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Donald Trump tweeted:

Just started, tonight, our 7th FBI investigation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh. He will someday be recognized as a truly great Justice of The United States Supreme Court!

What were the previous 6 investigations about?

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    I've taken the FBI tag back out because it is for politics about the FBI, not about investigations they are involved in.
    – Paul Johnson
    Sep 29, 2018 at 8:51

2 Answers 2

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  1. Clerk for U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (1990-92) Attorney in the Office of the Solicitor General (1992-93)
  2. Clerk for Justice Anthony Kennedy of the United States Supreme Court (1993-94).
  3. Associate Counsel in the Office of Independent Counsel (1994-97, 1998).Partner at Kirkland & Ellis (1997-98, 1999-2001).
  4. Associate Counsel and then Senior Associate Counsel to the President (2001-03).
  5. Assistant to the President and Staff Secretary to the President (2003-06).
  6. United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (2006-present There would have been at least 1 update back ground since 2006, so actually this might be number 8, however I agree this is probably an investigation. That is actually a different focus than just back ground checks and security clearance.
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  • Do any of these involve polygraph tests?
    – Simd
    Sep 30, 2018 at 20:15
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    This seems to be missing his Supreme Court background check. Note that the current investigation would be in addition to that, as his background check was completed a while ago. In general, this would be a stronger answer if it included some proof that each of these positions requires a background check and that it received a separate check.
    – Brythan
    Sep 30, 2018 at 22:57
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    @Anush: The investigation process for working in the White House (aka Yankee White Clearance) is the toughest background check performed in the United States. It requires a 10 year (or to age 18, whichever is sooner) background investigation and is rather in depth, this would have covered points 4 and 5. It's possible as an attorney in the Solicitor General's office that he also had to go through this check as well, given the potential need for classified information access, but I cannot be sure.
    – hszmv
    Oct 1, 2018 at 15:15
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    @hszmv Thanks. It would still be interesting to know if he had to pass a polygraph test given that Dr Ford took one. (The reason they don't use polygraph tests in court is that they are unreliable, I understand.)
    – Simd
    Oct 1, 2018 at 15:22
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    I did not include the Supreme Court bid, because initially the White House and Republican committee chair agreed since he had previously had a District Court update, he did not need a separate security clearance FBI background for the nomination. The Democrats disagreed but were overruled.
    – V.G. Crutchfield
    Oct 1, 2018 at 22:50
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They were background checks or investigations for employment in sensitive positions. For example, here is the policy for "all employees of district and magistrate judges chambers", I can't find the specific policy for circuit judges but it would be similar. https://www.ned.uscourts.gov/internetDocs/pom/crtplans/transcribe/Background_Checks_and_Investigations_Policy.pdf

Note that there is a difference between a check and an investigation, and there are different levels of investigation.

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    Do you have a source to support that the 6 in the tweet were actually such investigations and that they do not include one or more of a different nature?
    – JJJ ♦
    Sep 29, 2018 at 11:49
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    @JJJ No--we can say that probably at least one of them was since other people involved have tweeted about reopening the "background investigation" specifically (i.e. Biden, Romney). And I can identify four definite times when he would have received some background check: associate to WH Counsel, WH Staff Secretary, Circuit Court Judge, and Supreme Court. The two other investigations could be either earlier in his career (BI was not mandatory for everyone, but may have been for his position) or reinvestigations (I don't know the interval for those positions but 5 years is common).
    – user3067860
    Sep 29, 2018 at 13:52
  • @JJJ I also can't rule out that there could have been some other (7th/8th, depending on how you count) FBI investigation of some other nature, unmentioned by anyone.
    – user3067860
    Sep 29, 2018 at 13:54
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    @user3067860 Welcome, and nice answer. May I suggest an improvement? That list of jobs on his resume that would require background checks - which you mention in a comment - might be better suited to be in your answer: it's relevant information. (Comments can be deleted after some time, while the answer has more longevity and visibility)
    – Sjoerd
    Sep 29, 2018 at 21:19

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