On Friday, Donald Trump authorized another FBI investigation into Brett Kavanaugh. I think the investigation still falls under the “background check” umbrella, and I’ve been thinking a lot about FBI background checks and who the FBI speaks to when they’re conducting them. I’ve given statements, over the phone, to the FBI as part of someone else’s background check, and honestly, it’s not like those checks are the most thorough and detailed things in the world. My point is that Kavanaugh made such a big deal about how many background checks he’s gone through before, but my guess is that most of those checks were just Kavanaugh providing a list of references to the FBI and the FBI calling those people. But all bets are off – as they should be – when it comes to the background check for a Supreme Court justice.
The Washington Post had a lengthy rundown of all of the different and contradictory information about this new FBI investigation and whether the White House has really set strict limits on the FBI and who they can interview. You can read the full WaPo article here – there’s some new information about how Kavanaugh lied his ass off about being an aggressive drunk:
Charles Ludington, a former varsity basketball player and friend of Kavanaugh’s at Yale, told The Washington Post on Sunday that he plans to deliver a statement to the FBI field office in Raleigh on Monday detailing violent drunken behavior by Kavanaugh in college. Ludington, an associate professor at North Carolina State University, provided a copy of the statement to The Post.
In it, Ludington says in one instance, Kavanaugh initiated a fight that led to the arrest of a mutual friend: “When Brett got drunk, he was often belligerent and aggressive. On one of the last occasions I purposely socialized with Brett, I witnessed him respond to a semi-hostile remark, not by defusing the situation, but by throwing his beer in the man’s face and starting a fight that ended with one of our mutual friends in jail.”
Ludington says he was deeply troubled by Kavanaugh appearing to blatantly mischaracterize his drinking in Senate testimony.
“I do not believe that the heavy drinking or even loutish behavior of an 18 or even 21 year old should condemn a person for the rest of his life,” Ludington wrote. “However … if he lied about his past actions on national television, and more especially while speaking under oath in front of the United States Senate, I believe those lies should have consequences.”
[From The Washington Post]
This is what kills me a little bit: Kavanaugh lied so much about so many things, big and small. He lied about HIS YEARBOOK ENTRIES. He lied about how much he drank in high school. He clearly lied about his behavior while drinking. Because of his lies about drinking specifically, the Senate hearing became more like an intervention than an actual attempt to figure out if he tried to rape someone. Also: I still have questions about his behavior at the hearing, and whether he was stone-cold sober. I don’t think he was. I think he had been drinking BEFORE the hearing.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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