Sen. Jeff Flake, a GOP Senate Judiciary Committee member, has become a potential roadblock for what otherwise appeared to be a quick and smooth nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court, saying he wants to hear more from Kavanaugh's sexual assault accuser before moving forward with a vote.
The retiring Arizona senator told Politico if the confirmation is pushed forward "without any attempt with hearing what she's had to say," he wouldn't be comfortable voting "yes" for Kavanaugh.
"We need to hear from her. And I don't think I'm alone in this," Flake said in the interview with Politico.
Christine Blasey Ford went public with her accusation against Kavanaugh in a story published in The Washington Post Sunday. She claims, while they were teenagers in the early 1980s, a drunken Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed at a party, groped her and attempted to take off her clothes.
Kavanaugh has denied the allegations calling them "completely false." He said he's willing to talk to the Senate Judiciary Committee to refute the allegations and "defend my integrity."
Ford's attorney said she's also willing to speak to the committee's panel and considers the alleged incident with Kavanaugh to be an attempted rape.
The Senate Judiciary Committee was expected to vote on advancing Kavanaugh's nomination Thursday.
But, according to Politico, without Flake's vote the committee won't be able to advance his nomination. GOP leaders in the Senate could, however, bypass the committee and vote directly on it.
Although Flake appears to be taking a hard stance on hearing more from Ford before he decides, he refused to comment on whether or not he believed Kavanaugh should withdraw his nomination.
"I'm not responding to that question at all," he told Politico.
