President Trump declared Tuesday he is not considering replacements for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh as sexual misconduct allegations continue to throw his confirmation process into tumult.
When asked by reporters in the Oval Office Friday if Trump had considered a replacement, he replied, “Not even a little bit.”
Three women have publicly alleged Kavanaugh sexually assaulted them to varying degrees while he was in high school and college.
The first of those women, Christine Blasey Ford, and Kavanaugh testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday to discuss her claim that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her at a high school party in 1982. – READ MORE
[divider][/divider]It’s been suggested that if Kavanaugh has nothing to hide he would be open to such an investigation. It didn’t appear that he himself is opposed per se to such an investigation — he said he would do what the Committee wanted — but he also didn’t say the magic words “open an FBI investigation.”
That aside, there are certainly political and practical reasons for Republican lawmakers not to pursue the FBI option, according to an FBI expert familiar with a Single Scope Background Investigation (SSBI).
Andrew Bringuel, a now-retired FBI Agent Supervisor Instructor and Researcher at the FBI Academy’s Behavioral Science Unit with more than 27 years of experience, told Law&Crime that SSBIs like the one being requested by Democratic lawmakers take a while. The typical one takes 7 months.
“The reason GOP and Kavanaugh might not want an FBI Investigation is because a typical SSBI takes 7 months,” he explained. “Even expedited it may take more than a month or two, which of course drags into the mid-terms.”
Let’s do the math. If an FBI investigation were to be opened today and it took 7 months, that’s the end of April 2019. Well after the mid-terms, and fast approaching 2020.
If it took “more than a month or two,” indeed this drags into the mid-terms, after which time the vote on Kavanaugh might very well be even more in jeopardy. – READ MORE
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