memeorandum: Democrats bring in their closer against Kavanaugh: Felon and ‘master manipulator’ of Watergate, John Dean (Timothy P. Carney/Washington Examiner)

3:15 PM ET, September 7, 2018

Top Items:

Lisa Graves / Slate:

I Wrote Some of the Stolen Memos That Brett Kavanaugh Lied to the Senate About — Much of Washington has spent the week focusing on whether Judge Brett Kavanaugh should be confirmed to the Supreme Court. After the revelations of his confirmation hearings, the better question is whether …

Discussion: Mother Jones, Vox, Above the Law, SARAH PALIN, twitchy.com and Common Dreams

Jay Michaelson / The Daily Beast:

Newly Released Emails Show Brett Kavanaugh May Have Perjured Himself at Least Four Times — Formerly confidential emails have been released that show the Supreme Court nominee contradicting statements he made under oath to the Senate. — You can forgive Democratic senators for saying “I told you so.”

Discussion: ABC News, The Hugh Hewitt Show, Talking Points Memo, NWLC, Breitbart, Media Matters for America, Washington Post, Raw Story, USA Today, Fox News and ThinkProgress

John Wagner / Washington Post:

‘Unusual behavior’: McConnell says Booker could face Ethics Committee scrutiny — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said in an interview that aired Friday that Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) could face scrutiny from the Senate Ethics Committee for violating a rule that prohibits the release of confidential material.

Discussion: Breitbart, Axios and Political Wire

Timothy P. Carney / Washington Examiner:

Democrats bring in their closer against Kavanaugh: Felon and ‘master manipulator’ of Watergate, John Dean — In their final effort to derail the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh (because he doesn't pledge allegiance to Roe v. Wade) Democrats will drag out one of their favorite old props …

Al Franken / USA Today:
Kavanaugh Supreme Court hearings showcase Republican partisanship, hypocrisy

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Free Beacon, CNN, Reason and The Daily Caller

John Bresnahan / Politico:
Watergate figure John Dean calls Kavanaugh nomination ‘troubling’

Discussion: Political Wire, Breitbart, Washington Post, Media Matters for America and The Daily Beast

Burgess Everett / Politico:
Booker to McConnell on ethics charges: ‘Bring it!’

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Breitbart

Jenavieve Hatch / HuffPost:
Brett Kavanaugh Refers To Birth Control As ‘Abortion-Inducing Drugs’ At Confirmation Hearing

Discussion: Media Matters for America, News One, New York Times, Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times, USA Today, Salon, How Appealing, Common Dreams, POLITICUSUSA, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Splinter and Bustle

Jonah Goldberg / National Review: Theater of the Absurd Has Taken Over the Senate

William Saletan / Slate:

The Obvious Suspect — The quest to unmask the New York Times op-ed writer has been filled with speculation. But the article's prose points to one person in particular. — Who wrote the anonymous op-ed against President Trump in Wednesday's New York Times?

Discussion: Yahoo! Finance, CNN and NPR, more at Mediagazer »

Charles P. Pierce / Esquire:

My Wife Has a Good Theory on Who the White House Mole Is — The family is in agreement. — As every room in the White House echoes with the sound of cocks crowing, I am going to subcontract the job of guessing who the Anonymous Op-Ed writer is to my wife, Margaret Doris—journalist,

Discussion: Raw Story, Breitbart, POLITICUSUSA, The Daily Beast, Mediaite, Fox News and NBC News

Mark Landler / New York Times:

Trump Wants Attorney General to Investigate Source of Anonymous Times Op-Ed — WASHINGTON — President Trump said on Friday that he wants Attorney General Jeff Sessions to investigate the source of an anonymous Op-Ed piece published in The New York Times, intensifying his attack on an article …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Weekly Standard, CNN, CNNMoney and Bustle, more at Mediagazer »

Washington Post:

Trump: Justice Department should investigate anonymous op-ed author — ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE — President Trump called Friday for the Justice Department to investigate the anonymous author of an op-ed depicting a “resistance” inside the government and said he is considering taking legal action …

Discussion: Politico, Balloon Juice and The Root

Timothy L. O'Brien / Bloomberg:
Melania's Lament Rings Hollow in Trump's Glass House

Discussion: American Prospect, New York Magazine, Washington Post and The Week, more at Mediagazer »

Axios:
Trump calls on Justice Department to investigate anonymous NYT writer

Discussion: Hit & Run and AOL

Newt Gingrich / Fox News:
Anonymous NY Times op-ed is a liberal media attack on President Trump

Discussion: ABC News, Vox, Weekly Standard, Talking Points Memo and MelaniePhillips.com

Paul Bedard / Washington Examiner: Flashback: Obama prosecuted staff leakers, gave lie-detector tests, ‘paranoid’

Chauncey DeVega / Salon:
Exclusive: Psychiatrist Bandy Lee says White House officials told her Trump was “unraveling”

Discussion: BuzzFeed News, CNN, The Atlantic, Shareblue Media and Splinter

Washington Post:
Trump says Justice Department should investigate who wrote anonymous New York Times op-ed …

Discussion: Associated Press and Political Wire

Edward-Isaac Dovere / Politico:

Obama delivers full-throated rebuke of Trump's presidency — URBANA, Ill. — The night before the 2016 election, Barack Obama said Donald Trump was “uniquely unqualified” on the economy, “temperamentally unfit” on foreign policy, couldn't be trusted with the nuclear codes and had …

Discussion: Axios, No More Mister Nice Blog and twitchy.com

Peter Baker / New York Times:

Obama Takes on Trump in Debut of 2018 Campaign Role — URBANA, Ill. — Former President Barack Obama assailed President Trump on Friday as a “threat to democracy” as he emerged from a period of political silence to kick off a campaign blitz intended to help Democrats take control of Congress in the November midterm elections.

Discussion: Daily Kos

Mark Penn / The Hill:

White House in chaos — what's new? — The president decided the entire staff was working against him, running their own agenda, not his or the nation's. Poll ratings had plummeted, with job approval in the 30s. Leaks were commonplace as staffers hyped their own policy positions, even brazenly floated them in trial balloons.

Michael Scherer / Washington Post:
Former president Barack Obama, saying President Trump is capitalizing on 'fear and anger …

Discussion: Politico and twitchy.com

New York Times:

'I Don't Talk' That Way, Trump Says. Except When He Does. — President Trump said he has never used terms like “mentally retarded” or “dumb Southerner,” as he is quoted in Bob Woodward's new book. But the record shows he has. — Numerous Trump officials denied writing the anonymous Op-Ed published by The New York Times.

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA, Raw Story, Mediaite and Talking Points Memo

U.S. Department of Justice:

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Announces Extradition Of Alleged Russian Hacker Responsible For Massive Network Intrusions At U.S. Financial Institutions, Brokerage Firms, A Major News Publication, And Other Companies — Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York …

The Guardian:

Tesla shares crash after Elon Musk smokes joint on live web show — Two senior executives quit electric carmaker as market value falls 8% — Play Video — Tesla shares crashed 8% on Friday as two of its senior executives quit, just hours after the electric carmaker's chief executive …

Discussion: Bloomberg, Fox News, The Verge, Motherboard and CBS Chicago

David Crow / Financial Times:

Opioid billionaire granted patent for addiction treatment — A billionaire pharmaceuticals executive who has been blamed for spurring the US opioid crisis stands to profit from the epidemic after he patented a new treatment for drug addicts. — Richard Sackler, whose family owns Purdue Pharma …

Discussion: STAT, Vox, The Daily Caller and Raw Story

Brandon Morse / RedState:

Beto O'Rourke's Campaign Requests VFW Hall Take Down American Flags Before His Rally There — Ted Cruz's Challenger, Beto O'Rourke has made a name for himself by saying that he can think of “nothing more American” than kneeling during the National Anthem. We can now add stripping American flags …

Erick Erickson / The Resurgent:
Beto's Campaign Tries to Get a VFW Hall to Take Down Their American Flags

Discussion: The Navasota Examiner

Bryan Lowry / McClatchy Washington Bureau:

Fearful mother in ad attacking Sharice Davids is a Kansas GOP official — A fearful mother stares into a camera and warns that Democratic candidate Sharice Davids will put her four children at risk. — In a new ad from a super PAC linked to House Speaker Paul Ryan, Alana Roethle of Leawood …

Discussion: Congressional Leadership Fund and The Daily Beast

Peter Suderman / Hit & Run:

Scott Walker's Anthem-Flag Bitmoji Is Republicanism Under Donald Trump — To understand what has happened to the Republican Party under Donald Trump, consider the case of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. — There was a time, not too many years ago, when Walker looked like a plausible …

Discussion: twitchy.com

Jeff Cox / CNBC:

Economy adds more jobs than expected in August, and wage growth hits post-recession high — Nonfarm payrolls grew by 201,000 in August. Economists surveyed by Reuters expected a 191,000 increase.

Discussion: New York Times, Outside the Beltway, Daily Wire, Scared Monkeys, Front Page Magazine and NTK Network

New York Times:

This Space Available — New York City's streetscape has been transformed — visually and economically — by the staggering numbers of vacant storefronts now dotting its most popular retail corridors. The Times set out with a panoramic camera to capture what this commercial blight feels like on the ground.

Foreign Policy:

State Widens Probe Into Trump Administration's Alleged Retaliation Against Career Officials — Mari Stull, a wine blogger-turned-Trump appointee, is the subject of two investigations into allegations of reprisals and bullying at the State Department. — The U.S. State Department's Office …

NBC News:

Yes, Democrats do have a legitimate path to win back the Senate — First Read is your briefing from “Meet the Press” and the NBC Political Unit on the day's most important political stories and why they matter. — WASHINGTON — The takeaway from the trio of NBC/Marist polls we released this week is that …

Discussion: MSNBC, New York Times, Outside the Beltway, POLITICUSUSA and Talking Points Memo

David Fickling / Bloomberg:

The Trade Slowdown Has Already Begun — As tariffs pile up, the world economy is starting to look holed below the waterline. — One of the paradoxes of this year's trade tensions is that in many parts of the world, it doesn't yet feel like a crisis. — For all the turmoil …

Sam Tanenhaus / Vanity Fair:

“I'm Tired of America Wasting Our Blood and Treasure”: The Strange Ascent of Betsy DeVos and Erik Prince — Since the 1970s, the DeVos family has been quietly advancing a plan to make government act more like a private business. Now, they appear ready to take the next step.

New York Times:

Trump to Preside Over U.N. Security Council, Prompting Anxiety All Around — WASHINGTON — Three weeks from now, in New York, President Trump will find himself in the setting he most relishes: seated at the head of a polished table, calling on those seated around him, rewarding those he likes and cutting off those who displease him.

Discussion: Defense One and The American Conservative

Dominic Patten / Deadline:

Eagles Bring Out “Philly Special” To Win But NFL Kickoff Ratings Down From 2017 — The Heavens did not seem well disposed to the official beginning of the NFL season last night as rain and possible lightening in the City of Brotherly Love pushed back the start of the Philadelphia Eagles gridiron battle against the Atlanta Falcons.

Discussion: Breitbart and The Gateway Pundit

Hannah Allam / BuzzFeed News:

For A Lot Of Muslim Republicans, Their Party's Over — Anwar Khalifa is about as Texan as you can get. He speaks in a sharp twang and cruises around in a Chevy truck with real longhorns mounted on the front. He never skips “worship day,” he taught his three daughters to shoot, and …

Discussion: Raw Story

Los Angeles Times:

How eight elite San Francisco families funded Gavin Newsom's political ascent — Gavin Newsom wasn't born rich, but he was born connected — and those alliances have paid handsome dividends throughout his career. — A coterie of San Francisco's wealthiest families has backed him at every step …

Discussion: Politico