Mr. Grassley allowed Democrats to voice their objections, but he defended the committee. Republicans gave Dr. Blasey a hearing, he said, but it is up to the accuser to prove guilt. He also said, as he has before, that no F.B.I. investigation was necessary.
“Frankly, we’ve reached the point when it’s to end the circus,” said Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah. “It is time to show some dignity around here.”
Judge Kavanaugh and Dr. Blasey provided hours of moving testimony on Thursday, streaming live on cable news networks, as the committee and the nation heard Dr. Blasey’s trembling account of a sexual assault and Judge Kavanaugh’s enraged denial and defense of his reputation.
[Analysis: She said. Then he said. What will the senators say?]
Dr. Blasey said she was “one hundred percent” sure that Judge Kavanaugh is the teenager who tried to rape her at a small party during the summer of 1982 in a Washington suburb. Judge Kavanaugh was just as certain that the event never happened: “Zero, I’m 100 percent certain.”
[Read a transcript of the confrontation.]
Mr. Flake had given few hints in recent days about his vote. He pushed hard behind the scenes for Thursday’s hearing to happen, telling party leaders he could not vote yes without hearing from Dr. Blasey and Judge Kavanaugh. But his public remarks in recent days, focused primarily on the dignity that had been stripped from the nomination process, left fellow senators scratching their heads.
Mr. Flake met privately after the hearing Thursday night with Ms. Collins, Ms. Murkowski, and Mr. Manchin. After the meeting, Mr. Manchin, who is running for re-election in a state that supported Mr. Trump in 2016, said he had not made up his mind.
He declined to question Judge Kavanaugh on Thursday, using his brief remarks in the hearing room to chastise colleagues for their maximalist positions.
“There is doubt,” he said. “We’ll never move beyond that.”