‘WH not micromanaging top judge probe’
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump hit back at suggestions his administration is trying to “micromanage” the FBI investigation of controversial Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, accusing opposition Democrats of being interested only in obstruction.
Trump on Friday had ordered the new FBI investigation into sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh, as the Senate delayed a final vote on his confirmation as the key ninth member of the Supreme Court.
The delay followed a dramatic televised Senate Judiciary Committee hearing at which university professor Christine Blasey Ford accused the judge of pinning her down and assaulting her in the 1980s. Kavanaugh vigorously denied the allegations.
“Wow! Just starting to hear the Democrats, who are only thinking Obstruct and Delay, are starting to put out the word that the ‘time’ and ‘scope’ of FBI looking into Judge Kavanaugh and witnesses is not enough,” the president tweeted. “Hello! For them, it will never be enough.” Both The New York Times and NBC News have cited multiple sources as saying the White House was limiting the witnesses the FBI could question during a one-week background check. Trump insisted on Twitter that the FBI had “free rein” to pursue the matter as it saw fit. “I want them to interview whoever they deem appropriate, at their discretion,” the president tweeted late Saturday.
But Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee appear unconvinced.
“The White House and the FBI should release details on the scope of the Kavanaugh background investigation and keep Congress informed on any changes,” Senator Dianne Feinstein, the committee’s ranking Democrat, tweeted on Sunday.
“This needs to be a real investigation and we must get all the facts,” she wrote. The Times said the FBI would question four witnesses, according to two people familiar with the matter. The list, reportedly drafted by Senate Republicans, did not include former classmates who contradicted Kavanaugh’s testimony about the extent of his youthful drinking and partying.