Opinion: The FBI’s ‘investigation’ of Kavanaugh was laughable
Opinion by Ruth Marcus
Deputy editorial page editor
Yesterday at 6:07 p.m. EDT
The most laughable — and most telling — part of the FBI’s recent letter to senators about its investigation of sexual assault allegations against Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh comes at the start: “This responds to your letter, dated August 1, 2019 . . . regarding the supplemental background investigation,” FBI Assistant Director Jill C. Tyson writes to Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.).
Then, impressively deadpan and without elaboration, “We apologize for the extended delay in responding.”
Extended delay — ya think? An extended delay in responding to a senatorial inquiry is two months, not almost two years. Whitehouse and Coons had asked for “the courtesy of a response no later than August 30, 2019.” The date of the actual response? June 30, 2021. It’s no coincidence that it took a new administration — and Whitehouse’s incessant prodding of Biden administration nominees — to finally extract some answers.
The letter, which became public Thursday, offers a perfect illustration of the Trump administration’s disdain for congressional oversight, and the way in which the supposedly professional FBI allowed itself to be cowed — and ultimately tarnished — by subservience to the Trump White House.
The letter discloses, and some headlines have trumpeted, that the FBI “received over 4,500 tips, including phone calls and electronic submissions,” after reopening the Kavanaugh investigation following the allegations against him by Christine Blasey Ford and Deborah Ramirez. (Kavanaugh’s original Judiciary Committee hearing had ended a few days before the allegations became public.)
Don’t be misled by that seemingly large number. It doesn’t mean there’s any more evidence about Kavanaugh’s conduct today than there was previously. Allegations like those against Kavanaugh produce a lot of calls from a lot of people with time on their hands and perhaps a screw or two loose.
The more significant part comes at the end of the letter: “The Security Division section handling the [background investigation] and supplemental background investigation provided all relevant tips to the Office of White House Counsel.”
What were these “relevant tips”? How many were there? How potentially serious? The letter doesn’t say, and we don’t know.
What did then-White House Counsel Donald McGahn do with the “relevant tips?” That, we do know: not a damn thing. McGahn had no interest in discovering what his handpicked nominee had done, or not done. He had every interest in ensuring that Kavanaugh be confirmed, facts be damned. If there was any follow-up within the FBI itself, there’s no indication of that.
And that is the outrage here. The FBI’s investigation into sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh wasn’t designed to uncover the truth. It was a shoddy enterprise whose mission was to satisfy enough disquieted senators — Republicans Jeff Flake of Arizona, Susan Collins of Maine — to get Kavanaugh across the finish line.
more:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/07/22/fbis-investigation-kavanaugh-is-laughable/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F3437bdd%2F60fae7c39d2fda945a13beb7%2F596a5fcfade4e20ee37187dc%2F15%2F70%2F60fae7c39d2fda945a13beb7
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