Confronted by a group of boisterous protesters on Capitol Hill on Thursday, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina dismissed their concerns about Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and chastised them for “humiliating” Kavanaugh by repeating the unsubstantiated allegations against him.

“You’ve humiliated this guy enough, and there seems to be no bottom for some of you,” Graham said, as the demonstrators surrounded him.

“If he would take a polygraph it will all be over Senator Graham,” one protester replied.

“Why don’t we dunk him in water and see if he floats,” Graham shot back.

Graham has emerged in recent weeks as one of Kavanaugh’s most vocal defenders and one of the most strident critics of the tactics employed by Democratic lawmakers during the confirmation fight. During Kavanaugh’s hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, Graham angrily lambasted his Democratic colleagues for elevating partisanship above their duty to fairly weigh the allegations against the nominee.

“If you wanted an FBI investigation you could have come to us. What you want to do is destroy this guy’s life, hold this seat open, and hope you win in 2020. You’ve said that, not me,” Graham shouted last Thursday. “This is the most unethical sham since I’ve been in politics and if you really wanted to know the truth, you certainly wouldn’t have done what you did to this guy.”

The report on the results of the FBI’s supplementary background check into the sexual-assault allegations against Kavanaugh was released to the Senate on Thursday and, according to Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley, contained no new information regarding the allegations. Democrats have cast the investigation as incomplete and have called for additional witnesses to be interviewed.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has scheduled a procedural vote for Friday morning and the final confirmation vote is expected to take place on Saturday.