memeorandum: Kavanaugh accuser willing to testify, her lawyer says; White House's Kellyanne Conway says, ‘She should be heard’ (John Wagner/Washington Post)

9:45 AM ET, September 17, 2018

Top Items:

California professor, writer of confidential Brett Kavanaugh letter, speaks out about her allegation of sexual assault — Earlier this summer, Christine Blasey Ford wrote a confidential letter to a senior Democratic lawmaker alleging that Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh sexually assaulted …

Discussion: HuffPost, Raw Story, NBC News, Wall Street Journal, Stupid Girl, Talking Points Memo, Salon, Fox News Insider, Roll Call, The Week, NPR, Refinery29, The Guardian, The Gateway Pundit, Splinter, Washington Times, The Resurgent, Washingtonian, Law & Crime, Media Matters for America, Towleroad Gay News, New York Times, Popular Information, SCOTUSblog, The Hill, Mercury News, Front Page Magazine, American Greatness, New York Post, Informed Comment, The American Spectator, Mediaite, KTLA, Breitbart, Townhall, LifeZette, Washington Blade, The Daily Caller, Politico, FiveThirtyEight, Mother Jones, Weekly Standard, twitchy.com, Power Line, Daily Kos, The Daily Beast, POLITICUSUSA, The Other McCain, Daily Wire, Vox, France 24, Fox News, RedState, Axios, The Last Refuge, Althouse, fox13now.com, Hot Air, Washington Free Beacon, Hollywood Life, IJR, Little Green Footballs, TheBlaze, Washington Monthly, VICE News, Outside the Beltway, CNN, CBS New York, CNBC, Above the Law, Joe.My.God., thenewcivilrightsmovement.com, New Republic, Hullabaloo, AOL, ThinkProgress, Shareblue Media and JustOneMinute

The Daily Beast:

Trump Believes There Is a ‘Conspiracy’ to Torpedo the Kavanaugh Nomination — The president and his team are not deterred by the sexual assault allegations being made against their Supreme Court nominee. If anything, their back is up even more. — In the hours after a 51-year-old …

Discussion: Politico, Lawyers, Guns & Money, POLITICUSUSA, Raw Story, Mediaite and Talking Points Memo

Axios:

Scoop: GOP plans to play hardball on Kavanaugh — Strategists advising Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh plan to use aggressive tactics this week in response to the public accusation of a “stumbling drunk” sexual assault in high school that instantly imperiled his confirmation, top sources tell Jonathan Swan:

Discussion: Mother Jones, CBS News, CNBC, The Week, CNN, Washington Post, Law & Crime, Breitbart, Roll Call, Splinter and Washington Times

Burgess Everett / Politico:

Flake opposes quick vote on Kavanaugh, putting confirmation in doubt — Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court hit a serious roadblock Sunday night, as GOP Senate Judiciary Committee member Jeff Flake said he is uncomfortable voting to advance Kavanaugh's nomination later this week …

John Wagner / Washington Post:

Kavanaugh accuser willing to testify, her lawyer says; White House's Kellyanne Conway says, ‘She should be heard’ — A lawyer for Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who said Judge Brett Kavanaugh assaulted her when the two were in high school, said Monday that Ford is willing to testify …

Discussion: The Hill, Axios, Politico, LifeZette and POLITICUSUSA

David French / National Review:

Weighing the Allegations against Brett Kavanaugh — They're serious but not solid. — The allegations against Brett Kavanaugh — outlined now on the record in the Washington Post by Palo Alto University professor Christine Blasey Ford — are substantial and serious.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Townhall, Talking Points Memo, The Week, The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story, The Other McCain and Front Page Magazine

Eli Watkins / CNN:

Lawyer: Kavanaugh accuser willing to testify publicly — Washington (CNN)Debra Katz, the lawyer for a woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct, said Monday that her client would be willing to testify in public to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Discussion: Townhall, Joe.My.God. and Talking Points Memo

Axios:
Kavanaugh accuser willing to testify before Senate Judiciary Committee

Discussion: Political Wire and CNN

CNN:
Read the letter Christine Blasey Ford sent accusing Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct

Discussion: The Dworkin Report, Betsy's Page, Instapundit, The Daily Beast, Mediaite and KTLA

Billy Perrigo / TIME:
Donald Trump, Jr. Posts Instagram Apparently Mocking Kavanaugh's Accuser

Discussion: Raw Story, The Week and Splinter

Stephen Collinson / CNN:
The power of a named accuser: Kavanaugh's future now hangs in the balance

Discussion: Political Wire, Mediaite and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: Can Kavanaugh hang on?

Discussion: The Week and Mediaite

CNN:
Two Republican senators urge committee to hear out Kavanaugh accuser before vote

Discussion: demwritepress.com, The Hill, Talking Points Memo, Politico, POLITICUSUSA and The Daily Caller

Rebecca Morin / Politico:
Kavanaugh accuser willing to testify before Senate Judiciary Committee, lawyer says

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA

Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:
Brett Kavanaugh's Confirmation at Risk After Accusation by Christine Blasey Ford

Discussion: The Hill, POLITICUSUSA, Simple Justice, alicublog, LifeZette, The Daily Beast, Wall Street Journal, NPR, Townhall, Mediaite, RedState, Vox, HuffPost, KTLA, Roll Call, The Daily Caller and Power Line

David Lat / New York Times:
Delay the Vote — for Kavanaugh, for His Accuser and for the Court

Discussion: Above the Law, Talking Points Memo, Law & Crime, Roll Call and twitchy.com

Politico:
‘I do not know this woman’: Trump allies rally to Kavanaugh's defense

Discussion: The Week, Breitbart and The Hill

David Frum / The Atlantic:
Delay the Kavanaugh Vote

Discussion: Breitbart and Axios

John Fund / National Review: Democrats Want Their Pound of Kavanaugh Flesh

Bloomberg:
Key Republicans Want Kavanaugh Charge Probed as Trump Backs Pick

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Week, Daily Kos and BloombergQuint

Sarah Quinlan / RedState:
The Supreme Court Is Too Important to Rush a Confirmation Vote for Brett Kavanaugh

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Daily Caller and Talking Points Memo

Robby Soave / Hit & Run:
Brett Kavanaugh's Sexual Assault Accuser Has Come Forward, and Her #MeToo Story Might Disqualify Him

Discussion: Pressing Issues, Townhall, HuffPost, Breitbart and The Daily Caller

Sean Sullivan / Washington Post:
GOP senator: Hold off on Kavanaugh vote until accuser is heard

Discussion: The Week, Splinter, The Atlantic, The Gateway Pundit, Roll Call, Political Wire, Washington Times, Mother Jones, Raw Story, HuffPost, The Guardian, Mediaite, Daily Kos, POLITICUSUSA, Washington Free Beacon, Los Angeles Times and Axios

Hillary Rodham Clinton / The Atlantic:

American Democracy Is in Crisis — It's been nearly two years since Donald Trump won enough Electoral College votes to become president of the United States. On the day after, in my concession speech, I said, “We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead.” I hoped that my fears for our future were overblown.

Discussion: Washington Post, The Week, Hullabaloo, Talking Points Memo, NY State of Politics, HuffPost and Balloon Juice, more at Mediagazer »

New York Times:

Bloomberg May Run for President as a Democrat. His Views on Policing and #MeToo Could Be a Problem. — SEATTLE — Michael R. Bloomberg is actively considering a campaign for president as a Democrat in 2020, concluding that it would be his only path to the White House even as he voices stark disagreements …

Discussion: Eschaton

Raphael Satter / Associated Press:

New leak shows Julian Assange sought Russian visa in 2010 — LONDON (AP) — Julian Assange had just pulled off one of the biggest scoops in journalistic history, splaying the innards of American diplomacy across the web. But technology firms were cutting ties to his website, WikiLeaks …

Daphne Merkin / Vulture:

Introducing Soon-Yi Previn As controversies tumbled around her, the daughter of Mia Farrow and wife of Woody Allen stayed silent for decades. No more. — Once, she was seen as a victim, her youth and relative innocence taken advantage of by a powerful, much older man who sucked her into his vortex.

Discussion: IndieWire, Vox, Associated Press, New York Daily News, New York Times, Deadline, The Guardian, The Week, Althouse, Mashable, Page Six and Jezebel

Jonathan Swan / Axios:

Behind the scenes: Republican fears and opportunities — A source who has seen recent polling, conducted by the Republican National Committee, told me the data show that a majority of Trump voters don't believe the mountain of evidence that Democrats will win back the House in November.

Discussion: RedState

Associated Press: Grim warnings for White House, Republicans ahead of election

Cynthia Littleton / Variety:

Tom Arnold and Mark Burnett in Physical Altercation at Evening Before Emmy Party — The tension between Tom Arnold and Mark Burnett boiled over into a physical altercation at Sunday's Evening Before Emmy party, a fundraiser for the Motion Picture Television Fund. — Details of the incident are still unclear.

Discussion: The Hill, LifeZette, CBS Los Angeles, Towleroad Gay News, Hollywood Life, Joe.My.God. and The Daily Beast, more at Mediagazer »

Meagan Flynn / Washington Post:

Noah's Ark except it's a school bus: Truck driver rescues 64 dogs and cats from floods of Hurricane Florence — There is nothing like a meal at the Waffle House after driving more than 60 animals from the South Carolina coast to southern Alabama inside of a school bus. Tony Alsup can attest.

Discussion: Greenville News

Paige Williams / New Yorker:

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Trump's Battering Ram — What does the press secretary believe in—other than defending the President's every word? — Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, says that she never set out to be “the face of anything.”

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and BloombergQuint, more at Mediagazer »

Erick Erickson / The Resurgent:

The Picture of Anderson Cooper is Real. The Claims About the Picture Are False. — A viral picture of Anderson Cooper in waist high water is real. But it is not from Hurricane Florence. — I note that even a post here at The Resurgent fell for the claims attacking Anderson Cooper.