Schumer’s FBI Ploy The Democratic demand for a bureau probe is one more delaying tactic.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/schumers-fbi-ploy-1537313532
Democrats have succeeded in delaying a vote on Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination until the Senate holds a public hearing with him and his accuser scheduled for Monday, but they’re still not happy. Now they don’t even want to hold that hearing until the FBI investigates the alleged sexual assault that happened when the two were in high school.
“The FBI conducted a background check on Judge Kavanaugh before these allegations were known,” Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Monday on the Senate floor. “It is now the FBI’s responsibility to investigate these claims, update the analysis to Judge Kavanaugh’s background, and report back to the Senate.”
Other Democrats have picked up the same chant since Senator Dianne Feinstein announced last week that she had forwarded to the FBI a letter that accuser Christine Ford had written to her. Both Senators know this isn’t the role that the FBI plays in nominations, and their demand shows that their real motive here is further delay.
The FBI doesn’t conduct criminal investigations into nominees, especially not into an alleged incident that would not have been a violation of a federal statute. State law would be at issue. That’s why the FBI responded to Ms. Feinstein’s statement last week by saying it had no plans to conduct a criminal probe and merely added Ms. Ford’s letter to Judge Kavanaugh’s background file.
The purpose of a background check is to interview people about the character and qualifications of a nominee. The FBI makes no judgments about the veracity of the people it interviews, and its role isn’t to issue a judgment about the nominee. The FBI simply compiles information that is then submitted to the White House.
If the nomination is for a judgeship confirmable by the Senate, then the White House will forward that information to the Senate Judiciary Committee. If there is an allegation of some kind, the Senate staff will typically follow up with the accuser and the nominee and present the information to Senators, who then make their own judgment as part of their advice and consent power.
The preposterous circumstance in this case is that Senator Feinstein withheld Ms. Ford’s accusations for six weeks from Republicans and the White House. Ms. Feinstein could have turned over Ms. Ford’s letter to the FBI immediately, yet now Democrats are demanding a further delay so the FBI can do what the Senators can do for themselves—which is to interview the nominee and his accuser.
Republicans have invited Mr. Kavanaugh and Ms. Ford to appear on Monday, Mr. Kavanaugh says he’ll show up anywhere or anytime to deny the accusation. Yet by our deadline Tuesday Ms. Ford’s lawyer was still declining to say if her client would appear. Democratic staffers were also refusing to cooperate with Republicans on a schedule to conduct phone calls with Ms. Ford, Judge Kavanaugh, and any relevant witnesses. Such follow-up phone calls are standard procedure after an FBI background check has been completed.
All of this underscores that the main Democratic goal is to delay a confirmation vote past the November election. That would spare Democrats running for re-election in Donald Trump states from having to take a difficult confirmation vote. If Democrats take the Senate majority, they’ll then insist on no vote until the new Senate convenes in January.
Republicans have already created more danger for themselves and Judge Kavanaugh by agreeing to a hearing that Democrats will turn into a #MeToo spectacle. They should tell Ms. Ford and Democrats that if she doesn’t want to show up on Monday, they will move to a confirmation vote post-haste.
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