A neutered FBI investigation into the accusations against Brett Kavanaugh’s wasn’t going to fly with a big portion of the country and today Senator Jeff Flake seemed to agree. At an event in Boston, he said, “It does no good to have an investigation that just gives us more cover.”
Sen. Flake on Kavanaugh FBI investigation:
"It does no good to have an investigation that just gives us more cover … We actually need to find out what we can find out." pic.twitter.com/ONUTAAPezl
— NBC News (@NBCNews) October 1, 2018
In a news conference Monday Trump also said:
“Let the Senate decide, whatever they want to do is okay with me and also the FBI. I think the FBI should do what they have to do to get to the answer.”
Whether that means Trump was already informed that just having the FBI speak to a handful of handpicked witnesses wasn’t going to cut it isn’t clear. What we do know is that a short time later several news organizations said the scope of the investigation had indeed been expanded.
NEW: Two sources tell @PeterAlexander and me that the WH has authorized the FBI to expand its investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against Brett Kavanaugh by interviewing anyone it deems necessary as long as the review is finished by Friday. @nytimes first reported
— Geoff Bennett (@GeoffRBennett) October 1, 2018
The revised White House instruction amounted to a risky bet that the F.B.I. will not find anything new in the next four days that could change the public view of the allegations. Republicans have resisted an open-ended investigation that could head in unpredictable directions. But the limited time frame could minimize the danger even as it heightens the likelihood that F.B.I. interviews do not resolve the conflicting accounts.
Still no word on whether Julie Swetnik will now get a chance to tell her story to the FBI. USA Today writes:
In a sworn statement released last week, Swetnick alleged that she witnessed attempts by Kavanaugh and his Georgetown Preparatory School classmate, Mark Judge, to get teenage girls “inebriated and disoriented so they could then be ‘gang raped‘ in a side room or bedroom by a ‘train’ of numerous boys.”
Swetnick said she was a victim of one of the gang rapes, but she did not allege that Kavanaugh or Judge attacked her. Kavanaugh has flatly denied the allegations and said he doesn’t know Swetnick.
As of this morning, Swetnick’s lawyer Michael Avenatti said she still had not been able to communicate with investigators. The Hill reports:
Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter on Monday to White House counsel Don McGahn and FBI Director Christopher Wray including a list of potential witnesses for the FBI’s investigation.
“The Committee has received serious allegations from two other women – Deborah Ramirez and Julie Swetnick. These three women have come forward at great personal risk, identified themselves by name, submitted written allegations to the Committee, and requested an FBI investigation,” Democrats wrote.