accuser. julie swetnick, alleges in high school kavanaugh and others spiked girls drinks and targeted them at parties when they were there and highly intoxicated and many said she said that the plan was that the boys would train these girls and prepare them to possibly be attacked. brett kavanaugh denied the allegation, as well. the fbi is not looking into swetnick s claims. now attorney ann bremner. okay. if this is about what happened to these women or brett kavanaugh s life in high school and college, why would you not interview julie swetnick? there s not a real rational there at all. i mean, basically we are looking at any and other allegations of abuse an inappropriate behavior. she s probably suffered a little more of the media attacks than the others in terms of the voracity of the statement or credibility in general. other than that, doesn t seem to be a reason.
but that is not what s coming from the white house counsel. so let s break down exactly what s going on. this is a limited scope, reopening of a background check. not a criminal investigation. and there are big differences between the two. first, in a criminal investigation, the fbi can follow whatever leads the agents find promising. in a background check, the fbi can only look into specific areas the client authorizes. which in this case the client is the white house. and the fbi can only pursue any new leads if it gets permission. in this case, it is unclear exactly what the fbi is investigating. senate judiciary chair, chuck grassley, says the probe is being limited to, quote, current, credible allegations. but sources familiar with the investigation tell nbc news that the fbi has not been permitted to investigate the claims of julie swetnick, who accused kavanaugh of engaging in sexual misconduct at a number of parties in high school.
as we said, accuser julie swetnick, along with former classmates who have contradicted kavanaugh s account of his college drinking, and high school classmates who could shed light on his yearbook references. also not on the list, kavanaugh and ford themselves. now, this entire investigation depends solely on whether these witnesses cooperate. in a criminal investigation, the fbi could obtain every piece of relevant testimony and evidence, including e-mails, texts, phone records, with subpoenas and warrants. agents cannot do that in a background check. witness participation is purely voluntary. joining me now, john minderman, former fbi supervisory special agent, and nbc intelligence and national security reporter, ken did h dellanian. we heard the president a few moments ago saying he wants the fbi to conduct a comprehensive investigation. but here s the thing. on saturday, he said nbc has got this wrong.
brian: the president talked for over an hour and 20 minutes. when he brought up this latest accuser julie swetnick in college and this party was evidently when brett kavanaugh was in high school. she claims. steve: she graduated three years earlier from another school. brian: she never went to college actually. she claimed kavanaugh was prengt when she became a victim of one of those alleged assaults. she doesn t say at first you see the headlines and hear the story somehow brett kavanaugh along with his buddies were drugging women and gang raping them. okay. then you read the story and you find out this party had something similar going on over 10 times that she witnessed she was a victim once, sadly that she claims in this affidavit. but brett kavanaugh was not the perpetrator nor was his buddy mark judge. so what is the problem? well, they witnessed it and they were part of it. did you witness anything? no. but i have witnesses that back up my story. steve: she is accusing them, m