GOP plans to safeguard FBI report on Kavanaugh
Public access to results may be restricted
WASHINGTON – Republicans plan a careful choreography for reviewing the results of the FBI’s background inquiry into Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh that includes restricting its distribution and inviting senators to a secure meeting room in the Capitol to view the report.
The main focus of the FBI investigation has been accusations by Christine Blasey Ford that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her while they were in high school. Kavanaugh has vehemently denied the allegations.
The report will go first to the White House, then to the Senate Judiciary Committee, where lawmakers will read it in a secure location, Republican senators said.
Senate Republicans plan the cautious approach amid a debate over how
much of the FBI’s investigation into Kavanaugh’s past should be available for public view. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said only that senators will be able to see the results of the FBI’s work. A handful of Senate aides may view the findings as well.
The report was the result of a dramatic and emotional hearing before the Judiciary Committee last week in which Ford and Kavanaugh recalled the summer of 1982, when she said the attack occurred. Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., voted to advance Kavanaugh’s nomination but called for the reopening of the investigation into his background.
Republican leaders and White House officials said the strict limitations on who would see the results are standard practice for background checks on nominees for senior roles.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., a Judiciary Committee member, said it would be ideal to make public as much information as possible, allowing for redactions of private or compromising information. “But I think if the report disappears into a black hole from which no fact emerges, it will just add to the dissension here and to the questions,” he said.
Republicans noted that a bipartisan memorandum of understanding in 2009 dictates the handling of such reports. George Hartmann, a Judiciary Committee spokesman, told USA TODAY that the guidelines call for sending a single copy of the FBI’s findings to Capitol Hill and housing it in a safe in the committee’s office.
Democrats questioned the secrecy – and the decision to rely on the standard procedure – given the significance.
Ron Klain, a veteran Washington attorney and former chief of staff to Vice Presidents Al Gore and Joe Biden, said there is nothing wrong with maintaining the confidentiality of the report as long as it doesn’t make it impossible for senators to digest the information before the vote.
“Standard procedures often need to be modified for nonstandard situa- tions,” Klain said. He cited the example of how the FBI’s findings were handled when it investigated accusations of sexual harassment by Anita Hill against Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas. Klain was a chief counsel for Judiciary Committee Democrats during the Hill-Thomas hearings in 1991.
“In extraordinary situations – like the Thomas-Hill hearings – procedures have been adopted to protect confidentiality while also facilitating access for all senators,” he said.
Some Republican senators said at least a portion of the document should be available for public review.
“I hope the FBI report is made public. Normally, it is not, out of respect for the privacy for the person being investigated, but this is an unusual circumstance,” said Sen. John Kennedy, R.-La., on the Judiciary Committee.
Kennedy said that if all findings cannot be released, he’d support an objective summary of the report to be shared to avoid senators leaking “selected versions that advance their position.”
The Justice Department referred questions about the investigation to the White House. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said, “We’ve been very open and transparent throughout the process.”
It is not clear whether the document will draw conclusions about the allegations.
Michael Mukasey, a former U.S. attorney general under President George W. Bush, said the supplemental FBI background investigation would cover credible allegations of misconduct. The FBI probably won’t try to resolve disputes between conflicting witnesses, and witnesses wouldn’t be tested by polygraph, he said.
Mukasey spoke with reporters on a call organized by Judicial Crisis Network, a conservative group that backs Kavanaugh’s confirmation.
“The FBI doesn’t make credibility determinations about ultimate facts,” Mukasey said.
“They simply present the statements of witnesses so that the senators who are the ultimate deciders can make their decision.”