The White House spin has already begun, and so have the leaks. Amazingly, the very limited F.B.I. investigation didn’t find anything. Democrat Chris Murphy of Connecticut:
This is the “confidential” FBI report that the White House is talking about on TV right now? Expect Republicans to magically hold Democrats to a different secrecy standard after we read it later today… https://t.co/7gcPOvXvAL
— Chris Murphy 🟧 (@ChrisMurphyCT) October 4, 2018
Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware told CNN: “In the end…there’s a number of vital witnesses who were not questioned.” The White House is pushing back saying the point of the investigation was not drinking.
“A lot of people are coming forward about claims about his high school and college drinking which the Senate hasn’t asked us about, but also more importantly, he has already admitted in his testimony that he drank in high school, drank in college, sometimes drank too much, drank underage. He said he likes beer. I don’t really know what folks who are demanding an open-ended fishing expedition into those areas want other than delay, delay, delay.” –Raj Shah, White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary
The Senate is treating the FBI report as if it’s classified, tightly restricting access to it, but the White House has released its conclusion that the FBI found nothing.
If true, it’s no surprise—the FBI wasn’t allowed to interview Kavanaugh, Ford, and other key witnesses. https://t.co/BGsdCxtXXP
— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) October 4, 2018
The Washington Post was able to confirm only six interviews, five of which dealt with sexual assault accusations by Christine Blasey Ford. From The Washington Post:
“President Trump has insisted publicly he was not curtailing the FBI probe. But privately, the White House restricted the FBI from delving deeply into Kavanaugh’s youthful drinking and exploring whether he had lied to Congress about his alcohol use, according to officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter.”
From Eric Holder, the former Attorney General:
FBI had time to do a good follow up inquiry. If logical investigation was curtailed by WH this new “report” is a sham. FBI should have/must insist that it be allowed to do a complete job on referred allegations. Reputation for independence of FBI will be otherwise harmed.
— Eric Holder (@EricHolder) October 4, 2018
Some also have their theories as to whether internal bias, in agencies that should be absolutely fair, also played a role.
Unfortunately it looks like Rod Rosenstein and Chris Wray, both of whom worked closely with Brett Kavanaugh in past GOP roles, may have been more eager to please Trump and McConnell than to get as close to the truth as possible. Too many leads left unfollowed. Sad.
— Laurence Tribe 🇺🇦 ⚖️ (@tribelaw) October 4, 2018