memeorandum: Trump says US ‘locked and loaded depending on verification’ of attack on Saudi oil field (CNN)

12:10 AM ET, September 16, 2019

Top Items:

Democrats call for Kavanaugh impeachment over new sexual misconduct claims — Trump defended Kavanaugh after two New York Times reporters revealed new information on the sexual misconduct allegations facing the Supreme Court Justice. — A slew of prominent Democrats called on Congress …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Power Line, RedState, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, twitchy.com, Mediaite and Talking Points Memo

John McCormack / National Review:

The New York Times Anti-Kavanaugh Bombshell Is Actually a Dud — Maybe Pogrebin and Kelly's book is stronger than their essay, but I'm skeptical. — If you opened Twitter on Sunday morning, you were likely greeted with the bombshell headline of the top trending news story …

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Daily Wire, New York Post, Washington Post, The Federalist, The Mahablog, PJ Media Home, Reason, Axios, Wall Street Journal, Breitbart, Power Line, The Daily Caller, Patterico's Pontifications and Viking Pundit, more at Mediagazer »

Mollie Hemingway / The Federalist:

New Book: Christine Blasey Ford's Friend Leland Keyser Doesn't Believe Her — “It just didn't make any sense,” lifelong friend Leland Keyser told New York Times reporters about Ford's allegations, adding “I don't have any confidence in the story.” — Buried at the end of their new book …

Daniel Politi / Slate:
Elizabeth Warren Joins Harris, Castro in Calling for Kavanaugh's Impeachment

Discussion: The Daily Caller, The Week and Raw Story

Sandra E. Garcia / New York Times:
Calls for Kavanaugh's Impeachment Come Amid New Misconduct Allegations

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA, USA Today and The Daily Caller

Chris Mills Rodrigo / The Hill:
2020 Democrats call for Kavanaugh to be impeached

Discussion: Washington Post, Washington Times and ABC News

Alayna Treene / Axios:
Corey Lewandowski is plotting a run for Senate in New Hampshire as a pro-Trump candidate

Discussion: Raw Story

Roger Kimball / Spectator USA:
A fresh assassination of Brett Kavanaugh's character

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, twitchy.com, Outside the Beltway, Vox and Instapundit

Jason Silverstein / CBS News:
New Brett Kavanaugh sexual misconduct accusation sets off calls for Supreme Court impeachment

Discussion: Occupy Democrats, PJ Media Home and Townhall

David Cohen / Politico:
Trump stands up for Brett Kavanaugh over ‘liable’

Discussion: ABC News, New York Post, Washington Post, Splinter, Daily Wire and Political Wire

CNN:

Trump says US ‘locked and loaded depending on verification’ of attack on Saudi oil field — Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump on Sunday evening tweeted that the US has “reason to believe that we know” who is responsible for an attack on a Saudi Arabian oil field and the country is …

Discussion: Mediaite, Informed Comment, The Intercept and Political Wire

Martha Raddatz / ABC News:

Iran fired cruise missiles in attack on Saudi oil facility: Senior US official — Iran launched nearly a dozen cruise missiles and over 20 drones from its territory in the attack on a key Saudi oil facility Saturday, a senior Trump administration official told ABC News Sunday.

Discussion: New York Post, middleeastmonitor.com and The American Conservative

Bradford Betz / Fox News:

Trump: US ‘locked and loaded’ against attackers of Saudi oil facility ‘depending on verification’ — President Trump on Sunday suggested U.S. investigators had “reason to believe” they knew who launched crippling attacks against a key Saudi oil facility, and vowed that America was “locked and loaded depending on verification.”

Discussion: Townhall, Breitbart, The Week and One America News Network

Bianca Quilantan / Politico:
Trump says U.S. ‘locked and loaded’ after attack on Saudi oil

Discussion: Fox News and One America News Network

Christopher Rowland / Washington Post:

Purdue Pharma, drugmaker accused of fueling the opioid epidemic, files for bankruptcy — Purdue Pharma, the drug manufacturer accused of triggering the nation's epidemic of opioid addiction through its sale of the profitable but highly addictive painkiller OxyContin, filed for bankruptcy Sunday.

Discussion: New York Times, Axios, One America News Network, The Crime Report and The Guardian

New York Times:

Bernie Sanders Campaign Shakes Up New Hampshire Operation — Senator Bernie Sanders has overhauled his New Hampshire state operations five months before the primary, as his campaign fights to maintain support in a state he won by more than 22 percentage points in 2016.

Discussion: The Daily Beast

Holly Otterbein / Politico:

Bernie Sanders shakes up campaign leadership in New Hampshire — MANCHESTER, N.H. — Sen. Bernie Sanders has replaced the New Hampshire state director of his presidential campaign after growing indignation from his fiercest supporters that their concerns about losing the first-in-the-nation primary state were being ignored.

Discussion: Political Wire

Alayna Treene / Axios:

Nancy Pelosi's next target: Mitch McConnell — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will escalate her caucus' anti-Mitch McConnell messaging this fall, testing a theory that this can be more effective than just continuing the party's anti-Trump rhetoric, Democratic leadership aides tell Axios.

Discussion: Political Wire and Mediaite

Felicia Sonmez / Washington Post:
In call with Trump, Pelosi and Schumer say any gun bill that doesn't include background checks …

Discussion: Rolling Stone, Hullabaloo and Politico

Sarah Ferris / Politico: Moderate Democrats warn Pelosi of impeachment obsession

NBC News:

Biden delivers most significant speech yet on race, says silence on hate ‘is complicity’ — “There can be no realization of the American Dream without grappling with the original sin of slavery,” Biden said. — Former Vice President Joe Biden on Sunday made his most expansive speech yet on race …

Kate Sullivan / CNN:
Texas congressman pulls endorsement from Castro to support Biden

Discussion: Breitbart and Axios

The Texas Tribune: Julián Castro hit Joe Biden over Barack Obama's immigration legacy. …

Emily Shugerman / The Daily Beast:

Steven Mnuchin's Mysterious Link to Creepy Epstein Model Scout — The treasury secretary's name shows up on official records for a company formed in the 1980s by Jeffrey Epstein's close friend, the model scout Jean-Luc Brunel. — In the late 1980s—before he was a member of Donald Trump's Cabinet …

Thor Benson / The Daily Beast:

The Climate Crisis Is Poised to Make Huge Swaths of America Totally Uninsurable — “People are going to be trapped because once it's uninsurable, good luck selling the house,” one climate expert cautioned. — As climate change spurs increasingly destructive wildfires in California …

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Raw Story

David Wildstein / New Jersey Globe:

Trenton councilman defends McBride, says ‘Jew down’ is just a ‘statement of speech’ — Muschal: 'You know, it's like a car dealer, they wanted $5,000, you Jew ‘em down to $4,000’ … Longtime Trenton City Councilman George Muschal says that will he didn't hear a colleague make an anti-Semitic slur …

Stef W. Kight / Axios:

Why Trump is rallying in New Mexico — At a Trump rally back in February in El Paso, Texas, the campaign saw an unexpected pattern in the attendee data — a large crowd of New Mexicans crossed the state line to be there. — “That was our first glimpse into the idea that there might …

Streiff / RedState:

Babylon Bee Accurately Predicts a Snopes Fact Check Nine Months Before They Do It — A customer hold a piece of Kentucky Fried Chicken outside a KFC restaurant, Tuesday, July 13, 2010, in Mountain View, Calif. Yum Brands Inc., which owns Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC, reports second-quarter results after the close of regular trading.

Discussion: Snopes.com

David Leonhardt / New York Times:

How Kamala Harris Can Make a Comeback — The Democratic field is still flawed. — The most effective presidential candidates are able both to energize their base and persuade the political middle. Barack Obama, Ronald Reagan and F.D.R. all did so. They managed to seem exciting …

New York Times:

‘People Actively Hate Us’: Inside the Border Patrol's Morale Crisis — Overwhelmed by desperate migrants and criticized for mistreating the people in their care, many agents have grown defensive, insular and bitter. — One Border Patrol agent in Tucson said he had been called a “sellout” and a “kid killer.”

Discussion: PJ Media Home, Hullabaloo, Axios and Fox News

Josh Campbell / CNN:

‘No turning back now’: The inside story of James Comey's trip to Trump Tower — (CNN)Josh Campbell is a CNN law enforcement analyst and former FBI supervisory special agent. His bureau career assignments included serving as special assistant to former FBI director James Comey.