The FBI has finished its investigation into Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, but the details of the probe have not been publicly disclosed as a divided U.S. Senate gets ready to vote on the nomination.
Republicans and Democratic Senators have sparred over the results of the investigation, with the GOP appearing confident the FBI report contains no new corroborating details involving sexual assault allegations made by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and Dems decrying it as a rushed report that failed to interview key witnesses.
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Sen. Chuck Grassley, Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has said the FBI reached out to 11 people, 10 of whom were interviewed as part of the investigation on Kavanaugh, who has denied the accusations against him.
Here’s who was questioned and who wasn’t as part of the investigation.
Who do we know the FBI interviewed?
Mark Judge
Mark Judge, a high school friend of Kavanaugh’s, was interviewed about the night in question, according to Judge’s attorney Barbara Van Gelder.
Blasey Ford has said that Judge and Kavanaugh were both drunk when she was allegedly assaulted by Kavanaugh at a party in 1982 in suburban Maryland.
Judge has stated that he has no memory of the incident. He and Kavanaugh were classmates at Georgetown Preparatory School, an elite private school outside Washington. Judge has written several books, including one titled Wasted: Tales of a Gen X Drunk, and another titled God and Man at Georgetown Prep: How I Became a Catholic Despite 20 Years of Catholic Schooling.
WATCH: Woman who confronted Sen. Flake speaks out
A second woman, Julie Swetnick, came forward with extensive allegations against Kavanaugh and said in a statement to the Senate that Judge and Kavanaugh were present at a party where she was gang raped.
Judge has said he “vehemently denies” Swetnick’s allegations.
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Leland Keyser, Patrick “P.J.” Smyth, Chris Garrett and Timothy Gaudette
Ford has identified Keyser, Smyth and Garrett as being present the night of the gathering when she was assaulted by Kavanaugh.
Attorneys for Keyser, Smyth (nicknamed P.J.) and Garrett have stated they were interviewed by the FBI. All three have denied through their lawyers that that they have any knowledge of the party in question or any knowledge of the allegations levelled against Kavanaugh.
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During his testimony before the Senate committee, Kavanaugh provided calendars he kept around the time of the incident Ford alleges. It was reported this week that the FBI was interviewing high school friends of Kavanaugh whom he listed on his calendar as attending a July 1, 1982, get together that said, “Go to Timmy’s for Skis w/ Judge, Tom, PJ, Bernie, Squi.”
Kavanaugh was questioned about the entry during last week’s hearing and named those mentioned as Tim Gaudette, Mark Judge, Tom Kaine, P.J. Smyth, Bernie McCarthy and Chris Garrett.
Ford had told the Judiciary Committee that she “went out with” Garrett, a friend of Kavanaugh’s who was nicknamed Squi.
Gaudette, who also attended Georgetown Prep, said through a lawyer the he was spoken with the FBI.
Deborah Ramirez
Deborah Ramirez has told The New Yorker that Kavanaugh exposed himself during a drunken party and thrust his penis in her face during their freshman year at Yale.
Her lawyer, William Pittard, wrote a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray stating that while Ramirez has spoken with FBI investigators, they did not speak with nearly 20 witnesses who could potentially corroborate her account.
“I feel like I’m being silenced,” Ramirez told the New Yorker.
Who didn’t speak with the FBI?
Christine Blasey Ford
WATCH ABOVE: Ford’s testimony before U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee
Ford, a California professor, came forward publicly in September to say Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her at a high school party and has requested an interview with the FBI throughout the process.
Her attorneys have said she was never interviewed by the agency and have sent a letter to the FBI slamming the decision.
“We have received no response from anyone involved in this investigation, and no response to our offer for Dr. Ford to be interviewed,” Ford’s attorneys said in letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray. “This afternoon, we learned of media reports that the FBI does not intend to interview either Dr. Ford or Judge Kavanaugh. We hope that this reporting is inaccurate.”
Last week, Ford gave riveting testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee about her allegations and the effect they have had on her life.
Brett Kavanaugh
Kavanaugh did not speak with the FBI during the investigation but has previously passed a number of background checks.
He denied all allegations of sexual misconduct against him during testimony before the Senate and also disputed any characterization that he has or has had a drinking problem.
“This is a circus,” he said last week. “The consequences will extend long past my nomination. The consequences will be with us for decades. This grotesque character assassination will dissuade confident and good people of all political persuasions from serving our country, and as we all know, in the political system of the early 2000s, what goes around comes around.”
Others
WATCH ABOVE: Brett Kavanaugh’s roommate says he lied under oath about his drinking
Several of Kavanaugh’s Yale classmates have said they were frustrated after reaching out to the FBI, but were never contacted for an interview.
Charles “Chad” Ludington has questioned Kavanaugh’s testimony about his drinking and said Kavanaugh was “a frequent drinker, and a heavy drinker.”
“When Brett got drunk, he was often belligerent and aggressive,” Ludington said in a statement. He and other Yale classmates and “drinking buddies” of Kavanaugh’s wrote a Washington Post opinion piece that Kavanaugh should not be confirmed because he was not honest at the Senate hearing about the extent of his drinking.
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Kerry Berchem, also a classmate, said she’s made multiple submissions to an FBI tip line but has not received a return phone call or a substantive response.
NBC reports that Berchem had attempted to get text messages to the FBI that showed the judge and his team were communicating behind the scenes with friends to refute the claim against Ramirez ahead of the New Yorker article.
Julie Swetnick, who has alleged she was assaulted at a party attended by Kavanaugh and his friends, was never contacted by FBI investigators, according to high-profile attorney Michael Avenatti.
Kavanaugh has called her accusations a “joke” and “categorically” denies the allegations.
Elizabeth Rasor, Mark Judge’s former girlfriend, has said that Judge recounted to her how he and several Georgetown Prep classmates took turns having sex with an intoxicated woman in 1988, according to the New Yorker.
Her lawyer say the FBI didn’t respond to Rasor’s request to be interviewed and Judge’s lawyers have strongly denied the account.
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—With files from the Associated Press
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