AMAC Exclusive Seamus Brennan
Nearly three years after the most ruthless and disgraceful Supreme Court confirmation process in American history, Democrats and the media are still waging war on Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Even though their attempt to smear Kavanaugh as a serial rapist has been exposed as a fraudulent and politically motivated attempt to keep him off the Court, the media now appears to be doubling down.
On July 22, the New York Times published a report on the FBI’s handling of tips they received regarding Kavanaugh’s past, specifically noting that the most “relevant” information received by the FBI was “referred to White House lawyers in the Trump administration.” The report, which details a June 30 letter from the FBI to two Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, seeks to manufacture the narrative that Kavanaugh’s confirmation process was illegitimate because information regarding his background investigation was relayed to the White House.
“The letter left uncertain whether the F.B.I. itself followed up on the most compelling leads,” the Times reported. “In addition to offering shows of support, the Trump White House carefully controlled the investigations into Mr. Kavanaugh’s past. After Dr. Ford came forward, Mr. Trump’s staff tried to limit the number of people the F.B.I. interviewed as part of that probe. Only after an outcry from Democrats over the president’s approach did the administration say the agency could conduct a more open investigation.”
The Times’s account of the Kavanaugh investigation is not only misleading and conspicuous in its omission of key details that would have helped to absolve both the Trump legal team and Justice Kavanaugh—it also marks a continuation of the left’s relentless crusade to smear and discredit conservative Supreme Court Justices.
The report excludes the key fact that the FBI’s investigation had always been intended to be limited in time and scope: members of both parties agreed that the investigation would last only one week and would consist only of “current” and “credible” allegations made against then-Judge Kavanaugh. Former Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) told CNN during the heart of the confirmation process that the “compromise” he struck with Senator Chris Coons (D-DE) and the Democrats was based on the understanding that “we would have something limited by time” that would not open the door to additional “outlandish” allegations being made.
Additionally, information that the FBI received through its tip line was made available to every Member of Congress prior to Kavanaugh’s confirmation vote. As CNN reported, the FBI’s report to Congress included “not only the interview summaries but also information that came in to the FBI’s tip line.” Mike Davis, who served as Senator Chuck Grassley’s (R-IA) chief counsel for nominations during the Kavanaugh vetting process, assured the National Review that “every senator had full access to read those things if they wanted to,” stating that “if there was anything that caught their attention, they could have flagged it for further investigation.”
Given these facts, the Times’ and the left’s not-so-subtle implication that the Trump White House possessed FBI information that delegitimized Kavanaugh is preposterous. In reality, the FBI’s interviews and investigative inquiries helped to clear Kavanaugh’s name, and all accusations against him have been debunked—something the left-wing media complex has stubbornly refused to accept from the very beginning.
The media’s latest series of attacks against Kavanaugh is not occurring in a vacuum: for months, the left has been amplifying their efforts to stifle and intimidate conservative justices in hopes of keeping them in line. Earlier this year, Amazon removed, without explanation, a documentary about Justice Clarence Thomas from their platform. In 2020, as the Supreme Court was hearing an abortion-related case, then-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer threatened two Trump-appointed justices by name in an unprecedented attack on judicial independence: “I want to tell you, Gorsuch. I want to tell you, Kavanaugh. You have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price!” A Democrat Congressman who co-sponsored a court-packing bill this spring issued a more veiled, but equally disconcerting, threat against conservative justices: “The Court needs to know that the people are watching,” he warned.
As the high court prepares to hear hot-button cases on abortion and Second Amendment rights this fall, attacks like the Times’ Kavanaugh hit piece are hardly surprising. Justice Kavanaugh courageously resisted the left’s intimidation campaign during his contemptible 2018 confirmation process. Conservatives must hope that now that he is on the Court, he shows the same firmness and fortitude in defense of our Constitution.