The Daily Fuckup

A Senate Judiciary Subcommittee report released Oct. 8 says the Trump White House, not the FBI, controlled the supplemental background investigation into sexual-misconduct allegations against Brett Kavanaugh. The report says President Donald Trump repeatedly claimed the bureau had “free rein” and could interview whomever it deemed appropriate, but those statements were not true. ([whitehouse.senate.gov](https://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/news/release/whitehouse-unveils-report-examining-failures-of-supplemental-background-investigation-of-justice-brett-kavanaugh/))

The report says the White House limited the inquiry to narrow, limited interviews and directed which witnesses the FBI could contact. It says the bureau was not authorized to interview Ford or Kavanaugh, did not follow leads it was not cleared to pursue, and forwarded thousands of tips to the White House without investigating them. The report also says there were no standard FBI procedures for supplemental background checks of this kind, despite public assurances that the process was being handled “by the book.” ([whitehouse.senate.gov](https://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/KavanaughReport_final.pdf))

In the report’s telling, the problem was not that the FBI somehow overreached. It was that the Trump White House used a special background-check process to keep the scope tight, limit corroborating evidence, and give the Senate a review that looked fuller from the outside than it was in practice. The report concludes that the supplemental investigation was unreliable because the White House exercised near-total control over it. ([whitehouse.senate.gov](https://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/KavanaughReport_final.pdf))

That leaves Trump’s old talking point in rough shape. The report quotes his October 2018 remarks as claiming the FBI had “free rein” and full discretion. It then says the paper trail shows the opposite: step-by-step direction from the White House, restricted interviews, and a review shaped from the top down. For anyone still relying on Trump’s account as proof the process was open-ended, the Senate report says otherwise in plain terms. ([whitehouse.senate.gov](https://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/news/release/whitehouse-unveils-report-examining-failures-of-supplemental-background-investigation-of-justice-brett-kavanaugh/))