memeorandum: The allegations against Brett Kavanaugh are not simply a ‘he said, she said’ situation (NBC News)

9:30 PM ET, September 18, 2018

Top Items:

Sophie Tatum / CNN:

Ford wants FBI investigation before testifying — (CNN)The woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault says the FBI should investigate the incident before senators hold a hearing on the allegations. — In a letter addressed to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa …

Discussion: ABC News, Roll Call, BuzzFeed News, RedState, Talking Points Memo, Axios, Political Wire, The Gateway Pundit, Mediaite, Washington Times and Bustle

New York Times:

Christine Blasey Ford Wants F.B.I. to Investigate Kavanaugh Before She Testifies — WASHINGTON — The woman who has accused President Trump's Supreme Court nominee of sexual assault threw into doubt plans for an extraordinary Senate hearing to air her accusations, charging on Tuesday …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Gateway Pundit, The Week, Althouse, Mediaite, Daily Kos, Splinter and Balloon Juice

Gabriel Sherman / Vanity Fair:

“Cut Bait”: As the Kavanaugh Nightmare Escalates, Trump Is Gripped with Uncertainty as Ivanka Suggests Cutting the Judge Loose — The threat of losing the House and Senate has stopped Trump from going scorched-earth on Christine Blasey Ford. If Trump antagonizes women voters …

Discussion: Washington Post, POLITICUSUSA, Raw Story, The Week, The Daily Caller, New York Times, Vox, The Atlantic, Mother Jones, Axios, HuffPost and Common Dreams

Amanda Terkel / HuffPost:

Republicans Consider Using Female Staffers To Question Christine Blasey Ford — Every Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee is male. They normally would be the ones to face Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's accuser. — Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee …

Discussion: checkyourfact.com, USA Today, Washington Post, POLITICUSUSA, Political Wire, AOL, VICE News, NPR, Media Matters for America, Bustle, Rewire.News, The Week, Daily Kos and Balloon Juice

Anita Hill / New York Times:

How to Get the Kavanaugh Hearings Right — The Senate Judiciary Committee has a chance to do better by the country than it did nearly three decades ago. — Ms. Hill is a professor at Brandeis University. — There is no way to redo 1991, but there are ways to do better.

NBC News:

The allegations against Brett Kavanaugh are not simply a ‘he said, she said’ situation — Prosecutors look for corroborating evidence — and there are strong indications already that Christine Blasey Ford is telling the truth about her attack. — Created with Sketch.

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Washington Post, Bustle, Raw Story, Daily Wire, ThinkProgress and HuffPost

Brian Beutler / Crooked Media:

THE CORRUPT REPUBLICAN PLOT TO MAINTAIN CONTROL OF GOVERNMENT — Facing the real prospect that their long-sought fifth anti-abortion Supreme Court justice might go unseated, and President Trump's growing legal exposure, the Republican Party is charging into election season …

Discussion: Washington Post, Townhall and New York Times

Brent D. Griffiths / Politico:

Kavanaugh accuser: FBI should investigate claims of sexual assault — Christine Blasey Ford told Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley Tuesday night that she would like the FBI to investigate her claims of sexual assault against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh …

Discussion: Power Line, The Hill, Washington Free Beacon, National Review, NPR, Law & Crime, Townhall, Daily Kos, Hot Air, RedState, TheBlaze, MSNBC, Bustle and The Federalist

Daniel Lippman / Politico:

Exclusive: Bush reaffirms support for Kavanaugh — Former President George W. Bush is standing by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, a former top White House aide whose confirmation to the nation's highest court has been thrown into doubt amid sexual assault allegations.

Discussion: Axios, Splinter, The Daily Caller and CNN

Rebecca Morin / Politico:

Kavanaugh in 2015: ‘What happens at Georgetown Prep, stays at Georgetown Prep’ — Georgetown Prep's unofficial saying, according to Brett Kavanaugh: What happens there, stays there. — The Supreme Court nominee made the crack in a 2015 speech at Catholic University of America's Columbus School of Law …

Discussion: Grabien News, Political Wire, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Bustle, twitchy.com and Axios

Dick Polman / The Atlantic:
The GOP Response to the Kavanaugh Allegations Sends an Unmistakable Message to Women

Discussion: New York Times

Andrew C. McCarthy / National Review:
Democrats, Kavanaugh, and ‘The End of Civilization’

Discussion: Power Line, Washington Post, abc7news.com, Fox News, Washington Free Beacon and HuffPost

Lukas Mikelionis / Fox News:
Keith Ellison domestic violence accuser says Democratic party doesn't believe her story

Discussion: The Hill, Breitbart, Mediaite and RedState

Politico:
When 11 men interrogate: GOP tries to head off Kavanaugh debacle

Discussion: Bustle and Breitbart

Will Bunch / Philly.com:
We already know the truth that matters: America can do a lot better than Brett Kavanaugh

Discussion: Washington Post, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Bustle and VICE

Noah Rothman / Commentary Magazine:
A Hill to Die on — Justice both delayed and denied.

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications

Jack Crowe / National Review:
Feinstein on Kavanaugh Accusation: 'I Can't Say Everything is Truthful'

Discussion: twitchy.com and New York Times

Lamar White, Jr / The Bayou Brief:
Adrian Perkins Claims Senate Judiciary Committee Relied on Fraudulent Letter Supporting Kavanaugh

Discussion: HuffPost

Jonathan Allen / NBC News:
At next Kavanaugh hearing, the stakes are higher than a Supreme Court seat

Discussion: ABC News, Washington Post and Weekly Standard

Avi Selk / Washington Post:
What the man accused of being part of Kavanaugh's alleged sexual assault had to say about women's sexuality

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, USA Today, CNN, HuffPost, Common Dreams, IJR, POLITICUSUSA, Raw Story, Dallas Morning News and Booman Tribune

Alexander Mallin / ABC News:
Trump on Kavanaugh allegation: There 'shouldn't even be a little doubt'

Discussion: Washington Post, Law & Crime, New Yorker, Vox, Talking Points Memo, The Hill and New Republic

Matt Vespa / Townhall:
Feinstein On Kavanaugh Accuser: 'I Can't Say That Everything Is Truthful'

Discussion: RedState, Daily Wire, The Federalist and Washington Free Beacon

NBC News:
Kavanaugh accuser wants FBI to investigate before she testifies at Senate hearing

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Vox, Washington Post and The Daily Beast

Washington Post:

Political nonprofits must now name many of their donors under federal court ruling after Supreme Court declines to intervene — Advocacy groups pouring money into independent campaigns to influence this fall's midterm races must disclose many of their political donors beginning this week …

Discussion: Mother Jones, Axios, Center for Public Integrity, Splinter and Political Wire

Jordan Libowitz / CREW:

SCOTUS Denies Stay, New Disclosure Ruling Goes Into Effect — FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — The Supreme Court today denied a stay, and lifted a temporary stay by Chief Justice Roberts, in Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington's (CREW) landmark dark money case against Crossroad GPS and the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and POLITICUSUSA

Tom McCarthy / The Guardian:

Stormy Daniels' tell-all book on Trump: salacious detail and claims of cheating — Exclusive: pornographic actor says Trump 'didn't want to be president' in her book Full Disclosure — In a tell-all memoir, the pornographic actor Stormy Daniels details salacious descriptions of her time with Donald Trump …

Discussion: Mediaite, New York Times, The Verge, Hollywood Life, VICE, Vox, Joe.My.God., Mashable, The Daily Beast, Refinery29, Perez Hilton, The Gateway Pundit, Bustle, Daily Wire, Towleroad Gay News, IJR, CNBC, Spectator USA, HuffPost, POLITICUSUSA, VICE News, Talking Points Memo and AOL

Nitish Pahwa / Slate: Don't Let Trump's Penis Ruin Toad, the Mushroom-Headed Sage of Mario Kart

Yaron Steinbuch / New York Post:
Hope you aren't eating when you read this, because Stormy Daniels went there

Discussion: Hollywood Life, The Guardian, The Root and Mashable

Politico:

Trump rails on top Florida ally over Hurricane Maria flap — Republican Ron DeSantis accused of disloyalty for bucking the president. — President Donald Trump is privately lashing out at one of his top allies, Ron DeSantis, angrily accusing the Florida Republican gubernatorial nominee of publicly betraying him.

Discussion: Sun-Sentinel, Florida Politics, Raw Story, Mediaite and Political Wire

The Hill:

EXCLUSIVE: Trump says exposing ‘corrupt’ FBI probe could be ‘crowning achievement’ of presidency — in an exclusive interview with Hill.TV said Tuesday he ordered the release of classified documents in the Russia collusion case to show the public the FBI probe started as a “hoax,” …

Mike Levine / ABC News: Trump ‘dossier’ stuck in New York, didn't trigger Russia investigation, sources say

Hunter Woodall / Kansas City Star:

GOP stalwart Nancy Kassebaum picks Democrat Laura Kelly over Kris Kobach — A titan of Kansas Republican politics is shunning Kris Kobach, her party's nominee, in his run for governor. — Nancy Kassebaum, who represented Kansas for three terms in the U.S. Senate, said Tuesday …

Discussion: Mother Jones, ThinkProgress, Shareblue Media, Talking Points Memo and Political Wire

New York Times:

Trump's Growing Legal Team Has a Problem: It's Operating Partly in the Dark — The president's lawyers are struggling to understand where the investigations surrounding him are going, and the extent of his legal exposure. — 2018 EMMY AWARDS — ‘Game of Thrones’ and ‘Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ Win Top Awards

Discussion: Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo and Raw Story

Joshua Green / Bloomberg:

Internal RNC Poll: Complacent Trump Voters May Cost GOP Control of Congress — A private survey shows many Republican voters “don't believe there is anything at stake” in the midterm elections. — A private survey conducted for the Republican National Committee and obtained …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Hill, The Daily Caller, Shareblue Media, Mother Jones, POLITICUSUSA, New Republic, The Week and Splinter

Bloomberg:

Tesla Faces U.S. Criminal Probe Over Musk Statements — Tesla is under investigation by the Justice Department over public statements made by the company and Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk, according to two people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg News' Tom Schoenberg and Matt Robinson report.

Discussion: NPR, MarketWatch, CNBC, BloombergQuint, KTLA, CBS San Francisco, The Verge, Investor's Business Daily, AOL, Breitbart, The Week, The Guardian, New York Times, The Daily Caller, Mashable and Mediaite, more at Techmeme »

David Reddish / Queerty:

the queerty interview EXCLUSIVE: Are Bert & Ernie a couple? We finally have an answer... Mark Saltzman keeps a modest house. Tucked in the foothills of Los Angeles, the cozy cottage doesn't betray the pedigree of its owner...except for maybe the seven Emmy Awards tucked high on a shelf in the corner.

Discussion: The Sun, TVLine, Daily Wire, BostonGlobe.com, TheBlaze, thenewcivilrightsmovement.com, The Daily Caller and NPR

Stef W. Kight / Axios:

Non-Christian refugees shut out of Trump's America — The Trump administration has again cut the number of refugees allowed into the U.S., and the overwhelming majority of the small group of refugees who were admitted this past year are Christians. — Data: Department of State …

Discussion: New Republic, BuzzFeed News and One America News Network

Daniel Lippman / Politico:

FEMA official suspended in connection with IG probe — A senior FEMA official has been suspended without pay in connection with a Department of Homeland Security inspector general investigation into the improper use of government vehicles by FEMA administrator Brock Long, according to two current government officials.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Chuck Ross / The Daily Caller:

Former Fusion GPS Employee Shreds Firm's Work On Paul Manafort — Graham Stack, a freelance journalist hired by Fusion GPS, says the opposition research firm was “almost completely wrong” about former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. — Stack says Fusion GPS provided …

Jesse Barron / GQ:

How Puerto Rico Became the Newest Tax Haven for the Super Rich — A year after the tragedy of Hurricane Maria, the 51st state has become the favorite playground for extremely wealthy Americans looking to keep their money from the taxman. The only catch? They have to cut all ties to the mainland (wink, wink).