memeorandum: Trump touts US-Mexico-Canada trade deal as ‘historic news’ (Jeremy Diamond/CNN)

1:30 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, Axios, Daily Wire, 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, Axios, Law & Crime, Jezebel, Talking Points Memo, CANNONFIRE, Outside the Beltway, Daily Kos, Raw Story, Media Matters for America, ABC News, Eschaton, New York Times, 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: Talking Points Memo, NBC News, CNN, Chicks On The Right, The Intellectualist, Essence, Daily Kos, The Atlantic, Popular Information 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: ThinkProgress, 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, Splinter, Betsy's Page, Washington Free Beacon, HuffPost and Talking Points Memo

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.

CBS News:

Brett Kavanaugh, Christine Blasey Ford hearing spurs more division - CBS News Poll — Americans are divided and somewhat more opposed to Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination than in favor of it after hearing Thursday from both Kavanaugh and the woman who has accused him of sexual assault …

Discussion: Political Wire

Seung Min Kim / Washington Post:
In memo, outside prosecutor argues why she would not bring criminal charges against Kavanaugh

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

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, CBS News, Chicks On The Right, The Week, The Federalist, The Atlantic, The Guardian and Fox News, more at Mediagazer »

Bloomberg:
Kavanaugh Battle Expands Historic Gender Gap Before Election

Discussion: Raw Story, The Atlantic and BloombergQuint

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 Monthly, Splinter, CBS Denver and Washington Post

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

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

David Fickling / Bloomberg:

Globalists Will Love Trump's New Nafta Deal — Despite the fanfare, the agreement doesn't change much. — For the group of people meant to be enemies of President Donald Trump's trade agenda, the revised North American trade deal reached shortly before the stroke of midnight Sunday looks pretty good.

Discussion: BloombergQuint

Doug Palmer / Politico:
U.S. reaches trade deal with Canada and Mexico, providing Trump a crucial win

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Globe and Mail, ABC News, Townhall, 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, Reuters, Outside the Beltway, New York Times, Althouse, NBC News and twitchy.com

Heather Long / Washington Post:
U.S., Canada and Mexico just reached a sweeping new NAFTA deal. Here's what's in it.

Discussion: TheBlaze, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Reuters

Jeremy Diamond / CNN:
Trump touts US-Mexico-Canada trade deal as ‘historic news’

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Joe.My.God. and The Right Scoop

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

Discussion: Mother Jones, The Atlantic, The Daily Caller and Bloomberg

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

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: Shakesville and Talking Points Memo

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

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.

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 twitchy.com

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.

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 …