An email recently obtained by ABC News suggests Roger Stone sought contact with WikiLeakspublisher Julian Assange during what may have been a critical moment in the 2016 campaign.
Become a member to get many great benefits -- exclusive analysis, trending news, a private podcast, no ads and more!
Watch Beto O’Rourke Air Drum to The Who
Beto O’Rourke showcased his air-drum skills following his debate with Sen. Ted Cruz as he rocked out to The Who’s “Baba O’Riley” while waiting in a Whataburger drive-thru line.
Said O’Rourke: “This may be the best song ever written.”
Feinstein Calls for Delay In Kavanaugh Hearing
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, “called late Sunday for a delay in further consideration of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh after a second woman accused him of sexual misconduct,” the Washington Post reports.
In a statement issued by the White House, Kavanaugh denied the accusation and called it “a smear, plain and simple.”
Avenatti Claims to Have More Evidence on Kavanaugh
Michael Avenatti announced that he is representing a client with “credible information” regarding Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and his former high school classmate, Mark Judge.
Said Avenatti: “I represent a woman with credible information regarding Judge Kavanaugh and Mark Judge. We will be demanding the opportunity to present testimony to the committee and will likewise be demanding that Judge and others be subpoenaed to testify.”
In a subsequent communication with Mike Davis, chief counsel for nominations on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Avenatti claimed to have evidence that Kavanaugh, Judge and others would target women with drugs and alcohol to allow a “train” of men to gang rape them.
Senators Investigate New Allegation Against Kavanaugh
Ronan Farrow and Jane Mayer writing in the New Yorker:
“The woman at the center of the story, Deborah Ramirez, who is fifty-three, attended Yale with Kavanaugh, where she studied sociology and psychology. Later, she spent years working for an organization that supports victims of domestic violence. The New Yorker contacted Ramirez after learning of her possible involvement in an incident involving Kavanaugh. The allegation was also conveyed to Democratic senators by a civil-rights lawyer. For Ramirez, the sudden attention has been unwelcome, and prompted difficult choices. She was at first hesitant to speak publicly, partly because her memories contained gaps because she had been drinking at the time of the alleged incident.”
‘In her initial conversations with The New Yorker, she was reluctant to characterize Kavanaugh’s role in the alleged incident with certainty. After six days of carefully assessing her memories and consulting with her attorney, Ramirez said that she felt confident enough of her recollections to say that she remembers Kavanaugh had exposed himself at a drunken dormitory party, thrust his penis in her face, and caused her to touch it without her consent as she pushed him away. Ramirez is now calling for the F.B.I. to investigate Kavanaugh’s role in the incident.”
Another Woman to Speak Out on Kavanaugh?
From the Drudge Report:
“Insiders claim Ronan Farrow and Jane Mayer are set to report a late twist in Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation… New Yorker to publish account of a new woman and a ‘dildo’… She is ‘Never Trump’, says a source. But best friend will say ‘She never told me!'”
Graham Calls for Investigation of ‘Bureaucratic Coup’
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said he believes “a bureaucratic coup” led by enemies of President Trump is taking place at the Justice Department, and the senator asked that a new special counsel be appointed to investigate, the Washington Post reports.
Said Graham: “Before the election, the people in question tried to taint the election, tip it to Clinton’s favor; after the election, they’re trying to undermine the president.”
A Tight Race for U.S. Senate In Florida
A new Florida Atlantic University poll shows Gov. Rick Scott (R) just ahead of Sen. Bill Nelson (D) in their U.S. Senate race, 42% to 41% with 11% undecided.
In August, Scott led 45% to 39% with 16% undecided.
Bonus Quote of the Day
“He was hired by Jeff Sessions. I was not involved in that process because, you know, they go out and get their own deputies and the people that work in the department.”
— President Trump, quoted by Fox News, talking about Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
Kavanaugh Says His Calendars Back Up Denial
Judge Brett Kavanaugh “has calendars from the summer of 1982 that he plans to hand over to the Senate Judiciary Committee that do not show a party consistent with the description of his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford,” the New York Times reports.
“The calendars do not disprove Dr. Blasey’s allegations, Judge Kavanaugh’s team acknowledged. He could have attended a party that he did not list. But his team will argue to the senators that the calendars provide no corroboration for her account of a small gathering at a house where he allegedly pinned her to a bed and tried to remove her clothing.”
Trump Polled Staff on Firing Rosenstein
The Associated Press reports that President Trump polled staff on Air Force One on whether he should fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
He also called his outside network of advisers while watching Fox News report on the story that Rosentstein had suggested wearing a wire to secretly record Trump.
“The messages were mixed, but more were in favor of containing the urge to fire Rosenstein, a move that would declare open warfare with the Justice Department and cast doubt on the future of the special counsel’s Russia probe, according to two people familiar with the exchanges but not authorized to publicly discuss private conversations.”
Kavanaugh’s Accuser Will Testify on Thursday
“The Senate Judiciary Committee has committed to a public hearing Thursday to question Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford about her accusation that he sexually assaulted her when both were teenagers,” the Washington Post reports.
Ford’s attorneys said that their client “had agreed to appear despite the committee’s refusal to let her speak after Kavanaugh’s testimony or to interview other people she said were present at the party where she alleges Kavanaugh assaulted her during the early 1980s.”
“Ford’s attorneys said they had not been informed whether Republican staffers or senators would be asking questions of her, though it is customary during public hearings for the members to put questions to the witnesses.”
Democrats Have a Massive Turnout Lead
NBC News: “Republican House primaries produced about 24% more votes than they did in 2014. But Democratic House primaries in 2018 produced 89% more votes than they did four years ago… That’s nearly a doubling in the number Democratic House votes this year and it’s enough to give Democrats a big lead over Republicans in votes this year. In total, 4.3 million more Democrats voted in House primaries this year than Republicans.”
“The edge was small in 1998, about 1.3 million more Democrats than Republicans voted, and in the general election, the Democrats gained five seats in the House. Democrats had a bigger 3-million vote edge in the primaries of 2006 and in the fall the party gained 30 seats in the House – plus six seats in the Senate – on their way to capturing both chambers of Congress.”
“Using the House primary vote as a metric reveals a similar correlation for Republicans. In 2010, when the Republicans rode a massive wave election to gain 63 seats in the House – as well as six Senate seats and numerous governorships – the party had an enormous 4.9-million vote edge in House primaries. And in 2014, the GOP had a smaller 2.2-million vote advantage in the House primary vote and gained 13 seats in the chamber.”
‘My Rapist Apologized’
Deborah Copaken: “Let me tell you what life was like as a girl in Montgomery County, Maryland, in the early 1980s. I am a year older than Christine Blasey Ford and a year younger than Brett Kavanaugh. I grew up in Potomac, Maryland, a few miles from both Holton Arms, Ford’s school, and Georgetown Prep, which Kavanaugh attended, but I went to my local public high school, Churchill.”
“Never mind that any girl who was in high school in Potomac during that era knew, through the whisper network, not to go to a Georgetown Prep party alone. That was a given. What was also a given is that ‘date rape,’ as a term, was in its infancy. Most of us thought getting our bodies groped at a high-school party—or anywhere—was the unfortunate price we paid for having them, not something we would ever go to the police to report.”
Democrats Take on the Gun Lobby
Giffords PAC is going to spend nearly $1.5 million on a TV and digital ad targeting vulnerable Rep. Mike Coffman (R-CO).
Playbook: “Democratic operatives tell us that they believe the midterms are going to be a turning point on gun control. Their reasoning: Students from the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida have ramped up their activism across the country in an effort to register young voters. And, the WSJ recently put out an analysis with Kantar Media/CMAG data that found there has been a 22% increase in ads promoting stricter gun regulations since four years ago.”
Gosar Mother Sides with the Congressman
Reached at her home in Wyoming, Bernadette Gosar, the 85-year-old mother of Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) and his six siblings who appeared in a brutal ad supporting the Democratic challenger to their brother, said that she was unaware of the video until she was contacted by the New York Times.
Once they were described to her in detail, she said she was “shocked” and “crushed.”
She said she had a “wonderful family” but that the Gosar children in the ad did not relate politically to Paul Gosar or herself: “I share the same philosophy and policies that Paul does. He’s done a hell of a job for Arizona, and they love him.”
Kavanaugh Is Only Worsening the GOP’s Gender Problem
“The Republican Party’s fight to save President Trump’s embattled Supreme Court nominee amid allegations of sexual assault has surfaced deep anxieties over the hypermasculine mind-set that has come to define the GOP in the nation’s roiling gender debate,” the Washington Post reports.
“The images are striking: The specter of Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee — all 11 of them men — questioning federal Judge Brett A. Kavanaugh’s female accuser. A senior GOP aide working on the confirmation resigning amid his own sexual harassment allegations. A viral photo of ‘women for Kavanaugh’ featuring more men than women. A South Carolina Republican congressman making a crude joke about Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg being groped by former president Abraham Lincoln.”
“And then there is the party’s id, Trump, who as a candidate denied more than a dozen accusations of sexual assault and harassment and sought to silence and retaliate against his accusers — and who as president has defended one accused man after another.”
For members: Republicans Are Backed Into a Corner Over Kavanaugh
McConnell Warned Trump That His Tweets Don’t Help
After President Trump tweeted criticism of Christine Blasey Ford for accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called the president on Friday to say his tweets did not help, CNN reports.
Trump has not tweeted criticism of Ford since that phone call.
