Sceptics who feared last week’s FBI investigation would be a hollow exercise to secure the votes of two or three wavering Republicans will now feel vindicated. Agents did not talk to Brett Kavanaugh, the Supreme Court nominee who was alleged by three women to have committed acts of sexual misconduct, or to Christine Blasey Ford, his main accuser. Donald Trump, the US president, said the agents could talk to whomever they wished. That assurance turned out to be false.
Within five days, the FBI wrapped up a report that failed to seek the testimony of several potentially key witnesses. It had been given only a week. Its rushed conclusion was enough for Jeff Flake, the outgoing Republican senator from Arizona, to vote for Mr Kavanaugh.
The same went for Susan Collins, the Maine Republican, who pronounced herself satisfied the FBI had found no additional support for the allegations against Mr Kavanaugh. She expressed the pious hope that he would go on to play a uniting role on the US’s bitterly riven Supreme Court. Given the manner by which he has arrived there, the chances of that happening are infinitesimal.