Justice Dept made decision to withhold 100,000 pages of Kavanaugh’s records

The Department of Justice said Monday that it had made the decision to withhold over 100,000 pages of records related to Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s time as White House lawyer working for former President George W. Bush. 

“The Department of Justice, which has advised both Democratic and Republican administrations on the application of the Presidential Records Act and constitutional privileges, was responsible for determining which documents were produced to the Senate Judiciary Committee,” Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said in a statement first reported by The Washington Post. 

New statement from DOJ spox @SarahFloresDOJ tonight on its involvement in Kavanaugh document production pic.twitter.com/W6J9ZWJhSt

— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) September 3, 2018

The statement came only days after reports surfaced that the Trump administration was pushing to withhold thousands of documents related to Kavanaugh. 

The Trump administration said it was withholding them on the basis of presidential privilege, according to a letter provided by the White House to The Hill.

{mosads}”[T]he White House and the Department of Justice have identified certain documents of the type traditionally protected by constitutional privilege,” William Burck, Bush’s lawyer, wrote. “The White House, after consultation with the Department of Justice, has directed that we not provide these documents for this reason.”

Burck on Monday turned over 42,000 additional pages of documents related to Kavanaugh’s work in the Bush White House. 

Kavanaugh’s hearings begin on Tuesday as many Democrats voice opposition to the lack of information they’ve received on his career. 

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) called for a delay to proceedings after Burck turned over additional documents just hours before the hearing. 

“This underscores just how absurd this process is,” he said.