memeorandum: Michael Avenatti Releases New Statement from Unidentified Witness Alleging ‘Inappropriate Conduct’ by Kavanaugh (Ronn Blitzer/Law & Crime)

1:35 PM ET, October 3, 2018

Top Items:

Ariane de Vogue / CNN:

FBI expands inquiry into Ford allegations — (CNN)The FBI is expanding its inquiry into sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh beyond the initial four interviews that the White House directed to be conducted. — The efforts come as anticipation builds …

Discussion: NBC News, Hot Air, National Review, KRTV-TV, United States Senate Committee … and Daily Kos

NBC News:

Dozens of potential sources of information have not been contacted by the FBI in Kavanaugh investigation — With the investigation winding down, multiple individuals who have tried to contact the bureau have not heard back. — WASHINGTON — More than 40 people with potential information …

Discussion: Political Wire, The Intellectualist, HuffPost, Daily Kos, The Atlantic, Talking Points Memo, Splinter, The Daily Caller, Wall Street Journal, TheBlaze, Mediaite and New York Times

Wall Street Journal:

Friend Rejects Claim That Ford Helped Her on Polygraph Test — Monica McLean, a friend of Christine Blasey Ford, rejected the assertion that Dr. Ford had coached her on how to take a polygraph test, as alleged by a former boyfriend of Dr. Ford in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Discussion: New York Magazine, Talking Points Memo and Joe.My.God.

C. Ryan Barber / LAW.com:

Law Firm Partner, a Kavanaugh Classmate, Questions Yale Accuser's Claim — As Brett Kavanaugh's years at Yale have come under greater scrutiny, a Bartlit Beck lawyer in Denver and former classmate of the nominee reached out to the Senate Judiciary Committee to raise his doubts about an accuser's claims of sexual misconduct.

Discussion: Just Security, ThinkProgress and CBS News

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:

Brett Kavanaugh's anger may be backfiring — Brett M. Kavanaugh will still probably be confirmed to the Supreme Court. But it's becoming increasingly clear that he damaged himself with last week's angry appearance in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Discussion: Vox, Wall Street Journal, Shareblue Media and The Daily Caller

Ronn Blitzer / Law & Crime:

Michael Avenatti Releases New Statement from Unidentified Witness Alleging ‘Inappropriate Conduct’ by Kavanaugh — Attorney Michael Avenatti has released another sworn statement from someone claiming to have knowledge of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh misbehaving at parties when he was in high school.

Discussion: Conservative News Today, Daily Wire and twitchy.com

Burgess Everett / Politico:

GOP senators use Kavanaugh to beat back 2020 primary challengers — Senate Republicans are making an aggressive play to ward off primary challenges in 2020, digging in behind embattled Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and showing the GOP base that they are fighting on behalf of President Donald Trump's court pick.

Discussion: Breitbart, Splinter, Associated Press, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, Joe.My.God. and Townhall

USA Today:
Republicans plan careful steps to protect secrecy of FBI report on Brett Kavanaugh

Discussion: NTK Network

Prachi Gupta / Jezebel: I Know Brett Kavanaugh, But I Wouldn't Confirm Him

Haley Britzky / Axios:
Lindsey Graham says the midterms are now about Kavanaugh

Discussion: Political Wire

Elise Viebeck / Washington Post:
Republicans on Senate panel release explicit statement about Kavanaugh accuser's sex life

Discussion: Shakesville, Politico, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Week, Breitbart, Axios, The Hill and The Intellectualist

Philip Klein / Washington Examiner:
Conservatives should be cautious about letter from Christine Blasey Ford's ex-boyfriend

Discussion: Washington Post, TODAY.com and HuffPost

Morgan Chalfant / The Hill:
FBI in the eye of Senate storm

Discussion: Washington Post

Melina Delkic / New York Times:

How Times Journalists Uncovered the Original Source of the President's Wealth — Three reporters spent over a year digging through more than 100,000 pages of documents and chasing down key sources familiar with President Trump's father and his empire. — Times Insider delivers behind …

Discussion: Media Matters for America, Washington Post, HuffPost, CNBC, POLITICUSUSA, FOX6Now.com, WPIX 11 New York, Hullabaloo, Outside the Beltway and Esquire, more at Mediagazer »

Michael D'Antonio / CNN:
Trump is exposed as the fraud that he is

Discussion: Washington Post, NBC News, New Republic and Raw Story

Timothy L. O'Brien / Bloomberg:
Trump Even Inherited His Self-Made Myth

Discussion: The Atlantic, New York Times, Washington Post, ABC News and Raw Story

Richard Rubin / Wall Street Journal:
Trump's Tax Returns in the Spotlight if Democrats Capture the House

Discussion: New York Times, ThinkProgress, CNNMoney and Raw Story

Rebecca Morin / Politico:
Trump rips into The New York Times over tax schemes report

Discussion: Political Wire, Donald Trump and Mediaite

Eli Rosenberg / Washington Post:
‘Art of the Deal’ writer says New York Times report ends myth of Trump as ‘self-made man’

Discussion: Fox News, CNN and Mother Jones

Margot Cleveland / USA Today:

Christine Blasey Ford's changing Kavanaugh assault story leaves her short on credibility — Put aside Christine Blasey Ford's emotional performance. Her testimony revealed her as a witness whose memories change at her convenience. — CONNECT — When Christine Blasey Ford testified …

Discussion: New York Times, Real Clear Politics, The Federalist, Power Line, Daily Wire, The Last Refuge, Geller Report, Washington Examiner and ThinkProgress

Fox News:

Christine Blasey Ford ex-boyfriend says she helped friend prep for potential polygraph; Grassley sounds alarm — In a letter released Tuesday and obtained by Fox News, an ex-boyfriend of Christine Blasey Ford, the California professor accusing Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault …

Discussion: CNN, Vox, RedState, Townhall, Breitbart, The Gateway Pundit, Washington Times, Above the Law, The Lid, CANNONFIRE, The Other McCain, TheBlaze, Louder With Crowder, Front Page Magazine, Washington Post, Instapundit, Real Clear Politics and Joe.My.God.

Connie Chung / Washington Post:

Dear Christine Blasey Ford: I, too, was sexually assaulted — and it's seared into my memory forever — Connie Chung is a broadcast journalist. — Dear Christine Blasey Ford, — I, too, was sexually assaulted — not 36 years ago but about 50 years ago. I have kept my dirty little secret to myself.

Marc A. Thiessen / Washington Post:
Rachel Mitchell expertly eviscerates the case against Kavanaugh

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, DCReport.org and Right Wing Watch

Kevin Collier / BuzzFeed News:

This Ohio Woman's Run-In With The FBI Gives Us A Window Into Robert Mueller's Trump-Russia Probe — WASHINGTON — Cassandra Ford tends to stay online late into the evening and then sleep in. So when two FBI agents dispatched by special counsel Robert Mueller's office pounded on her boyfriend's door …

Discussion: Raw Story

Jillian Kay Melchior / Wall Street Journal:

Fake News Comes to Academia — How three scholars gulled academic journals to publish hoax papers on ‘grievance studies.’ — The existence of a monthly journal focused on “feminist geography” is a sign of something gone awry in academia. The journal in question—Gender, Place & Culture …

Discussion: National Review, Hit & Run, The Other McCain and Eduwonk

Richard Baldwin / Areo:
Academic Grievance Studies and the Corruption of Scholarship

Discussion: Mother Jones and National Review

Quillette:
The Grievance Studies Scandal: Five Academics Respond

Discussion: The American Conservative, IJR and Samizdata

New York Times:

Kavanaugh's 1983 Letter Offers Inside Look at High School Clique — The beachfront property was rented, the guests were invited and an ever-organized Brett M. Kavanaugh had some advice for the seven Georgetown Preparatory School classmates who would be joining him for the weeklong escapade.

Ross Douthat / New York Times:

The Meritocracy Against Itself — How Ivy League resentments took over the Kavanaugh debate. — A week ago, Elizabeth Bruenig of The Washington Post wrote a column about the dreadful feeling of being yanked back, thanks to the allegations of teenage sexual assault against Brett Kavanaugh …

Discussion: The American Conservative

Philip Klein / Washington Examiner:

Democrats are hypocrites for attacking Brett Kavanaugh as too partisan — Uncertain as to whether the FBI investigation will turn up enough evidence to convince centrist senators to vote against confirming Brett Kavanaugh over sexual assault allegations, Democrats and their liberal allies …

Discussion: The Federalist and Weekly Standard

Zack Beauchamp / Vox:
New poll shows that Republicans have become the party of #MeToo backlash

Discussion: Breitbart

Monmouth University Polling Institute:

Small GOP Lead in CD01 — Positive views of incumbent overcome Dem-leaning environment — West Long Branch, NJ - The contest in Pennsylvania's newly drawn 1st Congressional District remains tight, but Republican incumbent Brian Fitzpatrick has inched ahead of Democratic challenger Scott Wallace …

Discussion: Political Wire

David M. Drucker / Washington Examiner:

GOP gloom: Republicans predict House majority will be swept away by Democratic ‘spending tsunami’ — Five weeks before critical midterm elections, House Republicans are outgunned and outmanned as a constellation of well-resourced Democratic groups dedicated to winning the majority overwhelm GOP defenses.

Discussion: Balloon Juice

Julia Manchester / The Hill:

Freedom Caucus Chairman says ‘strong suggestion’ undercover FBI sources taped Trump campaign — House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) said on Wednesday it is very likely that undercover FBI sources taped members of the Trump campaign. — “There's a strong suggestion …

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Matthew Lee / Associated Press:

US terminates 1955 treaty with Iran after UN court ruling — WASHINGTON (AP) — In response to a U.N. court order that the U.S. lift sanctions on Iran, the Trump administration said Wednesday it was terminating a decades-old treaty affirming friendly relations between the two countries.

Discussion: Reuters and Shakesville

Jeff Stein / Washington Post:

Sanders to launch new plan to break up Wall Street giants, including Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan — Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Wednesday is unveiling legislation that would place a hard cap on the size of financial institutions, a proposal that would splinter Wall Street's biggest firms …

Molly McKew / Wired:

BRETT KAVANAUGH AND THE INFORMATION TERRORISTS TRYING TO RESHAPE AMERICA — The network architecture built in Gamergate helped propel Trump to the presidency and fuel conspiracies like Pizzagate and QAnon. Now it's backing Brett Kavanaugh. — SINCE THE ADVENT of Donald Trump's candidacy …

Michael Sykes / Axios:

In photos: Melania Trump's “very emotional” visit to ex-slave holding castle in Ghana — On her first solo trip overseas, First Lady Melania Trump visited a 17th century castle where slaves were held in captivity in Ghana and described the trip as “very emotional.”

Discussion: Breitbart, One America News Network and IJR

YouTube:

VICE | Official Trailer — IN THEATERS CHRISTMAS. VICE explores the epic story about how a bureaucratic Washington insider quietly became the most powerful man in the world as Vice-Pre...

USA Today:

A presidential alert test from FEMA is coming to your cellphone. But can you turn it off? — Cellphones across the United States will be buzzing in unison Wednesday with a special test message from the Trump administration. — The Federal Emergency Management Agency will conduct a test …

Discussion: New York Times, CNBC and Motherboard, more at Techmeme »

Joe Heim / Washington Post:

Chris Christie on early Trump problems: ‘I probably could have prevented 75 percent of them’ — Chris Christie, 56, is the former governor of New Jersey and was a Republican candidate for president in the 2016 primary elections. — Corey Lewandowski recently said that President Trump got off …