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Report says Trump White House obstructed FBI probe into allegations against Kavanaugh

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The Trump administration did not allow the FBI to conduct a full-scale investigation into the sexual misconduct allegations against Brett Kavanaugh that threatened his Supreme Court confirmation, according to a new report, disputing then-President Donald Trump’s public claims at the time.

The reportreleased Tuesday by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., six years after he launched a Senate inquiry, says that the Trump administration “exercised total control over the scope of the investigation” and prevented the FBI from interviewing certain witnesses and following leads. As a result, the probe into the allegations against Kavanaugh was “flawed and incomplete” and “unworthy of reliance by the Senate,” the report says.

Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the court in 2018 had been in jeopardy due to allegations of sexual misconduct by Christine Blasey Ford, Deborah Ramirez and Julie Swetnickwhich he denied. The FBI launched a supplemental investigation into the claims after Kavanaugh and Ford testified separately before the Senate Judiciary Committee and prior to the Senate vote on his confirmation.

The FBI concluded at the time that there was “no corroboration of the allegations made by Dr. Ford or Ms. Ramirez.” (Swetnick’s allegation was not included in its investigation.) Kavanaugh was ultimately narrowly confirmed to the high court.

The Senate report is a damning rebuke to the Trump administration’s insistence that it gave the FBI “free rein” to conduct the investigation into the allegations. Trump said at the time that he wanted the agency “to interview whoever they deem appropriate, at their discretion.” The findings corroborate reporting over the years that Trump officials worked to hamstring the investigation.

According to the new Senate report, the Trump administration not only “kneecap[ed] FBI investigators’ ability to adequately investigate those allegations, but the lack of transparency misled the Senate and the public about the investigation’s thoroughness.”

The Senate inquiry’s yearslong review comes so belatedly because of a lack of cooperation from the executive branch, Whitehouse said. The Trump administration stonewalled the Senate investigation and, although the Biden administration was more cooperative, the senator said “investigators still struggled to secure direct answers to written questions, faced considerable delays in receiving answers to those questions, and often received incomplete answers or answers that fully ignored lines of inquiry.”

The FBI didn’t comment on the Senate report to CNNbut told the outlet that it “follows a long-standing, established process through which the scope of the investigation is limited to what is requested.”

Kavanaugh did not respond to The Washington Post’s request for comment sent to the Supreme Court. A spokesperson for Sen. Chuck Grassley, who chaired the Judiciary Committee for the confirmation, told BLN that the report “doesn’t offer any legitimate, substantive new ground.”

Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told Axios that the report is “another attempt to delegitimize the Supreme Court.” Ford’s attorneys, on the other hand, told Axios that the report confirmed the “sham effort directed by the Trump White House to silence brave victims and other witnesses who came forward and to hide the truth.”

Clarissa-Jan Lim

Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking/trending news blogger for BLN Digital. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.

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Hageman launches bid for Wyoming Senate seat

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Wyoming GOP Rep. Harriet Hageman on Tuesday announced her campaign for Senate, hoping to succeed retiring Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis in next year’s election.

The Wyoming Republican is a strong supporter of President Donald Trump, and with his backing she helped oust Republican then-Rep. Liz Cheney, a vocal critic of Trump’s, in the 2022 primary.

“This fight is about making sure the next century sees the advancements of the last, while protecting our culture and our way of life,” Hageman said in her launch video. “We must dedicate ourselves to ensuring that the next 100 years is the next great American century.”

Lummis announced she would not seek reelection last week, saying she felt like a “sprinter in a marathon” despite being a “devout legislator.” Hageman, who had been debating a gubernatorial bid, was expected to enter the Senate race.

Hageman touted her ties to the president in her announcement video, highlighting her record of support for Trump’s policies during her time in the House and vowing to keep Wyoming a “leader in energy and food production.”

“I worked with President Trump to pass 46 billion in additional funding for border security, while ensuring that Wyomingites do not pay the cost of new immigration. We work together to secure the border and fund efforts to remove and deport those in the country illegally,” she said.

Trump won the deep-red state by nearly 46 points in last year’s election, and Hageman herself was reelected by nearly 48 points, according to exit polling.

Still, Hageman bore the brunt of voters’ displeasure earlier this year during a town hall. As she spoke of the Department of Government Efficiency, federal cuts and Social Security, the crowd booed her.

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Ben Sasse says he has stage 4 pancreatic cancer

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Former Sen. Ben Sasse announced on Tuesday that he has been diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic pancreatic cancer.

The Nebraska Republican shared the news on X, writing in a lengthy social media post that he had received the diagnosis last week.

“Advanced pancreatic is nasty stuff; it’s a death sentence,” Sasse said. “But I already had a death sentence before last week too — we all do.”

The two term senator retired in 2023 and then went on to serve as president of the University of Florida. He eventually left the school to spend more time with his wife, Melissa, after she was diagnosed with epilepsy.

Sasse continued to teach classes at University of Florida’s Hamilton Center after he stepped down as president. He previously served as a professor at the University of Texas, as an assistant secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services and as president of Midland University.

Sasse on Tuesday shared that he and his wife have only grown closer since and opened up about his children’s recent successes and milestones.

“There’s not a good time to tell your peeps you’re now marching to the beat of a faster drummer — but the season of advent isn’t the worst,” Sasse said. “As a Christian, the weeks running up to Christmas are a time to orient our hearts toward the hope of what’s to come.”

Sasse said he’ll have more to share in the future, adding that he is “not going down without a fight” and will be undergoing treatment.

“Death and dying aren’t the same — the process of dying is still something to be lived. We’re zealously embracing a lot of gallows humor in our house, and I’ve pledged to do my part to run through the irreverent tape,” Sasse said.

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Cannon keeps Jack Smith’s classified records report under wraps for now

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Cannon keeps Jack Smith’s classified records report under wraps for now

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon on Monday lifted restrictions on the release of former special counsel Jack Smith’s findings from his investigation into President Trump’s handling of classified records — but she gave the president a 60-day window to challenge her order. Cannon did not immediately lift her order barring the Justice Department from sharing…
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