Brett Kavanaugh: Internal emails dispute Trump's claims that the FBI had a “free hand” in investigating assault allegations, a new report says

CNN
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Then-President Donald Trump's claims in 2018 that the FBI had unrestricted latitude to investigate sexual assault allegations against his Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh appeared to confuse the agency, according to internal communications filed in cited in a new report from Senate Democrats.

The investigation into the allegations – which Kavanaugh has vehemently denied – was launched after an emotional hearing with his accuser Christine Blasey Ford that led some key senators to oppose the nominee's confirmation.

However, according to the report, the White House directed the FBI to interview only 10 witnesses. The FBI also did not have the authority to search for other witnesses who might have corroborating information, nor did it have permission to go beyond the specific subject areas for questioning the witnesses set by the White House.

The report sheds light on the narrow limits the White House placed on the FBI as it conducted a “supplementary” background investigation while Kavanaugh's confirmation hung in the balance. Senate investigators were able to review contemporaneous internal communications between the White House and the FBI that showed the public narrative that Trump and his allies were spreading differed from the instructions the FBI had received.

Senate investigators were unable to obtain copies of key emails between the FBI and the Trump White House. Instead, they were only allowed to view many of the emails cited in the report in camera (that is, behind closed doors, with no ability to make copies). Therefore, CNN did not have access to the emails themselves.

As the FBI began its so-called supplementary investigation into the Kavanaugh allegations, Trump claimed in public statements that the agency was “talking to everyone” and had a “free hand,” even criticizing an NBC News report about the limits of the investigation on Twitter . According to the report, those Trump comments were subsequently flagged by an FBI public affairs office in emails to other agency employees, including some top officials.

The next day, an FBI official contacted the White House via phone call and several emails to see if the scope of the supplemental investigation had changed, the Senate report said. The White House ultimately told the official that it would contact you if there might be additional leads to supplement the investigation.

The report released Tuesday by Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse accuses the FBI of neglecting his and other Democrats' requests for information about its Kavanaugh investigation, even after President Joe Biden took office. Whitehouse's report also accused the FBI of concealing from Congress and the public how limited the investigation was; Top officials in the Trump White House and the FBI repeatedly claimed the investigation was being conducted “by the book,” without acknowledging that there were no clear procedures for such an investigation.

Over the course of the FBI's supplemental Kavanaugh investigation in 2018, the White House eventually asked the agency to interview about a half-dozen additional witnesses, although the scope of the interviews was limited, the senator's report said. But Trump repeatedly claimed publicly that the FBI could question anyone the agency saw fit, and White House officials also suggested to news outlets that the FBI was not limited to who it could question. The FBI forwarded those articles with a further request for clarity on whether the scope had expanded, the Senate report said, and received no response until the White House agreed to interview another witness.

Kavanaugh was ultimately confirmed.

The FBI declined to comment specifically on the report, but said in a statement that when the agency is hired by government agencies to conduct background investigations, “the FBI follows a long-established process by which the scope of the investigation is determined.” Investigations are limited to what is required.”

“We have consistently followed this process for decades and have done so for the Kavanaugh investigation. The FBI does not have the independent authority to expand the scope of a supplemental background investigation beyond the boundaries of the requesting agency,” the statement said.

The Supreme Court did not respond to CNN's request for comment on the senator's findings.

With the report, Whitehouse calls on the agency to establish standard operating procedures for handling such supplementary investigations.

“The FBI must establish real protocols so that senators and the American people receive real answers – not fabricated misdirections – the next time serious questions about a nominee arise late in the confirmation process,” Whitehouse said.

CNN's Hannah Rabinowitz and John Fritze contributed to this report.