The FBI's report on Kavanaugh is ready, but senators only get a single copy to read, in 1-hour shifts, under intense security
- Senators will on Thursday be able to read the FBI's report on sexual misconduct allegations against Brett Kavanaugh.
- Officials will seek to keep its contents secret: senators will have to read a single copy in a secure room in one-hour shifts.
- Senators including Dick Durbin have called the process "bizarre," and say they are pushing for more time with the report.
- The report will influence whether senators vote to confirm Kavanaugh. A vote is due on Friday.
All 100 US senators will be able to read the FBI's report on the sexual misconduct allegations about Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh today.
But they will only be able to read from a single copy in one-hour shifts, and under intense security.
The FBI's report - which has been repeatedly criticized by Democrats and classmates of Kavanaugh as being too limited in scope - will inform senators as they vote on Friday on whether to confirm Kavanaugh.
Chuck Grassley, the Republican Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said committee members had received the report by 4.30 a.m. on Thursday.
Officials are taking steps to prevent the public from learning its contents.
Senators will read the report in a highly-secured Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) - a guarded room inside the Capitol building. They will do so in one-hour shifts based on their party.
Republicans will read for the first hour, starting at 8 a.m., before Democrats take over for an hour. The Republicans will then take over for the next hour, and so on, the Associated Press reported.
No copies will be made so senators will have to go physically to the room to learn about its contents. This is standard practice for FBI background reports.
The report is confidential, so they will be expected to not repeat what they learn. Given the intense interest in the document, the possibility of some kind of leak is high.
Grassley told reporters last week, that "none of that stuff's public."
"If you want people to be candid when they talk to the FBI, you ain't going to make that public," he said.
Some senators criticized the process. Democratic Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, a member of the Judiciary Committee, told The Hill that it was a "bizarre" procedure that "doesn't make any sense."
"Get this - one copy! For the United States Senate," he said "That's what we were told. And we were also that we would be given one hour for the Dems, one hour for the Republicans. Alternating.
"We tried to reserve some time to read it. That is ridiculous," Durbin added. "One copy?!"