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

4:00 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: Vox, New Republic, KTVQ-TV, Balloon Juice, KTLA, twitchy.com, Political Wire, The Gateway Pundit and USA Today

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.

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: The Atlantic, AOL and Refinery29

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, Bustle, The Week, The Resurgent, Weekly Standard, The American Spectator, AOL, The Gateway Pundit and Hot Air

Erick Erickson / The Resurgent:

Brett Kavanaugh, the Child Drug Runner and Gang Rape Organizer, Is Not This Guy — To believe all the accusations about Kavanaugh is to disregard everything we intuitively know about human behavior. — Fact check: true. — Brett Kavanaugh, the left would have you believe …

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 figures spread a hoax after an anonymous 4chan poster claimed without evidence to have duped lawyer Michael Avenatti about the existence …

Discussion: National Review, Mother Jones and Conservative News Today

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, RedState, Fox News, CBS News, ThinkProgress, Shareblue Media, Wall Street Journal, New Republic, Townhall, CNN, HuffPost, Breitbart, The Right Scoop, Outside the Beltway, Mediaite, The Gateway Pundit, Hot Air and twitchy.com

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: Politico, Washington Monthly, CNBC, Essence, RedState, National Review, NPR, Breitbart, abc7chicago.com, Booman Tribune, Patterico's Pontifications, twitchy.com and Daily Kos

Eli Yokley / Morning Consult:

Republican Women Lose Faith in Kavanaugh — and Trump — After Week of Accusations — Fewer than half of GOP women now think Judge Brett Kavanaugh should be confirmed — Protestors rally against Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh as they make their way from the Supreme Court …

Discussion: HuffPost, Townhall, Washington Monthly and Political Wire

Charles C. W. Cooke / National Review:

Against the ‘Choir Boy’ Straw Man — This morning we have seen the arrival into the Kavanaugh Saga of a giant straw man: namely, that Brett Kavanaugh told Martha McCallum that he was a sober, dull “choir boy” in high school and college, and that this claim demonstrates that he is a liar.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Washington Post, The Right Scoop and CNBC

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

Discussion: Snopes.com, Vox, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, BloombergQuint, United States Senate Committee …, New York Times, Washington Times and HuffPost

Brian Bennett / TIME:
Kavanaugh Denied Gang-Rape Allegation Under Oath Behind Closed Doors Tuesday

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Political Wire, KTVQ-TV and CNN

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

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Talking Points Memo, American Prospect and New York Times

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

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

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

Discussion: Mother Jones, ThinkProgress, HuffPost, KTVQ-TV, The Federalist and Bustle

Kate Riga / Talking Points Memo:
Avenatti Client Emerges With New Allegations Against Kavanaugh

Discussion: Power Line, National Review and Balloon Juice

Ryan J. Reilly / HuffPost: Christine Blasey Ford Polygraph Regarding Kavanaugh Assault Allegation Released

New York Times:
In Yale's Culture of Privilege and Alcohol, Her World Converged With Kavanaugh's

Discussion: The Federalist, Sara A. Carter, CBS News, The Week, CBS Los Angeles and Politico

Angelo Codevilla / American Greatness: Cowardly Republicans Grant a False Premise

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

Discussion: Townhall

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

Discussion: Townhall, RedState and Law & Crime

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

Discussion: ABC News, Associated Press and Washington Post

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

Discussion: Washington Post, HuffPost, Weekly Standard and Law & Crime

CNBC:
New Kavanaugh accuser Julie Swetnick details parties where girls allegedly were drugged and raped

Discussion: RedState, USA Today, NewsBusters, IJR, Washington Free Beacon, emptywheel, Gothamist, Daily Wire, Liberty Unyielding and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

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

Discussion: Political Wire and Politico

Antonia Noori Farzan / Washington Post:
Who is Rachel Mitchell, the Arizona prosecutor chosen to question Kavanaugh and his accuser?

Discussion: CNN, Raw Story, Talking Points Memo, Arizona Republic, twitchy.com, The Gateway Pundit and The Week

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

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

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

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

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, IJR, Outside the Beltway, Daily Kos, Quartz, HuffPost and ThinkProgress

Hayley Miller / HuffPost:
Nikki Haley: United Nations Laughter Not A Diss But A Sign Of Respect For Trump's ‘Honesty’

Discussion: Townhall, Queerty, IJR, The Week and Mashable

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

Emily Tamkin / BuzzFeed News:
Diplomats Say They Were Definitely Laughing At Trump At The UN

Discussion: Raw Story and Mashable

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

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

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 …

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

Berkeley Lovelace Jr / CNBC:

The billionaire LA Times owner calls social media the ‘cancer of our time’ — Social platforms may have revolutionized how people get information, but they've also been criticized for spreading “fake news.” — “The short attention span we're creating in this millennium is actually very dangerous,” says the owner of the LA Times.

Sharon Coolidge / Cincinnati.com:

Aftab Pureval's secret poll obtained by Enquirer — Here's what you need to know about Steve Chabot and Aftab Pureval in 30 seconds Wochit — The Enquirer has obtained the poll at the center of a campaign finance spending complaint against Hamilton County Clerk of Courts Aftab Pureval …