memeorandum: Mitch McConnell: Forget Merrick Garland, GOP can confirm a Supreme Court justice in 2020 if it wants (Susan Ferrechio/Washington Examiner)

11:35 PM ET, October 9, 2018

Top Items:

Saudis are said to have lain in wait for Jamal Khashoggi — ISTANBUL — As Jamal Khashoggi prepared to enter the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, a squad of men from Saudi Arabia who investigators suspect played a role in his disappearance was ready and in place.

Discussion: The American Conservative

New York Times:

Turkish Officials Say Khashoggi Was Killed on Order of Saudi Leadership — ISTANBUL — Investigators are examining the movements of Saudi officials who flew to Istanbul and went to the Saudi Consulate there on the same day that a Saudi dissident journalist disappeared after going to the building …

Discussion: Middle East Eye, Washington Post, The Week, Mediaite, Vox, Politico and HuffPost, more at Mediagazer »

Hatice Cengiz / Washington Post:

Please, President Trump, shed light on my fiance's disappearance — Hatice Cengiz is Jamal Khashoggi's fiancee. She lives in Istanbul. — ISTANBUL — More than a week has passed since our last meeting outside the consulate of Saudi Arabia, before his disappearance became global news.

Discussion: CNN

Martin Chulov / The Guardian:

Khashoggi case: CCTV disappears from Saudi consulate in Turkey — Security footage removed and Turkish staff told to go home on day missing journalist visits — Security camera footage was removed from the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and Turkish staff were abruptly told to take a holiday …

Washington Post:

How Trump enabled the abuses of Saudi Arabia's crown prince — TWO YEARS ago it would have been inconceivable that the rulers of Saudi Arabia, a close U.S. ally, would be suspected of abducting or killing a critic who lived in Washington and regularly wrote for The Post …

Discussion: Politico

David Gauthier-Villars / Wall Street Journal:
Turkish Investigation of Missing Saudi Journalist Shifts Focus to Mercedes Van

Discussion: Boing Boing

Andrew Desiderio / The Daily Beast: Saudi Story About Journalist Jamal Khashoggi Doesn't Hold Up, Says Bob Corker: ‘Everything Points’ to Murder

Daniel W. Drezner / Washington Post:
The end of the Saudi Whisperer

Discussion: Mondoweiss, The New Arab and New York Times

Jonathan Swan / Axios:

Scoop: Trump has accepted Nikki Haley's resignation — President Trump has accepted Nikki Haley's resignation as UN Ambassador, according to two sources briefed on their conversation. The timing of her departure is still unclear. — What we're hearing: Haley discussed her resignation …

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:

'Something doesn't smell right': The curious timing of Nikki Haley's exit — This post has been updated. — Nikki Haley is resigning as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. And the timing is raising eyebrows. — President Trump and Haley held a quickly arranged media availability Tuesday morning …

Discussion: Breitbart, Louder With Crowder, HuffPost, Post and Courier and LifeZette

Andy Shain / Post and Courier:

Nikki Haley has up to $1 million in debt as she steps down as U.N. ambassador — Nikki Haley's political capital and foreign policy credentials skyrocketed during her time as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, but one aspect of the former South Carolina governor's life didn't

Discussion: Raw Story, Politico and CREW

Ben White / Politico:

Dina Powell tops White House list for U.N. — NEW YORK — Dina Powell, the Goldman Sachs executive and former senior White House official, is the top candidate to replace outgoing U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, two people familiar with the matter said Tuesday.

Discussion: Washington Post

Eliana Johnson / Politico:
Nikki Haley flips the script on Trump

Discussion: CNN, Townhall and The Daily Beast

Brian Schwartz / CNBC:
Trump officials have talked to Goldman Sachs' Dina Powell about possibly replacing Nikki Haley as UN ambassador

Discussion: Bloomberg, The Hill, Breitbart, TheBlaze, Joe.My.God., American Greatness and The Week

Zack Beauchamp / Vox:
How Nikki Haley played the White House game — and won

Discussion: Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Raw Story and Chicks On The Right

Grace Sparks / CNN:

CNN poll: Democrats are fired up and maintain a strong 2018 lead — Washington (CNN)Four weeks out from Election Day, Democrats remain well ahead of Republicans in a generic ballot matchup, with 54% of likely voters saying they support the Democrat in their district and 41% backing a Republican …

Discussion: Mother Jones, The Week, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, IJR, Vox, Axios and Political Wire

Mark Murray / NBC News:

Poll: Races in Nevada are a dead heat — Both the gubernatorial and Senate races are neck and neck. — Democrats and Republicans are running neck and neck in Nevada's key contests for U.S. Senate and governor, according to a new NBC News/Marist poll of the state released Tuesday, four weeks before Election Day.

Discussion: Political Wire

Susan Ferrechio / Washington Examiner:

Mitch McConnell: Forget Merrick Garland, GOP can confirm a Supreme Court justice in 2020 if it wants — Democrats argue that GOP rhetoric over Judge Merrick Garland's failed nomination in 2016 means that Republicans cannot try to push through a Supreme Court nominee in 2020. Mitch McConnell begs to differ.

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Daily Wire

Philip Bump / Washington Post:
This is not what a pro-Kavanaugh electoral backlash looks like

Discussion: CNN and POLITICUSUSA

Manu Raju / CNN:
Lindsey Graham says Trump jokingly asked if he wanted to be attorney general

Discussion: The Root, The Atlantic and Media Matters for America

Julia Ainsley / NBC News:

Abrupt release of hundreds of migrants in Phoenix is ‘start of dam breaking’ — “You'll start to see this all across the southern border soon,” a senior DHS official told NBC News. — WASHINGTON — Hundreds of migrant families seeking asylum in the U.S. were released from detention …

Discussion: ThinkProgress and Splinter

Stephanie Ebbs / ABC News:

Administration mum on climate change report as Trump says: ‘I want to look at who drew it’ — The day after an international panel of scientists issued a stark warning about the short window in which world leaders can act to avoid catastrophic climate change, the president of the United States …

Discussion: Axios, ThinkProgress, The Daily Caller and ipcc.ch

Associated Press:

Trump rally crowd chants ‘Lock her up!’ about Sen. Feinstein — COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — Chants of “Lock her up!” rang once again throughout an Iowa arena as President Donald Trump rallied supporters Tuesday night. — But this time, the staple of Trump's 2016 campaign …

Rachel Ventresca / CNN:
Clinton: ‘You cannot be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for’

William E. Scheuerman / USA Today:

Kavanaugh Yale classmate: The FBI investigation was a joke. I tried to help and was ignored. … Sen. Mitch McConnell said the vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court showed the Republican Party standing up for the presumption of innocence, and he doesn't see the fight hurting his party, in fact he says it may help.

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, Salon and American Greatness

Bloomberg:

New Evidence of Hacked Supermicro Hardware Found in U.S. Telecom — A major U.S. telecommunications company discovered manipulated hardware from Super Micro Computer Inc. in its network and removed it in August, fresh evidence of tampering in China of critical technology components bound for the U.S. …

Discussion: South China Morning Post, Bend Bulletin, Breitbart, The Constitution and The Verge, more at Techmeme »

Motherboard:
The Cybersecurity World Is Debating WTF Is Going on With Bloomberg's Chinese Microchip Stories

Discussion: Bloomberg, Engadget, VICE News and VentureBeat, more at Techmeme »

The Moscow Times:

Infamous St. Petersburg ‘Troll Factory’ Set on Fire — The office of Russia's infamous troll factory believed to be at the vanguard of Russia's information war has been set on fire in St. Petersburg overnight. — An investigation revealed last year that the secretive troll factory …

Discussion: Raw Story

Alexander C. Kaufman / HuffPost:

EPA Chief Andrew Wheeler Engaged With Racist, Conspiratorial Posts On Social Media — Exclusive: The agency head brushed off his interactions with a Pizzagater and said he doesn't remember liking a racist picture of the Obamas. — Andrew Wheeler, the acting administrator …

Discussion: Raw Story, Bloomberg and Boing Boing

Chicago Sun-Times:

Trump's Justice Department to oppose pending Chicago police consent decree — WASHINGTON - The Justice Department will later this week oppose a pending consent decree the city of Chicago agreed to in the wake of police misconduct allegations tied to the Laquan McDonald case, the Sun-Times has learned.

Washington Post:
Rosenstein faces congressional confrontation amid new claim he seriously suggested wiretapping Trump

Discussion: The Last Refuge, Fox News and The Gateway Pundit

Kevin Daley / The Daily Caller:

Anger Recedes As Normalcy, Good Humor Characterize Kavanaugh's First Day On The Supreme Court — Justice Brett Kavanaugh appeared at oral arguments for the first time Tuesday, where the bitterness attending his confirmation appeared to break, if only a little.

Discussion: SCOTUSblog and Daily Caller News Foundation

CNN: Roger Stone aide hopes Kavanaugh will support his case against Mueller

Ashe Schow / Daily Wire:

Five Teenage ‘Mean Girls’ Falsely Accused A Boy Of Sexual Assault. They Weren't Punished. — Several high school girls - dubbed “mean girls” - claimed a male student sexually assaulted them because they “just don't like him.” Now the school district and district attorney are facing heat …

Discussion: Greensburg Tribune-Review and twitchy.com

Talking Points Memo:

‘They Told Me I Would Never See Her Again’: Deported Parents Lose Kids To Adoption — As the deportees were led off the plane onto the steamy San Salvador tarmac, an anguished Araceli Ramos Bonilla burst into tears, her face contorted with pain: “They want to steal my daughter!”

Discussion: Daily Kos, Shakesville and Jezebel

Elizabeth Dias / New York Times:

Beto O'Rourke May Benefit From an Unlikely Support Group: White Evangelical Women — In the Texas race, any small shift among evangelical voters could be a significant loss for Senator Ted Cruz — and a signal to Democrats. — October 9, 2018 — Nikki Haley to Resign as Trump's Ambassador to the U.N.

Discussion: Raw Story

Peter Sullivan / The Hill:

Trump officials plan maintenance downtime for healthcare.gov during ObamaCare sign-ups — The Trump administration is planning hours-long downtimes for maintenance on healthcare.gov during the coming ObamaCare sign-up period. — The administration drew criticism for a similar move last year …

Discussion: Hullabaloo and Shareblue Media

Brittany Miller / WGCL-TV:

White woman calls police on black man babysitting children — It's a case of babysitting while black. — A white woman called the police on a black man as he babysat two white children. — Corey Lewis documented the entire ordeal on Facebook Live. — In an exclusive interview …

Discussion: Raw Story, The Root and Boing Boing

Pema Levy / Mother Jones:

Supreme Court Makes It Harder for Tribal North Dakotans to Vote — The order could hurt the reelection chances of Heidi Heitkamp, the most vulnerable Democratic senator. … The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a lower-court order requiring voters in North Dakota to present certain forms …

Discussion: RedState, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Splinter

Kevin Breuninger / CNBC:

Barnes & Noble says political book sales have skyrocketed and it released a map that shows how polarized the sales are — Data published Tuesday by book store chain Barnes & Noble show a 57 percent boost in political book sales compared to the prior year.

Discussion: Political Wire and IJR

Robby Soave / Hit & Run:

Two Students Hooked Up. It Was Clearly Consensual. He Still Spent $12,000 Defending Himself. — James, a freshman at the University of California-Davis, was on his way to math class when he received an email that would derail his life for the next few months: The university's Title IX office …

Discussion: The American Conservative and The Daily Caller

Kansas City Star:

GOP official on Davids: radical socialist, lesbian will be sent back to reservation — A local Kansas GOP official lashed out at Democratic congressional candidate Sharice Davids on social media earlier this week, saying “your radical socialist kick boxing lesbian will be sent back packing to the reservation.”

Discussion: Splinter

Jared Holt / Right Wing Watch:

Underage Girls Allege That Michael Moates Sent Them Inappropriate Messages — Michael Moates, a conservative writer with more than 200,000 followers online and an occasional presence in the White House press room, allegedly sent multiple inappropriate messages to teenage women in conservative circles, knowing they were underage.

Discussion: Raw Story

Ryan Dezember / Wall Street Journal:

Thousands of Southerners Planted Trees for Retirement. It Didn't Work. — Too much pine and not enough saw mills spell years of depressed prices for plantations — STARKVILLE, Miss.—Over the past hundred years, the George family's farm has been sharecropped, grazed by cattle and planted with cotton.

Discussion: Daily Caller News Foundation

Jordain Carney / The Hill:

Rand Paul on political climate: ‘I really worry that someone is going to be killed’ — Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Tuesday said lawmakers should tamp down their political rhetoric, warning that otherwise it could lead to violence. — Paul, during an interview with a Kentucky radio station …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Hot Air, The Gateway Pundit, Instapundit, RedState and TheBlaze

Eric Boehlert / Shareblue Media:

No wonder GOP lost it: Taylor Swift registered 65,000 voters in 1 day — The pop star ended her silence on politics — and Republicans completely melted down. — Fans are heeding pop star Taylor Swift's political call to action for November. — Following an impassioned Instagram post …

Discussion: CNN, The Week and Daily Wire