Here’s what happens if Donald Trump tries to bury or falsify the FBI report on Brett Kavanaugh

| 9:22 pm EDT September 30, 2018
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Because everything that Donald Trump touches turns into scandalous chaos, we can’t even figure out right now precisely what the FBI is and isn’t allowed to investigate when it comes to the sexual assault allegations against Brett Kavanaugh. But if Kavanaugh is as dirty as alleged, the reported limitations on the probe aren’t going to prevent the FBI from being able to compile a report which devastates his chances of confirmation.

Various Palmer Report readers have begun asking whether Donald Trump can simply choose to bury the FBI report on Brett Kavanaugh before the Senate can see it, or if Trump might somehow be able to doctor or falsify the report along the way. These questions are a few steps ahead of where we are right now, but I’ll address them anyway, at least to the extent that I can.

Thus far the reporting is far from clean and unanimous when it comes to who will receive the FBI report and when. Will Donald Trump receive it before Senators do? Will they all receive it at the same time? That’s not clear to me. But let’s say, hypothetically, that the report does end up landing solely in Trump’s hands, with the expectation that he’ll turn it over to the Senate. If the report ends up being ugly for Kavanaugh, and Trump decides he needs to bury it, that’ll be the de facto end of the nomination. Jeff Flake, Susan Collins, and Lisa Murkowski have already staked themselves to basing their vote on the FBI report. No report means no confirmation.

Let’s say that the report is ugly for Brett Kavanaugh, and Donald Trump decides to remove, doctor, or falsify parts of it before turning it over to the Senate. In such case, the FBI could simply leak the fact that the report it submitted to Trump isn’t the same report that Trump submitted to the Senate. It very much appears the FBI leaked that Trump was trying to place limitations on the probe to begin with, so it’s a fairly safe bet that the FBI would expose him if he fudges the report. So while Trump could potentially try these kinds of antics, they’re probably not things to worry about.