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What we know about FBI’s ‘sham’ Kavanaugh investigation and how Trump WH blocked the probe

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Former President Donald Trump (Chip Somodevilla/AFP)
David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement
October 09, 2024

A years-long investigation by a top Senate Democrat of the FBI's 2018 supplemental background investigation into multiple allegations of sexual misconduct by Brett Kavanaugh, in the middle of his confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court, finds the Trump White House and then-President Donald Trump himself engaged in a "sham" process to ensure the nominee was placed on the nation's highest court.

"New report details how the Trump White House restricted FBI investigators and lied to the American people about the investigation and tip line. Six-year-long Senate inquiry was hampered by repeated executive branch obstruction," reads the introduction to the 32-page report by U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), the chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Federal Courts and one of the leading advocates for Supreme Court reform.

“In 2018, I pledged to Christine Blasey Ford that I’d keep digging, for however long it took, and not give up or move on from the Trump White House’s shameful confirmation process for Justice Kavanaugh," Senator Whitehouse says. "A full, proper investigation is the bare minimum that victims who come forward – like Dr. Ford and Deborah Ramirez – deserve. This report shows that the supplemental background investigation was a sham, controlled by the Trump White House, to give political cover to Senate Republicans and put Justice Kavanaugh back on the political track to confirmation."

Dr. Ford was Kanvanaugh's main accuser. She had confidentially told her Congresswoman, U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and later, U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), who was the Ranking Member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, that in high school Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her. A lie detector test administered by a former FBI agent found Dr. Ford to be truthful.

RELATED: There Was Another Sexual Misconduct Accusation About Brett Kavanaugh – The FBI Refused to Investigate

Senator Whitehouse's report finds:

"The FBI’s supplemental background investigation concluded on October 4. Despite credible allegations from two different women, hundreds of witness leads and tips the FBI received, and the high stakes of a life-tenured Supreme Court nomination, the FBI ultimately interviewed only ten people."

"The supplemental background investigation was completely controlled by the Trump White House. The FBI was never given 'free rein' to conduct a thorough, complete investigation. Statements to the contrary from former President Trump and White House and Department of Justice officials were false."

"The investigation was directed by the Trump White House to pursue only first-hand evidence and not corroborating evidence. Senate Republicans then cited the absence of corroborating evidence to justify confirming Kavanaugh."

Pointing to this "absence of corroborating evidence," The Washington Post reports it "was cited by senators as they narrowly voted to confirm Kavanaugh, marking a major triumph for the conservative movement and locking in a right-leaning majority that would later overturn the constitutional right to abortion."

But among the most-damning facts Senator Whitehouse's report reveals is the "FBI’s public 'tip line' investigation was a fake. No tip was ever investigated; Kavanaugh-related tips were delivered straight to the Trump White House without FBI investigation. Indeed, the Trump White House could have used tip line information to steer FBI investigators away from derogatory evidence."

That fact was confirmed and made public in 2022 during sworn Senate testimony by FBI Director Chris Wray to Senator Whitehouse, on which NCRM reported at the time (video below).

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"So when it comes to the tip line, we wanted to make sure that the White House had all the information we had, so when the hundreds of calls started coming in, we gathered those up, reviewed them and provided them to the White House —" Director Wray said.

"Without investigation," Sen. Whitehouse interjected.

"We reviewed them and then provided them —" Wray replied.

"You reviewed them for purposes of separating from tipline traffic, but did not further investigate the ones that related to Kavanaugh, correct?" Sen. Whitehouse asked.

"Uh, correct," Wray responded.

Professor of law, MSNBC/NBC News legal analyst, and former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance responded to news of Tuesday's report: "A different FBI Director might have resigned in protest: The report found messages to the FBI tip line regarding Kavanaugh were forwarded to the WH & never probed."

The Post notes that at the time, Trump "vowed that the FBI would have 'free rein' to vet the claims. Trump said the FBI was 'talking to everybody' and added on social media: 'I want them to interview whoever they deem appropriate, at their discretion.'"

That apparently was a lie.

The Post reports, "the White House never authorized the agency to independently probe the sexual misconduct allegations."

In fact, the FBI never interviewed Dr. Ford or Brett Kavanaugh, who at the time of his nomination to the Supreme Court was a federal appeals court judge, as part of its supplemental investigation.

Sen. Whitehouse's report also reveals there did not seem to be anyone at the FBI actually working on the investigation.

"Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee also individually contacted the FBI to provide names of people with potentially corroborating or otherwise relevant information who had reached out after trying—but failing—to get in touch with FBI investigators. Some of these individuals, including Max Stier, a college classmate of Kavanaugh’s, contacted Senator Coons after they had 'difficulty reaching anyone' at the FBI who would 'collect their information.' Senator Coons wrote directly to Director Wray to request 'appropriate follow up' with Stier in particular. Ultimately, many people were referred or resorted to the agency’s online and telephonic 'tip line,' which did not result in any follow-up from the FBI."

After Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing but before the vote that would end up placing him on the Supreme Court, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow reported, "Kavanaugh may have lied to the Senate, pretty extensively, in order to obtain the currency that he already has on a federal appeals court."

Watch the videos above or at this link.

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