Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D., RI) is asking Attorney General Merrick Garland to help facilitate “proper oversight” in the 2018 FBI background check of Brett Kavanaugh during the Supreme Court judge’s confirmation hearing, suggesting that the investigation may have been “false”.
Kavanaugh faced a tumultuous confirmation process in 2018 after Christine Blasey Ford claimed that he had sexually abused her when they were teenagers. Kavanaugh denied the allegations.
The FBI investigated Ford’s allegations, as well as other allegations of misconduct that have emerged. However, some Democratic senators claimed that the bureau had not done a thorough background check. They criticized the FBI’s decision not to interview Ford or Kavanaugh as part of the investigation.
In a letter to Garland, Whitehouse expresses concern that some witnesses who wanted to share their accounts with the FBI were unable to find anyone at the agency to accept his testimony and that no one was assigned to accept or gather evidence.
“This was a unique behavior in my experience, as the Bureau is generally receptive to information and evidence; but in this case the shutters were closed, the drawbridge closed and there was no point of entry through which members of the public or Congress could provide information to the FBI, ”said Whitehouse.
The senator noted that, after the FBI created a complaint, lawmakers received no information about how or whether new allegations were being processed and evaluated.
He said the senators were informed that a “pile” of information had arrived through the whistleblower line, but they had received no further explanation of how the information was analyzed.
“This ‘line of tips’ seems to have functioned more like a garbage chute, with everything that went down the chute sent without revision to the figurative trash can,” he said.
He also rebuked FBI director Chris Wray, who remained in office during the Biden administration, for failing to answer questions about the investigation.
Whitehouse said he wants information on “how, why and at the request of whom” the FBI conducted a “fake” investigation.