Justice: No federal crime
The Justice Department says the sexual assault allegation against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh “does not involve any potential federal crime” for the FBI to investigate.
The department said in a statement Monday that the FBI’S role during background investigations is to evaluate whether the nominee could pose a national security risk, then provide that information “for the use of the decision makers.”
The department says it’s not the job of the FBI to judge the significance or the credibility of an accusation. this month and reviewed a background check conducted by the FBI.
But the assault accusation became known following the hearing when Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-calif., the ranking Democrat on the committee, submitted the information to the panel and the FBI.
Republicans charged that Feinstein’s motivation for revealing the Ford accusation was purely political and noted that she was aware of the allegation in July, a month before the hearing.
“One thing I will say is that as I understand it, Judge Kavanaugh spent quite a bit of time with Sen. Feinstein and it wasn’t even brought up at that meeting and she had this information,” Trump told reporters. “So you would have thought certainly that she would have brought it up at the meeting — not wait till everything’s finished and then have to start a process all over again.”
Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell, R-KY., said previously that he wanted a full Senate vote on the confirmation in September so Kavanaugh could be on the bench when the Supreme Court begins its fall session in October.
Contact Gary Martin at gmartin@ reviewjournal.com or 202-662-7390. Follow @garymartindc on Twitter.
Review-journal staff writer Debra J. Saunders contributed to this report.