Donald Trump’s claim that the FBI was given “free rein” to investigate sexual misconduct allegations made against prospective U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was false, according to a congressional report.
Trump’s assurance that the FBI was on the case came in September 2018 as abuse claims made by two women threatened to derail Kavanaugh’s confirmation to America’s highest court.
“I want them to interview whoever they deem appropriate, at their discretion,” Trump said of the FBI at the time, reports the Washington Post.
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But a new report by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), released on Tuesday, says the White House never authorized the FBI to independently investigate the sex abuse claims.
In the “very limited inquiry,” agents reportedly did not interview either of Kavanaugh’s accusers nor any of the dozens of people who claimed they had corroborating evidence to back up the allegations.
Messages from an FBI call service set up for tips about Kavanaugh were sent directly to the White House and never probed, adds the report.
Whitehouse said in an interview that senators voting at the confirmation hearing were given about an hour to review 1,600 pages of material, most of it raw information from the tip line.
“It all went up to the White House for a decent burial with no investigation whatsoever,” he told the Post.
In September 2018, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, a psychology professor, gave televised testimony that Kavanaugh had pinned her down and groped her at a high school party in suburban Maryland 36 years earlier. In a New Yorker article, Deborah Ramirez accused the judge of lurid behavior at a dorm party when they were at Yale University together in the 1980s.
Senators ultimately overlooked the allegations to vote Kavanaugh onto the Supreme Court and give then-President Trump the conservative majority on the panel that would help push through a hardline agenda on issues like abortion.
“The Congressional report published today confirms what we long suspected: the FBI supplemental investigation of then-nominee Brett M. 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,” Blasey Ford’s lawyers, Debra Katz and Lisa Banks, told the Post.
“It’s really disappointing since our client was so candid about something that was a pretty awful experience,” said Ramirez’ lawyer John Clune.
Kavanaugh has not commented on the report, but Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said the justice “was unfairly slandered and smeared with lies.”
