08.04.22
The Trump White House also determined which witnesses the FBI should interview. 4,500 leads to the FBI were left uninvestigated.
Washington D.C. – At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) today received confirmation from FBI Director Christopher Wray that the FBI sent information the agency had collected on the Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the Trump White House without investigation. The leads were collected through the FBI’s existing tip line as part of a supplemental background investigation after allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced during Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation process in 2018. Wray also confirmed that the White House of Trump indicated which witnesses the FBI could interview.
“You reviewed them in order to separate them from the tip line traffic, but you didn’t further investigate the Kavanaugh-related ones, correct?” Whitehouse asked in reference to the more than 4,500 leads collected by the FBI.
Director Wray replied, “Right.”
Asked by Whitehouse if the FBI took instructions from the Trump White House about whom the FBI might question, Wray responded that the agency did take instructions from the White House, since it was the requesting entity.
After the exchange, Whitehouse posted on Twitter, “Here’s a thought: Nothing stopped the Trump White House from using the information from the FBI tip line to direct the FBI investigation. far of witnesses who perceive or corroborate.
For years, since Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation, Whitehouse has doggedly sought answers from the FBI about its treatment of information sent through the tip line. The FBI has provided delayed and incomplete information in response to the Senator’s oversight inquiries. At today’s hearing, Whitehouse agreed to submit a report to the Judiciary Committee outlining the FBI’s handling of the tip line. The FBI process for such investigations remains highly relevant because the Senate relies on the results of FBI investigations in carrying out its advisory and consent duties for nominations.
Watch the full interrogation here.
Whitehouse initially questioned Director Wray about the inadequate supplemental vetting at a Judiciary Committee hearing in July 2019. Whitehouse noted that the only conduit for information potentially relevant to the allegations was the tip line, the product of which was apparently never followed up. by the Office. During that hearing, Wray echoed Republican claims that the FBI conducted the investigation “by the book,” while asserting that supplemental background investigations are less rigorous than criminal and counterintelligence investigations.
The following month, Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) and Whitehouse wrote to Wray asking for a full picture of how the FBI handled the follow-up background investigation of Kavanaugh. They asked why the FBI did not contact witnesses whose names were provided to the FBI as having “highly relevant” information; how involved the Trump White House was in narrowing the scope of the investigation; whether the FBI had used a tip line in previous background investigations to manage incoming complaints and information about a nominee; and more.
Nearly two years later and after repeated follow-up requests, the FBI finally answered the senators’ questions. The June 2021 letter from the FBI’s Office of Congressional Affairs revealed new information about the Kavanaugh investigation, including that the tip line received “more than 4,500 tips, including phone calls and electronic submissions.” By the FBI’s own account, he simply “provided all relevant advice” to the Trump White House Office of Counsel, the same office that had constrained and directed the limited investigation.
Last summer, Whitehouse and several colleagues wrote to Director Wray requesting additional information about the FBI’s supplemental background investigation of Judge Kavanaugh.
“If the FBI was not authorized or did not follow up on any of the tips it received from the tip line, it is hard to see the point of having a tip line,” the senators wrote at the time.
Earlier this year, Whitehouse and his colleagues wrote again to Director Wray, Attorney General Garland, and the White House Counsel’s Office requesting answers to remaining outstanding questions from senators and providing an overview of what senators have learned to date. Senators have not yet received any response.
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Source: www.whitehouse.senate.gov