Several of the senators who went on to vote to confirm Kavanaugh cited the FBI investigation as their justification for doing so: after all, the bureau had not found any corroborating evidence. The truth is more that the bureau was not allowed to look for such evidence. The Trump White House, the report found, “exerted total control over the scope of the investigation, preventing the FBI from interviewing relevant witnesses and following up on tips. The White House refused to authorize basic investigatory steps that might have uncovered information corroborating the allegations.”

Thousands of tips came through the FBI’s tip line, many of them corroborating the detailed, credible testimony that Ford and Ramirez had already given. The White House threw these tips away. “On instructions from the White House, the FBI did not investigate thousands of tips that came in through the FBI’s tip line,” the Whitehouse report reads. “Instead, all tips related to Kavanaugh were forwarded to the White House without investigation. If anything, the White House may have used the tip line to steer FBI investigators away from derogatory or damaging information.”

Does this mean they’ll start asking relevant questions, such as: What was the extent of your investigation? How many tips were received? How many leads were followed? Why our why not?