On the evening of the 3rd of October 2018, it has been reported by several news outlets that the FBI has completed the very limited extended background check into the history of Judge Brett Kavanaugh early years. The report is supposed to be secret.

As I’ve previously surmised, we cannot expect the republican FBI Director Chris Wray and the US Department of Justice Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to buck White House direction of the investigation. One reason is that different rules apply to background checks than to independent investigations. The FBI is obligated to act at the direction of the White House and there has been ample leaking that the FBI agents were severely hampered in who they could interview by Judge Kavanaugh’s good friend and the White House Counsel Don McGahn. He has already resigned as White House Counsel pending the completion of this one mission, that of catapulting his close friend to a seat on the US supreme Court. While the FBI agents were given reign to make contact with 6- 9 people which was an improvement over the original four, they didn’t interview at least 40 witnesses who had wanted to provide data to the FBI and who were in a position to provide crucial data.

To Director Wray and the Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein, Judge Brett Kavanaugh is not merely the target of an FBI investigation. He is a longtime colleague, political ally and perhaps even friend. The three men have known each other for decades, working closely on the shared mission of advancing conservative judicial and policy goals. We simply cannot expect these two FBI/ DOJ officials to block the advancement of their fellow conservative and longtime colleague Judge Kavanaugh to the highest court in the land.

Even Dr. Christine Blasey Ford who testified at the 9/27/18 US Senate Judiciary hearing about how she had been allegedly sexually assaulted by Judge Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge during their high school years, was never interviewed even though she had wanted to do so. It is only logical that she had important details to share that she did not feel comfortable to say at the very public hearing. In addition, the FBI agents were expressly directed not to delve into Judge Kavanaugh’s drinking history.

In short, the FBI probe was done at the most minimal levels to give cover to republican lawmakers that an investigation was done even though the FBI agents were barred from doing an adequate background check and everyone involved is well aware of this to where the republican President Donald Trump felt free to personally mock and attack the credibility of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford at a recent campaign rally, which was met by laughter and chanting from the crowd.

The US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell feels so confident with this FBI report that he has announced the scheduling of the final senate vote for around the 5th- 6th of October 2018.

This historic vote is being scheduled in the midst of widespread protests by those against the confirmation of Judge Kavanaugh, which the Senate Leader McConnell did take to the floor to publicly decry as reprehensible behaviors by the opposition.

Frankly, Senator McConnell needs to get outside of his bubble. His lawmakers can’t continue to hide, not conduct town hall meetings, not answer their phones and then foolishly think that they don’t have to face their constituents.

As per the October 4. 2018 Wall Street Journal report, “The White House has found no corroboration of the allegations of sexual misconduct against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh after examining interview reports from the FBI’s latest probe into the judge’s background, according to people familiar with the matter.”

The 10/4/18 Washington Post publication is reporting on 2:30 am tweets by a White House Spokes person, Raj Shah,  “The early-morning tweets from Shah appeared to confirm a Wall Street Journal article posted several hours earlier indicating that the White House had found no evidence in the FBI report corroborating accusations of sexual misconduct against the nominee.”

“Democrats, along with attorneys and other advocates for Kavanaugh’s accusers, cried foul, saying the investigation was not designed to ferret out the facts but rather to give Republicans cover to force the nomination through. Republicans countered that Democrats were interested only in delaying the process.”

Here’s the rest of the story…

On October 3, 2018, Matt Zapotosky, Robert O’Harrow Jr., Tom Hamberger and Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post penned the following report, “As FBI background check of Kavanaugh nears its end, probe appears to have been highly curtailed.”

Excerpts:

“The FBI background check of Brett M. Kavanaugh appeared to remain curtailed in its scope Wednesday even as agents neared the end of their work, opening up the possibility that the bureau would again face criticism over what some will view as a lackluster investigation.”

“Though complete details of the FBI’s findings had yet to be released Wednesday evening, the bureau’s inquiry seems to have focused mostly on an allegation by a California professor who claims Kavanaugh assaulted her decades ago at a party in Maryland, when both were high school students.”

“The Washington Post has been able to confirm interviews with only six witnesses, five of whom have a connection to the professor or her allegation.”(Four of them have a vested interest in backing Judge Kavanaugh’s version of events.)

“The investigation was always unlikely to answer definitively whether Kavanaugh was guilty of sexual misconduct decades ago. But the probe’s limited scope — which was dictated by the White House, along with a Friday deadline — is likely to exacerbate the partisan tensions surrounding Kavanaugh’s nomination.”

“Even before the probe had ended, several people who claimed to have information that could be useful said they ended up mired in bureaucracy when they tried to get in touch with the FBI. Democrats also cried foul over what they saw as inappropriate parameters.”

“The White House and the FBI have treated each other warily throughout the process, people familiar with the matter said. Both sides were mindful that their written communications might one day be subject to subpoena, particularly if Democrats take control of the House of Representatives in next month’s midterm elections, the people said.”

“President Trump has insisted publicly he was not curtailing the FBI probe. But privately, the White House restricted the FBI from delving deeply into Kavanaugh’s youthful drinking and exploring whether he had lied to Congress about his alcohol use, according to officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter.”

“Some of those involved in the case complained that the bureau did not follow leads that were offered to it.”

“The FBI, for example, interviewed Deborah Ramirez, who accused Kavanaugh of exposing his penis to her at a gathering when both were college students at Yale, and Ramirez’s team provided agents with more than 20 people who might have information relevant to her claims. But as of Wednesday, Ramirez’s team had no indication that the bureau had interviewed any of them.”

“The FBI also did not interview Christine Blasey Ford, her legal team said. The legal team said Ford was willing to turn over to the bureau notes from therapy sessions in which she described the assault.”

Link to entire report: As FBI background check of Kavanaugh nears its end