During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday morning, where female gymnasts testified about the abuse of convicted USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar and the FBI's failure to take their allegations seriously, Democrat Senator Sheldon Whitehouse used his time to go after Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
"It strikes me very strongly as we sit here today and as we heard the powerful testimony earlier this morning that the last time a woman came forward in this committee to testify to her allegations of sexual assault in her childhood. The witness was Christine Blasey Ford," Whitehouse said. " It appeared to me then, and it appears to me now that her testimony was swept under the rug in a confirmation stampede. It is very possible that the FBI investigation of her allegations was just as flawed, just as constrained, just as inappropriate as the investigation in this case. We don’t know. Because we don’t have answers."
But the facts show we do have answers, Whitehouse just doesn't like them.
During Kavanaugh's confirmation hearings in 2018, Senate investigators worked through dozens of allegations against him. None of them turned out to be true, including those from Ford. A 600-page report was released detailing the allegations and lack of evidence for the claims. In fact, a number of individuals were referred to the Department of Justice for criminal charges after lying to investigators, which is equivalent to lying to an FBI agent.
"After an extensive investigation that included the thorough review of all potentially credible evidence submitted and interviews of more than 40 individuals with information relating to the allegations, including classmates and friends of all those involved, Committee investigators found no witness who could provide any verifiable evidence to support any of the allegations brought against Justice Kavanaugh," the report states. "In other words, following the separate and extensive investigations by both the Committee and the FBI, there was no evidence to substantiate any of the claims of sexual assault made against Justice Kavanaugh."
Whitehouse's comparison of the investigation into Kavanaugh vs. the lack of investigation into Nassar is despicable and yet, typical behavior from the Rhode Island Senator. Instead of solely focusing on getting justice for the young women, who were girls at the time Nassar abused them, Whitehouse re-upped his sick, shameful and baseless obsession with Justice Kavanaugh.