A new report is alleging that, in 2018, former President Donald Trump’s administration got in the way of the FBI’s investigation into then-Supreme Court Justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
The report comes from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), who serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee and gained access to previously undisclosed communication between the FBI and the White House. Whitehouse provided an advanced copy of his report to The Washington Post before it was released on Tuesday.
In September 2018, when the allegations came forward about Kavanaugh, Trump vowed to give the FBI “free rein” into the claims that Kavanaugh committed sexual misconduct, saying on social media at the time that he wanted the FBI “to interview whoever they deem appropriate, at their discretion.”
The report says that officials at the agency requested “additional guidance” from the White House following Trump’s remarks. But, it never received authorization to independently probe the allegations, which Kavanaugh denied.
The FBI has declined to comment on the report but did offer a statement explaining how it responds to White House requests for inquiries.
“The FBI follows a long-standing, established, process through which the scope of the investigation is limited to what is requested,” the statement said. “The FBI does not have the independent authority to expand the scope of a supplemental background investigation outside the requesting agency’s parameters.”
The report also says that messages provided to the FBI tip line about Kavanaugh were forwarded to the White House and never investigated further. It also states that the bureau had no written protocols for the background investigation ordered by the White House into the nominee.
According to the report, the FBI was directed to conduct a limited inquiry into the allegations with a deadline of a week. Instructions given to the agency said it was to talk to 10 potential witnesses, but was not given permission to pursue corroborating evidence.
After accusers like Christine Blasey Ford and Deborah Ramirez came forward with allegations against Kavanaugh, the report says that Trump ordered an additional inquiry.
Commenting on the report on Tuesday, legal representation for Blasey Ford, attorneys Debra Katz and Lisa Banks, said their suspicions were only confirmed.
“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,” Katz and Banks said in a statement.
John Clune, Ramirez’s attorney, said it was “really disappointing since our client was so candid about something that was a pretty awful experience.”
Kavanaugh has not responded to the report, but Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said the Supreme Court Justice was “unfairly slandered and smeared with lies.”
Whitehouse concludes in his report that senators were given about an hour to review more than 1,600 pages of material collected by the FBI, two days before they voted on Kavanaugh. It was never explained if the materials, mostly raw information from a tipline, were reviewed before being given to the senators.
“It all went up to the White House for a decent burial, with no investigation whatsoever,” Whitehouse said.