Dr. Evil’s Guide To Conducting SHAM INVESTIGATIONS
Dr. Evil’s explains how to conduct sham investigations. Get your free copy here.
The FBI investigation of Kavanaugh was doomed from the start. The investigation was inherently limited, setting it up to disappoint.
But the FBI investigation wasn’t thorough. From the very beginning, the investigation of the sexual assault allegations was limited — in terms of time, which witnesses the bureau could talk to, and what other kinds of evidence the FBI could obtain. Maybe that was the point. Perhaps the FBI investigation wasn’t meant to get to the bottom of the sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh, but give certain senators cover to vote for Kavanaugh. Because the FBI certainly did not do the former, even as its investigation is raised up to do the latter. – VOX
Sham: Something false or empty that is purported to be genuine. – Wordnik
How to conduct a sham investigation
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Rush the investigation
The White House imposed a one-week time limit for the investigation into Kavanaugh. The White House and Senate Republicans, at least, were very clear that they didn’t want the investigation to go on for longer. Mitch McConnell said repeatedly throughout the week, even before the FBI investigation concluded, that a vote on Kavanaugh would happen “this week.” That had to weigh on the FBI, making it clear that investigators were on the clock.
This is very unlike criminal cases where the FBI can take as long as months or even years to conduct an investigation. That’s because every new piece of evidence, from a witness interview to a new document, can unearth a new lead. The FBI will then chase down these leads as long as it needs to — until it feels that all loose ends are tied up, so a case can win in court. That wasn’t possible for Kavanaugh from the start, given that the FBI faced a time limit. – VOX
Republicans rig the game
Republicans rig the game, then play victim card in Kavanaugh hearings. They rigged the game by limiting the hearing to Ford, when there were at least two other accusers — Deborah Ramirez and Julie Swetnick — who had already come forward to say that Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted them or others in their presence. A “sham” is exactly what happened at the Kavanaugh hearing, which took place yesterday.
- The Republicans rigged the game by limiting the hearing to Ford, when there were at least two other accusers — Deborah Ramirez and Julie Swetnick — who had already come forward to say that Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted them or others in their presence. Indeed, reports indicate that there was at least a fourth accuser.
- Mark Judge, whom Ford says was an eyewitness in the room when Kavanaugh attacked her, was hiding out in a Delaware beach house, and Republicans refused to subpoena him for the hearing. Republicans thus limited the hearing to what they could frame as a “he said/she said” between Kavanaugh and Ford so that they could later claim the results were inconclusive.
- The Republicans, in particular Donald Trump, refused to direct the FBI to investigate the claims of Ford or any other accuser, even though that is standard follow-up practice as part of its background checks for Supreme Court nominees, and there was direct precedent to do so in the case of Anita Hill and Clarence Thomas.
- In addition to rigging the game, the Republicans featured Kavanaugh as the chief victim in his hearing, an age-old GOP tactic. They even hired a female prosecutor (the only woman on the Republican side of the dais) to question Ford, as if Ford were the one on trial. Kavanaugh spent the hearing making angry, belligerent attacks against the Democrats, even bringing up “the Clintons” as if they had a thing to do with this nomination. One Republican Senator after another apologized during or at the end of the hearing — to Kavanaugh.
Justice: The documentary
“In September 2018, nearly all of America was transfixed by Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, alleging then-Supreme-Court-nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in the summer of 1982. While many Americans remember Ford’s allegations, not as many know about Deborah Ramirez, who came forward during the nomination process with her own story of sexual misconduct by Kavanaugh during their time as Yale classmates.
Like many Americans disturbed by these stories and the way they were treated by government officials supposedly driven by the search for the truth, director Doug Liman enlisted producer Amy Herdy for his first documentary feature that pursues the depth and strength of the allegations against Brett Kavanaugh and the equally telling and dishonest responses to ensure his installation on the Court. With harrowing accounts, disturbing revelations, and shockingly direct lies from a man who now sits with a lifetime term on the highest court in the land, Justice is a portrait of a broken, corrupt system and the brave citizens who still feel duty-bound to tell their story.” – Sundance Festival
TakeAway: Don’t fall for sham investigations.
Deepak
DemLabs
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