On Friday, both MSNBC and CNN seized on Democrats still trying to tar Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh with false accusations, nearly three years after he was seated to the high court. The left-wing cable outlets eagerly promoted bitter Senate Democrats claiming the FBI investigation into non-credible sexual assault allegations against the Justice in the midst of his 2018 confirmation hearing was a cover-up and a “sham.”
“Democratic senators putting the FBI on blast today, a group of them releasing new details about the agency’s investigation into Brett Kavanaugh, when he was a Supreme Court nominee,” MSNBC anchor Hallie Jackson excitedly announced during her 10:00 a.m. ET hour show. She fretted: “The Bureau acknowledging they received more than 4,500 tips in its supplemental investigation but conducted just ten interviews.”
Correspondent Ken Dilanian admitted: “I mean, one thing that’s probably not going to happen as a result of this is Brett Kavanaugh’s removal from office.” Jackson confirmed: “...he’s not getting pulled off the Court, right.” Considering there was zero evidence of any wrongdoing, why would they even feel the need to announce that?
Pretending it was just some kind of objective fact-finding mission, Jackson declared: “This is something that Democrats want to know about, I think, just in the interest of it seems, as they’ve been saying, preventing something like this from happening again.”
Dilanian agreed and touted the ongoing quest by Democrats to dig up dirt on Kavanaugh:
Right. Both that and also what were these allegations against Brett Kavanaugh? Some of them have been released through Freedom of Information, but heavily redacted. So are they sitting now in the Biden administration’s White House Counsel’s Office? Are there copies at the FBI? The senators want to know and they would like to get the full copies of all those allegations and they may want to investigate some of them themselves. Not that it’s going to Kavanaugh’s removal from office but these senators feel like they were not given the full story.
The reporter then argued: “Because after all, it’s the Senate’s job to advise and consent on these Supreme Court nominations and they didn’t get the information that they wanted out of this.” Dilanian recklessly hyped “allegations floating around out there” against Kavanaugh and complained that such unsubstantiated claims “were not fully investigated by the FBI.”
In the 11:00 a.m. ET hour on CNN, fill-in co-host Dana Bash brought up the topic to Delaware Democratic Senator Chris Coons, urging him to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the confirmation process: “...the FBI wrote a letter recently to you and to Senator Whitehouse acknowledging that more than 4,000 tips they got during the Brett Kavanaugh nomination process, they were just transferred over to the White House....Do you think, at this point looking back, it was a sham?”
The partisan hack predictably agreed with her framing: “The idea there were 4,500 Americans who reached out to this tip line to provide information and yet no further investigation was done, really calls into question that confirmation process.”
At the time of his contentious hearings, Kavanaugh was met with an avalanche of negative press coverage that sensationalized every unfounded charge against him while burying the facts and evidence that supported his denials.
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Here is a transcript of the July 23 segment on MSNBC:
10:17 AM ET
HALLIE JACKSON: Democratic senators putting the FBI on blast today, a group of them releasing new details about the agency’s investigation into Brett Kavanaugh, when he was a Supreme Court nominee. The Bureau acknowledging they received more than 4,500 tips in its supplemental investigation but conducted just ten interviews. The agency says relevant tips were forwarded to the White House Counsel’s office. What happened then, when they got to Trump White House Counsel and Kavanaugh-backer Don McGahn is a mystery. NBC’s Ken Dilanian is covering the story for us. Ken, sleuth it out, help us solve this mystery. What happened to all those tips?
KEN DILANIAN: That is a great question, Hallie, and that’s something that Democratic senators want to know and they’re going to try to find out. I mean, one thing that’s probably not going to happen as a result of this is Brett Kavanaugh’s removal from office. As you know, a Supreme Court justice...
JACKSON: Right, so that’s the thing, this is –
DILANIAN: ...is a lifetime appointment.
JACKSON: I have to just really make sure – he’s not getting pulled off the Court, right.
DILANIAN: Right, right.
JACKSON: This is something that Democrats want to know about, I think, just in the interest of it seems, as they’ve been saying, preventing something like this from happening again. That’s kind of the significance of this, right?
DILANIAN: Right. Both that and also what were these allegations against Brett Kavanaugh? Some of them have been released through Freedom of Information, but heavily redacted. So are they sitting now in the Biden administration’s White House Counsel’s Office? Are there copies at the FBI? The senators want to know and they would like to get the full copies of all those allegations and they may want to investigate some of them themselves. Not that it’s going to Kavanaugh’s removal from office but these senators feel like they were not given the full story.
Now, I have to say, Hallie, that we reported at the time, because FBI officials were telling us privately that this was a very limited background investigation they were conducting at the behest of the White House. It wasn’t a criminal investigation. They could only do the interviews the White House allowed them to do, the Trump White House, right? So the question becomes here now, will the Senate want to change that process? Because after all, it’s the Senate’s job to advise and consent on these Supreme Court nominations and they didn’t get the information that they wanted out of this. There were allegations floating around out there, that were not fully investigated by the FBI, and the Senate is now in a position of wondering whether there should be procedures changed so that this never happens again, so that a real investigation is conducted. They’re also suggesting that Chris Wray misled the public. I’m not so sure about that. I – again, we reported at the time that this was a very limited investigation, but nonetheless, there are these allegations out there that senators would like to see and perhaps investigate, Hallie.
JACKSON: Ken Dilanian, thank you much for that.
While we talk about Brett Kavanaugh, he’s going to be one of nine people who will, in just a matter of months, effectively decide the future of legal abortion in many states across the country. That’s because the Supreme Court is now being asked to overturn Roe v. Wade. This is coming from a new filing from the state of Mississippi. Justices already agreeing to hear a case next term on whether a law from that state that would ban abortions after 15 weeks is constitutional. But the Mississippi AG now wants the Court to go all the way and is explicitly asking to overturn that landmark 1973 ruling. Activists have been bracing for this one, right, especially since the Court’s ideological balance shifted after appointments made by former President Donald Trump.
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Here is a transcript of the exchange on CNN:
11:25 AM ET
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DANA BASH: Before I let you go, just real quick, the FBI wrote a letter recently to you and to Senator Whitehouse acknowledging that more than 4,000 tips they got during the Brett Kavanaugh nomination process, they were just transferred over to the White House. You were a key player in his nomination, you and Jeff Flake, the Republican. You delayed the committee hearing for a week in order to have the FBI do more of an investigation. Do you think, at this point looking back, it was a sham?
SEN. CHRIS COONS [D-DE]: Well, Senator Whitehouse and I have been trying for nearly two years to get clear answers from the FBI. The FBI provides the background check process for cabinet officials and for senior judicial nominees and justices and I think what this letter did was it raised more questions than it answered. The idea there were 4,500 Americans who reached out to this tip line to provide information and yet no further investigation was done, really calls into question that confirmation process. We need to get more clarity on this about what happened, what should happen, and what will happen for future confirmation processes, in order for me to rest more easily and in order for the public to have more confidence in the confirmation process in the Senate.
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