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FBI probe of Kavanaugh constrained by Trump White House, report finds

In September 2018, as allegations of sexual misconduct against #Brett M. #Kavanaugh threatened his confirmation to the Supreme Court,

President Donald 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.”


️The president’s comments came as a surprise to the FBI,
according to a new report from a Democratic senator based on previously undisclosed correspondence between the agency and the White House.

FBI officials — directed to conduct a very limited inquiry in a week’s time — requested “additional guidance” from the White House, citing the public remarks by Trump and other officials describing a freewheeling investigation.

But the White House never authorized the agency to independently probe the sexual misconduct allegations, which Kavanaugh staunchly denied.


The report, which was produced by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), a Judiciary Committee member and leading critic of the Kavanaugh confirmation, and provided to The Washington Post ahead of a public release on Tuesday, provides
additional evidence of the tight control exercised by the White House over the FBI investigation
— despite Trump’s claims to the contrary.

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.

It notes that 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.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/10/08/kavanaugh-trump-white-house-fbi-report/