The FBI’s Kavanaugh Investigation Was A Sham By The White House’s Design

President Donald Trump announces Brett Kavanaugh as his Supreme Court nominee, in the East Room of the White House, Monday, July 9, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Updated September 15, 2019: A new book by two New York Times reporters has revealed new corroboration for Deborah Ramirez’s sexual misconduct allegation against Justice Brett Kavanaugh and a separate new allegation.  Below is our October 2018 article about the FBI’s investigation into Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing.

The Rantt Rundown: Day 623 of the Trump presidency

Today, the White House and Senate Republicans declared that the FBI background investigation found no corroborating evidence to support the sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh. What they failed to mention was the fact that the reason the FBI couldn’t find corroborating evidence was because they were not permitted to look for any and, in some cases, turned evidence away. They did not interview Brett Kavanaugh or Dr. Christine Blasey Ford. They rejected witnesses who were offering corroborating evidence and only interviewed a list of witnesses who that was, for the most part, preferential to Kavanaugh.

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Contrary to President Trump’s claims that the FBI was permitted to investigate freely, the White House kept the scope of the investigation severely limited. The FBI wasn’t even permitted to investigate whether or not Brett Kavanaugh lied under oath, which he repeatedly did. CNN reported:

There was never a directive to the FBI to investigate a third assault allegation against Kavanaugh, or to probe his drinking habits and whether he lied about them to the Senate Judiciary Committee, according to a source briefed on the investigation.

The FBI only reached out to 10 people. 9 agreed to be interviewed. CNN continued:

So far, it appears a majority of the people interviewed were those already sympathetic to Kavanaugh.

Of the six who are known interviews, Mark Judge, Patrick Smyth, Tim Gaudette and Chris Garrett were not expected to be hostile to the Supreme Court nominee. Ramirez was expected to repeat her allegations against Kavanaugh, as well as Leland Keyser, who has previously said through her lawyer that she doesn’t recall the alleged incident.

There were reports from several news organizations that indicated that dozens of witnesses were either turned away at FBI field offices or received radio silence from their other methods of outreach. Ronan Farrow and Jane Mayer of The New Yorker reported that one of the witnesses offered to corroborate Deborah Ramirez’s allegation that Brett Kavanaugh exposed himself to her while his peers cheered him on.

“I feel like I’m being silenced.” The FBI declined to interview primary witnesses related to the Kavanaugh allegations it was tasked with reviewing. Some of them resorted to sending in unsolicited sworn statements, which @JaneMayerNYer and I obtained: https://t.co/nY1uGCQ2Ki

— Ronan Farrow (@RonanFarrow) October 4, 2018

In the end, the FBI produced a 45-page report that Republicans are using to falsely claim vindication for Kavanaugh. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) had one copy of the report and let senators take turns reviewing it in a SCIF.

All eyes are on key Republican Senators Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK). Collins said, “It appears to be a very thorough investigation.” Flake agreed and added, “We’ve seen no additional corroborating information.” Murkowski has yet to let her thoughts be made public. All are still undecided.

The procedural vote is scheduled for Friday morning at 10:30 am (the one year anniversary of the Harvey Weinstein New York Times expose which sent the #MeToo movement into the stratosphere). The previously scheduled Saturday vote may have to be rescheduled because Senator Steve Daines is going to his daughter’s wedding.

Stay sharp.

What a sham.

The FBI was literally turning away witnesses who were trying to corroborate allegations because the White House wouldn’t permit them to interview them.

If @JeffFlake, @SenatorCollins, & @lisamurkowski accept this, this was just cover for their inevitable yes vote. https://t.co/RZbljoaN87

— Ahmed Baba (@AhmedBaba_) October 4, 2018

STOP SAYING ‘IT’S OVER’!!!!

If we learned one thing from ACA fight (and the 2016 election) it’s not “over” until the final vote.

KEEP CALLING:

Collins
202-224-2523

Flake
202-224-4521

Murkowski
202-224-6665

Manchin
202-224-3954

— igorvolsky (@igorvolsky) October 4, 2018

In other news…

• Rantt Media: Supporting Brett Kavanaugh Is Backfiring On The GOP
• The Hill: Scores of Kavanaugh protesters arrested after descending on Senate building
• The Washington Post: In 2:30 a.m. tweets, White House says FBI report supports Kavanaugh confirmation
• CNN: Key red state Democratic Senator Heidi Heitkamp to vote no on Kavanaugh
• NBC News: Judge blocks Trump administration from ending protections for some immigrants
• Reuters: Pence accuses China of ‘malign’ campaign to undermine Trump
• The Daily Beast: Russian Official Linked to Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Trump Tower Lawyer, Is Dead
• CNN: Special counsel’s office has radio interviews between Roger Stone and alleged WikiLeaks ‘back channel’
• CNBC: Justice Department charges 7 Russian hackers with targeting doping agencies, nuclear energy company

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