Rarely is seeing U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s name in headlines a good thing. Following newly released FBI materials concerning the investigation of misconduct allegations against him, his name and the allegations against him have been brought to the forefront once more.
Yahoo News is reporting that, according to senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Chris Coons, they received a letter from the FBI which showed that the agency collected over 4,500 tips related to Kavanaugh, but they did not investigate them.
The letter, written by FBI Assistant Director Jill Tyson, said that all relevant tips were given to Donald Trump’s White House lawyers. What happened with them after that, we currently do not know. Because it was a background check, “the authorities, policies, and procedures used to investigate criminal matters did not apply,” Tyson’s letter said, according to Yahoo News.
“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 Democratic lawmakers said in a letter to FBI Director Chris Wray.
The letter went public yesterday.
Kavanaugh was accused of sexual assault by Professor Christine Blasey Ford. Two other women also accused him of sexual misconduct. There was a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, and both Ford and Kavanaugh gave testimony and spoke. In the end, Kavanaugh was allowed to occupy one of the most powerful judicial positions in the country.
Ford’s lawyers, Debra Katz and Lisa Banks, said in a statement that the “new revelations show the FBI investigation was of limited value.”
“Because the FBI and Trump’s White House Counsel hid the ball on this, we do not know how many of those 4,500 tips were consequential, how many of those tips supported Dr. Ford’s testimony, or how many showed that Kavanaugh perjured himself during his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee,” the lawyers said.
What now?
Kavanaugh still occupies a place of power. There is no way the Republicans will ever allow him to be removed while Joe Biden, or any Democrat, is president. They have proven that winning the Court is worth installing under-qualified, venomous people as long as they will support their longterm goals.
I just have the utmost sympathy for Dr. Ford, who is again having to hear how much she was failed by the institutions tasked with the due diligence on this matter.
(via Yahoo News, image: Andrew Harnik – Pool/Getty Images)
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