Sen. Rob Portman on Thursday ripped as "a fishing expedition" top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer's push for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's documents from the Bush administration ahead of his pending confirmation hearing.
"A lot of them would be subject to executive privilege," the Ohio Republican told Kate Bolduan on CNN. "It's a fishing expedition.
"Yes, if it's a document that he authored or a document that he was involved with as associate counsel, certainly, or certainly as a judge, that's totally appropriate.
"More documents are being offered than at any time in history," he said.
Schumer, the senate minority leader from New York, has repeatedly attacked Republicans for not releasing more documents from Kavanaugh's tenure as White House staff secretary to President George W. Bush.
"What are they hiding?" Schumer asked in a tweet posted Wednesday:
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley said Wednesday that Kavanaugh's could be confirmed by Oct. 1, though the timing might be affected by when senators receive the Bush documents.
President Donald Trump nominated Kavanaugh, 53, a federal appeals court judge in Washington, to succeed retired Justice Anthony Kennedy, whose last day on the court was Tuesday.
Kennedy, 82, was nominated in 1987 by President Ronald Reagan.
Portman, 62, who is in his second term, said Schumer's efforts proved Democrats have already decided to not support Kavanaugh.
"The issue is not the number of documents they will look at," he told Bolduan. "They decided they will be against him.
"I think he would be a terrific justice.
"My hope is he will have the opportunity to have his hearing soon," Portman added. "Plenty of documents will be out there."