A senior Republican senator has told reporters that the FBI investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct by Brett Kavanaugh could be wrapped up pretty quickly.
And by quickly, the senator meant either today or tomorrow, well within the one-week deadline deal that Senator Jeff Flake got suckered into.
Republicans concerned about the optics of an FBI probe wrapping up in such a short period of time may have had their fears allayed.
“I’ve ordered the FBI to conduct a supplemental investigation to update Judge Kavanaugh’s file,” President Trump announced on Friday. “As the Senate has requested, this update must be limited in scope and completed in less than one week.”
Less than one week, you say?
Sr Senate GOP source tells me they were told Kavanaugh FBI probe COULD be wrapped by tomorrow. But as to the Senate timeable, they said they’d have to talk w/Flake, Collins, Murkowski as to when they could forge ahead. Doubtful McConnell could move to end debate before Wed
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) October 1, 2018
CNN’s Dana Bash reported that a similar GOPer, if not the same one, cited a narrow scope of interviews as the reason the investigation could be completed rather quickly.
“3 key GOP Senators wanted the FBI to interview 4 people: PJ Smyth, Leland Keyser, Mark Judge & Deborah Ramirez,” she reported. “Senator tells me with that limit – FBI could be done by today or Tuesday.”
Or, you know, maybe it’s because they’ve already conducted six background checks on the man, turning up diddly squat, and it’d be fairly easy to breeze through a seventh?
Bash is acting like that is the only thing the FBI has to do for this investigation, apparently forgetting that Senator Lindsey Graham additionally requested that they look into which Democrats are responsible for leaking the accusation in the first place.
Meanwhile, Democrat lawmakers are doing their best to extend the investigation and delay the confirmation past the midterm elections.
While the GOP reasonably wants only the people cited as witnesses to the alleged assault of Christine Blasey Ford (all of whom have already denied any knowledge of the incident or the party it allegedly took place) to be questioned, Democrats want every tangential relationship involved.
9 Dem on Senate Judiciary Cmte (all Ds except @ChrisCoons) send Ltr to WH/FBI with a list of 24 people/entities they believe the FBI should interview as a part of their supplemental background investigation into allegations against Judge Kavanaugh: pic.twitter.com/nrTC8A1xA1
— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) October 1, 2018
So who is going to get their way?
It seems unlikely that the Republican senator would be correct in having this wrapped up on Monday or Tuesday. And it seems unlikely that the FBI is planning to interview every ancillary character the Democrats are trying to dig up.
President Trump has compromised, expanding the authority of the FBI to interview “anyone it deems necessary” while reiterating it’s contingent on “the review (being) finished by the end of the week.”
It should end now, in a fair and just world, and the vote taken immediately.
