Supporters of the women who have accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault hoped on Monday that President Donald Trump’s latest directive regarding an FBI probe into the allegations would result in a more effective investigation than had been expected earlier, following a press conference in which the president said the FBI should interview whomever it deemed necessary.
Trump’s comment opened up the possibility that leads that have thus far been ignored by authorities would now be followed.
Senate Democrats on Monday sent White House counsel Don McGahn and the FBI a list of two dozen people who they believe investigators should speak with, including Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, Kavanaugh’s accuser; the examiner who gave her a polygraph; friends of Ford; and others.
Asking investigators to thoroughly examine the allegations of all three women who have accused Kavanaugh, the lawmakers demanded that the FBI “perform all logical steps related to these allegations, including interviewing other individuals who might have relevant information.”
In his press conference, Trump told reporters that all three of the accusers—Ford, Deborah Ramirez, and Julie Swetnick—could be interviewed by the FBI, as well as Kavanaugh himself.
“The FBI should do what they have to do to get to the answer,” the president said.
Click Here: gws giants guernsey 2019
Over the weekend, the White House had sent conflicting messages regarding how much freedom the FBI would be given to examine the allegations of Ford, Ramirez, and Swetnick.
Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders shared a statement from Trump on Friday that explicitly called for a probe that would be “limited in scope and completed in less than one week,” only to have Trump say a day later that he wanted the FBI “to interview whoever they deem appropriate, at their discretion.”
The president’s statement on Monday, and a call from White House General Counsel Don McGahn to the FBI, made the latter directive official.
SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT