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It will be investigated, but only in some way.
Photo: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images
When President Trump ordered the FBI's brief investigation of Brett Kavanaugh that Senator Jeff Flake had asked for an abrupt Friday, the way the office would proceed was not entirely clear. Would it not restrict its investigation – which the Senate Judiciary Committee has specified would focus on "current credible allegations" – only to Christine Ford's charge of sexual assault, which has been at the center of the dramatic hearing of Thursday? Or could he dig into all the allegations that have swirled around the judge over the past week?
The agency seems to be going in a third direction, but not necessarily because she wishes it.
Just hours before President Trump authorized the new investigation, the FBI had contacted Deborah Ramirez, the second woman to remember Kavanaugh's alleged sexual misconduct.
But on Saturday afternoon, NBC News reported that the White House was limiting the scope of the investigation to Ford and Ramirez, not to Julie Swetnick, the third woman to have denounced allegations of wrongdoing against Kavanaugh. "Instead of investigating Swetnick's claims," according to NBC, "the White House council office has forwarded to the FBI a list of witnesses it is allowed to question, according to several people who have discussed parameters under the guise of anonymity ". that certain other areas of investigation would also be prohibited. For example, the agency can not request records of employment at a supermarket where key witness Mark Judge worked, which could help corroborate Ford's story that he was surprised after his alleged assault. And he can not examine the discrepancies between Kavanaugh's account of moderate drinking in college and that of at least one classmate who said he was lying.
Senator Flake said Friday that he thought the FBI should handle the investigation by itself; The question of whether the blatant interference of the White House is bothering him or the four other undecided senators who supported him, will be an important issue in the coming days. And the White House tactics could turn around in different ways:
In one New Yorker Story released last weekend, Ramirez stated that Kavanaugh had been exposed to it during her first year at Yale. This article provoked strong criticism from many conservatives (and skepticism of some liberals) who were not convinced by Ramirez's fragile memory of this incident and the lack of corroboration of the alleged incident. The FBI might or might not be able to shed light on the details of what happened as reporters Ronan Farrow and Jane Mayer. But the fact that the agents are addressing Ramirez suggests that a large-scale (if brief) investigation is, by nature, more likely to expose unpleasant elements of Kavanaugh's past than a more limited element. .
Swetnick wrote in an affidavit made public Wednesday that Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge were present at a high school party where she was drugged and raped by a gang, and that she witnessed the "aggressive and Kavanaugh's physically aggressive ". women. Swetnick is represented by his renowned lawyer, Michael Avenatti; Saturday morning, Avenatti said on Twitter that he had not heard of the FBI yet.
However, the agency has already spoken to two people who were prominent in Ford's testimony: Mark Judge, who Ford said was in the room when Kavanaugh assaulted him; and Leland Keyser, a friend of Ford who, she said, was also at the meeting. Keyser said she did not know Kavanaugh, nor did she remember the rally where the alleged assault had occurred, but that she believed in Ford's memories. In a statement Saturday, his lawyer repeated these points.
The judge – whom the Republicans did not seem interested in hearing despite his central role in Ford's history – will cooperate with the FBI, according to his lawyer. He denied having anything to do with the incident described. And on Friday, he wrote a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee firmly repressing Swetnick's accusations. "The allegations in Swetnick's affidavit are so bizarre that even if I suffer from my addiction, I will remember such bizarre acts," the judge wrote. "I categorically deny them." (The judge has a well-documented history of excessive drinking.)
Even though the FBI takes the most complete route possible, the Washington To post notes that there are important limiting factors as to the scope of its investigation:
A substantive investigation is, by its nature, more limited than a criminal investigation, and FBI agents will not be able to obtain search warrants or subpoenas to compel potential witnesses to testify. The FBI interviews, which will last a few days, will not turn into a sprawling survey of everyone that Kavanaugh attended during a high school party, said one person familiar with the investigation.
But with White House constraints threatening the agency, the chances that it will reveal enough new information for Flake or the other swing Senators to change their opinion of Kavanaugh are lower than they were on Friday.
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