memeorandum: Skripal Suspect Boshirov Identified as GRU Colonel Anatoliy Chepiga (bellingcat)

2:00 PM ET, September 26, 2018

Top Items:

CNN:

Increasingly worried, Trump takes over Kavanaugh defense — Trump torches ‘lousy’ Democrats on Kavanaugh — (CNN)President 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 …

Discussion: Balloon Juice, twitchy.com, Political Wire and KTVQ-TV

Aaron C. Davis / Washington Post:

Kavanaugh's ‘choir boy’ image on Fox interview rankles former Yale classmates — On Monday night, Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh said in a nationally televised interview that in his younger years, he was focused on sports, academics and “service projects.”

Steve Kiggins / USA Today:

Kavanaugh accuser Christine Blasey Ford offers Senate four people who corroborate her assault claims — 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.

Elana Schor / Politico:

Merkley to seek injunction to stop Kavanaugh vote — Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) on Wednesday will announce 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.

Discussion: Common Dreams, Political Wire, Weekly Standard, The American Spectator, The Gateway Pundit, The Week, AOL and Hot Air

John Wagner / Washington Post:

Kavanaugh nomination: Judge says he is victim of ‘character assassination’ as third woman comes forward — Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh is scheduled to appear Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee at a high-stakes hearing. The committee will hear from Christine Blasey Ford …

Discussion: National Review, Mother Jones, Townhall, twitchy.com and Breitbart

New York Times:

In Yale's Culture of Privilege and Alcohol, Her World Converged With Kavanaugh's — Last week, more than 30 years after they graduated from Yale, Deborah Ramirez contacted her old friend James Roche. — Something bad had happened to her during a night of drinking in the residence hall their freshmen year …

Discussion: The Federalist, CBS News, The Week, Politico, CBS Los Angeles and TheBlaze

Paige Lavender / HuffPost:

Judicial Crisis Network On Kavanaugh Allegations: ‘We Have To Look Into This Further’ — The group's chief counsel made the comments after a third woman accused the Supreme Court nominee of sexual misconduct. — Carrie Severino, chief counsel and policy director of the Judicial Crisis Network …

Discussion: Refinery29 and AOL

Kate Riga / Talking Points Memo:

Avenatti Client Emerges With New Allegations Against Kavanaugh — In a Wednesday tweet, lawyer Michael Avenatti released emails with a lawyer for the Senate Judiciary Committee containing the name of a third woman detailing sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

Discussion: National Review, RedState and Balloon Juice

New York Times:

Kavanaugh Is Accused by a Third Woman of Sexual Misconduct — Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh was accused Wednesday by another woman of having engaged in sexual misconduct at parties while he was a student at Georgetown Preparatory School in the 1980s. — The allegation came from Julie Swetnick …

Discussion: CNBC, Shareblue Media, CBS News and Hot Air

Sean Sullivan / Washington Post:

Arizona prosecutor Rachel Mitchell is GOP choice to question Kavanaugh and accuser at hearing — Republican senators have selected Arizona prosecutor Rachel Mitchell to question Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh and the woman who has accused the Supreme Court nominee of sexually assaulting …

Josh Gerstein / Politico:

Feinstein: Kavanaugh misled about grand jury secrecy in Vince Foster probe — The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee is accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of misleading the Senate about his handling of grand jury secrets while working for Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr two decades ago.

Discussion: Daily Kos, Political Wire, The Daily Caller, Breitbart, Lawyers, Guns & Money, HuffPost and CNBC

Arizona Republic:

Maricopa County prosecutor tapped to lead hearing for Brett Kavanaugh, accuser — Corrections & Clarifications: A previous version of this story had the incorrect last name of Rachel Mitchell. — Rachel Mitchell, a Maricopa County sex crimes prosecutor, will lead questioning …

Discussion: Vox, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, BloombergQuint, Associated Press, New York Times, United States Senate Committee …, Raw Story, Washington Times and HuffPost

CBS News:

Michael Avenatti says new Brett Kavanaugh accuser will come forward before Thursday — Judge Brett Kavanaugh says he's “not going anywhere,” in a very unusual public defense of his fitness to serve on the Supreme Court. He strongly denied allegations of sexual misconduct from Christine Blasey Ford …

Discussion: RedState and Townhall

Jia Tolentino / New Yorker:
Brett Kavanaugh, Donald Trump, and the Things Men Do for Other Men

Discussion: American Prospect, Los Angeles Times and CNN

Christal Hayes / USA Today:
Brett Kavanaugh's 1982 calendar being used as evidence against sexual assault allegations

Discussion: HuffPost, Gothamist, The Guardian, Washington Times, The Week, Conservative News Today, VICE News, CNN and Daily Wire

Marc A. Thiessen / Washington Post:
The anatomy of a smear — Senate Democrats seeking …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Federalist, Business Insider and Observer

The Harvard Crimson:
Harvard Law School Refuses to Say Whether Kavanaugh Will Return to Teach in January

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Political Wire and AOL

Politico:
Democrats in the dark on eve of historic Kavanaugh hearing

Discussion: Washington Post, Daily Wire, Bustle, The Week, The Resurgent and Althouse

Associated Press:
The Latest: Trump would prefer faster Kavanaugh confirmation

Discussion: Conservative News Today, The American Conservative and The Right Scoop

Online NewsHour: Majority of Americans oppose Kavanaugh nomination if Ford's allegation is true, poll says

Politico:
Full transcript: Brett Kavanaugh's opening statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee

Discussion: ABC News, Associated Press and Washington Post

Paul Sperry / New York Post:
Eight big problems for Christine Blasey Ford's story

Discussion: New Republic, Weekly Standard, Vox, ThinkProgress and HuffPost

Adam J. White / Weekly Standard:
The Democrats' “Flight 93” Nomination

Discussion: Townhall

Domenico Montanaro / NPR:
New Poll Finds Americans Deeply Divided By Gender On Kavanaugh Nomination

Discussion: Raw Story, The Daily Caller, 89.3 KPCC and The Week

NBC News:
GOP hires female attorney to question Ford, Kavanaugh's accuser

Discussion: Slate, The Daily Caller, Washington Monthly, Liberty Unyielding, Denver Post and AOL

Elise Viebeck / Washington Post:
Three Yale Law School classmates who endorsed Kavanaugh call for investigation into sexual misconduct claims

Jocelyn Noveck / Associated Press:
AP Interview: Hill says Kavanaugh isn't a #MeToo referendum

Discussion: theGrio and NTK Network

BostonGlobe.com:
Republicans are adopting Trump's tactics in Kavanaugh battle

Discussion: Washington Post

Axios: Kavanaugh's second accuser willing to testify before Congress

David Barden / HuffPost: Tucker Carlson Criticizes Rape Victims Who Don't Report: 'You're Part Of The Problem'

Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball:

New Polls: Democrats in Decent Shape Across the Frost Belt — Democratic Senate incumbents with big leads in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin; very close races in Indiana Senate and Ohio governor; Scott Walker behind in Wisconsin — A series of new Reuters/Ipsos/University …

Discussion: Weekly Standard and Axios

David Lauter / Los Angeles Times:
With growing support from women, Democrats poised for major gains in midterm, new poll shows

Discussion: The Atlantic, Mother Jones and POLITICUSUSA

Ben Kamisar / NBC News:
NBC News poll: Ohio gubernatorial race tied, Brown leads big in Senate race

Discussion: Reuters and NTK Network

bellingcat:

Skripal Suspect Boshirov Identified as GRU Colonel Anatoliy Chepiga — Bellingcat and its investigative partner The Insider - Russia have established conclusively the identity of one of the suspects in the poisoning of Sergey and Yulia Skripal, and in the homicide of British citizen Dawn Sturgess.

Hayley Dixon / Telegraph:
Skripal ‘hitman’ unmasked as GRU colonel awarded Russia's highest military honour by Vladimir Putin

Discussion: Politico

The Daily Beast:

Revealed: What Erik Prince and Moscow's Money Man Discussed in That Infamous Seychelles Meeting — Mueller's team and Congressional investigators have looked into a meeting in the Seychelles between allies of Trump and Putin. Now we have the Russian read-out of what was said.

Discussion: Raw Story

Daniel Chaitin / Washington Examiner:

H.R. McMaster: ‘Wholly appropriate’ for Gary Cohn to remove letter from Trump's desk — Former national security adviser H.R. McMaster on Tuesday defended his ex-White House colleague Gary Cohn for removing a trade-related document from President's Trump. — “I know about that incident …

Ramsen Shamon / Politico:

Trump at UN accuses China of meddling in US elections — President Donald Trump on Wednesday used his prominent perch chairing a United Nations meeting to accuse China of meddling in U.S. elections — a striking assertion at a meeting billed as focusing on non-proliferation.

Discussion: One America News Network and Axios

Farai Mutsaka / Associated Press: Zimbabwe's leader says he offers Trump land for golf course

Haley Britzky / Axios:
Trump says China has been “attempting” to influence midterms

Discussion: Politico and ABC News

Adam Smith / Tampa Bay Times:

Ron DeSantis' wobbly campaign is running out of time to show he's ready for big leagues — The Republican gubernatorial nominee is struggling to gain traction in the general election — Ron DeSantis took a few friendly questions from Republican business owners in Oldsmar Tuesday during …

Matt Dixon / Politico: Former GOP rainmaker gives $200K to Gillum

Hayley Miller / HuffPost:

Nikki Haley: United Nations Laughter Not A Diss But A Sign Of Respect For Trump's ‘Honesty’ — World leaders were “falling over themselves to get a picture with him,” the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said. — U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Wednesday claimed …

Discussion: Townhall, Queerty, IJR and The Week

Michael Schwirtz / New York Times:
Deliberate or Not, Trump's Speech Draws Laughter at the U.N.

Discussion: Washington Post, Breitbart, Outside the Beltway, IJR, Daily Kos, Quartz and HuffPost

Jon Henley / The Guardian:

Distracted Boyfriend meme is sexist, rules Swedish ad watchdog — Popular image of man ogling another woman deemed degrading and discriminatory — The popular Distracted Boyfriend meme, based on a photo of a man turning away from his outraged girlfriend to stare admiringly at another woman …

Discussion: TheBlaze, Front Page Magazine, RT and The Local