Biden aide accuses Grassley of twisting ex-VP’s words on FBI reviews of SCOTUS nominees

A spokesperson for former Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday accused Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley of mischaracterizing Biden’s past remarks on FBI background investigations into Supreme Court nominees “to create a smoke screen.” “There is clearly an effort on the part of the White House and Senate Republicans to take out of context then-Senator Biden’s statements about the role of the FBI in the judicial nomination process to create a smoke screen for their unprecedented refusal to have the FBI conduct an investigation into credible charges,” the spokesperson said. Grassley (R-Iowa) invoked Biden’s name during his opening statement in Thursday morning’s hearing with Christine Blasey Ford, the California professor who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her at a small gathering more than three decades ago. Democrats have called for an FBI background investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct against Kavanaugh, who has denied all the accusations. “Contrary to what the public has been led to believe, the FBI doesn’t perform any credibility assessments or verify the truth of any events in these background investigations,” Grassley said. He went on to quote Biden, who chaired the judiciary panel during Clarence Thomas’ 1991 confirmation hearings for the high court. In Grassley’s recollection, Biden said: “The next person who refers to an FBI report as being worth anything obviously doesn’t understand anything. The FBI explicitly does not, in this or any other case, reach a conclusion, period. They say he said, she said, they said, period. So when people wave an FBI report before you, understand they do not — they do not — they do not reach conclusions. They do not make recommendations.” The Biden spokesperson, however, explained that the comments were a response to Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch’s “attempts to frame the FBI’s 1991 report on Clarence Thomas as exculpatory.” “His point was that the FBI plays an investigative role in the nomination process,” the spokesperson said. “They do not make recommendations. That is the sole responsibility of the Senate — to advise and consent. Vice President Biden believes that the FBI should have investigated in this case in advance of Dr. Blasey Ford’s courageous testimony today, just as they did in 1991.” Democrats on the Judiciary Committee throughout Thursday’s hearing continued to stress their desire that the FBI conduct an investigation into the allegations, prompting Grassley to quote Biden again. “If Senate Democrats hope for the FBI to draw any conclusions on this matter, I’m going to remind you what Joe Biden said,” he said during Kavanaugh’s testimony Thursday afternoon. “Now I said this in my statement, but maybe people aren’t listening when I say it. Maybe they won’t even hear this.” Grassley recited the quote again. “The FBI provided us with the allegations,” he added. “Now it’s up to the Senate to assess their credibility.” source: https://ift.tt/2zAYZax #Headlines by: nmccaskill@politico.com (Nolan D. McCaskill) Original Post: https://ift.tt/2zAYZax https://ift.tt/2Ik6kOx
source: https://droolindognews.blogspot.com/2018/09/biden-aide-accuses-grassley-of-twisting.html