Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse's report revisits the contentious affirmation battle, when the Trump marketing campaign mentioned Kavanaugh was ‘unfairly slandered and smeared with lies.'
FBI obtained over 4,500 ideas throughout Kavanaugh background investigation
Criticism has emerged after new info reveals FBI obtained greater than 4,500 ideas throughout its background investigation of Brett Kavanaugh in 2018.
Staff video, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON – Former President Donald Trump mentioned in 2018 the FBI would have “free rein” to analyze allegations against his Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, however a report Tuesday from a Senate Democrat discovered the investigation “flawed and incomplete” with out following up on a number of leads.
The report from a member of the Judiciary Committee, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., criticized the FBI for not investigating extra totally the claims of Kavanaugh’s alleged sexual misconduct described by two girls. Kavanaugh has denied the allegations.
Whitehouse’s report mentioned the FBI didn’t examine 1000's of ideas it obtained, however handed them alongside to the White House.
“The supplemental background investigation was flawed and incomplete, as the FBI did not follow up on numerous leads that could have produced potentially corroborating or otherwise relevant information,” the report mentioned.
While “President Trump publicly claimed the FBI had ‘free rein’ to take any investigative steps it deemed necessary, the Trump White House exercised total control over the scope of the investigation, preventing the FBI from interviewing relevant witnesses and following up on tips,”the report concluded.
Whitehouse alleges the Trump administration “kneecap(ped)” FBI investigators and “misled the Senate.”
Kavanaugh didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement the “ridiculous story” about the report was a way to “delegitimize the Supreme Court and pave the way for Kamala Harris to pack the Court with Radical-Left Judges.”
“Everyone knows Brett Kavanaugh was unfairly slandered and smeared with lies in a Democrat-led hoax to derail his appointment to the Court that ultimately failed,” Leavitt said.
The FBI said in a statement it responds to requests from the White House counsel’s office to conduct background investigations of candidates for government posts. In contrast to its criminal investigations, the FBI doesn’t have the authority to expand the scope of its background investigations beyond what the White House requests.
“In these investigations, the FBI follows a long-standing, established process through which the scope of the investigation is limited to what is requested,” the company mentioned. “We have consistently followed that process for decades and did so for the Kavanaugh inquiry.”
The report revisits one of essentially the most contentious Supreme Court confirmations in a technology that almost scuttled Kavanaugh’s nomination. Kavanaugh was confirmed on an almost party-line vote of 50-48, with Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia the one Democrat becoming a member of Republicans supporting him. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, voted current.
Trump nominated Kavanaugh, who had served on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals for 12 years, to the Supreme Court on July 9, 2018. Allegations of sexual misconduct started to floor two months later regardless of not being uncovered within the FBI’s background investigation.
Trump denied at the time that he restricted the FBI investigation and that “I want them to interview whoever they deem appropriate, at their discretion.”
Christine Blasey Ford, a professor at Palo Alto University, advised the Senate in a letter that Kavanaugh “physically and sexually assaulted her” throughout highschool by locking her in a bed room, climbing on prime of her and trying to take away her garments. She later testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Ford’s legal professionals, Debra Katz and Lisa Banks, mentioned the report confirmed the FBI investigation was a “sham” that gave cowl to Republicans to substantiate Kavanaugh.
“The Congressional report published today confirms what we long suspected: the FBI supplemental investigation of then-nominee Brett Kavanaugh was, in fact, a sham effort directed by the Trump White House to silence brave victims and other witnesses who came forward and to hide the truth,” the legal professionals mentioned in a press release. “As a result of this effort, anyone who came forward with concerns to the FBI was re-directed, without investigation, to the Trump White House which intentionally buried the information.”
A classmate of Kavanaugh’s at Yale University, Deborah Ramirez, told the New Yorker that Kavanaugh “exposed himself at a drunken dormitory party.”
Kavanaugh publicly denied each allegations.
Whitehouse, a former U.S. lawyer and state lawyer basic, mentioned he continued to evaluate the FBI’s efficiency as a result of of critical questions through the affirmation course of for a lifetime appointment to the court docket.
“The Trump White House thwarted proper FBI investigation of the allegations against Kavanaugh, denying Senators information needed to fulfill our constitutional duties,” Whitehouse said in a post on X. “Senators, and the American people, deserve real answers – not manufactured misdirection – when such serious questions about a lifetime nominee emerge late in the confirmation process.”
