National Archives warns that request for Kavanaugh's record won't be ready until October
WASHINGTON _ It could be late October before senators can access records from Judge Brett Kavanaugh's time in the White House, the U.S. National Archives said Thursday, potentially throwing a wrench into GOP plans to quickly hold a vote on President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee.
In a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, Archives General Counsel Gary Stern wrote that many of the estimated 900,000 pages from Kavanaugh's time in the White House counsel's office have to be reviewed for instances where former President George W. Bush could assert executive privilege before they can be released.
Senate GOP leaders have said they want Kavanaugh to be approved in time to join the Supreme Court when its fall session begins in early October, and Grassley said Thursday he expects the committee to hold a hearing in September.
Committee spokesman Taylor Foy said the archive's lengthy process won't slow down the process. He said the committee is working with the George W. Bush Presidential Library to review and approve the documents quickly while the archive continues the more lengthy review required by the Presidential Review Act. Some of the records have already become available through this process.
Democrats have decried the review by President Bush's attorney Bill Burke as partisan.
_Los Angeles Times
