Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has a private letter about Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, but refuses to share it.

She sent it to the FBI for investigation.

*UPDATE

The FBI will not investigate.

New — FBI does not now plan to launch a criminal investigation of the Kavanaugh matter; instead the bureau passed the material to the White House as an update to Kavanaugh’s background check, via @mattzaphttps://t.co/Q1EJQiJLkT — Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) September 13, 2018

*From earlier today…

Feinstein releases statement on secret Kavanaugh letter that’s roiled Capitol Hill — says she received information from an individual about Kavanaugh’s nomination, the individual declined to come forward, and she’s referred the matter to investigative authorities pic.twitter.com/lI4o6RJ1hP — Casey Tolan (@caseytolan) September 13, 2018

Like I said, Feinsein refused to share the letter with fellow Democrats on the committee. The Intercept described how she came to possess it:

The letter took a circuitous route to Feinstein, the top-ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. It purportedly describes an incident that was relayed to someone affiliated with Stanford University, who authored the letter and sent it to Rep. Anna Eshoo, a Democrat who represents the area. Different sources provided different accounts of the contents of the letter, and some of the sources said they themselves had heard different versions, but the one consistent theme was that it describes an incident involving Kavanaugh and a woman while they were in high school. Kept hidden, the letter is beginning to take on a life of its own. Eshoo passed the letter to her fellow Californian, Feinstein. Word began leaking out on the Hill about it, and Feinstein was approached by Democrats on the committee, but she rebuffed them, Democratic sources said. Feinstein’s fellow senators want their own opportunity to gauge whether or not the letter should be made public, rather than leaving it to Feinstein to make that call unilaterally. The sources were not authorized to speak on the record, and said that no senators on the committee, other than Feinstein, have so far been able to view the letter.

We all know by now that the Democrats have done all they can to delay Kavanaugh’s confirmation from the hysterics during the hearing, the laundry list of questions sent to him, and vicious attacks on Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME).

Now we have a letter seen by two people in Congress with no details about an alleged incident back when Kavanaugh attended high school. It opens the doors for speculation and doubt, especially since “the subject of the letter is now being represented by Debra Katz, a whistleblower attorney who works with #MeToo survivors.”

I scheduled this piece, hit Twitter, and look what I found. Just as I expected:

Gee, where have we heard this before?

In 1991, Dems leaked private allegations Anita Hill made to FBI & committee in an effort to destroy Clarence Thomas AFTER initial confirmation hearings concluded. If there is info in the letter that Dems believe could damage Kavanaugh, I have no doubt they will leak it. — Philip Klein (@philipaklein) September 13, 2018

It also reminds me of House of Cards when Underwood tells Zoe to circulate the news that the president wants to name Catherine Durant as Secretary of State. He planted the seed, which led to speculation and a media circus and bam. The president nominated Durant for the position. That happened after Underwood used Zoe and the media to destroy the president’s choice for the position.

The way the media works nowadays, it won’t matter what is in the letter:

By the time we learn what this constituent said the media will be so wrapped up in MeToo hysterics that the contents won’t matter. — Ashe Schow (@AsheSchow) September 13, 2018

The Senate Judiciary Committee will vote on Kavanaugh at 1:45PM ET on September 20, which means the vote will go to the Senate floor later next week.

[Featured image via YouTube]



