‘Hundreds’ of FBI agents to investigate Kavanaugh
HUNDREDS of FBI agents will examine sex assault claims against the judge that President Donald Trump has nominated to sit in the Supreme Court – as t he White House races against time to secure the appointment.
Officers want to speak to almost everyone who knew Brett Kavanaugh when he was at school in Maryland, and as a student at Yale University.
The agents were sent into action after the White House caved into pressure to order an investigation – in the hope of clearing Kavanaugh’s name ahead of a vote in the Senate.
Much further delay could mean the vote will not take place until after the mid-term elections in November, which may see the Republicans lose their Senate majority.
The investigation will centre on claims by Professor Christine Blasey Ford who last week told the Senate Judiciary Committee that she was sexually assaulted by Kavanaugh when she was 15 and he was 17.
President Trump has admitted he found Dr Ford’s evidence ‘credible’ but defiantly wrote on Twitter: ‘Just started, tonight, our 7th FBI investigation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh. He will someday be recognized as a truly great Justice of The United States Supreme Court!’
The FBI will also investigate claims by two other women. Deborah Ramirez, who went to Yale with Kavanaugh, alleges he exposed himself at a party and ‘thrust his penis in her face’.
Julie Swetnick claims Kavanaugh was at parties where boys ‘gang raped’ women. The judge, 53, has dismissed her claims as ‘outrageous’ and strongly denied assaulting any woman.
Republicans need a majority vote in the Senate to confirm Kavanaugh’s seat in the Supreme Court but several of their senators said they will not back his appointment until the outcome of the FBI inquiry is known.
An FBI source said many agents saw it as a ‘no-win situation’ for them, adding: ‘If we find nothing to incriminate Kavanaugh that will infuriate the Democrats and if we do find evidence to sink Kavanaugh that will infuriate Trump and the Republicans.’
Swetnick’s lawyer Michael Avanetti – who also represents Stormy Daniels, the porn star who claims she slept with Trump while his wife Melania was pregnant – said: ‘Brett Kavanaugh is a liar. If the FBI are allowed to do their job he will never survive this process. He’s toast.’