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    • Trump is accused of leading the FBI investigation into Brett Kavanaugh
    Albany

    Trump is accused of leading the FBI investigation into Brett Kavanaugh

    Madoc Meredith Posted on

    Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse’s report revisits the contentious confirmation battle when Trump’s campaign said Kavanaugh was “unjustly vilified and smeared with lies.”

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    WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump said in 2018 that the FBI would have “free rein” to investigate allegations against his Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, but a report from a Senate Democrat on Tuesday found that the investigation ” “incorrect and incomplete” without taking several follow-up actions.

    The report by a Judiciary Committee member, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., criticized the FBI for not more fully investigating claims described by two women about Kavanaugh’s alleged sexual misconduct. Kavanaugh has denied the allegations.

    Whitehouse’s report said the FBI did not investigate thousands of tips it received but instead forwarded them to the White House.

    “The supplemental background investigation was flawed and incomplete because the FBI failed to pursue numerous leads that could have potentially provided corroborating or otherwise relevant information,” the report said.

    While “President Trump publicly claimed that the FBI had ‘free rein’ to take any investigative steps it deemed necessary, the Trump White House exercised complete control over the scope of the investigation and prevented the FBI from identifying relevant witnesses question and follow up on leads.” The report ended.

    Whitehouse accuses the Trump administration of “crushing” FBI investigators and “misleading the Senate.”

    Kavanaugh did not respond to a request for comment.

    Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that 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-wing judges.”

    “Everyone knows that Brett Kavanaugh was unfairly vilified and smeared with lies in a Democratic-led hoax to destroy his appointment to the court, which ultimately failed,” Leavitt said.

    The FBI said in a statement it was responding to requests from the White House counsel’s office to conduct background investigations into candidates for government positions. Unlike its criminal investigations, the FBI does not have the authority to expand the scope of its background investigations beyond the limits requested by the White House.

    “In this investigation, the FBI follows a long-established process that limits the scope of the investigation to what is necessary,” the agency said. “We have followed this process consistently for decades and have done so in the Kavanaugh investigation.”

    The report revisits one of the most contentious Supreme Court confirmations in a generation, one that nearly derailed Kavanaugh’s nomination. Kavanaugh was confirmed by a near party-line vote of 50-48, with Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia the only Democrat to join Republicans in supporting him. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, voted present.

    Trump nominated Kavanaugh, who served on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals for twelve years, to the Supreme Court on July 9, 2018. Two months later, allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced, although the FBI’s background investigation did not uncover them.

    Trump denied it at the time that he limited the FBI investigation and that “I want them to use their discretion to interview anyone they deem appropriate.”

    Christine Blasey Ford, a professor at Palo Alto University, told the Senate in a letter that Kavanaugh “physically and sexually assaulted” her during high school by locking her in a bedroom, climbing on top of her and trying to kill her taking off clothes. She later testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

    Ford’s lawyers, Debra Katz and Lisa Banks, said the report confirmed that the FBI investigation was a “sham” that gave Republicans a pretext to confirm Kavanaugh.

    “Today’s congressional report confirms what we have long suspected: the FBI’s supplementary investigation into then-nominee Brett Kavanaugh was actually a sham attempt by the Trump White House to silence courageous victims and other witnesses who came forward to bring the truth and hide the crime,” the lawyers said in a statement. “As a result of these efforts, anyone who raised concerns with the FBI was referred without investigation to the Trump White House, which intentionally concealed the information.”

    A classmate of Kavanaugh’s at Yale University, Deborah Ramirez, told the New Yorker that Kavanaugh “exposed himself at a drunken dorm party.”

    Kavanaugh publicly denied both allegations.

    Whitehouse, a former U.S. attorney and attorney general, said he continues to review the FBI’s performance as serious questions arose during the confirmation process for a lifetime appointment to the court.

    “The Trump White House has thwarted a proper FBI investigation into the allegations against Kavanaugh and denied senators information they need to carry out our constitutional duties.” Whitehouse said in a post on X. “Senators and the American people deserve real answers – not artificial misdirection – when such serious questions about a lifetime nominee arise late in the confirmation process.”

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    Madoc Meredith
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