The chairman of the Senate judiciary committee says the FBI found “no hint of misconduct” in its investigation into Brett Kavanaugh.
The FBI has conducted a background investigation into sexual misconduct claims against the Supreme Court nominee.
Republican senator Chuck Grassley said he received a briefing from staff on the confidential report and says “there’s nothing in it that we didn’t already know”, adding: “This investigation found no hint of misconduct”.
Mr Grassley said the FBI could not find any people who could “attest to any of the allegations” against Mr Kavanaugh and that there is “no contemporaneous evidence”.
He urged his colleagues to confirm the judge.
However, Democrats have complained that the FBI’s reopening of its Kavanaugh background check has been far too limited, leaving out contact with crucial potential witnesses.
Senator Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the committee, said the “most notable parts” of the FBI’s report “is what’s not in it”.
She said it was the “product of an incomplete investigation.”
Several US media publications reported that witnesses who believe the FBI should interview them over the allegations feel like they have been silenced.
Some claim they have been blocked from speaking to the bureau, have sent unsolicited statements to the bureau and to senators, or feel when they have been interviewed that no effort to corroborate their stories has been made.
Professor Christine Blasey Ford gave evidence in front of the committee that Mr Kavanaugh, then aged 17, sexually assaulted her when she was aged 15 in Maryland in 1982.
Dr Ford said that she could not remember the precise date or location of the alleged assault or how she got home afterwards.
She claimed that a drunken Mr Kavanaugh pinned her down, tried to remove her clothing and covered her mouth when she screamed.
Two other women have accused him of sexual misconduct in separate incidents in the 1980s.
Mr Kavanaugh, 53, a judge on the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals, denies any wrongdoing and an important vote on his future is expected to take place on Friday.
If the Republicans get the majority of votes they need, it would trigger his confirmation possibly over the weekend.
1:21Earlier this week Donald Trump was criticised for imitating Dr Ford at a rally in Mississippi.
“What neighbourhood was it in? I don’t know. Where’s the house? I don’t know. Upstairs, downstairs, where was it? I don’t know. But I had one beer. That’s the only thing I remember,” Mr Trump mocked.
He went on to say: “A man’s life is in tatters.”
Democrats have also called into question Mr Kavanaugh’s drinking habits during high school and college and comments they claim are dishonest about his background.