Trump suggests Feinstein leaked letter from Kavanaugh accuser

President Trump late Saturday stoked speculation that Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) or her staff may have leaked the letter in which Christine Blasey Ford accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault, basing his claims on her body language.

“Dianne Feinstein, did you leak? Remember her answer. Did you leak the document? ‘Uh. Uh. What? What? No. Uh. No. Uh. I didn’t le— well, wait one minute. No, no, we didn’t leak it,’ ” Trump told the crowd during a rally in West Virginia, mocking Feinstein’s denial during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last week.

“I’ll tell you what, that was real bad body language,” Trump added. “Who knows? Maybe she didn’t leak it, but that was the worst body language I’ve ever seen.”

{mosads}Republicans have focused much of their criticism on Feinstein, the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, in the wake of Ford’s allegation that Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed and groped her during a high school party in the 1980s. Kavanaugh has denied the allegations.

Feinstein first received a letter from Ford detailing the allegations in July, but Ford had asked that it remain private.

Ford went public with her allegation earlier this month after reports began to surface that Feinstein turned over a letter to the FBI that included a sexual assault allegation against Kavanaugh.

Republican senators have questioned the timing of the allegations, and chastised Feinstein for failing to disclose Ford’s claim to Republicans or to Kavanaugh during her one-on-one meeting with the nominee.

Feinstein has denied that her office leaked the letter. She shared her denial in a video posted Saturday night.

From the moment I received Dr. Ford’s letter my actions have been consistent with her wishes. We kept her letter confidential and did not leak the contents or its existence to anyone. Survivors have a right to decide how their stories are made public. pic.twitter.com/mETU5B3RE2

— Sen Dianne Feinstein (@SenFeinstein) September 29, 2018

A vote on Kavanaugh’s confirmation was delayed after Trump approved requests from senators, led by Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), for an FBI investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against Kavanaugh. The investigation is expected to last no more than one week.

Prior to departing for Saturday’s rally, Trump suggested to reporters that he’d like the FBI to look into who leaked Ford’s accusation as part of the bureau’s investigation.

“I think frankly the FBI has a chance to reveal a lot of different things,” Trump said. “I’d like to find out who leaked the papers. Was it Sen. Feinstein? Certainly her body language was not exactly very good when they asked her that question. I would like to find out as part of it who leaked the papers. Which Democrat leaked the papers.”