Former White House photographer Pete Souza used Instagram to explain to President Donald Trump and top GOP senators why he believes the FBI should investigate the sexual assault allegation made against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
Trump said on Tuesday that such a probe wasn’t the bureau’s “thing.”
On Wednesday, Obama-era shutterbug Souza countered by sharing an old snap of former President Barack Obama and former Vice President Joe Biden with their own Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, to Instagram. Republicans refused to take any action on Garland’s nomination, which allowed Obama’s GOP successor to fill the Supreme Court vacancy.
Souza addressed the post to Trump, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) — who all have said Kavanaugh should be confirmed to the lifetime appointment imminently.
Kavanaugh denies the allegation that he sexually assaulted a woman when they were both in high school.
“This is Mr. Merrick Garland. Remember him,” Souza wrote. “You held his Supreme Court nomination open for 293 days without a single hearing. During those 293 days, no one came forward with a shred of evidence about anything that would disqualify him. You just didn’t schedule a hearing or vote for purely political reasons.”
Souza — a fierce critic of the current White House who has his own Trump-trolling photo book out in October — criticized the senators for rushing toward a vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination “without an FBI investigation” into the alleged assault because of Trump’s assertion it was “not their thing.”
“The ‘I’ in FBI stands for ‘investigation,’” he noted.
”Even I (and everyone that works at the White House) had two FBI investigations into my background as the White House photographer, though I had never committed a crime,” Souza explained. “So you don’t want the FBI to investigate someone for the Supreme Court about a credible attempted rape allegation? Please explain.”