The FBI is reportedly only interviewing four witnesses for its probe into Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. But it's not for other witnesses' lack of trying.
Several people who once knew Kavanaugh or Mark Judge, the man Christine Blasey Ford alleged was in the room when Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her, have tried to talk to the FBI, The New Yorker reports. Yet despite emails, phone calls, and even in-person visits to FBI offices, they haven't been interviewed.
Kavanaugh's confirmation proceedings were delayed Friday when Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) called for a week-long investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against the nominee. The FBI has since specified it will interview Judge, Patrick Smyth, Leland Keyser, and Deborah Ramirez. Ford said Smyth and Keyser were at the 1982 party where she was assaulted, and Ramirez was a Yale classmate of Kavanaugh's who also accused him of assault.
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Judge previously denied any memory of the alleged incident, but his former girlfriend Elizabeth Rasor has doubts about his credibility. She'd like to testify to the FBI that Judge told her he once gang raped a drunk woman — an allegation Judge denies — she tells The New Yorker. But her lawyer's emails to the FBI have gone unanswered, and one bureau official even reportedly recommended she call an 800-number tip line.
Another witness, Kavanaugh's Yale classmate Chad Ludington, was turned away from the FBI's D.C. office. Instead, he'll drive to the FBI's Raleigh, North Carolina, field office to share his account of Kavanaugh's "belligerent aggressive" drunkenness in college, he tells The New York Times. Even Ford, whose allegation sparked the entire controversy, hasn't heard back from the FBI, her lawyer told The New Yorker.
A White House spokesman attributed any limitations to Senate Democrats' attempts to "further delay and politicize" Kavanaugh's proceedings. Read more at The New Yorker.
