Vice President Pence is giving a speech today at the Hudson Institute. Normally that wouldn’t get a lot of attention, especially with so much else going on. But this is a bigger deal than it might appear. Seeing portions of the speech now on Twitter, it is crystal clear that the White House is trying to delegitimize the on-going Mueller probe by setting up China is the real meddler in US internal affairs and democratic practice.
Most importantly, they are claiming that China is working against Donald Trump in 2018 and 2020. This is a big, big deal and I expect they will be expanding on it in the coming weeks and likely going into 2020.
Look at these tweets. Seldin is a reporter with Voice of America. Read More
The ‘investigation’ is done. Senators are now reviewing it. And well, everyone is lining up. Susan Collins says “it appears to be a very thorough investigation.” Lindsey Graham says he’s good to go. Feinstein calls it a “incomplete.” Jeff Flake seems to be in line with Susan Collins in calling it a thorough investigation, according to CNN’s Manu Raju.
Chuck Grassley declares that the handcuffed FBI probe turned up nothing new on Brett Kavanaugh.
Brett Kavanaugh’s yearbook, the ur-text of Kavanologists, is now online.
This may be noise. It may simply be the consolidation and energizing of both major party bases which is expected and inevitable in the closing weeks of the campaign. But there’s enough bits of evidence to suggest that Republicans have gotten more energized and focused on the election in the last week or so – more certainty about voting, more focus on turning out to support Republican candidates and President Trump. Read More
Chris Garrett, the guy who I’ve argued is at the center of this story, has completed an interview with the FBI, according to CNN.
This seems highly notable.
CNN: The FBI is expanding their interviews of people regarding Brett Kavanaugh beyond the initial four. More interviews are happening with a focus on other Kavanaugh high school friends who are listed as attending a July 1, 1982 party.
— Shimon Prokupecz (@ShimonPro) October 3, 2018
Trump mocks Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony about her alleged assault at Mississippi campaign rally.
Trump mocks Dr. Blasey Ford's testimony in Mississippi campaign rally. pic.twitter.com/I4yBLfjOOb
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) October 3, 2018
I just read the new Times piece about this letter Brett Kavanaugh wrote to his pals in advance of a big beach weekend during high school. That is only one part of the piece. The piece illustrates what I think we already know: that Kavanaugh was part of that gang of jocks who dominated your high school, ran the circuit of underground but cool kid parties, drank to insane levels of excess. We know these guys. There’s a different version of the story if it’s a hard-charging elite private school like Georgetown Prep or one of America’s countless public high schools. But I think we all know these guys. It’s pre-Fraternity Life in high school, filled with ridiculous over-consumption of alcohol and jocular innuendo and shout-outs to predatory sexuality. There’s even a clip from the gangs underground high school paper calling out the girls from Holton Arms – which Kavanaugh said his social set didn’t overlap with – as worthless and promiscuous “Holton Hosebag[s]”. Nothing is held back. Read More
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