Democratic senator says Trump administration sabotaged FBI's investigation of Brett Kavanaugh

By 
 October 10, 2024

The Senate voted six years ago to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh following controversial allegations that he had assaulted Dr. Christine Blasey Ford decades earlier.

However, one Democratic lawmaker alleged this week that the FBI's investigation of Kavanaugh was sabotaged by the Trump administration. 

Rhode Island Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse slams FBI's work as "a sham"

According to Newsweek, that claim was put forward in a report released earlier this week by Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse.

"In 2018, I pledged to Christine Blasey Ford that I’d keep digging, for however long it took, and not give up or move on from the Trump White House’s shameful confirmation process for Justice Kavanaugh," Whitehouse said in a statement on Wednesday.

"A full, proper investigation is the bare minimum that victims who come forward – like Dr. Ford and Deborah Ramirez – deserve," he continued.

"This report shows that the supplemental background investigation was a sham, controlled by the Trump White House, to give political cover to Senate Republicans and put Justice Kavanaugh back on the political track to confirmation," the senator went on to add.

FBI issues statement defending record in investigating Kavanaugh

However, the FBI provided a statement of its own to Newsweek which denied that it failed to carry out its role in investigating Kavanaugh.

"The FBI, in its role as an investigative service provider, responds to requests from the Office of White House Counsel and other government entities to conduct background investigations of candidates for certain positions," it read.

"In these investigations, the FBI follows a long-standing, established process through which the scope of the investigation is limited to what is requested," the statement insisted.

"We have consistently followed that process for decades and did so for the Kavanaugh inquiry," America's largest federal law enforcement agency declared.

Kavanaugh strenuously denied abusing Ford or other women

"The FBI does not have the independent authority to expand the scope of a supplemental background investigation outside the requesting agency's parameters," it continued.

"This is different from criminal investigations where the FBI has broad authority, granted by the Attorney General Guidelines, to make investigative decisions," the FBI's statement explained.

Meanwhile, Newsweek noted that for his part, Justice Kavanaugh vehemently denied during his confirmation hearing that he committed any wrongdoing in regards to Ford or other women.

" A free people [claim] their rights, as derived from the laws of nature."
Thomas Jefferson