(CNN) Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who has come under sharp scrutiny for her handling of the sexual assault accusations against Brett Kavanaugh, said Monday that she had privately held on to a letter detailing the allegations because the accuser had asked her to keep them confidential. But it was a news report last week that ultimately forced her hand, even as she struggled to explain the chain of events in brief interviews on Monday. "She had asked to remain confidential," Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said on her way to Senate votes. Feinstein waited until late last week to provide the letter to the FBI -- only after a news report surfaced detailing the existence of the letter. That initial report, in the Intercept, caught committee Democrats by surprise, who had been kept in the dark about the letter Feinstein received July 30, according to several Democratic sources.

Source: CNN September 18, 2018 01:44 UTC