The Commentariat -- Sept. 27, 2018

Afternoon Update:

Mrs. McC: Kavanaugh has been speaking -- okay, shouting -- for about 12 seconds & I'm already nauseous. Update: When he isn't shouting about what a wonderful person he is, he's crying, sobbing & sniffing about what a wonderful person he was. Trump can't like this.

Sheryl Stolberg & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "With her voice cracking but her composure intact, an emotional Christine Blasey Ford made her first appearance in public on Thursday, telling a rapt Senate panel about the terror she felt on a summer day more than 30 years ago, when, she said, a drunken Brett M. Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed, tried to rip her clothes off and clapped his hand over her mouth to muffle her cries for help." ...

... The New York Times' live updates of the Kavanaugh hearing are here. According to NBC News, Trump cancelled his scheduled meeting with Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein so he could watch the teevee. ...

... Annie Karni of Politico: "White House officials were glued to their television screens throughout the building on Wednesday, watching the emotional testimony of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee -- and cringing over the decision by Senate Republicans to hire a female prosecutor to question her. 'That's a disaster,' said one administration official. The official argued that Republican lawmakers had made a mistake by caving to the pressures of identity politics and hiring a woman to quiz Ford so as to avoid having an all-white male lineup of GOP Senators do the questioning. Trump allies also recognized the bad optics of a prosecutor seeming to interrogate a victim widely seen as sympathetic in a nationally-televised Senate hearing."

Eric Levitz introduces us to DOJ chief-of-staff Matthew Whitaker, who is likely to be appointed deputy AG if & when Rod Rosenstein "retires": "Here are a few things that he has publicly claimed to believe: Robert Mueller has no legitimate authority to investigate the Trump Organization's finances, and if he does (which, he has), 'then this would raise serious concerns that the special counsel's investigation was a mere witch hunt.' Donald Trump was right to fire James Comey -- because James Comey should have prosecuted Hillary Clinton[.]... (Whitaker has never called for any investigations into -- let alone, prosecutions of -- the Trump administration's many, many, many violations of information security protocol.) All federal judges should be 'people of faith' who take 'a biblical view of justice.' The Supreme Court is 'supposed to be the inferior branch of our three branches of government,' and has claimed far too much power for itself. Specifically, Whittaker says that Marbury v. Madison... was wrongly decided.... But if there's one thing Whitaker hates more than the Supreme Court striking down laws it regards as unconstitutional, it's when 'unelected judges' refuse to strike down laws that conservatives don't like[.]... There shouldn't have been an independent counsel's investigation into Russian interference because there wasn't such an investigation into the Obama administration's many scandals[.]"

*****

The Kavanaugh hearing is scheduled to begin at 10 am ET today.

Nicholas Fandos & Michael Shear of the New York Times: "Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh faced a whirlwind of new accusations on Wednesday that threatened to derail his nomination to the Supreme Court as key Republican senators wavered in their support.... On the eve of an extraordinary hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee at which both Judge Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford,... will testify, Mr. Trump said that 'some very evil' Democrats had plotted to destroy Judge Kavanaugh's reputation. And he lamented what he called 'a very dangerous period in our country' in which men are presumed guilty. But even as he described the charges against Judge Kavanaugh as 'false accusations,' Mr. Trump seemed, for the first time, to acknowledge the mounting challenges facing his nominee. Asked why he repeatedly sides with men over their female accusers, the president said hearing stories from Dr. Blasey might change his mind.... In [a] call Wednesday night [with Republican Judiciary Committee staff lawyers], Judge Kavanaugh denied the new charges leveled by Julie Swetnick.... On the Senate floor, [Sen. Jeff] Flake [R-Az.] delivered a fiery speech chastising both parties for prejudging the women's claims -- and Mr. Trump for dismissing Dr. Blasey altogether because she did not report a sexual assault as a 15-year-old."

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Trump said on Wednesday that the accusations against Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, his Supreme Court nominee, 'are all false,' but also said that he 'can always be convinced' after watching the testimony of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused the judge of attempted rape. In a rambling and combative news conference during which he lashed out against Democratic senators, Mr. Trump said that his own opinion about Judge Kavanaugh's case is affected by the many allegations of sexual misconduct that have been leveled against him by women in the past.... Speaking in New York, where he was attending the United Nations General Assembly, Mr. Trump repeatedly refused to give a direct answer to whether he thought the three women who have accused Judge Kavanaugh of misconduct are liars." ...

     ... Here's the transcript of Trump's "rambling & combative news conference," via Time. ...

... Kate Manne, in a New York Times op-ed: "When it comes to the moral deficiencies exhibited by Mr. Trump and other supporters of the judge, many critics speak about lack of empathy as the problem. It isn't. Mr. Trump, as he has shown clearly in the Kavanaugh confirmation process, seems to have no difficulty taking another person's perspective, and then feeling and expressing a sympathetic or congruent moral emotion. The real problem is that the people Mr. Trump feels with and for are most frequently powerful men who have been credibly accused of serious crimes and wrongdoing. He felt sorry for Michael Flynn, referring to him as a 'good guy.' More recently, he felt bad for Paul Manafort. And, in the case of Judge Kavanaugh, Mr. Trump feels sorry for a man accused of sexual assault while erasing and dismissing the perspective of his female accusers.... The higher a man rises in the social hierarchy, the more himpathy he tends to attract. Thus, the bulk of our collective care, consideration, respect and nurturing attention is allotted to the most privileged in our society." ...

... Kaitlan Collins, et al., of CNN: "... Donald Trump has grown increasingly dissatisfied with the way Brett Kavanaugh has defended himself in wake of sexual assault allegations that have threatened to derail his Supreme Court nomination, multiple sources tell CNN. It has led the President to believe that he must personally take charge of defending his embattled nominee ahead of Thursday's critical appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Trump made the decision to hold a news conference on the eve of the hearing, making it the fourth he has held as president.... 'The Democrats are playing this game that's disgraceful,' Trump said alongside his Japanese counterpart in New York. 'It's disgraceful to this country.' He said voters would punish Democrats in the midterm elections for their actions and trashed lawyer [Michael] Avenatti." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Remember, in Trump's view, not coming across well on teevee is the worst sin of all. ...

** Jessica Estepa of USA Today: "Julie Swetnick, a client of attorney Michael Avenatti, alleged in a signed statement released Wednesday that ... Brett Kavanaugh would drink to excess and 'engage in abusive behavior' toward teenage girls while he was in high school. In an explosive statement released by Avenatti, Swetnick said in the 1980s, she witnessed efforts by Kavanaugh and Mark Judge to get teenage girls 'inebriated and disoriented so they could then be 'gang raped' in a side room or bedroom by a 'train' of numerous boys.' 'I have a firm recollection of seeing boys lined up outside rooms at many of these parties waiting for their "turn" with a girl inside the room,' she said in the statement. 'These boys included Mark Judge and Brett Kavanaugh.' Swetnick alleged& she became one of the victims of 'one of these "gang" or "train" rapes.' She did not allege that Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Here's a slightly easier-to-read copy of Swetnick's declaration. ...

... John Wagner of the Washington Post covers Swetnick's allegations & other developments today in the Kavanaugh case. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Axios publishes about a page-and-a-half of Kavanaugh's prepared testimony for Thursday hearing, ending with a note, "Additional Testimony to Follow." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... The POTUS* has responded with his usual careful consideration:

Avenatti is a third rate lawyer who is good at making false accusations, like he did on me and like he is now doing on Judge Brett Kavanaugh. He is just looking for attention and doesn't want people to look at his past record and relationships - a total low-life! -- Donald Trump, in a tweet this afternoon

     ... Worth noting: Trump doesn't deny Swetnick's accusations, only Avenatti's.

... Philip Mattingly & Manu Raju of CNN: "Sen. Susan Collins ... raised serious concerns at a private meeting [of Senate Republican chairmen] about the newest allegations of inappropriate behavior against the nominee -- and questioned why the Senate Judiciary Committee had not subpoenaed a close friend of the federal judge. Multiple sources familiar with the private Wednesday meeting told CNN that Collins appeared unnerved by the latest allegation, citing in particular that it was a sworn statement sent to the panel, which carries with it the possibility of perjury for lying to Congress.... The sworn statement, Collins told the senators, brought the allegations to a new level and raised concerns that enough wasn't being done to address their veracity. Pointing to the affidavit, which she had printed out, Collins said given the weight of the allegations, it made sense to subpoena Kavanaugh's friend Mark Judge -- an alleged witness to the incidents -- and bring him in for testimony." ...

... Addy Baird of ThinkProgress: "In a Twitter thread Wednesday, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) attacked [Julie] Swetnick';s attorney, [Michael] Avenatti.... 'The lawyer to porn stars has just taken this debacle to an even lower level,' Graham tweeted. 'I hope people will be highly suspicious of this allegation presented by Michael Avenatti.' Graham continued, attacking Swetnick herself, and echoing one of the president's own talking points:... '"I have a difficult time believing any person would continue to go to -- according to the affidavit -- ten parties over a two-year period where women were routinely gang raped and not report it,' the senator tweeted. 'Why would any reasonable person continue to hang around people like this? Why would any person continue to put their friends and themselves in danger? Isn't there some duty to warn others?'... Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) went so far as to insinuate Swetnick's allegation was part of a larger conspiracy.... Hatch also said he doesn't think the allegations were 'fair' to Kavanaugh. 'I don't think we should put up with it...,' he said." ...

... Charles Pierce: "It became abundantly clear as Wednesday rolled toward a monstrous Thursday that Michael Avenatti and Julie Swetnick caught the Senate Republicans on the wrong foot. One way you know this is because Lindsey Graham scoffed at the 'porn star lawyer.' Huckleberry neglected to mention that Avenatti was the lawyer for the porn star that the president* paid off. That Graham was willing to look so damned ridiculous was a fine measure of how completely by surprise the endless chain of explosions that the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court has set off under the congressional majority. Another way you know is that some of the rhetoric from Republican senators that was aimed at Swetnick sank to the level we are accustomed to seeing occupied by that of the president*, who contented himself for the moment by sniping at Avenatti.... As of the end of the day Wednesday, with empty ridicule and clumsy innuendo as the only Republican answer to these latest charges, I don't believe they have the votes to confirm Kavanaugh in the full Senate." ...

... Elana Schor of Politico: "Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) on Wednesday announced 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.... Merkley's bid for an injunction hinges on the Senate's constitutional duty to provide advice and consent on nominees and charges that he's been prevented from fulfilling that due to the withholding of records on Kavanaugh's past service in the George W. Bush administration." Mrs. McC: I heard a couple of legal pundits say that Merkley's suit would not succeed. ...

... Paige Lavender & Paul Blumenthal of the Huffington Post: "Carrie Severino, chief counsel and policy director of the Judicial Crisis Network, would not definitively state Wednesday that Judge Brett Kavanaugh should still be confirmed as a Supreme Court associate justice, saying allegations of misconduct should be further examined. 'I think we have to look into this further,' Severino said when asked by MSNBC's Craig Melvin whether Kavanaugh should still be confirmed.... The Judicial Crisis Network sits at the center of a network of groups and conservative legal activists behind the selection of judges by ... Donald Trump. JCN was co-founded by Leonard Leo, the Federalist Society executive who pushed Kavanaugh's nomination on Trump...." ...

... Eli Watkins of CNN: "Christine Blasey Ford will tell the Senate that ... Brett Kavanaugh's sexual assault on her in their high school years stayed with her for her whole life, according to prepared testimony for Thursday's hearing.Ford, in her testimony, is due to make clear she has no uncertainty about the identity of her alleged attacker, referring to Kavanaugh as 'the boy who sexually assaulted me.' 'I don't have all the answers, and I don't remember as much as I would like to,' Ford said. 'But the details about that night that bring me here today are ones I will never forget. They have been seared into my memory and have haunted me episodically as an adult.'" ...

     ... Politico has Blasey Ford's prepared testimony here. I dare Lindsey Graham to smirk through her reading. ...

... Ryan Reilly of the Huffington Post: "Dr. Christine Blasey Ford's legal team has released a copy of a polygraph examination report regarding her sexual assault allegation against Brett Kavanaugh.... While polygraphs are not considered reliable enough for use in court proceedings, the letter is another piece of evidence submitted by Blasey's team to back her claims that Kavanaugh assaulted her at a house party in the suburbs of D.C. in the early 1980s.... The story includes the polygraph report. Mrs. McC: The cover letter from Blasey's attorney strongly suggests that the Judiciary Committee, in its request for documents, asked for Blasey's medical records. Pretty outrageous. ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Kavanaugh's ace card -- as stated in his prepared testimony & elsewhere -- is that "Dr. Ford may have been sexually assaulted by some person in some place at some time. But I have never done that to her." You know, I remember the full name of the junior-high-school kid who insulted me 60 years ago. He didn't touch me. He didn't put me in fear of physical danger. So I'm certain Blasey Ford can remember the name of the person who 36 years ago violently attacked her to the point she thought he would kill her. Kavanaugh's "defense" is an insult to every victim, male or female, of every assault. ...

... Zoe Tillman of BuzzFeed News: "Senate Judiciary Committee staff interviewed two men who said they believed that they, and not ... Brett Kavanaugh, had 'the encounter' with the woman who accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were teenagers, according to new information released Wednesday night by committee Republicans.... A Democratic aide told BuzzFeed News in an email that committee Democrats were not told about the allegations, which was a violation of committee rules. The aide called the release from the Republican side 'shameful and the height of irresponsibility.'"

... Opheli Lawler of New York: "Eight women who have accused ... Donald Trump of sexual assault or harassment released a joint statement in support of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and Deborah Ramirez, two women who accused ... Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: After the women made their statement public, Trump said in his rambling press conference yesterday that the reason he sided with Kavanaugh was, "Because I've had a lot of false charges made against me. I'm a very famous person, unfortunately. I've been a famous person for a long time. But I've had a lot of false charges made against me, really false charges. I know friends that have had false charges. People want fame, they want money, they want whatever. So when I see it, I view it differently than somebody sitting home watching television where they say oh, Judge Kavanaugh this or that. It's happened to me many times. I've had many false charges. I had a woman sitting in an airplane and I attacked her while people were coming onto the plane and I have a number one best seller out. I mean, it was a total phony story. There are many of them. So when you say does it effect me in terms of my thinking with respect to Judge Kavanaugh, absolutely, because I've had it many times."

... Kasie Hunt, et al., of NBC News: "According to an anonymous complaint sent to Republican Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado, [Brett] Kavanaugh physically assaulted a woman [in a sexual manner] he socialized with in the Washington, D.C., area in 1998 while he was inebriated.... 'There were at least four witnesses including my daughter.'... Republican Senate investigators asked Kavanaugh about the new complaint ... during a phone call on Tuesday between Kavanaugh and committee staff. Sources told NBC News that Kavanaugh denied the allegation.... The committee on Wednesday released a transcript of Tuesday's call.... 'We're dealing with an anonymous letter about an anonymous person and an anonymous friend. It's ridiculous. Total twilight zone. And no, I've never done anything like that,' Kavanaugh said, according to the transcript. A Democratic source said the minority wasn't satisfied by the Republicans' questions about the incident during the call, calling them cursory, and believed it should be investigated more deeply." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: While the incident may have happened, this charge won't go anywhere. The writer did not give her name or other contact information to Sen. Gardner's office. There is at least one clue in the letter which could help the FBI track down the victim, but there's no reason to think investigators would bother to do so. I don't know why people send letters like this. ...

... Elana Schor & Burgess Everett of Politico: "The transcript of Kavanaugh's Tuesday interview also cited another anonymous claim of sexual misconduct involving Kavanaugh, dating back to 1985 and sent to Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse's (D-R.I.) office, which the judge also flatly denied to investigators. A senior Senate Democratic aide said some in the minority are concerned about Republicans 'now releasing anonymous allegations in an effort to make all allegations look frivolous. We're focusing on the ones that have names attached.'" Mrs. McC: According to Fandos & Shear of the NYT [linked above], this particular anonymous accuser recanted Wednesday night. ...

     ... Also, it looks as if this accuser wasn't so anonymous. Committee Republicans knew his name, according to Peter Hasson of the Daily Caller. He sounds like an idiot.

... Greg Sargent: "The onetime girlfriend of Mark Judge ... 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.... [Elizabeth] Rasor [told the New Yorker] that Judge had confided in her about a group sex incident at the time.... In recounting this particular episode to the New Yorker, Rasor did not name Kavanaugh. But Judge's role -- and whatever Rasor is prepared to say about it -- has suddenly taken on a lot more potential significance, now that lawyer Michael Avenatti has produced a sworn statement from a third woman, which claims that Judge did conspire with Kavanaugh to get women drunk so they could be assaulted by numerous young men.... A senior Democratic aide to the Judiciary Committee told me ... that this raises further questions about why 'Mark Judge is hiding out in Bethany Beach and Republicans refuse to call him as a witness.'" ...

... Paul Waldman in the Washington Post: "Republicans can't claim that it is absolutely vital that Kavanaugh be seated when the court begins its new session in the first week of October when they held open a vacant seat for more than a year because they didn't want President Barack Obama's nominee to fill it.... The effort by the GOP to ram Kavanaugh's nomination through as quickly as possible is utterly unsustainable.... [Julie] Swetnick alleges that she attended 'well over ten house parties ... where Mark Judge and Brett Kavanaugh were present,' and that she witnessed Kavanaugh both '"grinding" against girls, and attempting to remove or shift girls' clothing to expose private body parts' and being verbally abusive toward them. She describes him as a 'mean drunk.'... She says it was known that Judge, Kavanaugh and others would spike the punch at these parties with grain alcohol or drugs to make girls inebriated, and that the boys, including Kavanaugh, would '"target" particular girls so they could be taken advantage of; it was usually a girl that was especially vulnerable because she was alone at the party or shy.'" Waldman notes where Swetnick's allegations are consistent with those of other witnesses.

... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Confirming Kavanaugh with this series of violent criminal allegations unresolved would be, as the idiom goes, "a travesty of justice." Not only would the Senate be abdicating its Constitutional responsibility -- as Grassley, Graham, et al., seem determined to do -- but also no serious jurist (or serious president, but no one pretends we have one of those) would allow the confirmation to go to a vote under these circumstances. If John Roberts weren't a partisan hack, he would not swear in Kavanaugh until the allegations are investigated, and he would suspend Kavanaugh from the bench in the interim.

"We Didn't Call It Rape." Aleandra Lescaze, in a Slate post (Sept. 24), who was graduated from the National Cathedral School in 1988, remembers Beach Week: "A large part of my high school experience were the parties at cavernous houses with multiple bedrooms, huge dark basements with enormous sofas and yards, and lots and lots of beer. No parents ... were ever around.... Every June, we had Beach Week ... in which teenagers actually rent houses to party at the beach.... I distinctly remember being at a Beach Week party with my then-boyfriend when it dawned on us that there was a drunk girl in a room down the hall, and boys were 'lining up' to go in there and, presumably, have their way with her. We didn't know for sure, but my boyfriend and my friend's boyfriend went to interrupt it and sent her on her way down the stairs. All I remember about her is that she was in the class above us and had dark hair. My friend has told me she remembers boys saying, 'I'm next,' which was why our boyfriends went to stop it.... They happened often enough that we had a term. We didn't call it rape." ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: Lest you should think that young Brett, as he said in his Fox "News" interview, "was focused on academics and athletics, going to church every Sunday at Little Flower," & therefore too busy to participate in these traditional Beach Week rituals, here's the June 1982 page of his calendar (the handwritten entries are Brett's):

... Zack Beauchamp of Vox, who also grew up in the D.C. area, further illuminates Beach Week. ...

... Jonathan Chait thinks Kavanaugh is toast: "As the heady brew of threatened male prerogative ... and partisan tribalism wears off, cold calculation will soon set in. The odds that many people are conspiring to lie about Kavanaugh are growing ever more slender. And the odds are growing that Kavanaugh committed to a lie, and sunk ever deeper into it, knowing that he would either have a lifetime appointment to the most prestigious legal job in America or be disgraced, and that is why he has refused to concede even an inch. That, too, is why he dodged a question from Fox News about letting his friend, Mark Judge, testify under oath. And Republicans will realize that there are always more Federalist Society-groomed conservative lawyers without his long trail of allegations." ...

... Linda Greenhouse: "No matter what happens on Thursday and in the days to come, I hope people will remember what the Kavanaugh nomination looked like at the close of the initial hearing. Covering the first hearing for Clarence Thomas back in 1991 and listening to him explain how he had transformed himself into a blank slate, I recalled a line from the poet Edna St. Vincent Millay: 'A man no longer what he was, nor yet the thing he'd planned.' At this moment, the line fits Brett Kavanaugh, too. He and Clarence Thomas have that in common."

Katie Benner of the New York Times: "President Trump said on Wednesday that he wants to keep in place the deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, amid speculation about Mr Rosenstein's future, which was thrust into doubt by revelations that he had discussed secretly taping the president and removing him from office. The two were scheduled to meet on Thursday to discuss Mr. Rosenstein's comments.... Mr. Trump added: 'We've had a good talk. He says he never said it, he doesn't believe it, he gets a lot of respect from me. He's very nice, and we'll see.' Mr. Trump also said he was considering delaying their meeting because he wanted to focus on Thursday's high-stakes hearing for his Supreme Court nominee, Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, and one of the women who has accused him of sexual assault, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford." ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: Of course Trump said, "We'll see" and maybe he would postpone the meeting with Rosenstein, because ...

... Ashley Parker & Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "When Rod J. Rosenstein reports to the Oval Office on Thursday to be fired, resign or continue tenuously in his post, the deputy attorney general will also be cementing his status as a player in one of President Trump's favorite parlor games: White House Survivor. Though the outcomes often differ -- fired by tweet (former secretary of state Rex Tillerson), permitted to faux-amicably resign (former national security adviser H.R. McMaster) or flayed but never quite offed (Attorney General Jeff Sessions )-- one near-certainty for those navigating their departures from Trump's orbit is a prolonged and capricious public humiliation. Trump's penchant for allowing his underlings to dangle and stew in Washington's fickle swamp often seems to be a form of psychological cruelty -- and also the way he prefers to conduct business, according to the president's advisers and associates." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Mark Landler of the New York Times: "President Trump accused China on Wednesday of interfering in the midterm elections to damage him politically because of his tough tactics on trade. Speaking at the United Nations Security Council, where he was presiding, Mr. Trump said, 'They do not want me or us to win, because I am the first president to ever challenge China on trade.' Mr. Trump has accused the Chinese of election meddling before, but never so bluntly or in such a high-profile international setting. He offered no evidence of how China might be interfering, or of whether its tactics went beyond trying to influence an increasingly bitter trade war.... Mr. Trump said nothing in his Security Council remarks about Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election.... He did fault Russia, along with Iran, for enabling the 'butchery' of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria, though he also thanked the countries for agreeing to suspend, at least temporarily, their assault on the rebel stronghold of Idlib to avert a humanitarian crisis." Emphasis added. ...

... You Can't Dump Me; I Dumped You. Jacob Pramuk if CNBC: "... Donald Trump claimed Wednesday that he rejected a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau this week as the countries struggle to reach a new trade deal. However, 'no meeting was requested' by the Canadian government, Trudeau spokeswoman Eleanore Catenaro said."

Erica Werner of the Washington Post: "House Speaker Paul Ryan on Wednesday said President Trump has told him he will sign a spending bill to avert a government shutdown. The House is prepared to pass the legislation later Wednesday and send it to Trump's desk." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... New Lede: "President Trump pledged Wednesday that he would not allow the government to partially shut down next week, backing down from his demand that Congress appropriate billions of dollars for new construction of a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico. Keeping the government open after Sunday would require Trump to sign a bipartisan spending bill from Congress, something he had resisted committing to for weeks."

They weren't laughing at me, they were laughing with me. We had fun. That was not laughing at me. So the fake news said 'people laughed at President Trump.' They didn't laugh at me, people had a good time with me. We were doing it together, we had a good time. -- Donald Trump, Wednesday, on diplomats laughing during his U.N. speech ...

... Brett Samuels of the Hill: "U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley> suggested Wednesday that world leaders laughed at President Trump's speech the day before because they respect and enjoy his honesty, arguing that negative media coverage of the president has hurt America's standing in the world. Haley, in an appearance on 'Fox & Friends,' blamed the media for misinterpreting why U.N. General Assembly member chuckled when Trump boasted that his administration's accomplishments outdid those of nearly any other in American history." Thanks to Akhilleus for the lead. Mrs. McC: In another studio, Haley would have been struck on the spot by lightning, but Fox "News" studios, of necessity, have built-in elaborate anti-lightning protection. However, Haley's nose did grow noticeably during the course of the brief interview. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Emily Tamkin of BuzzFeed News: "... diplomats have confirmed that their delegations were laughing at -- not with -- [Donald Trump]."

Trump Put a Racist in Charge of Enforcing Anti-Discrimination Laws. Robert O'Harrow, et al., of the Washington Post: "A senior Trump appointee responsible for enforcing laws against financial discrimination once questioned in blog posts written under a pen name if using the n-word was inherently racist and claimed that the great majority of hate crimes were hoaxes. Eric Blankenstein, a policy director at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, expressed those and other controversial views more than a decade ago on a political blog he co-authored with two other anonymous contributors." Mrs. McC: Yeah, I know you're not even slightly shocked. That might be the saddest part.

Binyamin Appelbaum of the New York Times: "The Federal Reserve’s chairman, Jerome H. Powell, said on Wednesday that the American economy was experiencing 'a particularly bright moment' as the Fed announced a widely expected increase in its benchmark interest rate and signaled that it planned to continue raising rates. Mr. Powell emphasized that the decision to raise rates to a range between 2 and 2.25 percent was not intended to get in the way of continued growth. 'My colleagues and I are doing all we can to keep the economy strong healthy and moving forward,' he said. But the Fed's decision was criticized almost immediately by President Trump, who opened a Wednesday afternoon news conference by declaring himself 'not happy' with higher rates."

The Guardian publishes an excerpt from Michael Lewis's upcoming book. In this episode, Trump fires has Jared Kushner fire his transition team. If you want a good glimpse into why the Trump administration has been in chaos since Day 1, it starts with its being in chaos well before Day 1. Mrs. McC: If, like me, you were thinking back then that maybe Trump wasn't the ignorant buffoon he played on the campaign trail, you too would be wrong. I know it's a busy day, but maybe bookmark this to read when Supreme TV is over.

The Commentariat -- Sept. 26, 2018

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Kaitlan Collins, et al., of CNN: "... Donald Trump has grown increasingly dissatisfied with the way Brett Kavanaugh has defended himself in wake of sexual assault allegations that have threatened to derail his Supreme Court nomination, multiple sources tell CNN. It has led the President to believe that he must personally take charge of defending his embattled nominee ahead of Thursday's critical appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Trump made the decision to hold a news conference on the eve of the hearing, making it the fourth he has held as president.... 'The Democrats are playing this game that's disgraceful,' Trump said alongside his Japanese counterpart in New York. 'It's disgraceful to this country.' He said voters would punish Democrats in the midterm elections for their actions and trashed lawyer [Michael] Avenatti." ...

** Jessica Estepa of USA Today: "Julie Swetnick, a client of attorney Michael Avenatti, alleged in a signed statement released Wednesday that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh would drink to excess and 'engage in abusive behavior' toward teenage girls while he was in high school. In an explosive statement released by Avenatti, Swetnick said in the 1980s, she witnessed efforts by Kavanaugh and Mark Judge to get teenage girls 'inebriated and disoriented so they could then be 'gang raped' in a side room or bedroom by a 'train' of numerous boys.' 'I have a firm recollection of seeing boys lined up outside rooms at many of these parties waiting for their "turn" with a girl inside the room,' she said in the statement. 'These boys included Mark Judge and Brett Kavanaugh.' Swetnick alleged she became one of the victims of 'one of these "gang" or "train" rapes.' She did not allege that Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her." ...

     ... Here's a slightly easier-to-read copy of Swetnick's declaration. ...

... John Wagner of the Washington Post covers Swetnick's allegations & other developments today in the Kavanaugh case. ...

... Axios publishes about a page-and-a-half of Kavanaugh's prepared testimony for Thursday hearing, ending with a note, "Additional Testimony to Follow." ...

     ... The POTUS* has responded with his usual careful consideration:

Avenatti is a third rate lawyer who is good at making false accusations, like he did on me and like he is now doing on Judge Brett Kavanaugh. He is just looking for attention and doesn't want people to look at his past record and relationships - a total low-life! -- Donald Trump, in a tweet this afternoon

     ... Worth noting: Trump doesn't deny Swetnick's accusations, only Avenatti's.

Erica Werner of the Washington Post: "House Speaker Paul Ryan on Wednesday said President Trump has told him he will sign a spending bill to avert a government shutdown. The House is prepared to pass the legislation later Wednesday and send it to Trump's desk."

Brett Samuels of the Hill: "U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley suggested Wednesday that world leaders laughed at President Trump's speech the day before because they respect and enjoy his honesty, arguing that negative media coverage of the president has hurt America's standing in the world. Haley, in an appearance on 'Fox & Friends,' blamed the media for misinterpreting why U.N. General Assembly members chuckled when Trump boasted that his administration's accomplishments outdid those of nearly any other in American history." Thanks to Akhilleus for the lead. Mrs. McC: In another studio, Haley would have been struck on the spot by lightning, but Fox "News" studios, of necessity, have built-in elaborate anti-lightning protection. However, Haley's nose did grow noticeably during the course of the brief interview.

Ashley Parker & Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "When Rod J. Rosenstein reports to the Oval Office on Thursday to be fired, resign or continue tenuously in his post, the deputy attorney general will also be cementing his status as a player in one of President Trump's favorite parlor games: White House Survivor. Though the outcomes often differ -- fired by tweet (former secretary of state Rex Tillerson), permitted to faux-amicably resign (former national security adviser H.R. McMaster) or flayed but never quite offed (Attorney General Jeff Sessions )-- one near-certainty for those navigating their departures from Trump's orbit is a prolonged and capricious public humiliation. Trump's penchant for allowing his underlings to dangle and stew in Washington's fickle swamp often seems to be a form of psychological cruelty -- and also the way he prefers to conduct business, according to the president's advisers and associates."

Breaking News: Akhilleus has "come across a secretly recorded video of Grassley and company, and what they were doing while Deborah Ramirez and her lawyer were waiting for them on the phone. They were bringing in three crack researchers to give them a better idea of how to help them and their boy Brett deal with this woman problem":

Here's a good summary of Trump's speech before the U.N. General Assembly:

*****

Trump Attacks Kavanaugh's (Alleged) Victim. Mark Landler & Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Trump accused Democrats on Tuesday of orchestrating 'a con game' against Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh in hopes of stopping his confirmation to the Supreme Court and said that one of two women who have accused him of sexual misconduct as a student was 'messed up' and 'drunk' at the time. Dispensing again with the restraint that advisers have urged him to exercise, Mr. Trump went beyond defending Judge Kavanaugh into attack mode, saying that Democrats were 'making him into something he's not' as part of a strategy to 'delay and obstruct' his confirmation.... He went on to call it a con game a couple more times, and then spelled it out, 'C-O-N.' Mr. Trump singled out the latest accuser, Deborah Ramirez, who said in an interview with The New Yorker that Judge Kavanaugh exposed himself to her during a drinking party while they were students at Yale University." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Gang of Powerful Old Men Don't Have the Guts of One Woman. Elana Schor, et al., of Politico: "Senate Republicans have hired an attorney to use as a questioner of Christine Blasey Ford at Thursday's high-stakes hearing on a sexual assault allegation against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh but are declining to name her. Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) told Politico on Tuesday as he entered the Capitol for a weekly GOP meeting that 'we aren't announcing the name for her safety.' Asked if Republicans have received any indication of threats to the attorney they're preparing to use, Grassley said: 'I don't know, but I guess we're just being cautious.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... New Lede Plus: "The Senate Judiciary Committee will vote on Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court on Friday morning, fewer than 24 hours after Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford appear before the panel to discuss Ford's allegation that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her more than 30 years ago. 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. 'For Republicans to schedule a Friday vote on Brett Kavanaugh today, two days before Dr. Blasey Ford has had a chance to tell her story, is outrageous," said Sen Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the committee's ranking member. 'First Republicans demanded Dr. Blasey Ford testify immediately. Now Republicans don't even need to hear her before they move ahead with a vote.'"

... Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "Republican Party leaders may be insisting that they will install Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court, but Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska is offering a blunt warning of her own: Do not prejudge sexual assault allegations against the nominee that will be aired at an extraordinary public hearing on Thursday. 'We are now in a place where it's not about whether or not Judge Kavanaugh is qualified,' Ms. Murkowski, a key swing Republican vote, said in an extended interview in the Capitol Monday night. 'It is about whether or not a woman who has been a victim at some point in her life is to be believed.' One of two Republican women in the Senate who supports abortion rights -- Susan Collins of Maine is the other -- Ms. Murkowski was always expected to be a critical vote in Judge Kavanaugh's confirmation process. But she is making clear that, beyond matters of abortion, she is deeply troubled by Christine Blasey Ford's story of a sexual assault by Judge Kavanaugh when she was 15 and he was 17." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie BTW: Here's an uplifting thought: if Mitch McConnell had the votes to confirm Kavanaugh, Chuck Grassley would not be doing any of this stuff. The downer: once the committee has pulled off its little show trial, the few GOP holdouts likely will get in line as they usually do, satisfied that Kavanaugh deserves to spend the rest of his natural life judging the rest of us.

... Rebecca Shabad, et al., of NBC News: "In a letter to a lawyer for Ford on Monday, Mike Davis, who handles nominations for Republicans on the committee -- all of whom are men -- said that the GOP had hired a woman whom he described as 'an experienced sex-crimes prosecutor to serve as an investigative staff counsel for the hearing.'... Asked by NBC's Kasie Hunt Tuesday what message it sends to the nation that the entire GOP side of the panel lacks women, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said, "... we have hired a female assistant to go on staff and to ask these questions in a respectful and professional way...." Emphasis added. ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Sure, this mystery woman is "an experienced prosecutor," but to the Boys in the Chamber, she a female assistant. I wonder if Chuck will ask her to get coffee during the hearing. As Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) "said Tuesday it would not be wise for Republican senators to ask questions themselves during the hearing. 'Somebody will do something that you guys will run 24/7 and inadvertently somebody will do something that's insensitive,' he told reporters." Is calling a professional woman a "female assistant" insensitive enough for you, Bob? ...

     ... Update. Mystery Female Assistant ID'd. Sean Sullivan, et al., of the Washington Post: "Arizona prosecutor Rachel Mitchell has emerged as Senate Republicans' choice to question Brett M. Kavanaugh and the woman who has accused the Supreme Court nominee of sexually assaulting her when they were teenagers, according to two people familiar with the decision. Mitchell, the sex crimes bureau chief for the Maricopa County Attorney's office in Phoenix, is the leading candidate to query the two at Thursday's highly anticipated hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee, according to the individuals. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it on the record. A registered Republican, Mitchell has worked for the Maricopa County Attorney's Office for 26 years." ...

... Rachel Maddow was wondering out loud how come Judiciary Committee Republicans think they don't need the FBI to help them "investigate" claims of violent sexual attacks yet they don't have the chops to even question a witness, something that apparently an "assistant" must do for them. Maybe it's kinda like when the boss has to get his assistant to run the copy machine. MEANWHILE, Maddow interviewed John Clune, Deborah Ramirez' attorney, who said staff Republicans failed to show up for several scheduled phone appointments Tuesday. ...

     ... Here's a Denver Post story, by Elise Schmelzer, on the Grassley crew's failures to pick up the phone. ...

... Steve Kiggins & Richard Wolf of USA Today: "The attorneys for Christine Blasey Ford have sworn and signed declarations from four people who corroborate her claims of sexual assault by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. In documents sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee..., Ford's attorneys present declarations from Ford's husband, Russell, and three friends who support the California college professor's accusation that Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed, groped her and attempted to pull off her clothes while both were high school students in 1982.... Kavanaugh has flatly denied all accusations, including during a national television interview on Fox News Monday night. In her declaration, Adela Gildo-Mazzon said Ford told her about the alleged assault during a June 2013 meal at a restaurant in Mountain View, California, and contacted Ford's attorneys on Sept. 16 to tell them Ford had confided in her five years ago.... In another declaration, Keith Koegler said Ford revealed the alleged assault to him in 2016, when the two parents were watching their children play in a public place and discussing the 'light' sentencing of Stanford University student Brock Turner. In another declaration, Rebecca White, a neighbor and friend of more than six years, said Ford revealed the alleged assault against her in 2017." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Wow! Blasey has been planning to "smear" Kavanaugh for a long time. Very clever the way she started laying the groundwork way back in 2013. ...

     ... Axios has copies of the sworn declarations here. ...

... Elise Viebeck of the Washington Post: "Three former Yale Law School classmates who endorsed Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh called Tuesday for an investigation into allegations by two women that he engaged in sexual misconduct in the 1980s. Kent Sinclair, Douglas Rutzen and Mark Osler were among roughly two dozen of Kavanaugh's law school classmates who in an Aug. 27 letter to leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Their support for an investigation came as Yale Law professor Akhil Amar -- who taught Kavanaugh and testified on his behalf before the committee this month -- also called for a probe into what he described as 'serious accusations' from the women." ...

... Maya Salam & Niraj Chokshi of the New York Times: "Survivors of sexual assault and their supporters stood shoulder to shoulder on the steps of New York's City Hall on Monday, holding signs that read 'I believe Christine,' 'Misogyny bores me' and 'Block InJustice Kavanaugh.' In Washington, over 100 protesters were arrested after gathering in front of the Supreme Court and inside Senate office buildings. They were part of a series of protests across the country to show solidarity with Christine Blasey Ford and Deborah Ramirez, women who have publicly accused Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, President Trump's Supreme Court nominee, of sexual assault and misconduct." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Lara Bazelon in a New York Times op-ed: "Republican senators have no problem trying Dr. Blasey in the court of public opinion. Senator [Orrin] Hatch has already made up his mind: Judge Kavanaugh is telling the truth and Dr. Blasey is simply 'mixed up.' Lindsey Graham, another Republican committee member, told The Washington Post, 'I'll listen to the lady,' then immediately implied the opposite. 'We're going to bring this to a close,' he said and called the accusation 'a drive-by shooting.' And yet, they are apparently too afraid to speak to her face to face.... Come on, gentlemen. Man up." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

Brett was a sloppy drunk, and I know because I drank with him. I watched him drink more than a lot of people. He'd end up slurring his words, stumbling. There's no medical way I can say that he was blacked out.... But it's not credible for him to say that he has had no memory lapses in the nights that he drank to excess. -- Liz Swisher, friend of Kavanaugh at Yale & a medical doctor

He's trying to paint himself as some kind of choir boy. You can't lie your way onto the Supreme Court, and with that statement out, he's gone too far. It's about the integrity of that institution. -- Lynne Brookes, former pharma executive who remembered "a drunken Kavanaugh" at a Yale fraternity event

Nearly a dozen people who knew him well or socialized with him said Judge Kavanaugh was a heavy drinker in college. -- New York Times, yesterday

... Aaron Rupar of ThinkProgress: "During his interview on Fox News that aired Monday evening..., Brett Kavanaugh cited his college reputation as evidence he's been falsely accused by former Yale classmate Deborah Ramirez, who told the New Yorker Kavanaugh once thrust his genitals into her face at a party. 'The women I knew in college and the men I knew in college say it's inconceivable that I could have done such a thing,' he said.... But around the same time Kavanaugh was making that claim on Fox News, his former Yale roommate, James Roche, told the Bay Area ABC affiliate that he believes Ramirez. 'I concluded that although Brett was normally reserved, he was a notably heavy drinker, even by the standards of the time, and that he became aggressive and belligerent when he was very drunk,' Roche told ABC 7. 'I did not observe the specific incident in question, but I do remember Brett frequently drinking excessively and becoming incoherently drunk.'" ...

Perhaps Brett Kavanaugh was a virgin for many years after high school. But he claimed otherwise in a conversation with me during our freshman year in Lawrance Hall at Yale, in the living room of my suite.... [I remember it] because it was the first time I had had such a conversation with an acquaintance who was not a friend. -- Stephen Kantrowitz, dormmate of Kavanaugh in their freshman year at Yale

... John Harwood of CNBC: It's hard to believe Kavanaugh's denials about sexual attacks because he has lied a lot about other things. ...

... ** "Toxic Homosociality." Lili Loofbourow in Slate: "... I believe Brett Kavanaugh's claim that he was a virgin through his teens. I believe it in part because it squares with some of the oddities I've had a hard time understanding about his alleged behavior: namely, that both allegations are strikingly different from other high-profile stories the past year, most of which feature a man and a woman alone. And yet both the Kavanaugh accusations share certain features: There is no penetrative sex, there are always male onlookers, and, most importantly, there's laughter. In each case the other men -- not the woman -- seem to be Kavanaugh's true intended audience. In each story, the cruel and bizarre act the woman describes ... seems to have been done in the clumsy and even manic pursuit of male approval. Even Kavanaugh's now-notorious yearbook page ... seems less like an honest reflection of a fun guy than a representation of a try-hard willing to say or do anything as long as his bros think he's cool. In other words: The awful things Kavanaugh allegedly ... appear to .. fit into a ... category -- a toxic homosociality -- that involves males wooing other males over the comedy of being cruel to women." Read on. Mrs. McC: This is the smartest piece I've read by way of an explanation of who Kavanaugh was -- and is. ...

... Caitlin Flanagan of the Atlantic on Georgetown Prep, circa 1982. "There was ... -- as there always is in top Catholic schools that wish to be considered on the same intellectual and social plane as the great Protestant schools -- a constant, grinding, and not misplaced sense of inferiority among many of the students.... In a boys' school in the '80s, sexual frustration was combined with a casual misogyny -- if not of deed then of word -- that the authorities were in no way concerned about.... In the midst of it all (the Georgetown Prep way, the frat-boy tradition, the Irish problem -- who knows) seems to lie an ocean of alcohol." (Also linked yesterday.)

Alabama Evangelicals Counting on Kavanaugh to Oppose Separation of Church & State. Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "More than a decade after Roy S. Moore was ousted as Alabama's chief justice for defying federal court orders to remove a 5,280-pound stone slab of the commandments from the state judicial building, voters [in Alabama] will consider a constitutional amendment in November that would allow the Ten Commandments to be displayed in schools and other public property across Alabama.... Those campaigning for it now say their goal is to get a case before Supreme Court, where they hope -- if a Justice Kavanaugh is on the bench -- a conservative majority will rule in favor of such displays." ...

... Aaron Rupar: "Minutes after Bill Cosby was sentenced to three to 10 years in a state prison for sexually assaulting Andrea Constand, his publicist read a statement to reporters linking Cosby with Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.... Ignoring the difference between consensual sex and sexual assault, publicist Andrew Wyatt claimed that both Cosby and Kavanaugh are victims of America's 'sex war.' 'What is going on in Washington today with Judge Kavanaugh is part of that sex war that Judge O'Neill is a part of,' Wyatt said, referring to the judge who presided over Cosby's case."

Trump Gets Laughed off World Stage. John Bennett of Roll Call: "Other world leaders laughed Tuesday when ... Donald Trump began his UN General Assembly address by saying his administration has accomplished more than perhaps any in U.S. history. Trump smiled wide and looked around the hall as the laughter continued. 'Didn't expect that reaction, but that's OK,' he said. The laughter returned later when Trump turned to global energy prices. 'The United States stands ready to export our abundant, affordable supply of oil, clean coal and natural gas. OPEC -- and OPEC nations -- are, as usual, ripping off the rest of the world,' Trump said. 'And I don't like it. Nobody should like it.'" Mrs. McC: That's what happens when your audience isn't larded with handpicked nincompoops. Thanks to forrest m. for the lead. (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... David Nakamura of the Washington Post: "President Trump has long argued that the United States has been taken advantage of by other nations -- a 'laughing stock to the entire World' he said on Twitter in 2014.... But at the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, Trump got a comeuppance on the world's biggest stage. Delivering a speech that aimed to establish U.S. 'sovereignty' over the whims and needs of other nations, the president's triumphant moment was marred in the first minute when he was met by laughter -- at his expense. The embarrassing exchange came when Trump boasted that his administration had accomplished more over two years than 'almost any administration' in American history, eliciting audible guffaws in the cavernous chamber hall.... At the United Nations, Trump's claim to have done more in less than two years than most of the 44 previous administrations defied any bounds of reality -- or hubris. The difference was that he was not talking to a room full of excited, red-hat-wearing 'MAGA' supporters who cheer him on." ...

... David Nakamura & Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "President Trump declared Tuesday that his administration will reject attempts from other nations to impose constraints on the United States, vowing to take action in world affairs based on his judgment over how it would benefit Americans. In a speech before world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly, Trump issued sharp warning to the leaders Iran, Syria, Venezuela and China over what he described as their rogue behavior. But the president also made clear that the United States under his leadership would not be bound in its affairs by the consensus among traditional allies and partners." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Vox publishes a transcript of the full speech, as delivered, which the White House provided.

Matt Zapotosky, et al., of the Washington Post: "Rod J. Rosenstein's departure seemed so certain this week that his boss's chief of staff told colleagues that he had been tapped by the White House to take over as second-in-command of the Justice Department, while another official would supervise the special counsel probe into Russia's interference in the 2016 election, people familiar with the matter said. But by Monday afternoon, the succession plan had been scrapped. Rosenstein, who told the White House he was willing to quit if President Trump wouldn't disparage him, would remain the deputy attorney general in advance of a high-stakes meeting on Thursday to discuss the future of his employment. The other officials, too, would go back to work, facing the prospect that in just days they could be leading the department through a historic crisis. Inside the Justice Department on Tuesday, officials still struggled to understand the events that nearly produced a seismic upheaval in their leadership ranks -- until it didn't -- and they braced for a potential repeat of that chaos later in the week.... While it remained possible that Rosenstein could still resign or be fired imminently, people inside and outside the department said it seemed increasingly more likely that Rosenstein would stay in the job until after November's elections and then depart, probably along with the attorney general. Two White House officials said Tuesday that Trump is unlikely to fire Rosenstein until after the midterms."

Hunter Walker of Yahoo! News: "Raj Shah, a deputy press secretary who has stepped behind the podium for numerous daily briefings, has told multiple people he plans to leave the West Wing following the confirmation process for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Shah has been leading the communications efforts in support of the confirmation process since Kavanaugh's nomination in July. Two sources familiar with Shah's thinking said he thought that helping to shepherd the successful confirmation would allow him to end his White House tenure on a high note." Mrs. McC: Ha ha. The best laid plan of Mister Shah gang aft a-gley.

Adolfo Flores of BuzzFeed News: "A memo signed by Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen contradicts statements she made at the height of the family separation crisis last spring that the administration did not have a policy of separating children from parents. Nielsen signed off on the option to prosecute all adults who crossed the border illegally, including those with kids, knowing it would lead to family separations.... 'DHS could also permissibly direct the separation of parents or legal guardians and minors held in immigration detention so that the parent or legal guardian can be prosecuted,' the memo said. When the administration was under fire for the family separations Nielsen told reporters 'This administration did not create a policy of separating families at the border.' Yet, the memo she signed states the effect of attempting to prosecute every adult at the border would result in children being separated from their parents." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: We knew she was lying then; we have proof now.

Khorri Atkinson of Axios: "An internal investigation has found that the head of FEMA, Brock Long, used unauthorized government vehicles and employees to drive him to his home in North Carolina and his family around Hawaii during a business trip that coincided with his family's spring break last year, costing taxpayers $151,000, per the WSJ."

About Those $52,000 Curtains. Brett Bruen in a Politico Magazine opinion piece: The New York Times, in a correction to its original story, blamed the Obama administration for the purchase of curtains for the United Nations ambassador's residence in New York City. But the contract was let in April 2017. Nikki "Haley was responsible for the purchase." More importantly, the contract was signed while the Trump administration was cutting off "many other essential services," like security for embassies in dangerous areas of the world. "What kind of public leader pursues costly upgrades to their residence even as their employees lack basic support?"

AP: "His Hollywood career and good-guy image in ruins, an 81-year-old Bill Cosby was sentenced Tuesday to three to 10 years behind bars for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman, becoming the first celebrity of the #MeToo era to be sent to prison." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... The New York Times story, by Graham Bowley & Jon Hurdle, is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

The Commentariat -- Sept. 25, 2018

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

AP: "His Hollywood career and good-guy image in ruins, an 81-year-old Bill Cosby was sentenced Tuesday to three to 10 years behind bars for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman, becoming the first celebrity of the #MeToo era to be sent to prison." ...

     ... The New York Times story, by Graham Bowley & Jon Hurdle, is here.

Trump Attacks Kavanaugh's (Alleged) Victim. Mark Landler & Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Trump accused Democrats on Tuesday of orchestrating 'a con game' against Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh in hopes of stopping his confirmation to the Supreme Court and said that one of two women who have accused him of sexual misconduct as a student was 'messed up' and 'drunk' at the time. Dispensing again with the restraint that advisers have urged him to exercise, Mr. Trump went beyond defending Judge Kavanaugh into attack mode, saying that Democrats were 'making him into something he's not' as part of a strategy to 'delay and obstruct' his confirmation.... He went on to call it a con game a couple more times, and then spelled it out, 'C-O-N.' Mr. Trump singled out the latest accuser, Deborah Ramirez, who said in an interview with The New Yorker that Judge Kavanaugh exposed himself to her during a drinking party while they were students at Yale University." ...

... Gang of Powerful Old Men Don't Have the Guts of One Woman. Elana Schor, et al., of Politico: "Senate Republicans have hired an attorney to use as a questioner of Christine Blasey Ford at Thursday's high-stakes hearing on a sexual assault allegation against ... Brett Kavanaugh but are declining to name her. Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) told Politico on Tuesday as he entered the Capitol for a weekly GOP meeting that 'we aren't announcing the name for her safety.' Asked if Republicans have received any indication of threats to the attorney they're preparing to use, Grassley said: 'I don';t know, but I guess we're just being cautious.'" ...

... Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "Republican Party leaders may be insisting that they will install Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court, but Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska is offering a blunt warning of her own: Do not prejudge sexual assault allegations against the nominee that will be aired at an extraordinary public hearing on Thursday. 'We are now in a place where it's not about whether or not Judge Kavanaugh is qualified,' Ms. Murkowski, a key swing Republican vote, said in an extended interview in the Capitol Monday night. 'It is about whether or not a woman who has been a victim at some point in her life is to be believed.' One of two Republican women in the Senate who supports abortion rights -- Susan Collins of Maine is the other -- Ms. Murkowski was always expected to be a critical vote in Judge Kavanaugh's confirmation process. But she is making clear that, beyond matters of abortion, she is deeply troubled by Christine Blasey Ford's story of a sexual assault by Judge Kavanaugh when she was 15 and he was 17."

Trump Gets Laughed off World Stage. John Bennett of Roll Call: "Other world leaders laughed Tuesday when ... Donald Trump began his UN General Assembly address by saying his administration has accomplished more than perhaps any in U.S. history. Trump smiled wide and looked around the hall as the laughter continued. 'Didn't expect that reaction, but that's OK,' he said. The laughter returned later when Trump turned to global energy prices. 'The United States stands ready to export our abundant, affordable supply of oil, clean coal and natural gas. OPEC -- and OPEC nations -- are, as usual, ripping off the rest of the world,' Trump said. 'And I don't like it. Nobody should like it.'" Mrs. McC: That's what happens when your audience isn't larded with handpicked nincompoops. Thanks to forrest m. for the lead. ...

... David Nakamura & Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "President Trump declared Tuesday that his administration will reject attempts from other nations to impose constraints on the United States, vowing to take action in world affairs based on his judgment over how it would benefit Americans. In a speech before world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly, Trump issued sharp warning to the leaders Iran, Syria, Venezuela and China over what he described as their rogue behavior. But the president also made clear that the United States under his leadership would not be bound in its affairs by the consensus among traditional allies and partners."

Maya Salam & Niraj Chokshi of the New York Times: "Survivors of sexual assault and their supporters stood shoulder to shoulder on the steps of New York’s City Hall on Monday, holding signs that read 'I believe Christine,' 'Misogyny bores me' and 'Block InJustice Kavanaugh.' In Washington, over 100 protesters were arrested after gathering in front of the Supreme Court and inside Senate office buildings. They were part of a series of protests across the country to show solidarity with Christine Blasey Ford and Deborah Ramirez, women who have publicly accused Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, President Trump's Supreme Court nominee, of sexual assault and misconduct."

Lara Bazelon in a New York Times op-ed: "Republican senators have no problem trying Dr. Blasey in the court of public opinion. Senator [Orrin] Hatch has already made up his mind: Judge Kavanaugh is telling the truth and Dr. Blasey is simply 'mixed up.' Lindsey Graham, another Republican committee member, told The Washington Post, 'I'll listen to the lady,' then immediately implied the opposite. 'We're going to bring this to a close,' he said and called the accusation 'a drive-by shooting.' And yet, they are apparently too afraid to speak to her face to face.... Come on, gentlemen. Man up." ...

... Caitlin Flanagan of the Atlantic on Georgetown Prep, circa 1982. "There was ... -- as there always is in top Catholic schools that wish to be considered on the same intellectual and social plane as the great Protestant schools -- a constant, grinding, and not misplaced sense of inferiority among many of the students.... In a boys' school in the '80s, sexual frustration was combined with a casual misogyny -- if not of deed then of word -- that the authorities were in no way concerned about.... In the midst of it all (the Georgetown Prep way, the frat-boy tradition, the Irish problem -- who knows) seems to lie an ocean of alcohol."

*****

Statement by the Management: When my close friend the Constant Weader (ret.) started this job exactly ten years ago, she thought she would be posting one or two political news items a day & a bit of commentary on each to put that news into perspective. Okay, maybe a little more during high election season, but just enough so that readers could leisurely contemplate the implications of the major news stories of the day. That is not how it has worked out.

Happy Days! The Starr Chamber Gathers. That's Brett Kavanaugh standing next to Ken Starr to the left & Rod Rosenstein on the right wing of the couch.
Axios: "President Trump will meet with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein at the White House on Thursday, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a Monday statement.... 'At the request of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, he and President Trump had an extended conversation to discuss the recent news stories. Because the President is at the United Nations General Assembly and has a full schedule with leaders from around the world, they will meet on Thursday when the President returns to Washington, D.C.[,' Sanders said in the statement.&" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Michael Shear & Julie Davis of the New York Times: "Rod J. Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, was considering resigning on Monday, days after private discussions were revealed in which he talked about invoking the 25th Amendment to remove President Trump from office and secretly taping him to expose chaos in the administration. Over the weekend, Mr. Rosenstein called a White House official and said he was considering quitting, and a person close to the White House said he was resigning. On Monday morning, Mr. Rosenstein was on his way to the White House to meet with Mr. Trump's chief of staff, John F. Kelly." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... The story has been updated, with others added to the byline. New Lede Plus: "When Rod J. Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, headed to the White House on Monday morning, he was ready to resign and convinced -- wrongly, it turned out -- that President Trump was about to fire him. Top Justice Department aides scrambled to draft a statement about who would succeed him. By the afternoon, Mr. Rosenstein was back at his Pennsylvania Avenue office seven blocks away, still employed as the second-in-command at the Justice Department and, for the time being at least, still in charge of the Russia investigation. What happened in between was a confusing drama in which buzzy news reports of Mr. Rosenstein's imminent departure set in motion a dash to the White House, an offer to resign, Capitol Hill speculation about Mr. Rosenstein's successor and, finally, a reprieve from an out-of-town president." ...

     ... Devlin Barrett, et al., of the Washington Post: "Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein has told White House officials he is willing to resign in the wake of revelations that he once suggested secretly recording the president, but it is unclear whether the resignation has been accepted, according to White House officials. One Justice Department official said Rosenstein was on his way to the White House Monday and is preparing to be fired. But the official said Rosenstein is not resigning.... Amid the conflicting accounts of whether Rosenstein would resign, be fired, or still be in his job at the end of the day, it was clear that his position at the Justice Department had never been more tenuous. One Trump adviser said the president has not been pressuring Rosenstein to leave the job, but his resignation was a topic of private discussions all weekend. The person said Rosenstein had expressed to others that he should resign because he 'felt very compromised' and the controversy hurt his ability to oversee the Russia probe, according to a person close to Trump." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: If Rosenstein goes & the dominos fall, we can thank the New York Times for its largely-misleading report about Rosenstein's supposed 25th-Amendment chatter. (The Times stuck by its story, but Washington Post & NBC News reporters largely discredited the story.) We can also thank the Times for exaggerating the Clinton e-mail! story, turning it from what it really was -- another case of Hillary's customary imperious disregard for rules that apply to others -- into a story of possible criminal malfeasance. ...

... Gabriel Sherman of Vanity Fair: "For all the morning's madness, there may have been an underlying logic. Over the weekend, as Brett Kavanaugh's prospects appeared increasingly imperiled, Trump faced two tactical options, both of them fraught. One was to cut Kavanaugh loose. But he was also looking for ways to dramatically shift the news cycle away from his embattled Supreme Court nominee. According to a source briefed on Trump's thinking, Trump decided that firing Rosenstein would knock Kavanaugh out of the news, potentially saving his nomination and Republicans' chances for keeping the Senate.... The leak about Rosenstein's resignation could have been the result, and it certainly had the desired effect of driving Kavanaugh out of the news for a few hours.... Trump is keeping his distance from the nominee. A White House official said he hasn't spoken with Kavanaugh in recent days. 'This is Brett Kavanaugh's fight,' the White House official said." Mrs. McC: The WashPo reports (linked below) that Trump phoned Kavanaugh Monday. Sherman has more on Trump's "thinking." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: If Sherman is right about Trump's "thinking" (or even if he's wrong), it makes a lot of sense for Trump to meet with Rosenstein on Thursday (as Sarah Sanders says he will do) & fire him then. Because, um, something else is happening on Thursday that will otherwise dominate the news cycle. ...

... Surprise, Surprise. Lachlan Markay & Asawin Suebsaeng of the Daily Beast: "... Donald Trump's legal team is calling for a pause of the investigation into Russian election meddling should deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein, who oversees the investigation, resign or be fired. 'If in fact Rod Rosenstein does end up resigning today,' Trump attorney Jay Sekulow said on his radio program on Monday, 'I think it clearly becomes necessary and appropriate ... that there be a step back taken here, and a review, a review that has to be thorough and complete ... and basically a time out on this inquiry.' Rudy Giuliani, President Trump's lawyer and former New York City mayor, told The Daily Beast on Monday afternoon that he agrees with Sekulow's call for a cessation of the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller, in the event of Rosenstein's ouster --; which was reported to be near as of Monday morning." ...

... Ian Millhiser of ThinkProgress: "If Trump does fire Rosenstein, there is a good deal of uncertainty who has legal authority over the investigation. And the most likely suspect, [Noel] Francisco, may be ethically precluded from supervising this investigation.... As Georgetown law professor Marty Lederman points out, Francisco 'is probably recused from the Russia investigation (at a minimum), because Jones Day, his former firm, represents the Trump Campaign (unless there's been a change).' According to Lederman, Francisco has thus far taken his ethical obligation to recuse himself from cases involving his former firm fairly seriously, as Francisco has stepped away from 'all SCOTUS cases where Jones Day represents a party.'" --safari ...

... David Frum of The Atlantic: "If the president can browbeat Rosenstein into resigning -- or even plausibly misrepresent the firing as a resignation -- Trump gains the power to bypass the Senate confirmation process under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act. He can replace Rosenstein with any serving official previously confirmed by the Senate to any other job. The issue of 'Did he resign or not?' is likely to end up being adjudicated by the Senate Judiciary Committee -- the same body that has proven itself so uninterested in getting to the true bottom of the allegations against Brett Kavanaugh.... The Trump White House has spread confusion in the past about whether appointees quit or were fired.... If Trump can sell the claim that Rosenstein resigned, he can buy himself substantial impunity for many months -- months in which the GOP may lose control of the Senate altogether. By the time a new Senate can reassert authority over the Department of Justice, the Mueller investigation may be long dead." --safari ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Since Rosenstein, according to the WashPo, has offered to resign, I think the point may be moot.

Kate Riga of TPM: "... Donald Trump on Monday affirmed his continuing support for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh despite the second allegation of sexual misconduct against him that surfaced Sunday, saying that it's 'unfair,' 'unjust' and 'totally political.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Philip Rucker, et al., of the Washington Post: "Despite their public projections of unity, Trump and his aides behind the scenes see Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) as having been too accommodating to Christine Blasey Ford.... The president has said that Republicans are too easily manipulated by Democrats, that he is sick of Ford's attorneys getting their way and that he does not believe her accusations are credible, according to a Republican briefed on Trump's private comments. Trump told Kavanaugh in a call Monday that he remained behind him and wished him luck in an interview scheduled later in the day with Fox News, a senior White House official said. The White House found itself grappling Monday with a second crisis as well -- the uncertain job status of Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, who oversees special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's Russia probe and is a frequent target of the president's ire. Rosenstein is expected to meet Thursday with Trump, and it remains unclear whether he intends to resign, will be fired or will remain in his post.... The one-two punch over Kavanaugh and Rosenstein marked the start of a potentially consequential week and again plunged the White House into tumult...." ...

... I Was a Virgin! Lisa Moraes of Deadline: "Brett Kavanaugh tonight took to Fox News Channel to deliver a whopper pre-buttal to Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, who will appear Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee to discuss her sexual assault allegations against the Supreme Court nominee.... 'I did not have sexual intercourse or anything close to sexual intercourse in high school or for many years thereafter, and the girls from the schools I went to and I were friends,' Kavanaugh told The Story host Martha MacCallum in the pre-taped interview." ...

... Here's a transcript, via USA Today, of the full interview. ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Say, is that Tammy Wynette standing by her man? -- a man who cannot contain his tears saying, a la Little Jack Horner, what a good boy was I. ...

... Really, Brett. What About This? Kavanaugh's High School Yearbook Page Boasts He Had Sex with a Specific Woman. Kate Kelly & David Enrich of the New York Times: "Among the reminiscences ... about sports and booze ... [on] Brett Kavanaugh's page in his high school yearbook... is a mysterious entry: 'Renate Alumnius.' The word 'Renate' appears at least 14 times in Georgetown Preparatory School's 1983 yearbook, on individuals' pages and in a group photo of nine football players, including Judge Kavanaugh, who were described as the 'Renate Alumni.' It is a reference to Renate Schroeder, then a student at a nearby Catholic girls' school. Two of Judge Kavanaugh's classmates say the mentions of Renate were part of the football players' unsubstantiated boasting about their conquests. 'They were very disrespectful, at least verbally, with Renate,' said Sean Hagan, a Georgetown Prep student at the time, referring to Judge Kavanaugh and his teammates. 'I can't express how disgusted I am with them, then and now.'... I learned about these yearbook pages only a few days ago,' [Renate Schroeder] Dolphin said in a statement to The New York Times. 'I don't know what "Renate Alumnus" actually means..., but the insinuation is horrible, hurtful and simply untrue. I pray their daughters are never treated this way....'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: In fairness to Brett, Schroeder says Brett & his friends were lying and did not have any sexual contact with her. Were you lying then or are you lying now, Brett? ...

... Brett Plays the Nixon Checkers* Card. Jeff Greenfield in Politico Magazine: "By appearing with his wife on Fox News on Monday night to defend himself against accusations of sexual misconduct, Kavanaugh threw himself into what Justice Felix Frankfurter called 'the political thicket.' He is seeking to rally support for his confirmation in the face of polls showing him to be an increasingly unpopular choice. There was nothing subtle about the choice of venue. Fox News is not only ... Donald Trump's loyal echo chamber during early morning and prime time, but it is also the network whose founder and most popular on-air personality were both fired for repeated acts of sexual misconduct. And it is the network whose former co-president, Bill Shine, now directs communication for the White House. The striking aspect of this strategy is that is makes no pretense about keeping Kavanaugh outside the boundaries of blatantly partisan political tactics.... By taking his defense to the news media, Kavanaugh has given an unmistakable acknowledgement that there is no difference between running for office and seeking a lifetime appointment to the federal bench."

     * Checkers. Just what Akhilleus wrote in yesterday's thread.

.... Little Brett Horner Vows to Pull out that Plum. Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh ... vowed on Monday to fight the 'smears,' saying he will not withdraw his nomination. 'These are smears, pure and simple. And they debase our public discourse,' he wrote in a letter to the senior Republican and Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee. 'But they are also a threat to any man or woman who wishes to serve our country. Such grotesque and obvious character assassination -- if allowed to succeed -- will dissuade competent and good people of all political persuasions from service.'... Senior Republicans, led by Senator Mitch McConnell..., are closing ranks around the nominee, and they echoed Judge Kavanaugh's claims, accusing Democrats of running 'a smear campaign' to derail his confirmation." ...

... Ed Kilgore: "Gone is the calm jurist who did a lot of stonewalling in his earlier testimony, but didn’t lose his cool. Now, emulating many of his defenders, he&'s going on the attack and presenting himself as the victim of 'smears' and 'character assassination' by people in a 'frenzy' to defeat his confirmation.... And eliminating any mystery about the approach he will take on Thursday, he rejects both sets of accusations as not worthy of consideration[.]... Kavanaugh's resort to ... raw fear of the loss of white male privilege is a sign that he's staking his survival on a backlash from the Republican Party's conservative base that stiffens the spines of GOP senators and keeps pressure on the two Republicans -- Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski -- could actually kill his confirmation. But ... Kavanaugh [also] may well be making it clear to the president that he won't take a bullet for the team and go away quietly -- and that if Trump tries to withdraw the nomination, he'll be exposed to his own electoral base as a loser and a coward, unwilling to fight the character assassins." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: As a few pundits have pointed out, Supreme Court nominees don't go on the teevee. The Fox "News" interview was an unprecedented attempt to get a big promotion. ...

... Elaina Plott of the Atlantic: "On Monday morning, the White House hastily arranged a conference call with surrogates across the country to address the latest sexual-misconduct allegations levied against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. According to a source on the call, it was an unwelcome start to the day: Republicans had begun to breathe easier over the weekend, with Kavanaugh's second hearing finally confirmed. But a New Yorker story published Sunday night prompted yet another round of doubt about Kavanaugh's fate.... The White House was scrambling to assure its supporters that nothing had changed. The Republican line? 'Plow ahead.' That's how a staffer for Majority Leader Mitch McConnell put it, according to the source on the call. White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, who was also on the line, called the New Yorker story a 'smear,' part of a 'vast left-wing conspiracy' to take down Kavanaugh for his judicial ideology.... According to emails shared with me, the White House also sent surrogates a series of tweets from Senator Lindsey Graham encouraging Republicans to hold the line." ...

... Don't Blame Republicans. Jesus Made Them Do It. Dylan Scott of Vox: "While Democrats are appalled, Republicans are listening to a different drummer: the conservative grassroots. Those voters want their Supreme Court justice confirmed, or else they are threatening to stay home on Election Day -- and that really could put the Republican majority at risk. Evangelicals are maybe the single cohort most loyal to Trump and therefore crucial in midterm elections, which will be a referendum on the president. They were already warning Republicans not to withdraw Kavanaugh or else risk electoral disaster before [Deborah] Ramirez came forward. They don't sound likely to change course now." ...

... Jacob Pramuk of CNBC: "The Senate Judiciary Committee contacted Michael Avenatti after the lawyer claimed to represent a client who has damaging information about Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Update. Chris Woodyard & Jorge Ortiz of USA Today: "A third woman accusing ... Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct will come forward in the next 48 hours, according to Michael Avenatti.... Following a Monday hearing over [Stormy] Daniels' lawsuit against Trump and ... Michael Cohen over a hush-money deal, Avenatti told reporters he has been hired by a former employee of both the State Department and the U.S. Mint who has information of a sexual nature about Kavanaugh and his high school friend Mark Judge. 'It will relate to how they behaved at countless house parties," Avenatti said." ...

... Teevee pundit John Heilemann remembers Kavanaugh buddy Mark Judge: "Mark Judge in 1987-88 frequented a bar where John was then a bartender: 'He was an obnoxious, slovenly, disrespectful, thuggish drunk.'" -- Sahil Kapur, in a tweet ...

... Brian Karem of the (Montgomery County, Maryland) Sentinel: "Investigators in Montgomery County confirmed Monday they're aware of a potential second sexual assault complaint in the county against former Georgetown Prep student and Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. While investigators weren't specific and spoke on background, they said they are looking at allegations against Kavanaugh during his senior year in high school after an anonymous witness came forward this weekend. This would potentially bring the number to four women accusing Kavanaugh of wrongdoing and comes after Deborah Ramirez, a former Yale college student, stepped forward this weekend to accuse Kavanaugh of exposing himself to her in college, and after attorney Michael Avenatti tweeted out a message saying he represents a woman with 'credible information regarding Judge Kavanaugh and Mark Judge.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Steven Nelson of the Washington Examiner: "The chief of police in Montgomery County, Md., says his officers are not looking into sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, appearing to contradict a local news report that 'investigators' were looking at a potential second high school misconduct allegation.... The local publication did not identify the 'investigators' as police, but ordinarily police would investigate an alleged crime before a decision on whether to prosecute." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Amnesty International: "Amnesty International USA [Monday] called on a halt to a vote on President Trump's nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court of the United States unless and until any information relevant to Kavanaugh's possible involvement in human rights violations -- including in relation to the U.S. government's use of torture and other forms of ill-treatment, such as during the CIA detention program -- is declassified and made public." ...

... Sometimes Smear Campaigns Don't Go All That Well

      ... Adam Raymond of New York: The Republican National Committee published a list of "7 very serious problems with the New Yorker story" about Deborah Ramirez's allegations against Brett Kavanaugh. No 5: "The accuser is supposedly 'not politically motivated,' but is a registered Democrat who also 'works toward human rights, social justice, and social change.'" Raymond: "In this context, working toward 'human rights, social justice, and social change' is a negative quality. The RNC is suggesting that a dedication to such things inherently puts one at odds with the GOP. We already knew that, of course, but it's nice to see the RNC admit it." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... AND George Soros! ...

National Review columnist John Fund is offering "sincere apologies" for spreading false information about Kavanaugh accuser Deborah Ramirez. Last week, a number of false claims spread through RW media about Christine Blasey Ford, misidentifying her w/a women of the same name. pic.twitter.com/UycpC85Muf

— andrew kaczynski🧐 (@KFILE) September 24, 2018

 

     ... AND. Matt Shuham of TPM: "Two people [Louisa Garry and Dino Ewing, the former of whom starred in a recent Judicial Crisis Network ad supporting Kavanaugh] who signed onto a statement sowing doubt about the New Yorker's recent report of a second allegation of sexual misconduct against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh withdrew their names from that statement on Monday, emphasizing that they were 'not present' when the alleged incident occurred and therefore 'cannot dispute' allegations from Deborah Ramirez.... The New Yorker said in an update Monday that the statement had been 'provided by [Kavanaugh's] attorneys.' The New Yorker subsequently removed Garry and Ewing's names from the statement." --safari ...

... David Graham of the Atlantic: "Its becoming harder to view the hurry [to confirm Kavanaugh] as anything other than an attempt to move the process along without hearing the allegations.... Although Kavanaugh’s defenders have complained that these allegations are unfair because they emerged at the last minute, that’s in part because the process has been so fast. The White House has consistently failed to find weaknesses in candidates' resumes, and a more deliberate vetting process might have allowed them to be prepared for allegations against Kavanaugh.... The Judiciary Committee was also relying on press help from an aide named Garrett Ventry. But Ventry was a temporary employee, detailed from a conservative public-relations firm that helped push a bogus debunking of the Kavanaugh allegations. Moreover, he was made to resign after NBC News revealed that he had been forced out of an earlier job after a sexual-harassment allegation.... Kavanaugh may still be confirmed, but the rush has created conditions that both endanger his nomination and undermine any political gain Republicans sought to make." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Andrew Cohen in the New Republic: "This notion that Kavanaugh can convince America that he is innocent by producing his calendar from 1982 is patently absurd in a process in which live witnesses are barred from providing their insight about what Kavanaugh's life was like in those days. It wasn't going to fly when Ford was the only accuser. It's certainly not going to fly now that Ramirez has stepped forward.... The man who preached 'judicial independence' during his listless testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this month ... spent parts of at least four days last week at the White House being 'prepped' for his looming confrontation with Ford. Prepped, that is, by the very executive branch officials whose presidential privilege claims he may be asked to adjudicate ... if he ascends to the High Court. That's not judicial independence. That's a conflict of interest.... Kavanaugh is being coached in great detail to clap together precisely the right phrases during his next round of public testimony that will allow Vichy Republicans like Susan Collins or Jeff Flake to declare themselves satisfied that he's not an attempted rapist." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Matt Yglesias of Vox: "There is one thing that I -- who, like most Americans, did not follow his career pre-selection -- really know about Brett Kavanaugh: He is willing to fib to get a Supreme Court seat. When ... Donald Trump announced Kavanaugh's selection..., these were the first three sentences Kavanaugh uttered to introduce himself to the American public: 'Mr. President, thank you. Throughout this process, I've witnessed firsthand your appreciation for the vital role of the American judiciary. No president has ever consulted more widely, or talked with more people from more backgrounds, to seek input about a Supreme Court nomination.' Neither ... is true.... It sounds a little old-fashioned in the Trump era, but you are genuinely not supposed to pull up to a microphone in the White House and say stuff that isn't true. And you're not supposed to mislead Congress -- even if you manage to do so in ways that don't meet the legal standard for perjury." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Rebecca Traister of New York: "There is so much I don't know about what's going to happen next, whether on the Supreme Court or in the midterm elections or when it comes to the fate of the Trump administration or the future of the Democratic Party. But what I do know with absolute assurance is that we are living through a period in which women are enacting crucial, swift, large-scale social and political change. That change is happening whether or not Republicans push Kavanaugh through, whether or not Democrats take the House or the Senate. The change is not simply (or perhaps, not yet) about outcomes, but rather about expectations and what it's okay to talk about and when." ...

... Michelle Goldberg: "Regardless of what happens to Kavanaugh..., this scandal has given us an X-ray view of the rotten foundations of elite male power. Despite Donald Trump's populist posturing, there are few people more obsessed with Ivy League credentials. Kavanaugh's nomination shows how sick the cultures that produce those credentials -- and thus our ruling class -- can be.... In the rarefied social world that produces so many of our putative leaders, a young man who frequently gets blackout drunk, as Kavanaugh reportedly did, is a fun guy.... His story shows, in lurid microcosm, how a certain class of men guard and perpetuate their privileges. Women who struggle ceaselessly to be smart enough, attractive enough, ambitious enough and likable enough have been playing a rigged game."

POTUS* Insults Own Citizens. Ken Thomas of the AP: "President Donald Trump on Monday declared himself an 'absolute no' on statehood for Puerto Rico as long as critics such as San Juan's mayor remain in office, the latest broadside in his feud with members of the U.S. territory's leadership. Trump lobbed fresh broadsides at San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz, a critic of his administration's response to hurricanes on the island last year, during a radio interview with Fox News' Geraldo Rivera that aired Monday. 'With the mayor of San Juan as bad as she is and as incompetent as she is, Puerto Rico shouldn't be talking about statehood until they get some people that really know what they're doing,' Trump said in an interview with Rivera's show on Cleveland's WTAM radio." --safari ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: This is classic Trump projection. He knows his administration was criminally incompetent in its response to Maria, especially in comparison to its responses to earlier mainland hurricanes, so he calls a San Juan official so "incompetent" the entire territory must be punished. Instead of "Crooked Hillary," Trump's campaign "answer" to his own shady character, now it's "Incompetent Carmen." And, yeah, extra points for dissing another female leader. ...

... John Wagner of the Washington Post: "Trump’s assessment brought a rebuke from Ricardo Rosselló, the governor of the commonwealth, who has been making a stepped-up effort to persuade Trump and Congress to support statehood in the wake of the anniversary of the storm. 'This is an insensitive, disrespectful comment to over 3& million Americans who live in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico,' Rosselló said in a statement in which he also lamented 'the unequal and colonial relationship between the United States and Puerto Rico.'"

Joe Romm of ThinkProgress: "One of the biggest myths about global warming pushed by ... President Trump is that climate action benefits other countries much more than us. But a new study in the journal Nature Climate Change makes clear that, in fact, the reverse is true: There is only one country in the world, India, that benefits more than the United States when carbon pollution is reduced.... The study found that India suffered the most from additional carbon pollution followed by the United States -- and thus have the most to gain economically from climate action, whether at home or internationally." --safari

Rosa Smith of The Atlantic: "There's an eerie symmetry between Donald Trump and The Great Gatsby's Tom Buchanan, as if the villain of F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel had been brought to life in a louder, gaudier guise for the 21st century.... [T]heir shared personality traits are the product of their shared relationship to power -- the casual unreflective certainty that comes from inheritance, and enables its holders to wield its blunt force as both a weapon and a shield. Such power has its own logic; it responds not to social or moral rules, but to what it perceives as danger. It's for these reasons that in 2018, The Great Gatsby reads like a warning. For as much as it is a story about the American Dream, it is also a story about power under threat, and of how that power, lashing out, can render truth irrelevant." --safari

Paul Krugman: "... Republicans have decisively lost the battle of ideas. All of their major policy moves, on health care, taxes and tariffs, are playing badly with voters. In fact, Republican policies are so unpopular that the party's candidates are barely trying to sell them. Instead, they're pretending to stand for things they actually don't -- like protecting health coverage for Americans with pre-existing conditions — or trying to distract voters with culture war and appeals to white racial identity. The G.O.P. has become the party of no ideas." ...

... Andy Borowitz: "The Republican Party officially filed for moral bankruptcy on Tuesday morning, a move that many in the nation considered long overdue.... Harland Dorrinson, a Washington attorney who specializes in moral bankruptcies, said that, by making its moral vacuum official, the G.O.P. could theoretically break itself up and sell off the parts, but, he warned, 'There are no buyers.'"

Election 2018

Missouri Senate Race. Addy Baird of ThinkProgress: "Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley, who is currently running for Senate against Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO), put out an ad Monday afternoon touting his commitment to protecting people with pre-existing conditions, despite currently working as part of a lawsuit that aims to end protections for pre-existing conditions." --safari

Texas Senate Race. Daniel Drezner of the Washington Post: "Last Friday, [Ted] Cruz tweeted out that, 'Over and over again Congressman O'Rourke -- when faced with police and law enforcement -- he sides against the police.'" In his next tweet, embedded in yesterday's Commentariat, Cruz tweeted a video clip of O'Rourke speaking at a black church against the murder-by-cop of a black man inside his own home. Cruz comments in this tweet only "In Beto O'Rourke's own words." "The only possible reason I can see for showing O'Rourke's perfectly sane words without comment is because it has nothing to do with his words and everything to do with the visual. O'Rourke delivers this speech at an African American church, and the churchgoers react in an extremely energetic manner. That is the image that Ted Cruz wants his supporters to see, because he thinks it is the image that will mobilize his supporters into disliking O'Rourke and voting against him.... He thinks bigotry will get out the GOP vote in the state of Texas. As Marginal Revolution's Alex Tabarrok notes, 'It's shocking that Ted Cruz thinks tweeting this helps him. It's even more shocking if he is right.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Zack Ford of ThinkProgress: "Two different federal courts granted rulings [in Minnesota & Wisconsin] last week in favor of allowing transgender people to access the medically necessary care prescribed to them by their doctors. The rulings confirm the Affordable Care Act's protections on the basis of sex extend to transgender people." --safari

David Dayen of The Intercept: "The Mercatus Center at George Mason University, a university-based think tank funded by outside interests including the Koch family foundations, uses a private email server for its communications, according to three sources with knowledge of the situation. The setup allows Mercatus employees to have '@mercatus.gmu.edu' addresses, without the content of the emails passing through the university email system. Under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, emails from a publicly funded university could be considered public records, and having a private email server would help get around that requirement. The Mercatus Center at George Mason University did not respond to questions about why they have a private server for their emails." --safari (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

** Unsolved Mysteries. German Lopez of Vox: "If you murder someone in America, there's a nearly 40 percent chance you'll get away with it. If you severely assault someone, there's a 50 percent chance. And if you commit any other crime, there's a good chance you'll get away with that, too. That's the takeaway from the FBI's latest data on crime in the US." With charts. --safari

Elisha Fieldstadt & Adam Reiss of NBC News, & the AP: "A psychologist testified during Bill Cosby's sentencing hearing Monday that he is a 'sexually violent predator,' saying evidence shows that he can't stop himself from violating women and would probably do so again if he could. The hearing at a courtroom outside Philadelphia comes five months after Cosby was convicted for sexual assault against Andrea Constand, 45." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Update. Eric Levenson & Aaron Cooper of CNN: "Bill Cosby had potentially faced up to 30 years in prison, but he now faces a maximum of 10 years after prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed to merge the three counts of his conviction into one for sentencing purposes. Prosecutors asked a judge on Monday to sentence Cosby to five to 10 years in prison for sexually assaulting Andrea Constand, saying he had shown 'no remorse' for his actions."

Damian Carrington of the Guardian: "The world's most used weedkiller damages the beneficial bacteria in the guts of honeybees and makes them more prone to deadly infections, new research has found.... Glyphosate, manufactured by Monsanto, targets an enzyme only found in plants and bacteria. However, the new study shows that glyphosate damages the microbiota that honeybees need to grow and to fight off pathogens. The findings show glyphosate, the most used agricultural chemical ever, may be contributing to the global decline in bees, along with the loss of habitat." --safari ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Absent bees, we'll all die, people. Thanks, Monsanto.

Beyond the Beltway

Blake Paterson of ProPublica: "In June, the North Carolina General Assembly passed legislation mandating that all early voting sites in the state remain open for uniform hours on weekdays from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., a move supporters argued would reduce confusion and ultimately make early voting easier and more accessible.... A ProPublica analysis of polling locations shows that North Carolina's 2018 midterm election will have nearly 20 percent fewer early voting locations than there were in 2014. Nearly half of North Carolina's 100 counties are shutting down polling places, in part because of the new law. Poorer rural counties, often strapped for resources to begin with, are having a particularly difficult time adjusting to the new requirement." --safari

E.A. Crunden of ThinkProgress: "Delaware has become the latest state to take a hard line against offshore fossil fuel efforts, with a bipartisan push to protect the coastal state's waters from oil and gas development. Two bills allowing Delaware to both withhold permits from oil and gas drillers offshore and pursue legal action against them were signed into law on Thursday by Gov. John Carney (D)." --safari (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Kalinda Kindle of KTUU, Anchorage, Alaska: "On Wednesday, Superior Court Judge Michael Corey dismissed Justin Schneider's case of kidnapping and first-degree harassment. Many Alaskans like Elizabeth Williams, say they are outraged by the decision. Williams said she started a Facebook page called NO retention for Judge Michael Corey that quickly gained traction urging Alaskans to vote no for the retention of Judge Michael Corey during the November election. 'We are also putting pressure on the assistant district attorney and we are saying why didn't you advocate for this woman,' Williams said.... Schneider was sentenced to two years imprisonment with one year suspended and will receive no jail time." ...

... Amy Wang of the Washington Post: Schneider was "arrested last August after police said he offered a woman a ride from a gas station, stopping on the side of a road and asking her to step out under the pretense of loading items into the car, choking her until she lost consciousness, then masturbating on her.... Schneider was given credit for a year under house arrest, meaning he would not serve additional time in prison.... Anchorage Assistant District Attorney Andrew Grannik, the prosecutor in the case who said he had made the plea deal because Schneider had no prior criminal record and seemed amenable to rehabilitation, according to the Alaska Star. Grannik had said in court that he had 'reasonable expectations' that Schneider would not offend again. 'But I would like the gentleman to be on notice that that is his one pass. It's not really a pass, but given the conduct, one might consider that it is,' Grannik said then. On social media, people seized on the 'one pass' comment and demanded that Grannik be given the boot along with the judge. Meanwhile, Alaska state officials have acknowledged the outrage but said that, while Schneider's conduct was 'very disturbing,' Corey and Grannik were constrained by sentencing laws." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Schneider is white; his victim is Native American.