Topline
The Trump administration blocked the FBI from conducting a thorough investigation into the sexual assault allegations that came out against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing, Democratic senators allege in a new report, claiming the Trump White House limited the probe’s scope and left out potential corroborating evidence.
Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh (L), then a nominee, shakes hands with then-President Donald … [+]
Key Facts
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on federal courts, released the final report Tuesday covering Democrats’ yearslong investigation into how the FBI handled its investigation into the claims against Kavanaugh.
Kavanaugh’s 2018 hearing was derailed when Christine Blasey Ford went public with allegations the now-justice had sexually assaulted her in 1982, with Deborah Ramirez also later alleging Kavanaugh had separately exposed himself to her when they were at Yale University (he has denied all allegations).
The FBI conducted an investigation into those allegations, with then-President Donald Trump publicly claiming at the time the FBI had “free rein” to take whatever steps necessary and interview whomever they wanted.
In actuality, the report claims the FBI was constrained by federal rules to only investigate what Trump’s White House directed them to, which was pretty limited in scope, only allowing investigators to interview 10 witnesses—which didn’t include Kavanaugh or Blasey Ford—even as other people came forward saying they had corroborating evidence.
The Trump administration also said it established a tip line for the Kavanaugh investigation, but Whitehouse said those tips were never reviewed or investigated further—which the report alleges was “at the White House’s direction”—and it wasn’t even a separate tip line, just the same tip line used to handle other public comments to the FBI.
Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told Forbes the report is “yet another attempt to delegitimize the Supreme Court” and claimed Kavanaugh “was unfairly slandered and smeared with lies in a Democrat-led hoax to derail his appointment,” and the Supreme Court has not yet responded to a request for comment.
Crucial Quote
“The Trump White House controlled the scope and conduct of the supplemental background investigation, specifically engineering it to exclude evidence that could have corroborated the allegations against Kavanaugh,” Whitehouse’s report claims.
Surprising Fact
The Senate report cites communications showing FBI investigators were confused by public statements by Trump and members of his administration claiming that the agency had “free rein” to conduct its investigation and interview whomever was relevant, given the limited instructions the FBI received to only interview certain witnesses. When it comes to “supplemental” investigations into a nominee’s background, the FBI can only investigate what the White House tells it to, the report notes, so the FBI could only have the flexibility that Trump claimed if his administration specifically told that to the FBI. FBI personnel asked the Trump administration if their directive had changed, given the then-president’s public statements, but a Trump administration staffer said “only that the White House would be in touch if it had additional guidance,” the report alleges.
Kavanaugh’s Accusers Respond
Attorneys for Blasey Ford and Ramirez criticized the FBI investigation in light of the new Senate report in statements Tuesday to The Washington Post, with Blasey Ford’s lawyers Debra Katz and Lisa Banks saying it “confirms what we long suspected: the FBI supplemental investigation of then-nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh was, in fact, a sham effort directed by the Trump White House to silence brave victims and other witnesses who came forward and to hide the truth.” Ramirez’s attorney John Clune told the Post the report was “really disappointing since our client was so candid about something that was a pretty awful experience.” Blasey Ford has maintained her allegations against Kavanaugh over the years, writing in her 2024 memoir she believes the justice “must know” what happened between them, “even if it’s hazy from the alcohol.” She also argued Kavanaugh “categorically denying” the allegations made Blasey Ford feel “more certainty than ever” that he “had not gone on to become the consummately honest person befitting a Supreme Court justice.”
What To Watch For
The Senate report calls for new protocols to be put into place so that any future investigations into political nominees won’t face the same issues, arguing the Kavanaugh probe shows the current process “can be easily manipulated to prevent a thorough investigation into potentially disqualifying allegations against a nominee.” Senators propose there should be more transparency in any supplemental FBI investigations, with “clear, written procedures” for how these kinds of probes should operate and the FBI required to inform the Senate of the exact investigative steps the agency took.
Why Did The Senate Investigation Take So Long?
While senators began investigating the FBI’s Kavanaugh probe in 2018, it took years to complete because of “executive branch obstruction,” the report claims, alleging the White House refused to provide information. Even after Trump left and President Joe Biden took office, “complete answers to the Senators’ questions were few and far between,” the report alleges, suggesting the executive branch still either didn’t provide requested information or gave only incomplete answers. Senators were finally given 600 pages of communications between the Trump White House and FBI only in Nov. 2023, the report notes, which it suggests is only because Whitehouse suggested he would withhold supporting the Biden administration’s nominee to lead the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel until his requests were responded to.
Key Background
Kavanaugh was narrowly confirmed to the Supreme Court in 2018 in a 50-48 vote as the sexual assault allegations became a national controversy. Blasey Ford came forward with her allegations in an interview with the Post in Sept. 2018, which quickly became the main focus of Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing even as the then-nominee vehemently denied her claims. Senators backing Kavanaugh repeatedly pointed to the FBI’s investigation and its lack of findings to justify supporting the justice, with the Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee releasing a report in 2018 claiming “there was no evidence to substantiate any of the claims of sexual assault made against Justice Kavanaugh.” Democrats have long raised concerns about how the FBI handled the claims against Kavanaugh, and Whitehouse’s Senate report follows several years of news articles and reports suggesting investigators did not do their due diligence. Whitehouse slammed the probe as being “politically constrained and perhaps fake” in 2021 and called for the Justice Department to investigate it. The Rhode Island senator also asked FBI Director Christopher Wray about the investigation during a Senate hearing in August 2022, at which Wray confirmed the FBI had taken “direction” from the Trump Administration over who was interviewed in the probe.
