memeorandum: Sessions Aide, a Trump Loyalist, Is Seen as Ascendant Amid Rosenstein Chaos (New York Times)

5:15 AM ET, September 27, 2018

Top Items:

Senate probing new allegation of misconduct against Kavanaugh — Supreme Court Nominee has been asked privately about an accusation of physical assault, sources tell NBC News. — WASHINGTON —The Senate Judiciary Committee is inquiring about at least one additional allegation of misconduct …

Politico:

Ex-boyfriend filed restraining order against third Kavanaugh accuser — Julie Swetnick, the woman who accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and a friend of attending house parties where women — including herself — were sexually assaulted, had a restraining order filed against her years later in Miami by her former boyfriend.

Discussion: Washington Post, Townhall, Fox News, The Other McCain, The New Neo, The Daily Caller, National Review, The American Spectator, The Gateway Pundit, LifeZette, Daily Wire, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Week, The Resurgent, PJ Media Home, Breitbart, Axios and Grabien News

CNN:

Collins privately raises concerns about new allegations, lack of subpoena for Kavanaugh friend — (CNN)Sen. Susan Collins, who could determine whether Brett Kavanaugh gets a lifetime seat on the Supreme Court, raised serious concerns at a private meeting about the newest allegations …

Discussion: KTVQ-TV, FOX 61, Vox, FOX31 Denver, Talking Points Memo, KTLA, Bustle and Breitbart

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Mark Judge's former girlfriend is ready to talk to FBI and Judiciary Committee, her lawyer says — The onetime girlfriend of Mark Judge, who is alleged by Christine Blasey Ford to have been present while Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in the 1980s, has emerged as a pivotal if hidden figure …

Discussion: ABC News, NPR, The Hill, Hot Air, Axios, HuffPost, Bustle, New York Times, LifeZette, The Federalist, Seven Days, Daily Wire, Raw Story, POLITICUSUSA, Common Dreams, KTVU-TV, Washington Times, Hollywood Life, ThinkProgress, The Gateway Pundit, Splinter and The Daily Caller

Ashley Parker / Washington Post:

‘Give it to me’: Trump lets loose with 81 minutes of bluster, falsehoods and insults — The Debrief: An occasional series offering a reporter's insights — President Trump's 81-minute news conference Thursday began predictably enough — with a first question tossed to a favored reporter …

Discussion: KTVQ-TV, Hot Air, Common Dreams, Politico, Mediaite, Liberty Unyielding, Breitbart and Political Wire, more at Mediagazer »

Zoe Tillman / BuzzFeed News:

Two Men Told Senate Staffers They Had “The Encounter” With Christine Blasey Ford, Not Brett Kavanaugh — WASHINGTON — Senate Judiciary Committee staff interviewed two men who said they believed that they, and not US Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, had “the encounter” …

Discussion: Front Page Magazine and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Peter Hasson / The Daily Caller:

Man Apologizes For Claiming Kavanaugh Sexually Assaulted His Friend, Says He ‘Made A Mistake’ — A Rhode Island man who accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting his friend apologized on Wednesday and said he “made a mistake.” — The man called Rhode Island Democratic …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

The Federalist:

BREAKING: KAVANAUGH ACCUSER CALLED FOR MILITARY COUP AGAINST TRUMP, ACCUSED HIM OF ‘MANSLAUGHTER’ — An individual who accused Supreme Court Justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh of rape also appeared to accuse President Donald Trump of manslaughter and called for a military coup on Twitter.

Discussion: twitchy.com and Front Page Magazine

NPR:

READ: Christine Blasey Ford's Opening Statement For Senate Hearing — Christine Blasey Ford has accused Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were in high school in the early 1980s. On Thursday the psychology professor is testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Discussion: 89.3 KPCC, POLITICUSUSA and Tennessee Star

The Daily Beast:

‘Disaster’: Trumpworld Starting to Sweat Over Brett Kavanaugh's Mounting Sexual Assault Allegations — The president is publicly running to his embattled nominee's defense. But his team is sending out signals that all may not be well. — Less than an hour before Donald Trump was to attend …

Calvin Woodward / Associated Press:

Kavanaugh, Ford and the makings of a where-were-you moment — WASHINGTON (AP) — Could it be, years from now, that you will remember where you were and what you were doing when Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford came to Washington to relive their conflicting high school memories?

Mairead McArdle / National Review:

Judiciary Committee Talking to Two Men Who Think They Assaulted Ford — The Senate Judiciary Committee is talking to two men who think they may have been the one who assaulted Christine Blasey Ford, one of the women accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault.

Discussion: The Right Scoop, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and TheBlaze

Emily Jane Fox / Vanity Fair:

“I Was Ashamed”: After Ford's Accusation, a Generation of Holton-Arms Alumnae Wrestle with Their Own Truths—Together — Seven Holton alums recently shared their experiences of sexual assault with me. Many had not spoken of the incidents since they occurred in high school or shortly thereafter.

Discussion: HuffPost, New York Times, Bustle, BloombergQuint, Vox, Washingtonian and Daily Kos

Beth Baumann / Townhall: WATCH: NRA Blasts Key Democrats in Jaw-Dropping Ad in Support of Kavanaugh

Eli Watkins / CNN:
Kavanaugh denies two additional accusations to Senate Judiciary Committee

Discussion: The Daily Caller, KTVQ-TV, POLITICUSUSA, USA Today, The Week, Jezebel and New York Times

Scott Wong / The Hill: First Republican calls for FBI to investigate Kavanaugh

CNN:
Increasingly worried, Trump takes over Kavanaugh defense

Discussion: New York Times, TIME, Politico, The Atlantic, Bustle, WPIX 11 New York, New Republic, Political Wire, Vox, Balloon Juice, Talking Points Memo, Little Green Footballs, twitchy.com and KTVQ-TV

New York Times: Read Christine Blasey Ford's Prepared Statement

Ryan Saavedra / Daily Wire:
Kavanaugh Accuser Sued Former Employer, Used Law Firm Of Other Accuser

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Townhall and The Gateway Pundit

Washington Post:
Fact-checking President Trump's statements about sexual misconduct allegations

Discussion: CNN, Vox, NPR and No More Mister Nice Blog

New York Times:
Julie Swetnick Is Third Woman to Accuse Brett Kavanaugh of Sexual Misconduct

Caleb Ecarma / Mediaite:
Trump Supporter on MSNBC Tells Her Daughters That Groping is ‘No Big Deal’

Discussion: New York Times, CBS Boston, Bustle, The Daily Caller and The Week

Philip Rucker / Washington Post: Defending Kavanaugh, Trump laments #MeToo as ‘very dangerous’ for powerful men

Wall Street Journal:
Third Woman, Julie Swetnick, Makes Allegations Against Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh

CNN:
Yale classmates remember very different images of Brett Kavanaugh

Discussion: Raw Story, KTLA and KTVQ-TV

Eli Yokley / Morning Consult:
Republican Women Lose Faith in Kavanaugh — and Trump — After Week of Accusations

Discussion: ABC News, USA Today, today.yougov.com, Cronkite News, HuffPost, The Daily Beast, LifeZette, Bustle, New York Times and Political Wire

CNN:
President Trump holds a rare news conference

Discussion: Bustle, Axios, VICE News and Politico

John Wagner / Washington Post:
Kavanaugh nomination: Judge says he is victim of ‘character assassination’ as third woman comes forward

Media Matters for America:
Conservative media figures won't listen to multiple women about Brett Kavanaugh, but they did …

Discussion: National Review, Wall Street Journal and twitchy.com

Paige Lavender / HuffPost:
Judicial Crisis Network On Kavanaugh Allegations: ‘We Have To Look Into This Further’

Discussion: The Atlantic, Splinter, Refinery29, Law & Crime, AOL and ThinkProgress

New York Times:

Sessions Aide, a Trump Loyalist, Is Seen as Ascendant Amid Rosenstein Chaos — WASHINGTON — Convinced that the deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, was ready to resign after the revelation that he suggested President Trump was unfit for the job, senior White House aides got to work last weekend installing a replacement.

Discussion: ABC News, Raw Story, NPR, BuzzFeed News, Just Security, AOL and Vox

Neal Katyal / Washington Post:
How Rosenstein can protect the Mueller investigation — even if he's fired

Discussion: Booman Tribune and Washington Monthly

John LaLoggia / Pew Research Center:

Voter Enthusiasm at Record High in Nationalized Midterm Environment — Top voting issues: Supreme Court, health care, economy — With less than six weeks to go before the elections for Congress, voter enthusiasm is at its highest level during any midterm in more than two decades.

Discussion: Politico, CNN, BloombergQuint, Washington Post and Political Wire

Associated Press: The Republican Party's woman problem is in the spotlight

The Daily Beast:

Revealed: What Erik Prince and Moscow's Money Man Discussed in That Infamous Seychelles Meeting — Mueller's team and Congressional investigators have looked into a meeting in the Seychelles between allies of Trump and Putin. Now we have the Russian read-out of what was said.

Discussion: Balloon Juice, Raw Story and Shakesville

Andrew Desiderio / The Daily Beast:
Rand Paul's Push to Lift Some Russia Sanctions Fizzles

Discussion: Roll Call

Rachel La Corte / National Journal:

Massive House Map Continues to Grow — Recent polling and new TV ad reservations suggest an expanding battlefield with 40 days until the midterms. — Ally Mutnick — Democrats are finding compelling evidence that a new set of Republican-held seats are becoming increasingly competitive, stretching an already expansive map.

Jennifer Williams / Vox:

Read: Trump's bizarre, rambling solo press conference on Kavanaugh, Rosenstein, and more — Trump addressed the Kavanaugh allegations in a truly bizarre news conference Wednesday. Read for yourself. — President Donald Trump touched on a wide array of topics during a rambling solo press conference …

Discussion: Informed Comment and The American Conservative

Washington Post:
President Trump's U.N. press conference, annotated

Discussion: Shareblue Media

Kashmir Hill / Gizmodo:

Facebook Is Giving Advertisers Access to Your Shadow Contact Information — Last week, I ran an ad on Facebook that was targeted at a computer science professor named Alan Mislove. Mislove studies how privacy works on social networks and had a theory that Facebook is letting advertisers reach users …

Discussion: Mashable, more at Mediagazer »

Jeremy Wallace / Houston Chronicle:

Texas sets voter registration record, with 1.6 million new voters since 2014 — The Texas voter rolls have grown to 15.6 million people, a new record, Texas Secretary of State Rolando Pablos confirmed. — That is nearly a 400,000-person increase since March and a jump of 1.6 million since …

John Irish / Reuters:

Trump says learned about Syria's Idlib from supporter at recent rally — UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump suggested on Wednesday he had never heard of the rebel-held Syrian region of Idlib under threat from Syrian government and Russian forces until a supporter brought it up at a recent rally about a month ago.