Oh, well, it's not like he received a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court or anything.
The FBI Confirms Its Brett Kavanaugh Investigation Was a Total Sham
Oh, well, it’s not like he received a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court or anything.
www.vanityfair.com
Vanity Fair said:[A] sense of outrage only deepened last year, when we learned that the FBI had received 4,500—4,500!—tips about Kavanaugh, which were referred to the White House, i.e. the organization trying to get the guy confirmed to the Court. And now, the FBI has confirmed that, yeah, it didn't really feel the need to look into any of those tips, and when it did follow up on some, the White House was making sure it didn't dig too far.
Click to shrink...
In a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Thursday, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse had the following exchange with FBI director Christopher Wray (emphasis ours):
Whitehouse: As you know, we are now entering the fourth year of a frustrating saga that began with an August 2019 letter from me and Senator Chris Coons, regarding the Kavanaugh supplemental background investigation. And I'd like to try to get that matter wrapped up. First, is it true that after Kavanaugh-related tips were separated from regular tip-line traffic, they were forwarded to White House counsel without investigation?
Wray: I apologize in advance that it has been frustrating for you. We have tried to be clear about our process. So when it comes to the tip line, we wanted to make sure that the White House had all the information we have, so when the hundreds of calls started coming in, we gathered those up, reviewed them, and provided them to the White House—
Whitehouse: Without investigation?
Wray [long pause]: We reviewed them and then provided them to—
Whitehouse: You reviewed them for purposes of separating them from tip-line traffic, but did not further investigate the ones that related to Kavanaugh, correct?
Wray: Correct.
Whitehouse: Is it also true that, in that supplemental B.I. [background investigation], the FBI took direction from the White House as to whom the FBI would question, and even what questions the FBI could ask?
Wray: So, it is true that, consistent with the longstanding process that we have had going all the way back to at least the Bush administration, the Obama administration, the Trump administration, and continue to follow currently under the Biden administration, that in a limited supplemental B.I., we take direction from the requesting entity, which in this case was the White House, as to what follow-up they want. That's the direction we've followed. That's the direction we've consistently followed throughout the decades, frankly. You asked specifically about who and what?
Whitehouse: Yeah. I said, Is it true?
Wray: It is true as to the who. I'm not sure, as I sit here, whether it's also true as to the "what questions," but it is true as to the who we interviewed.