Details of F.B.I.’s Kavanaugh Inquiry Show Its Restricted Range nyti.ms/2Olmw7I
2/"President Trump said on Saturday that the F.B.I. will have “free rein” to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct against Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, but the emerging contours of the inquiry showed its limited scope. Four witnesses will be questioned in coming days about .
3/"aspects of the assault accusations against Judge Kavanaugh, according to two people familiar with the matter. Left off the list were former classmates who have contradicted Judge Kavanaugh’s congressional testimony about his drinking and partying as a student. The White House
4/"will decide the breadth of the inquiry, though presidential advisers were working in concert with Senate Republicans, said the two people, one a senior administration official, who both spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive investigation
5/"The White House can order investigators to further examine the allegations if their findings from the four witness interviews open new avenues of inquiry, and Mr. Trump seemed to stress that part of the plan in a tweet late on Saturday.
6/"“I want them to interview whoever they deem appropriate, at their discretion,” Mr. Trump wrote. He denied an NBC News report that he was limiting the inquiry and that investigators were not permitted to examine the claims of Julie Swetnick, a woman who has said she witnessed a
7/"severely drunken Judge Kavanaugh mistreat women at parties in high school, and that he had attended parties where high school boys gang-raped teenage girls.Investigators will interview one of the witnesses, a high school friend of Judge Kavanaugh’s named Mark Judge, about
8/"Ms. Swetnick’s accusations, the two people said. The inquiry, which will last no more than a week, is a limited background check of Judge Kavanaugh, not a full-fledged criminal investigation. He has vigorously denied any sexual impropriety or wrongdoing.
9/"Democrats, left out of the discussions that led to Mr. Trump’s order, tried on Saturday to clarify the scope of the F.B.I. investigation with Senate Republicans and the White House. Senate Republicans drafted the witness list for the background check, according to the people
10/"familiar with it, and the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, shared it with the White House. The background check is the latest twist in a drama that has gripped the Capitol for the past two weeks, since a Northern California research psychologist named Christine Blasey
11/"Ford alleged that a young Mr. Kavanaugh attempted to rape her at a house party when they were teenagers. Mr. McConnell has said senators will vote on whether to confirm Judge Kavanaugh after the F.B.I. concludes its work.
12/"The bureau will investigate aspects of the allegations made by Dr. Blasey, Ms. Swetnick and a third woman, Deborah Ramirez. She has said Judge Kavanaugh exposed himself to her during their freshman year at Yale. Ms. Ramirez’s lawyer, John Clune, said on Saturday that the
13/" F.B.I. had “reached out to interview Ms. Ramirez, and she has agreed to cooperate with their investigation.” The F.B.I. plans to ask Mr. Judge about both Ms. Swetnick’s and Dr. Blasey’s allegations. Ms. Swetnick has said that Mr. Judge was at the parties where she saw Judge
14/" Kavanaugh mistreat women, and Dr. Blasey has said he was in the room when Judge Kavanaugh assaulted her. He has denied the allegations of both women. The F.B.I. did not plan to question Ms. Swetnick herself, according to the two people familiar with the matter.
15/"Ms. Swetnick’s lawyer, Michael Avenatti, said on Twitter on Saturday that they had not heard from the bureau. The four witnesses were Mr. Judge; Leland Keyser, a high school friend of Dr. Blasey’s whom she said attended the party but was not told of the assault; P.J. Smyth,
16/"another party guest; and Ms. Ramirez, the Yale accuser. The White House has asked that the F.B.I. share its findings after investigators complete those interviews, and at that point, Mr. Trump and his advisers would decide whether to have the accusations investigated further,
17/"the people said. Led by Donald F. McGahn II, the White House counsel, Mr. Trump’s advisers are helping direct the scope of the background check, according to the senior administration official. Mr. McGahn shared the witness list with the F.B.I. but is working in concert with
18/"Senate Republicans, and senators considered key swing votes have had extensive input, the people said. Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Jeff Flake of Arizona have both said they want Mr. Judge questioned by the F.B.I. The witness list did not extend to high school and
19/"college classmates who have said in interviews that Judge Kavanaugh drank heavily, including some who said he went beyond typical consumption. During Thursday’s hearing, he spoke of enjoying beer but said he did not drink to excess. “I drank beer with my friends,” he said.
20/"“Almost everyone did. Sometimes I had too many beers. Sometimes others did. I liked beer. I still like beer. But I did not drink beer to the point of blacking out,” he said. A Yale classmate of his who said they frequently drank together, Lynne Brookes, said after the hearing
21/"that he had “grossly misrepresented and mischaracterized his drinking.” She was roommates with Ms. Ramirez. Democrats raised concerns about the scope of the background check on Saturday..." excerpts, NYT, 9/29/18
