Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D- R.I.) is suggesting the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) background investigation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh appears to have been “politically-constrained and perhaps fake.”
In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Whitehouse asked him to “facilitate proper oversight by the Senate” of the FBI’s 2018 investigation into the allegations of sexual assault against Kavanaugh.
Whitehouse claimed witnesses “tried in vain to reach the F.B.I. on their own” but could not find anyone “at the Bureau willing to accept their testimony.”
He characterized the behavior as “unique” in his experience “as the Bureau is usually amenable to information and evidence.”
Whitehouse explained, “In this matter the shutters were closed, the drawbridge drawn up, and there was no point of entry by which members of the public or Congress could provide information to the FBI.”
The senator noted the FBI eventually opened a tip line for other allegations and potential corroborating evidence. He said it “did not appear, however, that any review had been undertaken of any of the information that flowed through this tip line.”
Whitehouse continued, “This ‘tip line’ appears to have operated more like a garbage chute, with everything that came down the chute consigned without review to the figurative dumpster.”
He accused FBI Director Christopher Wray of failing to answer questions about whether the investigation was “consistent with [the agency’s] long-standing policies, practices, and procedures for background investigations.”
Whitehouse argued, “If standard procedures were violated, and the Bureau conducted a fake investigation rather than a sincere, thorough and professional one, that in my view merits congressional oversight to understand how, why, and at whose behest and with whose knowledge or connivance, this was done.”
He stressed, “It cannot and should not be the policy of the FBI to not follow up on serious allegations of misconduct during background check investigations.”
Christine Blasey Ford accused Kavanaugh of groping her and trying to remove her clothes at a small party while they were attending high school in Maryland in the 1980s.
Kavanaugh denied the allegations that he ever assaulted Ford.
Kavanaugh denies sexual misconduct in Fox News exclusive: 'I know I'm telling the truth' https://t.co/ZexbiQZjf2 pic.twitter.com/lUN0eJJ9BX
— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 25, 2018
Kavanaugh was sworn in October of 2018 after being confirmed by a 50-48 vote.
