The White House has instructed the FBI to interview anyone it considers necessary in its background investigation of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh – so long as the review is done by the end of the week.
The apparent go-ahead for an un-proscribed interview, reported by the New York Times and as stated by President Trump a press conference, follows reports that the White House counsel had told investigators to limit their queries to a small group of people.
The paper cited two people briefed on the instructions contained in a new directive over the last 24 hours – after the blowback over the initial scope of the background probe.
President Donald Trump responds to questions about U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh during a news conference in the Rose Garden of the White House
NBC had reported the FBI was authorized only to query only four people: witnesses to the alleged assault by Christine Blasey Ford, Ford herself, and fellow accuser Deborah Ramirez, under arrangements also made with the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The others were Kavanaugh friend Mark Judge and P.J. Smyth, as well as Ford friend Leland Keyser, who Ford says attended the party where Kavanaugh allegedly assaulted her.
The FBI has already contacted four people on its list, the Times reported.
The narrow inquiry drew howls from Democrats, including from attorney Michael Avenatti, whose client Julie Swetnick brought forward her own assault claims and was apparently left off the list.
Democrats feared the narrow probe was an exercise in box-checking that could ultimately give Republicans license to vote for Kavanaugh without fully probing any new allegations that emerge, as well as other parts of his background such as high school and college drinking he acknowledged in testimony.
President Trump said FBI should interview ‘anybody that they want within reason’
The wider portfolio could give the FBI the opportunity to interview others who have come forward with information about Kavanaugh
Trump appeared to confirm the marching orders in his public comments.
‘The F.B.I. should interview anybody that they want within reason, but you have to say within reason,’ Trump said Monday in the White House Rose Garden.
“But they should also be guided, and I’m being guided, by what the senators are looking for.”
The president was pressed repeatedly on whether the White House was keeping the FBI on a leash to prevent it from conducting a full investigation of allegations against Kavanaugh.
‘I think the FBI should interview anybody that they want, within reason,’ Trump said.
Then he added: ‘But they should also be guided, and I’m being guided by what the senators are looking for.’
That was a reference to the guidelines provided by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
He said FBI agents have been working ‘around the clock’ and working ‘late into the evenings’ to resolve the issue.
‘I’m instructing them as per what I feel the Senate wants,’ Trump said.
‘I did also say within the bounds of what the Senate wants. We don’t want to go on a to use an expression often used by me, we don’t want to go on a witch hunt do we?’ he said, using his favorite pejorative for the Russia probe.
Trump didn’t say reports of Kavanaugh’s drinking should be off-limits, but said the nominee had been candid about his youthful drinking. Some Democrats are charging the nominee wasn’t truthful in some of his testimony, such as saying his membership in the ‘Beach Week Ralph Club’ was due to his weak stomach.
‘I was surprised about how vocal he was about the fat that he likes beer,’ said Trump, who doesn’t drink.
‘This is not a man that said that he was perfect with respect to alcohol,’ said Trump, who found the testimony ‘excellent.’
‘I want them to do a very comprehensive investigation, whatever that means, according to the senators and the Republicans and the Republican majority,” Trump said.
“I want it to be comprehensive. I think it’s actually a good thing for Judge Kavanaugh,” he added.
Trump said on Monday he wants the FBI to conduct a comprehensive investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against his Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, but said he did not want to see a “witch hunt.”
“I want them to do a very comprehensive investigation. Whatever that means, according to the senators and the Republicans and the Republican majority, I want them to do that,” Trump said at a White House news conference. “With that being said, I’d like it to go quickly.”
Trump on Friday ordered the FBI to carry out an investigation lasting up to a week of the allegations against Kavanaugh, acting on a request from Senate Republican leaders who were pressed by moderate senators in Trump’s own party.
Christine Blasey Ford, a university professor from California, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in 1982 when they were both high school students in Maryland. Kavanaugh has denied her allegation, as well as sexual misconduct accusations by two other women.
Questions about the scope of the FBI investigation emerged over the weekend amid reports that Senate Republicans were working with the White House to contain the number of witnesses and the allegations to be investigated.
Democrats expressed concern on Sunday about reported efforts to stymie the probe, which comes after the Judiciary Committee approved Kavanaugh’s nomination on Friday before it goes to the full Senate for a final vote.
“It is up to me, but I’m instructing them (FBI) as per what I feel the Senate wants,” Trump said. “I want it to be quickly, because it’s unfair to the family and to the judge. It’s so unfair to his kids and his wife.”
“We don’t want to go on a witch hunt, do we?” Trump asked.
The Republican president was sympathetic to Kavanaugh, saying the nominee has been treated unfairly and that he believes Kavanaugh did not lie about the extent of his drinking in high school and college during testimony before the Senate panel on Thursday.