Whitehouse: As you know, we are now entering the fourth year of a frustrating saga that began with an August 2019 letter from me and the senator Chris Coons, regarding the additional background investigation of Kavanaugh. And I would like to try to close this issue. First, is it true that after tips related to Kavanaugh were separated from regular line traffic, they were forwarded to White House counsel without investigation?
Wray: I apologize in advance that this has been frustrating for you. We have tried to be clear about our process. So when it comes to the information line, we wanted to make sure that the White House had all the information that we have, so when hundreds of calls started coming in, we collected them, reviewed them, and gave them to the White House-
White House: No investigation?
Wray [long pause]: We reviewed them and then gave them—
White House: You reviewed them for purposes of separating them from typical line traffic, but You didn’t investigate Kavanaugh any further, did you?
Wray: Correct.
Whitehouse: Is it also true that, in that complementary BI [background investigation], The FBI received instructions from the White House on who the FBI would ask, and what questions the FBI could even ask?
Wray: So It’s true that, consistent with the long process we’ve had going back to the Bush administration, the Obama administration, the Trump administration, and continue to follow currently under the Biden administration, that in an additional limited BI, we receive guidance from the requesting entity, which in this case was the White House, what kind of follow-up they want. This is the direction we have followed. That’s the direction we’ve been following consistently over the decades, frankly. You specifically asked about WHO AND what?
The White House: Yes. I said, is it true?
Wray: It’s true to the point WHO. I’m not sure, as I sit here, if that’s true of “what questions” either, but it’s true of WHO we interviewed.
