‘The Whole Truth’
Judge Kavanaugh Again Explains He Was ‘Not Read In To’ Bush Administration Detainee Interrogation Policies
SEN. ORRIN HATCH (R-UT): “Judge, you’ve been accused of misleading this committee during your 2006 confirmation hearing regarding your role in developing the Bush administration detention policy…. Did you mislead this committee in 2006?”
JUDGE BRETT KAVANAUGH TODAY: “I told the truth, the whole truth, in my prior testimony. I was not read in to that program. The subsequent reports of Sen. Feinstein and the Office of Professional Responsibility show that.” (U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing, 9/05/2018)
BRETT KAVANAUGH in 2006: “I was not involved and am not involved in the questions about the rules governing detention of combatants or—and so I do not have the involvement with that.” (U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing, 5/09/2006)
FORMER BUSH ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS: Brett Kavanaugh Was ‘Not Read In’ And ‘Not Involved’
ALBERTO GONZALES, Former White House Counsel: “To the best of my recollection Brett Kavanaugh was not involved with the legal issues surrounding the authorization of the use of enhanced interrogation techniques on high value detainees. At the time, a very limited number of personnel in the White House and at the Justice Department were read into that sensitive issue. Brett was not.” (Alberto Gonzales, Statement to the White House, 8/2018)
TIM FLANIGAN, former deputy counsel to President George W. Bush: “[F]ollowing the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, every attorney in the White House Counsel’s Office dealt with issues stemming from the Global War on Terror, including the rights of detainees. However, the specific legal issues pertaining to the use of enhanced interrogation techniques on detainees—about which Senator Durbin were asking—were compartmentalized to a small subset of administration officials. To the best of my recollection, Brett Kavanaugh was not one of them. He was not read into these issues, did not participate in discussions about their legality and had no role in authoring memoranda or other legal justification for enhanced interrogation techniques.” (Tim Flanigan, Statement to the White House, 8/2018)
DAVID LEITCH, former deputy counsel to President George W. Bush: “Brett Kavanaugh was an important member of the White House Counsel’s office. He did not, however, work on every significant issue that came through our office. To my knowledge, Brett had no involvement in the development of policies related to interrogation of detainees, including the questions surrounding the legality of various proposals that were considered.” (David Leitch, Statement to the White House, 8/2018)
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Related Issues: Supreme Court, Judicial Nominations, War on Terror
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