Kavanaugh categorically and unequivocally denied the allegations, which both involved him being drunk.
Whitehouse chairs the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Federal Courts.
This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.
Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh shakes hands with then-President Donald Trump during Kavanaugh’s ceremonial swearing in at the White House on October 08, 2018 in Washington, D.C.Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
The Republicans tried to ignore it completely, but one senator wouldnt put up with that.
So the FBI was tasked to go back and do a supplemental background investigation to look into the allegations.
And she and Kavanaugh were brought in for a hearing to give their testimony.
How was this new FBI probe supposed to get to the bottom of things?
There were a number of people who came forward with stories about wildly inappropriate activities by Kavanaugh.
So free rein and by the book was the promise.
What was the reality of the process?
Free rein was false.
Instead of free rein, the FBI had no freedom at all.
It was specifically directed by the White House as to every iota of the investigation.
The rules are simply: Do what the White House tells you.
The end result youve described as a sham.
Can you put some texture to that?
They ended up with an investigation that was badly flawed.
And those flaws turned up in two very specific respects that we found in the report.
One was that the FBI was directed not to pursue any corroborating evidence, only direct evidence.
What would that exclude?
It corroborates the direct evidence.
And the other flaw had to do with the tip line.
This is almost unbelievable.
We were told that they would set up a tip line for Kavanaugh.
And what we found is that, in fact, they did not.
FBI has the general tip line that it runs 24/7.
And they waited for a signal from the White House to proceed, and they never got a signal.
They never investigated a single tip that came through that so-called tip line.
So the so-called tip line was a fake.
What was the political effect of this, of this sham report that youre describing?
The political effect was that it gave cover to Republicans to vote for this guy.
They could tell their voters at home, Dont worry.
The FBI looked into this.
They even let people even send in tips over their tip line.
Thats the story that the public was told.
And every piece of it was propped on a pillar of falsehood.
Help me understand why were only getting the full picture six years later.
Youve pursued this to the bitter end.
Why is it so important?
Time has gone by.
Physical evidence is lost.
Electronic evidence is lost.
Or they could kill the deal on a Supreme Court justice who their big donors were clamoring for.
And they chose to cheat to terminate the deal.
