The FBI hasn’t interviewed Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh or his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, according to Bloomberg, citing “two people with knowledge of the matter,” who added that the agency doesn’t have clear authority from the White House to do so.
Instead, Ford’s testimony that Kavanaugh attempted to rape her at a high school party in 1982 was deemed “sufficient,” according to the sources who asked not to be identified.
The White House on Monday reportedly instructed the FBI to expand their investigation.
In a Tuesday letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray, Ford’s attorneys said that the FBI still hadn’t contacted them after five days since the Judiciary Committee and White House announced that the FBI had been directed to conduct a supplemental investigation into Ford’s claims.
“We have received no response from anyone involved in this investigation, and no response to our offer for Dr. Ford to be interviewed. This afternoon, we learned of media reports that the FBI does not intend to interview either Dr. Ford or Judge Kavanaugh. We hope this reporting is inaccurate,” reads the letter.
NEW: Attorneys for Dr. Ford, in letter to FBI Director Chris Wray:
“It is inconceivable that the FBI could conduct a thorough investigation of Dr. Ford’s allegations without interviewing her, Judge Kavanaugh, or the witnesses we have identified in our letters to you.” pic.twitter.com/UvIcnfMupR
— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) October 2, 2018
During Tuesday’s White House press briefing, spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders noted:
As we’ve said several times, the President indicated that whoever the FBI deems necessary to interview, he’s fine with that, but he’s also asked that the Senate be the ones that determine the scope of what they need in order to make a decision on whether they vote Kavanaugh up or down. I can also tell you, both Judge Kavanaugh and Dr. Ford were questioned in the most public way possible by the members of the Senate who are ultimately the ones who have to make the determination on whether or not they vote for Judge Kavanaugh. If they have additional questions for either one of them, they had a time and an opportunity certainly to ask those.
The FBI probe, which is expected to conclude on Wednesday, while the report won’t be released to the public according to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
“We’ll get an FBI report soon. It will be made available to each senator and only senators will be allowed to look at it,” McConnell told reporters on Tuesday, adding “That’s the way these reports are always handled.”
An FBI investigation was launched after Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) derailed Kavanaugh’s confirmation by refusing to vote “yes” pending a probe demanded by Senate Democrats.
The White House and Republican senators asked the FBI to reopen a background investigation on Kavanaugh the day after Flake’s line in the sand, as Flake and two other GOP senators remain undecided on Kavanaugh’s confirmation pending the results of the FBI’s investigation.
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