The Latest on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and a woman accusing him of sexually assaulting her decades ago (all times local):
12:10 p.m.
Vice President Mike Pence calls Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh "a man of integrity with impeccable credentials."
Pence tells a gathering of evangelical activists in Washington that the appeals court judge's record and career deserve "the respect of every member of the United States Senate."
The vice president says the way that some Democrats have conducted themselves during the confirmation process "is a disgrace and a disservice to the Senate and the American people."
Pence also says that he and President Donald Trump are confident that Republicans will handle that process "with the utmost respect for all concerned." Pence says he believes Kavanaugh will soon join the high court.
Pence made no reference to Christine Blasey Ford, whose accusations about Kavanaugh's behavior 35 years ago have roiled the confirmation.
11:10 a.m.
Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
That's the new and latest deadline in the high-stakes confrontation over whether Brett Kavanaugh's accuser will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Christine Blasey Ford's accusations and the standoff over the terms of her appearance have left Kavanaugh's confirmation in limbo.
The committee chairman, GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, is shrugging off responsibility for the extension onto the Senate's Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer.
Here's what Grassley says in a tweet: "I feel like I'm playing 2nd trombone in the judiciary orchestra and Schumer is the conductor."
1:45 a.m.
The brinkmanship over whether Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's accuser will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee has come to a standstill, for now.
The committee chairman, GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, has given Christine Blasey Ford more time to decide on the terms of her appearance.
The Republican-led committee had insisted that if Ford missed a Friday night deadline to respond to the panel's latest offer, lawmakers would hold a vote Monday on recommending Kavanaugh's nomination for the full Senate to consider.
Ford's accusations of Kavanaugh's behavior 35 years ago and the standoff over the terms of her appearance have captivated the nation as the appeals court judge's confirmation hangs in balance.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. intelligence officials have determined that Russian President Vladimir Putin likely didn’t order the death of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny in February, according to an official familiar with the determination.
While U.S. officials believe Putin was ultimately responsible for the death of Navalny, who endured brutal conditions during his confinement, the intelligence community has found “no smoking gun” that Putin was aware of the timing of Navalny's death — which came soon before the Russian president's reelection — or directly ordered it, according to the official.
The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.
Soon after Navalny’s death, U.S. President Joe Biden said Putin was ultimately responsible but did not accuse the Russian president of directly ordering it.
At the time, Biden said the U.S. did not know exactly what had happened to Navalny but that “there is no doubt” that his death “was the consequence of something that Putin and his thugs did.”
Navalny, 47, Russia’s best-known opposition politician and Putin’s most persistent foe, died Feb. 16 in a remote penal colony above the Arctic Circle while serving a 19-year sentence on extremism charges that he rejected as politically motivated.
He had been behind bars since January 2021 after returning to Russia from Germany, where he had been recovering from nerve-agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin.
Russian officials have said only that Navalny died of natural causes and have vehemently denied involvement both in the poisoning and in his death.
In March, a month after Navalny’s death, Putin won a landslide reelection for a fifth term, an outcome that was never in doubt.
The Wall Street Journal first reported about the U.S. intelligence determination.
FILE - Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny gestures while speaking during his interview to the Associated Press in Moscow, Russia on Dec. 18, 2017. U.S. intelligence officials have determined that Russian President Vladimir Putin likely didn't order the death of Navalny, the imprisoned opposition leader, in February of 2024. An official says the U.S. intelligence community has found "no smoking gun" that Putin was aware of the timing of Navalny's death or directly ordered it. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)
