Democratic Senator Claims, Without Evidence, That The FBI Ran ‘Fake’ Kavanaugh Tip Line During Confirmation Battle
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D., R.I.) accused the FBI of running a bogus tip line while investigating allegations of sexual misconduct against Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the latest in a sequence of serious but unsubstantiated claims the Rhode Island Democrat has made about Kavanaugh and his confirmation process.
The senator spoke Wednesday by Zoom to an Ohio chapter of the American Constitution Society (ACS), a progressive judicial group. Three attendees told the Washington Free Beacon that Whitehouse twice asserted that the FBI operated a "fake" tip line while purporting to investigate the justice.
Mike Davis, formerly a top lawyer to then-Judiciary Committee chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa), denied any such wrongdoing on the part of the FBI. Davis now leads an outside group that supports President Donald Trump's judicial nominees.
"Senator Whitehouse needs to get his head checked," Davis told the Free Beacon. "Like all other senators, Whitehouse had access to the FBI's printed reports with detailed summaries of the tips it received. These FBI reports were provided to the Senate as part of the FBI's supplement (7th) background investigation of Justice Kavanaugh's character and fitness over his 25+ years in public service."
The ACS told the Free Beacon that video of the event will not be available, and the senator's office did not reply to the Free Beacon‘s requests for comment. The FBI declined to comment.
The accusation is the latest in a series of serious claims or questions Whitehouse has raised about Kavanaugh, sometimes obliquely, without clear evidence.
Whitehouse himself was a conduit for at least one false allegation of misconduct congressional investigators reviewed. The senator's office relayed a tip from a constituent, Jeffrey Catalan, that accused Kavanaugh of assaulting an unnamed woman on a boat in Newport, prompting a physical altercation.
The witness later recanted and admitted the tip was fabricated. Committee Republicans referred him to the Justice Department for prosecution, as lying to congressional investigators is a federal crime. Whitehouse said Catalan was owed an apology.
https://freebeacon.com/democrats/democratic-senator-claims-without-evidence-that-the-fbi-ran-fake-kavanaugh-tip-line-during-confirmation-battle/