Donald Trump caves after getting caught, gives FBI permission to investigate all Brett Kavanaugh accusations
Earlier this evening, Donald Trump and his White House got caught placing secret and absurd restrictions on the FBI investigation into supreme court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Specifically, the FBI was not even allowed to speak with one of Kavsnaugh’s accusers, Julie Swetnick. At the time, Palmer Report predicted that because Trump’s secret scheme had been exposed, he would quickly back down, as he tends to do in these situations. Sure enough, he just did.
Donald Trump posted this tweet in response to the story which exposed his secret scheme: “NBC News incorrectly reported (as usual) that I was limiting the FBI investigation of Judge Kavanaugh, and witnesses, only to certain people. Actually, I want them to interview whoever they deem appropriate, at their discretion. Please correct your reporting!” So how does this impact things?
You can count on Trump to continue to try to find ways to dishonestly nudge this in his direction behind the scenes. But he just formally and publicly give the FBI permission to interview Swetnick, and pursue any accusations it wants to pursue. If the FBI thinks Swetnick’s allegations are credible, it will probably be on the phone with her first thing tomorrow morning. There will be nothing Trump can do to stop this.
This should serve as a reminder of two things. First, there is a reason that Palmer Report said that the NBC report was good for the resistance when it first surfaced. Whenever Trump thinks he needs to do something clandestinely in order for it to succeed, and he gets caught in the act, he tends to back down. Second, the swift and fierce pushback from the resistance tonight may have helped play a role in prompting Trump to cower. Now that the FBI is about to investigate the aspects of Brett Kavansugh’s life that he was clearly hoping to keep off-limits, we’ll see whether or not he withdraws his nomination tomorrow morning.
