KAV QUIZ ‘NIX’
White House seems to say judge, Ford off-limits
Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders all but confirmed a report Wednesday that the White House is barring the FBI from interviewing Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford as part of its investigation into sexual assault allegations against the beleaguered Supreme Court nominee.
“Both Judge Kavanaugh and Dr. Ford were questioned in the most public way possible by the members of the Senate, who are ultimately the ones who have to make the termination on whether or not they vote for Judge Kavanaugh,” Sanders told reporters at her first press briefing in nearly a month, referring to their testimony before the Judiciary Committee last week. “If they had additional questions for either one of them, they had a time and opportunity certainly to ask those.”
Sanders’ nondenial came in response to questions about a Bloomberg News report that the FBI hasn’t interviewed Kavanaugh and Ford in its reopened background probe because the White House didn’t give the bureau proper authority to do so.
Ford — one of Kavanaugh’s three identified accusers — alleges she feared for her life as the Supreme Court wannabe drunkenly forced her into a room at a high school party in the early 1980s, groped her and tried to rip her clothes off.
It isn’t clear if the FBI has tried to seek approval to interview Ford and Kavanaugh and an FBI spokeswoman did not return a request for comment.
The White House alone has the authority to request FBI inquiries into suspected non-federal crimes, a category in which the allegations against Kavanaugh fit.
After refusing Democratic demands for days, President Trump ordered the FBI last week to investigate the misconduct accusations against Kavanaugh.
Trump has given mixed messages about the nature of the FBI investigation, saying he wants it to be “comprehensive” only to cede authority to GOP leaders.
“The President has indicated whoever the FBI needs to interview, he is fine with that,” Sanders said at the Wednesday briefing. “But he has also asked that the Senate be the ones that determine the scope of what they need in order to make a decision on whether they vote Kavanaugh up or down.”
The FBI is supposed to deliver its findings to the Senate by Friday. Sources close to the confirmation process say the inquiry could wrap up by late Wednesday and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has made clear he intends to quickly put Kavanaugh’s nomination up for a floor vote.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the FBI had interviewed Kavanaugh pals Mark Judge and P.J. Smyth; Deborah Ramirez, who also accuses Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct; and Leland Keyser, a friend of Ford, according to their lawyers and people familiar with the matter.
Charles Ludington, who attended Yale University with Kavanaugh, confirmed Wednesday afternoon that he has submitted a written statement at the FBI’s request about a fight at a New Haven, Conn., bar in September 1985 involving Kavanaugh.