This week's FBI investigation into the sexual assault allegations leveled against Brett Kavanaugh brought with it hope that a smoking gun would appear, one that would affirm the opinion of a majority of Americans that Kavanaugh is not fit for a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court. There was a hope that the investigation would be thorough, rather than a neutered rush job providing cover so that three Republican "swing-voters"—Susan Collins (ME), Jeff Flake (AZ), and Lisa Murkowski (AK)—can cast yes votes while waving around an FBI-stamped acquittal.

Now that hope is all but extinguished.

According to White House spokesman Raj Shah, the FBI's report features nine whole interviews. Sen. John Kennedy (LA) has been raving about how thick the report looks in hardcopy form, but it's worth noting that most of its contents are just transcripts of conversations.

Senate Republicans, of course, are now desperately trying to push for a vote before another unseemly story about Kavanaugh emerges. As NBC News reported recently:

"One current and two former FBI officials confirmed to NBC News that dozens of witnesses have come forward to FBI field offices who say they have information on Brett Kavanaugh, but agents have not been permitted to talk to many of them."

This FBI investigation—and the FBI as an institution—is ultimately whatever you want it to be. It dropped the ball in the lead up to the 2016 election, when lifelong-Republican-turned-Hallmark-Card tweeter James Comey royally screwed the Clinton campaign by publicly discussing an irrelevant update about #emails. Democrats were furious with Comey and the FBI, until Trump fired him and Comey flipped on POTUS, thus completing a face-heel turn worthy of Monday Night Raw. Naturally Trump proceeded to attack the FBI, alleging conspiracies too numerous to list here, which turned his loyal supporters and Congressional Republican allies against the same institution they had historically revered. Comey's rhetoric reversal and the insane ramblings of the president sent many Democrats to the defense of the FBI. And Dr. Ford's powerful, heartbreaking testimony, her insistence on being interviewed by the FBI, and the corroboration she received from Deborah Ramirez, understandably elicited a similar response from left-leaning circles. Suddenly there was hope that the FBI could save the day.

But that was never going to happen. In defense of the FBI, it was barely allowed to do its job. The White House restricted agents' access to potential witnesses, then obfuscated that fact, then announced that the FBI had pulled an all-nighter and finished its investigation at 2:30 A.M. Reports affirming the FBI's difficulties in being permitted to follow up on tips imply that there are anonymous sources unhappy with how the whole thing was handled.

Still, it's worth noting that the new FBI Director, Chris Wray, went to Yale undergrad and Yale Law two years after Kavanaugh; is a member of the Federalist Society, just like Kavanaugh; and served in the George W. Bush administration with Kavanaugh. This isn't an attempt at spinning some conspiratorial yarn—Wray might be just as annoyed as Senate Democrats about his report's conclusions. But it's doubtful we'll know, at least for a while, how much investigating the FBI really wanted to do. On all fronts, Ford and Ramirez deserve better.