Senior Trump administration officials insisted Sunday that the White House is not “micromanaging” a new FBI background check of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, claiming the probe is a Senate process and that lawmakers are the only ones dictating its parameters.
President Donald Trump initially opposed such an investigation in the face of sexual misconduct claims against Kavanaugh, but the president and Senate Republican leaders agreed to an inquiry after GOP Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona made clear he would not vote to confirm Kavanaugh without one.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said oversight of the investigation belonged to the Senate. “The White House counsel has allowed the Senate to dictate what these terms look like and what the scope of the investigation is,” she said on “Fox News Sunday.” ‘’The White House isn’t intervening. We’re not micromanaging this process. It’s a Senate process. It has been from the beginning, and we’re letting the Senate continue to dictate what the terms look like.”
White House counselor Kellyanne Conway delivered a similar message, repeating that the investigation will be “limited in scope” and “will not be a fishing expedition.”