During Brett Kavanuagh’s testimony before the Senate, Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy (VT) pressed him repeatedly concerning testimony he gave in 2004 and 2006 about a series of events during the Bush administration. At the time, a senior Republican staffer broke into files belonging to Democrats and distributed internal strategy documents, including some related to handling court nominations. Kavanaugh testified in both 2004 and 2006 that he knew nothing of the stolen documents. This week, he insisted to Leahy that he had never made made use of materials that even “appeared” to have come from Democratic legislators or their staff in connection with those events.
But now Leahy has produced not just the stolen documents, but the email showing that these materials—clearly prepared by Democratic staffers and marked not for distribution—were sent directly to Kavanaugh.
The stolen documents are just part of what Kavanaugh was sent, and they gave him inside knowledge of Democratic tactics, making it easier to steer Bush nominees through the Senate.
Most of the materials were stolen by Republican Senate staffer Manuel Miranda, who resigned in 2004 after his connection to the documents became clear. Miranda used a flaw in the security of a shared computer system to steal Democratic emails and other documents from members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. In total, Miranda was behind the theft of thousands of documents, including those related to the strategy Democrats would take in dealing with Republican court nominees. It was these documents that Miranda forwarded to Kavanaugh.
In his earlier appearances before the Senate, Kavanaugh testified that he “knew nothing” about the indicidents until they “became public knowledge.” The emails provided by Leahy clearly show that Kavanaugh was on the inside of the scheme to use stolen information.
The fact that these notes were stamped “committee confidential” is another example of how Republicans have attempted to classify documents related to Kavanaugh not because they have any connection to “national security” but because they’re embarrassing to Kavanaugh and reveal his role as a highly partisan insider. Some of these documents were released on Thursday when they were leaked to the New York Times.