Hawaii Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono implied that the FBI supplemental background investigation into Brett Kavanaugh was a “farce investigation” because the bureau did not interview certain people who came forward saying they had information.
She made the comments after MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow opined Wednesday that “Democrats don’t pressure the FBI the way that Republicans do.”
Watch Maddow:
Shorty after making these claims, Maddow interviewed Hirono. During the interview, Maddow and Hirono criticized the FBI investigation, suggesting it was “a farce investigation,” and the senator publicly called on the FBI to make parts of the report public.
Watch Hirono:
“I’ve said that I hope we can be as transparent as possible, and that’s why we requested that there be a bipartisan agreement as to what parts of the report we can make public,” Hirono told Maddow. “At the same time, we’re already hearing from outside sources that the investigation was limited. It was under the control of the White House.”
The senator continued, “In spite of the fact the president said … they should interview Judge Kavanaugh, as well as Dr. Ford. But I don’t think those things happened, nor were various leads followed up. We know of so many people, which I think you reported yourself, that a lot of people would like to have been interviewed by the FBI but have not been contacted.”
Hirono also criticized the time frame. “Even with a short time frame, I was under the expectation, I certainly had the expectation that the FBI would provide the resources necessary to do a complete job, so that it’s not some kind of a farce investigation.”