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

3:00 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: TIME, New Republic, Political Wire, Balloon Juice, KTLA, twitchy.com 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.”

Discussion: Shareblue Media, Washington Free Beacon, HuffPost, CNBC, Althouse, Splinter, Daily Kos, RealityChek, The Week, Daily Wire, Balloon Juice, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Politico, CANNONFIRE, New Republic, Law & Crime, BuzzFeed News and Eschaton

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.

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: AOL and Refinery29

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: National Review, CNBC, Shareblue Media, Fox News, CBS News, ThinkProgress, New Republic, Breitbart, Mediaite, The Gateway Pundit and Hot Air

Elana Schor / Politico:

Merkley seeks injunction to stop Kavanaugh vote — Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) on Wednesday announced 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, Breitbart, The Week, Weekly Standard, The Gateway Pundit, AOL, Hot Air, The Daily Caller, Taylor Marsh and Daily Kos

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: Washington Monthly, Essence, Townhall, NPR, Breitbart, ThinkProgress, twitchy.com and Daily Kos

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

Cristina / Media Matters for America:

Conservative media figures won't listen to multiple women about Brett Kavanaugh, but they did take an anonymous 4chan post at face value — Right-wing media pushed 4chan-sourced claim that the latest Kavanaugh accuser Julie Swetnick wasn't real — Right-wing media figures spread a hoax …

Discussion: RedState, National Review and Mother Jones

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, Power Line and Balloon Juice

Arizona Republic:
Maricopa County prosecutor tapped to lead hearing for Brett Kavanaugh, accuser

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

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

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, American Prospect, AOL and Bustle

Josh Gerstein / Politico:
Feinstein: Kavanaugh misled about grand jury secrecy in Vince Foster probe

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

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

Discussion: Morning Consult, ThinkProgress, CNN and The Federalist

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

Discussion: Washington Post, ThinkProgress and Observer

Erick Erickson / The Resurgent: Brett Kavanaugh, the Child Drug Runner and Gang Rape Organizer, Is Not This Guy

Sean Sullivan / Washington Post:
Arizona prosecutor Rachel Mitchell is GOP choice to question Kavanaugh and accuser at hearing

CBS News:
Michael Avenatti says new Brett Kavanaugh accuser will come forward before Thursday

Discussion: Townhall and RedState

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

Discussion: ABC News and Associated Press

Charles C. W. Cooke / National Review:
Against the ‘Choir Boy’ Straw Man

Discussion: Washington Post, The Right Scoop and CNBC

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

Brett Samuels / The Hill:
Avenatti: New Kavanaugh accuser ‘100 percent’ prepared to testify before Senate Judiciary Committee

Discussion: Political Wire and Politico

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Vox, Washington Post, ThinkProgress and HuffPost

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, CNN, VICE News and Daily Wire

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

Discussion: Townhall

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 … Boosted by growing support among suburban women and widespread antipathy toward President Trump, Democrats approach the midterm election poised to make major gains nationwide, a new USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times 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

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, The Week, IJR and Mashable

Michael Schwirtz / New York Times:

Deliberate or Not, Trump's Speech Draws Laughter at the U.N. — UNITED NATIONS — They laughed. — Not even a minute into the speech. They laughed. — On the planet's biggest stage, with more than 100 world leaders gathered with their ministers, ambassadors and dignitaries of every stripe …

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

Haaretz: Nikki Haley to Fox News: World Leaders Laughed at Trump Out of ‘Respect’

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: Shakesville and Raw Story

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.

Discussion: The Guardian

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

Discussion: Politico

Matt Dixon / Politico:

Former GOP rainmaker gives $200K to Gillum — TALLAHASSEE — Mike Fernandez, a longtime Republican megadonor who has left the party, gave $200,000 to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum last week. — The health care billionaire has long been one of Florida Republicans' biggest rainmakers …

Adam Smith / Tampa Bay Times: Ron DeSantis' wobbly campaign is running out of time to show he's ready for big leagues

Farai Mutsaka / Associated Press:

Zimbabwe's leader says he offers Trump land for golf course — HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabwe's leader says he is willing to offer land to President Donald Trump to build a golf course in a national park teeming with wildlife. — President Emmerson Mnangagwa was speaking …

Kevin Liptak / CNN:
Trump says China is interfering in midterm elections

Discussion: New Republic, twitchy.com, FOX40 and CBS Baltimore

Ramsen Shamon / Politico:
Trump at UN accuses China of meddling in US elections

Discussion: Axios, One America News Network and ABC News

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 …