Trump approves wide FBI probe in Kavanaugh case

BUT ‘NO FISHING’ Confusion swirls over parameters, who sets them

WASHINGTON •The White House has not placed any limits on the FBI investigation into claims of sexual assault against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh but also opposes an open-ended “fishing expedition,” two administration officials said Sunday.

The statements, by press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and presidential counsellor Kellyanne Conway, followed reports that federal investigators are pursuing allegations made by two women but not a third, Julie Swetnick, who signed a sworn affidavit accusing Kavanaugh of sexually aggressive behaviour and being present at parties where gang rapes occurred.

Trump himself tweeted late Saturday that he wanted the FBI “to interview whoever they deem appropriate, at their discretion.”

Sanders said on Fox News Sunday that the White House is “not micromanaging this process” but also said an open-ended probe into Swetnick’s claims and whether Kavanaugh may have misled lawmakers in his Senate Judiciary Committee testimony would not be acceptable.

“The Senate is dictating the terms. They laid out the request, and we’ve opened it up,” she said, adding, “This can’t become a fishing expedition like the Democrats would like to see it be.”

Conway said on CNN’s State of the Union, “It’s not meant to be a fishing expedition.” She added that who will be interviewed was “up to the FBI.”

The remarks added to the swirl of public confusion over the parameters of the FBI inquiry and who is setting them. The order to the FBI was signed by Trump but has not been made public, while the White House has sought to lay responsibility for the details on the Senate.

The only official description of parameters has come from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, who said Friday the FBI probe would be no more than a week long and would be limited solely to “current credible allegations” against Kavanaugh. Grassley and other senators have provided few other specifics, and a committee spokesman declined to comment after Trump’s tweet Saturday endorsing a broader approach.

Thursday’s riveting hearing, featuring testimony from California professor Christine Blasey Ford about her allegations that Kavanaugh assaulted her when both were high school students in the early 1980s, prompted several wavering Republican senators to demand a more thorough federal probe of the alleged incident.

At the hearing, Kavanaugh angrily and categorically denied assaulting Ford or any other woman. Two others, Swetnick and Debbie Ramirez, have publicly come forward to accuse Kavanaugh of other sexual misconduct.

Ramirez alleges that Kavanaugh, as a Yale University freshman, drunkenly exposed himself and shoved his penis in her face in front of a group of classmates, according to an account she gave to The New Yorker. Her attorney said Saturday that the FBI has contacted Ramirez about an interview and that she plans to cooperate.

Swetnick’s accusations, brought forward in a sworn statement by lawyer and potential 2020 presidential candidate Michael Avenatti, have been treated much more gingerly, including by Democrats, due to a lack of corroboration.

Senate Democrats have put special emphasis on having the FBI interview the people Ford says were present for the party where the alleged assault took place — particularly Mark Judge, the high school classmate of Kavanaugh’s who Ford says was in the room. Judge has said in written statements that he does not recall the incident; Senate Republicans declined to call him to testify. Two others said by Ford to have been present for the party have also said they do not recall it.

Many Democrats have called for the FBI to take a broader look at whether Kavanaugh may have misled senators by minimizing his carousing behaviour in high school and college or by mischaracterizing entries in his high school yearbook that could indicate a penchant for drunken and misogynistic behaviour.

Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar, speaking on CNN, said Kavanaugh’s claims that he had never blacked out or suffered any memory loss while drinking “doesn’t quite make sense to me” and said she hoped the FBI would interview friends to determine whether that was credible.