Top takeaway: The sham FBI investigation was little more than a set-up for Republicans to vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court while pretending not to condone sexual assault.

At the time of Kavanaugh's confirmation, you probably recall there were multiple sexual assault allegations against him.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse recently released his damning report into what was supposed to have been a thorough investigation into those allegations. His summary: “The Trump White House restricted FBI investigators and lied to the American people about the investigation and tip line. Six-year-long Senate inquiry was hampered by repeated executive branch obstruction.”

Whitehouse talked to Lawrence O’Donnell Tuesday night about the chief conclusions of the report. First, Trump lied to the U.S. when he said the FBI had free reign to investigate the allegations. In reality, the FBI was “told exactly what to do every step of the way by [Trump] White House lawyers,” Whitehouse said.

“The second thing we were assured of is it was an [FBI] investigation done by the book,” Whitehouse added. But there was no book. “They propped up an imaginary book for everybody to take confidence in, but “it was the White House giving direction all the way.”

One of the directions was not to look for corroborating evidence, Whitehouse continued. So, the whole thing was a set-up for Republicans to vote to confirm Kavanaugh while pretending not to condone sexual assault.

The last major finding was that the tip line was fake, Sheldon said. “No tip was ever investigated by the FBI,” according to Whitehouse. “The tip line was actually set up in a way that could have worked but what came in was then steered away from any productive investigation.”

Asked why it took six years for the report, Whitehouse replied, “The administration put up a brick wall.” He said they were only able to get information on the internet about how the tip line was operated. The FBI was "delivering boxed loads of sensitive information about the Crossfire Hurricane investigation and the Trump/Russia investigation to Senate Republicans,” Whitehouse noted, but the FBI stonewalled Whitehouse's investigation, even under the Biden administration.

Nobody should be surprised that a guy like Trump, who was adjudged to have sexually abused E. Jean Carroll and boasts about grabbing women by the p***y would cover up allegations of sexual assault by his Supreme Court nominee.