.
"Any judge on the nation's highest court should be one who understands and applies the law based on the U.S. Constitution, and I have confidence that Judge Kavanaugh will fulfill these duties accordingly," Isakson's statement said. Isakson said he came to the decision based on "the totality of the information provided during the confirmation process."
Isakson had signaled support for Kavanaugh before the allegations from Ford surfaced, then said he wanted to review the FBI report before making a final decision.
U.S. Senator David Perdue had already said he would support Kavanaugh's confirmation.
In a fiery televised speech on Wednesday, Perdue decried the confirmation process as a political sham and said Democrats had "gone too far."
"We have seen firsthand the length to which members of the other side of this aisle will go to distract us away from the truth," Perdue fumed.
Democrats, meanwhile, have accused their Republican colleagues of rushing to confirm Kavanaugh without a complete investigation into the allegations against him.
Ford contended that at a house party in the 1980s, a drunken, 17 year-old Kavanaugh tried undressing her and muffling her cries on a bed before she fled. Other women have since come forward with allegations against Kavanaugh, who has denied all of the accounts.
A procedural vote on Kavanaugh's nomination is set for Friday and could pave the way for a confirmation vote later this weekend.