The Biden Administration and All Things Politics

[Al-O-Meter]

We Now Know What the FBI Did With the 4,500 Kavanaugh Tips It Collected in 2018

The FBI has finally answered a series of questions asked years ago.

slate.com

The parts they leave out of this story are that the FBI had no responsibility or power to investigate any of these tips. The involvement of the FBI was a courtesy that was strictly limited in scope by the Senate to exactly 1 week and limited by the Senate to only to providing additional background on the claims already made when the fact finding started. The FBI was forbidden from investigation by constraints put on them by the Senate. Furthermore, the Office of White House Councel also had no responsibility to investigate any of this.

The ONLY party with a responsibility to investigate was the Senate themselves. The Senate is empowered to conduct investigations. They don’t need to pass investigations to the FBI. They can empanel investigators and issue subpoenas. Not only did the Senate have the power and the responsibility for any investigation, but the FBI gave the Senate all 4,500 tips collected on the FBI tip line before they voted! All 100 Senators had access to this information back in 2018 as was reported at the time!

There is nothing new in any of this for this story to have captured the attention of the media. If I had to guess, this is a P.R. push to set up an effort to impeach Kavanaugh and replace him with a Biden nominee. This could be the theme of the 2022 Senate races, and it is possible it is being initiated by either side. Many believe it was the death of Scalia in 2016 and the left’s efforts to fill his seat with a more left-minded juror that drove conservative turnout in that election. This threat to Kavanaugh’s seat could be a DNC or an RNC creation although the involvement of Senator Sheldon Whitehouse suggests it is coming from the left.

 

[Avery]

The seeds are already being planted not to trust the 2022 elections or any election for that matter if you don't win.

 

[Avery]

My wife and I are doing pretty good too. Utah’s state leadership has handled the pandemic relatively well.

I think Cox has - the legislature has strong-armed him a bit with some of the goofy timelines and no mask mandates in schools simply to create agendas vs. any scientific reasoning, but I have no problems with him yet.

 

[One Brow]

Carry on, doing you then. Take sides.

Of course. Sometimes there is a clear side to take, and when I see what I consider to be a clear side to take, I do so.

 

[One Brow]

It isn't a mystery. I don't make statements that would apply to a granularity smaller than the data I had. I have no idea why 100 million people distrust authority or aren't more afraid of SARS-CoV-2.

The data is easily obtainable, and it's been studied for decades.

 

[One Brow]

The parts they leave out of this story are that the FBI had no responsibility or power to investigate any of these tips.

I'm sure you think you are making some sort of relevant points with this and the following sentences, but was it really about something other people disagreed with?

 

[Al-O-Meter]

The data is easily obtainable, and it's been studied for decades.

Information on why people aren't more afraid of SARS-CoV-2 has been studied for decades? Sure One Brow.

 

[Red]

All 100 Senators had access to this information back in 2018 as was reported at the time!

Well, yeah, technically….I would have liked to know which tips the FBI felt were relevant, and said relevant tips that they had indicated were relevant to White House Counsel, and I also likely needed a photographic memory to gain a useable understanding of what I was being provided…. The senators did not have access to the information that the FBI singled out as to what it considered the “relevant tips”. So, I do not consider that full access. The senators were left to guess which were the most relevant tips, without taking notes, and without even realizing the White House knew which tips the FBI found relevant, or that the FBI had even done such an analysis to identify which of the 4500 hundred tips were relevant. Hard to say they actually had access to the subset of tips considered “relevant” by the FBI when the senators don’t even know such a subset exists, and must examine all 4500 without being allowed to take notes!

FBI says it got more than 4,500 tips on Kavanaugh, providing 'relevant' ones to White House

The FBI disclosed that it received more than 4,500 tips on a phone line in 2018 as part of a background investigation into then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and provided "relevant" ones to former President Donald Trump's White House counsel.

www.cnn.com

A Democratic Senate staffer affiliated with Judiciary Committee acknowledged that the entire universe of tips was provided to senators at the time but that until the letter from the FBI last month, the senators were unaware that the FBI had engaged in a process to determine which tips were relevant. The staffer said that instead of providing the Senate with the FBI’s analysis of the relevant tips, the White House sent all the tips to the senators who were only able to read them in a secure room without the benefit of taking notes.

 

[Red]

This threat to Kavanaugh’s seat could be a DNC or an RNC creation although the involvement of Senator Sheldon Whitehouse suggests it is coming from the left.

Yes, led by one of my state’s senators. I have always really appreciated the guy. He leads the fight against “dark money”in our politics and elections. I enjoy his weekly climate change talks, even though they address a largely empty chamber, more often than not. And, I think he’s just still attempting to keep a promise he made in 2018 in this particular matter. Good. Here he is making that promise:

 

[Al-O-Meter]

I do not consider that full access...the senators who were only able to read them in a secure room without the benefit of taking notes.

This is all true, but it is worth noting the restricting of these documents to a secure room with no allowed note taking was not dictated by the FBI, the DOJ, or the President. These were rules put in place by the Senate themselves, and even that can't be blamed on the Republicans because those rules were set in place by a bipartisan agreement in 2009 during the confirmation process for Sonia Sotomayor.

Inside the secure room where senators saw the secret FBI report on Brett Kavanaugh

Throughout the day, senators walked into a secure room in the basement of the Capitol Visitor Center to read the 46-page FBI report.

www.usatoday.com

 

[One Brow]

Information on why people aren't more afraid of SARS-CoV-2 has been studied for decades? Sure One Brow.

You think SARS-CoV2 is that different from other medical interventions? Get real.

 

[Red]

This is all true, but it is worth noting the restricting of these documents to a secure room with no allowed note taking was not dictated by the FBI, the DOJ, or the President. These were rules put in place by the Senate themselves, and even that can't be blamed on the Republicans because those rules were set in place by a bipartisan agreement in 2009 during the confirmation process for Sonia Sotomayor.

Inside the secure room where senators saw the secret FBI report on Brett Kavanaugh

Throughout the day, senators walked into a secure room in the basement of the Capitol Visitor Center to read the 46-page FBI report.

www.usatoday.com

So, they kneecapped themselves on that one. Still, I don’t think Sen. Whitehouse was out of line with his promise to Ford, and I don’t think he’s out of line now. I can blame White House counsel for not telling senators which of the 4500 tips the FBI had deemed relevant, and that such a subset of the 4500 did exist. It does not take much imagination on my part as to why White House counsel McGahn would not volunteer that info, however. And it’s part of what made the hearings a sham I should think…..