Leads about Kavanaugh 'were forwarded directly to the White House and never probed': report

08 October 2024

New details have emerged about the FBI's 2018 probe into then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, and how former President Donald Trump's White House made sure it never went anywhere.

According to the Washington Post, the White House quashed the FBI's investigation into Kavanaugh's alleged predatory sexual behavior despite promising the American public that the agency would have "free rein" to conduct a wide-ranging probe. The Post cited a report by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island) – who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee — who provided new details on how the Trump administration tightly controlled the investigation into the ex-president's second Supreme Court nominee and made sure new leads were never pursued.

"The report found that messages to the FBI tip line regarding Kavanaugh were forwarded directly to the White House and never probed, and that the FBI had no written protocols for the supplemental background investigation ordered by the White House," the Post's Beth Reinhard wrote. "The FBI was instructed by the White House to talk to 10 potential witnesses and was not given the leeway to pursue corroborating evidence — the absence of which 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."

Kavanaugh's confirmation was temporarily held up after Christine Blasey Ford testified before the Senate and shared her allegations of being sexually assaulted by Kavanaugh at a high school party while under oath. Another accuser, Deborah Ramirez, also alleged that during a party at Yale University, the eventual Supreme Court justice put his genitalia in her face. Trump promised an additional FBI investigation and tweeted: "I want them to interview whoever they deem appropriate, at their discretion."

But the supplemental background investigation was never allowed to go anywhere, according to Whitehouse's report. Investigators never interviewed Kavanaugh privately, nor did they speak to Blasey Ford. They also never spoke to additional witnesses who would have provided corroborating evidence of Blasey Ford and Ramirez's allegations, and investigators notably didn't even follow up on calls directly from senators giving them names of people to talk to who could shed additional light on the conservative jurist.

"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 attorneys, Debra Katz and Lisa Banks, told the Post.

John Clune, who is an attorney representing Ramirez, also weighed in following the publication of Whitehouse's report. He told the publication: “It’s really disappointing since our client was so candid about something that was a pretty awful experience.”

Whitehouse wrote in his report that the procedure for the FBI in conducting a supplemental background investigation were surprisingly rigid. One primary reason for the six-year period between Kavanaugh's confirmation to the Supreme Court and the publication of Whitehouse's report was that the only information senators had about the procedure was a YouTube video about the FBI tip line. In an official statement to the Post, the FBI suggested that the Trump administration severely restricted its ability to conduct a thorough investigation despite Trump's promises to the public.

"The FBI follows a long-standing, established, process through which the scope of the investigation is limited to what is requested,” the agency stated. “The FBI does not have the independent authority to expand the scope of a supplemental background investigation outside the requesting agency’s parameters."

Click here to read the Post's full article (subscription required), and click here to read Whitehouse's report.

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