FBI Responds To Senators Two Years Later: Oh THAT Brett Kavanaugh Investigation!

ANGER TIME.

Remember during the Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court confirmation fiasco, when the FBI was like, "Oh, we will totally do a very real and definitely legitimate investigation into allegations of him trying to rape Christine Blasey Ford and other women"?

And how, even though we knew from both common sense and reports at the time that the investigation was completely fake, every Republican was like "COMPLETE EXONERATION!" just like when Robert Mueller said Trump did a bunch of crimes but refused to indict him?

In an ABSOLUTELY SHOCKING revelation that NO ONE could have EVER predicted, we have now found out the entire supplemental "investigation" was political theater bullshit orchestrated by the Trump White House.

We now know that the FBI received more than 4,500 tips about Kavanaugh, and ... did absolutely nothing. Rather than actually investigate pretty much anything, they passed the information along to Donald fucking Trump's White House Counsel's office, where it appears to have magically disappeared into thin air. Funny how that happens! (Sup, Don McGahn ?)

I don't know about y'all, but I am just flabbergasted. Are you telling me that Donald Trump, who has been credibly accused of sexually assaulting at least 26 women, didn't run an above-board investigation of a white, male SCOTUS nominee accused of attempted rape?!

How it went down

Back in August of 2019, Senate Judiciary Committee members Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Chris Coons (D-DE), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), and Cory Booker (D-NJ) wrote a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray about the FBI's "investigation" into Brett Kavanaugh's extracurricular activities of [allegedly] sexually assaulting women.

In July 2019, Wray had testified to the committee that the investigation was "consistent with our long-standing policies, practices, and procedures for background investigations" and they wanted more details. The senators asked the FBI 18 questions about the investigation and how it was handled.

And then ... the FBI ignored the existence of the request for almost two years.

Despite the August 2019 letter's request for a response within the month, the senators didn't get any response at all from the Bureau until June 30. Of 2021. The letter the senators very eventually received from Jill Tyson, assistant director of the FBI, managed to give us some fascinating revelations about the FBI's lack of investigation into Kegs' (alleged!) sexual predation while at the same time not answering any of the questions the senators had posed.

According to Tyson, even during the supplemental investigation into our beer-loving Supreme Court justice, the FBI followed its general procedures for background checks, and "[t]he authorities, policies, and procedures relied on by the FBI to conduct [background investigations] are not the same as the authorities, policies, and procedures used to investigate criminal matters."

Those authorities, policies, and procedures, I guess, say something along the lines of, "Thou shalt not conduct a thorough investigation into Trump nominees accused of sexual assault."

Rather than actually investigate anything at all, the FBI just ... gave leads over to the Trump White House. Of the 4,500 tips they received, FBI agents contacted ... 10 people.

And that's not all! The FBI had Trump's White House Counsel's office "set[] the parameters of [the] limited inquiry."

 
 Giphy 

The letter concludes by saying,

"Thank you for your continued support of the FBI, our mission, and our people."

Go fuck yourself.

Yesterday, Senate Judiciary Dems sent another letter to Wray — who, yes, is still running the FBI — with additional comments and questions about the sham "investigation."

Noting that the FBI's letter "confirms that the FBI's tip line was a departure from past practice and that the FBI was politically constrained by the Trump White House[,]" the senators remind the FBI that its response "fails to explain how the FBI reviewed and assessed these tips or whether the Bureau conducted any interviews related to information received through the tip line or otherwise pursued the tips."

And what was even the fucking point of having a tip line if they were going to ignore it?

"If the FBI was not authorized to or did not follow up on any of the tips that it received from the tip line, it is difficult to understand the point of having a tip line at all."

Umm, and can we get some damn specifics, please?!

"Indeed, your letter does not describe any FBI investigation of the tips, and only states that the FBI "provided all relevant tips to the Office of White House Counsel," the very office that appears to have constrained the FBI from conducting a thorough investigation.

This is Senator-speak for "What are you, high?"

The admissions in your letter corroborate and explain numerous credible accounts by individuals and firms that they had contacted the FBI with information "highly relevant to ... allegations" of sexual misconduct by Justice Kavanaugh, only to be ignored. If the FBI was not authorized to or did not follow up on any of the tips that it received from the tip line, it is difficult to understand the point of having a tip line at all."

The Senators also requested that "someone familiar with the Kavanaugh investigations provide a briefing to explain what took place and the existence and nature of documents responsive to our requests" and "that the Department of Justice identify someone tasked with overseeing and facilitating the responses to these requests, given the long delay we have already experienced."

Let's get some motherfucking information.

Fuck that

While entirely predictable — and something those of us who were paying attention realized all along — it's still wild to actually see the FBI admit, in print, that it did essentially nothing to investigate a man credibly accused of sexual assault who was nominated to a lifetime fucking appointment on an unreviewable court.

But don't worry , I'm sure that, now that this is public, dear old Kegs will do the right thing and step down ...

As a man of deep integrity, I'm sure Kavanaugh will resig-HAHAHAHAHAHAHA ha ha [puts fist through drywall]

— Ali Davis 🏳️‍🌈 (@Ali Davis 🏳️‍🌈) 1626978186.0 

Sigh.

Sorry, all I have about this one is rage. I hope we continue to get more information about the fake investigation, because the public deserves to know the truth. But with the Supreme Court being what it is, I just really don't see there being any actual consequences for the man who, I believe, tried to rape Christine Blasey Ford.

We all watched the hearings. We knew what he did.

Fuck everything.

 Follow Jamie on Twitter , she's an angry bummer there, too! 

[ August 2019 Letter / Jill Tyson Letter / July 21 Letter / Whitehouse Press Release ]

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