FBI Will Not Launch Criminal Probe Into Kavanaugh Allegations
by Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge.com
Wed, 09/19/2018
Following repeated demands from numerous parties for an official federal probe into the sexual assault allegations leveled against President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh, Fox News reports that the FBI will not launch a criminal investigation according to highly-placed law enforcement sources.
The sources told Fox News that there were no allegations of a federal crime, therefore the bureau would not open a criminal investigation: “This is a political issue, not a law enforcement one,” a source told Fox News.
In Christine Blasey Ford’s allegations brought against Kavanaugh last week – which date back to the 1980s – she claimed the Supreme Court nominee, while in high school, pinned her down, tried to remove her bathing suit and put his hand over her mouth when she attempted to scream. Ford’s attorney, Debra Katz, said her client considered this to be “an attempted rape.”
Upon learning of Ford’s claims, the Senate Judiciary Committee, overseeing the confirmation of Kavanaugh, invited her to testify under oath in a public or private setting, or even over the phone. Katz initially said her client would be willing to appear before the panel, but Tuesday evening, Ford demanded that the FBI investigate her claim before she accepted an invitation to share her story before the committee.
It now appears that won’t happen.
“It’s totally inappropriate for someone to demand we use law enforcement resources to investigate a 35-year-old allegation when she won’t go under oath and can’t remember key details including when or where it happened,” another source told Fox News.
A Justice Department spokesperson said that the FBI conducts background investigations prior to an appointed official’s confirmation to “determine whether the nominee could pose a risk to the national security of the United States.”
In an FBI background investigation, the bureau is only responsible for finding information and passing it along, which they have done in the Kavanaugh case, a source said. The source said the FBI would not “investigate” the information found. “The FBI does not make any judgement about the credibility or significance of any allegation,” a Justice Department spokesperson said in a statement earlier this week.
According to the Justice Department, on Sept. 12, the FBI received a letter dated from July 2018, obtained by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., alleging that Kavanaugh “engaged in an incident of misconduct in the 1980s.”
“The FBI forwarded this letter to the White House Counsel’s Office,” the spokesperson said. “The allegation does not involve any potential federal crime. The FBI’s role in such matters is to provide information for the use of the decision makers.”
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