Benjamin Wittes: “These are words I write with no pleasure, but with deep sadness. Unlike many people who will read them with glee—as validating preexisting political, philosophical, or jurisprudential opposition to Kavanaugh’s nomination—I have no hostility to or particular fear of conservative jurisprudence. I have a long relationship with Kavanaugh and I have always liked him. I have admired his career on the D.C. Circuit. I have spoken warmly of him. I have published him. I have vouched publicly for his character—more than once—and taken a fair bit of heat for doing so.”

“Despite all of that, if I were a senator, I would vote against Kavanaugh’s confirmation. I would do it both because of Ford’s testimony and because of Kavanaugh’s. For reasons I will describe, I find her account more believable than his. I would also do it because whatever the truth of what happened in the summer of 1982, Thursday’s hearing left Kavanaugh non-viable as a justice.”

“As an undergraduate student at Yale, Brett Kavanaugh was involved in an altercation at a local bar during which he was accused of throwing ice on another patron,” the New York Times reports.

“The incident, which occurred in September 1985 during Mr. Kavanaugh’s junior year, resulted in Mr. Kavanaugh and four other men being questioned by the New Haven Police Department. Mr. Kavanaugh was not arrested, but the police report stated that a 21-year-old man accused Mr. Kavanaugh of throwing ice on him ‘for some unknown reason.’”

“In the days leading up to a public allegation that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh exposed himself to a college classmate, the judge and his team were communicating behind the scenes with friends to refute the claim,” according to text messages obtained by NBC News.

“Kerry Berchem, who was at Yale with both Kavanaugh and his accuser, Deborah Ramirez, has attempted to get those messages to the FBI for its newly reopened investigation into the matter but says she has yet to be contacted by the bureau.”

“The texts also demonstrate that Kavanaugh and Ramirez were more socially connected than previously understood and that Ramirez was uncomfortable around Kavanaugh when they saw each other at a wedding 10 years after they graduated.”

Washington Post: “The outside prosecutor Senate Republicans hired to lead the questioning in last week’s hearing about the sexual assault allegations against Brett M. Kavanaugh is arguing in a new memo why she would not bring criminal charges against the Supreme Court nominee.”

“In the five-page memo… Rachel Mitchell outlines more than half a dozen reasons why she thinks the testimony of Christine Blasey Ford — who has accused Kavanaugh of assaulting her at a house in suburban Maryland when they were teenagers in the early 1980s — has some key inconsistencies.”

Playbook: “The FBI has a tough job in the coming week. The investigation into Brett Kavanaugh is limited to ‘current credible allegations’ against the judge. But there seems to be a number of ways they can get crosswise with Democrats. For example: is the FBI going to probe Kavanaugh’s behavior at Yale? Is the investigation going to probe all allegations by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, Deborah Ramirez and Julie Swetnick? Who decides what is credible? There are endless ways people will be able to discredit the investigation as not thorough enough.”

“This probe is being done to mollify a handful of Republicans. The vast majority of Democrats were always going to vote against Kavanaugh. They are after Sens. Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Jeff Flake. And they only need two of the three.”

“And remember… This probe is not really a weeklong investigation. The vote on cloture could be Friday.”

The Washington Post documents where Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee was either wrong or misleading.

“Julie Swetnick, one of the women accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct, faced allegations of her own misconduct during a short stint at a Portland tech company 18 years ago,” the Oregonian reports.

LIn the suit, Webtrends alleged Swetnick claimed to have graduated from Johns Hopkins University but the company said it subsequently learned the school had no record of her attendance.”

“The suit also alleges Swetnick ‘engaged in unwelcome, sexually offensive conduct’ while at Webtrends and ‘made false and retaliatory allegations that other co-workers had engaged in inappropriate conduct toward her.’”

Liz Swisher, a former Yale classmate of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, told CNN that she believes he lied under oath when testifying about his drinking to the Senate Judiciary Committee this week.

Said Swisher: “He drank heavily,” adding that he was a “sloppy drunk.”

She went on: “I don’t buy it. That’s not the Brett I knew, as soon as I met him in college. It’s not the Brett I saw during four years at Yale. And I don’t think many of his answers were credible. To lie under oath, to lie about that, then what else is true?”