Lisa Murkowski hosts closed-door meeting with sexual assault survivors after reviewing Kavanaugh report

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), one of the key swing Republican votes in the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, quietly hosted a closed-door meeting with a group of women that included sexual assault survivors — many of whom left the meeting in tears.

The meeting was held hours after senators reviewed the FBI's report on the sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh, including the Alaska Republican.

"Lisa Murkowski has been meeting with dozens of Alaskan women privately in her office today, including several sexual assault survivors," MSNBC's Capitol Hill correspondent Garrett Haake tweeted Thursday evening. "The last group of 18 just left, describing a very emotional, hour [-plus] meeting."

"The women tell me Murkowski was VERY engaged with their stories and heard them out as they urged her to vote against Kavanaugh," the reporter added.

Haake expounded on the meeting during an interview with host Chris Hayes later in the evening.

"As I was getting ready to leave the Hill a little bit earlier tonight, I stumbled across a few dozen Alaskan women meeting with Sen. Murkowski," he said. "As they were coming out of her office they told me, in two separate groups, that they filled up her conference room and had this incredibly emotional meeting with the senator."

Some of the women were sexual assault survivors, Haake noted, and all were Alaskans who "traveled here to talk to the senator about her vote and pressed their case, saying she should not go forward on this vote."

The report said that 10 of the 18 women in the meeting left Murkowski's office "in tears."

"They described this incredibly emotional meeting and they made very clear to tell me they felt like the senator was really listening to them," he said.

"The most important note about this meeting I stumbled upon was the fact I stumbled upon it," Haake said. "This was not something Murkowski or her staff were broadcasting, wasn't something they were trying to check a box saying 'we're meeting with constituents.' They were trying to do this quietly."

Watch below, via MSNBC: