« We’ll be voting this week. »
You think? What odds can I get in Vegas that it’ll leak?
Specifically, what odds can I get that it’ll leak within eight seconds of some senator’s office receiving it?
If we knew the identities of the eventual leakers, we wouldn’t even need to read the report to know how good or bad it is for Kavanaugh. If the leaks are coming exclusively from Democrats, he’s done. If they’re coming exclusively from Republicans, he’s been cleared and will soon be confirmed. If select parts are being leaked by both Democrats *and* Republicans? Mixed bag. Collins’s and Flake’s worst nightmare!
Despite calls to release it to the public, McConnell says that the FBI report on the Kavanaugh investigation will follow protocol and only be shared with senators. Not the public. (via CBS) pic.twitter.com/2h2a5tKHPD
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 2,2018
It’s not just McConnell:
. @SenFeinstein indicates that the FBI report on Kavanaugh should NOT be made public: “It would seem to me that if people are going to be identified this ought to be held very close and not. »
« I think the investigation ought to be closely held, » she reiterated.
— Elizabeth Landers (@ElizLanders) October 2,2018
If there’s any shred of doubt that this will leak, consider what happened to the last sensitive document in Dianne Feinstein’s possession which she said had to be withheld from the public due to privacy concerns.
Explain to me the logic of not releasing the report. The entire point of the FBI probe is to give Americans comfort, or discomfort, about the allegations against the nominee. If there’s reason to believe he’s guilty, we need to know that. This is a judge with lifetime tenure on the D. C. Circuit. The public has every right to know if the people sitting in judgment of us are predators who’ve flouted the law they’re sworn to uphold. Kavanaugh’s former mentor, Judge Alex Kozinski, resigned from the bench last year over sexual harassment allegations. What Kavanaugh is accused of is worse.
But if there’s reason to believe he’s innocent, we need to know that too. He’s likely to be confirmed. Without the report being released, a cloud of suspicion will trail him and the Court forever. (It’ll trail him forever anyway but it won’t be as foreboding if the FBI releases evidence that he’s been falsely accused.) The Court’s institutional reputation will soon depend in part on Kavanaugh’s personal reputation. Public respect for the rule of law will benefit from knowing that the newest justice isn’t guilty as charged. And as a matter of simple decency, after having his character attacked in the most vicious ways and in the brightest possible spotlight, Kavanaugh himself deserves to have Americans know that his accusers lack credibility. He’s a human being, with a family of other human beings to care for.
If the worry is that certain passages might identify alleged victims or witnesses against their will, just redact those names/passages. It’s farcical to stage this grand production of Oleanna for three weeks, punt it to the FBI at the last second for a momentous quasi-verdict, and then not reveal the verdict. Every good mystery requires resolution. Ask the president. He’s in show business. Anyway, it’ll leak.
Via the Free Beacon, enjoy Democrats insisting that the FBI investigation they demanded for weeks can’t possibly be good enough to resolve their doubts. The latest word from the WSJ is that the FBI probe could end as soon as today.
