Background Briefing: October 4, 2018
The Fix Was in on the FBI Investigation
We begin with a former FBI Special Agent and discuss the limits the White House and the Senate Judiciary Committee placed on the supplemental FBI investigation into the accusations made by Dr. Ford against Judge Kavanaugh who now appears to be all-but assured the Republicans will have enough votes to seat him on the Supreme Court for life. Asha Rangappa, Associate Dean at Yale Law School who teaches national security law and previously served as a Special Agent with the FBI specializing in counterintelligence, joins us to discuss her article at Just Security “Here Are the 30 People the FBI Needs to Interview in its Kavanaugh Investigation” and what we know about the still-secret White House directive that circumscribed the latest FBI investigation. We look into the relationship between Brett Kavanaugh and FBI Director Chris Wray who was two years behind Kavanaugh at Yale and worked with him in the George W. Bush Administration as did Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, all of whom are members of Leonard Leo’s Federalist Society, the conservative group behind getting Scalia, Roberts, Alito, Gorsuch and Kavanaugh seated on the Supreme Court.
The Moral Bankruptcy of the Religious Right
Then we speak with Frank Schaeffer whose parents Francis and Edith Schaeffer were the founders of the Religious Right in this country which meant Frank worked with such figures as Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and Focus on the Family’s James Dobson. We discuss what appears to be a great victory for the Religious Right who are poised to get an anti-abortion fifth right wing judge on the Supreme Court and the moral bankruptcy of so-called “Christians” reflected in a recent study that found over 40% of evangelicals would still support Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court even if he was found guilty of the sexual assault of a 15 year-old girl.