memeorandum: Where is Elaine Chao? — ‘Private’ time fills long stretches … (Politico)

1:10 PM ET, October 1, 2018

Top Items:

Chad Ludington's Statement on Kavanaugh's Drinking and Senate Testimony — Chad Ludington, a Yale classmate of Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh's who said he often drank with him, issued a statement on Sunday saying the Supreme Court nominee was not truthful about his drinking in his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week.

Discussion: Townhall, Daily Wire, Axios, Shareblue Media, CNN, Mediaite, New York Post and The Daily Caller

New Yorker:

The Confusion Surrounding the F.B.I.'s Renewed Investigation of Brett Kavanaugh — As the F.B.I. began its investigation this weekend into allegations of sexual misconduct by Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump's Supreme Court nominee, several people who hope to contribute information …

Discussion: CNN, ThinkProgress, Law & Crime, Jezebel, Talking Points Memo, New York Times, CANNONFIRE, Outside the Beltway, Daily Kos, Raw Story, Media Matters for America, ABC News, Eschaton, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller and Daily Wire

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Another Trump coverup? Former FBI agents question limits on probe of Kavanaugh. — The White House appears to be playing all kinds of crafty rhetorical games to obscure the answer to a simple question: Has it deliberately placed limits on the scope of the FBI's renewed background check …

Discussion: NBC News, CNN, Chicks On The Right, The Intellectualist, Essence, Daily Kos, The Atlantic, Popular Information, Shakesville and Raw Story

Jason Lemon / Newsweek:

Kavanaugh Said He Had ‘No Connections’ to Yale. He Was, in Fact, a Legacy Student — Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh said underoath that he had “no connections” to Yale prior to attending, arguing that hard work and ambition were the sole factors leading him to study at the prestigious institution of higher education.

Discussion: The American Conservative and The Intercept

Washington Post:

Rachel Mitchell's analysis — Rachel Mitchell, the outside prosecutor Senate Republicans hired to lead the questioning in last week's hearing about the sexual assault allegations against Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, outlined in a memo Sunday to GOP senators why she would not bring criminal charges against the Supreme Court nominee.

Discussion: The Federalist, Vox, ThinkProgress, CNN, Talking Points Memo, Splinter, Betsy's Page, Washington Free Beacon and HuffPost

NBC News:

Kavanaugh classmate to tell FBI of nominee's ‘violent drunken’ behavior in college — The FBI's contact with Charles Ludington, a classmate of Brett Kavanaugh at Yale, is a new development in its background investigation. — WASHINGTON — Charles Ludington, a classmate …

Discussion: RedState, Politico, Talking Points Memo, Common Dreams and Joe.My.God.

Seung Min Kim / Washington Post:

In memo, outside prosecutor argues why she would not bring criminal charges against Kavanaugh — The outside prosecutor Senate Republicans hired to lead the questioning in last week's hearing about the sexual assault allegations against Brett M. Kavanaugh is arguing in a new memo …

Discussion: Law & Crime, emptywheel, Patterico's Pontifications, Raw Story, NTK Network, The Resurgent, The Week, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Political Wire and CNN

CBS News:
Brett Kavanaugh, Christine Blasey Ford hearing spurs more division - CBS News Poll

Discussion: Political Wire

Bloomberg:
Kavanaugh Battle Expands Historic Gender Gap Before Election

Discussion: Raw Story, The Atlantic and BloombergQuint

Megan Kellr / The Hill:
Flake: If I were running for reelection ‘not a chance’ I'd call for Kavanaugh investigation

Discussion: twitchy.com, Washington Post, Chicks On The Right, The Week, The Federalist, Fox News, The Guardian and The Atlantic, more at Mediagazer »

Byron York / Washington Examiner:
In Kavanaugh fight, Democrats move goalposts far, far away

Discussion: twitchy.com and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Jessica McBride / Heavy.com:
Rachel Mitchell Memo Lists Weaknesses in Ford Claim: READ

Discussion: The American Conservative, Instapundit and Power Line

James Hohmann / Washington Post:
The Daily 202: Limited FBI investigation of Kavanaugh offers road map for how Trump could try to constrain Mueller

Discussion: Vox, Axios, New York Times and Raw Story

Annie Karni / Politico:
‘This is march or die’: Kavanaugh urged to hit back hard

Discussion: Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo, The Week, Axios and Breitbart

Chris Kahn / Reuters:
Four in 10 believe allegations against Kavanaugh, three in 10 do not: Reuters/Ipsos poll

Discussion: Daily Wire

New York Times:
Democrats Denounce Limits on F.B.I.'s Kavanaugh Inquiry as a ‘Farce’

Discussion: CNN, National Review, Daily Wire, Jezebel, Hit & Run, Raw Story, The Week, The Gateway Pundit, Daily Kos, BuzzFeed News, HuffPost, Washington Post, Washington Monthly, Splinter and CBS Denver

Jonathan Swan / Axios:
Brett Kavanaugh is “too big to fail”

Discussion: ABC News, Politico, Hot Air, Daily Kos, Washington Monthly, The Week, twitchy.com and Raw Story

Scott Pelley / CBS News:
Sens. Jeff Flake and Chris Coons explain why they decided to delay Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, Townhall, Political Wire and The Week

Oliver Darcy / CNNMoney:

The Washington Times settles lawsuit with Seth Rich's brother, issues retraction and apology for its coverage — The Washington Times on Monday issued a lengthy retraction and apology for an editorial it published in March about Aaron Rich, the brother of the slain Democratic National Committee …

Discussion: Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

Washington Times:

Retraction: Aaron Rich and the murder of Seth Rich — ANALYSIS/OPINION: — The Washington Times published an op-ed column titled, “More cover-up questions: The curious murder of Seth Rich poses questions that just won't stay under the official rug,” by Adm. James Lyons (Ret.) (the “Column” …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Snopes.com and Joe.My.God.

Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: Kavanaugh's recusal problem

Discussion: Associated Press, Los Angeles Times and The Week, more at Techmeme »

Ryan Lizza / Esquire:

Devin Nunes's Family Farm Is Hiding a Politically Explosive Secret — Rep. Devin Nunes is head of the House Intelligence Committee and one of President Trump's biggest defenders. For years, he's spun himself as a straight talker whose no-BS values are rooted in his family's California dairy farm.

Discussion: Raw Story

Doug Palmer / Politico:

U.S. reaches trade deal with Canada and Mexico, providing Trump a crucial win — Trade ministers from the U.S., Mexico and Canada have reached a deal to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Trump administration announced late Sunday night. — The new pact, which is being called …

Discussion: Washington Post, Globe and Mail, ABC News, Townhall, TheBlaze, Bloomberg, Scared Monkeys, One America News Network, Breitbart, Axios and Political Wire

David J. Lynch / Washington Post:
Canada agrees to join trade accord with U.S. and Mexico, sending new NAFTA deal to Congress

Discussion: Vox, Toronto Star, Outside the Beltway, Reuters, New York Times, NBC News, Althouse and twitchy.com

David Fickling / Bloomberg:
Globalists Will Love Trump's New Nafta Deal

Discussion: BloombergQuint and Joe.My.God.

Wall Street Journal:
U.S. and Canada Reach Nafta Deal

Discussion: Mother Jones, The Atlantic, The Daily Caller, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Bloomberg

Associated Press:
Canada-US reach free trade deal with Mexico

Discussion: Breitbart, Chicks On The Right and Axios

Lauren Gardner / Politico:
No sleep till NAFTA

Discussion: CTVNews and One America News Network

New York Times:

Biden Is Preparing for 2020. Can He Overcome the Hill-Thomas Hearings? — PROVIDENCE, R.I. — At a Democratic rally in a downtown ballroom Sunday evening, Gov. Gina Raimondo of Rhode Island spoke vividly about the Senate hearings on the sexual assault allegations against Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Shakesville

Politico:

Where is Elaine Chao? — ‘Private’ time fills long stretches of the Transportation secretary's daily calendar, according to POLITICO's review of 14 months of records. — Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao's day-to-day calendars are filled with large swaths of time blocked out as “private …

Discussion: Shareblue Media

Daily Mail:

Donald Trump Jr. on DailyMailTV: He-said she-said cases harm boys too — Donald Trump Jr. says he-said, she-said sexual assault claims make him fear more for his sons than his daughters. Don Jr. and Kimberly Guilfoyle gave DailyMailTV their first joint broadcast interview.

Discussion: ABC News, Chicks On The Right, Conservative News Today, Joe.My.God., Axios, The Daily Caller, HuffPost, Washington Times, The Daily Beast, Splinter, No More Mister Nice Blog and Jezebel

Brett Samuels / The Hill:

Texas governor calls Beto O'Rourke ‘cult-like’ figure — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on Monday described Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-Texas) as “cult-like” in the way that he's garnered attention in his bid to unseat Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). — “He's been a cult-like, very popular figure …

Discussion: RedState, Mother Jones, The Daily Caller, The Week, Political Wire and Austin American-Statesman

Justin Rohrlich / Quartz:

That sign telling you how fast you're driving may be spying on you — The next time you drive past one of those road signs with a digital readout showing how fast you're going, don't simply assume it's there to remind you not to speed. It may actually be capturing your license plate data.

Nic / Cisneros for Congress:

RELEASE: Melissa Fazli Withdraws Misconduct Allegation, Denounces CLF Ads — Fullerton, Calif. - Yesterday, Gil Cisneros and Melissa Fazli met to discuss the claims that Fazli made in May. Also present for the meeting were Andy Thorburn and community leader Mirvette Judeh.