- Washington Free Beacon - https://freebeacon.com -

Coons Dismisses Dem Letter on Kavanaugh Background Check: 'Nothing in Here That Is Some Bombshell'

Democratic Sen. Chris Coons (Del.) said on Fox News Thursday that it was not constructive for Senate Democrats and Republicans to spar over the content of Brett Kavanaugh's FBI background checks, noting it contains no "bombshell."

In a Tuesday tweet, the Republican majority on the Senate Judiciary Committee noted that the Trump Supreme Court nominee had previously passed six background checks and there was never "a whiff of ANY issue – at all – related in any way to inappropriate sexual behavior or alcohol abuse."

But in a letter posted by Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin (Ill.) and signed by seven other Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the senators called the tweet inaccurate. "While we are limited in what we can say about this background investigation in a public setting, we are compelled to state for the record that there is information in the second post that is not accurate," he wrote.

Coons was not a signatory to the letter. When asked on CNN Wednesday night what his fellow Democrats were talking about, he told host Chris Cuomo frankly, "I don't know" and seemed unaware of the letter's existence.

The following morning on "Fox & Friends," Coons explained that he was briefed on what Durbin had in mind when writing the letter, and that debate centered on what amounted to "a whiff."

"I've now had a chance to talk to Senator Durbin, I now know what he is referring to," Coons said. "This is not the sort of back and forth by the majority and the minority that is constructive, frankly."

"Because we can't tell the public what is in the background investigation," he continued. "There is nothing in here that is some bombshell that is unknown."