Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Ia., said Friday during an interview that FBI form 302s from the investigation indicate multiple witnesses were pressured to change their stories so that they’d corroborate accusations. The chairman was responding to a report in The Wall Street Journal claiming a friend of Christine Blasey Ford told FBI investigators that she felt pressured to change her initial statement that did not corroborate the alleged sexual assault.
“There is evidence I can’t speak about because it’s in the FBI report. But there’s evidence about other people that have been questioned — that they were led into it, as well,” Chairman Grassley said. “So, this is another example for headquarters for the Resistance being right here on Capitol Hill.”
What is a 302?
FBI form FD-302 is used by agents to “report or summarize the interviews that they conduct.” It has space to list the name or names of the agent, the date of the interview, the name of the interviewee or witness, the location of the interview and so on. It also allows the agent to draft a memo—in paragraph form—of what the witness said. They typically range from one page long to twenty pages long, depending on the length of the interview.
The key part of a 302 is the memo section, a combination of what the agent was able to write down during the interview and their recollection afterward. It either will list the agents’ questions and answers or serve as a simple narrative of what the witness said. Regardless, it largely consists of information taken from the subject, interviewee or witness, rather than details about the subject, themselves.
Leland Keyser, who was “completely blindsided” and left “reeling” when she was named as a corroborating witness, told the FBI she was asked to revisit her denial of the accusation, which all witnesses have denied.
“Christine didn’t give her so much as a heads up – as far as I know they haven’t really spoken for several years and they’re certainly not close anymore.,” a family member close to Keyser, 52, told The Daily Mail UK. “Leland was completely blindsided by her name being thrown into it all. The first thing she knew about it was when she woke up on Thursday morning and her name was just everywhere. It was crazy.”
When asked by sex crimes prosecutor Rachel Mitchell under oath why Ms. Keyser would not corroborate her claims, she insinuated that her old high school friend was mentally unwell. According to those close to Ms. Keyser, her “health challenges” have not impaired her memory. However, being caught up in the controversy has been physically draining.
