The FBI's Probe Is Underway

The agency is already talking to Deborah Ramirez
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Sep 29, 2018 6:00 PM CDT
FBI Contacts Kavanaugh Classmate in Probe
Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh testifies during the Senate Judiciary Committee, Thursday, Sept. 27, 2018 on Capitol Hill in Washington.   (Tom Williams/Pool Image via AP)

The FBI has contacted Deborah Ramirez, who's accused Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct when he was a Yale student, as part of the bureau's investigation of the Supreme Court nominee, her attorney said Saturday. Ramirez's lawyer, John Clune, said agents want to interview her and she has agreed to cooperate, the AP reports. Ramirez has said Kavanaugh exposed himself to her at a party in the early 1980s when they were Yale students. President Donald Trump ordered the FBI on Friday to reopen Kavanaugh's background investigation after Senate leaders, urged on by Sen. Jeff Flake, agreed to delay a final vote on Kavanaugh's nomination to allow for a one-week FBI investigation. The FBI conducts background checks for federal nominees, but the agency does not make judgments on the credibility or significance of allegations.

The investigators will compile information about Kavanaugh's past and provide their findings to the White House and include the information in Kavanaugh's background file, which is available to senators. While the precise scope of the investigation remained unclear, Trump told reporters Saturday that "the FBI, as you know, is all over talking to everybody" and said "this could be a blessing in disguise." Kavanaugh's high school friend Mark Judge said Friday he will cooperate with any law enforcement agency that will "confidentially investigate" sexual misconduct allegations against him and Kavanaugh, per the New York Times. Julie Swetnick, who accused Kavanaugh and Judge of excessive drinking and inappropriate treatment of women in the early 1980s, has apparently not been contacted by the FBI but is willing to cooperate.

(More Brett Kavanaugh stories.)

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