In the midst of the FBI’s investigation into the sexual-assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, plenty of potential witnesses made themselves available. Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee produced a list of 24 people and entities who could possibly speak to the behavior of Kavanaugh; they could have also spoken to accusers Christine Blasey Ford, Deborah Ramirez, or Julie Swetnick. The SCOTUS nominee’s former roommate at Yale, who claimed Kavanaugh was “belligerent and aggressive when he was very drunk,” repeatedly requested to speak to the FBI, as did many of his former classmates. And Ford, who delivered a blistering testimony about her alleged sexual assault in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, spent the past seven days waiting for the bureau to officially interview her.
But at 2:30 a.m. on Thursday, according to a statement from the Committee, the FBI delivered to Capitol Hill a report deemed complete, despite missing numerous testimonies of key sources; the Washington Post has been able to confirm interviews with only six witnesses.
Time is running out: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell filed cloture on Wednesday evening, ending debate over the nomination, and the Senate will vote Friday on whether or not to confirm Kavanaugh. Meanwhile, many of Kavanaugh’s former classmates — many of whom dispute the nominee’s characterization of himself in college, but not all — are still attempting to reach the FBI.
Below, everyone the FBI did not interview over the sexual-assault allegations against Kavanaugh.
Christine Blasey Ford
Blasey Ford claims that Kavanaugh held her down and attempted to rape her at a high school party in 1982, a traumatic alleged incident that she bravely recounted last week; she didn’t want to come forward, as she felt “terrified,” but she felt it was her “civic duty” to speak out about the Kavanaugh she knew. Apparently, Blasey Ford’s testimony was enough for the FBI, as her lawyers say that the bureau never contacted them — a decision they found to be “profoundly disappointing.”
“An FBI supplemental background investigation that did not include an interview of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford — nor the witnesses who corroborate her testimony — cannot be called an investigation,” lawyers Debra Katz and Lisa Banks said in a statement released Wednesday night. “We are profoundly disappointed that, after the tremendous sacrifice she made in coming forward, those directing the FBI investigation were not interested in seeking the truth.”
Kavanaugh himself
The FBI also failed to interview the person whose fate will be determined by the outcome of the investigation: Kavanaugh, himself.
Twenty people with knowledge of Ramirez’s allegation
At a Yale dorm party in the early 1980s, Ramirez claims that Kavanaugh thrust his exposed penis in her face, causing her to touch it against her will. While Ramirez did not testify in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee like Ford, she confirmed to the New Yorker on Wednesday that the FBI had interviewed her. They had reportedly not, however, spoken to the list of more than 20 people who might have relevant information, and whom her team provided to FBI agents. As of Wednesday, Ramirez’s team said they had no knowledge of the FBI interviewing a single potential witness from the list, which Ramirez found concerning.
“Being told that these people haven’t even been contacted,” Ramirez told the New Yorker, “it’s very troubling to me.”
James Roche, Kavanaugh’s former Yale roommate
The day after Ramirez came forward, Kavanaugh’s former freshman roommate at Yale, James Roche, declared his support of and belief in Ramirez. Over the past few weeks, Roche has been relatively vocal about his attempts and failure to contact the FBI, and on Wednesday evening, he published an essay in Slate accusing Kavanaugh of lying under oath about his drinking. Were he to speak to the FBI, he would say:
Brett Kavanaugh stood up under oath and lied about his drinking and about the meaning of words in his yearbook. He did so baldly, without hesitation or reservation. In his words and his behavior, Judge Kavanaugh has shown contempt for the truth, for the process, for the rule of law, and for accountability. His willingness to lie to avoid embarrassment throws doubt on his denials about the larger questions of sexual assault. In contrast, I cannot remember ever having a reason to distrust anything, large or small, that I have heard from Debbie.
Numerous classmates of Kavanaugh from high school and college who have tried to reach out
Kenneth Appold — a former suitemate of Kavanaugh’s who told the New Yorker that he learned about the alleged incident with Ramirez just days after, in the winter of the 1983-84 school year — submitted a statement to the FBI through a web portal after he reached out to the bureau last weekend and received no response. Though he and Kavanaugh did not spend time together, he says there was also no “animosity” between them.
One of Kavanaugh’s former classmates from Georgetown Prep who requested anonymity told the New Yorker that he had never seen Kavanaugh physically harm another student, but recalled him doing “nothing to stop the physical and verbal abuse,” and said Kavanaugh “stood by and laughed at the victims.”
“That really, really struck a chord,” he said. “I can hear him laughing when someone was picked on right now.”
In his statement, the classmate also said that he recalled, “on multiple occasions, Brett Kavanaugh counting on his fingers how many kegs they had over the weekend.” The amount that he heard Kavanaugh describe, he said in the statement, “seemed to be an extreme amount of beer drinking for someone to consume at any age, let alone someone in high school.” He said that he also recalled Kavanaugh participating in general conversations “where the football players were bragging about their sexual conquests over the prior weekend.”
