Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse announced results from a nearly six-year investigation his office undertook regarding the investigations performed by the FBI during the nomination process for Brett Kavanaugh. Kavanaugh's nomination looked like the typical partisan charade between conservatives and liberals until a former classmate came forward with an allegation of a physical sexual assault that took place in high school and another woman came forward with an allegation of inappropriate sexual conduct in college. And of course, there was THE BEER. After the initial sexual allegations, "further investigations" were performed by the FBI, summarized to the Senate Judiciary Committee and the nomination went to the floor and was approved.
Since that confirmation, Sheldon Whitehouse has been conducting an investigation into the conduct of both the FBI at the time and the Trump Administration, getting stonewalled for most of the period. Whitehouse finally released a report on his findings. A short press release was issued on his website at this link:
https://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/news/release/whitehouse-unveils-report-examining-failures-of-supplemental-background-investigation-of-justice-brett-kavanaugh/The entire report is available here:
https://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/KavanaughReport_final.pdfThe key procedural takeaway from the investigation is very direct.
Third, although the Trump Administration and the FBI assured the Senate that the FBI’s investigation was being conducted "by the book," they failed to disclose that there was actually no "book" at all. The FBI produced no written protocols for supplemental background investigations, saying it was merely acting as the "agent" for the White House in such matters. Although this undisclosed practice of requiring step-by-step instructions from the White House for supplemental background investigations may be appropriate for following up on discrete, relatively minor questions that routinely arise during a nominee’s initial background investigation, it was uniquely inappropriate for investigating the serious, high-profile allegations against Kavanaugh. Not only did this practice enable the Trump Administration to kneecap FBI investigators’ ability to adequately investigate those allegations, but the lack of transparency misled the Senate and the public about the investigation’s thoroughness.
But here is the bombshell...
The FBI did not pursue information reported to it through the FBI’s "tip line." The FBI held out this tip line to the Senate and the public as proof of the supplemental background investigation’s thoroughness. In reality, however, the FBI simply sorted Kavanaugh-related tips from general tip-line trafc and forwarded the tips it collected from the tip line to the Trump White House, without any investigation.
Former classmates or friends of Ford, Ramirez, and Kavanaugh reported difficulty getting the FBI to respond to their outreach, or finding someone at the FBI to whom they could convey their information. After being unable to speak to anyone or after being redirected to and from FBI field offices, many people resorted to the agency’s online and telephonic "tip line." The FBI reported receiving "over 4,500 tips, including phone calls and electronic submissions," related to the Kavanaugh supplemental background investigation. None were investigated or even screened for indicia of credibility.
Stop and think about that for a moment. After the allegations made by Christine Blasey Ford became public, over FORTY FIVE HUNDRED other people contacted the FBI tip line with information presumably regarding that specific allegation or allegations of similar weight. I'm not sure I even know 4500 different people. I'm not sure 4500 people know ME by name. I'm quite sure there are not 4500 people willing to contact an FBI tip line to provide any information on me, pro or con. Yet 4500 people reached out and called the supposed FBI tip line established for the Kavanaugh "investigation."
Yet the process set up to handle those tips was a COMPLETE sham and the job involved was a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court, not a county council seat or local charity board. It is bad enough the information was not used by the FBI itself to further verify the claims of inappropriate behavior and keep a morally / ethically deficient nominee off of the Supreme Court. In reality, the information was likely used by those pushing his nomination to ensure media defenses were ready in case any tipster went public in frustration after seeing no perceptible change in direction in the nomination.
This is the state of public discourse around some of the most important and powerful roles in our entire society. Which suggests a "tip" for anyone in the future finding themselves aware of disqualifying information for any future nominee to any position of power. If you have information, don't call the FBI tip line. Call your Senator and Representative (regardless of their party affiliation) to ensure they are accountable for knowing the information you have. Then call a media outlet. At this point, as Whitehouse points out, no one is going "by the book" inside government. It's been a sham for decades.
WTH
