Trump Tells FBI To Expand Kavanaugh Inquiry, Seemingly Contradicting His Earlier Claims He Had Already Done So
After previously claiming that the FBI already had the authority to do so, President Donald Trump on Monday authorized the agency to expand an investigation looking into claims of sexual assault against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
The allegations of sexual assault came from Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, a professor at Palo Alto University in California, who said Kavanaugh had assaulted her at a high school party in the early 1980s. Kavanaugh has denied the allegations.
At least two other women have come forward since that time alleging that Kavanaugh acted similarly with them: Deborah Ramirez, who said Kavanaugh assaulted her at Yale, and Julie Swetnick, who said she saw Kavanaugh and his friends purposely causing teen girls to drink in excess, then engage them in acts of sexual assault in high school.
The FBI had been authorized by the White House prior to Monday to interview just four individuals, according to an NBC News report on the issue. Those individuals were: Mark Judge, a high school friend who allegedly drank heavily with Kavanaugh, and whom Ford said was in the room when Kavanaugh assaulted her; PJ Smyth, another friend of Kavanaugh’s who was allegedly at the party he and Ford attended; Leland Keyser, a high school friend of Ford’s who was at the party but didn’t witness the assault; and Ramirez.
The FBI was not directed to include Swetnick in its inquiry.
The White House has authorized the FBI to expand its investigation into Brett Kavanaugh by interviewing anyone it deems necessary as long the review is finished by the end of the week, according to NYT. https://t.co/xIGGJMqHBd
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 1, 2018
Following the NBC News report on the limited scope of the FBI investigation, Trump went to Twitter to denounce the report, alleging that the news agency had erred in its reporting, and demanded they issue a correction.
NBC News incorrectly reported (as usual) that I was limiting the FBI investigation of Judge Kavanaugh, and witnesses, only to certain people. Actually, I want them to interview whoever they deem appropriate, at their discretion. Please correct your reporting!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2018
But that didn’t appear to be the case, as further reporting on the matter concluded. To add more difficulties to that Twitter statement by Trump, the authorization to expand the investigation came about on Monday. If it had already been ordered, such an authorization wouldn’t have been required.
On the same day he ordered the expansion of the inquiry, Trump said he wanted the FBI to do its best to resolve the discrepancies between Kavanaugh’s and Ford’s accounts, according to reporting from The Hill.
“I think the FBI should do what they have to do to get to the answer,” Trump said.
But he added that he didn’t want the investigation to go on beyond this week. “Now with that being said, I’d like it to go quickly. And the reason I’d like it to go quickly — very simple, so simple — because it’s unfair to (Kavanaugh) at this point,” the president said.
