FILE - In this Sept. 6, 2018, file photo, President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, for the third day... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this Sept. 6, 2018, file photo, President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, for the third day of his confirmation hearing to replace retired Justice Anthony Kennedy. Christine Blasey Ford, the... (Associated Press) 
 
 WASHINGTON (AP) — Judge Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation for the Supreme Court is taking an uncertain turn as Republican senators express concern over a woman's private-turned-public allegation that a drunken Kavanaugh groped her and tried to take off her clothes at a party when they were teenagers. 
 
 The White House and other Kavanaugh supporters had dismissed the allegation of sexual misconduct when it was initially conveyed in a private letter. With a name and disturbing details, the accusation raised the prospect of congressional Republicans defending President Donald Trump's nominee ahead of midterm elections featuring an unprecedented number of female candidates and informed in part by the #MeToo movement. 
 
 The GOP-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee appeared nonetheless committed to a vote later this week despite Christine Blasey Ford's account in The Washington Post. Kavanaugh, she said, pinned her to a bed at a Maryland party in the early 1980s, clumsily tried to remove her clothing and put his hand over her mouth when she tried to scream. Kavanaugh repeated his previous denial that such an incident ever took place. 
 
 A split seemed to be emerging among the GOP. 
 
 As Democrats, led by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, called for a delay in the vote, two committee Republicans — all 11 on the GOP side are men — Sens. Jeff Flake of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, said they wanted to hear more from Ford. Flake went as far as to say he was "not comfortable" voting for Kavanaugh for the time being. A potential "no" vote from Flake would complicate the judge's prospects. A Republican not on the committee, Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, said the vote should be postponed until the committee heard from Ford. Contacted Sunday by CNN, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, wouldn't say if the vote should be postponed. 
 
 Some Senate Republicans, along with the White House, see no need to postpone voting over what they consider uncorroborated and unverifiable accusations, according to a person familiar with the situation but not authorized to speak publicly. 
 
 A committee spokesman said late Sunday that its chairman, Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, was trying to arrange separate, follow-up calls with Kavanaugh and Ford, but just for aides to Grassley and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., before Thursday's scheduled vote. Critics have already accused the GOP of fast-tracking the process to get Kavanaugh on the court by Oct. 1, the first day of the fall term. 
 
 The allegation against Kavanaugh first came to light late last week in the form of a letter that had been for some time in the possession of Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee and one of its four female members. On Sunday, The Washington Post published an interview with Ford, who after months of soul-searching decided to go public. 
 
 "I thought he might inadvertently kill me," said Ford, 51, a clinical psychology professor at Palo Alto University in California. "He was trying to attack me and remove my clothing." She told the Post that she was able to escape after a friend of Kavanaugh's who was in the room jumped on top of them and everyone tumbled. 
 
 Through the White House, Kavanaugh, 53, a federal appeals judge in Washington, said Sunday: "I categorically and unequivocally deny this allegation. I did not do this back in high school or at any time." 
 
 Senate Republicans, along with the White House, see no need to postpone voting over what they consider uncorroborated and unverifiable accusations, according to a person familiar with the situation but not authorized to speak publicly. 
 
 In considering their options Sunday, Republicans largely settled on the view that Ford's story alone was not enough to delay Kavanaugh's confirmation. 
 
 Grassley could invite Ford to testify, likely in closed session before Thursday. Kavanaugh would also probably be asked to appear before senators. The panel would also likely seek testimony from Mark Judge, Kavanaugh's friend and classmate who Ford says jumped on top of her and Kavanaugh. Judge has denied that the incident happened. 
 
 Republicans have not settled on the strategy, the person familiar with the situation said, but were weighing options, including doing nothing. 
 
 Republicans say the allegations have already cast a shadow over Kavanaugh but that it does not appear to be enough to change the votes in the narrowly divided 51-49 Senate. Key will be the views of Collins and Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. 
 
 The White House has accused Feinstein of mounting an "11th hour attempt to delay his confirmation." The White House has also sought to cast doubt about Ford's allegation by noting that the FBI has repeatedly investigated Kavanaugh since the 1990s for highly sensitive positions he has held, including in the office of independent counsel Ken Starr, at the White House and his current post on the federal appeals court in Washington. 
 
 Kavanaugh's nomination had already sharply divided the Senate along party lines. But the allegations of sexual misconduct, particularly coming amid the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment, coupled with Ford's emergence could complicate matters, especially as key Republican senators, including Collins and Murkowski, are under enormous pressure from outside groups who want them to oppose Kavanaugh on grounds that as a justice he could vote to undercut the Roe v. Wade ruling legalizing abortion in the U.S. 
 
 Ford told the Post that Kavanaugh and a friend — both "stumbling drunk," she says — corralled her in a bedroom when she was around 15 and Kavanaugh was around 17. She says Kavanaugh groped her over her clothes, grinded his body against hers and tried to take off her one-piece swimsuit and the outfit she wore over it. Kavanaugh covered her mouth with his hand when she tried to scream, she says, and escaped when Judge jumped on them. 
 
 Kavanaugh attended a private school for boys in Maryland while Ford attended a nearby school. 
 
 In the interview, Ford says she never revealed what had happened to her until 2012, when she and her husband sought couples therapy. Ford's husband, Russell Ford, said he recalled his wife using Kavanaugh's last name and expressing concern that Kavanaugh — then a federal judge — might someday be nominated to the Supreme Court. 
 
 Sixty-five women who knew Kavanagh in high school defended him in a separate letter, circulated by Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans, as someone who "always treated women with decency and respect." 
 
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 Associated Press writer Zeke Miller contributed to this report. 
 
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 Follow Darlene Superville and Lisa Mascaro on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap and http://www.twitter.com/LisaMascaro 
 
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 This story has been corrected to show the name is Dianne, not Diane. ||||| Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., with actress and comedian Amy Schumer, right, and actress model Emily Ratajkowski, center, speaks at a rally against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh at the Supreme... (Associated Press) 
 
 Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., with actress and comedian Amy Schumer, right, and actress model Emily Ratajkowski, center, speaks at a rally against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh at the Supreme Court in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 4, 2018. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) (Associated Press) 
 
 WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate is poised to take a crucial vote Friday on whether to advance Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court as key Republican senators remain undecided amid allegations of sexual misconduct and intense protests that have divided the nation. 
 
 The 53-year-old judge made what were in effect closing arguments by acknowledging that he became "very emotional" when forcefully denying the allegations at a Judiciary Committee hearing last week. 
 
 "I said a few things I should not have said," he wrote in an op-ed published Thursday evening. But he said he remains the same "hardworking, even-keeled" person he has always been. "Going forward, you can count on me," he wrote in The Wall Street Journal. 
 
 The op-ed, as well as a late boost from President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Minnesota, appeared aimed at winning over the three wavering senators from the slim GOP majority — Susan Collins of Maine, Jeff Flake of Arizona and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — and one Democrat, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who has yet to announce his position. 
 
 Ahead of Friday's voting, Republicans emerged confident that an FBI investigation into the allegations unearthed no new corroborating details, they said. But a level of uncertainty lingered as Collins and Flake spent hours Thursday pouring over confidential FBI documents in the secure basement briefing room long after others had left seemingly satisfied with the findings. 
 
 Even without locking in support, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pushed ahead with trying to move Trump's nominee forward in what would be an election year win for his party. The Republican leader has little room for error with his party's slim 51-49 hold on the Senate, even if Vice President Mike Pence is called in to break a tie. A final vote is expected Saturday. 
 
 Tensions have been high at the Capitol with opponents of Kavanaugh, including survivors of sexual assault, confronting senators in the halls and holding vigil across the street at the Supreme Court. Supporters of Kavanaugh also turned out. 
 
 Trump said the protesters' "rage-fueled resistance is starting to backfire at a level nobody has ever seen before." He was referring to polling that shows some improvement for Republicans heading into the midterm election. 
 
 Friday's vote is a procedural one to end the debate, and some fence-sitting senators could conceivably vote to advance Kavanaugh's nomination but still hold out their support ahead of a final confirmation roll call over the weekend. 
 
 Two of the undeclared Republicans emerged from the secure briefing facility Thursday accepting the FBI report as "thorough," bolstering GOP hopes for confirmation. 
 
 Flake told reporters that "we've seen no additional corroborating information" about the claims against Kavanaugh. 
 
 Collins also expressed satisfaction, calling it "a very thorough investigation." She paid two visits to the off-limits room where the document was being displayed to lawmakers. 
 
 Murkowski said she was "still reviewing" her decision. 
 
 Democrats complained that the investigation, running just six days after Trump reluctantly ordered it, was shoddy, omitting interviews with numerous potential witnesses. They accused the White House of limiting the FBI's leeway. 
 
 Those not interviewed in the reopened background investigation included Kavanaugh himself and Christine Blasey Ford, who ignited the furor by alleging he'd molested her in a locked room at a 1982 high school gathering. 
 
 Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the Judiciary Committee's top Democrat, said while her party had agreed to a weeklong FBI probe with a finite scope, "We did not agree that the White House should tie the FBI's hands." 
 
 A hefty police presence added an air of anxiety, as did thousands of anti-Kavanaugh demonstrators. U.S. Capitol Police said 302 were arrested — among them comedian Amy Schumer, a distant relative of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. 
 
 Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, issued a statement late Thursday that said the FBI reached out to 11 people and interviewed 10. Six of the witnesses involved Ford's claims, including an attorney for one of them, and four were related to Deborah Ramirez, who has asserted that Kavanaugh exposed himself to her when both were Yale freshmen. Grassley said the FBI concluded "there is no collaboration of the allegations made by Dr. Ford or Ms. Ramirez." 
 
 Senators said the documents they examined totaled about 50 pages. 
 
 The underlying material from the FBI included text and Facebook messages, said Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., including screenshots that "were very helpful" in understanding the communications between various people discussing the situation. 
 
 Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said nine of the pages were about Mark Judge, the Kavanaugh friend who Ford said also jumped on her while Kavanaugh assaulted her. Judge has said he doesn't recall the incident. 
 
 White House spokesman Raj Shah rebuffed Democrats' complaints, saying, "What critics want is a never-ending fishing expedition into high school drinking." 
 
 Barring leaks, it was unclear how much if any of the FBI report would be made public. 
 
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 AP reporters Mary Clare Jalonick, Matthew Daly, Kevin Freking, Padmananda Rama, Juliet Linderman, Eric Tucker, Michael Balsamo, Catherine Lucey and Zeke Miller in Washington and John Raby in Charleston, West Virginia, contributed.
– President Trump was pleased with his Supreme Court nominee's performance before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, tweeting that Brett Kavanaugh "showed America exactly why I nominated him." Politico described the mood of Trump and his aides as "ebullient." Trump watched Kavanaugh's opening statement (which Politico calls "combative") and was pleased, an official said. "I think [Kavanaugh] studied the way people around Donald Trump have been treated, and he figured out a way to prevail," the official said. A source speaking to CNN during the hearing summed it up: "The only way to earn respect in Trumpworld is to brawl. And [Kavanaugh] is brawling." Following the hearing, three Republican senators (Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, and Jeff Flake) and a Democratic one (Joe Manchin) met privately in an office at the Capitol, CNN reports, noting that the three Republicans are the wildcards for whether Kavanaugh will be confirmed.