First Read: “At any moment, especially after the second accusation by Deborah Ramirez, President Trump could have thrown in the towel on Kavanaugh and nominated one of his other finalists to serve on the nation’s highest court (Thomas Hardiman or Raymond Kethledge).”

“Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell — who called on Al Franken to resign after multiple groping accusations him — could have pulled the plug and told Trump and fellow GOP senators that time would be better served trying to confirm a different nominee before November’s elections, when Democrats have about a 40 percent chance of winning control of the Senate.”

“And at any point over the last 12 days, especially before he went on Fox News (of all places) to defend himself, Kavanaugh could have said this entire spectacle wasn’t worth it — for his wife, for his family, and for institution of the Supreme Court itself.”

Julie Swetnick, who has accused current Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and his friend, Mark Judge, of excessive drinking and inappropriate treatment of women in the 1980s, told Showtime that she stepped forward so close to the hearing because it’s been on her mind ever since the incidents, slamming the judge as unfit for the highest court in the land.

Said Swetnick: “Brett Kavanaugh is going for a seat where he’s going to have that seat on the Supreme Court for the rest of his life.”

She added: “If he’s going to have that seat legitimately, all of these things should be investigated because from what I experienced firsthand, I don’t think he belongs on the Supreme Court and I just want the facts to come out and I want it to be just and I want the American people to have those facts and judge for themselves.”

“Officials inside the White House, as well as outside advisers, told the the Daily Beast that mood has become less bullish. Senior aides fear delivering Trump a major failure and humiliation that he can—and likely will—pin on those around him and squeamish Republican lawmakers. There is palpable fear that the party’s base will turn on Republicans should the Kavanaugh nomination fail.”

“Top donors, meanwhile, have said that they will continue writing checks out of a growing fear that the party could lose the Senate in addition to the House this coming fall. But one major contributor warned that lawmakers had to show them that they had put up a sufficient fight to get Kavanaugh on to the Court or else the checks wouldn’t come.”

Playbook: “Most senior Republicans think there is no win in this testimony for them. Period. They’re going to cringe while they watch it, and can’t wait until it’s over.”

Playbook: “Based on our reporting, it seems slightly more likely than not that Brett Kavanaugh will be a Supreme Court justice. Not by that much, but by a smidge.”

“Senior Republicans told us that a lot of attention is being paid to Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, but there are other serious wild cards — like Jeff Flake of Arizona — and others, depending on how today’s hearing goes. GOP leadership has good situational awareness on Collins and Murkowski — less so on Flake and no ability to predict how this hearing will go, and how viscerally people will react.”

“But today, we find ourselves at a moment where culture is a much more powerful force than conventional politics. The vote counting and partisan messaging that is the normal stuff of Capitol Hill and Washington is almost irrelevant compared to the way this episode is exposing sharp differences among Americans, based on their own life experiences, the prevalence of sexual assault and the notions of fairness in society.”

Greg Sargent: “The onetime girlfriend of Mark Judge, who is alleged by Christine Blasey Ford to have been present while Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in the 1980s, has emerged as a pivotal if hidden figure in this whole affair — and now she’s prepared to speak to the FBI and the Judiciary Committee about what she knows, according to a letter from her lawyer that I’ve obtained.”

A new Morning Consult survey finds that public support for Judge Brett Kavanaugh to fill the vacant Supreme Court seat “has dropped to its lowest point since President Trump nominated him in July, driven in large part by a sector of the president’s base: Republican women.”

“Kavanaugh’s net support among Republicans dropped 11 points, with 58% now in support of his confirmation and 14% opposed. The shift was driven by an 18-point fall in support among Republican women, with 49% now in favor and 15% in opposition.

“Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh testified behind closed doors and under oath on Tuesday about allegations that he was present at parties in the 1980s where women were targeted and gang-raped,” Time reports.

“Speaking under penalty of felony to Judiciary Committee investigators, Kavanaugh denied the allegations. His latest round of sworn testimony took place one day before Julie Swetnick came forward publicly with a third round of allegations about Kavanaugh’s sexual behavior in high school and college.”

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) “will announce that he’s seeking an injunction in federal court designed to stop a final vote on Brett Kavanaugh, asserting an obstruction of his constitutional duty to advise and consent on nominees,” Politico reports.

“Merkley’s still-pending filing in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia comes as Senate Republicans vow to push ahead with a vote on President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee in the coming days — and hours before a landmark hearing slated with Christine Blasey Ford, who has alleged a decades-old sexual assault by Kavanaugh.”

“This is ridiculous and from the Twilight Zone. I don’t know who this is and this never happened.”

— Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, quoted by CNBC, responding to new accusations that he facilitated sexual assaults in high school.

Meanwhile, the Senate Judiciary Committee released Kavanaugh’s prepared testimony that he will deliver at tomorrow’s hearing.

President Trump said he wanted Senate Republicans to move faster to confirm Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh after his first accuser came forward, Roll Call reports.

Said Trump: “I think I might have pushed it ahead a lot faster.”

But on Senate Democrats, he added: “They go in a back room and they talk to each other. And they laugh. It’s a con game.”

John Clune, the attorney for Deborah Ramirez, Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s second accuser, told the Today Show that Ramirez would be willing to testify about her allegations: “She would be willing to testify but we can’t even talk with the Senate Judiciary Committee about what that would look like and they certainly haven’t invited her, so at this point it’s a moot question.”

He added that his client would prefer an FBI investigation first: “It’s the only intelligent way to get to the truth of what happens.”

Axios: “Emails show negotiations between Ramirez’s attorney and Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee are at an impasse. Republicans have requested that Ramirez provide evidence of her allegations before moving forward, while her legal team has requested an FBI investigation.”

Politico: “Call them the two Brett Kavanaughs: One was a rowdy frat boy who once bragged about ‘100 kegs.’ The other was a studious rule-follower who spent his free time going to church, volunteering and remaining chaste. Making the contrast even stranger is the fact that both versions have been offered by Kavanaugh himself.”

“As the battle over Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination places his adolescence and young adulthood under the microscope, critics are asking which version of the man is real — and whether the conservative judge has represented himself to the public honestly. The war over the nomination has produced neck-snapping moments of cognitive dissonance.”

Washington Post: “On Monday night, Kavanaugh said in a nationally televised interview that in his younger years, he was focused on sports, academics and ‘service projects.’ But it was his comments about drinking that rankled some Yale University classmates, prompting them to speak out for the first time.”

The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled its vote on Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court for Friday morning at 9:30 am, CNN reports.

Politico: “According to committee rules, Judiciary must schedule a committee vote three days in advance. But the committee said the vote will only proceed if a ‘majority of the members’ of the 21-member committee are ready to vote on Friday.”

“Republican senators have been told they should expect to be in town this weekend to process Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court as he battles sexual misconduct claims,” The Hill reports.

“Republicans have been pushing to install Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court before its new term begins on Monday, though his nomination has yet to advance from the Senate Judiciary Committee.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to Reuters: “We’re going to be moving forward. I’m confident we’re going to win, confident that he’ll be confirmed in the very near future. I believe he’ll be confirmed, yes.”