memeorandum: Facebook and Twitter's Rehearsed Dance on Capitol Hill (Mattathias Schwartz/New Yorker)

5:05 PM ET, September 6, 2018

Top Items:

Charlie Savage / New York Times:

Leaked Documents From Kavanaugh's Time in White House Discuss Abortion and Affirmative Action — WASHINGTON — As a White House lawyer in the Bush administration, Judge Brett Kavanaugh challenged the accuracy of deeming the Supreme Court's landmark Roe v. Wade abortion rights decision to be …

Brian Schwartz / CNBC:

Marc Kasowitz denies Kavanaugh ever spoke to anyone at his firm about Mueller probe, contradicting Kamala Harris claim — “There have been no discussions regarding Robert Mueller's investigation between Judge Kavanaugh and anyone at our firm,” a spokesman for Marc Kasowitz said in a statement first provided to CNBC on Thursday.

Discussion: Daily Wire

Stephanie Ebbs / ABC News:

Sen. Cory Booker releases ‘confidential’ Kavanaugh emails in combative Supreme Court confirmation hearing — The ongoing partisan battle over whether documents from Brett Kavanaugh's work at the George W. Bush White House should be made public continued to dominate the nominee's Supreme Court …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Politico, Business Insider, New York Times, Axios, HuffPost and Breitbart

Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:
Newly released email suggests Kavanaugh did not tell the truth while he was under oath in 2006

Discussion: Daily Kos, Splinter, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Daily Beast, The Atlantic and HuffPost

Elana Schor / Politico:
Kavanaugh stumbles when grilled on whether he discussed Mueller probe

Discussion: The Daily Caller, twitchy.com, Patterico's Pontifications, Hot Air, Shareblue Media, HuffPost, ThinkProgress, The Daily Beast, Balloon Juice, SCOTUSblog, IJR and Washington Post

Politico:
POLITICO Playbook PM: Two exclusive nuggets to start your afternoon ...

Discussion: ABC News, Axios and New York Times, more at Mediagazer »

Axios:

Exclusive: Trump's nightmare: “The snakes are everywhere” — President Trump is not just seething about Bob Woodward. He's deeply suspicious of much of the government he oversees — from the hordes of folks inside agencies, right up to some of the senior-most political appointees …

Ezra Klein / Vox:

The crisis isn't Trump. It's his Republican enablers. — Trump's flaws lie in plain sight. It's the GOP that pretends blindness. — This feels like a week of substantial, even shattering, revelations about the Trump White House. But it wasn't, not really.

Discussion: National Review, Outside the Beltway, The Federalist and The Daily Caller

Alexandra Petri / Washington Post:

I am the real Resistance, the Resistance within the Trump administration — When you think of the Resistance, you probably don't think of a group of senior Trump administration officials. But, you see, that is your mistake. That is exactly what I am, and I am resisting more than any of you, in your hats with your signs.

Discussion: CNN, Politico, USA Today and The Gateway Pundit

Washington Post:
Trump's reputation precedes him. So does Woodward's.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, CNN, The Intercept, Atlanta Black Star, IJR and New York Times

Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:
Publishing that anonymous New York Times article wasn't ‘gutless.’ But writing it probably was.

Discussion: National Review, CNN, CNNMoney and New York Times, more at Mediagazer »

Kate Bennett / CNN:
Melania Trump to op-ed writer: You are ‘sabotaging’ our country

Discussion: Politico, Mother Jones, Task & Purpose, Townhall, Bustle and The Moderate Voice

NBC News:
It wasn't me. List of senior officials who deny writing the NY Times op-ed.

Discussion: Raw Story, AOL and MSNBC

Mattathias Schwartz / New Yorker:

Facebook and Twitter's Rehearsed Dance on Capitol Hill — On Wednesday, top executives from Facebook and Twitter testified on Capitol Hill about their efforts to protect the next election—now sixty days away—from being hacked as aggressively as the last one was.

Discussion: Investor's Business Daily

BuzzFeed:

After Multiple Provocations, Twitter Bans Alex Jones And Infowars — “We took this action based on new reports of Tweets and videos posted yesterday that violate our abusive behavior policy, in addition to the accounts' previous violations.” — After weeks of equivocation …

Discussion: Vox, more at Mediagazer »

The Daily Beast:

Twitter Permanently Bans Alex Jones and Infowars — A video of him berating a CNN reporter with ‘the eyes of a rat’ was the final violation after a series of them by Infowars and its founder. — Twitter banned Infowars and its founder, the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, following months of public pressure to do so.

Discussion: Media Matters for America and Politico

Sara Salinas / CNBC:

Twitter permanently bans Alex Jones and Infowars accounts — The accounts violated the company's abusive behavior policies, Twitter said in a series of tweets. — The ban comes weeks after Jones was banned or suspended by other major tech companies like Apple, Facebook and YouTube.

more at Techmeme »

Donie O'Sullivan / CNNMoney:
Twitter bans Alex Jones and InfoWars

Discussion: CNN

Jon Swaine / The Guardian:

Revealed: Trump inauguration crowd photos were edited after he intervened — Exclusive: documents released to Guardian reveal government photographer cropped space ‘where crowd ended’ — A government photographer edited official pictures of Donald Trump's inauguration …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Political Wire, POLITICUSUSA, Daily Kos, Bustle, Raw Story, Talking Points Memo and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

Hugh Hewitt / The Hugh Hewitt Show:

Senator Ben Sasse On Day Two Of The Kavanaugh Hearings — Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska, a member of the Judiciary Committee, joined me this morning: — 09-06hhs-sasse — Transcript: — HH: Joined by Ben Sasse, Senator from Nebraska. Senator, welcome back.

Discussion: MSNBC

Amber Phillips / Washington Post:
Cory Booker and Senate Democrats just went into open revolt in the Kavanaugh hearings

Discussion: RedState, The Root and Talking Points Memo

HuffPost:
Here's Another Brett Kavanaugh Email Republicans Didn't Want You To See

Discussion: AOL

Jordain Carney / The Hill:
Booker releases ‘confidential’ Kavanaugh documents

Discussion: Fox News, CNN, The Nation, BuzzFeed News, Mediaite, Washington Post and The Gateway Pundit

Seung Min Kim / Washington Post:
Kavanaugh hearing: ‘Confidential’ emails were already cleared for public release

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Talking Points Memo, Townhall, NorthJersey.com, Vox, Louder With Crowder, Law & Crime, CNN, Hit & Run, Outside the Beltway, The Mahablog, Breitbart and Daily Kos

Alex Pappas / Fox News:
‘Confidential’ Kavanaugh emails posted by Cory Booker were cleared, despite dramatic claim of defying rules

Discussion: Power Line, Townhall, The Daily Caller, Daily Wire, Washington Free Beacon, Law & Crime, Raw Story and The Gateway Pundit

Timothy P. Carney / Washington Examiner:
'Most of Bush's nominees are Nazis' — those memos Patrick Leahy griped about were damning to the Democrats

Discussion: Daily Wire

Daily Mail:

NY Democratic Senate hopeful Julia Salazar was accused of having affair with Mets Keith Hernandez — EXCLUSIVE: New York Socialist Democratic candidate, 27, who ‘faked her Jewish immigrant biography’ was accused of affair with Mets star Keith Hernandez, 64, and arrested over claim of stealing from his wife

Discussion: Politico, Front Page Magazine, Gothamist, The Daily Caller and New York Times

Yair Rosenberg / Tablet Magazine:

State Senate Candidate Julia Salazar Was Arrested in 2011 On Suspicion of Criminal Use of Personal Information — Julia Salazar, the Democratic Socialist candidate running for New York State Senate, was arrested in 2011 on allegations of fraudulently attempting to access the bank account of Kai Hernandez …

Discussion: RedState

Washington Post:

Trump administration to circumvent court limits on detention of child migrants — The Trump administration said Thursday it is preparing to circumvent limits on the government's ability to hold minors in immigration jails by withdrawing from the Flores Settlement Agreement …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, New York Times, Shareblue Media, ThinkProgress, NPR, Washington Free Beacon, RedState, Shakesville and Federal Register

Julia Ainsley / NBC News:
Trump admin plans to hold migrant kids indefinitely, upending decades-old ban

Discussion: Splinter

Economist:

Donald Trump's approval ratings are pulled down by college-educated whites — His current numbers are only just above the low point of December 2017 — ANYONE wondering how long it takes Americans to digest the news that their president has been implicated in a conspiracy …

Discussion: Political Wire, Washington Monthly, Washington Post and Booman Tribune

Mike Barnes / Hollywood Reporter:

Burt Reynolds, Movie Star Who Played It for Grins, Dies at 82 — The ex-jock from Florida starred in ‘Deliverance’ and ‘Boogie Nights’ but preferred making such populist, fun fare as ‘Smokey and the Bandit,’ ‘The Cannonball Run’ and ‘Starting Over.’ — Burt Reynolds, the charismatic star …

Discussion: New York Times, Bustle, Full Feed, Outside the Beltway, CBS Boston, Consequence of Sound, TMZ.com, CBS San Francisco, CBS Chicago, Mediaite and smokeroom.com

Matt Zapotosky / Washington Post:

Prosecutors use grand jury as investigation of Andrew McCabe intensifies — Federal prosecutors have for months been using a grand jury to investigate former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe — an indication that the probe into whether he misled officials exploring his role …

Discussion: The Last Refuge and The Gateway Pundit

David Klepper / Associated Press:

Source: NY Catholic dioceses subpoenaed in sex abuse probe — ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood has subpoenaed all eight Roman Catholic dioceses in the state as part of her office's investigation into the church's handling of sex abuse allegations.

Discussion: National Review, Axios and Breitbart

Washington Post:
New York attorney general's office has issued subpoenas to every Catholic diocese in the state

Discussion: Daily Wire and The Daily Caller

Aidan McLaughlin / Mediaite:

Scoop: George Papadopoulos Spills on Mueller Cooperation in First TV Interview With Jake Tapper — George Papadopoulos, the former foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign and a figures at the center of the Russia investigation, will appear in his first-ever T.V. interview with CNN's Jake Tapper …

Asawin Suebsaeng / The Daily Beast:

Ex-CNN Trumpkin Star Scottie Nell Hughes Now Working for RT, the Kremlin's News Outlet — Once among the most prominent pro-Trump cable-news stars, Scottie Nell Hughes is now apparently working for RT, the Kremlin-backed propaganda outlet. — It appears Scottie Nell Hughes has a new job …

Discussion: Raw Story

Natasha Bertrand / The Atlantic:

Christopher Steele Again Eludes His Republican Pursuers — When the news broke earlier this summer that the elusive former British spy Christopher Steele had for the first time testified under oath and on camera in a deposition about his explosive and controversial dossier outlining …

Discussion: Media Matters for America and RedState

Alex Pasternack / Fast Company:

A Facebook employee tied to Cambridge Analytica has quietly left Facebook — A Facebook psychology researcher who previously helped harvest millions of Facebook users' profiles for the controversial Trump campaign contractor Cambridge Analytica has left the tech giant.

more at Techmeme »

Betsy Woodruff / The Daily Beast:

D.C. Wise Man Had Early Access To Trump's Pro-Russia Speech — Photos obtained by The Daily Beast show that controversial think tank chief Dimitri Simes was closer than previously known to the speech's drafting. — In the morning of April 21, 2016, a staffer at the Center for the National Interest …

Nate Cohn / New York Times:

Live From the Battleground Districts: Polls of the Key Races for House Control — In a first, the Upshot and Siena College will publish polling results in real time. — Over the next two months, The New York Times will talk to more voters than ever before.

Associated Press:

Abandoned trucks litter California highway as wildfire rages — REDDING, Calif. (AP) — An explosive wildfire closed down dozens of miles of a major California freeway only weeks after a nearby blaze that left neighborhoods in ruins and killed eight people.