The legal team said Ford was willing to turn over to the bureau notes from therapy sessions in which she described the assault. Ford is the California professor whose public testimony about a high school gathering at which she said Kavanaugh forced her onto a bed and groped her helped spark the background check in the first place. The FBI also did not interview Christine Blasey Ford, her legal team said. But as of Wednesday, Ramirez’s team had no indication that the bureau had interviewed any of them. 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. Some of those involved in the case complained that the bureau did not follow leads that were offered to it. 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. President Trump has insisted publicly he was not curtailing the FBI probe. 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. The White House and the FBI have treated each other warily throughout the process, people familiar with the matter said. Democrats also cried foul over what they saw as inappropriate parameters the White House seemed to be imposing on the bureau. 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.Įven before the probe had concluded, 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. The investigation was always unlikely to answer definitively whether Kavanaugh was guilty of sexual misconduct decades ago. 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. 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 FBI background check of Brett 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.
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