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| © Al Drago/Getty Images Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) arrives before Retired Vice Adm. Joseph Maguire testifies during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing to be confirmed as the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, on Capitol Hill, on July 25, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Al Drago/Getty Images) |
By Eli Watkins and Ted Barrett, CNN
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, a key GOP vote, said Wednesday that she is still reviewing Judge Brett Kavanaugh's record and plans to speak with him later in the week.
"I am still completing my due diligence," Collins said. "I spent an hour today going through the committee's sensitive documents at the Judiciary Committee that have not yet been released."
Collins is one of the few Republican lawmakers who say they support abortion rights, and she has yet to announce how she intends to vote on Kavanaugh's nomination for the Supreme Court. She said last month that Kavanaugh told her he believes the landmark abortion case Roe v. Wade is "settled law."
Activists against Kavanaugh's nomination have warned he could undo Roe, and a crowdfunding campaign has emerged that is tying its efforts to Collins' vote on Kavanaugh. Her spokeswoman Annie Clark labeled the effort "basically a bribe."
In her comments on Wednesday, Collins said she had "a few more questions" for Kavanaugh when they speak this week.
Kavanaugh appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week for his contentious confirmation hearings, and committee Democrats sent reams of questions to him this week ahead of the panel's expected vote.
A CNN poll released Tuesday showed people split on Kavanaugh's confirmation, largely unchanged from before his hearings.
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