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

11:50 AM 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, Axios, 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: ThinkProgress, CNN, Talking Points Memo, Law & Crime, Jezebel, Outside the Beltway, Daily Kos, CANNONFIRE, Raw Story, Media Matters for America, Eschaton, ABC News, The Gateway Pundit, Daily Wire and The Daily Caller

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: CNN, Essence, Daily Kos, The Intellectualist, Shakesville, Raw Story, Popular Information, The Week and Conservative News Today

Megan Kellr / The Hill:

Flake: If I were running for reelection ‘not a chance’ I'd call for Kavanaugh investigation — Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) said Sunday that there's “not a chance” he would have called for an FBI investigation into the allegations of sexual misconduct against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh if he were running for reelection.

Discussion: twitchy.com, Washington Post, The Federalist, The Week, Above the Law, Fox News and The Guardian, more at Mediagazer »

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

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: Vox, ThinkProgress, emptywheel, Patterico's Pontifications, Talking Points Memo, Splinter, Raw Story, NTK Network, CNN, Washington Free Beacon, Betsy's Page, The Resurgent, HuffPost, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Political Wire and The Week

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

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

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

Discussion: Bloomberg and Political Wire

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

James Comey / New York Times:
The F.B.I. Can Do This — Despite limitations and partisan attacks …

Discussion: Politico, The Resurgent, The Daily Caller, The Week, HuffPost, RedState, CNN, Mediaite, Raw Story, The Gateway Pundit, Talking Points Memo and Mother Jones

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

Discussion: NBC News, New York Times, CNN and Raw Story

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

Discussion: 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: Townhall, Political Wire and The Week

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

Discussion: Daily Wire

NBC News:
Kavanaugh classmate to tell FBI of nominee's ‘violent drunken’ behavior in college

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

Nicole Gaudiano / delawareonline:
Sens. Coons and Flake discuss drama that led to call for FBI probe: ‘It was quite a moment’

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and HuffPost

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

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.

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 »

Politico:

POLITICO Playbook: Kavanaugh's recusal problem — DRIVING THE DAY — THOUGHT BUBBLE ... IF BRETT KAVANAUGH is confirmed to the Supreme Court, won't he have to recuse himself from a whole broad swath of cases, based on what he said at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing?

Discussion: Associated Press, Los Angeles Times and The Week

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: Globe and Mail, Townhall, TheBlaze, Washington Post, One America News Network, Breitbart, Scared Monkeys, 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, Reuters, Toronto Star, Outside the Beltway, New York Times, Althouse, NBC News and twitchy.com

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

Discussion: The Atlantic, Mother Jones, 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

Bloomberg:
U.S. and Canada Reach Trade Deal to Keep Nafta Trilateral

Discussion: RedState

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: The Week, Political Wire, Austin American-Statesman, The Daily Caller, twitchy.com and El Paso Times

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

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: Axios, HuffPost, The Daily Caller, Washington Times, The Daily Beast, No More Mister Nice Blog and Splinter

Lee Smith / RealClearInvestigations:

Sparing Rod: Unpacking the Trump-Rosenstein Relationship — After a postponement last week, it is not clear whether President Trump and Rod Rosenstein will meet anytime soon to come to grips with allegations that the deputy attorney general had considered wearing a wire to record Trump …

Discussion: Real Clear Politics

James Oliphant / Reuters:
Democrats would view Rosenstein ouster as an election ‘gift’

Discussion: Political Wire

Associated Press:
White House: Trump-Rosenstein face-off may be delayed again

Discussion: Political Wire

ProPublica:

After Budget Cuts, the IRS's Work Against Tax Cheats is Facing “Collapse” — Tax evasion is at the center of the criminal cases against two associates of the president, Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen. The sheer scale of their efforts to avoid paying the government has given rise …

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.

Politico:

Trump administration sues California over net neutrality law — The decision sets up a high stakes legal bout between the Justice Department and the nation's most populous state. — The Justice Department is suing California to block a recently signed law restoring net neutrality rules …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, ncsl.org and The Verge