Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D., R.I.) said Tuesday he was "satisfied" with the scope of the FBI investigation into Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
"I think I'm satisfied," Whitehouse said in an interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos. "We don't know all the details yet but, clearly, if they have been given free rein to interview whomever they want, then that's a very good sign. The last thing we want is a sham investigation."
"I also think that there's a fairly small universe of witnesses here and a very big FBI, so yes, I think they probably should be able to get this done by Friday if they really put the effort into it," he added.
The White House relaxed some of the restrictions on Monday into the probe, with President Donald Trump telling reporters he wanted the FBI to do a "very comprehensive investigation."
Whitehouse's comments represent a shift in tone from Democrats about the FBI investigation after they got what they clamored for following allegations of sexual misconduct emerged against Kavanaugh. Like the rest of the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, he has announced he will vote against Kavanaugh's confirmation.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D., Minn.) warned Sunday against "micromanaging" of the probe, and Sen. Mazie Hirono (D., Hawaii) said a limiting of the FBI scope by the White House was a "farce." Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.) said on Monday the deadline to get the investigation done was "tight and arbitrary."
The investigation was launched Friday in response to pressure by Sen. Jeff Flake (R., Ariz.) to delay a final confirmation vote for up to a week to allow for further investigation of sexual misconduct allegations against Kavanaugh. They include Christine Blasey Ford's charge that he sexually assaulted her at a house party in the early 1980s, and Deborah Ramirez claiming he exposed himself to her at a dorm party at Yale.
Ford testified about the accusation on Thursday, saying she was "100 percent" sure Kavanaugh attacked her. Kavanaugh emphatically denied any charges of misconduct in his testimony on Thursday, and no corroborating witnesses have come forward to support any claims made against him.
A third woman, represented by Democratic firebrand attorney Michael Avenatti, came forward to say she Kavanaugh and others spiked girls' drinks at high school parties where gang rapes routinely happened. No one has corroborated her claims, and her story shifted in several ways in an NBC News interview on Monday.