Honestly, I’m going to have to start Irishing my coffee if things keep up like this.
5 Things to Read Today
Washington Post: Rod Rosenstein to stay in job for now, will meet with Trump on Thursday, White House says
We had a Category 1 Shitstorm this morning when Axios, based on one anonymous source from the White House, reported that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had resigned this morning. This turned out to be BS, because Axios apparently just repeats whatever the White House tells them. This is why Axios isn’t on my “trusted news sources” anymore.
Anyway, something went down with Rosenstein this morning. Popular opinion has it that the Trump administration was fishing for a resignation, and Rosenstein wouldn’t take the bait. The Trump administration then backed down from outright firing him.
Rosenstein is set to meet with Trump Thursday, the same day of the Kavanaugh hearings. Remember to eat your Wheaties this Thursday, kids. It’s shaping up to be a hell of a day.
New Yorker: Senate Democrats Investigate a New Allegation of Sexual Misconduct, from Brett Kavanaugh’s College Years
Speaking of Kavanaugh, the New Yorker is reporting a new allegation of sexual misconduct against him. Deborah Ramirez was a student at Yale while Kavanaugh was, and she says, “Kavanaugh had exposed himself at a drunken dormitory party, thrust his penis in her face, and caused her to touch it without her consent as she pushed him away.”
The New Yorker is catching a bunch of hell for this story because Ramirez said flat out that she’d been drinking, too, and she’s not 100% sure of her recollections. This is her best memory of what happened.
The New Yorker is pretty transparent about the story, and how and why they reported it, though, so I’d say cut them a break. They’re reporting it because it’s a second allegation, and both Democratic senators and Republican senators knew about it in advance of the New Yorker, and it might play into why the GOP was so hot to fast track Kavanaugh’s confirmation.
- TPM Editor’s Blog: Things Moving Very Fast – Speaking of the sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh, Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo has a roundup of yesterday’s news.
- Lawfare: The Hurdles to Removing a President Under the 25th Amendment – Matthew Kahn at the Lawfare blog has a piece on the 25th Amendment, how it’s used, and what using it now would take.
- New Yorker: How Russia Helped Swing the Election for Trump – And finally, back to the New Yorker, where Jane Mayer goes over the evidence that Russia’s interference did, indeed, swing the 2016 elections for Trump.
All right, that’s what I’ve got for this morning. Stay tuned – it seems like it’s winding up to be a very Monday sort of Monday.
Notes & Thoughts 