Senator asked FBI to follow up on new information about Kavanaugh last year

Sen. Christopher Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to the FBI last year asking it to look into an additional allegation of sexual misconduct against then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

Coons sent FBI Director Christopher Wray a letter dated Oct. 2, requesting an “appropriate follow up” with an individual, who turned out to be Max Stier, according to The Washington Post.

Stier had reached out with information about Kavanaugh, saying that he had seen Kavanaugh expose himself and then witnessed someone press Kavanaugh’s genitals against a woman without consent while the two attended Yale University.

{mosads}A spokesman for Coons told the Post that the individual the Democratic senator had requested the FBI follow up with Stier. 

Though Coons sent his letter to the FBI last year, the allegation from Stier was not made public until Saturday, when The New York Times reported that the alleged incident was reported to the FBI during Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation process last year but was not further investigated by the FBI.

A spokesman for Coons didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about the October letter.

Two FBI officials told The Times that Stier said he had witnessed Kavanaugh expose himself at a party before other students pushed Kavanaugh’s genitals into the hand of a female student, apparently without her consent.

The Times has subsequently added a correction to its piece that notes that friends of the woman allegedly involved in the incident with Kavanaugh during college say she does not recall it.

But the story reignited a political firestorm around Kavanaugh, with several 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls calling on him to be impeached or investigated.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and President Trump both came to Kavanaugh’s defense over the weekend, with McConnell criticizing Democrats for a “willingness to seize on completely uncorroborated and unsubstantiated allegations.”

Trump said that “Radical left Democrats” and the “LameStream Media” were using the allegations to try to scare Kavanaugh into “turning Liberal.”

Coons’s letter came as the FBI was investigating multiple other allegations of sexual assault and misconduct from Kavanaugh’s time in high school and college. Kavanaugh has denied all allegations of wrongdoing.

The Senate eventually confirmed Kavanaugh in a narrow 50-48 vote on Oct. 6.