The FBI has completed interviews with the four witnesses most closely connected to the allegations of sexual assault against Brett Kavanaugh.
The four witnesses — Kavanaugh’s high-school classmates P. J. Smyth and Mark Judge, Christine Blasey Ford’s friend Leland Keyser, and Yale alumnus Deborah Ramirez — had all been interviewed as of Monday evening, the Washington Post reported. Ford testified that Smyth, Judge, and Keyser were all present at the party where Kavanaugh allegedly assaulted her, though all parties deny ever having attended such a gathering.
After receiving a directive from the White House on Monday to expand the probe beyond those four witnesses if need be, the FBI plans to interview a number of other former classmates of Kavanaugh, among other witnesses.
Judge, a close friend of Kavanaugh’s throughout high school, stood by his initial statement, denying that he ever witnessed Kavanaugh pin Ford to a bed and attempt to remove her clothes. He also denied the allegations levied by Julie Swetnick, who claims Kavanaugh and his friends routinely engaged in gang rape at a series of high-school parties suburban Maryland.
Ramirez, who claims Kavanaugh drunkenly exposed himself to her when they were freshmen at Yale, spoke with FBI agents for more than two hours on Sunday, according to her attorney John Clune.
Clune said Tuesday on Twitter that the agents “were clearly motivated to investigate the matter in any way they were permitted,” but expressed concern that their investigation would be constrained.
“Though we appreciated the agents who responded on Sunday, we have great concern that the FBI is not conducting — or not being permitted to conduct — a serious investigation,” he added.
Ford’s attorneys wrote to FBI director Christopher Wray on Tuesday to ask that agents interview their client. “It is inconceivable that the FBI could conduct a thorough investigation of Dr. Ford’s allegations without interviewing her, Judge Kavanaugh, or the witnesses we have identified in our letters to you,” the lawyers wrote.