By Steve Neavling
The Trump administration sought to control the FBI’s 2018 investigation into Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, according to a report released by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.
The report outlines how the White House allegedly restricted the scope of the bureau’s probe into sexual misconduct allegations against Kavanaugh, Axios reports. It claims tips sent to the FBI were forwarded directly to the White House and left uninvestigated.
“The FBI’s supplemental background investigation into the sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh was unreliable, not because of FBI ineptitude, but because the Trump White House tightly controlled the scope of the investigation,” the report reads.
The White House reportedly instructed the FBI to interview only 10 witnesses and prevented them from pursuing additional corroborating evidence.
At the time, many people who provided tips criticized the FBI for not following up on the leads they received.
Despite Trump’s public assertions that the FBI had “free rein” to investigate, emails in the report show confusion among FBI agents who were restricted by the White House’s narrow requests.
The FBI received more than 4,500 tips about Kavanaugh, but none were investigated, according to the report. Additionally, the FBI did not interview key figures, including Kavanaugh or Christine Blasey Ford, who had accused him of sexual assault during his high school years.
Kavanaugh was confirmed after a heated Senate battle.
Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt dismissed the new report as another attempt to discredit the Supreme Court, while Ford’s attorneys criticized the investigation as a “sham” orchestrated by the White House to silence witnesses.
The FBI did not comment directly on the report, stating that it had followed established procedures for background investigations, with its scope determined by the requests it received from the White House.
