Kavanaugh accuser’s hearing is over. Here’s what Crapo said.

Update: Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho and a Judiciary Committee member, focused his main comments at Thursday’s hearings on comparing calls for an FBI investigation into Judge Brett Kavanaugh with the investigation his committee performed.

Crapo spoke during Kavanaugh’s turn in front of the committee Thursday afternoon. He asked Kavanaugh how the FBI performs nominee background checks, then described steps the Judiciary Committee took after public claims of sexual assault and improper behavior surfaced against the judge. (Watch a video of his full remarks above.)

“And so we have conducted the investigation,” Crapo said. “The very kinds of things that my colleagues on the other side are asking that we tell the FBI to do, this committee has the authority to do it and this committee does it and this committee has done it.”

Crapo also had Kavanaugh confirm that Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, did not mention Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s claim of sexual assault during a meeting she had with Kavanaugh Aug. 20. Ford originally asked for her allegations to remain confidential, and Feinstein has said she was attempting to honor that; Republicans have accused her of intentionally sitting on Ford’s accusation for political reasons.

Crapo’s staff told the Statesman he would not have any further comment on the hearings Thursday evening.

Earlier reporting continues below:

Idaho Sens. Mike Crapo and Jim Risch have been relatively quiet on the accusations of sexual assault now complicating the confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh.

As a third accuser alleged Wednesday that Kavanaugh acted inappropriately toward her decades ago, both Republican senators said they were waiting for the results of Thursday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, at which Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, Kavanaugh’s first accuser, is scheduled to speak.

Crapo, a member of the committee, said it “is currently conducting a thorough investigation of the accusation” put forth by Ford.

“Dr. Ford’s accusation should be taken seriously, investigated and properly heard by the Senate Judiciary Committee,” Crapo said in a statement provided by spokesman Lindsay Nothern. The statement did not address the second accusation of sexual misconduct, which first surfaced on Sunday, nor the third, which was made public Wednesday morning.

“The Judiciary Committee is working to hear from all parties and gather the relevant facts. Sen. Risch will have a comment after we hear their findings,” Risch spokeswoman Kaylin Minton said in an email Wednesday. When asked in person in D.C. if he would answer questions about Kavanaugh, Risch told a Statesman reporter “no thank you” and walked away.

Prior to the accusations, Crapo called Kavanaugh “a judge’s judge” and lauded his character and qualifications.

“He is a man of honor, integrity and well-respected in the legal community. There is no dispute; he is qualified to serve on our nation’s highest court,” Crapo said on Sept. 4.

As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Crapo and three other Judiciary senators have faced pressure from the Mormon Women for Ethical Government, a nonpartisan group of more than 6,000 politically active women who are not officially associated with the church. The group called on the senators to suspend Kavanaugh’s confirmation proceedings to investigate the allegations against him.

“Our mutual faith teaches that any sexual abuse or assault in any context is contemptible and worthy of the most severe condemnation,” the group said in a statement.

Crapo’s Wednesday statement did not address Statesman questions on the activist group. The Church also declined to speak to the group’s statement.

“We don’t have any comment on what they’re doing or even the issue they’re trying to address,” said church spokesman Doug Anderson.

Idaho native Rachel Esplin Odell, a senior director of the LDS women’s group, said she has voted for Crapo in the past and even held a fundraiser supporting his 1998 campaign for Senate. But she’s disappointed he hasn’t taken a stronger position on Kavanaugh.

“We hoped Senator Crapo would be stronger, especially against pushing back against (Sens.) Mitch McConnell, Orrin Hatch and Lindsey Graham, who have been saying, ‘We’ll hear the lady, but we’re just going to bring this to a close,’” Odell said.

Odell said Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Arizona, another Mormon called out in the women’s letter, has done a good job advocating for a hearing and pushing back against the politicization of the confirmation process.

But Crapo, whom she said has not responded to the group’s message, is “just not really taking a stance.”

Odell said many of her Republican family members in Idaho also want to see an investigation. Crapo isn’t up for re-election this year, and Odell said she isn’t a single-issue voter, but his silence could play a role in her decision-making process next election.

“If he were to not extend his voice to call for a fair treatment … I think that would be really disappointing to me,” she said. “I would imagine for a lot of (Mormon Women for Ethical Government) members, it would be really alarming.”

This story was originally published September 26, 2018 at 3:49 PM.