Below are recent notable claims of sexual trafficking, harassment, domestic violence and assault plus defenses that in some cases include claims of false allegations. Included also beginning in 2022 are major stories regarding increasing restrictions on abortion and related women's reproductive health issues, including the Supreme Court's overturning of the Roe v. Wade precedent on June 24, 2022.
The reports are listed in reverse chronological order beginning in January, 2018. They come primarily from U.S.-based claims of scandal within high-level government and business circles, including the media and entertainment sectors.
The excerpts include, for example, extensive reports and commentary about the crimes and official cover ups surrounding Jeffrey Epstein, right, the wealthy pedophile and sex trafficker found dead in his federal prison cell in Manhattan on Aug. 10, 2019.
The death followed extensive and renewed reports of his involvement with powerful political, royal, business, legal and media leaders. Excerpts below include those from independent investigative researchers who have reported compelling facts and themes virtually ignored by mainstream media.
These include allegations that Epstein's activities were part of longstanding sex trafficking rings operated with the connivance of intelligence agencies, organized crime, law enforcement and political ideologues with the goal of blackmailing government and other opinion leaders. Related reports excerpted below include allegations reported by the Justice Integrity Project, among others, that include the Wayne Madsen Report, that Epstein and Donald Trump raped a "Katie Johnson" and her friend "Maria" when they were age 13 and 12, respectively, in a mansion that Epstein used in Manhattan.
The excerpts below also include reports on global trafficking scandals.
The #MeToo movement, a major topic in this catalog, became widely known in the fall of 2017. The movement had been founded by Tarana Burke (shown in a file photo at left) a little more than a decade previously. Now senior director for Girls for Gender Equity in Brooklyn, NY, she was honored with the 2018 Ridenhour Prize for courage in a ceremony attended by this editor at the National Press Club.
Another major initiative is the Time's Up movement against sexual harassment that was launched on Jan. 1, 2018 by Hollywood celebrities in response to scandals like those of film producer Harvey Weinstein. Time's Up has a separate foundation, administered by the National Women's Law Center, that provides legal defense for sexual violence victims, especially those who experienced misconduct in the workplace.
The excerpts below also include selections that report major defenses to accusations based on experience that some allegations are unmerited or may have been made for nefarious personal or political reasons, including political smears and blackmail.
Editor's Note: Excerpts below are from the news outlets' words except for subheads and "Editor's notes" such as this.
-- Andrew Kreig, J.D., M.S.L. / Justice Integrity Project
#MeToo News, 2018
Note: This near-daily summary of #MeToo and related sexual assault news has been divided up by year. For periods extending back to 2018, kindly visit these links: 2018, 2019 and 2020.
The video showed the woman in a pink off-the-shoulder top, sitting on a bed, smiling a convincing smile.
It was her face. But it had been seamlessly grafted, without her knowledge or consent, onto someone else’s body: a young pornography actress, just beginning to disrobe for the start of a graphic sex scene. A crowd of unknown users had been passing it around online.
She felt nauseous and mortified: What if her co-workers saw it? Her family, her friends? Would it change how they thought of her? Would they believe it was a fake?
• How fake-porn opponents are fighting back • Video: How the technology works
U.S. Supreme Court
SCOTUSblog, The chief justice’s 2018 year-end report: The federal judiciary and #MeToo, Amy Howe, Dec. 31, 2018. Chief Justice John Roberts released his annual report on the federal judiciary today, focusing on the judiciary’s response to allegations of sexual misconduct in the workplace. Roberts had discussed this issue in his 2017 report, after several female law clerks accused Judge Alex Kozinski – then a prominent judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit – of inappropriate sexual conduct.
A working group created to review the safeguards in place to protect law clerks and other employees concluded, Roberts reported, that “inappropriate workplace conduct is not pervasive within the Judiciary, but it is also not limited to a few isolated instances involving law clerks” and “frequently goes unreported.” Roberts endorsed the recommendations made by the group, which included making changes to the codes of conduct for both judges and employees to make clear that both harassment and retaliation against employees who report misconduct are prohibited.
Roberts observed that he was “pleased” that the judiciary has “mobilized to ensure that” it is “the exemplary workplace that we all want,” but he added that “the job is not finished until we have done all that we can to ensure that all of our employees are treated with fairness, dignity, and respect.”
Dec. 27
More #MeToo
Miami Herald, An Epstein sex case is settled; Dershowitz denies latest allegation, Julie K. Brown, Dec. 19, 2018, updated Dec. 27. Accused sex traffickers Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell have settled a federal civil lawsuit filed by a woman who says she was ordered under threat of violence to have sex with them and other influential individuals when she was in her early 20s, sources confirmed Wednesday.
Sarah Ransome, who now lives in Barcelona, claimed that she was recruited and trafficked for sex by the pair in 2006 and 2007 — at the same time that Epstein, a wealthy New York hedge fund manager, was under federal investigation for molesting dozens of underage girls at his Palm Beach mansion.
According to a recent court transcript, among those people Ransome claims she was directed to have sex with was Epstein’s lawyer, Alan Dershowitz, who helped negotiate a controversial plea deal that gave the eccentric multimillionaire — and co-conspirators employed by Epstein — federal immunity in 2008.
Dershowitz, 80, told the Miami Herald that he has never met Ransome nor has he ever had sex with her. He accused Ransome’s attorney, powerhouse lawyer David Boies, of inventing the story and using her and another woman, Virginia Roberts, to frame him. Roberts asserted in a federal court affidavit in 2015 that Epstein forced her to have sex with Dershowitz when she was 16 years old. Nowhere in the court case or the transcript does Ransome or anyone else allege that Ransome had sex with Dershowitz — only that she was directed to.
The Ransome settlement, which is confidential, comes two weeks after Epstein settled another lawsuit in Palm Beach, filed by an attorney who represented several women who said they were coerced into sex acts with Epstein when they were underage. As part of the settlement, Epstein, 65, issued an apology to Fort Lauderdale attorney Bradley Edwards, admitting that he leveled false claims in a lawsuit as part of an effort to intimidate Edwards into abandoning his aggressive advocacy for the women, who are now in their late 20s and early 30s.
The developments follow a series of stories published by the Miami Herald in late November that detailed how state and federal prosecutors worked with Epstein’s lawyers to conceal the extent of Epstein’s crimes, and secretly negotiated an unusual plea agreement that allowed him to escape federal sex trafficking charges that could have sent him to prison for life. The agreement, by design, was kept from his victims so that they could not appear at his sentencing.
Last week, more than two dozen lawmakers in Washington demanded a federal investigation into that plea deal, which was negotiated, signed and sealed by former Miami U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta, now President Donald Trump’s secretary of labor.
Acosta has not commented on the Herald story or on the calls for a probe into how he handled the Epstein case. Ransome claimed that, in her early 20s, she was recruited to work as a masseuse for Epstein who, in exchange, promised he would help her get into fashion design in New York, according to her civil lawsuit, filed in January 2017. Epstein and Maxwell then kept her passport and threatened to ruin her life and physically harm her if she didn’t have sex with them and others in 2006 and 2007, Ransome said in the complaint.
The complaint alleges that this all occurred at the same time as Epstein’s lawyers were negotiating with Acosta and other federal prosecutors for a deal to avoid federal sex trafficking charges in connection with a scheme in which he lured underprivileged girls, mostly 13 to 16, to his home in Palm Beach under the pretense that he would pay them $200 to $300 for massages. Instead, police in Palm Beach found that he had been molesting and sexually abusing dozens of girls between 2001 and 2007.
Dershowitz, in interviews with the Herald, and in recent public statements, said he has never met Ransome. He also said she initially tried to interest the New York Post in her story, but a reporter whom he said he spoke with told him Ransome was not credible. He said he has a trove of emails between Ransome and the reporter that prove she is a “lunatic.’’
“There are hundreds of emails in which she claimed to have sex with everybody in the world and also claimed she has video of Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Donald Trump and others having sex with underage girls — but she never ever accused me in these emails,’’ Dershowitz said.
The emails are under seal, he said, and therefore cannot be made public. Dershowitz said he has asked the court to unseal them but his efforts thus far have been unsuccessful.
Dec. 23
Sacha Baron Cohen in character as Gio Monaldo (Showtime)
We rely on Sacha Baron Cohen’s undercover schtick to expose the cruelest and most clueless to public ridicule. Showtime’s short-lived Who Is America? continued that tradition with such viral stunts as unmasking a Georgia state representative’s willingness to use racial epithets, but some gags are too extreme for even Cohen. As the Ali G and Borat prankster now reveals, one un-aired sting nearly exposed a Las Vegas pedophile ring, and caught the attention of the F.B.I.
Speaking with Deadline, Cohen revealed his “Gio Moldonado” character filmed an interview with an unspecified Las Vegas hotel concierge that broached the subject of Harvey Weinstein’s sexual assault cases. Cohen then pivoted toward “extreme comedy,” implying his character had molested a young boy, though the concierge didn’t react as anticipated.
“We thought that the guy would leave the room,” recalled Cohen.
“Instead, this concierge stays in the room and I go, ‘listen, you’ve got to help me get rid of the problem.’ And this guy starts advising Gio how to get rid of this issue. We even at one point talk about murdering the boy, and the concierge is just saying, ‘Well, listen, I’m really sorry. In this country, we can’t just drown the boy. This is America, we don’t do that.’”
Cohen went on to explain how the concierge offered to connect him with a lawyer to silence the boy, but that wasn’t the end of it.
His character next inquired if the concierge could fetch him a “date” with a boy “lower than Bar Mitzvah but older than eight,” and the concierge reportedly replied “yeah, I can put you in touch with somebody who can get you some boys like that.” The stunt was considered “too dark and wrong” for even This Is America, and Cohen’s team subsequently sent their footage to the F.B.I. to investigate. According to Cohen, the bureau evidently decided not to pursue the matter, though the actor noted “This concierge had said that he’d worked for politicians and various billionaires.”
Cohen’s stunt-gone-wrong wasn’t the only instance of Who Is America cutting a few misfires. There’s the famously un-aired segment with Sarah Palin (her pre-premiere outrage earned her a Special Publicity Consultant (Inadvertent)” credit), and Cohen also revealed Ben Carson was pulled from a segment before appearing on-camera. “The upsetting answer is, I don’t think you missed much,” Cohen said of the Palin interview. “There was a lot of pressure on me from the channel to put out Palin . . . But ultimately, I looked at the footage and it just wasn’t funny enough.“ Cohen earned a Golden Globe nod for his Who Is America performance, ultimately leaving him with the last laugh (if not a medal from the F.B.I.)
Dec. 21
Telegraph, Martina Navratilova in 'transphobic' row over comments about women's sport, Anita Singh, Dec. 21, 2018. Martina Navratilova has angered the transgender community by claiming that people who were born male should not be allowed to compete in women’s sports events. The former Wimbledon champion and LGBT campaigner made the statement on social media, and was swiftly accused of being “transphobic.”
Responding to a question from one of her followers about transgender womenin sport, Navratilova said: “Clearly that can’t be right. You can’t just proclaim yourself a female and be able to compete against women. There must be some standards, and having a penis and competing as a woman would not fit that standard.”
She also said: “For me it’s all about fairness. Which means taking every case individually… there is no cookie cutter way of doing things.”
Her comments were seized upon by Dr Rachel McKinnon, a transgender activist and competitive cyclist who this year controversially won a women’s event at the UCI Masters Track World Championship. McKinnon, a Canadian, was born biologically male but transitioned in her 20s. She told her followers that Navratilova was “transphobic” and called on her to apologize, sending a stream of critical tweets.
She also told Navratilova, who won Wimbledon nine times and is regarded by many as the greatest female tennis player of all time: “You realize I’m a world champion trans woman athlete?”
Initially, Navratilova said: “I am sorry if I said anything anywhere near transphobic - certainly I meant no harm. I will educate myself better on this issue but meantime I will be quiet about it.” She also deleted the original tweet.
However, after receiving a stream of critical messages from McKinnon, Navratilova hit back: “Rachel, you might be an expert on all things trans but you are one nasty human being.”
She added that she did not regret her remark and would not be “bullied” into silence, but would bow out of the conversation “because it seems to be my decades of speaking out against unfairness and inequality just don’t count with you at all”.
An assistant professor at the College of Charleston in South Carolina, McKinnon told the BBC that she received an estimated 100,000 hate messages on Twitter <https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/46453958>after winning the championship title.
A picture of her on the podium, dwarfing third-placed Jen Wagner-Assali, fueled the debate about transgender women in sport. Wagner-Assali said she thought it was unfair that McKinnon was allowed to compete, but later apologized for her comments.
Navratilova’s friend and former coach is Renee Richards, who was born Richard Raskind and competed in the US Open as a man before having gender reassignment surgery and competing as a woman. Navratilova ‘came out’ as a lesbian in 1981 and campaigns for LGBT rights.
In 2017, she wrote an open letter criticizing Margaret Court, the former world number one, for “demonizing trans kids and trans adults” by claiming that gender dysphoria was the work of the devil. Navratilova is also an avowed feminist, saying in one interview: “Of course! How can a woman not be?”
Media / Suspected Trafficking
Sacha Baron Cohen in character as Gio Monaldo (Showtime)
Newsweek, Sacha Baron Cohen’s ‘Who Is America?’ deleted scene may have exposed elite, Andrew Whalen, Dec. 20, 2018. In Sacha Baron Cohen’s latest series, Who Is America?, the character comedian and provocateur nudged former and current Republican members of Congress into endorsing armed kindergartners, revealed anti-Muslim racism and got Dick Cheney to autograph a waterboarding kit. But there was one scene the Showtime series captured on camera that was too dark and extreme, even for Baron Cohen.
In a new interview with Deadline, Baron Cohen describes how the election of Donald Trump inspired him to get back into costume (“I realized, I have to do something else to deal with this kind of anger and total disgust at what was going on”) and explained the agonizing detail that went into fictional characters like former Mossad agent Erran Morad and far-right conspiracy theorist Billy Wayne Ruddick.
Along the way, Baron Cohen was astounded by the increase in open American racism. “When we were shooting Borat, if somebody said something anti-Semitic or homophobic, we were surprised and we knew that it would make the cut,” Baron Cohen told Deadline. “Now, going out all these years later, you realize that the political dialogue that’s come from the top has made an extremely negative impact on other politicians and to the populace. People are saying things that they never would have dreamed of saying publicly, prior to Trump.”
The interview also gives some new insight into how Baron Cohen gained Cheney’s confidence. “I think he felt happy and almost excited to sit in a room next to my character, because I had done the one thing that he hadn’t actually done. He’d ordered people to be killed but he never actually killed someone with his bare hands,” Baron Cohen said. “It’s a bit like a virgin sitting next to a womanizer and being enamored by them.”
But more than Cheney or the man he convinced to “murder” three people at the Women’s March (the interview subject triggered a fictional bomb), Baron Cohen’s most shocking encounter came when, in character as Italian playboy Gio Monaldo, he convinced a concierge to help him find an underaged boy to molest.
“We wanted to investigate how does someone like Harvey Weinstein gets away with doing what…get away with criminality, essentially. And the network that surrounds him. We decided that Gio would interview a concierge in Las Vegas,” Baron Cohen describes.
During the interview, believing the admission would drive the concierge from the room, Baron Cohen, as Gio, reveals that he’s molested an eight-year-old boy.
“This guy starts advising Gio how to get rid of this issue. We even at one point talk about murdering the boy, and the concierge is just saying, ‘well, listen, I’m really sorry. In this country, we can’t just drown the boy. This is America we don’t do that,’” Baron Cohen describes.
After the concierge offers to put Gio in touch with a lawyer who can help “silence the boy,” Baron Cohen asked for his help securing a date for the night.
“He says, ‘what do you mean, a date?’ I go, you know, like a young man. He says, ‘well, what kind of age?’ I say, lower than Bar Mitzvah but older than eight. And he says, ‘yeah, I can put you in touch with somebody who can get you some boys like that.’”
Rather than airing the segment, Baron Cohen and his production team turned the footage over to the FBI, “because we thought, perhaps there’s a pedophile ring in Las Vegas that’s operating for these very wealthy men. And this concierge had said that he’d worked for politicians and various billionaires.”
While Baron Cohen judged the interview too “dark” and “extreme” to be included in the show, it’s a revealing look at how the powerful can get away with decades-long sexual abuse, including pedophile sexual abuse, such as in the massive cover-up of the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein, orchestrated by President Trump’s Labor Secretary, Alexander Acosta, right.
New York Post, Billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein settles another lawsuit, Kaja Whitehouse and Lia Eustachewich, Dec. 20, 2018. Pedophile Jeffrey Epstein settles one case, avoiding victim testimony. Billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has settled yet another lawsuit — this time with a woman who claimed she was recruited by the renowned pedophile as a sex slave more than a decade ago.
The woman, Sarah Ransome, sued Epstein and alleged madam Ghislaine Maxwell in Manhattan federal court last year for forcing her into sex acts in 2006 and 2007, when she was in her 20s.
She more recently claimed they directed her to have sex with Epstein’s powerful friends, including notable lawyer and Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz, the Miami Herald reported. Ransome, who now lives in Barcelona, withdrew the lawsuit on Thursday due to the settlement, the terms of which were not disclosed.
“We are pleased with the settlement. It provides as much compensation as money can provide for the horrific damage done by sex trafficking,” said her lawyer, David Boies.
Epstein, a wealthy hedge fund manager, is a registered sex offender tied to his 2008 conviction for soliciting an underage girl for prostitution. Before his conviction and since, he has been accused of sexually abusing dozens of mostly underage girls at his mansion in Palm Beach https://nypost.com/2016/10/09/the-sex-slave-scandal-that-exposed-pedophile-billionaire-jeffrey-epstein.
Dershowitz represented Epstein in the 2008 plea deal with Florida federal prosecutors that resulted in 13 months in jail. On Thursday, he denied Ransome’s allegations. “Of course she didn’t have sex with me. I never had sex with anyone except my wife,” Dershowitz told The Post. “I’ve never met this woman, I don’t know her, I never heard of her. She just made it up completely.”
Ransome’s lawsuit said Epstein and Maxwell promised her paid tuition to the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan in exchange for her “continued sexual cooperation with Epstein,” the complaint said.
Maxwell had hired Ransome to give Epstein massages at his townhouse in New York and his private island in the US Virgin Islands — and the two threatened the young woman if she didn’t comply, the suit said.
“Each time she was so instructed she was also required to perform a sexual act with Epstein,” court papers said.
Dec. 18
Washington Post, Man sentenced to 357 years for 1995 sexual assault on four Va. women, Justin Jouvenal, Dec. 18, 2018. A Fairfax County jury sentenced a 50-year-old man to 357 years in prison Tuesday for a brutal 1995 sexual assault targeting four roommates in Reston, a prosecutor said. Jude Lovchik, formerly of Springfield, Va., was convicted of 17 counts of abduction, sodomy and other charges on Monday, following a two-week trial that featured harrowing accounts of the women’s ordeal.
The crime went unsolved for over two decades, before Lovchik’s ex-wife went to authorities in 2016 and told them he had confessed to sexually assaulting about 20 women when he was younger. The woman testified Lovchik asked her to re-enact the attacks and she obliged. DNA evidence later tied Lovchik to the Reston case.
Dec. 17
New York Times, CBS Says Les Moonves Will Not Receive $120 Million Severance, Edmund Lee and Rachel Abrams, Dec. 17, 2018. The CBS Corporation, battered by scandal and facing a leadership vacuum, said its former chief executive, Leslie Moonves, misled the company about multiple allegations of sexual misconduct and tried to hide evidence as he made a frenzied attempt to save his legacy and reap a lucrative severance. As a result, the company said Mr. Moonves would not receive his $120 million exit payout.
Washington Post, A soldier rose to become a general. His daughter says he abused her for years, Dan Lamothe, Dec. 16, 2018. For retired Maj. Gen. James J. Grazioplene, right, getting arrested and photographed in an orange jumpsuit in Northern Virginia this month was the latest humiliation following a lengthy military investigation in which the Army charged him with rape, only to have the case dismissed on a technicality.
For his daughter and military prosecutors, it was something else: a second chance at seeing whether a court will convict Grazioplene of rape.
Jennifer M. Elmore, 47, said in an interview that she first reported to the Army in 2015 that her estranged father had sexually abused her when she was a child. The service investigated for two years before bringing a case against Grazioplene in April 2017.
“Sometimes, it’s just easier to shut your mouth,” said Elmore, a senior vice president with Abbot Downing, a division of Wells Fargo focused on wealthy clients. “But if I stay silent and the next person opts for that, and the next person opts for that, and the next person opts for that, where are we?”
Dec. 15
'Consent' No Excuse
Washington Post, Catholic U. fires professor for relationship with subordinate, Nick Anderson, Dec. 15, 2018 (print edition). Catholic University fired a veteran professor this week for having sex with an employee he supervised in 2013. The university in Northeast Washington said it took action against Stephen J. McKenna after getting a tip in 2017 that he had a relationship with an employee who worked for him.
McKenna, a tenured associate professor of media and communication studies, was chair of his department at the time. He acknowledged Friday to The Washington Post that he had an improper relationship for several months during 2013 with a woman whom he hired as an assistant. The university said the woman was 24 at the time and a graduate student in another department. Shortly after she started the job in February 2013, the university said, the two became “sexually involved.” The woman left the position in October 2013.
“I think people would look at the dismissal differently if they knew that this relationship lasted for four years after we were no longer co-workers at the university,” he said. McKenna said the two had talked about getting married before their relationship ended about a year ago.
He said the woman “has repeatedly told the university that the relationship was fully mutual and consensual, and furthermore, that she didn’t want any adverse action taken against me, or any harm to come to me and my family.”
Dec. 14
New York Times, Lists of Priests Accused of Sexual Abuse Are Spilling Out Across the Country, Campbell Robertson, Dec. 14, 2018. Facing aggressive investigations into sex abuse scandals, Catholic dioceses around the country are releasing their own lists of accused priests. Many of the priests named on the lists are dead, but not all. Many had already been known as abusers, but scores of names are new, even to activists who have been closely following the scandals for years.
It was a list Charles L. Bailey Jr. had wanted to see for years: the names of the priests in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse who had been credibly accused of sexual abuse.
Mr. Bailey, 67, a longtime local advocate for survivors of abuse by priests, had heard excuses for why such a list was impossible to release. The last bishop said naming accused priests would be a violation of the Ten Commandments. The current bishop said he would not disclose the names, citing the request of unnamed victims.
But then on Dec. 3, Mr. Bailey got a call from a local reporter. It was up, on the diocesan website. Fifty-seven priests. None were still in ministry and most were deceased, including, there on Page 4, the priest who had repeatedly raped Mr. Bailey when he was not yet a teenager.
As the Catholic Church faces a wave of federal and state attorney general investigations into its handling of sex abuse, bishops around the country have struggled with how to react. Some have locked down defensively. Others are waiting on guidance from the Vatican, which instructed American bishops last month to wait on taking any collective action until the new year.
Dec. 13
New York Times, Behind CBS’s Secret $9.5 Million Settlement With the Actress Eliza Dushku, Rachel Abrams and John Koblin, Dec. 13, 2018. Ms. Dushku, who was on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” told investigators she was written off “Bull” after enduring sexual harassment on the set. Details of the settlement emerged during an investigation of “cultural issues” at CBS after the network’s former chief, Leslie Moonves, was accused of misconduct.
In March 2017, Eliza Dushku, an actress known for her work on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” signed on to play a major role in three episodes of the CBS prime-time drama “Bull,” and there were plans to make her a full-time cast member.
Her time on the set began promisingly. The show’s star, Michael Weatherly — a mainstay of CBS’s prime-time lineup for 15 years — seemed friendly. And a producer and writer on “Bull,” Glenn Gordon Caron, told Ms. Dushku she would be more than a love interest.
Then came a series of comments that made Ms. Dushku uncomfortable. In front of the cast and crew, Mr. Weatherly remarked on her appearance, and made a rape joke and a comment about a threesome. Shortly after Ms. Dushku confronted the star about his behavior, she was written off the show. She believed her time on “Bull” came to a sudden end as a result of retaliation.
After she went through mediation with CBS, the company agreed to a confidential settlement that would pay her $9.5 million, roughly the equivalent of what Ms. Dushku would have earned if she had stayed on as a cast member for four seasons.
Tucked inside a neighborhood in a small town just north of New York City, Hawthorne Cedar Knolls was on idyllic, green grounds. It was landscaped to give some peace and stability to the emotionally troubled teenagers who were placed there.
But in recent years, Hawthorne, located in the town of Mount Pleasant, began experiencing unusually high rates of teenagers going missing from its campus. Staff, law enforcement officials and advocates for children said they knew that some of the missing residents had fallen victim to sex traffickers. Many of the girls in the rehabilitation center had been placed there in the first place to rescue them from the sex trade.
On Thursday, the breadth of a pipeline carrying young women out of Hawthorne and into prostitution became clearer. Nineteen people were charged in a sex-trafficking ring that exploited young women and girls as young as 13 years old, federal prosecutors said.
At least 15 victims were in the child welfare system, including nine who were residents of Hawthorne, the prosecutors said.
“It’s OK. It’s OK,” he told her. “You don’t have to be afraid of anything.” He straddled her with his knees, and she looked off into the corner, crying and thinking, “This isn’t how my mom said it was supposed to be.”
The youth director, Dave Hyles, was the son of the charismatic pastor of First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana, considered at the time the flagship for thousands of loosely affiliated independent fundamental Baptist churches and universities.
At least three other teen girls would accuse Hyles of sexual misconduct, but he never faced charges or even sat for a police interview related to the accusations. When he got in trouble, Hyles was able to simply move on, from one church assignment to the next. Hyles’ flight to safety has become a well-worn path for ministers in the independent fundamental Baptist movement.
For decades, women and children have faced rampant sexual abuse while worshiping at independent fundamental Baptist churches around the country. The network of churches and schools has often covered up the crimes and helped relocate the offenders, an eight-month Star-Telegram investigation has found.
More than 200 people — current or former church members, across generations — shared their stories of rape, assault, humiliation and fear in churches where male leadership cannot be questioned.
“It’s a philosophy — it’s flawed,” said Stacey Shiflett, an independent fundamental Baptist pastor in Dundalk, Maryland. “The philosophy is you don’t air your dirty laundry in front of everyone. Pastors think if they keep it on the down-low, it won’t impact anyone. And then the other philosophy is it’s wrong to say anything bad about another preacher.”
The Star-Telegram discovered at least 412 allegations of sexual misconduct in 187 independent fundamental Baptist churches and their affiliated institutions, spanning 40 states and Canada. Twenty-one abuse allegations were uncovered exclusively by the Star-Telegram, and others were documented in criminal cases, lawsuits and news reports. But victims said the number of abused is far greater because few victims ever come forward.
One hundred and sixty-eight church leaders were accused or convicted of committing sexual crimes against children, the investigation found. At least 45 of the alleged abusers continued in ministry after accusations came to the attention of church authorities or law enforcement.
Compounding the problem is the legal statute of limitations. For many alleged offenders, the statutes on the crimes have expired.
Many of the allegations involve men whose misconduct has long been suspected in the independent fundamental Baptist community. But most of their victims have not publicly come forward, on the record, until now. Even pastors have for the first time — in interviews with the Star-Telegram — acknowledged they moved alleged abusers out of their churches rather than call law enforcement.
From Connecticut to California, the stories are tragically similar:
The Justice Department was on notice more than five years ago about sexual harassment claims against a now-retired senior official accused of sexual assault, according to a source with firsthand knowledge of the situation and supporting documents filed in court.
The Inspector General’s Office on Tuesday night released a two-page report saying investigators “substantiated” allegations that a male senior official in the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) had sexually assaulted a female subordinate and harassed four others. The summary did not name the official and did not characterize the assault. Justice Department representatives declined to provide that information.
But the source with firsthand knowledge confirmed to BuzzFeed News that the official is Edison Aponte, who was an associate deputy director in OJP, an arm of the Justice Department that administers law enforcement grants and publishes research on criminal justice issues. Aponte had worked at the Justice Department since 1994, according to his LinkedIn profile.
An exhibit in an unrelated federal court case filed in June 2017 also references Aponte by name and details harassment allegations similar to some of the information included in the inspector general’s report published Tuesday. That exhibit — a May 2017 email from the head of the union that represents OJP employees, Marilyn Moses — indicates that there was a pending inspector general investigation into Aponte’s behavior.
The report released by the Inspector General’s Office Tuesday said that investigators “substantiated” claims that Aponte sexually harassed five subordinates at the Justice Department — one was pressured into a sexual relationship in exchange for a job, one was sexually assaulted, and two others were subjected to “sexually inappropriate conduct.” The fifth was involved in a consensual long-term sexual relationship, but investigators concluded it was sexual harassment because their “respective professional positions undermined the consensual nature of their personal relationship.”
According to the report, investigators concluded Aponte violated the law, but criminal prosecution was “declined.” It did not include any details.
The court exhibit does not include a timeline for the allegations against Aponte, but in an email sent Tuesday night to OJP staff, which was obtained by BuzzFeed News, Matt Dummermuth, the current head of the office, wrote that the inspector general’s investigation began in 2016.
The source with firsthand knowledge told BuzzFeed News one woman whose situation was described in the court exhibit had reported harassment by Aponte to an OJP official more than five years ago. The court exhibit is an email written by Moses, the president of AFSCME Local 2830, which represents OJP employees. Moses wrote in the email that the woman was raped by Aponte, but there were no additional details provided, including when the woman made that allegation, when the alleged rape occurred, or if she reported it to law enforcement. Moses declined to comment.
Dec. 4
New York Times, Opinion: Why Does Alex Acosta Still Have a Job? Michelle Goldberg, Dec. 4, 2018 (print edition). The cabinet official’s connection to a shady deal for an alleged child molester. It is the perverse good fortune of Alexander Acosta, left, Donald Trump’s secretary of labor, to be part of an administration so spectacularly corrupt that it’s simply impossible to give all its scandals the attention they deserve.
Last Wednesday, The Miami Herald published a blockbuster multipart exposé about how the justice system failed the victims of Jeffrey Epstein, a rich, politically connected financier who appears to have abused underage girls on a near-industrial scale. The investigation, more than a year in the making, described Epstein as running a sort of child molestation pyramid scheme, in which girls — some in middle school — would be recruited to give Epstein “massages” at his Palm Beach mansion, pressured into sex acts, then coerced into bringing him yet more girls. The Herald reported that Epstein was also suspected of trafficking girls from overseas.
What’s shocking is not just the lurid details and human devastation of his alleged crimes, but the way he was able to use his money to escape serious consequences, thanks in part to Acosta, then Miami’s top federal prosecutor. For reasons that are not entirely clear, Acosta took extraordinary measures to let Epstein — and, crucially, other unnamed people — off the hook.
The labor secretary, whose purview includes combating human trafficking, has done nothing so far to rebut The Herald’s reporting. (A spokesman for his department has referred reporters to his previous statements about the case.) It should end his career. The story might have been overshadowed by last week’s cascading revelations in the Trump-Russia scandal, or the news that acting attorney general Matthew Whitaker knew of numerous fraud complaints against a company he advised, to take just two examples of administration lawlessness. But while Acosta’s record covering up for a depraved plutocrat makes him a good fit for the Trump administration, it should disqualify him from public service.
New York Times, For Urban Meyer and Ohio State, a Parting Months in the Making, Marc Tracy, Dec. 4, 2018. From the moment the university suspended the coach, shown at right, in August for three games, a special relationship was irrevocably severed.
Dec. 2
Wayne Madsen Report (WMR), Opinion: Trump Labor Secretary cited in pedophile sweetheart deal, Dec. 2, 2018. The rumored nomination of Labor Secretary Alex Acosta, right, as Attorney General in the wake of Jeff Sessions's firing is apparently what spurred the Miami Herald to publish a detailed three-part series look at the sweetheart plea agreement worked out by Acosta with convicted child molester and Donald Trump's close friend Jeffrey Epstein.
The Miami Herald story resulted in a public rebuke for the story's reporter, Julie Brown, from former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci, who appears to have taken over as Trump's "muscle" to attack journalists who investigate Trump and those tied to him.
November
Nov. 30
National Review, Hollywood Is a Sex-Grooming Gang, Kyle Smith, Nov. 30, 2018. Where the ‘price of admission’ is stripping on camera, or worse. If you’re tempted to turn away from the torrent of squalid news that continues to flow out of Hollywood, resist the temptation. The more of these revolting exposes you read, the more clearly you will see the underlying monstrosity in Hollywood, as clearly as the hero of John Carpenter’s They Live sees aliens disguised as everyday people when he puts on the sunglasses.
Former CBS chief Les Moonves’s career had already ended in disgrace for repeated instances of alleged sexual harassment and assault uncovered last summer by The New Yorker. Yet until this week the board that fired him for preying on women was planning to beg His Majesty’s forgiveness for decoupling him from his kingdom, pressing into his hands a $120 million payoff.
Maybe not anymore.
The New York Times, with the cooperation of a washed-up talent manager who, at 75, decided to open his mouth about Moonves, reported on how the triangular sex trade works in Hollywood. Innocent young sweet pea from some place like South Carolina hits town, desperate for a break. Managers and agents and suchlike human succubi latch on to her with an eye toward turning her out. Knowing very well what will happen, they send her in to “take a meeting,” alone, behind closed doors, with some old lech in a designer suit. After two minutes of pleasantries, the expensive pants are suddenly down around the ankles. The young thing has just about two seconds to grow up. She has to decide on the spot whether to react with the expected sangfroid, and advance to the next step in the game of Hollywood, or, do what Bobbie Phillips did and react adversely. She contemplated picking up a baseball bat and going all Al Capone on her attacker, but instead merely “ankled,” as the trades would put it.
Phillips says Les Moonves, then the head of Warner Bros. television just as its shows Friends and ER were becoming blockbusters, grabbed her and forced her to perform oral sex when she met with him to seek an appointment with a casting director. She fled the office. Then she had to decide whether to say something, which would brand her a “troublemaker.” If so, nothing good would happen. She’d be ushered out to pursue the career opportunities at Denny’s, and another young honey would take her place.
Phillips’s life was pretty much ruined. Going to audition meetings made her queasy. Once she vomited in an alley at the prospect of running into Moonves. No one cared. She was another expendable female body. Twenty-three years later, Moonves was suddenly interested in casting her again. Texts between Moonves and Phillips’s manager, as reported by the Times, are frankly transactional: The manager needed to get back in the game, Moonves needed the manager to keep schtum with the Times reporters who kept calling him, Phillips would be expected to remain silent in exchange for a lousy $1,500 one-day gig. “A central teaching in my life is forgiveness,” Phillips told the Times. But this was insulting. And she was upset that Moonves was still denying, even in private, what she says he did. Moonves says “I strongly believe” the encounter was consensual. Which is a bit different from saying, “It was consensual.”
“Nobody knows anything” was the Hollywood mantra popularized by the late screenwriter William Goldman.
Yet in a town that does nothing more assiduously than it does gossip, we’re expected to believe nobody knew anything about what was happening in Les Moonves’s office, and in Harvey Weinstein’s, and in Bryan Singer’s? It beggars belief. They knew. They all knew. The men knew. The women knew.
Nov. 29
The Hill, Miami Herald reporter hits back at Scaramucci over criticism of Epstein story, John Bowden, Nov. 29, 2018. Miami Herald rejected accusations from former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci that her newspaper “planted” a story linking Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, right.
Julie Brown, an investigative reporter for the Herald, fired back at Scaramucci on Thursday afternoon after the former Trump aide wrote that the Herald tried to “do a number” on Acosta because of his success in the Trump administration.
“1. I'm not in D.C. and have very few D.C. connections 2. 'Planted' ? Hmm. I don't even know what that means,” Brown wrote on Twitter.
“3. This was honest to god, shoe leather reporting & digging through dense court documents for a year,” she added. “No one contacted me to do this story. No one. It was totally my idea.”
Acosta did not respond to requests to comment from the Herald on the story, which detailed his work as a U.S. attorney to secure a lighter punishment for Epstein via a plea agreement despite evidence that the billionaire was involved in bringing underaged girls to the U.S. for prostitution.
Despite his conviction, Epstein was allowed under the agreement to leave jail during his 13-month sentence for 12-hour periods six days a week to commute to his private office for work. The agreement was kept secret from his accusers.
New York Times, Years After Plea Deal in Sex Case, Jeffrey Epstein’s Accusers Will Get Their Day in Court, Patricia Mazzei, Nov. 29, 2018. The sordid case against Jeffrey E. Epstein, who was accused of paying dozens of underage girls for sexual massages in Florida, appeared to end a decade ago. The wealthy New York financier struck a deal to avoid any federal criminal charges, enraging some of his victims who got no say in the agreement, which they deemed far too lenient.
But the victims and their lawyers have continued to fight in civil court, long after Mr. Epstein, who pleaded guilty to lesser state charges of soliciting prostitution, completed his sentence in a county lockup, registered as a sex offender and became a free man.
Jury selection is scheduled to begin next week in a West Palm Beach, Fla., courtroom for a civil trial that — for the first time — could give Mr. Epstein’s victims, who are now adults, a chance to publicly testify about their attempts to win justice after the sexual abuse they endured as children.
Mr. Epstein’s accusers could take the witness stand just days after a local investigative report published new details on how Mr. Epstein preyed on young teenage girls — and how prosecutors appeared to buckle to pressure from Mr. Epstein’s high-powered defense lawyers to keep him from ever doing serious time in prison.
The report published Wednesday by The Miami Herald reached all the way to the nation’s capital: The former chief federal prosecutor in Miami who signed off on Mr. Epstein’s plea deal, then-United States Attorney R. Alexander Acosta, is now President Trump’s labor secretary. Mr. Acosta had recently been mentioned as a long-shot candidate to replace former Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Mr. Acosta’s critical role in accepting the 2007 nonprosecution agreement that protected Mr. Epstein from any federal charges was documented before Mr. Acosta’s Senate confirmation hearing last year. But The Herald report, which quoted victims and police investigators who had never spoken publicly before, brought fresh scrutiny in the #MeToo era to the government’s actions 11 years earlier.
On Thursday, a Labor Department spokesman pointed to Mr. Acosta’s past remarks on the Epstein case, including during his confirmation hearing in March 2017, and directed new questions to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, which did not respond to a request for comment.
Mr. Acosta said at his confirmation hearing that the plea deal was the result of a “broadly held” consensus among prosecutors. “At the end of the day, based on the evidence, professionals within a prosecutor’s office decide that a plea that guarantees that someone goes to jail, that guarantees that someone register generally, and that guarantees other outcomes is a good thing,” he said.
In Florida, though, there was fresh outrage over the new interviews, in which young women described how Mr. Epstein had solicited girls as young as 14 and 15 for nude massages, which sometimes ended in masturbation, oral sex or, in at least one case, forcible rape.
Washington Post, Stormy Daniels says Michael Avenatti filed defamation suit against her wishes, Felicia Sonmez, Nov. 29, 2018 (print edition). In a statement, the adult-film actress said she is debating whether to part ways with the attorney, whom she also accused of launching a crowdfunding campaign without her permission.
“I haven’t decided yet what to do about legal representation moving forward,” Daniels said in a statement. “Michael has been a great advocate in many ways. I’m tremendously grateful to him for aggressively representing me in my fight to regain my voice. But in other ways Michael has not treated me with the respect and deference an attorney should show to a client.”
In a statement Wednesday, Avenatti defended his work on behalf of Daniels and said he had “always been an open book” with her, although he did not specifically address Daniels’s allegation that he had filed the defamation suit against her wishes.
He said that the agreement Daniels signed in February stipulated that she would pay him $100 and that “any and all other moneys raised via a legal fund would go toward my legal fees and costs.”
“Instead, the vast majority of the money raised has gone toward her security expenses and similar other expenses,” Avenatti said. “The most recent campaign was simply a refresh of the prior campaign, designed to help defray some of Stormy’s expenses.”
Daniels had said in a CNN interview last month that she and Avenatti were in contact “every single day,” sometimes “three or four times” a day.
Nov. 28
#MeToo Scandals In Prosecution
JIP Editor's Note: The Miami Herald published a multi-part investigative project — "Perversion of Justice" — on Nov. 28 reporting how top officials gave a sweetheart deal to billionairre pervert Jeffrey Epstein, a friend of future President Trump and past president Clinton, along with a promise not to investigate Epstein's friends and accomplices in a ring allegedly involving hundreds sex victims, many of them high school and junior high schoolers.
The Justice Integrity Project also has extensively covered this case, Jeffrey Epstein (shown below at right), and his enablers, who include prominent prosecutors and other lawyers, including President Trump's Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta.
But this Miami Herald series goes far beyond all previous news reports, which now number in the hundreds. The Herald credited reporter Julie K. Brown and visual producer Emily Michot with the series. The Herald obtained thousands of FBI and court records, lawsuits, and witness depositions, and went to federal court in New York to access sealed documents in the reporting of "Perversion of Justice." The Herald also tracked down more than 60 women who said they were victims, some of whom had never spoken of the abuse before..
Jeffrey Epstein had a little black book filled with the names and personal phone numbers of some of the world’s wealthiest and most influential people, from Bill Clinton and Donald Trump to actors, actresses, scientists and business tycoons. A money manager for the super-rich, Epstein had two private jets, the largest single residence in Manhattan, an island in the Caribbean, a ranch in New Mexico and a waterfront estate in Florida.
But Epstein also had an obsession.
For years, Epstein lured an endless stream of teenage girls to his Palm Beach mansion, offering to pay them for massages. Instead, police say, for years he coerced middle and high school girls into engaging in sex acts with him and others.
As evidence emerged that there were victims and witnesses outside of Palm Beach, the FBI began an investigation in 2006 into whether Epstein and others employed by him were involved in underage sex trafficking.
But in 2007, despite substantial evidence that corroborated the girls’ stories of abuse by Epstein, the U.S. attorney in Miami, Alexander Acosta, signed off on a secret deal for the multimillionaire, one that ensured he would never spend a day in prison.
Acosta, now President Donald Trump’s secretary of labor, agreed to seal the agreement so that no one — not even Epstein’s victims — would know the full extent of his crimes or who was involved.
This is the story of that deal — and how his victims, more than a decade later, are still fighting a criminal justice system that has stubbornly failed to hold wealthy, powerful men accountable for sexual abuse.
Michelle Licata climbed a narrow, winding staircase, past walls covered with photographs of naked girls. At the top of the stairwell was a vast master bed and bath, with cream-colored shag carpeting and a hot pink and mint green sofa.
The room was dimly lit and very cold.
There was a vanity, a massage table and a timer.
A silver-haired man wearing nothing but a white towel came into the room. He lay facedown on a massage table, and while talking on a phone, directed Licata to rub his back, legs and feet.
Michelle Licata says she was 16 when she first visited Jeffrey Epstein’s home on El Brillo Way to give him a massage. She says he tried to penetrate her with his fingers.
After he hung up, the man turned over and dropped his towel, exposing himself. He told Licata to get comfortable and then, in a firm voice, told her to take off her clothes.
At 16, Licata had never before been fully naked in front of anyone. Shaking and panicked, she mechanically pulled off her jeans and stripped down to her underwear. He set the timer for 30 minutes and then reached over and unsnapped her bra. He then began touching her with one hand and masturbating himself with the other.
“I kept looking at the timer because I didn’t want to have this mental image of what he was doing,’’ she remembered of the massage. “He kept trying to put his fingers inside me and told me to pinch his nipples. He was mostly saying ‘just do that, harder, harder and do this. …’ ”
After he ejaculated, he stood up and walked to the shower, dismissing her as if she had been in history class.
It wasn’t long before a lot of Licata’s fellow students at Royal Palm Beach High School had heard about “a creepy old guy” named Jeffrey who lived in a pink waterfront mansion and was paying girls $200 to $300 to give him massages that quickly turned sexual.
Eventually, the Palm Beach police, and then the FBI, came knocking on Licata’s door. In the police report, Licata was referred to as a Jane Doe 2 in order to protect her identity as a minor.
Jeffrey Edward Epstein appeared at his sentencing dressed comfortably in a blue blazer, blue shirt, jeans and gray sneakers. His attorney, Jack Goldberger, was at his side.
At the end of the 68-minute hearing, the 55-year-old silver-haired financier — accused of sexually abusing dozens of underage girls — was fingerprinted and handcuffed, just like any other criminal sentenced in Florida.
But inmate No. W35755 would not be treated like other convicted sex offenders in the state of Florida, which has some of the strictest sex offender laws in the nation.
Ten years before the #MeToo movement raised awareness about the kid-glove handling of powerful men accused of sexual abuse, Epstein’s lenient sentence and his extraordinary treatment while in custody are still the source of consternation for the victims he was accused of molesting when they were minors.
Beginning as far back as 2001, Epstein lured a steady stream of underage girls to his Palm Beach mansion to engage in nude massages, masturbation, oral sex and intercourse, court and police records show. The girls — mostly from disadvantaged, troubled families — were recruited from middle and high schools around Palm Beach County. Epstein would pay the girls for massages and offer them further money to bring him new girls every time he was at his home in Palm Beach, according to police reports.
The girls, now in their late 20s and early 30s, allege in a series of federal civil lawsuits filed over the past decade that Epstein sexually abused hundreds of girls, not only in Palm Beach, but at his homes in Manhattan, New Mexico and in the Caribbean.
In 2007, the FBI had prepared a 53-page federal indictment charging Epstein with sex crimes that could have put him in federal prison for life. But then-Miami U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta (shown with his being sworn by Vice President Pence as Labor Secretary last year) signed off on a non-prosecution agreement, which was negotiated, signed and sealed so that no one would know the full scope of Epstein’s crimes. The indictment was shelved, never to be seen again.
Epstein instead pleaded guilty to lesser charges in state court, and was required to register as a sex offender. He was sentenced to 18 months incarceration.
But Epstein — who had a long list of powerful, politically connected friends — didn’t go to state prison like most sex offenders in Florida. Instead, the multimillionaire was assigned to a private wing of the Palm Beach County stockade, where he was able to hire his own security detail. Even then, he didn’t spend much time in a cell. He was allowed to go to his downtown West Palm Beach office for work release, up to 12 hours a day, six days a week, records show.
On a muggy October morning in 2007, Miami’s top federal prosecutor, Alexander Acosta, had a breakfast appointment with a former colleague, Washington, D.C., attorney Jay Lefkowitz.
It was an unusual meeting for the then-38-year-old prosecutor, a rising Republican star who had served in several White House posts before being named U.S. attorney in Miami by President George W. Bush.
Instead of meeting at the prosecutor’s Miami headquarters, the two men — both with professional roots in the prestigious Washington law firm of Kirkland & Ellis — convened at the Marriott in West Palm Beach, about 70 miles away. For Lefkowitz, 44, a U.S. special envoy to North Korea and corporate lawyer, the meeting was critical.
Washington Post, Explosive report on clergy sex abuse spawns wave of inquiries as Catholic church stalls, Tom Jackman, right, Michelle Boorstein and Julie Zauzmer, Nov. 23, 2018 (print edition). A Pennsylvania grand jury report in August set off an unprecedented wave of investigations over the last several months, with attorneys general in 14 states and the District of Columbia announcing probes and demanding documents from Catholic officials.
The swift and sweeping response by civil authorities contrasts sharply with the Vatican’s comparatively glacial pace. While some U.S. dioceses have published lists of priests they say have been credibly accused of sexual abuse and two cardinals have been ousted, the Vatican this month put on hold a vote by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on measures to hold bishops more accountable until after a global synod in early 2019. In the meantime, Rome has done little to address the crisis.
TheWrap, Jacob Wohl Files Police Report After Michael Avenatti Tweets: ‘I Am Coming for You,’ Jon Levine, Nov. 19, 2018. Police spoke to Wohl but have taken no other action. Right-wing provocateur Jacob Wohl escalated a fight with Michael Avenatti, right, by filing an incident report with police after Avenatti said he was “coming after” Wohl.
The incident report came after Avenatti suggested in a tweet Friday that Wohl played a part in Avenatti’s arrest on domestic violence charges. Avenatti, best known for representing Stormy Daniels in her lawsuit against President Trump, suggested that Wohl was also behind baseless accusations against special counsel Robert Mueller.
“First Mueller and now me. When we are fully exonerated I am coming for you Jacob Wohl aka Surefire,” Avenatti wrote, referring to Wohl’s opposition research company.
Avenatti has continued tweeting about Wohl, a 20-year-old blogger who says he lives in Irvine. “I have located someone more dishonest with less of a moral compass and lower standards than Donald Trump. His name is Jacob Wohl. And I am going to make it part of my life’s work to bring him to justice,” Avenatti tweeted on Sunday.
In a statement to TheWrap, Wohl denied any involvement in Avenatti’s arrest and said he looked forward to attending the attorney’s court appearance in December.
“I had nothing to do with Avenatti’s arrest. I’ve not been served with any papers. He would be well advised to stop threatening me. He is attempting to deflect blame away from the very serious charge he is facing,” Wohl told TheWrap. On Monday, actress Mareli Miniutti filed for a domestic violence restraining order against Avenatti. Avenatti tweeted Monday evening: “I look forward to a full clearing of my name and disclosure of all of the facts. I have NEVER abused a woman or committed domestic violence against anyone. Any claim to the contrary is completely bogus and fabricated. I am a target. And I will be exonerated.”
Wohl — a former Gateway Pundit writer — received public attention recently when he and lobbyist Jack Burkman attempted to snare Robert Mueller in a #MeToo scandal. The plot swiftly unraveled after media scrutiny and bizarre press conference the pair held in Washington D.C. on Nov. 1.
Nov. 16
Roll Call, Ruben Kihuen Harassed Women, Ethics Committee Finds, Katherine Tully-McManus, Nov. 16, 2018. Rep. Ruben Kihuen harassed women who worked with him and violated the House’s official code of conduct, according to a House Ethics Committee report released Thursday.
“Kihuen made persistent and unwanted advances towards women who were required to interact with him as part of their professional responsibilities,” the report says. The advances included kissing, grabbing and comments about underwear.
The release comes after a nine-month inquiry by an investigative subcommittee empaneled in December, 2017. The Nevada Democrat refused to resign following allegations of harassment by women who worked for and with him, even after top Democrats called on him to step down. But Kihuen decided not to seek re-election, making the announcement a day after the Ethics Committee launched its investigation.
Nov. 15
New York Times, 7 Women Accuse Dartmouth Professors of Sexual Abuse in Lawsuit, Anemona Hartocollis, Nov. 15, 2018. A lawsuit has accused three professors at Dartmouth College of turning the human behavior research department “into a 21st-century Animal House.”
For over a decade, the professors — Todd Heatherton, William Kelley and Paul Whalen — “leered at, groped, sexted, intoxicated and even raped female students,” according to the court papers, which were filed Thursday in federal court in New Hampshire.
The lawsuit, which seeks $70 million in damages, says this behavior went back as far as 2002, and accuses the college administration of looking the other way for more than 16 years.
Dartmouth, an Ivy League university in Hanover, N.H., announced in October 2017 that it was conducting a sexual misconduct investigation of the men, who were tenured professors in the school’s psychology and brain sciences department. That inquiry concluded that the professors should be stripped of their tenure and lose their jobs. All three were allowed to either resign or retire.
Nov. 14
#MeToo, Sexual Assault, Universities
New York Times, For University of Minnesota, Chinese Tycoon’s Arrest Shines Light, Again, on Sexual Assault, Tiffany Hsu, Raymond Zhong and Carolyn Zhang, Nov. 14, 2018 (print edition). When the Chinese billionaire Richard Liu was arrested two months ago in Minneapolis on suspicion of rape, he wasn’t in town for business. Mr. Liu, a 45-year-old internet tycoon, was a student at the University of Minnesota, taking in lectures by day and enjoying dinner parties by night.
As prosecutors weigh whether to charge Mr. Liu, the case represents a setback for a university that has made progress on how it handles sexual misconduct. In recent years, the university has dealt with a series of sexual assault and harassment episodes involving students and faculty members, which have prompted a state audit and new campus policies. Now, the university is once again in the national conversation, and the focus this time is on a relatively new and lucrative academic program.
Mr. Liu, who has denied wrongdoing, was in Minnesota for a global business program, aimed at Asian executives, that is on track to generate over $10 million for the school in tuition since starting last year. His accuser, who has not been publicly identified, is a young Chinese student at the university who volunteered for the program.
The case “puts the university administration in an impossible situation” as it tries to simultaneously protect its students and its reputation, said Kristen Houlton Shaw, the executive director of the nonprofit Sexual Violence Center in Minneapolis.
Nov. 12
New York Times, They Were Stopped at the Texas Border. Their Nightmare Had Only Just Begun, Manny Fernandez with photographs and video by Caitlin O’Hara, Nov. 12, 2018. After crossing the Rio Grande, three immigrant women were picked up by a Border Patrol agent. Their relief soon turned to terror.
Nov. 10
The Afro via Black Press USA, Commentary: Let us say #SheToo for women who can’t, E. Faye Williams, Nov. 10, 2018. Since the World Bank is exempt from US laws and courts, women in the World Bank can be sexually harassed and assaulted without any legal recourse. Bank report (The Stern Report) attributed sexual harassment in the World Bank to “cultures with different standards for male-female relationships.” Women who challenge the status quo risk getting fired and losing their World Bank sponsored visa. This entails uprooting their family and leaving the US within 60 days.
In 1999, a US Congressional report found the Bank’s internal justice system that is supposed to protect women from sexual harassment unfit to adjudicate sexual harassment claims. The World Bank pushed back, stating that “The report fails to capture the unique challenges of a large inter-governmental organization composed of 181 member countries.” Chief among the challenges was the Bank’s obligation to “take into account the institution’s multicultural needs.”
A 2001 World Bank report gave further explanation. “While unwelcome behaviors are seen from the perspective of the person on the receiving end, the standard for judging whether a behavior is inappropriate is not purely subjective.” Situations which initially may appear to constitute sexual harassment may not rise to the level of legal offense when “the particular sensitivities required in the World Bank multicultural environment” are factored in.
What “cultural sensitivities” are factored in? In 2016, a comprehensive World Bank study of 173 countries found that over 100 of them have three or more discriminatory laws against women. For example, take Iran where, according to the Women’s Forum Against Fundamentalism in Iran, Article 209 of their constitution stipulates that “a woman’s life is valued only half as much as a man’s life.
In Nigeria, the penal codes dictate that “unlawful assault of any male person is a felony.” By contrast, “Unlawful assault of a woman or girl is a misdemeanor!” In March 2016, the Nigerian Senate rejected a bill introduced to grant women equality under law. Sound familiar?
When such “cultural sensitivities” are factored, coercive sexual harassment is merely regarded as a manifestation of the Bank’s multicultural environment.
This is disclosed in the Stern Report that identifies a rampant culture of “General sexual harassment,” including “unwelcome touches, repeated requests for dates, and posters and jokes demeaning women.”
Of those who were interviewed for the Stern Report, 325 revealed they were subjected to “unwelcome sexual advances” and 75 said they were victims of “coercive sexual harassment.” The Report concluded that its findings “may seem laughable, but they are a reality to many women at the World Bank.”
The Report stated: “Women generally are not willing to complain about such behavior for fear of retribution. Most simply try to escape their situations as soon as possible. The lack of attention to the issue, the absence of secure and supportive channels to discuss problems, and the uncertainty that remedial action will be taken are seen as official tolerance of such behavior.”
Little has changed since the Stern Report was released in 1992. In 2016, in DN v. World Bank, the Bank’s Administrative Tribunal reviewed a case involving a male staff member who was terminated for placing his iPhone “under the skirt of a female staff member to take inappropriate photographs and/or record a video of her, without her consent.” The Tribunal established that “the Applicant’s misconduct has been established” with sufficient evidence; yet, it ordered the World Bank to reinstate him because “the disciplinary sanction of termination was significantly disproportionate” to the offense he committed or the peculiar culture he manifested!
The only protection his victim has is coming to the office wearing pants! I call upon you to say #SheToo for every woman everywhere when she can’t. The World Bank is one of those places.
As a presidential candidate in August 2015, Donald Trump huddled with a longtime friend, media executive David Pecker, in his cluttered 26th floor Trump Tower office and made a request.
What can you do to help my campaign? he asked, according to people familiar with the meeting.
Mr. Pecker, chief executive of American Media Inc., offered to use his National Enquirer tabloid to buy the silence of women if they tried to publicize alleged sexual encounters with Mr. Trump.
Less than a year later, Mr. Trump asked Mr. Pecker to quash the story of a former Playboy model who said they’d had an affair. Mr. Pecker’s company soon paid $150,000 to the model, Karen McDougal (shown with Trump at left), to keep her from speaking publicly about it. Mr. Trump later thanked Mr. Pecker for the assistance.
The Trump Tower meeting and its aftermath are among several previously unreported instances in which Mr. Trump intervened directly to suppress stories about his alleged sexual encounters with women, according to interviews with three dozen people who have direct knowledge of the events or who have been briefed on them, as well as court papers, corporate records and other documents.
New York Times, Facebook to Drop Forced Arbitration in Harassment Cases, Daisuke Wakabayashi and Jessica Silver-Greenberg, Nov. 9, 2018. Facebook said on Friday that it would no longer force employees to settle sexual harassment claims in private arbitration, making it the latest technology company to do away with a practice that critics say has stacked the deck against victims of harassment.
Facebook acted one day after Google announced similar plans. Last week, 20,000 Google employees staged a walkout from the company’s offices around the world to demand that it change the way it handled sexual harassment incidents. Microsoft changed its arbitration policy about a year ago, as did the ride-hailing company Uber six months ago.
Nov. 8
New York Times, Schneiderman Will Not Face Criminal Charges in Abuse Complaints, Alan Feuer, Nov. 8, 2018. After a six-month investigation, prosecutors said Thursday that they would not pursue criminal charges against Eric T. Schneiderman, right, the former New York State attorney general who resigned in May after four women accused him of assaulting them.
The decision not to file charges was announced in a statement issued by Madeline Singas, the Nassau County district attorney, who was asked by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to investigate the case shortly after Mr. Schneiderman left his post.
Ms. Singas said the women who accused Mr. Schneiderman of abuse were credible, but there were legal hurdles to bringing charges. She did not elaborate on those obstacles, except to say that some of the accusations were too old to pursue under state law.
Court filings from the pair’s divorce proceedings in Manhattan claim Giuliani dolled out $286,536 to his mistress, Maria Rosa Ryan, over the last six months. The two began an affair earlier this year, prompting Nathan to file for divorce. Like Giuliani, Ryan is also married.
When President Trump’s attorney wasn’t bankrolling his affair, he was reportedly spending $447,938 on activities “for his own enjoyment” and $165,165 on travel, per NBC. Nathan also alleges Giuliani spent $12,012 on cigars and $7,131 on pens. All expenses are said to have occurred since April.
Nov. 7
Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Keith Ellison defeats Doug Wardlow in Minnesota attorney general race, Stephen Montemayor, Nov. 7, 2018. Democratic U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison will be Minnesota’s next attorney general, defeating Republican Doug Wardlow after a bitter campaign marked by allegations of domestic abuse and an intense spotlight on both candidates’ pasts.
Ellison, right, helped deliver the DFL Party a sweep of the statewide elected offices and was met by a raucous room of supporters chanting his name at the party’s election night celebration in St. Paul. Ellison acknowledged the difficulty of the race but said his campaign persevered thanks to his supporters.
Ellison, who is also deputy chairman of the Democratic National Committee, has risen to national political prominence since becoming the nation’s first Muslim congressman in 2006. In June, he surprised supporters by announcing that he would give up a safe Democratic House seat to pursue the Attorney General’s Office after Lori Swanson filed to run for governor. Ellison won the DFL Party’s primary just days after ex-girlfriend Karen Monahan alleged that he emotionally and physically abused her.
Ellison, 55, of Minneapolis, has denied Monahan’s claim, and an investigation commissioned by the DFL Party concluded that it could not substantiate the allegations. Republicans dismissed the investigation because the attorney who led the probe works for a law firm that has represented DFL Party interests.
The election promises to usher in a new era for an office led by Swanson since 2006. Ellison has said that he would approach the office as a tool to challenge certain Trump administration policies in court as other state attorneys general have since Donald Trump’s election.
Ellison said recently he would make as his “first legislative priority” safeguarding staff attorneys from being fired based on their politics — a proposal that was in direct response to a recording of Wardlow pledging to a group of Republican donors that he would purge the office of 42 DFL attorneys.
Before launching his campaign, Wardlow also worked for the national Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian nonprofit legal group behind numerous court challenges to same-sex marriage and transgender rights.
Nov. 2
Model Donna Rice and 1988 Democratic presidential candidate Gary Hart, a Colorado senator taking a cruise on a yacht named Monkey Business.The photo, allegedly a political dirty trick set up against Hart, was taken during the campaign by Rice's friend Lynn Armandt and provided to the news media
While the rest of us obsess on what happened in 2016 and what will happen on Tuesday, Gary Hart is bedeviled by what happened in 1987, and whether the tabloid mania sparked by his liaison with Donna Rice led down a rattlesnake-filled path straight to our tabloid president.
Hart, and a new Jason Reitman movie about the Rice imbroglio, The Front Runner, both pose the question: Is there a direct connection between Hart’s fall and Trump’s rise?
If reporters had not hidden in the bushes, would there have been any Bushes?
“I bear a very heavy burden of responsibility,” Hart says, picking at a “game plate” of elk, buffalo and quail at The Fort restaurant outside of Denver. “If all that stuff had not happened and if I had been elected, there would have been no gulf war. H.W. wouldn’t have been president. W. wouldn’t have been president. Everything would have changed. I don’t say that to aggrandize myself. It’s just, history changed.
“And that has haunted me for thirty years. I had only one talent and it wasn’t traditional politics — I could see farther ahead than anybody.’’
Hart maintained that “there was no relationship” with Rice. Rice — who became an evangelical and supports Trump — told People this week, “I’m just not discussing it.” But a married candidate can’t have a gorgeous young model fly up to D.C. from Miami for the weekend to visit his house — “the infamous townhouse,’’ as Hart’s son dryly calls it — and not attract questions if they are seen.
A recent piece by James Fallows in The Atlantic reported that Lee Atwater, the Republican dirty trickster and Poppy Bush party chief, confessed before his death that he had set up Hart for his weekend of doom on “Monkey Business.”
“That’s the only way that 48-hour period makes any sense,’’ Hart told me.
See also for background:
Miami Herald, The Gary Hart Story: How It Happened, by Jim McGee, Tom Fiedler and James Savage, May 10, 1987. This article was prepared by Jim McGee, Tom Fiedler and James Savage. It was first published in the Miami Herald on May 10, 1987. It is reprinted with permission of The Miami Herald. Note: This article is from the University of North Carolina “AFS” site, which is being close on Nov. 13, 2018.
The Atlantic, Was Gary Hart Set Up? James Fallows, Oct. 16, 2018. November 2018 issue, What are we to make of the deathbed confession of the political operative Lee Atwater, newly revealed, that he staged the events that brought down the Democratic candidate in 1987?
October
Oct. 31
Washington Post, Pakistan’s highest court spares the life of a Christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy, Shaiq Hussain, Meagan Flynn and Pamela Constable, Oct. 31, 2018 (print edition). Pakistan’s highest court has spared the life of a Christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy in a long-awaited ruling Wednesday, prompting celebration among human rights activists and countrywide protest by religious parties. Asia Bibi, a mother and farmer, had spent eight years seeking mercy from appeals courts while imprisoned on death row.
The supreme court acquitted Bibi on charges of making “derogatory remarks” about the Muslim prophet Muhammad, ruling that the evidence against her appeared fabricated and insufficient.
If she had been found guilty and not received presidential clemency, Bibi would have been the first person hanged under Pakistan’s strict anti-blasphemy law, which carries a mandatory penalty of death.
“It is ironical that in the Arabic language the appellant’s name Asia means ‘sinful’ but in the circumstances of the present case she appears to be a person, in the words of Shakespeare’s King [Lear], ‘more sinned against than sinning,’” Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa wrote in a concurring opinion.
Looking Back: Dirty Tricks or Scandal?
Model Donna Rice and 1988 Democratic presidential candidate Gary Hart, a Colorado senator taking a cruise on a yacht named Monkey Business.The photo, allegedly a political dirty trick set up against Hart, was taken during the campaign by Rice's friend Lynn Armandt and provided to the news media
When The Miami Herald‘s bombshell front-page headline — “Miami woman is linked to Hart; Candidate denies any impropriety” — hit newsstands on May 3, 1987, the 29-year-old woman in question thought her name could be kept out of what quickly spun into the first big political scandal of its kind. Hart, of course, was Gary Hart, the married U.S. senator from Colorado who, at the time, seemed to be coasting toward the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination.
The woman, spied by Herald reporters who staked out Hart’s Washington, D.C., home to investigate his reputation for womanizing, was Donna Rice, then a pharmaceutical sales rep and model-actress living in Miami.
Known today by her married name, Donna Rice Hughes spoke exclusively to PEOPLE for the new issue on newsstands Friday, ahead of the Nov. 21 nationwide opening of The Front Runner, director Jason Reitman’s big-screen retelling of the 1987 sex scandal that shut down Hart’s campaign and tarred Hughes, in her words, as a “bimbo, homewrecker, sleaze.”
“The Miami Herald didn’t know my identity. Somebody in the Hart campaign released my name to the media and so within the day the story broke, my name and other things were released,” Hughes, now 60, recalls in an interview at the kitchen table of the D.C.-area home she shares with her husband, Jack, a tech-industry businessman.
See also: The Atlantic, Was Gary Hart Set Up? James Fallows, Oct. 16, 2018. November 2018 issue, What are we to make of the deathbed confession of the political operative Lee Atwater, newly revealed, that he staged the events that brought down the Democratic candidate in 1987?
“I want to wish Andy all the best with what’s next,” Larry Page, Google’s chief executive then, said in a public statement. “With Android he created something truly remarkable — with a billion-plus happy users.”
What Google did not make public was that an employee had accused Mr. Rubin of sexual misconduct. The woman, with whom Mr. Rubin had been having an extramarital relationship, said he coerced her into performing oral sex in a hotel room in 2013, according to two company executives with knowledge of the episode. Google investigated and concluded her claim was credible, said the people, who spoke on the condition that they not be named, citing confidentiality agreements. Mr. Rubin was notified, they said, and Mr. Page asked for his resignation.
Google could have fired Mr. Rubin and paid him little to nothing on the way out. Instead, the company handed him a $90 million exit package, paid in installments of about $2 million a month for four years, said two people with knowledge of the terms. The last payment is scheduled for next month.
Mr. Rubin was one of three executives that Google protected over the past decade after they were accused of sexual misconduct. In two instances, it ousted senior executives, but softened the blow by paying them millions of dollars as they departed, even though it had no legal obligation to do so. In a third, the executive remained in a highly compensated post at the company. Each time Google stayed silent about the accusations against the men.
The New York Times obtained corporate and court documents and spoke to more than three dozen current and former Google executives and employees about the episodes, including some people directly involved in handling them. Most asked to remain anonymous because they were bound by confidentiality agreements or feared retribution for speaking out.
“The president does not stand above the law,” Mariann Wang, an attorney for former “Apprentice” contestant Summer Zervos (shown in a file photo), said last week during a little-noticed hearing in Manhattan.
“He is also a human being who engaged in unofficial conduct and acts that hurt my client very seriously. We have — she has — the right to bring this action.”
Amid the focus on Daniels’s conspicuous and ugly battle with Trump, Zervos’s case has quietly advanced as a possibly more serious legal threat.
Trump’s lawyers are attempting to block her suit by arguing that the president is immune from such lawsuits in state court, a constitutional law dispute that could produce new precedent if it rises to the Supreme Court.
So far, Zervos’s case has overcome multiple efforts by Trump’s attorneys to kill or stall it in New York state. Lawyers for Zervos have started gathering pretrial evidence — including written answers from Trump — and may get the chance to depose him in the coming months.
Oct. 24
#MeToo Priest Probe
Washington Post, Virginia attorney general launches investigation into Catholic clergy sex abuse, Michelle Boorstein and Laura Vozzella, Oct. 24, 2018. Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring announced Wednesday that his office is running an “ongoing investigation” into the state’s two Catholic dioceses and whether there has been any sexual abuse and coverup. The announcement comes a day after D.C.'s top prosecutor made a similar announcement.
In a late morning news conference, Herring said the probe was launched in response to a massive Pennsylvania grand jury report released this summer, and not with specific knowledge of unreported abuse or a coverup in Virginia. However, he told reporters, after reading the report: “Like so many Americans … I felt sick.”
Wife Accuses Nationalist In #MeToo Claim
Washington Post, White nationalist Richard Spencer accused of physically abusing wife throughout their marriage, Eli Rosenberg, Oct. 24, 2018. White nationalist Richard Spencer’s wife, Nina Koupriianova, accused him of physically, emotionally and verbally abusing her over the course of their eight-year marriage, according to documents and exhibits filed in court as part of their divorce proceedings.
Koupriianova said the abuse, which she documented in the form of transcribed conversations, emails, photographs and even a chat with the National Domestic Violence Hotline, continued throughout the course of their eight-year marriage and included incidents that occurred while she was pregnant.
Spencer, right, is perhaps the most prominent white nationalist from the crop of racially motivated extremists who came into public view during the 2016 election and events such as the white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville in 2017. Often quick to return a reporter’s phone call or email, Spencer has been readily covered by the media as the public face of the loose collection of political ideologies revolving around racism, sexism, anti-Semitism and racial purity that make up the so-called alt-right.
Oct. 23
Washington Post, D.C. attorney general launches investigation of clergy sex abuse in Washington archdiocese, Peter Jamison and Michelle Boorstein, Oct. 23, 2018. D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine, right, said Tuesday that his office has begun an investigation of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy in the archdiocese of Washington, the latest in a string of state-level law enforcement officials now looking into the Catholic Church’s handling of abuse complaints.
The investigation, announced by Racine at a regularly scheduled breakfast among the District’s elected officials, will bring scrutiny to Catholic leaders who have come under intense criticism in recent months.
Cardinal Donald Wuerl, left, resigned this month as Washington’s archbishop amid an uproar over a Pennsylvania grand jury report that depicted systemic abuse across the state’s Catholic Church, including in Pittsburgh, where Wuerl had been a bishop. Wuerl’s D.C. predecessor, former cardinal Theodore McCarrick, was removed from ministry in June following allegations that he had sexually abused a teenager decades ago while serving as a priest in New York.
Racine has limited power to prosecute crimes in the District, where felony cases are handled by the U.S. attorney’s office. However, he is opening the investigation under his authority to enforce D.C. law governing nonprofit organizations, as well as District law regarding the mandated reporting of sexual abuse.
New York Times, #MeToo Brought Down 201 Powerful Men. Women Are Nearly Half of Their Replacements, Audrey Carlsen, Maya Salam, Claire Cain Miller, Denise Lu, Ash Ngu, Jugal K. Patel And Zach Wichter, Oct. 23, 2018. A New York Times analysis shows that the #MeToo movement shook, and is still shaking, power structures in society’s most visible sectors. In the year preceding the Weinstein report, fewer than 30 high-profile people made the news for resigning or being fired after public accusations of sexual misconduct.
P#MeToo / Press Freedom / Libel Law
New York Times, Opinion: Revenge of the Right-Wing Snowflakes, Michelle Goldberg, Oct. 22, 2018. Angry men go to court to silence their critics.One minor sordid subplot of the Trump era has been the ugly custody battle between Jason Miller, senior communications adviser on Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, and A.J. Delgado, a former Trump campaign surrogate.
Miller and Delgado (shown at left) started an affair during the presidential race; Delgado became pregnant while Miller’s wife was pregnant as well. Now Miller and Delgado are involved in a vicious custody battle over their son, which Delgado chronicles on her Twitter feed.
For all its squalor, this is a story of public interest. It’s reportedly the reason Miller didn’t become White House communications director, instead signing on to defend Trump as a CNN contributor.
So it was news when Delgado claimed, in a court filing, that Miller had made a previous girlfriend pregnant and then put abortion-inducing medication in her smoothie. In September the website Splinter, part of Gizmodo Media, reported on the filing, noting that Miller denied the allegations.
In response, Miller made an aggressive legal move that’s becoming more common on the right, suing the report’s author, Katherine Krueger, and Gizmodo Media for $100 million. When Krueger’s boyfriend, a co-host of the cult left-wing podcast Chapo Trap House, called Miller a “rat-faced baby killer” in a tweet, Miller added him to the suit.
There is an air of dark absurdity about this saga. Miller is unlikely to prevail, because there are broad protections for journalists to report on claims made in legal filings, whether or not they are true. But it’s still worth taking seriously, because it’s part of a mounting conservative assault on free speech.
Oct. 12
Washington Post, Pope accepts Wuerl’s resignation amid criticism of handling of abuse claims, Michelle Boorstein, Oct. 12, 2018. Pope Francis on Friday accepted the resignation of Washington’s archbishop, Cardinal Donald Wuerl (shown at right), a trusted papal ally who became a symbol among many Catholics for what they regard as the church’s defensive and weak response to clerical sex abuse.
But even as Wuerl becomes one of the highest-profile prelates to step down in a year of prominent abuse scandals, Pope Francis offered the cardinal a gentle landing, praising him in a letter and allowing him to stay on as “apostolic administrator” in the Washington archdiocese until a successor was found.
In his letter, Francis suggested he had accepted Wuerl’s resignation reluctantly, and said he saw in the cardinal’s request the “heart of a shepherd.” Francis did not criticize Wuerl’s handling of abuse cases, and wrote that Wuerl had “sufficient elements” to defend his actions.
The U.S. Supreme Court helped launch the Brett Kavanaugh era on Oct. 10 by curtailing the voting of Native Americans in North Dakota, where a tight Senate race threatens a Democrat who voted against Kavanaugh's recent confirmation.
The court enabled a new state rule barring voters who use for election purposes Post Office boxes instead of street addresses. Many Native Americans living on reservations use only PO Boxes and have heavily supported Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, below, the incumbent Democrat who is now an underdog in her race.
The court's refusal to intervene follows its recent practice of avoiding review for the most part of voter suppression and gerrymandering efforts by Republican state officials who have taken major steps recently to reduce voter registrations and polling place en masse in ways that heavily disadvantage Democrats in November.
In the North Dakota case, five votes were needed from the nine justices. Kavanaugh, shown in a White House-promoted political-type photo of a kind unusual for a sitting justice, did not participate for unexplained reasons, presumably because of his busy schedule getting installed onto the court.
Several columns this week describe a looming legal crisis regarding election-rigging in next month's elections and beyond.
Investigative reporter Greg Palast, who documented for the BBC in 2001 how Republicans had stolen the 2000 presidential election by eliminating the names of more than 100,000 suspected Democrats from voter rolls (and not by the few ballots with hanging "chads" described by the American media), published several investigations regarding secret cutbacks in 2018 voter rolls by Republican secretaries of state seeking to tilt next month's elections.
"My lawyer had to threaten Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp with a federal lawsuit to force him to turn over the names of over half a million voters whose citizenship rights he quietly extinguished," Palast began. "This past week, I released the name of every one of these Georgia voters Kemp flushed from voter rolls in 2017."
Yet all such legal actions and reporting is based on the increasingly quaint theory that federal courts will honestly address the election issues and not just endorse Republican vote suppression by 5-4 party line votes by justices installed like Kavanaugh after long involvement in extreme partisan politics, including dirty tricks at election time.
The column, based on Madsen's years of covering election frauds, linked Kavanaugh and Republican U.S. Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee to the Bush dynasty and its election-rigging operation headquartered in Chattanooga, TN, where Corker was mayor before his 2006 election to the senate.
Madsen thereby explained the all-out Bush team pressure that kept such supposed "moderates" as Corker and former Bush appointee Susan Collins as strong Kavanaugh supporters despite their supposed willingness to weigh evidence fairly about allegations against the nominee. Collins is married to Thomas Daffron, a lobbyist with deep ties to the Bush administration and powerful corporations.
Earlier this week, President Trump invited the newest justice and his family to the White House to reenact the official weekend swearing-in ceremony.
With Trump front and center and denouncing Democrats, the White House ceremony became a highly partisan attack by the president on "mobs" of protesters against the nominee.
Democrats and other protesters must be defeated at the polls in next month's elections to maintain law and order, the president urged as the new justice looked on during the celebration — thereby horrifying both Democrats and others who think presidents and judges should at least pretend to be non-partisan on formal occasions.
The spectacle was an especially flagrant disregard of norms for a non-partisan judiciary independent of party or president. That's because Kavanaugh, doubtless now deeply indebted to Trump, has argued that a president should not have to undergo civil or criminal litigation.
Oct. 9
New York Times, Trump Seeks to Make Furor a Campaign Asset, Not a Liability, Peter Baker, Oct. 9, 2018 (print edition). As he prepared to hold a ceremonial swearing-in of Justice Kavanaugh, President Trump dismissed sexual misconduct accusations as “fabricated.”
Washington Post, Trump stokes tensions over Kavanaugh confirmation battle, Ashley Parker and John Wagner, Oct. 9, 2018 (print edition). At a White House ceremony, President Trump apologized to Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh and his family for the “terrible pain and suffering” they endured after his confirmation was marred by accusations of sexual misconduct.
Future of Freedom Foundation, Opinion: Christine Ford’s Corroborating Evidence, Jacob G. Hornberger, right, Oct. 9, 2018. Throughout the controversy over the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, some people were saying that Christine Blasey Ford did not produce “corroborating evidence” to support her accusation that Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her when they were teenagers. Therefore, since Kavanaugh was denying that he committed the assault, the argument went, he should be given the benefit of the doubt in what seemed to be a “he-said, she-said” controversy.
But actually Ford did provide corroborating evidence to support the accusation she leveled at Kavanaugh, very powerful corroborating evidence, evidence that was largely ignored by the Senate Judiciary Committee, especially in the haste by Republican committee members to get the controversy over with by rushing to a quick confirmation vote.
Part of the problem, of course, lies in how some people perceive the term “corroborating evidence.” For many who aren’t lawyers, the term means eyewitnesses to the incident in question. What such people fail to realize, however, is that the law provides that there can be corroborative evidence that does not consist of eyewitness testimony.
One thing is for sure though: Contrary to popular opinion, Christine Blasey Ford did provide corroborating evidence to the U.S. Senate that buttressed her accusation against Brett Kavanaugh — powerful corroborating evidence in the form of prior consistent statements that were previously made to several different people and all of which statements were made long before Kavanaugh was even nominated.
Anti-Kavanaugh protester in front of the U.S. Capitol (Veronica Monet photo via DCMA)
OpEdNews, Opinion: The Cultural Conflict of the Century: Conservative Politics and the #MeToo Backlash, Veronica Monet, Oct. 9, 2018. Many of us were horrified to witness how the Republican controlled Senate dealt with Dr. Ford's claims of sexual assault during the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings. Some of us were shocked by the "boys will be boys" and "it's in the past so why talk about it now" assertions from those conservatives who unapologetically stood by their man, Brett Kavanaugh.
As important as Kavanaugh's confirmation to the Supreme Court was, could it be that we are in the midst of a cultural war that transcends the Supreme Court confirmation hearings in its scope and implications? Might his confirmation be seen as a backlash against the #MeToo movement? Might we be in the midst of an epic conflict between old cultural belief systems and a newly emerging cultural paradigm?
Kavanaugh played by the rules of the conservative culture he ascribes to. According to those rules, male emotions other than anger and self-righteous indignation are a liability and even a self-centered indulgence. There is little empathy for the suffering of self or of others and a lot of disdain for anyone who "breaks the rules."
Many people are worried, rightly, about what the appointment of Brett Kavanaugh means for America in the long term. He’s a naked partisan who clearly lied under oath about many aspects of his personal history; that’s as important as, and related to, the question of what he did to Christine Blasey Ford, a question that remains unresolved because the supposed investigation was such a transparent sham. Putting such a man on the Supreme Court has, at a stroke, destroyed the court’s moral authority for the foreseeable future.
But such long-term worries should be a secondary concern right now. The more immediate threat comes from what we saw on the Republican side during and after the hearing: not just contempt for the truth, but also a rush to demonize any and all criticism. In particular, the readiness with which senior Republicans embraced crazy conspiracy theories about the opposition to Kavanaugh is a deeply scary warning about what might happen to America, not in the long run, but just a few weeks from now.
Oct. 8
Supreme Court Swearing-in
Retired Justice Anthony Kennedy, right, ceremonially swears-in Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, as President Donald Trump looks on, in the East Room of the White House, Oct. 8, 2018. Susan Walsh / AP
ABC News, Trump apologizes 'on behalf of the nation' to Kavanaugh during swearing-in, claims he was 'proven innocent,' Adam Kelsey and Meridith McGraw, Oct. 8, 2018. President Donald Trump apologized to incoming Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh Monday evening "for the terrible pain and suffering" that he and his family endured during his confirmation process, going so far as to claim that Kavanaugh was "proven innocent" of the sexual assault allegations made against him.
Trump's comments, which he acknowledged as outside of the norm just prior to making them, came at a ceremonial swearing-in event for Kavanaugh in the East Room of the White House, two days after Kavanaugh was confirmed by the Senate and formally sworn-in as a member of the court by Chief Justice John Roberts.
"On behalf of the nation, I'd like to apologize to Brad and the entire a Kavanaugh family for the terrible pain and suffering you've been forced to endure," Trump said. "Those who stepped forward to serve our country deserve a fair and dignified evaluation. Not a campaign of political and personal destruction based on lies and deception."
Trump addressed the controversy head-on characterizing the heated political debate over sexual assault allegations leveled against Kavanaugh by California professor Christine Blasey Ford and several other women as "violat[ing] every notion of fairness, decency and due process."
"[In] our country, a man or a woman must always be presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty," the president continued. "And with that, I must state that you, sir, under historic scrutiny, were proven innocent."
Hillary Clinton on Tuesday ripped President Donald Trump’s unusual handling of the ceremonial swearing-in for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, calling the display a "political rally" that "further undermined the image and integrity of the court."
In an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour, parts of which aired Tuesday morning on the network, Clinton (shown in a file photo by Gage Skidmore) said that the way Trump carried out the event "troubles me greatly."
"What was done last night in the White House was a political rally. It further undermined the image and integrity of the court," Clinton said, "and that troubles me greatly. It saddens me because our judicial system has been viewed as one of the main pillars of our constitutional government."
"So I don't know how people are going to react to it. I think given our divides it will pretty much fall predictably between those who are for and those who are against," she added, calling Trump “true to form.”
"He has insulted, attacked, demeaned women throughout the campaign. Really for many years leading up to the campaign — and he's continued to do that inside the White House," Clinton said.
Trump responded on Tuesday to Clinton's comments, saying, "I guess that's why she lost. She never got it."
"Bush White House aides Brett Kavanaugh and Karl Rove, left, closely coordinated their election fraud operations with two experienced Washington campaign advisers for Republican candidates, Rick Davis, and Davis's partner, Paul Manafort."
Note: Former Navy intelligence officer, NSA analyst and defense contractor computer scientist Wayne Madsen for many years has exposed techniques to rig U.S. and international elections, electronically and by other methods. He is the author of 16 books, including the just-published "Trump's Bananas Republic," which portrays administration scandals through the lens of iconic Hollywood movies.
The report warns of dire consequences if nations do not cut their carbon emissions by more than 1 billion tons per year, a figure that is larger than the annual emissions of nearly every country on the planet.
Supreme Court Battle
Washington Post, Opinion: We need to stay angry about Kavanaugh, E.J. Dionne Jr., Oct. 8, 2018 (print edition). But even more, we need to vote, organize and think boldly after this travesty.
Republicans rushed through Brett M. Kavanaugh’s confirmation to avoid the possible consequences of an election. They aborted a full investigation because they feared what it might find. They made themselves complicit in a presidential attack on Christine Blasey Ford, a brave woman who asked only that her case against Kavanaugh be taken seriously.
After all these outrages, there will be calls for a renewal of civility, as if the problem is that people said nasty things about one other. But the answer to this power grab cannot be passive acceptance in the name of being polite. The causes and consequences of what just happened must be acknowledged frankly.
The conservative struggle for the court began in the 1960s, but it hit its stride in the Bush v. Gore decision after after the 2000 election. Five conservative justices violated the principles they claimed to uphold on states’ rights and the use of equal-protection doctrine to stop a recount of votes in Florida requested by Al Gore, the Democratic nominee. They thus made George W. Bush president.
The pro-Bush justices made abundantly clear that they were grasping at any arguments available to achieve a certain outcome by declaring, “our consideration is limited to the present circumstances.” Translation: Once Bush is in, please forget what we said here.
Washington Post, Justices move to repair Supreme Court’s image after fight over Kavanaugh, Robert Barnes, Oct. 8, 2018 (print edition). As Brett M. Kavanaugh prepared for his debut on the high court, his colleagues already had moved quickly to paper over the damage from the bitter and tumultuous confirmation battle.
Oct. 7
Supreme Court Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh, as his wife Ashley and two daughters look on, is sworn onto the court by Chief Justice John Roberts, whom Kavanaugh recommended for the court as Bush Administration White House Staff secretary (Supreme Court photo, Oct. 6, 2018). A political precedent used during the Republican installation of Associate Justice Clarence Thomas was to rush the swear-in in order to limit the impact of new scandal and protest for the lifetime appointment.
New York Times, Kavanaugh Is Sworn In After Close Confirmation Vote in Senate, Sheryl Gay Stolberg, Oct. 7, 2018 (print edition). Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh was confirmed to the Supreme Court on Saturday by one of the slimmest margins in American history, locking in a solid conservative majority on the court and capping a rancorous battle that began as a debate over judicial ideology and concluded with a national reckoning over sexual misconduct.
He was promptly sworn in by both Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and the retired Justice Anthony M. Kennedy — the court’s longtime swing vote, whom he will replace — in a private ceremony.
Washington Post, Divided Senate confirms Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination, Seung Min Kim and John Wagner, Oct. 7, 2018 (print edition). The Senate voted to confirm Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh as the Supreme Court’s 114th justice on Saturday by one of the narrowest margins in the institution’s history, as police stood guard and protesters’ shouts of “shame, shame” echoed through the Senate chamber.
The 50-to-48 vote capped a brutal confirmation fight that underscored how deeply polarized the nation has become under President Trump, who has now successfully placed two justices on the nation’s highest court, cementing a conservative majority.
With Vice President Pence presiding, senators sat in their chairs and rose to cast their votes, repeatedly interrupted by protesters in the visitors’ gallery who yelled out and were removed by Capitol Police. The Supreme Court announced Kavanaugh would be sworn in later Saturday.
Washington Post, ‘Rock bottom’: Supreme Court fight reveals a country on the brink, Michael Scherer and Robert Costa, Oct. 7, 2018 (print edition). In the battle over Brett M. Kavanaugh, few of the players emerged from the process unchanged or unblemished, underscoring the uncharted territory of deepening distrust and polarization that now defines the American system.
Oct. 6
GOP Wins Court Battle
Washington Post, ‘Ultimate fighter’: How Trump helped shift momentum in favor of Kavanaugh, Philip Rucker, Ashley Parker, Sean Sullivan and Seung Min Kim, Oct. 6, 2018 (print edition). Relying on a hardball approach that left Democrats shaken and defeated, Republican leaders plowed through the chaos of the last few weeks to bring the Supreme Court nomination of Brett M. Kavanaugh to the cusp of confirmation.
New York Times, Opinion: The High Court Brought Low, The Editorial Board, Oct. 6, 2018 (print edition). Don’t let Donald Trump and Brett Kavanaugh have the last word about American justice.
The task of plugging the holes and patching the rents in the court’s legitimacy now falls to the justices themselves, mainly to Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. (shown at left) He must know that every decision of political significance rendered by a 5-to-4 majority that includes a Justice Kavanaugh will, at the very least, appear to be the product of bias and vengeance. If he cares about the integrity of the court as much as he claims to, the chief will do everything in his power to steer the court away from cases, and rulings, that could deepen the nation’s political divide.
There’s work the rest of us can do as well.
We can, for one thing, find ways in our own workplaces and communities to assure victims of sexual assault that they will be respected if they come forward, even if so many national political figures are dismissive of them.
And if we disapprove of the direction of the courts, we can put the lessons Mitch McConnell taught us to work — and vote.
It’s worth noting that, of the five justices picked by Republicans, including Judge Kavanaugh, four were nominated by presidents who first took office after losing the popular vote. And the slim majority of senators who said they would vote to confirm Judge Kavanaugh on Saturday represent tens of millions fewer Americans than the minority of senators who voted to reject him. The nation’s founders were wise to design the court as a counter-majoritarian institution, but they couldn’t have been picturing this.
Most Americans are not where this Senate majority is. They do not support President Trump. They do not approve of relentless partisanship and disregard for the integrity of democratic institutions. And they have the power to call their government to account.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) screams at his longtime Democratic colleague Pat Leahy of Vermont during the Kavanaugh hearing, in which Leahy and other Democrats have accused the nominee of perjuring himself by denying use of stolen Democratic Senate documents (screenshot).
Washington Post, Grassley suggests absence of GOP women on Judiciary Committee is due to its heavy workload, Paul Kane, Oct. 6, 2018 (print edition). Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) told reporters that the Senate Judiciary Committee’s inability to attract Republican women might be caused by its heavy workload, a remark the panel’s chairman tried to retract a few minutes later.
“It’s a lot of work — maybe they don’t want to do it,” Grassley told the Wall Street Journal, NBC News and other outlets, as he headed toward the Senate floor for a speech by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine).
The committee, which has turned into a partisan hotbed in the past five years, has never had a Republican woman serve on it, even as the Senate’s ranks have doubled from three to six female GOP senators in recent years.
That omission drew more scrutiny during the second round of hearings for Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court, during which committee Republicans hired a female prosecutor from Arizona to question Christine Blasey Ford about her allegations that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her 36 years ago.
Washington Post, The politicians and players whose legacies will be shaped by the Kavanaugh fight, Amber Phillips, Oct. 6, 2018 (print edition). How they navigated the emotionally fraught Supreme Court nomination battle could define their careers. This was a Supreme Court nomination that will go down in the history books. If confirmed, Kavanaugh will have overcome accusations of sexual misconduct and assault, questions about his judicial temperament and surprise delays to his confirmation.
When the Senate votes to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court on Saturday, two senators will engage in a practice that’s all but died out. Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, the only member of the Republican Conference opposed to elevating the current D.C. Circuit Court judge to the Supreme Court, announced Friday that ordinarily she would vote “no.” Instead, Murkowski intends to vote “present” in order to offset the absence of Republican Sen. Steve Daines, who will be in Montana to attend to his daughter’s wedding.
The vote on confirmation is expected late afternoon on Saturday.
Murkowski said in her floor speech that she hoped after the bitter debate over Kavanaugh that the Senate could take a few steps back toward a more respectful tone.
“While I voted no on cloture today, and I will be a no tomorrow,” she said Friday evening, “I will, in the final tally, be asked to be recorded as present, and I do this because a friend, a colleague of ours, is in Montana this evening and tomorrow at just about the same hour that we’re going to be voting; he’s going to be walking his daughter down the aisle and he won’t be present to vote, and so I have extended this as a courtesy to my friend.”
“It will not change the outcome of the vote, but I do hope that it reminds us that we can take very small, very small, steps to be gracious with one another and maybe those small, gracious steps can lead to more,” Murkowski said.
Oct. 5
Nobel Peace Prize
Washington Post, Nobel Peace Prize awarded to two figures bringing attention to sexual violence in conflicts, Chico Harlan and Max Bearak, Oct. 5, 2018. Nadia Murad, an Iraqi Yazidi who was kidnapped and raped by Islamic State militants, has become an outspoken activist on sexual slavery and human trafficking. Denis Mukwege, a Congolese gynecologist, has treated thousands of victims of gang rape at his hospital.
#MeToo Goes Global?
Washington Post, A year after it began, has #MeToo become a global movement? Karla Adam and William Booth, Oct. 5, 2018. In some countries, the conversation about sexual harassment — and worse — has toppled powerful men. In others, the movement has all but fizzled out — or never took off to begin with.
Supreme Court Battle
Roll Call, Kavanaugh Nomination Clears Key Hurdle, Final Vote Teed Up, John T. Bennett, Oct. 5, 2018. Embattled federal judge Brett Kavanaugh moved one step closer to becoming the ninth Supreme Court justice and providing a decisive fifth conservative vote Friday when the Senate voted to tee up a final up-or-down vote.
In a vote that broke mostly along party lines after several deeply partisan weeks that culminated with a FBI investigation into sexual misconduct charges against Kavanaugh dating to his high school days, the chamber voted to end debate on his nomination, 51-49.
There were a couple of party defections. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, right, voted against cutting off debate, while Sen. Joe Manchin III, D-W.Va., voted “yes” to cut off debate. The result means the Senate is poised to decide his fate in a high-stakes Saturday vote.
Roll Call, Susan Collins Will Vote ‘Yes’ on Kavanaugh Nomination, Staff report, Oct. 5, 2018. Maine Republican had kept her position on the Supreme Court nomination under wraps. Sen. Susan Collins will vote “yes” on the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh, one of the last remaining hurdles to the high court for President Donald Trump’s nominee.
Earlier on Friday, the Maine Republican, left, voted to cut off debate on Kavanaugh’s nomination, helping her leadership clear a key hurdle and setting up a final confirmation vote on Saturday. Collins is one of only two Republicans senators serving who voted to confirm Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, both of whom were nominated by former President Barack Obama. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is the other one.
“I have reservations about this vote given the serious accusations against Judge Kavanaugh and the temperament he displayed in the hearing. And my heart goes out to anyone who has experienced any type of sexual assault in their life. However, based on all of the information I have available to me, including the recently completed FBI report, I have found Judge Kavanaugh to be a qualified jurist who will follow the Constitution and determine cases based on the legal findings before him. I do hope that Judge Kavanaugh will not allow the partisan nature this process took to follow him onto the court,” Manchin said in a statement.
Manchin announced his decision moments after Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she would vote to confirm Kavanaugh, virtually guaranteeing the federal circuit court judge’s ascent to the high court.
WhoWhatWhy, Exclusive: Kavanaugh Father-Son Cancer Powder Keg, Doug Vaughan, Oct. 5, 2018. If Justice Brett Kavanaugh is confirmed by the Senate, sooner or later he may be asked to weigh some damning evidence — that his own father advocated for a product that he knew was carcinogenic to both mothers and fetuses. Unless he recuses himself.
The ironies are piquant: While the son attended private, single-sex religious schools and adopted the traditional Catholic opposition to abortion, and even birth control, on the grounds the government should regulate women’s use of their own bodies and reproduction, the father made millions from the industry that marketed and sold female personal hygiene products — while keeping the government from guarding the consumers’ health and safety.
It’s no exaggeration that, if Brett Kavanaugh is confirmed, stuff like baby powder will have smoothed his slide into a seat on the highest court in the land.
More than 10,000 active claims in US courts, mostly by women, allege that they got cancer from regular use of talcum products like baby powder. In one case last summer, a jury in Missouri awarded $4.7 billion to a group of 20 such women who sued the biggest manufacturer, Johnson & Johnson — for promoting its products while hiding evidence of the risks to women, their reproductive organs, and their babies.
Sooner or later, one of these cases is likely to come to the Supreme Court. If he’s confirmed by the Senate, and if he fails to recuse himself, Justice Brett Kavanaugh will be asked to consider evidence that his father, Ed, helped J&J market such products — even though they knew they were carcinogenic. Kavanaugh Sr.’s former employer is one of the named defendants in some of the biggest class-action cases filed so far.
New York Times, Senate Moves Toward Showdown Vote on Kavanaugh Confirmation, Nicholas Fandos and Sheryl Gay Stolberg, Oct. 5, 2018. Republican leaders were increasingly confident that the Senate would narrowly vote to cut off debate on Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh’s nomination and move to a final confirmation on Saturday. But with four senators, including three Republicans, still undecided, Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation was still not assured.
Future of Freedom Foundation, The Looming Degradation of the Supreme Court, Jacob G. Hornberger, right, Oct. 5, 2018. With Republican senators dutifully lining up to support President Trump’s nomination to the Supreme Court, it is increasingly likely that conservative lawyer and judge Brett Kavanaugh will be confirmed as an associate justice of the Supreme Court. At the same time, in its determination to “win,” the Republican Party will have brought not only shame to itself but also a degradation in prestige to the highest court of the land.
A couple of days ago, more than 500 law professors from more than 160 law schools across the nation had signed a public letter opposing Kavanaugh’s appointment. As a trial lawyer for 12 years before I joined the libertarian movement and who still is authorized to practice law in my home state of Texas, I was absolutely stunned. In all my life, I had never seen that happen. Sure, law professors have their own political philosophies and affiliations but I had never seen so many of them come together to take a public stand against a particular Supreme Court nominee, especially one who sits as a judge on the federal court of appeals.
Imagine my shock when that number increased a couple of days later to 2,400 law professors opposing the Kavanaugh nomination! The term used by the New York Times expressed my reaction: “Incomprehensible!”
That was on top of the withdrawal of support for Kavanaugh’s nomination immediately after he testified by the American Bar Association, which has 400,000 members, and the dean of the Yale Law School, where Kavanaugh got his law degree. What was phenomenal about this was that both the ABA and the Yale law school dean had previously supported Kavanaugh’s appointment.
Then, in what I believe is also an unprecedented act, a retired Supreme Court justice, John Paul Stevens, came out and declared that Kavanaugh lacks the required temperament to be a Supreme Court justice, which is what those 2,400 law professors are also saying.
Contrary to what conservative supporters of Kavanaugh have maintained, the primary issue in the Kavanaugh controversy does not revolve around the issue of whether a lawyer’s actions as a teenager should disqualify him from later serving on the Supreme Court. That, of course, is a interesting issue, but it isn’t the issue at hand. If Kavanaugh had confessed to sexually assaulting Christine Blasey Ford as a 17-year-old, expressed remorse for it, apologized, and sought forgiveness, then the Senate would be faced with that issue: Should what he did 36 years ago disqualify him from serving on the highest court in the land?
Instead, there are three primary issues in this controversy: (1) Did Kavanaugh commit the sexual assault on Christine Blasey Ford (shown as a schoolgirl) and, if so, should that make a difference with respect to his appointment to the Supreme Court? (2) Did he commit perjury with his denial of having committed the offense and, equally important, with respect to other matters in his sworn testimony and, if so, should that make a difference to his appointment to the Supreme Court? and (3) Does Kavanaugh have the necessary temperament to serve as an associate justice on the Supreme Court?
As the controversy has unfolded, it has become painfully clear that perjury just isn’t important to conservatives, at least to conservatives who aren’t lawyers. Time and time again, in addressing the controversy, they ether have glossed over the possibility that Kavanaugh committed perjury or made it clear that it just doesn’t matter to them. It’s no big deal. Let’s just have a quick, 3-day, cursory, sham investigation, confirm the guy, and then “move on.”
Washington Post, Analysis: If Kavanaugh is confirmed, impeachment could follow. Here’s how, Deanna Paul, Oct. 5, 2018 (print edition). Whether Kavanaugh returns to the D.C. Circuit or, as appears increasingly likely, is confirmed to the Supreme Court, impeachment proceedings could follow. They would be contingent on Democrats regaining control of the House, the only body that can bring an article of impeachment.
“Much of Washington has spent the week focusing on whether Judge Brett Kavanaugh should be confirmed to the Supreme Court,” Lisa Graves wrote in a Slate column on Sept. 7, more than a week before the New Yorker published the then-anonymous sexual assault claims of Christine Blasey Ford. “After the revelations of his confirmation hearings, the better question is whether he should be impeached from the federal judiciary. I do not raise that question lightly, but I am certain it must be raised.”
Graves wrote that Kavanaugh, right, had misled the Judiciary Committee about the stolen documents that Graves had written as chief counsel for nominations for Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) when he was the chairman of the committee. Kavanaugh, she wrote, “lied. Under oath. And he did so repeatedly.” Therefore, she concluded, “he should not be confirmed. In fact, by his own standard, he should clearly be impeached.”
Washington Post, Kavanaugh: I said things I ‘should not have said’ at hearing, Eli Rosenberg, Oct. 5, 2018 (print edition). In an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, the judge tacitly acknowledges the questions being raised about his conduct and emotions.
Washington Post, Retired Justice Stevens calls Kavanaugh’s hearing performance disqualifying, Robert Barnes, Oct. 5, 2018 (print edition). Retired Justice John Paul Stevens said Thursday that he no longer believes Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh should be confirmed to the Supreme Court, citing Kavanaugh’s heated performance during a Senate hearing last week.
Stevens, 98 (shown in a file photo), made the comments in Boca Raton, Fla., before a group of retirees, according to the Palm Beach Post and the journalist who interviewed Stevens at the event.
Washington Post, The rise and the reckoning: Inside Brett Kavanaugh’s circles of influence, Marc Fisher, Ann E. Marimow and Michael Kranish, Oct. 5, 2018 (print edition). The story of President Trump’s embattled choice for the Supreme Court is a classic Washington tale of a young man who grew up surrounded by people in high places, keenly aware of protecting his image. He told a friend in college that he didn’t plan to buy stocks as an adult because he had to avoid conflicts if he wanted to follow in his mother’s footsteps as a judge.
Kavanaugh’s story is also one of the power and insularity of wealth. He grew up in an idyll of country clubs and beach retreats, private schools and public prominence. The only child of a lobbyist and a judge, he had parents who pushed him hard, teachers who assured him that he faced no limits, and friends whose families knew the art of making problems go away quietly.
That Kavanaugh (shown in a prep school yearbook photo) would achieve greatness seemed certain. Some of his classmates called him “The Genius.” They liked him because he was smart and fun. Women found him thoughtful and empathetic. Men said he was a guy’s guy — a walking encyclopedia of sports, a good pal, always up for a beer.
George W. Bush and his father, George H.W. Bush [shown above in a file photo] have both been welcomed into the ranks of the resistance to President Donald Trump, but their most consequential action since his election has been to help lift Kavanaugh into the Supreme Court.
Collins, left, is an honorary member of the Bush family. She got her start in politics as a congressional aide to Rep.-turned-Sen. William Cohen. The Maine Republican was close to George H.W. Bush, who has long maintained a presence in the state. At the end of the first Bush administration, Collins was appointed New England regional director of the Small Business Administration. In 1996, she was elected to the Senate to replace her mentor, Cohen.
Kavanaugh, too, has longstanding ties to the Bush family. He served as an attorney for George W. Bush’s campaign, playing a major role in the legal battle between Bush and Al Gore. He then served as staff secretary in the Bush White House, a position of intimate influence — the staff secretary attends most Oval Office meetings and is a trusted sounding board for the president.
In the weeks after Kavanaugh was accused of sexual assault during his high school and college years, Bush personally called wavering senators, lobbying on the nominee’s behalf. Collins, who had said she would not vote to confirm a Supreme Court justice who would overturn Roe v. Wade, was one of those wavering senators. In August, HuffPost reported, citing a source close to Collins’s staff, that Collins had assured the White House that she would support Kavanaugh if he were nominated. (She has denied that.)
Collins has since said that the decision was a difficult one, though there was no hint of that agonizing in her Senate floor speech Friday, which was a full-throated defense of Kavanaugh and a prosecution of Christine Blasey Ford’s allegations.
In the end, Collins suggested that she hoped Kavanaugh’s nomination would restore the faith of Americans in the Supreme Court, easing partisan tensions and decreasing the number of 5-4 decisions the court handed down. It’s difficult to rationalize the idea that a nomination as contentious as this would usher a return to a more harmonious era of bipartisan collaboration.
Palmer Report, Opinion: The sheer insanity of what Susan Collins just did, Bill Palmer, Oct. 5, 2018. Why? It’s the only question left to ask after GOP Senator Susan Collins not only voted for screaming liar and alleged serial sex offender Brett Kavanaugh, but made a point of doing it in the most jarring and self defeating manner possible. It raises uncomfortable and scary questions about what might really be going on here.
Susan Collins has never been a party loyalist. In the past two years alone, she’s cast multiple deciding votes against the GOP on major issues, including the attempted Obamacare repeal, and the original Senate Intelligence Committee decision to investigate the Trump-Russia scandal. So no matter how many social media posts might claim that “Collins voted this way because she always votes the party line,” that’s a factually false statement. No, this has to be about something else.
If Susan Collins had decided that she needed to cast a very unpopular “yes” vote on Kavanaugh for the sake of her reelection prospects (translation: billionaire conservative donors), she could have quietly cast her vote and hoped people might forget by 2020. Instead, she took outlandish steps to make sure people never forget what she did today. There are simply not enough pro-Trump extremists in Maine to give her even a remote chance at reelection.
One of the meekest people in the Senate knowingly ended her career today with both proverbial middle fingers in the air. It was one of the ugliest things that American politics has ever seen, and it simply made no sense. Is she being blackmailed, or did she just snap today?
Time, 'Such a Slap in the Face.' Sexual Assault Survivors Who Met With Susan Collins Feel Betrayed She'll Vote for Kavanaugh, Charlotte Alter, Oct. 5, 2018. Last Thursday night, Amanda O’Brien sat on a bus for 10 hours to get from Maine to Washington D.C. to meet with Sen. Susan Collins and share her opposition to Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. The bus was full of sexual assault survivors, who shared their stories with their seat mates as they crawled toward the Capitol.
O’Brien, who wore black like the rest of the survivors, tried to prepare herself. When she and a handful of other survivors got to the Senator’s office on Friday, she told Senator Collins that she had been sexually assaulted for years as a young child. She told her because of the impact of the assault, she later became the victim of domestic violence. She told her Senator things she has rarely told anyone, things she would still rather not repeat.
But on Friday afternoon, Collins announced her intention to confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh, all but ensuring that Trump’s pick will sit on the Supreme Court, despite Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony that he pinned her to a bed and tried to rape her when they were both in high school. Kavanaugh denies Ford’s allegation.
Oct. 4
New York Times, Two Key Republicans Signal Satisfaction With F.B.I.’s Kavanaugh Inquiry, Nicholas Fandos and Sheryl Gay Stolberg, Oct. 4, 2018. Two key undecided senators signaled Thursday that they are satisfied with the F.B.I.’s investigation into allegations of sexual assault against Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, and Senate Republican leaders were increasingly confident that he would be confirmed to the Supreme Court.
Senators Jeff Flake of Arizona, right, and Susan Collins of Maine did not say that they will vote for Judge Kavanaugh, President Trump’s second Supreme Court nominee.
But after a closed-door briefing in which Republicans were told that no witnesses corroborated the accounts of Judge Kavanaugh’s main accusers, both made positive remarks. A yes vote from both would secure Judge Kavanaugh’s seat on the highest court in the land.
Roll Call, Amy Schumer, Emily Ratajkowski Among Hundreds Arrested Protesting Kavanaugh, Griffin Connolly, Oct. 4, 2018. Demonstrators flocked to Hart Senate Office Building after USCP cordons off East Front. The U.S. Capitol Police arrested hundreds of people protesting Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s pending confirmation in the atrium of the Hart Senate Office Building on Thursday.
Protesters initially planned to hold their rally on the East Front of the Capitol, but USCP cordoned off the area Thursday morning. So the thousands of demonstrators streamed into the Hart building, chanting and singing against Kavanaugh, whom multiple women have accused of sexual assault.
Roll Call, Heidi Heitkamp Will Vote No on Kavanaugh Nomination, Niels Lesniewski, Oct. 4, 2018. North Dakota Democrat is in a tight re-election campaign. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, the Democrat leading Roll Call’s list of most vulnerable senators on the ballot this fall, announced Thursday that she’ll vote against confirming Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. “The process has been bad, but at the end of the day you have to make a decision, and I’ve made that decision,” the North Dakota Democrat told WDAY, the ABC affiliate in Fargo, N.D. “I will be voting no on Judge Kavanaugh.”
Heitkamp explained her decision to opposed Kavanaugh in light of her decision last year to support President Donald Trump's first nominee to the high court, Neil Gorsuch, left.
“I voted for Justice Gorsuch because I felt his legal ability and temperament qualified him to serve on the Supreme Court. Judge Kavanaugh is different. When considering a lifetime appointment to Supreme Court, we must evaluate the totality of the circumstances and record before us. In addition to the concerns about his past conduct, last Thursday’s hearing called into question Judge Kavanaugh’s current temperament, honesty, and impartiality. These are critical traits for any nominee to serve on the highest court in our country,” she said.
Heitkamp’s decision to oppose President Donald Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court means that Sen. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia is the only member of the Democratic caucus potentially favoring the confirmation of Kavanaugh.
New York Times, White House Sends F.B.I. Interviews on Kavanaugh to Senate, Peter Baker, Nicholas Fandos, Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Michael S. Schmidt, Oct. 4, 2018 (print edition). The White House sent summaries of the interviews, expressing confidence that they would not stop Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh’s confirmation. The material was conveyed in the middle of the night, just hours after Senate Republicans set the stage for a pair of votes later in the week.
Senior White House officials, after reviewing summaries of interviews conducted by the F.B.I., are increasingly confident that the information collected would ease the path for senators to confirm Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, a person briefed on the findings said Thursday morning.
The material was conveyed to Capitol Hill in the middle of the night, just hours after Senate Republicans set the stage for a pair of votes later in the week to move to approve Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation. A statement issued by the White House around 2:30 a.m. said the F.B.I. had completed its work and that it represented an unprecedented look at a nominee.
New York Times, Analysis: Trump and G.O.P. Lash Out at Kavanaugh’s Accuser. But at What Risk? Peter Baker, Oct. 4, 2018 (print edition). For more than two weeks he held back. Against all his instincts, President Trump for the most part resisted directly attacking the woman whose sexual assault allegation has jeopardized his Supreme Court nomination. The accuser was to be treated with kid gloves, like “a Fabergé egg,” as one adviser put it.
But Mr. Trump could resist only so long and told aides it was time to turn up the heat. So when he revved up a political rally this week by mocking Christine Blasey Ford, right, he indulged his desire to fight back and galvanized his conservative base even at the risk of alienating the very moderate Republicans he needs to confirm Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.
The following letter will be presented to the United States Senate on Oct. 4. It will be updated as more signatures are received. Judicial temperament is one of the most important qualities of a judge. As the Congressional Research Service explains, a judge requires “a personality that is even-handed, unbiased, impartial, courteous yet firm, and dedicated to a process, not a result.”
“A Supreme Court confirmation vote isn’t a grand choice about whether we love our daughters or whether we trust our sons,” Sasse said. “That is not the choice before us. This is a consent decision about one person for one seat.”
Sasse, a member of the Judiciary Committee, revealed that before the nominee had been announced he urged President Donald Trump to nominate a woman to the seat.
Part of his argument at the time, Sasse said, was that the Senate is poorly prepared to handle potential allegations of sexual harassment and assault that might come forward. Sasse choked up at times during the speech that lasted a little less than 20 minutes. He decried the circus surrounding the process, cable news and die-hard partisans seeking to use the nomination for cynical political aims.
He also had harsh words for Trump, particularly the president’s mocking of Ford during a Tuesday night political rally and his previous statements questioning why Ford did not report the incident at the time.
Washington Post, Opinion: Here’s a list of people the FBI did NOT interview, Greg Sargent, Oct. 4, 2018. Okay with this, Flake and Collins? You’ll be shocked to hear that the White House has already pronounced the FBI report entirely exonerating for Kavanaugh, claiming that it is now “fully confident” Kavanaugh will be confirmed.
But a lot of new reporting has now emerged that starkly illustrates just how much about the new allegations was not investigated by the FBI. It’s important to note that this probably was not a failing on the FBI’s part but rather was the result of restrictions the White House placed on the probe, a process that itself remains shrouded in disingenuous rhetorical games.
Future of Freedom Foundation, Opinion: The Trump-Kavanaugh Look-Alike Theory, Jacob G. Hornberger, right, Oct. 4, 2018. In deciding to go on the attack in the Kavanaugh confirmation debate by openly and publicly mocking Christine Blasey Ford at a political rally for purported “inconsistencies” in her testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, President Trump might not realize that he has created an enormous inconsistency in his own position.
Actually, “contradiction” would be a better word to use. Moreover, Trump might not realize that he has left his Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, hanging out on a limb all by himself.
Washington Post, That Facebook group you joined years ago? It might now be supporting Brett Kavanaugh, Tony Romm, Oct. 4, 2018. Many of the Facebook groups that seem to advocate for Brett M. Kavanaugh's confirmation to the Supreme Court -- and some of those defending Christine Blasey Ford, who accused him of sexual assault in the 1980s -- actually amassed their followers months or years before Washington’s most politically charged controversy unfolded, according to Facebook’s records, offering yet another sign that public outcry on social media isn’t exactly what it appears to be.
Oct. 3
Washington Post, White House prepares to send new FBI report on Kavanaugh to Senate, Seung Min Kim, John Wagner and Josh Dawsey, Oct 3, 2018. The latest FBI probe updating the Supreme Court nominee’s background check was set to arrive Wednesday night on Capitol Hill, according to two people familiar with its release. White House officials have been briefed on the findings, they said. The developments came as Senate Democrats suggested that past FBI background checks of Brett M. Kavanaugh include evidence of inappropriate behavior.
Washington Post, As FBI check nears its end, probe appears to have been highly curtailed, Matt Zapotosky, Robert O'Harrow Jr., Tom Hamburger and Devlin Barrett, Oct 3, 2018. The FBI has interviewed six witnesses and has not been allowed to probe the nominee's youthful drinking, opening it up to criticism over what some will view as a lackluster investigation.
Judicial temperament is one of the most important qualities of a judge. As the Congressional Research Service explains, a judge requires “a personality that is even-handed, unbiased, impartial, courteous yet firm, and dedicated to a process, not a result.” The concern for judicial temperament dates back to our founding; in Federalist 78, titled “Judges as Guardians of the Constitution,” Alexander Hamilton expressed the need for “the integrity and moderation of the judiciary.”
We are law professors who teach, research and write about the judicial institutions of this country. Many of us appear in state and federal court, and our work means that we will continue to do so, including before the United States Supreme Court. We regret that we feel compelled to write to you, our Senators, to provide our views that at the Senate hearings on Sept. 27, Judge Brett Kavanaugh displayed a lack of judicial temperament that would be disqualifying for any court, and certainly for elevation to the highest court of this land.
The question at issue was of course painful for anyone. But Judge Kavanaugh exhibited a lack of commitment to judicious inquiry. Instead of being open to the necessary search for accuracy, Judge Kavanaugh was repeatedly aggressive with questioners. Even in his prepared remarks, Judge Kavanaugh described the hearing as partisan, referring to it as “a calculated and orchestrated political hit,” rather than acknowledging the need for the Senate, faced with new information, to try to understand what had transpired. Instead of trying to sort out with reason and care the allegations that were raised, Judge Kavanaugh responded in an intemperate, inflammatory and partial manner, as he interrupted and, at times, was discourteous to senators.
As you know, under two statutes governing bias and recusal, judges must step aside if they are at risk of being perceived as or of being unfair. As Congress has previously put it, a judge or justice “shall disqualify himself in any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned.” These statutes are part of a myriad of legal commitments to the impartiality of the judiciary, which is the cornerstone of the courts.
We have differing views about the other qualifications of Judge Kavanaugh. But we are united, as professors of law and scholars of judicial institutions, in believing that he did not display the impartiality and judicial temperament requisite to sit on the highest court of our land.
Palmer Report, Opinion: One of Brett Kavanaugh’s key GOP Senate defenders suddenly sounds nervous about holding a vote, Bill Palmer, right, Oct. 3, 2018. We all witnessed Republican Senator John Cornyn use his position on the Senate Judiciary Committee last week to try to help a mentally unstable Brett Kavanaugh through his testimony. There is no doubt that Cornyn, who is as corrupt as they come, is a “yes” vote. But now congressional reporter Chad Pergram says that Cornyn suddenly doesn’t want to rush the Kavanaugh vote, and wants to “do it one step at a time” instead. So what’s going on here?
So does John Cornyn know something that Mitch McConnell doesn’t? Or are they simply unable to agree on how to play their increasingly weak hand? McConnell has been trying to bully the likes of Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins into voting “yes” even though they’re clearly not “yes” votes, but last night Murkowski all but laughed at McConnell’s tactics. We still don’t know how this vote is going to turn out, but it doesn’t appear the GOP does, either.
Palmer Report, Opinion: Trump and McConnell sink to desperate new lengths to protect Brett Kavanaugh, Bill Palmer, Oct. 3, 2018. Just how dirty is Brett Kavanaugh? All you have to do is take a look at the desperate lengths Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell are going to in the name of not only protecting Kavanaugh from the FBI investigation, but keeping the final FBI report hush-hush.
Dianne Feinstein has confirmed that, as expected, the FBI will not be allowed to interview Dr. Christine Blasey Ford (right) – but that’s just the half of it.
It’s fairly clear why the FBI isn’t allowed to interview Ford. It’s not to prevent her from telling her story, which she’s already done before the Senate; the FBI has full access to her congressional testimony. Instead, by blocking the FBI from speaking with Ford, Trump and McConnell are also blocking the FBI from speaking with Kavanaugh – which is the entire point. Kavanaugh has already revealed himself to be a pathological liar, and if he lies to the FBI, he’ll go to prison. But the real panic move here is with the report itself.
USA Today and others are now reporting that there will only be one copy of the FBI report on Brett Kavanaugh, and that Senators will each have to take turns reading it. Senate Democrats will still be able to quickly leak the ugliest parts of the report to the public. But the goal here is, obviously, to prevent the public from seeing the full text.
This confirms that, even with the limitations placed on the FBI investigation by Trump and McConnell, they still expect that the FBI report will paint Brett Kavanaugh in a terrible light. This means that Trump and McConnell are playing with an even weaker hand here than we thought.
New York Times, Trump Taunts Christine Blasey Ford at Rally, At an event in Mississippi, Maggie Haberman and Peter Baker, Oct. 3, 2018 (print edition). President Trump mocked the woman who accused Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh of sexual assault. He imitated her, exaggerating her responses at last week’s hearing. The crowd cheered.
Washington Post, ‘Just plain wrong’: Flake, Collins criticize Trump’s attack on Ford, John Wagner and Seung Min Kim, Oct. 3, 2018. Republican Sens. Jeff Flake (Ariz.), right and Susan Collins (Maine) are considered crucial to the confirmation prospects of Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh.
In the letter, eight of the 10 Democrats on the Judiciary panel challenged the accuracy of a tweet from the majority Republicans on Tuesday that said: “Nowhere in any of these six FBI reports, which the committee has reviewed on a bipartisan basis, was there ever a whiff of ANY issue — at all — related in any way to inappropriate sexual behavior or alcohol abuse.”
The Democrats said the information in the tweet is “not accurate,” and urged the GOP to correct them. Aides to the committee chairman, Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), did not return an immediate request for comment.
Washington Post, Opinion: Senators, if you think you are ‘appalled’ now, just wait, Jennifer Rubin, right, Oct. 3, 2018. Appearing on the “Today” show, Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) reacted to President Trump’s mocking of Christine Blasey Ford at a political rally Tuesday night. “There’s no time and no place for remarks like that. But to discuss something this sensitive at a political rally is just not right … It’s kind of appalling.”
This echoes the reaction of Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) when Trump first attacked Ford by tweet, saying if the attack was “that bad,” the teen Ford would have gone to the police. Collins, left, said: “I was appalled by the president’s tweet.”
There is plenty to appall:
Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh’s baseless allegation that he was the victim of a smear stemming from Hillary Clinton’s 2016 loss; Kavanaugh’s obnoxious retorts to Democratic senators, including Sen. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.); Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) calling for Klobuchar to apologize; Republicans’ objections to any investigation of Ford’s claims; Republicans’ repeated, false assertion that there is no corroboration for Ford’s accusation (ignoring her polygraph, her prior remarks, Kavanaugh’s calendar entry for July 1); Republicans’ decision to hide behind a female “assistant” (as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell referred to prosecutor Rachel Mitchell) and then discard her in favor of hysterical rants; apparent efforts to curtail the FBI investigation; Ed Whelan’s defamatory accusation aimed at a classmate of Kavanaugh’s; and Kavanaugh’s seeming mischaracterization of his drinking habits and high school references to sex and drinking.
Prominent members of the scandal-stricken Roman Catholic legal leadership in the District of Columbia convened on Sunday for the annual Red Mass that provides a spiritual kick-off to the new Supreme Court term and the legal community's public aspirations for justice.
The ceremony was majestic as usual but unfolded before a slightly smaller audience than normal and under the shadow of unfolding scandal involving the local Catholic-reared Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
Cardinal Donald Wuerl, left, was absent from the mass, which he has normally led for most of his 12-year tenure in Washington. Instead, he has recently been awaiting possible sanction from the Vatican for his alleged role in covering-up sexual offenses by priests in Pittsburgh, one of the cardinal's previous postings.
As usual, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts led a delegation from the court to the ceremonies at the historic Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle and a subsequent brunch.
But Roberts was accompanied by only two of the associate judges, Republican Catholic Clarence Thomas and Stephen Breyer, a Democrat of the Jewish faith.
This editor has attended the Red Mass and brunch a number of times previously and so is in position to comment on its history, inspiring ceremonial and spiritual aspects, as well as some of the embarrassing but largely unspoken undercurrents.
The event first launched in 1928 at the St. Andrews Church in New York City, in 1953 at St. Matthews in the District of Columbia and in a number of other metro areas around the United States.
The event in the nation's capital has attracted the U.S. presidential attendance and more commonly during recent years a majority of the Supreme Court Justices, sometimes including multiple non-Catholics.
The Court in recent years has included six justices reared as Roman Catholics and three Jewish members. Kavanaugh, schooled at the Jesuit school Georgetown Prep, would be another Catholic if confirmed.
But his status is in peril following numerous claims of sexual assault and lying under oath that are surfacing. Kavanaugh has denied wrongdoing (as we and others have reported extensively elswhere, including here) and was not reported as present at the mass on Sunday.
Publically, the mass unfolded as a spiritual and civic occasion framed by the magnificant cathedral and stirring Biblical readings, sacred music and other religious trappings.
Washington Post, FBI gets longer leash on Kavanaugh probe as McConnell signals vote is imminent, Devlin Barrett, Josh Dawsey, Seung Min Kim and Matt Zapotosky, Oct. 2, 2018 (print edition). The inquiry will include sexual misconduct allegations from a third woman against Brett M. Kavanaugh. But the FBI won’t conduct an unfettered review of his youthful drinking.
People who were on the Republicans’ list and have been interviewed:
-- Deborah Ramirez, Yale classmate, The second woman to accuse Judge Kavanaugh of engaging in sexual misconduct; she said he exposed himself to her at a dorm room party.
-- Mark Judge, Judge Kavanaugh’s Georgetown Prep classmate, Named by Dr. Blasey and a third accuser as being a key witness to the alleged sexual misconduct by Judge Kavanaugh. “I never saw Brett act in the manner Dr. Ford describes,” he said.
-- P.J. Smyth, Georgetown Prep classmate; Dr. Blasey said he was at the house party, “I have no knowledge of the party in question; nor do I have any knowledge of the allegations of improper conduct.”
-- Leland Keyser, Dr. Blasey’s high school friend, Said she does not remember being at the party during the summer of 1982 but believes Dr. Blasey.
The sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh have sparked a wave of unbridled anger and anxiety from many Republican men, who say they are in danger of being swept up by false accusers who are biased against them.
From President Trump to his namesake son to Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), the howls of outrage crystallize a strong current of grievance within a party whose leadership is almost entirely white and overwhelmingly male — and which does not make a secret of its fear that demographic shifts and cultural convulsions could jeopardize its grip on power.
This eruption of male resentment now seems likely to play a defining role in the midterm elections just five weeks away, contrasting with a burst of enthusiasm among women propelling Democratic campaigns and inspired by the national #MeToo reckoning over sexual assault and gender roles.
The transcript, which is embedded at the end of this post, is from an interview SJC staff members conducted with Kavanaugh on Sept. 26. Kavanaugh apparently had an unnamed attorney present on his end of the line during the interview.
When Kavanaugh is asked for a response to the letter, he replies: "Nothing -- the whole thing is ridiculous. Nothing ever -- anything like that, nothing. I mean, that's -- the whole thing is just a crock, farce, wrong, didn't happen, not anything close."
Oct. 1
Washington Post, Confusion over limits of FBI inquiry sparks new round of combat over Kavanaugh, Mike DeBonis and Josh Dawsey, Oct. 1, 2018 (print edition). The investigation into sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh will focus on two accusers, but the White House says it opposes a “fishing expedition” that could take a broader look at his credibility and behavior.
Palmer Report, Senate transcript reveals Brett Kavanaugh allegedly raped a woman in the back of a car, Bill Palmer, right, Oct. 1, 2018. With the FBI having finally received the green light a few hours ago to conduct an unrestricted investigation into the sexual assault allegations against Brett Kavanaugh, we’re now learning that he’s been accused of having raped a woman in the back of a car.
The Senate Judiciary Committee took this accusation seriously enough that it questioned Kavanaugh (shown at left in a prep school yearbook photo) about it during private hearings – and the transcript just surfaced publicly.
The woman in question, whose identity is not known, sent a letter to Senator Kamala Harris, spelling out her accusations. The Senate Judiciary Committee read the letter to Brett Kavanaugh, asking him to respond to it. Here’s the key passage from the woman’s letter. Fair warning, this is sexually explicit and disturbing:
Kavanaugh and a friend offered me a ride home. I don’t know the other boy’s name. I was in his car to go home. His friend was behind me in the backseat. Kavanaugh kissed me forcefully. I told him I only wanted a ride home. Kavanaugh continued to grope me over my clothes, forcing his kisses on me and putting his hand under my sweater. ‘No,’ I yelled at him.
The boy in the backseat reached around, putting his hand over my mouth and holding my arm to keep me in the car. I screamed into his hand. Kavanaugh continued his forcing himself on me. He pulled up my sweater and bra exposing my breasts, and reached into my panties, inserting his fingers into my vagina. My screams were silenced by the boy in the backseat covering my mouth and groping me as well.
Kavanaugh slapped me and told me to be quiet and forced me to perform oral sex on him. He climaxed in my mouth. They forced me to go into the backseat and took turns raping me several times each. They dropped me off two blocks from my home. ‘No one will believe if you tell. Be a good girl,’ he told me.
Brett Kavanaugh’s response, according to the transcript: “Nothing — the whole thing is ridiculous. Nothing ever — anything like that, nothing. I mean, that’s — the whole thing is just a crock, farce, wrong, didn’t happen, not anything close.”
This interview took place six days ago, and the transcript was just released today. You can read the entire exchange starting on page thirteen.
Roll Call, Mitch McConnell: Brett Kavanaugh Floor Vote This Week, Lex Samuels, Oct 1, 2018. Majority leader again decries Democrats for delay and obstruction. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is insisting the vote on confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court will take place before week’s end.
The Kentucky Republican, speaking on the Senate floor Monday afternoon, said the Democrats chose to hold the allegations against Kavanaugh “in reserve” in order to derail the nomination.
He spoke about how the Democrats who first received the allegations handled them. He specifically mentioned a law firm with “politically connected lawyers” that McConnell says Democrats advised Kavanaugh’s accuser to hire. Those lawyers are set to hold a fundraiser for Democrats this week, McConnell said.
McConnell continued by expressing doubt that Democrats would be happy with the one-week investigation and that he expects “soon enough the goal-posts will be on the move once again.”
He compared the Democrat’s handling of the allegations to McCarthyism saying, “that they just want to delay this matter past the election.”
Wayne Madsen Report (WMR), Elite colleges and a culture of rape, Wayne Madsen, Oct. 1, 2018 (Subscription required; excerpted with permission). The sexual assault allegations brought against Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, opens a window into the world of elite schools that do not bear the words "State," "A&M," "Community," or "Prep" in their names. This is a world of privilege, where money and family legacy matter the most.
Kavanaugh testified about his admittance to Yale, "I have no connections there," he told the Senate Judiciary Committee, adding, "I got there by busting my tail." Not exactly. The Yale undergraduate yearbook from 1928 shows that Everett Edward Kavanaugh, Judge Kavanaugh's grandfather, was a Yale graduate.
And sexual assaults of underage girls, like Christine Blasey Ford, were not some "fad" of the 1980s. Our colleague, John Kelly, left, a veteran of NBC News, where he worked with Chet Huntley and David Brinkley, and CBS News, where he reported on Watergate for Walter Cronkite, brought to our attention his New York Post reports from 1960.
Future of Freedom Foundation, Opinion: Trump’s Sham FBI “Investigation” of Kavanaugh, Jacob G. Hornberger, right, Oct. 1, 2018. On the eve of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s vote on whether to send President Trump’s nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the full Senate for a vote on confirmation, Republican senators agreed to do so on the condition that the FBI conduct a further background investigation of Kavanaugh.
What’s wrong with Trump’s severe limitation on the FBI’s further background investigation of Brett Kavanaugh? It doesn’t permit the FBI to investigate the possibility that Kavanaugh has committed a brand new offense — the offense of perjury, which is a federal felony offense.
Kavanaugh supporters emphasize that he has been the subject of several FBI background checks already. They miss two critically important points:
One, those background checks were conducted before the FBI had any information regarding the sex assault that Ford has accused him of. Two, those background checks were conducted before Kavanaugh’s testimony last Thursday. Why is that important? Because there is the possibility that Kavanaugh committed perjury during his testimony at that hearing.
For some laymen (i.e., non-lawyers) perjury might seem like no big deal and certainly not enough to keep a lawyer or a judge from becoming a Supreme Court justice. As I explain in my article, “Summon Mark Judge to Testify in Kavanaugh Hearing,” to every member of the legal profession perjury is an extremely grave offense, especially for a lawyer or a judge, and a clear justification for disqualifying any lawyer or judge who has committed perjury from serving on the U.S. Supreme Court.
In fact, as I state in my article, in my opinion that is precisely the reason why the American Bar Association, which has 400,000 members, and the dean of the Yale Law School, where Kavanaugh got his law degree, immediately withdrew their support for his nomination after Ford and Kavanaugh testified until an additional background investigation was conducted.
While Brett Kavanaugh asserted that engaging in sexual relations with Bill Clinton turned "her life into a shambles," from Lewinsky's point of view it was his boss, Kenneth Starr, "who turned [her] 24-year-old life into a living hell."
Looking back on the 1990s with the experience of the #MeToo era, there are questions that should have been asked about the most powerful man in the world having sexual relations with an employee.
Lewinsky, left, has always maintained that the relationship was consensual, but "power imbalances -- and the ability to abuse them -- do exist even when the sex has been consensual." As a society, have we established where the lines are?
Unfortunately, Kavanaugh (shown below right during his snarling Senate confirmation testimony Thursday)did not seem interested in this line of questioning. Instead, he was infatuated with the most unimportant part of the story - the details of the sex acts.
Given this history, one has to wonder what Lindsey Graham was thinking as he bloviated that if Kavanaugh was looking "for a fair process, [then] he came to the wrong town at the wrong time." When does he think that this poisoned, political atmosphere began?
If the nominee thinks that the "confirmation process has become a national disgrace," how does he feel today about what he put Lewinsky through and what it did to her and her family? If "the idea of going easy on [Clinton, left] at the questioning [was] abhorrent to [him]," his current outrage should be directed at the Republican majority in the Senate.
By not investigating all of the accusations, they are the ones who are avoiding the responsibility of providing informed consent to his lifetime nomination to the highest court in the land.
Of course, this ignores the important distinction between Kavanaugh's apparent obsession with Clinton's sex life and the charges that may derail his assertion to the Supreme Court; if Dr. Christine Blasey Ford is telling the truth, then Kavanaugh acted without consent. This alleged attempted rape represents "callous and disgusting behavior that has somehow gotten lost in the shuffle."
Washington Post, In memo, outside prosecutor argues why she would not bring criminal charges against Kavanaugh, Seung Min Kim, Oct. 1, 2018 (print edition). The outside prosecutor Senate Republicans hired to lead the questioning in last week’s hearing about the sexual assault allegations against Brett M. Kavanaugh is arguing in a new memo why she would not bring criminal charges against the Supreme Court nominee.
In the five-page memo, obtained by the Washington Post, Rachel Mitchell (shown in a file photo) outlines more than half a dozen reasons why she thinks the testimony of Christine Blasey Ford — who has accused Kavanaugh of assaulting her at a house in suburban Maryland when they were teenagers in the early 1980s — has some key inconsistencies.
“A ‘he said, she said’ case is incredibly difficult to prove. But this case is even weaker than that,” Mitchell writes in the memo, sent Sunday night to all Senate Republicans. “Dr. Ford identified other witnesses to the event, and those witnesses either refuted her allegations or failed to corroborate them.”
Mitchell continued: “For the reasons discussed below, I do not think that a reasonable prosecutor would bring this case based on the evidence before the [Senate Judiciary] Committee. Nor do I believe that this evidence is sufficient to satisfy the preponderance-of-the-evidence standard.”
The memo is likely to prompt significant pushback from Democratic senators, who have argued that Ford is not on trial and that Kavanaugh is merely interviewing for a job. But the memo is clearly aimed at assuaging the concerns of a handful of GOP senators who are on the fence about whether to vote to confirm Kavanaugh and are considering whose story — Ford’s or Kavanaugh’s — to believe. The FBI is now investigating Ford’s accusations, as well as those of a second woman, Deborah Ramirez.
Public Broadcasting System (PBS), Dark Money, Director/Producer Kimberly Reed, Oct. 1, 2018 (premiere, 85 mins.). Check local listings. Synopsis: Dark Money, a political thriller, examines one of the greatest present threats to American democracy: the influence of untraceable corporate money on our elections and elected officials.
The film takes viewers to Montana — a frontline in the fight to preserve fair elections nationwide — to follow an intrepid local journalist working to expose the real-life impacts of the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United decision. Through this gripping story, Dark Money uncovers the shocking and vital truth of how American elections are bought and sold. Official Selection, 2018 Sundance Film Festival.
Director/Producer Kimberly Reed (shown at right) has had featured work on The Oprah Winfrey Show, CNN, NPR, The Moth and in Details magazine. One of Filmmaker Magazine's "25 New Faces of Independent Film," she directed and produced Prodigal Sons, which landed on many best of the year lists, screened at more than 100 film festivals and garnered 14 audience and jury awards, including a FIPRESCI Prize. Reed was recognized as one of Out magazine's "OUT100" and was number one on Towleroad's "Best LGBT Characters of the Film Year" list. She also produced, edited and wrote Paul Goodman Changed My Life and produced The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson. Reed is a fourth-generation Montanan.
September
Sept. 30
New York Times, Details of F.B.I.’s Kavanaugh Inquiry Show Its Restricted Range, Michael D. Shear, Sheryl Gay Stolberg, Maggie Haberman and Michael S. Schmidt Sept. 30, 2018 (print edition). The F.B.I. will interview four witnesses about sexual assault claims against Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh as part of a background check, not a full-fledged criminal investigation. The White House will decide the breadth of the inquiry and can order further investigation based on the findings from the four interviews.
As the nation focuses on the bitter fight over Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh, Washington’s Catholic cathedral held its annual Red Mass honoring Supreme Court justices and the judiciary on Sunday — with nary a word about the debate over whether to confirm President Trump’s pick.
Kavanaugh has touted his Catholic faith throughout his nomination hearings, including on Thursday when he testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in response to an allegation that he sexually assaulted a high school classmate in the early 1980s. But Kavanaugh, who was invited to the Mass as a member of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, was not spotted in the pews.
Cardinal Donald Wuerl, another figure of controversy at the moment, was also absent from the special Mass that he would typically lead.
Instead, Auxiliary Bishop Mario Dorsonville celebrated the Mass in the ornate St. Matthew’s Cathedral, and Monsignor Peter Vaghi preached a homily that focused on the Holy Spirit and on the Declaration of Independence.
“Could there not be a better time, both in our church and our nation, to benefit from the healing power of the Holy Spirit?” Vaghi said in his only nod to current controversies. “It is a power that treats the anger and divisions that so need the healing touch of our God if we are to continue our respective missions with love, genuine love for each other, and effectiveness.”
Each year, the cathedral hosts the Red Mass, named for the red garments that clergy wear in attendance at the start of the Supreme Court’s fall term. Supreme Court justices, local judges, and members of Congress and the Cabinet regularly attend. At this year’s Mass, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Clarence Thomas and Stephen G. Breyer attended, along with Anthony M. Kennedy, whose retirement from the court created the vacancy that Trump nominated Kavanaugh to fill.
Palmer Report, Analysis: Jeff Flake just said something on 60 Minutes that’s really bad news for Brett Kavanaugh, Bill Palmer, right, Sept. 30, 2018. The FBI investigation into Brett Kavanaugh only exists thanks to GOP Senator Jeff Flake and the heroes who pushed him into calling for it. Flake warned everyone up front that he’s still planning to support Kavanaugh in the full Senate vote unless the FBI probe turns up something disqualifying.
Now he’s defining the parameters of what would be disqualifying – and it’s really bad news for Kavanaugh.
Jeff Flake, left, made a point of putting himself in front of the cameras tonight when he appeared on 60 Minutes with his friend, Democratic Senator Chris Coons.
During the interview, Flake was asked this question: “If Judge Kavanaugh is shown to have lied to the Committee, nomination’s over?” Flake could have tried to hedge his bets or be vague about it, in the hope of giving himself wiggle room. Instead his answer consisted of only two words: “Oh yes.”
Palmer Report, Analysis: Deborah Ramirez has already dropped the FBI hammer on Brett Kavanaugh, Bill Palmer, Sept. 30, 2018. Even as controversy and chaos swirl around the scope of the FBI investigation into the sexual assault allegations into Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, the FBI is moving forward very quickly.
Deborah Ramirez, right, was interviewed by the FBI earlier today, according to a CNN report this evening. Not only that, she provided the FBI with a list of witnesses who can corroborate her sexual assault accusations against Brett Kavanaugh.
This is crucial in legal terms, and in the court of public opinion, because it prevents this from being a “he said, she said” situation. With witnesses saying that they saw Kavanaugh assault Ramirez, it makes it far harder for swing voters like Flake, Collins, and Murkowski to adopt a “we’ll never know what happened” stance.
Washington Post, Kellyanne Conway: ‘I’m a victim of sexual assault,’ Alex Horton, During an appearance on CNN, Sept. 30, 2018. The White House adviser suggested conservatives have become targets for political score settling.
The Senate Judiciary Committee approved Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court by a party line 11-10 vote on Sept. 28 but agreed also to let a key member negotiate for up to a week's delay for an FBI investigation before the nomination goes to the full Senate.
In a dramatic reversal Friday, Republican Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona, right, announced that he sought an FBI probe of sexual misconduct investigations before a vote by the full Senate, where Republicans hold a 51-49 majority.
Two other undecided senators, Republican Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia, announced that they would join Flake's position. That would put Kavanaugh's final approval in doubt if other senators vote as expected nearly along party lines.
New York Times, Opinion: Thank You, Jeff Flake. Maybe America Can Now Learn the Truth. Editorial Board, Sept. 29, 2018 (print edition). An attack of conscience by one Republican senator, Jeff Flake of Arizona, quickly reinforced by some wavering colleagues, compelled the Senate leadership and the White House to accede to common sense by commissioning an F.B.I. inquiry into the allegations of sexual assault against Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee.
Washington Post, FBI reaches out to 2nd woman who has accused Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct, Shane Harris, Matt Zapotosky, Tom Hamburger and Seung Min Kim, Sept. 29, 2018. The FBI has begun contacting people as part of an additional background investigation of Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, including a second woman who alleges that the Supreme Court nominee sexually assaulted her, according to people familiar with the unfolding investigation.
The bureau has reached out to Deborah Ramirez, a Yale University classmate of Kavanaugh’s who alleges that he shoved his genitals in her face at a party where she had been drinking and become disoriented. It was not clear that agents had yet interviewed Ramirez (shown at right in a photo by Benjamin Rasmusseen The New Yorker).
But the FBI is moving quickly to contact people as part of the new background investigation, which President Trump ordered on Friday under pressure from key members of his party.
Palmer Report, Analysis: Donald Trump begins backing down after he’s caught trying to rig FBI investigation into Brett Kavanaugh, Bill Palmer, Sept. 29, 2018. Earlier this evening, multiple major news outlets reported that Donald Trump had been caught trying to secretly place severe and absurd restrictions on the FBI investigation into Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, including forbidding the FBI from investigating the claims made by Julie Swetnick. Trump could only have gotten away with this if no one found out until it was too late to matter. Now that he’s been caught, predictably, he’s already begun backing down.
After the news broke, Trump’s Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah released a statement insisting that the FBI was free to investigate any and all aspects of the sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh. Because Trump and his White House have publicly staked themselves to this, Trump is not going to be able to keep the investigation limited.
In fact, because one of Trump’s official spokespeople just publicly told the FBI that it’s free to interview Swetnick, for all we know, the FBI may have taken this as an excuse to call Swetnick right now.
NBC News, White House limits scope of the FBI's investigation into the allegations against Brett Kavanaugh, Ken Dilanian, Geoff Bennett, Kristen Welker, Frank Thorp V, Hallie Jackson and Leigh Ann Caldwell, Sept. 29, 2018. The FBI has not been permitted to investigate the claims of Julie Swetnick, a White House official confirmed to NBC News. The White House is limiting the scope of the FBI’s investigation into the sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, multiple people briefed on the matter told NBC News.
While the FBI will examine the allegations of Christine Blasey Ford and Deborah Ramirez, the bureau has not been permitted to investigate the claims of Julie Swetnick, who has accused Kavanaugh of engaging in sexual misconduct at parties while he was a student at Georgetown Preparatory School in the 1980s, those people familiar with the investigation told NBC News. A White House official confirmed that Swetnick's claims will not be pursued as part of the reopened background investigation into Kavanaugh.
Ford said in Senate testimony Thursday that she was "100 percent" certain that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were both in high school. Ramirez alleged that he exposed himself to her when there were students at Yale. Kavanaugh has staunchly denied allegations from Ford, Ramirez, below left, and Swetnick, right.
Instead of investigating Swetnick's claims, the White House counsel’s office has given the FBI a list of witnesses they are permitted to interview, according to several people who discussed the parameters on the condition of anonymity.
They characterized the White House instructions as a significant constraint on the FBI investigation and caution that such a limited scope, while not unusual in normal circumstances, may make it difficult to pursue additional leads in a case in which a Supreme Court nominee has been accused of sexual assault.
President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the FBI has "free reign" in the investigation. "They’re going to do whatever they have to do," he said. "Whatever it is they do, they’ll be doing — things that we never even thought of. And hopefully at the conclusion everything will be fine."
Breaking News: Trump orders limits on FBI probe of Kavanaugh. Accuser Julie Swetnick's attorney responds:
"If true, this is outrageous," wrote Avenatti. "Why are Trump and his cronies in the Senate trying to prevent the American people from learning the truth? Why do they insist on muzzling women with information submitted under penalty of perjury? Why Ramirez but not my client?"
Palmer Report, Analysis: FBI is already ripping into Brett Kavanaugh’s life tonight, Bill Palmer, right, Sept. 29, 2018. How much can the FBI accomplish in the week it’s been given to investigate the accusations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh? Let’s just say that the bureau is hitting the ground running, with a vengeance. Not only is the FBI investigating multiple sexual assault accusations, it’s been seeking to conduct key interviews as soon as tonight.
This is important for two reasons. First, it confirms what Mitch McConnell’s office stated earlier this evening, which is that the FBI has been given the authority to investigate all the accusations, and not just those made by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.
Second, it demonstrates just how quickly the FBI is working on this. The sooner it can interview Kavanaugh’s various accusers, the sooner it can use their responses to zero in on which other potential witnesses and physical evidence to pursue. The FBI already has a leg-up even before these interviews, because Ford just finished giving detailed public testimony, while Ramirez and Swetnick have also gone public in detail.
All of this can be – and surely already is being – used to help guide the investigation even before the accuser interviews can be conducted.
Associated Press via Yahoo, Trump cites Kavanaugh to rally voters, staff report, Sept. 29, 2018. President Donald Trump is turning his embattled Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh into a rallying cry for Republicans to vote in November. He said at a West Virginia rally that they can help reject the "ruthless and outrageous tactics" he says Democrats used against the judge.
Trump won the state in 2016 by 42 percentage points and remains popular there.
Kavanaugh, the federal appeals judge Trump nominated to the nation's highest court, appeared headed for confirmation until California professor Christine Blasey (blah-zee) Ford accused him of sexually assaulting her when they were teenagers in Maryland in the 1980s. Kavanaugh denied her accusations and those of two other women since have accused him of sexual misconduct.
During his rally, President Donald Trump also poked fun at Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, considered a possible challenger to Trump in 2020. Booker is a former mayor of Newark, the state's largest city. Trump told the crowd that Booker "ran Newark, New Jersey into the ground" and asked: "now he wants to be president?"
The political underpinnings of the court — conservative justices nominated by Republican presidents, liberal ones named by Democrats — are never far from the surface. But justices on both sides strive to stress that ideological rather than partisan concerns account for their disagreements.
Brett Kavanaugh is not telling the whole truth. When President George W. Bush nominated him to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 2006, he told senators that he’d had nothing to do with the war on terror’s detention policies; that was not true. Kavanaugh also claimed under oath, that year and again this month, that he didn’t know that Democratic Party memos a GOP staffer showed him in 2003 were illegally obtained; his emails from that period reveal that these statements were probably false.
How could a man who appears to value honor and the integrity of the legal system explain this apparent mendacity? How could a man brought up in some of our nation’s most storied institutions — Georgetown Prep, Yale College, Yale Law School — dissemble with such ease? The answer lies in the privilege such institutions instill in their members, a privilege that suggests the rules that govern American society are for the common man, not the exceptional one.
Washington Post, New Kavanaugh inquiry draws FBI into partisan tug of war, Matt Zapotosky, Sept. 29, 2018 (print edition). The FBI has grown accustomed to its work being viewed through sharply partisan lenses. But President Trump’s order for a “supplemental investigation” of Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh presents challenges.
Washington Post, Details in Kavanaugh’s 1982 calendar entry could be scrutinized in FBI probe, Michael Kranish, Joe Heim and Emma Brown, Sept. 29, 2018 (print edition). Democrats have seized on the scrawled notes as possible evidence that could support Christine Blasey Ford’s charge that the Supreme Court nominee sexually assaulted her.
The deal to delay a final vote on President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee was made behind closed doors Friday — by two senators crammed into a battered, old-fashioned phone booth built for one.
“I always carried the fear that my parents would feel that they had failed in taking care of me if I told them,” Archila (co-executive director of the Center for Popular Democracy in New York) said Friday night in a phone interview with The Washington Post.
The encounter on Friday morning between Archila, a second woman and Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) has already become an iconic moment in the debate over Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court. With a CNN camera behind them broadcasting live, Archila and Maria Gallagher blocked the doors of an elevator for about five minutes in an effort to confront Flake about his just-announced support for Kavanaugh, who is facing several allegations of sexual misconduct.
Catholic Priests, Dean
Washington Post, Abuse settlement from 2005 with Cardinal Wuerl’s name raises questions, Michelle Boorstein and Julie Zauzmer, Sept. 29, 2018 (print edition). Cardinal Donald Wuerl, shown at right, who has said that he didn’t know about sexual misconduct complaints involving Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, was named in a 2005 settlement agreement that included allegations against McCarrick, according to the accuser and documents obtained by The Post.
“Swetnick is 55 y/o,” Rainford posted Wednesday on his @NCSSSDean Twitter account. “Kavanaugh is 52 y/o. Since when do senior girls hang with freshmen boys? If it happened when Kavanaugh was a senior, Swetnick was an adult drinking with&by her admission, having sex with underage boys. In another universe, he would be victim & she the perp!”
Teresa Crenshaw, a social worker who graduated from the master’s degree program at the school in 2017, said she was “really alarmed that he had the audacity to say those things because as social workers, we know we work one-on-one with survivors every day. . . . I’m appalled by what he has said.”
Brett Kavanaugh gave his endangered Supreme Court nomination new life on Sept. 27 with apparently perjured testimony and by playing the victim during a hearing on sexual assault charges that was rigged by his Republican backers.
Kavanaugh's emotional mixture of self-pitying tears, obvious lies and belligerence towards Democratic senators followed President Trump's rhetorical model of "deny, deny, deny" and vicious political partisanship.
Trump, formally accused by 19 women of sexual assault or other sexual misconduct, portrayed himself as a victim in a rambling, 80-minute press conference on Sept. 26 in which he complained about mistreatment of Kavanaugh.
The nominee, shown in an NBC News photo at left Thursday snarling his comments at Democrats, delivered a hoked-up temper tantrum that appeared to salvage his hopes for his confirmation following three major accusations of sexual misconduct and Kavanaugh's robotic performance on Monday night during a Fox television interview.
It came after Fox News commentators Mike Wallace and Brit Hume had described the nominee's accuser Christine Brasey Ford as highly credible in her earlier sworn testimony.
The majority of the Senate Judiciary Committee scheduled a vote on the nomination for 9:30 a.m. Friday, Sept. 28.
Dr. Brasey, right, told the committee that she was "100 percent" certain that Kavanaugh had been the drunken teenager who had tried to rape her at a party when she was 15, thereby inflicting lifelong emotional trauma.
Several former prosecutors now serving as cable television commentators, including Cynthia Aksne and Daniel Goldman on MSNBC, described the witness's mixture of first-person experience and expertise as a psychologist as the most effective witness that they had ever seen.
Roll Call, After Last-Second Talks to Delay, Judiciary Committee Advances Kavanaugh Nomination, John T. Bennett, Sept. 28, 2018. Flake joins other Republicans to set up floor vote despite call for delay. The Senate Judiciary Committee, after a gut-wrenching spectacle of a hearing Thursday and last-second negotiations among Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., right, and panel Democrats to delay a floor vote, voted to advance Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination to the chamber floor despite multiple sexual misconduct allegations against him.
The Friday vote was along party lines, 11-10, with all Democrats voting against him after siding with Christine Blasey Ford, who testified before the panel for four hours Thursday about her contention that Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed and intended to rape her in the early 1980s. She told the panel she came forward because she does not believe he should be a high court justice with a lifetime appointment.
“I think it would proper to delay the floor vote for up to but more than one week in order to let the FBI to do an investigation limited in time and scope to the current allegations that are there,” Flake said before the roll was called.
Halfway through a lengthy new exposé from the Washington Post, we find this sentence regarding the the FBI investigation in question: “If investigators uncover evidence that Kavanaugh lied to lawmakers during hearings or on his background-check forms, that could spark a criminal investigation in which law enforcement could use the full extent of its legal powers.”
This confirms Palmer Report’s earlier premise that once the FBI begins an investigation like this, there really are no limits to the FBI’s ability to follow the evidence to any and all federal crimes. By our count, Kavanaugh [shown in a Palmer Report graphic] appeared to commit at least four separate provable instances of perjury during his televised Senate testimony, even before the sexual assault accusations surfaced. He lied extensively about the circumstances under which he received and forwarded stolen emails, and among other issues.
This may help explain why Senate Democrats uniformly pushed so hard for an FBI investigation. Even if the FBI can’t prove within the next seven days that Brett Kavanaugh tried to rape Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, it can quickly and easily prove that he committed felony perjury.
New York Times, A Bitter Nominee, Questions of Neutrality, and a Damaged Supreme Court, Adam Liptak, right, Sept. 28, 2018. In the first round of his Supreme Court confirmation hearings early this month, Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh kept his cool under hostile questioning, stressed his independence, and exhibited the calm judicial demeanor that characterized his dozen years on a prestigious appeals court bench.
“The Supreme Court,” he said, “must never be viewed as a partisan institution.”
His performance on Thursday, responding to accusations of sexual misconduct at a hearing of the same Senate committee, sent a different message. Judge Kavanaugh was angry and emotional, embracing the language of slashing partisanship. His demeanor raised questions about his neutrality and temperament, and threatened the already fragile reputation of the Supreme Court as an institution devoted to law rather than politics.
“This whole two-week effort has been a calculated and orchestrated political hit,” he said, “fueled with apparent pent-up anger about President Trump and the 2016 election, fear that has been unfairly stoked about my judicial record, revenge on behalf of the Clintons and millions of dollars in money from outside left-wing opposition groups.”
In a sharp break with decorum, Judge Kavanaugh responded to questions about his drinking from two Democratic senators — Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island — with questions of his own about theirs. He later apologized to Ms. Klobuchar.
Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh before Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept. 27, 2018 (Reuters photo by Jim Berg via NBC News)
“To my Republican colleagues, if you vote no, you’re legitimizing the most despicable thing I’ve seen in my time in politics,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said.
Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh called his confirmation process a “national disgrace” and denied sexual assault allegations, which Christine Blasey Ford detailed in testimony earlier.
Deadspin via YouTube,
%20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Humor/Advocacy: Here’s Brett Kavanaugh Mentioning Beer During His Senate Hearing (34 mins.), Staff report, Sept. 28, 2018.
Washington Post, 3 takeaways from the Kavanaugh hearing so far, Amber Phillips, Sept. 28, 2018 (print edition). Republicans struggled to show they are taking it seriously. Meanwhile, Christine Blasey Ford, shown at right, cut a sympathetic, down-to-earth figure.
1. This isn’t going well for Republicans
2. Meanwhile, Ford came across as credible, emotional and sympathetic
3. Republicans' decision to hand their questions over to a female prosecutor is seeming questionable.
New York Times, Kavanaugh Denies Sexual Assault Charges and Attacks Democrats in Scathing Testimony, Staff report, Sept. 28, 2018 (print edition). At an extraordinary hearing, Brett M. Kavanaugh denied that he sexually assaulted Christine Blasey Ford when they were in high school. In an angry statement to the Senate Judicial Committee he said the Supreme Court confirmation process had become “a national disgrace.”
Ashley Kavanaugh, 42, is a US public official and former political aide. She served as Personal Secretary to President George W. Bush, shown at right, from the start of his Presidency to 2004. Prior to that, she served as an assistant to Bush during his tenure as Governor of Texas and also during his presidential campaign.
Ashley is currently town manager of Chevy Chase Section Five, Maryland. She graduated from Abilene Cooper High School in 1993 and attended the University of Texas.
Kavanaugh -- a judge of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia -- married Ashley Estes in 2004 and they have two children, Liza and Margaret. She met her husband while working in the Bush White House in 2001, when she served as the president’s personal secretary.
Ashley was quick to appear on television to defend her husband amid the accusations made against him. In a Fox News interview, Ashley said the claims were "hard to believe." She told the network: "I know Brett. I've known him for 17 years," she said. "He's decent, he's kind, he's good. I know his heart. This is not consistent with Brett."
The Hill, Jesuit magazine calls for Kavanaugh nomination to be withdrawn, Tal Axelrod, Sept. 27, 2018. The editors of America Magazine, a Jesuit publication, called on President Trump to withdraw Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination.
The piece was published after Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, a woman who accused Kavanaugh of trying to rape her in 1982 at a house party, testified before of the Senate Judiciary Committee about the allegations.
The editors wrote a piece in July praising Trump's nomination of Kavanaugh to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy and Kavanaugh’s pro-life stance.
“Judge Kavanaugh is a textualist who is suspicious of the kind of judicial innovation that led to the court’s ruling in Roe. That decision removed a matter of grave moral concern—about which there was and remains no public moral consensus—from the democratic process,” they wrote at the time.
Kavanaugh attended Georgetown Preparatory School, a Jesuit high school.
The magazine’s reversal reflects the tumult into which sexual misconduct allegations have thrown Kavanaugh’s confirmation process.
JIP Editor's Note: We excerpt the column below to debunk the right-wing propaganda smearing sexual assault victim Christine Brasey Ford. We do not endorse the obviously false claims that are being made against her.
Media Matters, Right-wing conspiracy theorists now claim Christine Blasey Ford is “deeply tied to the CIA,” Sarah Wasko, Sept. 28, 2018. Conservative radio host and conspiracy theorist Michael Savage is promoting a rapidly spreading conspiracy theory that professor Christine Blasey Ford, right, who says Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were in high school, has “deep” connections to the Central Intelligence Agency.
Savage has pushed incredibly bizarre conspiracy theories and hateful rhetoric, and he has been closely connected to President Donald Trump and the White House. He pushed the latest conspiracy theory on Twitter and his website:
IS DR. FORD DEEPLY TIED TO THE CIA? — Michael Savage (@ASavageNation) 2:59 PM - Sep 27, 2018 Savage’s conspiracy theory makes three claims about Ford’s connections to the CIA, all of which are false or baseless:
1. The post claims that Ford “happens to head up the CIA undergraduate internship program at Stanford University.” This claim seems to originate from a conspiracy theory website, brassballs.blog, that drew this conclusion because Stanford does have an undergraduate CIA internship program, and Ford, who is a psychology professor at nearby Palo Alto University, is also listed as an “affiliate” in the “psychiatry and behavioral sciences” department at Stanford. The blog post argues that it is suspicious that Ford’s contact information has been deleted from her Stanford profile page, although the more likely explanation is that it has been removed due to the threats and harassment that Ford has received since coming forward.
2. The theory draws another connection between Ford and the CIA via her brother’s previous work for law firm BakerHostetler. A previous Ford-related conspiracy theory connected her brother’s work at BakerHostetler to Fusion GPS, a research firm involved in the ongoing Russian collusion investigation. However, Ford’s brother left BakerHostetler six years before Fusion GPS was ever founded. Savage’s conspiracy theory repeats this false claim and goes even further, claiming that three CIA-controlled businesses are located in the same building as BakerHostetler. There is no evidence these businesses are connected to the CIA -- in fact, one, Red Coats, Inc., is a janitorial company that does not even share office space with BakerHostetler.
3. Savage’s post also claims that Ford is the granddaughter of Nicholas Deak, who worked with the CIA during the Cold War. According to his 1985 Washington Post obituary, Deak only had one child, a son named R. Leslie Deak. But as the conspiracy theory’s second claim also notes, Ford’s father is actually Ralph Blasey Jr.Savage’s false claim is rapidly spreading, and was promoted during Alex Jones’ September 28 broadcast. The conspiracy theory is also indicative of how search platforms like Google amplify such clear falsehoods. A Google search for “Christine Ford CIA” done in a private browsing window aggregated YouTube videos pushing the conspiracy theory and Savage’s website as the top results:
Washington Post, Several Democrats walk out of Kavanaugh meeting in protest, Seung Min Kim and John Wagner, Sept. 28, 2018. Senate committee decides along party lines to vote on nomination this afternoon. Red-state Democrat Sen. Joe Donnelly said he would vote against Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh. The Republicans had been courting him as well as Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.).
After Sen. Jeff Flake’s announcement that he would, in fact, vote to confirm Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court, the emotional debate over the confirmation spilled into the halls of Congress, on live television, as two women tearfully and loudly confronted the Arizona Republican in an elevator, telling Flake that he was dismissing the pain of sexual assault survivors.
“What you are doing is allowing someone who actually violated a woman to sit in the Supreme Court,” one woman shouted during a live CNN broadcast as Flake was making his way to a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting. “This is horrible. You have children in your family. Think about them.”
Palmer Report, Opinion: Donald Trump’s pal Alan Dershowitz shockingly tries to put the brakes on Brett Kavanaugh nomination, Bill Palmer, right, Sept. 28, 2018. After Dr. Christine Blasey Ford gave credible and compelling testimony yesterday alleging that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh tried to rape her, and Kavanaugh responded by having a mental breakdown during his own subsequent testimony, various entities called for a halt to the nomination so an FBI investigation could be conducted.
Not surprisingly, the American Bar Association was among them. Shockingly, so was Donald Trump’s pal Alan Dershowitz.
Not long before midnight eastern time, it was widely reported that the ABA had sent a letter to Chuck Grassley and Dianne Feinstein, arguing that the FBI must step in and help determine whether Kavanaugh or Ford is telling the truth. This is a major development, but perhaps not surprising.
On the one hand, with the Brett Kavanaugh nomination now rapidly shaping up as a stain on American history, it’s possible that Alan Dershowitz may simply be trying to avoid taking one more reputational hit as he continues to turn into more of a Trump shill.
On the other hand, maybe Dershowitz really is trying to talk Trump into moving on from Kavanaugh, for fear that pushing any further forward could backfire.
Lindsey Graham, right, who could become Senate Judiciary Committee chairman next year, warned his Democratic colleagues Friday that he will remember how they handled the Brett Kavanaugh saga.
“If I am chairman, next year, I’m going to remember this,” the South Carolina Republican said before a planned vote on the Supreme Court nominee.
“There’s the process before Kavanaugh and the process after Kavanaugh. If you want to vet the nominee, you can. If you want to delay things until after the election, you cannot. If you try to destroy somebody, you will not get away with it.”
CNN, Democrats seize on circumstantial July 1 theory for Kavanaugh and Ford, Zach Wolf, Sept. 28, 2018. CNN Sen. Jeff Flake demanded a potentially week-long pause on the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh Friday so the FBI could do a limited investigation in to the sexual assault allegation levied against him by Christine Blasey Ford in searing testimony Thursday.
Vox, Every time Ford and Kavanaugh dodged a question, in one chart, Alvin Chang, Sept. 28, 2018. There was a striking difference in style — and substance. There were several noticeable differences between the Senate testimony of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and the woman accusing him of sexual assault, Christine Blasey Ford.
The most obvious was the tone each took. Ford was polite and quiet in recounting her accusation against Kavanaugh; he was angry and loud in his denials of the allegations against him.
Beyond the style of their testimonies, there was a striking difference in the content of their words. Both Ford and Kavanaugh fielded questions from senators and the prosecutor hired by Republicans, Rachel Mitchell.
The Intercept, Kavanaugh’s High School, Georgetown Prep, Warned Parents in 1990 of “Sexual or Violent Behavior” at Parties, Jon Schwarz and Camille Baker, Sept. 28, 2018. According to a 1990 article in the Washington Post, the headmasters from seven prestigious Washington, D.C.-area private schools sent a joint letter that year to parents, warning them that their children had developed a party culture that included heavy drinking leading to “sexual or violent behavior.”
One of the schools was Georgetown Prep, from which Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh graduated in 1983. Christine Blasey Ford, who during congressional testimony on Thursday described being sexually assaulted by Kavanaugh in 1982, attended another of the schools, Holton-Arms.
The Post article also reported that before the letter was sent, Georgetown Prep had individually “held a conference with parents to discuss the problem of unsupervised parties.”
Malcolm Coates, then the headmaster of the Landon School in Bethesda, Maryland, is quoted as saying that the schools decided to write the letter jointly “to give it more impact. … The fact that seven schools decided it was enough of a problem to address it is significant.”
Other Scandal Claims
Seattle Times, Seattle woman says state Sen. Joe Fain raped her in 2007; Fain denies allegation, Heidi Groover, Mike Baker and Joseph O’Sullivan, Sept. 28, 2018. A Seattle woman said Thursday that prominent Washington state Sen. Joe Fain raped her after her college graduation in 2007. Fain denied the accusation and called for an investigation into the alleged incident.
The woman, Candace Faber, tweeted about Fain on Thursday afternoon and later issued a statement saying “we cannot heal without accountability.” The tweet came after hours of televised testimony on sexual-assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
Faber said in her tweet that the assault occurred the night she graduated from Georgetown University. She had previously written a post about being assaulted by someone serving in the Washington state Legislature, but did not include a name.
In that earlier account, posted online in June, she described how she and the lawmaker met “at the Capitol” and spent a night out drinking and kissing. She wrote that she helped the drunken man return to his hotel room. In the room, she wrote, he pulled down her dress “so hard the straps tore.”
She wrote that she pushed him away and said “stop, stop, stop” before eventually relenting. She later asked him for a kiss goodbye, she wrote, and wondered whether she should go to the hospital.
Fain, a Republican from Auburn, denied Faber’s account in a text message to The Seattle Times. “I absolutely deny what Ms. Faber is accusing me of,” Fain said. “Any allegation of this serious nature deserves to be heard and investigated for all parties involved. I invite and will cooperate with any inquiry. I ask everyone to show respect to Ms. Faber and to the process.”
Sept. 27
Supreme Court Battle
Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh before Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept. 27, 2018 (Reuters photo by Jim Berg via NBC News)
Sen. Jeff Flake, seen as a key swing vote who could either put Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court or kill his chances, is not committing to voting for the nominee at a Friday morning Judiciary Committee markup.
The Arizona Republican sounded very conflicted Thursday evening following a meeting of the Senate Republican Conference after the Judiciary panel spent nearly nine hours Thursday hearing from Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused him of sexually assaulting her at a party decades ago when they were both in high school.
New York Magazine, Opinion: Why Brett Kavanaugh’s Hearings Convinced Me That He’s Guilty, Jonathan Chait, Sept. 27, 2018. I think Brett Kavanaugh is probably lying about having sexually assaulted Christine Blasey Ford, and many other things, and has decided from the beginning to say what he has to in order to fulfill his career ambition.
There is, however, at least some, small chance that he is telling the truth when he professes his innocence. And that small chance gives me some sympathetic human reaction to his emotional testimonial. If he is somehow innocent, as he claims, he has been subject to a horrifying and humiliating ordeal.
That, however, does not justify confirming Kavanaugh to a lifelong position on the Supreme Court. He has, for one thing, all but abandoned the posture of impartiality demanded of a judge. A ranting Kavanaugh launched angry, evidence-free charges against Senate Democrats. Why they took this revenge against Kavanaugh, rather than the first justice who was appointed after the 2016 elections, when Democrats’ anger over both the election and the treatment of Merrick Garland ran hotter, he did not say. Kavanaugh does not seem able to imagine even the possibility that Democrats actually believe the women accusing him of sexual assault. He is consumed with paranoid, partisan rage.
The method Republicans have used to defend Kavanaugh has consisted of suppressing most of the evidence that could be brought to bear in the hearing, and then complaining about the lack of evidence. “Unless something new comes forward, you have just an emotional accusation and an emotional denial without corroboration,” said Senator Lindsey Graham. Conservative columnist Kimberly Strassel argued, “The standard here isn’t where you ‘look’ or ‘sound’ ‘credible.’ It is whether you provide evidence.”
Washington Post, 3 takeaways from the Kavanaugh hearing so far, Amber Phillips, Sept. 27, 2018. Republicans struggled to show they are taking it seriously. Meanwhile, Christine Blasey Ford, shown at right, cut a sympathetic, down-to-earth figure.
1. This isn’t going well for Republicans2. Meanwhile, Ford came across as credible, emotional and sympathetic3. Republicans' decision to hand their questions over to a female prosecutor is seeming questionable.
New York Times, Kavanaugh Denies Sexual Assault Charges and Attacks Democrats in Scathing Testimony, Staff report, Sept. 27, 2018. At an extraordinary hearing, Brett M. Kavanaugh denied that he sexually assaulted Christine Blasey Ford when they were in high school. In an angry statement to the Senate Judicial Committee he said the Supreme Court confirmation process had become “a national disgrace.”
He lamented that his name and that of his family have been “totally and permanently destroyed by vicious and false … accusations.”
Three women have come forward with allegations of sexual assault or sexual misconduct against Kavanaugh. Christine Blasey Ford, his first accuser who testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier Thursday, has accused the nominee of sexually assaulting her at a party in the 1980s when the two were in high school. Supreme Court nominee aggressively foists blame on Democrats, accuses them of character assassination.
HuffPost via Yahoo, Man Who Pushed To Ask Bill Clinton Sexually Explicit Questions Bemoans Dirty Politics, Amanda Terkel, Sept. 27, 2018. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh came out swinging on Thursday, telling the Senate Judiciary Committee that his confirmation process had become a “national disgrace” and bemoaning the partisan politics around it.
“The Constitution gives the Senate an important role in the confirmation process, but you have replaced advice and consent with search and destroy,” he said angrily in his opening remarks. “Since my nomination in July, there has been a frenzy on the left to come up with something, anything to block my confirmation.”
The dirty politics Kavanaugh is alleging should be no surprise to him, since he spent part of his career in that world.
Kavanaugh cut his teeth in Washington working for what Democrats consider to be the most brazen and partisan crusade in modern politics: Ken Starr’s investigations into President Bill Clinton in the 1990s. He spent more than three years working for the independent counsel, who was looking into various scandals surrounding Clinton and his wife, Hillary.
Kavanaugh personally urged Starr to expand the Whitewater investigation to include looking at the death of White House staffer Vince Foster, a controversy that was a partisan attempt to use a man’s death to go after the Clintons.
Foster died by suicide in 1993, a conclusion reached by U.S. Park Police (his body was found in a park) and the FBI. In fact, multiple investigations concurred that it was a suicide.
Yet in March 1995, after those reviews, Kavanaugh called for a “full-fledged investigation” into Foster’s death. That inquiry helped validate right-wing conspiracy theorists who believed that the Clintons killed Foster, and the matter outraged Foster’s family.
During the Monica Lewinsky inquiry, Kavanaugh pressed Starr to ask Clinton sexually graphic questions about his relationship with the White House intern.
Washington Post, Ford finishes her testimony, Kavanaugh to testify, Seung Min Kim, Ann E. Marimow, Mike DeBonis and Elise Viebeck, Sept. 27, 2018. Sen. Hatch, right, calls Christine Blasey Ford an ‘attractive’ witness.
Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the longest-serving member of the Senate, was asked whether Ford was “credible” in her testimony. “I don’t think she’s un-credible." he said. "I think she’s an attractive, good witness."
New York Times, Nomination in the Balance as Kavanaugh and His Accuser Testify, Catie Edmondson, Sept. 27, 2018. Christine Blasey Ford, shown in a file photo, is set to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify about her accusation that Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her. Since Dr. Blasey came forward, two more women have accused Judge Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct at parties in high school and in college.
An hour before the hearing, Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington, held a news conference in support of Dr. Blasey, flanked by trauma experts who spoke of the difficult and often hostile cultural attitudes faced by survivors of sexual abuse.
Ms. Murray, left, was one of a number of female senators who was emboldened to run for office after watching Anita F. Hill testify in 1991, and she referenced that experience directly, calling on her colleagues to learn from their past mistakes.
“In 1991, I and millions of women across the country watched as Anita Hill was interrogated and attacked and the Senate failed this crucial test,” Ms. Murray said. “Twenty-seven years later, in 2018, we need to do better and we certainly should not do worse.”
As Ms. Murray delivered her remarks, dozens of protesters supporting Dr. Blasey poured into the Hart Senate Office Building, chanting “we won’t go back” and wearing shirts that said “Believe Women.” Four young women, wearing their Holton-Arms uniforms, walked through the Hart office buildings hallways, arms linked together.
Republican U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Members
Washington Post, Who is Julie Swetnick, the third accuser? Michael E. Miller, Steve Hendrix, Jessica Contrera and Ian Shapira, July 27, 2018. The 55-year-old is an experienced web developer in the Washington area and has held multiple security clearances for her work on government-related networks.
Julie Swetnick, right, who Wednesday became the third woman to accuse Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct, is an experienced Web developer in the Washington area who has held multiple security clearances for her work on government-related networks.
The child of two government bureaucrats — her father worked on the lunar orbiter for NASA and her mother was a geologist at the Atomic Energy Commission — has spent most of her life around Washington. Now 55, she grew up in Maryland and graduated in 1980 from Gaithersburg High School, located in a far less affluent section of the same county where Kavanaugh lived and attended an exclusive prep school.
Swetnick’s father, 95, said Wednesday he was shocked to learn from a Washington Post reporter that his daughter had made the explosive allegations.
New York Times, What We Know About Rachel Mitchell, the Arizona Prosecutor Set to Question Kavanaugh’s First Accuser, Matt Stevens, Sept. 27, 2018 (print edition). The Senate Judiciary Committee’s Republican leadership said Tuesday that it had retained Rachel Mitchell, an Arizona prosecutor specializing in sex crimes, to help question Christine Blasey Ford, Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh’s first accuser. Rachel Mitchell, right, is shown during a TV interview in 2011 (Screenshot from ABC 15.)
The move allows Republicans to avoid having the 11 men who are part of the committee and in their party grill Dr. Blasey on Thursday about the alleged sexual assault in high school that she says a young Judge Kavanaugh carried out.
Trump Psyche
Washington Post, Trump laments #MeToo as ‘very dangerous’ for powerful men, Philip Rucker, Robert Costa, Josh Dawsey and Ashley Parker, Sept. 27, 2018 (print edition). President Trump, shown in a file photo, cast doubt on the credibility of three women who have accused Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct and other women who have claimed sexual abuse by prominent men.
CNN guest commentators Kirsten Powers and Michael Caputo, right, squared off on the show of Anderson Cooper, left.
Washington Post, ‘I called out his victim blaming and he lost it,’ says Kirsten Powers after Michael Caputo’s CNN meltdown, Allyson Chiu, Sept. 27, 2018. Michael Caputo, a former Trump campaign aide turned political strategist and conservative pundit, was thrust into the spotlight after having what many are calling a “meltdown” during a heated panel discussion about the controversial allegations against Kavanaugh on Anderson Cooper’s “AC360” Wednesday night.
A new accuser has named Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh on Sept. 26 as being present during her long ago gang rape at a party.
But justice seekers need much tougher tactics to counter the ruthless senators and their puppet masters who are now ramming the nominee through to confirmation without an honest investigation.
This column argues that reformers need to implement five strategies beginning today before the sham Senate hearing that is scheduled Thursday for new accusations against Kavanaugh. [The column has been updated after being published early on Wednesday, Sept. 26, which was before attorney Michael Avenatti announced the identity of his client who would make explosive charges against Kavanaugh.]
Later that morning, Avenatti released via Twitter a sworn statement by a longtime federal employee, Julie Swetnick, identifying Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge as being present for a “gang rape” that Swetnick said victimized her at one one of about of about 10 house parties she says that she attended with them in the Washington, DC area in the early 1980s. She is shown at left in a photo released by her attorney.
“I also witnessed," the statement said, "efforts by Mark Judge, Brett Kavanaugh and others to cause girls to become inebriated and disoriented so they could then be ‘gang raped’ in a side room or bedroom by a ‘train’ of numerous boys ... These boys included Mark Judge and Brett Kavanaugh ... In approximately 1982, I became the victim of one of these ‘gang’ or ‘train’ rapes where Mark Judge and Brett Kavanaugh were present,” she added.
Avenatti wrote also, "Here is a picture of my client Julie Swetnick. She is courageous, brave and honest. We ask that her privacy and that of her family be respected."
Kavanaugh responded by reiterating his denial of wrongdoing. In a rambling 80-minute press conference filled vague if not misleading comments, President Trump restated his support for Kavanaugh, his denunciations of Avenatti and left open the possibility that he might change his mind after hearing from Kavanaugh's accusers in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Thursday.
Trump seemed unaware for most of the conference until near the end that Senate Republicans have not permitted Swetnick and another accuser, Deborah Ramirez, either to speak to the committee or to the FBI in a renewed investigation. Trump said also that his own experience in being accused of sexual misconduct had made him especially sympathetic to Kavanaugh.
The Hill, Avenatti releases client’s identity, allegations against Kavanaugh, Tal Axelrod, Sept. 26, 2018. Avenatti claims client has 'credible information' on Kavanaugh, ex-classmate. Michael Avenatti, the attorney representing adult film actress Stormy Daniels in her suit against President Trump released the identity of his client accusing Brett Kavanaugh of being present for a “gang rape” of which she was a victim.
Avenatti tweeted out a sworn testimony from Julie Swetnick, shown above, in which she declares she met Kavanaugh in “approximately 1980-1981” and attended several house parties for which Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge were also present.
Her affidavit states:
“I witnessed Mark Judge and Brett Kavanaugh drink excessively and engage in highly inappropriate conduct, including being overly aggressive with girls and not taking ‘No’ for an answer. This conduct included the fondling and grabbing of girls without their consent,” Swetnick writes.
“I also witnessed efforts by Mark Judge [shown at right], Brett Kavanaugh and others to cause girls to become inebriated and disoriented so they could then be ‘gang raped’ in a side room or bedroom by a ‘train’ of numerous boys ... These boys included Mark Judge and Brett Kavanaugh ... In approximately 1982, I became the victim of one of these ‘gang’ or ‘train’ rapes where Mark Judge and Brett Kavanaugh were present,” she added.
Avenatti wrote: "Here is a picture of my client Julie Swetnick. She is courageous, brave and honest. We ask that her privacy and that of her family be respected."
Avenatti, who has not ruled out a bid for the White House in 2020, said, “Under no circumstances should Brett Kavanaugh be confirmed absent a full and complete investigation.”
Below is my correspondence to Mr. Davis of moments ago, together with a sworn declaration from my client. We demand an immediate FBI investigation into the allegations. Under no circumstances should Brett Kavanaugh be confirmed absent a full and complete investigation.
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) 10:42 AM - Sep 26, 2018.
Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh [shown in a screenshot from the confirmation hearing] is scheduled to appear Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee at a high-stakes hearing. The committee will hear from Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who says President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee sexually assaulted her when both were teenagers.
Lawmakers from both parties and lawyers for Kavanaugh and Ford maneuvered for advantage on the eve of the hearing, and President Trump weighed in on the fate of his nominee.
12:50 p.m.: Trump attacks Avenatti as ‘a total low-life!’
President Trump on Wednesday lashed out at Michael Avenatti, the lawyer representing a new accuser of Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh.
“Avenatti is a third rate lawyer who is good at making false accusations, like he did on me and like he is now doing on Judge Brett Kavanaugh,” Trump said in a tweet. “He is just looking for attention and doesn’t want people to look at his past record and relationships - a total low-life!”
Avenatti also represents Stormy Daniels, the adult film actress who was paid by a personal attorney for Trump to remain quiet about an alleged decade-old affair with Trump.
On Wednesday, Avenatti revealed that he is representing Julie Swetnick, who said Kavanaugh was physically abusive toward girls in high school and present at a house party in 1982 where she says she was the victim of a “gang” rape.
12:45 p.m.: Grassley says new accuser won’t affect Thursday’s hearing
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) said the emergence of a third accuser would not affect the hearing scheduled Thursday at which the panel will hear from Christine Blasey Ford about her allegations of sexual assault against Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh.
Speaking to reporters, Grassley cited Ford’s welfare. “I feel we shouldn’t disadvantage Dr. Ford any more than she’s already been disadvantaged,” he said.
12:30: Kavanaugh says third accuser’s allegations are ‘from the Twilight Zone’
Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh on Wednesday dismissed the allegations of a third accuser as “ridiculous and from the Twilight Zone.” Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh is scheduled to appear Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee at a high-stakes hearing. The committee will hear from Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who says President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee sexually assaulted her when both were teenagers.
Lawmakers from both parties and lawyers for Kavanaugh and Ford maneuvered for advantage on the eve of the hearing, and President Trump weighed in on the fate of his nominee.
Washington Post, Arizona prosecutor Rachel Mitchell emerges as GOP choice to question Kavanaugh and accuser at hearing, Sean Sullivan, Josh Dawsey and Rosalind S. Helderman, Sept. 26, 2018 (print edition). Arizona prosecutor Rachel Mitchell has emerged as Senate Republicans’ choice to question Brett M. Kavanaugh and the woman who has accused the Supreme Court nominee of sexually assaulting her when they were teenagers, according to two people familiar with the decision.
Mitchell, the sex crimes bureau chief for the Maricopa County Attorney’s office in Phoenix, is the leading candidate to query the two at Thursday’s highly anticipated hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee, according to the individuals.
They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it on the record. A registered Republican, Mitchell has worked for the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office for 26 years.
Washington Post, Brett Kavanaugh has no good choices anymore, Deanna Paul, Sept. 26, 2018. Allegations of decades-old sexual misconduct resurfaced days before Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh was all but set to sail through his confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court. Kavanaugh categorically denied each claim of misconduct in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee and in an interview with Fox News on Monday, vowing to fight the accusations and defend himself.
The controversial nominee is faced with two unattractive options: withdraw or testify at a second hearing Thursday. He has pledged to do the latter, though either leaves his name tarnished.
“It’s difficult to imagine an exit strategy that’s not personally and professionally devastating for Kavanaugh,” Jonathan Turley, a George Washington University Law School professor, told The Washington Post on Tuesday. Those encouraging the federal judge to withdraw are telling him to cut his losses, Turley said. But the losses are quite considerable.
New York Times, Kavanaugh’s Calendar Portrays Party-Filled Summer for Supreme Court Nominee, Nicholas Fandos, Sept. 26, 2018. The Senate Judiciary Committee released the handwritten calendar pages kept by a teenage Brett Kavanaugh from the summer of 1982. Further clouding Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation, a third woman has come forward to accuse him of misconduct during high school.
The Senate Judiciary Committee released calendar pages [one is shown] from the summer of 1982 on Wednesday that paint an image of a party-hopping Brett M. Kavanaugh in high school, complicating his self-drawn portrait of a diligent student obsessed mainly with sports and reaching the top of his class
At the same time, lawyers for the woman who has accused Judge Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her that summer, Christine Blasey Ford, gave the committee four affidavits — one from Dr. Blasey’s husband and three from friends — stating that she had told them in recent years that President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee had assaulted her in high school.
Released as both sides prepare for an extraordinary public hearing before the Judiciary Committee on Thursday, neither disclosure proves or disproves the cases that Dr. Blasey or Judge Kavanaugh have sought to advance, but Democratic senators are likely to use the calendars to question how truthful Judge Kavanaugh has been about his younger days. And although the affidavits suggest that Dr. Blasey’s story has been consistent, Republicans are more likely to focus on the lack of contemporaneous evidence that could corroborate her story.
The move allows Republicans to avoid having the 11 men who are part of the committee and in their party grill Dr. Blasey on Thursday about the alleged sexual assault in high school that she says a young Judge Kavanaugh carried out.
Politico, Feinstein: Kavanaugh misled about grand jury secrecy in Vince Foster probe, Josh Gerstein, Sept. 26, 2018. The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee is accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of misleading the Senate about his handling of grand jury secrets while working for Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr two decades ago.
Kavanaugh's nomination has run into trouble in the last two weeks over allegations of sexual assault by two women, but Democrats have also complained that he misled them during his Senate testimony on a number of issues, including his handling of warrantless wiretapping and detainee policy in the George W. Bush administration.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, right, told Politico that she has now identified another area in which she believes Kavanaugh was not truthful in communications with senators. She said that by directing officials to speak to reporters during the investigation of President Bill Clinton, Kavanaugh may have violated grand jury secrecy laws -- even though he told her and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) he never broke those rules.
"According to a memo from the National Archives, Brett Kavanaugh instructed Hickman Ewing, a colleague and deputy counsel in the Starr investigation, to ‘call [Chris] Ruddy’ about matters before a grand jury, which would be illegal to disclose," Feinstein said in a statement to POLITICO. "I asked Judge Kavanaugh in questions for the record whether he had shared ‘information learned through grand jury proceedings.’ His answer, which says that he acted ‘consistent with the law,’ conflicts with the official memo from Mr. Ewing. Disclosing grand jury information is against the law and would be troubling for any lawyer, especially one applying for a promotion to the highest court in the country.”
Dozens of women have publicly accused Cosby, right, of sexual assault in incidents dating from the 1960s and through the 2000s. The prosecution had requested a 5- to 10-year sentence for the 81-year-old entertainer. Cosby has vowed to appeal.
Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-IA), right, has rescheduled a committee vote on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh for this upcoming Friday. That’s just one day after a hearing that will take place on Thursday, which is set to scrutinize sexual misconduct and assault allegations that have been brought against Kavanaugh.
Grassley’s announcement of the committee vote is the latest signal that Republicans are ready to barrel ahead with Kavanaugh’s confirmation, in spite of the recent accusations that have been levied by Christine Blasey Ford and Deborah Ramirez. Ford — who has said that Kavanaugh tried to force himself on her while both of them were in high school — is set to testify, along with Kavanaugh, on Thursday. Kavanaugh has unequivocally denied all of the allegations.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday emphasized that he was eager to hear from Ford — while simultaneously casting doubt on the legitimacy of her allegations.
Kent Sinclair, Douglas Rutzen and Mark Osler were among roughly two dozen of Kavanaugh’s law school classmates who lauded Kavanaugh’s qualifications in an Aug. 27 letter to leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Their support for an investigation came as Yale Law professor Akhil Amar, right — who taught Kavanaugh and testified on his behalf before the committee this month — also called for a probe into what he described as “serious accusations” from the women.
"We are now in a place where it's not about whether or not Judge Kavanaugh is qualified," Ms. Murkowski, right, a key swing Republican vote, said in an extended interview in the Capitol Monday night. "It is about whether or not a woman who has been a victim at some point in her life is to be believed."
New York Times, Trump Accuses Democrats of Running 'Con Game' Against Kavanaugh, Mark Landler and Peter Baker, Sept. 25, 2018. Speaking in New York, President Trump disparaged a woman who accused Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh of exposing himself to her, saying she was "messed up" and "drunk" at the time.
President Trump accused Democrats of orchestrating "a con game" against Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh in hopes of blocking his ascension to the Supreme Court and said that one of two women who have accused the nominee of misconduct as a student was "messed up" and "drunk" at the time.
Washington Post, German report documents more than 3,600 abuse cases within the Catholic Church, Luisa Beck and Chico Harlan, Sept. 25, 2018. A report to be released Tuesday documents the sexual abuse of more than 3,600 people by 1,670 clergy members within Germany's Catholic Church over a period of 68 years — and even those numbers probably underestimate the scale of the problem, the authors say.
Abuse of that magnitude constitutes one of the largest Catholic Church scandals in Europe. But at the same time, it is not altogether surprising to many church watchers. Evidence of widespread abuse and its coverup has been found in every jurisdiction that has launched an investigation. Australia, Chile and several U.S. states are part of the growing list.
Famed Model Speaks Out
New York Times, Opinion: I Was Raped at 16 and I Kept Silent, Padma Lakshmi, Sept. 25, 2018. Ms. Lakshmi (shown below in her Twitter photo) is an A.C.L.U. ambassador for immigration and women's rights. I understand why a woman would wait years to disclose a sexual assault.
When I was 16 years old, I started dating a guy I met at the Puente Hills Mall in a Los Angeles suburb. I worked there after school at the accessories counter at Robinsons-May. He worked at a high-end men's store. He would come in wearing a gray silk suit and flirt with me. He was in college, and I thought he was charming and handsome. He was 23.
When we went out, he would park the car and come in and sit on our couch and talk to my mother. He never brought me home late on a school night. We were intimate to a point, but he knew that I was a virgin and that I was unsure of when I would be ready to have sex.
On New Year's Eve, just a few months after we first started dating, he raped me.
Sept. 24
Roll Call, Mitch McConnell Reaffirms Vow for Senate to Vote on Kavanaugh, Niels Lesniewski, Sept. 24, 2018. Nothing, it seems, could keep the majority leader from giving the Supreme Court nominee a floor vote. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has not heard anything that should slow confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, pledging to push ahead.
"Judge Kavanaugh will be confirmed," McConnell, left, said on the Senate floor. He was echoing comments he made Friday, before revelations of additional accusations of sexual assault were leveled at Kavanaugh on Sunday.
The Kentucky Republican started with a fiery opening speech blasting the handling of allegations against President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee as a "smear campaign" Monday — just a prelude to Thursday's main event, the hearing where the Senate Judiciary Committee will hear from both Kavanaugh and one of his accusers, Christine Blasey Ford.
Palmer Report, Opinion: What did they know about Brett Kavanaugh and when did they know it? Bill Palmer, Sept. 24, 2018. This evening we learned, thanks to Ronan Farrow and Jane Mayer of the New Yorker, that unnamed "Senior Republican staffers" became aware last week that their Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh had a second accuser named Deborah Ramirez. We also know that in response, the GOP decided to push harder to advance the confirmation process even more quickly, in the hope of confirming him before Ramirez's accusations could become public.
It leads to a crucial question: which Republican Senators knew about this, and when did they know it?
Over the past several days we've all seen Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, as well as committee members Orrin Hatch and Lindsey Graham, publicly try to push Dr. Christine Blasey Ford into testifying as soon as humanly possible. They were demanding she testify on Monday. When she said she couldn't make it there before Thursday, they then demanded that she testify on Wednesday.
While this was going on, Palmer Report pointed out that the Republicans were so afraid of the Kavanaugh nomination imminently slipping away, they were literally afraid to give Ford one more day; we just didn't know specifically why. Now we do. Certain Republican Senators knew about Ramirez, and they knew she could go public at any minute, and they were racing against time.
So here's the question. Did the entire GOP Senate know about Ramirez, or were certain GOP Senators like Grassley and Hatch trying to keep this information from potential "no" votes in their own party, such as Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski? (The two are shown on the adjoining photos, with Collins at right.)
New York Times, Brett Kavanaugh, Facing New Allegations, Vows He Will Not Withdraw, Sheryl Gay Stolberg, Sept. 24, 2018. Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, facing mounting allegations of sexual impropriety and growing doubts over his confirmation to the Supreme Court, vowed on Monday to fight the "smears," saying he will not withdraw his nomination.
"These are smears, pure and simple. And they debase our public discourse," he wrote in a letter to the senior Republican and Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee. "But they are also a threat to any man or woman who wishes to serve our country. Such grotesque and obvious character assassination — if allowed to succeed — will dissuade competent and good people of all political persuasions from service."
"I will not be intimidated into withdrawing from this process," he continued. "The coordinated effort to destroy my good name will not drive me out. The vile threats of violence against my family will not drive me out. The last-minute character assassination will not succeed."
President Trump on Monday dismissed sexual misconduct allegations against Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh as "totally political" and pledged to support his Supreme Court nominee "all the way."
Trump's comments, made as he entered United Nations headquarters in New York, were his first since a report Sunday night on a second allegation of sexual misconduct by Kavanaugh, who Trump said is "a man with an unblemished past."
"There's a chance that this could be one of the single most unfair, unjust things to happen for a candidate for anything," Trump told reporters. "For people to come out of the woodwork from 36 years ago and 30 years ago and never mention it, all of a sudden it happens. In my opinion, it's totally political."
Protesters against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and police gather in the Russell Senate Office Building on Sept. 24, 2018 (ABC News photo by Brad Fulton via Twitter)
Washington Post, 128 arrested after anti-Kavanaugh protest on Capitol Hill, Justin Wm. Moyer, Sept. 24, 2018. Protests Monday against the confirmation of Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh on Capitol Hill ended with 128 arrests, authorities said.
Winnie Wong, a liberal activist and senior adviser to the Women's March, said one protest began on the steps of the Supreme Court around 8:30 a.m. before moving to the office of Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who some believe can be persuaded to vote against Kavanaugh.
After some demonstrators shared stories of sexual assault, about two dozen were arrested outside Collins's office, Wong said, before protesters moved on to the office of Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), a critic of President Trump who is retiring and is seen by some as another possible "no" vote on the nominee.
The protest eventually moved to the rotunda of the Russell Senate Office Building. Women in Yale University sweatshirts — Kavanaugh attended law school there — shouted, "We believe the women."
"This is a group effort led by seasoned activists and organizers," Wong said. "We are close to victory."
Ady Barkan, an activist who has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and was among those arrested, said protests would continue until Kavanaugh withdrew. "The fact that we are going to win and that Kavanaugh will not be confirmed is proof of how important it is to always fight even when people say there is no chance of winning," he said.
Quickly, a head-spinning array of conflicting accounts were put forth: had he been fired? Was he heading to the White House to be fired—or was he going to a regularly scheduled meeting? Finally, Sarah Huckabee Sanders brought a measure of clarity by tweeting that whatever was going to happen to Rosenstein would happen on Thursday, when the president returned from New York.
For all the morning's madness, there may have been an underlying logic. Over the weekend, as Brett Kavanaugh's prospects appeared increasingly imperiled, Trump faced two tactical options, both of them fraught. One was to cut Kavanaugh loose. But he was also looking for ways to dramatically shift the news cycle away from his embattled Supreme Court nominee. According to a source briefed on Trump's thinking, Trump decided that firing Rosenstein would knock Kavanaugh out of the news, potentially saving his nomination and Republicans' chances for keeping the Senate. "The strategy was to try and do something really big," the source said. The leak about Rosenstein's resignation could have been the result, and it certainly had the desired effect of driving Kavanaugh out of the news for a few hours.
The confusion surrounding Rosenstein's tenure may not give Kavanaugh a reprieve. In public, Trump continues to voice support for his embattled Supreme Court nominee, telling reporters at the United Nations earlier this morning that he stands with Kavanaugh "all the way." But in private, Trump is growing increasingly frustrated by being mired in a deteriorating political situation beyond his control. On Monday morning, a Republican briefed on Trump's thinking said the president has been considering pulling Kavanaugh's nomination.
Palmer Report, Opinion: Donald Trump is considering pulling the Brett Kavanaugh nomination, Bill Palmer, Sept. 24, 2018. Over the past sixteen hours, multiple additional women have come forward to accuse Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of everything from sexual assault to serial gang rape. Even as the accusations continue to become more ugly, and the number of accusers continued to grow, Kavanaugh has released a statement this afternoon insisting that he will not withdraw from the nomination process. But behind the scenes, Donald Trump is saying something rather different.
Earlier today, Palmer Report explained how Trump and his White House managed to manipulate the media cycle by floating a phony story about Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein having resigned or having been fired. This was clearly aimed at distracting the media from the worsening Kavanaugh accusations. After the whole thing rather quickly unraveled, the White House admitted in an official statement that Rosenstein still had his job. Now Vanity Fair is echoing our premise that the phony Rosenstein narrative was indeed a last ditch effort at saving the Kavanaugh nomination – but they have an additional tidbit to go with it.
Here's the key passage from the Vanity Fair expose: "On Monday morning, a Republican briefed on Trump's thinking said the president has been considering pulling Kavanaugh's nomination." Keep in mind that we wouldn't be reading a sentence like this unless Trump and/or the Republican in question wanted this out there. So either Trump is already trying to hedge his bets by floating the fact that he's considering yanking Kavanaugh, or the GOP is trying to nudge Trump into yanking Kavanaugh by revealing that Trump is already considering it.
In any case, if Brett Kavanaugh does end up withdrawing, he'll continue to publicly insist he's sticking with the nomination right up until the minute he withdraws. So his denial doesn't tell us anything, beyond the fact that things have gotten so ugly for him, he felt compelled to issue a denial today.
Michael Avenatti, the lawyer who rose to fame by aggressively taking on President Donald Trump on behalf of his client Stormy Daniels, tweeted that he had another woman with an allegation who will be demanding that Kavanaugh's nomination be withdrawn:
"We are aware of significant evidence of multiple house parties in the Washington, D.C., area during the 1980s" during which Kavanaugh and others "would participate in the targeting of women with alcohol/drugs in order to allow a 'train' of men to subsequently gang rape them," Avenatti wrote. Avenatti said he would provide additional evidence in the coming days.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the committee's top Democrat, wrote a letter to Grassley on Sunday asking to stop the confirmation process."
I also ask that the newest allegations of sexual misconduct be referred to the FBI for investigation, and that you join our request for the White House to direct the FBI to investigate the allegations of Christine Blasey Ford as well as these new claims," Feinstein said.
Details below.
New York Times, Christine Blasey Ford Reaches Deal to Testify at Kavanaugh Hearing, Sheryl Gay Stolberg, Sept. 23, 2018. The woman who has accused Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were teenagers has committed to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, her lawyers said on Sunday. The lawyers said some details — including whether an outside lawyer will question her — still needed to be resolved, but that those issues would not impede holding a hearing.
The agreement, reached after an hourlong negotiating session Sunday morning between the lawyers and committee aides, is the latest step in a halting process toward a potentially explosive hearing that will pit the woman, Christine Blasey Ford, against Judge Kavanaugh, President Trump's second nominee to the Supreme Court. On Saturday, the two sides reached a tentative agreement for Dr. Ford, shown right in a file photo, to appear on Thursday.
The on-again, off-again talks — with an appointment to the nation's highest court in the balance — have consumed official Washington, and thrown confirmation proceedings for Judge Kavanaugh, who has vigorously denied Dr. Ford's allegations, into turmoil. Until last week, Judge Kavanaugh's confirmation seemed all but assured; that is no longer the case.
A few sticking points between the two sides remain, according to people familiar with the talks. One is who will testify first, Dr. Ford or Judge Kavanaugh. Republicans have rejected the idea that the judge would appear first. But perhaps the biggest sticking point is whether senators on the Judiciary Committee will question Dr. Ford themselves, or use an outside lawyer or a committee aide, most likely a woman.
The New Yorker, Senate Democrats Investigate a New Sexual-Misconduct Allegation Against Brett Kavanaugh, Ronan Farrow (shown at right) and Jane Mayer (shown below at left), Sept. 23, 2018. Deborah Ramirez, a Yale classmate of the Supreme Court nominee, has described a dormitory party gone awry and a drunken incident that she wants the F.B.I. to investigate.
As Senate Republicans press for a swift vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump's nominee to the Supreme Court, Senate Democrats are investigating a new allegation of sexual misconduct against Kavanaugh. The claim dates to the 1983-84 academic school year, when Kavanaugh was a freshman at Yale University.
The offices of at least four Democratic senators have received information about the allegation, and at least two have begun investigating it. Senior Republican staffers also learned of the allegation last week and, in conversations with The New Yorker, expressed concern about its potential impact on Kavanaugh's nomination. Soon after, Senate Republicans issued renewed calls to accelerate the timing of a committee vote. The Democratic Senate offices reviewing the allegations believe that they merit further investigation.
The woman at the center of the story, Deborah Ramirez, who is fifty-three, attended Yale with Kavanaugh, where she studied sociology and psychology. Later, she spent years working for an organization that supports victims of domestic violence.
The New Yorker contacted Ramirez after learning of her possible involvement in an incident involving Kavanaugh. For Ramirez, the sudden attention has been unwelcome, and prompted difficult choices.
After six days of carefully assessing her memories and consulting with her attorney, Ramirez said that she felt confident enough of her recollections to say that she remembers 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. Ramirez is now calling for the F.B.I. to investigate Kavanaugh's role in the incident. "I would think an F.B.I. investigation would be warranted," she said.
This comes shortly after Dr. Christine Blasey Ford formally agreed to testify before the Senate about her attempted rape accusation against Kavanaugh. And in a sign that the floodgates are open, a third woman is now also seeking to testify to the Senate about Kavanaugh.
Yesterday, Michael Avenatti, shown at right, hinted that additional accusers were about to come forward against Kavanaugh. This evening he tweeted that he had retained an unnamed woman as a client, and that she wanted to testify to the Senate about Kavanaugh. When the New Yorker story broke tonight, many observers mistakenly assumed that this was what Avenatti was talking about. But then Avenatti tweeted that his client is not Ramirez.
This means we're talking about three different women coming forward against Brett Kavanaugh – and the night is still young. Does anyone still believe Mitch McConnell's claim that he has the votes to confirm this guy?
Fox News, Fox News Poll: Record number of voters oppose Kavanaugh nomination, Dana Blanton, Sept. 23, 2018. Voter support for Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court is down in the wake of Christine Ford's assault allegations, as more believe her than him.
Currently, 40 percent of voters would confirm Kavanaugh, while 50 percent oppose him, according to a Fox News poll. Last month, views split 45-46 percent (August 19-21).
Washington Post, 'Incredibly frustrated': Inside the GOP effort to help Kavanaugh survive allegation, Seung Min Kim and Josh Dawsey, Sept. 23, 2018. In mock questioning sessions, Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh refused to answer some questions that he saw as too personal. The tense preparations underscore the monumental stakes of public testimony from Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused him of sexual assault. As hearing looms, senators seem unwilling to budge on Kavanaugh.
Just as he did several weeks ago to prepare for his confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court, Brett M. Kavanaugh was back inside a room at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building — again facing questioners readying him for a high-stakes appearance in the Senate.
This time, the questions were much different. An array of White House aides, playing the role of various senators on the Judiciary Committee, quizzed Kavanaugh last week about his sex life and other personal matters in an attempt to prepare him for a hearing that would inevitably be uncomfortable.
Washington Post, Opinion: If Republicans don't get answers, Democrats will in 2019, Jennifer Rubin, right, Sept. 23, 2018. Whether or not Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh gets confirmed to the Supreme Court, there will be plenty of serious questions about the confirmation process that require answers. Assuming Kavanaugh appears at a hearing this week, Democrats can interrogate him. Moreover, all of this could be reviewed next year if Democrats win the majority in either house of Congress (and claim the subpoena power).
Democrats may be keen to focus on the apparent skullduggery that transpired. If the inquiry takes place next year, conservative lawyer Ed Whelan, Mark Judge and any other witnesses who should have participated in the process may be called. There is plenty to look into.
• Who came up with the mistaken-identity scheme?• Who was aware of it?• Did someone in the White House approve it?
If this sounds far-fetched, it is because Republicans took the unbelievable step of pressing forward with a nominee against whom there was a credible claim of sexual assault and decided not to conduct a thorough investigation. What is truly far-fetched is putting Kavanaugh on the court with witnesses out there who haven't been interviewed and potential avenues to investigate. T
here is a reason why we should only put on the court individuals about whom there is no ethical questions whatsoever. The way you insure there are no ethical questions is by completing a thorough investigation. This is a recipe for chaos.
Findings of wrongdoing in the confirmation process itself, if serious enough, are grist for impeachment or professional sanctions. (Only one other Supreme Court justice was impeached, Samuel Chase. He escaped removal in 1805.) There may be other crimes (e.g., witness intimidation, obstruction of justice) committed by third parties or Republicans inside the confirmation process. There may be Senate or White House staff whose conduct warrants their termination.
New York Times, Kavanaugh Was Supposed to Be a Midterm Boon for G.O.P. Not Anymore, Jonathan Martin, Sept. 23, 2018. No Republican Senate candidate has been as aggressive in using the Supreme Court nomination of Brett M. Kavanaugh as a political weapon as Josh Hawley, the Missouri attorney general who is in an intensely tight race against Senator Claire McCaskill.
A former Supreme Court clerk, Mr. Hawley, right, made his first campaign commercial about control of the court, and he assailed Ms. McCaskill for refusing to say if she would support Judge Kavanaugh. And after the accusation of sexual assault against Judge Kavanaugh last week, Mr. Hawley denounced Democrats for staging an "ambush."
Yet in Missouri and other politically competitive battleground states, leaders in both parties are increasingly doubtful that Mr. Hawley and other Republicans can wield the Kavanaugh nomination as a cudgel without risking unpredictable repercussions in the midterm elections.
The Republican Party's fight to save President Trump's embattled Supreme Court nominee amid allegations of sexual assault has surfaced deep anxieties over the hypermasculine mind-set that has come to define the GOP in the nation's roiling gender debate.
Sept. 22
High Court Battle
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) screams at his longtime Democratic colleague Pat Leahy of Vermont during the Kavanaugh hearing, in which Leahy and other Democrats have accused the nominee of perjuring himself by denying use of stolen Democratic Senate documents (screenshot).
Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), who chairs the Judiciary Committee, had given Ford until 2:30 p.m. to respond to a revised offer to testify at a Wednesday hearing. Her lawyers asked the committee for a call later Saturday to work out other specifics.This is a developing story. It will be updated.
Newsweek, Former Trump Aide Jason Miller Accused of Secretly Administering Abortion Pill, Alexandra Hutzler, Sept. 22, 2018. Jason Miller is now engaged in a custody battle with A.J. Delgado. In new court filings, Delgado accuses Miller of secretly giving another woman with whom he had an affair an "abortion pill" after she got pregnant.
Former Donald Trump aide Jason Miller has been accused of secretly administering an "abortion pill" to a woman he got pregnant during an affair, new court documents show.
The court filing, obtained and reported on by Splinter, alleges that Miller, shown in a file photo below at right, had an affair with a woman he met at a strip club in Orlando, Florida in 2012. As a result of the affair the woman got pregnant, at which point Miller is accused of giving her with an abortion pill without her knowledge or consent. The woman claims that the pill caused her to lose the baby and nearly cost her her life.
The documents allege that the affair happened when Miller was working for a Republican advertising firm Jamestown Associates. He would often bring clients to Rachel's Gentleman's Club in Orlando, where he allegedly met the woman he would later get pregnant. She is only identified in the court filing as "Jane Doe."
The filing goes on to claim that Miller showed up at Jane Doe's apartment with a smoothie in hand.
"Unbeknownst to Jane Doe, the Smoothie contained an abortion pill. The pill induced an abortion, and Jane Doe wound up in a hospital emergency room, bleeding heavily and nearly went into a coma," the document reads.
As a result of the pill the child died and Jane Doe herself was "hospitalized for two days, the abortion pill possibly reacting with potential street drugs in her system at the time she drank the Smoothie."
Miller's attorney denied these allegations, telling Splinter in a statement: "To be clear, there is no validity to the false accusations made in Ms. Delgado's filing."
These allegations were made in court filings made by the legal team of A.J. Delgado, Miller's ex-lover who is suing for custody of their son. Delgado, shown with Miller in file photos, began her affair with Miller in October 2016, after he told her he had separated from his wife. But Miller had never separated from his wife and was, in fact, expecting a child with her when Delgado found out that she was pregnant from their affair. Now, Delgado and Miller are locked in a custody battle.
Miller was Trump's spokesman during his 2016 campaign and a member of the president's transition team. When his affair with Delgado was made public, Miller was essentially forced to turn down a job as the White House communications director. Delgado was also a former Trump campaign staffer.
In previous court filings, Delgado has also accused Miller of sexual and physical abuse, which Miller has also denied.
Washington Post, Senate panel to give Kavanaugh accuser more time to decide whether to testify, Sean Sullivan, Seung Min Kim and John Wagner, Sept. 22, 2018 (print edition). Earlier Friday, Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) set a deadline of 10 p.m. for Christine Blasey Ford to decide whether to testify about her allegation that Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her when they were in high school. But after the deadline passed, Grassley said on Twitter that he "granted another extension" to Ford: "I want to hear her."
As Christine Blasey Ford tells it, only one person can offer eyewitness confirmation of her account of a sexual assault by Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh: Mark Judge, Kavanaugh's friend and classmate at Georgetown Prep.
Ford says Judge, shown at right, watched Kavanaugh attack her at a high school party in the early 1980s and then literally piled on, leaping on top of her and Kavanaugh. Judge says he does not remember the party and never saw his buddy behave like that. Ford's legal team has asked the Senate Judiciary Committee to compel Judge to testify.
A review of books, articles and blog posts by Judge — a freelance writer who has shifted among jobs at a record store, substitute teaching, housesitting and most recently at a liquor store — describes an '80s private-school party scene in which heavy drinking and sexual encounters were standard fare.
Twitter @ChuckGrassley, Grassley Tweets Kavanaugh on extension to accuser, Chuck Grassley (Senate Judiciary Committee chairman and Republican from Iowa), Sept. 21, 2018.). "Judge Kavanaugh I just granted another extension to Dr Ford to decide if she wants to proceed w the statement she made last week to testify to the senate She shld decide so we can move on I want to hear her. I hope u understand. It's not my normal approach to b indecisive 11:42 PM - 21 Sep 2018."
A press adviser helping lead the Senate Judiciary Committee's response to a sexual assault allegation against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh has stepped down amid evidence he was fired from a previous political job in part because of a sexual harassment allegation against him.
Garrett Ventry, 29, who served as a communications aide to the committee chaired by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, had been helping coordinate the majority party's messaging in the wake of Christine Blasey Ford's claim that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her 36 years ago at a high school party. In a response to NBC News, Ventry denied any past "allegations of misconduct."
After NBC News raised questions about Ventry's employment history and the sexual harassment allegation against him, Judiciary Committee Spokesman Taylor Foy replied in a statement: "While (Ventry) strongly denies allegations of wrongdoing, he decided to resign to avoid causing any distraction from the work of the committee." Ventry also resigned Saturday from the public relations company where he had been on a temporary leave of absence to work for the Judiciary Committee, a company spokesman told NBC News.
Republicans familiar with the situation had been concerned that Ventry, because of his history, could not lead an effective communications response. Ventry worked as a social media adviser in 2017 in the office of North Carolina House Majority Leader John Bell, who fired Ventry after several months. Sources familiar with the situation said Ventry was let go from Bell's office after parts of his résumé were found to have been embellished, and because he faced an accusation of sexual harassment from a female employee of the North Carolina General Assembly's Republican staff.
A press adviser helping lead the Senate Judiciary Committee's response to a sexual assault allegation against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh has stepped down amid evidence he was fired from a previous political job in part because of a sexual harassment allegation against him.
Garrett Ventry, 29, who served as a communications aide to the committee chaired by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, had been helping coordinate the majority party's messaging in the wake of Christine Blasey Ford's claim that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her 36 years ago at a high school party. In a response to NBC News, Ventry denied any past "allegations of misconduct."
After NBC News raised questions about Ventry's employment history and the sexual harassment allegation against him, Judiciary Committee Spokesman Taylor Foy replied in a statement: "While (Ventry) strongly denies allegations of wrongdoing, he decided to resign to avoid causing any distraction from the work of the committee."
Ventry, shown in his Twitter photo, also resigned Saturday from the public relations company where he had been on a temporary leave of absence to work for the Judiciary Committee, a company spokesman told NBC News.
Republicans familiar with the situation had been concerned that Ventry, because of his history, could not lead an effective communications response. Ventry worked as a social media adviser in 2017 in the office of North Carolina House Majority Leader John Bell, who fired Ventry after several months. Sources familiar with the situation said Ventry was let go from Bell's office after parts of his résumé were found to have been embellished, and because he faced an accusation of sexual harassment from a female employee of the North Carolina General Assembly's Republican staff.
Sept. 21
Washington Post, Trump, in overt attack on Kavanaugh accuser, questions her credibility, John Wagner and Seung Min Kim, Sept. 21, 2018. President Trump contended that Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were teenagers, would have reported the attack to law enforcement if it "was as bad as she says."
Trump's tweets came as lawyers for Ford (shown in a high school photo) continued negotiations about conditions under which she might testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Republican U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Members
On Friday, actresses like Lili Reinhart and Ashley Judd took to Twitter to reveal why they chose not to go to the authorities after suffering from sexual harassment or assault. These women were inspired by Alyssa Milano after she protested the treatment of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, who accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault.
In Ford's defense, the actress tweeted, "Hey, @realDonaldTrump, Listen the f--k up. I was sexually assaulted twice. Once when I was a teenager. I never filed a police report and it took me 30 years to tell my parents." She then encouraged women to share their own stories with #WhyIDidn'tReport.
Her statements came after President Donald Trump tweeted, "I have no doubt that, if the attack on Dr. Ford was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement Authorities by either her or her loving parents. I ask that she bring those filings forward so that we can learn date, time, and place!"
Celebrities are sharing their own experiences with sexual harassment or assault as part of the #WhyIDidn'tReport movement. Soon after, the hashtag began trending on Twitter and celebrities spoke out about the trauma they endured.
Lili Reinhart, who rose to fame because of her role as Betty in Riverdale, tweeted she was to afraid to come forward with her claims, "Because I didn't want to lose my job or make people think I was a drama queen."
Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi also revealed her experiences from over the years. "I was 7 the first time I was sexually assaulted. He was a relative of my mom's second husband. I told my folks and they sent me away," the TV personality shared. She continued, "The second time I was 16 years old and a virgin. He was my boyfriend. 'Date rape' wasn't discussed in the 80's. I was horrified and ashamed."
Padma's experiences and sentiments were echoed by Ashley Judd, who also endured sexual abuse from a young age. "The first time it happened, I was 7. I told the first adults I came upon. They said 'Oh, he's a nice old man, that's not what he meant,'" Judd revealed. "So when I was raped at 15, I only told my diary. When an adult read it, she accused me of having sex with an adult man."
Similarly, Daryl Hannah went through a similar experience, even after reporting the incident. "I did, it didn't matter, I was dismissed, disparaged, & I still get blamed," the actress said.
Other celebrities showed solidarity for the thousands of people who came forward with their stories by highlighting their braveness.
"If you want to see who the leaders are of #MeToo look no further than the thousands of people sharing their #WhyIDidntReport stories. This movement will not be derailed by anyone. It is decentralized collective power which is why it has limitless strength," Patricia Arquette said.
Roll Call, Senate Judiciary Committee Postpones Monday Kavanaugh Hearing, Todd Ruger, Sept. 21, 2018. The Senate Judiciary Committee has postponed its hearing, set for Monday, that would have featured Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who accused him of sexually attacking her decades ago.
And in a sign that Senate Republicans are playing hardball to get Ford to agree to their terms to testify, Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles E. Grassley has scheduled a vote on Kavanaugh's nomination in the event there is no deal with Ford.
The notice included no reschedule date and came out amid reports that the panel and Ford's attorneys did not meet a panel-set 5 p.m. deadline to agree to terms.
It turns out that the Keystone Cops detective work by conservative legal activist Ed Whelan — which set Washington abuzz with the promise of exonerating Brett Kavanaugh, only to be met by mockery and then partially retracted — was not his handiwork alone.
CRC Public Relations, the prominent Alexandria, Virginia-based P.R. firm, guided Whelan through his roller-coaster week of Twitter pronouncements that ended in embarrassment and a potential setback for Kavanaugh's hopes of landing on the high court, according to three sources familiar with their dealings.
After suggesting on Twitter on Tuesday that he had obtained information that would exculpate Kavanaugh from the sexual assault allegation made by Christine Blasey Ford, Whelan worked over the next 48 hours with CRC and its president, Greg Mueller, to stoke the anticipation.
A longtime friend of Kavanaugh's, Whelan teased his reveal — even as he refused to discuss it with other colleagues and close friends, a half dozen of them said. At the same time, he told them he was absolutely confident the information he had obtained would exculpate the judge.
The hype ping-ponged from Republicans on Capitol Hill to Kavanaugh's team in the White House, evidence of an extraordinarily successful public relations campaign that ultimately backfired when Whelan's theory — complete with architectural drawings and an alleged Kavanaugh doppelgänger — landed with a thud on Twitter Thursday evening.
Media News: Sinclair Promos For Kavanaugh?
President Trump sat down for an interview with Sinclair's chief political analyst, Boris Epshteyn, who has never disagreed with the president in his commentary (screenshot).
Media Matters, Opinion: In an interview with Sinclair, Trump touts Kavanaugh's "unblemished record" and says he thinks he will be confirmed, Pam Vogel, Sept. 21, 2018. Sinclair Broadcast Group, the largest owner and operator of local TV stations in the country, regularly broadcasts pro-Trump propaganda segments created by an ex-Trump staffer into the homes of millions of Americans. And now those segments include an interview with President Donald Trump himself, in which he was given a friendly platform to discuss his continued support of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh despite a report that he committed sexual assault.
The media company's chief political analyst, Boris Epshteyn, has been producing regular commentary segments, called "Bottom Line With Boris," for Sinclair for more than a year. Epshteyn had previously worked in the Trump White House on the communications team, after doing stints on the Trump inaugural committee and on the Trump campaign. Epshteyn also served as a Trump media surrogate throughout the campaign and first days of the Trump presidency. Epshteyn is personal friends with the president's sons Eric and Donald Jr., and he has been spotted at Trump International Hotel multiple times, including with Don Jr. in June. He also may or may not have signed a nondisparagement agreement while he was working on the campaign, which could legally prevent him from criticizing Trump.
For a chief political analyst, Epshteyn offers takes that are notably unoriginal. At best, he regurgitates Trump talking points or touts some vague, imaginary bipartisan ideals that involve being nicer to Trump. At worst, he defends the most upsetting, racist things Trump does. In fact, in a recent interview on a National Review podcast, Epshteyn could not think of a single issue about which he had disagreed with the Trump administration in any of his commentary segments. What's more: These segments ultimately air on an estimated 100 TV news stations under Sinclair's control, exploiting the trust people have in their local news.
Given the president's penchant for granting interviews to sycophants, it was only a matter of time before Trump himself made an appearance on "Bottom Line with Boris."
On September 21, Epshteyn shared the first of what will likely be several must-run segments featuring excerpts from his sit-down with the president. This one is focused on Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court and professor Christine Blasey Ford's account of sexual assault by Kavanaugh when they were both in high school. In the segment, Trump largely repeats broad White House talking points about making sure Ford is heard, and then pivots to touting Kavanaugh's "unblemished record." Trump also says he believes Kavanaugh will ultimately still be confirmed.
BORIS EPSHTEYN: The nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court is facing last-minute turmoil over allegations that he committed sexual assault decades ago. I spoke with President Trump about this in a one-on-one, exclusive interview. Here's what he shared.
[INTERVIEW CLIP BEGINS]
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, I think they've been very respectful of Dr. Ford, extremely respectful. I think they're doing the right thing. They want to give her a voice, if she wants to take it. They're talking now about timing. It's already been delayed a week. That's a long time. This is the U.S. Senate we're talking about.
EPSHTEYN: Right.
TRUMP: I can only say this: Let her speak. But Brett Kavanaugh is one of the finest people you'll ever meet. I think it's been extremely hard on him and his family. When I look at what's happening -- here's a man with an unblemished record, and to be going through this all of a sudden. So I won't say anything now. All I'm saying is that -- let it play out. Let her have open voice. And let's see what happens.
This year, Epshteyn has aired interviews with seven other members of the Trump administration, eight Republican congressmen, and Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani. The appearances include: then-Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway, Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, then-EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Vice President Mike Pence, Rep. Francis Rooney (R-FL), Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler, Council of Economic Advisers Chair Kevin Hassett, and Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI). DeSantis, McCarthy, Rooney, and Duffy are all on ballots this year.
Washington Post, Kavanaugh accuser open to testifying later next week, dismisses theory of a different attacker, Seung Min Kim, Josh Dawsey and Emma Brown, Sept. 21, 2018 (print edition). A lawyer for Christine Blasey Ford said she "wishes to testify, provided that we can agree on terms that are fair and which ensure her safety." Brett M. Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination was roiled further by tweets from a friend who named another classmate as Ford's possible attacker.
President Trump introduces U.S. Circuit Judge Brett Kavanaugh, shown with family, as his nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court on July 9, 2018 (White House photo)
Center for American Progress, Opinion: Kavanaugh's Credibility Chasm, Jake Faleschini and Jesse Lee, Sept. 21, 2018. Amid a crisis in Judge Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination process, new reports suggest that President Trump's nominee may have been personally involved in a public relations effort to shift blame for sexual assault allegations made against him onto another specific individual with unsubstantiated speculation from an ally.
This alone would demonstrate a deep breach of integrity and credibility and would be disqualifying in itself for a position on the highest court in the land. Unfortunately, it also aligns with an entire career using dishonest tactics and statements to advance his personal ambition.
In Judge Brett Kavanaugh's first words on the national stage as a Supreme Court nominee, he made two plainly false statements in quick succession. In a vacuum, they might be dismissed as overly effusive pleasantries; in fact, they were part of a decades-long pattern of defaulting toward deception whenever useful.
"Mr. President, thank you. Throughout this process, I've witnessed firsthand your appreciation for the vital role of the American judiciary," Kavanaugh stated. This immediately stood as a refutation of Trump's previous nominee Neil Gorsuch, who had in fact condemned Trump's well-known, ruthless attacks on the judiciary, reportedly leaving Trump outraged. Kavanaugh was making clear there that he would offer no such dissent. In fact, Kavanaugh later refused to echo Gorsuch's criticism of Trump in his own hearing.
Later in his initial statement, Kavanaugh said, "No president has ever consulted more widely, or talked with more people from more backgrounds, to seek input about a Supreme Court nomination." Again, this claim is ridiculous on its face and is reminiscent of early Trump Cabinet meetings where attendees would heap superlative praise upon Trump. But it also spoke to a deeper deception: In fact, Trump had explicitly promised to choose his nominee off of a pre-approved list from conservative advocacy groups, a list to which Kavanaugh's name had mysteriously been added just months before.
More generally, though, Kavanaugh's statement shows he opts to say what is best in the moment in order to advance his career. This is even if those statements were objectively — even obviously — misleading. However, this is no new tactic for Kavanaugh. As shown below, this has been a hallmark of his entire career.
Leaking information for Ken Starr
Accessing stolen documents
Warrantless wiretapping
Judicial Nominations
Sexual harassment allegations against Judge Alex Kozinski
Roe v. Wade
Presidential Power
Kavanaugh began his career as a political operative willing to use whatever deceptive means necessary — from leaking in the special counsel's office to dealing with stolen documents in court fights while in the White House. Worse than that, though, when he attempted to transition into a career in the judicial branch, he neither changed his ways nor owned up to his past behavior. Instead, he repeatedly misled the Senate about his prior deceptions, from one confirmation hearing to the next.
Kavanaugh may have rightly believed that, with the Senate controlled by other partisan Republicans, lying and misconstruing facts regarding his record would have no consequence. Indeed, Senate Republicans have blocked any review of the vast majority of his record, so this list of false and misleading statements represents only a small portion of the total.
But, as his Supreme Court confirmation process comes to a head — hinging precisely on whether his denials of credible accusations against him should be believed — Kavanaugh's record of almost casual deception has caught up with him. The American people simply have no reason to believe him.
Another GOP Pervert Scandal?
Minnesota Public Radio (MPR), MN Rep. Jim Knoblach ends campaign ahead of MPR abuse allegations story, Nina Moini and Briana Bierschbach, Sept. 21, 2018. Republican state Rep. Jim Knoblach, right, abruptly ended his re-election campaign Friday as MPR News prepared to publish detailed accusations from his daughter of inappropriate behavior toward her since childhood.
The announcement came hours after an attorney for Knoblach denied the allegations in an interview.
Knoblach, who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, declined to be interviewed after being approached more than a week ago.
In a written statement, Knoblach called the allegations "indescribably hurtful" and said he would work toward healing his family.
"I love my children more than anything, and would never do anything to hurt them. Her allegations are false," Knoblach wrote. "I and other family members have made repeated attempts to reconcile with her in recent years, but she has refused."
The timing of his exit could make his St. Cloud-area seat, already a top target for Democrats, impossible for Republicans to hold, barring some kind of court intervention or a write-in campaign by a substitute candidate. Knoblach was seeking a ninth term and was being challenged by Democratic candidate Dan Wolgamott, also of St. Cloud. Knoblach plans to serve out his term.
More #MeToo News
Washington Post, Opinion: I was sexually assaulted. Here's why I don't remember many of the details, Patti Davis, Sept. 21, 2018. Patti Davis, the daughter of Ronald and Nancy Reagan, describes an attack from 40 years ago at a prominent music executive's office. She says she never told anyone for decades. And it doesn't surprise her, she writes, that for more than 30 years, Christine Blasey Ford didn't talk about the assault she accuses Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh of committing.
It doesn't surprise me one bit that for more than 30 years, Christine Blasey Ford didn't talk about the assault she remembers, the one she accuses Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh of committing.
It's important to understand how memory works in a traumatic event. Ford has been criticized for the things she doesn't remember, like the address where she says the assault happened, or the time of year, or whose house it was. But her memory of the attack itself is vivid and detailed. His hand over her mouth, another young man piling on, her fear that maybe she'd die there, unable to breathe. That's what happens: Your memory snaps photos of the details that will haunt you forever, that will change your life and live under your skin. It blacks out other parts of the story that really don't matter much.
ABC News, Female sailors at highest risk of sexual assault, Defense Department finds, Elizabeth McLaughlin, Sept. 21, 2018. Newly released data from the Department of Defense shows female sailors are at the highest risk of sexual assault, compared to women serving in the Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps. The risk is highest on U.S. Navy ships, including on a majority of the nation's aircraft carriers, the data shows.
Military installations in the Washington, D.C., region were typically associated with the lowest risk of sexual assault for men and women.
The findings were published on Friday in a RAND Corporation study, commissioned by the Pentagon, that used data collected in 2014 through more than 170,000 surveys of active duty service members. The study identified the 15 lowest-risk and highest-risk installations for men and women in each service.
Washington Post, Opinion: Assault survivors speak out, Multiple letter writers, self-identified as sexual assault victims, Sept. 21, 2018. In Kathleen Parker's Sept. 16 op-ed, "Last-minute accusations won't doom Kavanaugh," Ms. Parker wrote: "So here we are debating an adolescent boy's qualifications to become a Supreme Court justice. What's next, his potty training?"
Given that Ms. Parker's opinion piece was written before Christine Blasey Ford's public statements about Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh, I'm hoping she reconsiders this flip statement.
At 16, I was sexually assaulted. Sexual assault never leaves you — it alters every next step you take for life. Running on a path alone? No, thank you. Parking garages at night? Opening the door when alone? No.
— Susan Scott, Arlington
Washington Post, GOP congressman jokes about Ruth Bader Ginsburg being groped — by Abraham Lincoln, Reis Thebault, Sept. 21, 2018. A South Carolina congressman kicked off an election debate Thursday with a joke — which got a few laughs inside the room, but drew condemnation from observers across the state and country who didn't find it funny at all.
"Did y'all hear this latest late-breaking news on the Kavanaugh hearings?" Rep. Ralph Norman (R), right, asked the audience at a Kiwanis Club in Rock Hill, S.C., referring to the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh. "Ruth Bader Ginsburg came out saying she was groped by Abraham Lincoln."
At 85, Ginsburg is the oldest Supreme Court justice and its preeminent liberal dissenter.
The comment from Norman, who is running for reelection in November, comes at the height of the controversy surrounding sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh, who has denied the accusations. Elsewhere, Republicans have taken a cautious approach to commenting on the allegations, wary of the potential political fallout if their party is seen as dismissive of Kavanaugh's accuser.
Norman's off-color attempt at humor drew swift criticism, and many felt the congressman was making light of women who come forward to talk about their experience with sexual violence.
The incident resurfaced this week as Booker joined calls for an FBI investigation into the allegation of high-school-era sexual assault leveled by Christine Blasey Ford against Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump's nominee to the Supreme Court.
But the skeleton in Booker's closet seized on by outlets such as Fox News and the Daily Caller wasn't really in his closet. The senator himself chose years ago to air the issue, marking a notable contrast with instances in which accusations of impropriety burst forth as a result of media investigation or opposition research.
In 1992, Booker, then a student at Stanford University, wrote a column for his college newspaper in which he recounted the groping and used his own behavior to underscore, in starkly personal terms, how his views had shifted on gender and sexual respect. He credited his work as a peer counselor with the transformation.
"After having my hand pushed away once, I reached my 'mark,'" he wrote. "Our groping ended soon and while no 'relationship' ensued, a friendship did. You see, the next week in school she told me that she was drunk that night and didn't really know what she was doing."
"Senator Booker's Stanford Daily column has been the focus of disingenuous right-wing attacks that have circulated online and in partisan outlets for the past five years," a spokeswoman for Booker said in an email. "These attacks ring hollow to anyone who reads the entirety of the column, which is in fact a direct criticism of a culture that encourages young men to take advantage of women – written at a time when so candidly discussing these issues was rare – and speaks to the impact Senator Booker's experience working to help rape and sexual assault survivors as a college peer counselor had on him."
Sept. 20
Philly.com, Ex-Trump staffer Jason Miller out at CNN after abortion allegation, Rob Tornoe, Sept. 21, 2018. Jason Miller, a former Trump staffer who parlayed his time on the president's campaign to land a paid contributor job at CNN, announced on Saturday night he was leaving the network following explosive allegations he impregnated a woman and drugged her with an "abortion pill."
The claims were made in court documents filed on Sept. 14 by A.J. Delgado, also a former Trump staffer, whom Miller impregnated during an extramarital affair that took place during the 2016 presidential campaign. Delgado claims prior to their affair, Miller also impregnated a different woman after meeting her at an Orlando, Fla., strip club in 2012.
According to Delgado, when the woman found out she was pregnant, Miller gave her a smoothie dosed with an abortion pill without her knowledge, leading to the pregnancy's termination. The court documents, filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, were first obtained by Splinter.
Miller, who is married with two young daughters, said in a statement posted on Twitter the allegations made by Delgado are "false and defamatory," and said, "none of this is in any way true."
Miller and Delgado have been locked in a legal battle over custody of their son, William. In an August 2017 profile published in the Atlantic, Delgado claims that Miller asked on two separate occasions if "there was any chance I'd terminate the pregnancy." Miller denied that claim.
Miller isn't the only pro-Trump contributor who has run into an issue while working for CNN. Back in August, Paris Dennard was suspended after the Washington Post reported he had been fired from a previous job for alleged sexual harassment. Pennsylvania native and former Reagan White House staffer Jeffrey Lord was fired in August 2017 after using a Nazi reference in a tweet directed at the president of the liberal media watchdog group Media Matters.
These pro-Trump commentators, most of whom signed non-disclosure agreements during their time with the Trump campaign (Miller admitted to signing an NDA), were once described by CNN CEO Jeffrey Zucker as "characters in a drama," with the intention of hitting a viral nerve or making a memorable appearance that can be debated over and over again throughout the day.
JIP Editor's Pick: Top Commentaries
Washington Post, Opinion: Republicans, be forewarned: Kavanaugh's accuser has options, Jennifer Rubin, right, Sept. 20, 2018. Trump, whom a flock of women has accused of harassment and assault, and the all-male Republican contingent on the Senate Judiciary Committee might think they have Ford cornered. The reality is that she has many options, some of which are far more dangerous to Republicans than what she has demanded, namely an FBI investigation.
Ford might choose to appear on Monday, and make a powerful opening statement accusing Republicans of running a sham investigation. Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), shown screaming at a Democrat during the hearing, has figured out it would be a good idea to interview her in advance of Monday's hearings, but the staffers conducting the interview would be unlikely to have the ability or the will to follow up on investigative leads.
Ford can use the hearing to put the senators, who have behaved shabbily, on defense.
Ford has another option: Hold a news conference with her own experts and make the case directly to the American people. She can sit down for an interview with a respected TV journalist. She can say whatever she wants, make certain that experts are heard and even recount the much more extensive investigative efforts undertaken when Hill stepped forward. To make her case to the American people and convince them that she is sincere, honest and credible, Ford doesn't need the Senate.
Ford also might have the ability to go to local police to investigate if the White House refuses to activate the FBI. The Hill reports: "Can Brett Kavanaugh be investigated for an attempted rape he allegedly committed over three decades ago? In Maryland, it's entirely possible under the law, according to some experts.
Lanyi has thought about that night often since Sunday, when Christine Blasey Ford (shown at right in a high school photo) publicly accused Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when she was a 15-year-old student at Holton-Arms School and he was a 17-year-old student at Georgetown Prep. She has thought about stories of male entitlement and drunken sexual assault she heard from classmates while she was a student at Prep's Bethesda neighbor, Stone Ridge of the Sacred Heart, and the many more stories she has heard in the years since their graduation.
There was a lot of shame and stigma then if a girl was raped, so girls tried to hide it. They didn't tell anyone," Lanyi said. "The term 'date rape' wasn't something that even existed then. So if it happened, it was always kind of the girl's fault."
Lanyi's recollection of a private school culture suffused by alcohol and drugs — and frequent if unreported sexual assault or misbehavior — is widely shared by students who attended those schools in the 1980s. It was, they recalled, an era marked by excess and illegality that went widely unchecked by parents and school leaders who were unaware or uninterested in cracking down on the behavior.
On Tuesday, Lanyi helped launch an online letter of support for Ford from women and men who grew up in the upper Northwest Washington neighborhoods and Maryland suburbs that fed into the exclusive private schools and country clubs during the same era that Ford and Kavanaugh attended their schools.
The letter's message to Ford is unambiguous: "We believe you. Each one of us heard your story and not one of us was surprised. These are the stories of our lives and our friends' lives." More than 300 people signed the letter, including graduates of Stone Ridge, Georgetown Prep, Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School, Gonzaga and many others.
A similar letter of support for Ford from Holton-Arms graduates bore 925 signatures Wednesday, including from actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Class of 1979. The letters came in response to a missive Friday signed by 65 women supporting Kavanaugh after the assault allegations emerged but before Ford came forward.
"We are women who have known Brett Kavanaugh for more than 35 years and knew him while he attended high school between 1979 and 1983. For the entire time we have known Brett Kavanaugh, he has behaved honorably and treated women with respect," read the letter, from women who attended schools including Visitation, Stone Ridge and Holton-Arms. This story is based on interviews with two dozen former students, many of whom asked not to be identified because of how tightly knit and powerful the alumni from those schools are, and because they fear retribution or harassment for speaking out on the allegations engulfing Kavanaugh's nomination.
Amid a pitched partisan battle over how the Senate handles an allegation that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted a woman decades ago as a teenager, liberal groups on Thursday seized on comments from a Judiciary Committee staffer to paint the process as a sham.
Mike Davis, the committee's chief staffer for nominations, tweeted twice overnight about his key role in the committee's review of Christine Blasey Ford's allegation, as well as criticism of Ford's attorneys and his desired outcome of the process.
"Unfazed and determined. We will confirm Judge Kavanaugh. #ConfirmKavanaugh #SCOTUS," Davis tweeted at 11 p.m. Wednesday.
Wayne Madsen Report (WMR), Opinion: Kavanaugh and Georgetown Prep: Pedophilia acceptance, Wayne Madsen, Sept. 20, 2018 (subscription required, with excerpt below by permission). Investigative reporter and author Wayne Madsen, right, is a former Navy intelligence officer who was appointed to be a temporary FBI special agent during a period in the 1980s to help convict his Navy commanding officer on pedophilia charges.
Brett Kavanaugh, Donald Trump's dubious nominee for the Supreme Court, not only faces questions about his views on a woman's right to choose her own health decisions and his own questionable past treatment of women, but his elite high school.
Georgetown Preparatory High School in North Bethesda, Maryland has been a hotbed for Roman Catholic sex abuse of minors. As a member of the Supreme Court, Kavanaugh would become the court's fifth Catholic judge. His decisions on cases involving the cover-up of child sex abuse by religious organizations and politically powerful individuals could dictate for decades to come how the nation deals with the issue of sex abuse of minors.
What's new with our future Supreme Court justice? One thing we have learned as things have spun out of control completely is that Brett Kavanaugh, in his own prep-school, Ivy League, highly credentialed way, is one strange dude.
Sept. 19
'This Incident Did Happen'
The New Civil Rights Movement, 'This Incident Did Happen': Woman Says She Knew Kavanaugh and 'Many of Us Heard About It in School,' David Badash, Sept. 19, 2018. Christine Blasey Ford's high school who have signed on to a letter supporting her has come forward to say Brett Kavanaugh did sexually assault Christine Blasey in high school. Dr. Ford is shown at right in high school. She says she was 15 at the time she was attacked.
In postings to Facebook and Twitter, which she says she has since deleted because the media is contacting her and she is unsure of how to move forward, Christina King writes that at the time, 'many of us heard about it in school and Christine's recollection should be more than enough for us to truly, deeply know the accusation is true.'
King, who has also been identified as Christina King Miranda, says drinking in those days at these private Catholic prep schools was 'out of control.'
Raw Story, Former Georgetown Prep classmate calls Kavanaugh accusations 'story I know was repeated dozens of times,' Sarah K. Burris, Sept. 19, 2018. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was accused of sexual assault while in a room with friend Mark Judge. Judge has since come to Kavanaugh's defense with emphatic declarations about their lives at Georgetown Prep. But one fellow classmate is calling Judge out for his history of victim-shaming.
According to a Facebook post by Eric Ruyak, Judge went on the attack after Ruyak alleged a priest from Georgetown Prep molested him.
"For those of you who don't know, I went to Georgetown Prep, where both Kavanaugh and Gorsuch went as well," wrote Ruyak. "When I came forward with allegations regarding Gary Orr, a former priest, sexually assaulting me…Mark Judge (Kavanaugh's friend in this who despicable story of sexual assault) reached out to alums saying that Gary Orr was a great priest and that I had obviously been corrupted by liberalism into a homosexual and therefore was most definitely lying."
Years later, Orr admitted to raping many children and Georgetown Prep confessed to the incident in a letter to parents and students. "There are inevitable feelings of sadness, disbelief and anger, which are the same emotions I have been struggling with," Rev. William L. George, president of Georgetown Prep. said in a letter.
Palmer Report, Classmate corroborates Dr. Christine Blasey Ford's accusations against Brett Kavanaugh, Bill Palmer, Sept. 19, 2018. After Senate Republicans blinked by agreeing to delay the committee confirmation vote for Brett Kavanaugh until his accuser Dr. Christine Blasey Ford could testify, she decided to up the ante by demanding that the FBI criminally investigate the matter before she testifies. Now a former classmate of Ford is corroborating her accusations, raising the stakes even further.
Cristina King Miranda made a lengthy post on social media, in which she stated that "This incident did happen. Many of us heard about it in school." In legal terms this is a big deal. Miranda didn't personally witness the incident in question. But because people were talking about the incident shortly after it happened, it means one of two things. Either Ford was telling people about the incident back then, or someone else at the party witnessed it and was aware of it back then. At the least, this proves that this is not some story that Ford has fabricated in adulthood.
Miranda has since deleted her original post, before tweeting this explanation: "Hi all, deleted this because it served its purpose and I am now dealing with a slew of requests for interviews from The Wash Post, CNN, CBS News. Organizing how I want to proceed. Was not ready for that, not sure I am interested in pursuing. Thanks for reading." She then added "To all media, I will not be doing anymore interviews. No more circus. To clarify my post: I do not have first hand knowledge of the incident that Dr. Christine Blasey Ford mentions, and I stand by my support for Christine. That's it. I don't have more to say on the subject."
Congressman Ted Lieu, a former JAG prosector, retweeted Miranda's letter and added this: "Additional evidence below that Dr. Christine Blasey Ford is telling the truth about having been sexually assaulted by Brett Kavanaugh." In other words, this is indeed an important legal development. If Dr. Ford is successful in leveraging her testimony into an FBI investigation, Miranda is precisely the kind of witness the FBI would want to speak with. It's also a reminder that if the FBI does start investigating Brett Kavanaugh, the odds are that he will end up in prison – particularly when you throw in his recent felony perjury – and he's familiar enough with the federal criminal justice system to know that his freedom would be at stake.
Grassley Threat
Roll Call, Grassley Says Monday Hearing Not Likely Without Kavanaugh Accuser, John T. Bennett, Sept. 19, 2018. Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles E. Grassley, right, said Wednesday a planned Monday hearing on sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh would likely not go on without accuser Christine Blasey Ford.
Asked about Ford saying she wouldn't appear on Monday, the chairman indicated it would not go on without the accuser present because the nominee would not know the full scope of allegations against him. Any decision to cancel that session, Grassley said, will be made at the "last" possible minute.
Mark Cuban (shown in a file photo), the billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks, will pay $10 million to women's leadership and domestic-violence organizations under an agreement with the N.B.A. announced Wednesday to address sexual harassment and other improper conduct among employees in the team's front office.
The payment, and other reporting, staffing and leadership changes, are a result of a monthslong investigation into accusations against several employees, including the former team president and chief executive, Terdema Ussery.
Cuban did not face accusations of misconduct, but the investigation found his supervision severely lacking, and he agreed to the payment, avoiding a fine. Still, the payment by far exceeds the amount of any fine the league has imposed on a team or owner.
New York Times, New York Review of Books Editor Is Out Amid Uproar Over #MeToo Essay, Cara Buckley, Sept. 19, 2018. Ian Buruma, the editor of The New York Review of Books, left his position on Wednesday amid an uproar over the magazine's publication of an essay by a disgraced Canadian radio broadcaster who had been accused of sexually assaulting women.
"Ian Buruma is no longer the editor of The New York Review of Books," Nicholas During, a publicist for the magazine, wrote in an email.
The essay's author, Jian Ghomeshi, who was acquitted of sexual assault charges in 2016, lamented his status as a pariah, "constantly competing with a villainous version of myself online."
It caused immediate furor, with some criticizing what they saw as a self-pitying tone, and soft pedaling of the accusations, which included slapping and choking, and had come from more than 20 women, rather than "several," as Mr. Ghomeshi wrote. Mr. Buruma drew further censure by giving an interview that many interpreted as showing a lack of interest in the accusations against Mr. Ghomeshi.
Sept. 18.
Republican U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Members
Yahoo News, Analysis: Republican men — and not a single GOP woman — will be Christine Blasey Ford's interrogators on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Alexander Nazaryan, Sept. 18, 2018. Next week, Christine Blasey Ford will likely face intense questioning from Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee about the truthfulness of her accusations against Brett Kavanaugh, the Supreme Court nominee, who she says attempted to rape her during a party in the 1980s. Her turn on Capitol Hill could decide Kavanaugh's suddenly uncertain fate, as well as the Supreme Court's direction for a generation.
Ford will face questions from the 11 Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Ford will face questions from the 11 Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee, all of them men, with an average age of 62. (The chairman, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the second-oldest sitting senator, is 85.) In the committee's 202-year history, it has not had a single Republican woman. Four of the 10 Democrats are women, including ranking member Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, who is a few months older than Grassley. The committee has never been chaired by a woman.
The spectacle of Ford, 51, being interrogated about her sexual history by older men could present an uncomfortable sight that the White House may take great pains to avoid. The outrage over that discrepancy, however, is already building. "In the year 2018, a group of white men has essentially complete control over lifetime nominations to an entire branch of government," tweeted Robert Reich, the former Labor secretary and current Berkeley professor. The message was retweeted more than 2,000 times
In the last 40 years, use of the judiciary to advance ideological goals has rendered the process of nominating judges highly political, with nominees evaluated on a narrow range of cultural issues, notably abortion, gun control and, until recently, gay marriage. That has tended to turn the Senate Judiciary into a hotbed of assertive ideologues, including, recently, Jeff Sessions and Ted Cruz. GOP women have made their contributions elsewhere, effectively ceding judicial nominations to their male counterparts.
CNN, Ford wants FBI investigation before testifying, Sophie Tatum, Sept. 18, 2018. The woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault says the FBI should investigate the incident before senators hold a hearing on the allegations.
In a letter addressed to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa, and obtained by CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360," Christine Blasey Ford's attorneys argue that "a full investigation by law enforcement officials will ensure that the crucial facts and witnesses in this matter are assessed in a non-partisan manner, and that the Committee is fully informed before conducting any hearing or making any decisions."
The letter from Ford's lawyers notes that despite receiving a "stunning amount of support from her community," Ford has also "been the target of vicious harassment and even death threats" and has been forced to leave her home.
"We would welcome the opportunity to talk with you and Ranking Member Feinstein to discuss reasonable steps as to how Dr. Ford can cooperate while also taking care of her own health and security," the letter from Ford's lawyers said.
"What we're saying is there should be an investigation because that's the right thing to do," Ford's attorney Lisa Banks told Cooper.
"She is prepared to cooperate with the committee and with any law enforcement investigation," she added.
The letter comes after a day of uncertainty about whether the hearing scheduled for Monday would even take place, as Republicans continued to emphasize their repeated efforts to reach out to Ford.
Democrats have pushed back on the hearing. All 10 Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter on Tuesday to FBI Director Christopher Wray and White House counsel Don McGahn arguing that the FBI should conduct an investigation prior to a hearing.
Washington Post, Democrats protest plan to limit witnesses at new Kavanaugh hearing, John Wagner, Seung Min Kim and Robert Costa, Sept. 18, 2018. No. 2 Senate Republican sharply questions credibility of Kavanaugh accuser·The No. 2 Republican in the Senate on Tuesday sharply questioned the credibility of the woman who has accused Judge Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault, as GOP leaders indicated they will limit witnesses at next week's hearing to just the Supreme Court nominee and his accuser.
Speaking to reporters, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), right, said he was concerned by "gaps" in the account of Christine Blasey Ford, a psychology professor in California, who told The Washington Post in an interview published Sunday that Kavanaugh drunkenly pinned her to a bed on her back, groped her and put his hand over her mouth at a house party in the early 1980s when the two were in high school.
"The problem is, Dr. Ford can't remember when it was, where it was, or how it came to be," Cornyn told reporters at the Capitol late Tuesday morning.
When asked whether he was questioning the accuser's account — which Kavanaugh has repeatedly denied — Cornyn said, "There are some gaps there that need to be filled."
His comments came shortly after Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) outlined a plan to limit testimony at Monday's planned hearing to that provided by Kavanaugh and Ford — which brought cries of protest from Democrats.
They insisted that other witnesses also be called, including Mark Judge, a Kavanaugh friend who Ford said witnessed the assault. "What about other witnesses like Kavanaugh's friend Mark Judge?" ranking Democrat Dianne Feinstein of California said in a statement. "What about individuals who were previously told about this incident? What about experts who can speak to the effects of this kind of trauma on a victim? This is another attempt by Republicans to rush this nomination and not fully vet Judge Kavanaugh."
Speaking to reporters later, Grassley defended his plan. "We've had two people that want to tell their story and that's what we're gonna do," he said. Pressed about the precedent of the Hill hearing, Grassley said: "You're talking about history. We're not looking back. We're looking forward."
Kavanaugh was at the White House on Tuesday for a second day in a row, but Trump said he has not spoken to him.
Washington Post, Opinion: Is there a Kavanaugh doppelganger? Kathleen Parker, Sept. 18, 2018. In one of Brett M. Kavanaugh's responses to allegations that he sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl when he was in high school, a charge he has denied "categorically and unequivocally," he suggested that, perhaps, this was a case of mistaken identity.
Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), a member of the Judiciary Committee, reiterated this notion, saying that perhaps the accuser was "mixed up." And on Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal's editorial board also floated the possibility of mistaken identity.
As crazy as that sounds, it wouldn't be unheard of. And, given the high regard in which Kavanaugh has been held throughout his life, including during high school, it would make the most sense. Could there be a Kavanaugh doppelganger?
JIP Editor's note: This column prompted 1.9 thousand reader comments as of Sept. 23, many if not most of them highly critical. Many of the recent ones alleged that the column may have been the first attempt by right-wing think tank president and longtime GOP operative Ed Whelan, a friend of Kavanaugh's, Whelan's public relations company CRC Public Relations and / or the Trump White House to help Kavanaugh by accusing an innocent classmate (whom Whelan and CRC later named) as having attacked Ford at the party. Thus, the first reader comment listed as of Sept. 23 was: "Did Ms. Parker collude with Ed Whelan or CRC Public Relations in writing this article? The reading public wants to know the truth."
New York Times, Kavanaugh and His Accuser Will Both Testify Monday, Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Julie Hirschfeld Davis, Sept. 18, 2018 (print edition). The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, under mounting pressure from senators of his own party, will call President Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, and the woman who has accused him of sexual assault before the committee on Monday for extraordinary public hearings just weeks before the midterm elections.
Senator John Kennedy, Republican of Louisiana, told reporters Monday afternoon that the chairman, Senator Charles E. Grassley, right, Republican of Iowa, told senators there would be an "opportunity" for senators to hear from Judge Kavanaugh and his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, in a public setting where senators would be able to ask questions. Both have said they are willing to testify. A Senate Republican aide confirmed that it would be on Monday, effectively delaying a planned committee vote on Judge Kavanaugh's nomination, which had been scheduled for this Thursday.
The hearings will set up a potentially explosive public showdown, one that carries unmistakable echoes of the 1991 testimony of Anita Hill, who accused the future Justice Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment in an episode that riveted the nation and ushered a slew of women into public office. They will play out against the backdrop of the #MeToo movement, which has energized Democratic women across the nation.
Brandeis University professor Anita Hill, as portrayed in the 2013 documentary "Anita" based on her experiences testifying against future Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas
New York Times, Opinion: How to Get the Kavanaugh Hearings Right, Anita Hill, Sept. 18, 2018. The Senate Judiciary Committee has a chance to do better by the country than it did nearly three decades ago.
Select a neutral investigative body with experience in sexual misconduct cases that will investigate the incident in question and present its findings to the committee. Outcomes in such investigations are more reliable and less likely to be perceived as tainted by partisanship. Senators must then rely on the investigators' conclusions, along with advice from experts, to frame the questions they ask Judge Kavanaugh and Dr. Blasey. Again, the senators' fact-finding roles must guide their behavior. The investigators' report should frame the hearing, not politics or myths about sexual assault.
Do not rush these hearings. Doing so would not only signal that sexual assault accusations are not important — hastily appraising this situation would very likely lead to facts being overlooked that are necessary for the Senate and the public to evaluate. That the committee plans to hold a hearing this coming Monday is discouraging. Simply put, a week's preparation is not enough time for meaningful inquiry into very serious charges.
Amid accusations of sexual assault against a woman while in high school, the high school yearbook of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh has prompted more questions about his character.
Kavanaugh, shown in a file photo, graduated from Bethesda's Georgetown Prep high school in 1983.
Washington, D.C.-area attorney Seth Berenzweig received the yearbook from a woman who did not want her name revealed. Berenzweig says she brought it forward after seeing Judge Kavanaugh's repeated denial of engaging in inappropriate behavior with a then 15-year-old girl at a high school party.
"The question of integrity and character and fitness," said Berenzweig. "There's information here that appears to potentially be inconsistent with what the judge said earlier this morning."
The yearbook has pages dedicated to each graduating high school senior. Kavanaugh's page includes references to the "Keg City Club" and "100 kegs or bust."
"[He's] someone who apparently may have had a reputation for some heavy drinking," said Berenzweig. Kavanaugh's page also includes a reference to the 'Devil's Triangle', one possible interpretation of which is slang for a sexual situation involving two men and a woman.
The allegations against Kavanaugh are that he attempted to sexually assault a woman at a high school party during his junior year. Published reports and the alleged victim's recollection is that another Georgetown Prep student, and friend of Kavanaugh's, named Mark Judge was also present in the room during the alleged assault. Lawyer says excerpts from Brett Kavanaugh's high school yearbook raises questions. Judge's yearbook page includes this quote, "Certain women should be struck regularly, like gongs." His page also references "100 kegs or bust" and "Alcoholics Unanimous [Founder]."
Roll Call, Mark Judge, Possible Witness to Alleged Brett Kavanaugh Sexual Assault, Does Not Want to Testify, Niels Lesniewski, Sept. 18, 2018. The third person identified by Christine Blasey Ford as having been present in the room during what she alleged was a sexual assault by Judge Brett Kavanaugh wants no part of the Judiciary Committee proceedings. Mark Judge is shown at right.
Palmer Report, Opinion: Susan Collins just threw a big monkey wrench into the GOP's Brett Kavanaugh plot, Bill Palmer, Sept. 18, 2018. Even after the Republican leadership announced last night that it was agreeing to delay the Senate Judiciary Committee vote on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, it was clear the GOP was still playing games. This was set up as a rush job in which Kavanaugh and his accuser Dr. Christine Blasey Ford would each quickly testify on Monday before any real investigating could be done. Now Republican Senator Susan Collins has thrown a big monkey wrench into that plan.
Here's what Susan Collins, right, tweeted this afternoon: "I'm writing to the Chairman & RM of Judiciary Cmte respectfully recommending that at Monday's hearing, counsel for Prof. Ford be allocated time to question Judge Kavanaugh & counsel for the Judge be granted equal time to question Prof. Ford, followed by questions from Senators. Such an approach would provide more continuity, elicit the most information & allow an in-depth examination of the allegations." Wait, so what is she up to?
She has clearly decided that she wants Monday's testimony to be something of substance, where Kavanaugh can be grilled by a legal professional in front of the cameras. Collins has to know that Kavanaugh, who has already proven himself to be an inept and self-contradictory witness on various matters, would fare poorly in such a scenario.
Washington Post, Trump says he feels 'badly' for Kavanaugh: 'This is not a man who deserves this,' Seung Min Kim, Robert Costa and John Wagner, Sept. 18, 2018. President Trump said during a news conference at the White House that he supports the congressional hearing on an allegation that Brett M. Kavanaugh sexually assaulted a woman in high school, because there shouldn't be any doubt about his innocence. Trump also blamed Democrats for not bringing the allegation forward sooner.
Sept. 17
Washington Post, Kavanaugh accuser willing to testify, her lawyer says, John Wagner, Sept. 17, 2018. A lawyer for Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who said Judge Brett Kavanaugh assaulted her when the two were in high school, said Monday that Ford is willing to testify about the allegations before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
"She is. She's willing to do whatever it takes to get her story forth," lawyer Debra Katz said on NBC's "Today" show when asked if her client would speak publicly about President Trump's nominee to the Supreme Court.
Kavanaugh has denied the allegations, which have roiled his confirmation process. The White House indicated Monday that it is continuing to stand by Kavanaugh but expects Ford will offer testimony to the Judiciary Committee.
Roll Call, Kavanaugh Would Testify Against Sexual Assault Allegation, John T. Bennett, Sept. 17, 2018. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh said Monday he would testify to give his side of the story of an alleged 1982 incident when a California professor says he sexually assaulted her.
"This is a completely false allegation. I have never done anything like what the accuser describes — to her or to anyone," Kavanaugh said in a statement released by the White House.
"Because this never happened, I had no idea who was making this accusation until she identified herself yesterday. I am willing to talk to the Senate Judiciary Committee in any way the committee deems appropriate to refute this false allegation, from 36 years ago, and defend my integrity."
The Hill, Alumnae of Kavanaugh accuser's high school express support for her, Justin Wise, Sept. 17, 2018. Alumnae of Christine Blasey Ford's high school are circulating a letter to show their support for her, after Ford came forward with sexual misconduct accusations against President Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh.
"We believe Dr. Blasey Ford and are grateful that she came forward to tell her story," a draft letter from alumnae of Holton-Arms, a private girls school in Bethesda, Md., reads, as first reported by HuffPost. "It demands a thorough and independent investigation before the Senate can reasonably vote on Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to a lifetime seat on the nation's highest court."
The letter, which says it's from more than 200 alumnae from classes 1967 through 2018, added that Ford's allegations about Kavanaugh are "all too consistent with stories we heard and lived while attending Holton."
"Many of us are survivors ourselves," it said. HuffPost reported that the letter had received three dozen additional signatures as of Monday morning.The report comes just a day after Ford detailed her allegations against Kavanaugh for the first time to The Washington Post.
Earlier this summer, Christine Blasey Ford wrote a confidential letter to a senior Democratic lawmaker alleging that Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her more than three decades ago, when they were high school students in suburban Maryland. Since Wednesday, she has watched as that bare-bones version of her story became public without her name or her consent, drawing a blanket denial from Kavanaugh and roiling a nomination that just days ago seemed all but certain to succeed.
Now, Ford has decided that if her story is going to be told, she wants to be the one to tell it.
Speaking publicly for the first time, Ford said that one summer in the early 1980s, Kavanaugh and a friend — both "stumbling drunk," Ford alleges — corralled her into a bedroom during a gathering of teenagers at a house in Montgomery County.
While his friend watched, she said, Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed on her back and groped her over her clothes, grinding his body against hers and clumsily attempting to pull off her one-piece bathing suit and the clothing she wore over it. When she tried to scream, she said, he put his hand over her mouth.
"I thought he might inadvertently kill me," said Ford, now a 51-year-old research psychologist in northern California. "He was trying to attack me and remove my clothing."
Ford said she was able to escape when Kavanaugh's friend and classmate at Georgetown Preparatory School, Mark Judge, jumped on top of them, sending all three tumbling. She said she ran from the room, briefly locked herself in a bathroom and then fled the house.
Ford said she told no one of the incident in any detail until 2012, when she was in couples therapy with her husband. The therapist's notes, portions of which were provided by Ford and reviewed by The Washington Post, do not mention Kavanaugh's name but say she reported that she was attacked by students "from an elitist boys' school" who went on to become "highly respected and high-ranking members of society in Washington." The notes say four boys were involved, a discrepancy Ford says was an error on the therapist's part. Ford said there were four boys at the party but only two in the room.
Reached by email Sunday, Judge declined to comment. In an interview Friday with The Weekly Standard, before Ford's name was known, he denied that any such incident occurred. "It's just absolutely nuts. I never saw Brett act that way," Judge said. He told the New York Times that Kavanaugh was a "brilliant student" who loved sports and was not "into anything crazy or illegal."
On Sunday, the White House sent The Post a statement Kavanaugh issued last week, when the outlines of Ford's account first became public: "I categorically and unequivocally deny this allegation. I did not do this back in high school or at any time."
For weeks, Ford declined to speak to The Post on the record as she grappled with concerns about what going public would mean for her and her family — and what she said was her duty as a citizen to tell the story.
Axios Sneak Peek, What's next: The politics of Kavanaugh's crisis, Jonathan Swan, Sept. 16, 2018. What was previously an allegation of sexual misconduct against Brett Kavanaugh by an unidentified person — without a lot of details or evidence — is now backed by a name, a specific allegation and therapist's notes. A senior Republican official involved in Kavanaugh's confirmation privately admitted to me that they felt queasy when they read The Washington Post story.
And there was one sign tonight that these allegations could actually derail Kavanaugh's confirmation to the Supreme Court — which was previously a sure thing. Jeff Flake [the Arizona Republican at right] told the WashPost's Sean Sullivan that the Senate Judiciary Committee should wait to hear more from Kavanaugh's accuser, Christine Blasey Ford: "For me, we can't vote until we hear more."
Why it matters: Doug Jones' special election victory late last year gave Democrats an extra seat on Senate Judiciary — there are now 11 Republicans and 10 Democrats — meaning that Flake's defection could stall Kavanaugh's confirmation process.
Since the story broke, I've spoken to four sources close to the Kavanaugh confirmation process. All were defiant and sought to raise doubts about the accuser's credibility and the holes in her story — though none were willing to do so on the record. They signaled potential lines of attack: the accuser's Democratic political background, lapses in her memory and the accounts of the 65 women who've known Kavanaugh since high school who've vouched for his character.
Washington Post, Opinion: Kavanaugh's accuser steps forward, Jennifer Rubin, right, Sept. 16, 2018. If Kavanaugh did what he was accused of and then has lied about it, he cannot be confirmed for the Supreme Court. It is noteworthy he has not denied the allegation under oath. The Senate therefore must bring him back as well as Ford to tell their accounts in public and under oath.
If the allegation is true — and at this point, none of us is in a position to assess credibility — he dare not lie under oath, putting at risk his current seat on the bench. (A far more difficult matter presents itself if Kavanaugh issues less than an absolute denial under oath but argues that this episode was decades old and therefore should not be disqualifying. I find it difficult to believe, however, that he'll deviate from his initial, complete denial.)
The nomination fortunately does not hang on whether the White House or the vast majority of Senate Republicans behave responsibly, for surely they will not. Here, the two pro-choice Republican senators, Susan Collins, left, of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, once more are in the driver's seat. If they indicate they will not vote to confirm unless and until the matter is investigated, then the nomination stops in its tracks.
To Republicans and the judge himself who may think this is terribly unfair, I have two responses. First, the entire confirmation process has been rushed, incomplete and hampered by the partisan, limited release of relevant documents. Second, it may well be unfair to hear a last-minute allegation, but it would be much more unfair to allow someone who has lied to the American people about an alleged sexual assault to reach the highest court.
Roll Call, Three Ways Kavanaugh Nomination Could Play Out After Accuser Speaks, John T. Bennett, Sept. 16, 2018. Female GOP senators could have big say in what happens nextPosted What was an anonymous letter with serious allegations against Supreme Court nominee are now vivid words from an accuser, putting a name and face on the charges and raising new questions about the nomination.
A California professor contends she instantly thought a "stumbling drunk" Kavanaugh might "inadvertently kill" her during a party in the early 1980s while they were in high school, breaking her public silence and handing Republican leaders and the White House tough decisions about what to do next.
"I thought he might inadvertently kill me," Christine Blasey Ford told the Washington Post in an article that published Sunday afternoon. "He was trying to attack me and remove my clothing." She also claims Kavanaugh and a friend trapped her in a bedroom during the party, with the high court nominee pinning her on a bed while his friend watched and groping her over her one-piece bathing suit. Ford says she was able to escape without injury.
The 51-year-old Ford first voiced her concerns to California Democratic lawmakers, including Senate Judiciary ranking member Dianne Feinstein, who last week cryptically announced she had referred a letter containing information about Kavanaugh to the FBI. Ford also contacted a Post tip line, but the interview marked the first time she had spoken publicly about the alleged incident.
Judiciary Chairman Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, last week teed up a committee vote on Kavanaugh's confirmation for Thursday as he and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell — and the White House — aim to hold floor votes and have Kavanaugh join the other eight Supreme Court justices by Oct.1.
But Ford's public allegations could alter those plans. Here are three ways the nomination could play out after the accuser's first public remarks.Kavanaugh drops out/White House pulls nomination.
Sept. 15
New York Times, New Kavanaugh Disclosure Shows Little Sign of Impeding His Nomination, Carl Hulse, Sept. 15, 2018. Sudden new revelations in Supreme Court confirmation fights are not new. Anita Hill's accusations of sexual harassment against Clarence Thomas surfaced after his initial hearings had concluded. Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, President Trump's first nominee to the court, faced claims that he had plagiarized parts of his book just as his nomination headed toward a Senate floor vote.
Sept. 15
New York Times, Border Patrol Agent Arrested in Connection With Murders of 4 Women, Simon Romero and Manny Fernandez, Sept. 15, 2018. A United States Border Patrol agent was arrested in South Texas on Saturday in connection to a calculated killing spree that left four people dead in recent weeks around the city of Laredo, the authorities said.
Webb County Sheriff Martin Cuellar said police officers arrested the agent, Juan David Ortiz, early on Saturday morning after a woman who claimed she had been abducted by Mr. Ortiz escaped half-clothed and sought help at a gas station in Laredo.
"We consider this man to be a serial killer who was preying on one victim after another," Sheriff Cuellar said. "Fortunately, he's now been apprehended."
The case is the latest in a series of recent gruesome episodes involving Border Patrol agents, and comes at a time when protesters and some Democratic lawmakers are seeking to curb the actions of immigration officials. Some are calling for an end to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which was created in 2003. Customs and Border Protection, another agency in the Department of Homeland Security, has also come under fierce criticism.
Another female victim remained unidentified and was referred to as Jane Doe, Mr. Alaniz said. The fourth appeared to be a transgender woman, but authorities referred to her as John Doe. Mr. Alaniz said he believed that all of the victims worked as prostitutes in the Laredo area.
District Attorney Isidro Alaniz of Webb County said the authorities were prepared to also charge Mr. Ortiz with four counts of murder and one count of aggravated kidnapping. "At this time we believe the suspect was acting alone," Mr. Alaniz said, describing Mr. Ortiz as a supervisory agent who had worked as a Border Patrol agent for a decade.
Sept. 14
New Yorker, A Sexual-Misconduct Allegation Against the Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh Stirs Tension Among Democrats in Congress, Ronan Farrow and Jane Mayer, Sept. 14, 2018. On Thursday, Senate Democrats disclosed that they had referred a complaint regarding President Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Judge Brett Kavanaugh, to the F.B.I. for investigation. The complaint came from a woman who accused Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct when they were both in high school, more than thirty years ago.
The woman, who has asked not to be identified, first approached Democratic lawmakers in July, shortly after Trump nominated Kavanaugh.
The allegation dates back to the early nineteen-eighties, when Kavanaugh was a high-school student at Georgetown Preparatory School, in Bethesda, Maryland, and the woman attended a nearby high school. In the letter, the woman alleged that, during an encounter at a party, Kavanaugh held her down, and that he attempted to force himself on her.
She claimed in the letter that Kavanaugh and a classmate of his, both of whom had been drinking, turned up music that was playing in the room to conceal the sound of her protests, and that Kavanaugh covered her mouth with his hand.
She was able to free herself. Although the alleged incident took place decades ago and the three individuals involved were minors, the woman said that the memory had been a source of ongoing distress for her, and that she had sought psychological treatment as a result.
In a statement, Kavanaugh said, "I categorically and unequivocally deny this allegation. I did not do this back in high school or at any time."
New York Times, Dianne Feinstein Refers a Kavanaugh Matter to Federal Investigators, Nicholas Fandos and Catie Edmondson, Sept. 14, 2018 (print edition). The senior Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee referred information involving Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, President Trump's nominee to the Supreme Court, to federal investigators on Thursday, but the senator declined to make public what the matter involved.
Two officials familiar with the matter say the incident involved possible sexual misconduct between Judge Kavanaugh and a woman when they were both in high school. They spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to discuss the matter.
The statement by Senator Dianne Feinstein of California came a week before the Judiciary Committee is to vote on his nomination. "I have received information from an individual concerning the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court," Ms. Feinstein said in a statement. "That individual strongly requested confidentiality, declined to come forward or press the matter further, and I have honored that decision. I have, however, referred the matter to federal investigative authorities."
The information came in July in a letter, which was first sent to the office of Representative Anna Eshoo, Democrat of California, and accuses the judge of sexual misconduct toward the letter's author, a person familiar with the letter confirmed.
Washington Post, Bitter Senate fight to confirm Kavanaugh plunges deeper into chaos over letter, Seung Min Kim and Elise Viebeck, Sept. 14, 2018. The letter describes an alleged episode of sexual misconduct involving the Supreme Court nominee when he was in high school, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Politico, Sexual assault allegation roils Kavanaugh confirmation fight, Elana Schor, Burgess Everett and Eliana Johnson, Sept. 14, 2018. Republicans rushed to defend the Supreme Court nominee with a letter from women who've known him since high school.
Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans on Friday released a letter from 65 women who knew Brett Kavanaugh during his high school years calling him "a good person" — escalating their defense of the Supreme Court nominee as a decades-old sexual misconduct allegation surfaced.
Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley's (R-Iowa) office circulated the pro-Kavanaugh letter less than 48 hours after the committee's top Democrat, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, referred the allegation against the nominee to the FBI. Feinstein, who declined to say when she first became aware of the accusation, said she had "honored [a] decision" by the woman making the charges to maintain confidentiality. But the senator's handling of the matter has stoked already-fierce partisan tensions over a confirmation the GOP is still pushing to wind up by the end of this month.
The woman leveling the charge against Kavanaugh attended a nearby high school at the same time as the nominee. She, Kavanaugh, and another high-school male were alone in a room together when the alleged misconduct took place, according to two sources. The New Yorker reported Friday that the woman alleged Kavanaugh had attempted to force himself on her while physically restraining her.
The flaring controversy has not shaken Republican plans to bring Kavanaugh's nomination to the Senate floor before the Supreme Court's new term begins in the first week of October. The Judiciary panel is still scheduled to vote on the nomination on Thursday, Grassley's office said.
The Senate has received an updated FBI background report on Kavanaugh that includes the letter, which means that senators will have access to the letter if they want to view it.
With Republicans holding a 51-49 advantage, Kavanaugh's prospects for approval are still on track despite his lack of 50 public "yes" votes — heightening the importance of the letter's effect on the Senate GOP's two female swing votes, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. Neither Collins nor Murkowski has expressed skepticism about the nominee.
Collins and Kavanaugh had an hour-long phone call on Friday, a spokeswoman said, though the contents of the call were not divulged. A spokeswoman for Murkowski did not respond to a request for comment.
In the letter that the GOP circulated, Kavanaugh's female contemporaries countered the damning portrayal of the nominee that has surfaced the past 24 hours. "Through the more than 35 years we have known him, Brett has stood out for his friendship, character, and integrity. In particular, he has always treated women with decency and respect," the women wrote. "That was true when he was in high school, and it has remained true to this day."
Democrats have remained notably mum about the situation since Thursday, even as liberal groups off the Hill call for a pointed push to withdraw Kavanaugh's nomination.
"That's now in the hands of the FBI. That's all I'm going to say about it," Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), who pressed Kavanaugh on the #MeToo movement during his confirmation hearing, told POLITICO's Off Message podcast in an interview set to run Tuesday.
Brian Fallon, a former senior aide to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) who now helms the left-leaning group Demand Justice, nudged Democats for a more pointed response. "The message needs to be clear: withdraw," he said.
Undecided red-state Democrats were similarly tight-lipped following the report on the letter's content. Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Doug Jones of Alabama and Jon Tester of Montana had no immediate comment. Tester is still trying to schedule an initial meeting with Kavanaugh and Manchin is seeking a second meeting.
The White House first heard vague rumors about the allegation against Kavanaugh late last week, but the specifics of the alleged high-school sexual assault landed on White House Counsel Don McGahn's desk on Thursday, hours after Feinstein referred the matter to the FBI.
Kavanaugh's denial may do little to stanch the damaging trickle of revelations. The co-author of the New Yorker's story, Ronan Farrow, right, has traveled to California in an attempt to persuade the woman behind the allegations to share her story, according to a source familiar with his reporting. The woman's letter was channeled to Feinstein as well as to Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) through a Stanford Law School professor.
Sept. 13
New York Times, Catholic Clergy in Germany Abused 3,600 Children, Study Says, Katrin Bennhold and Melissa Eddy, Sept. 13, 2018 (print edition). "It is depressing and shameful," a Catholic bishop said after a report found that thousands of children had been assaulted over decades. The study, which was commissioned by the Roman Catholic Church bishops' conference in Germany, found that at least 1,670 church workers had been involved in the abuse of 3,677 children. That is 4.4 percent of the clergy.
Washington Post, Pope Francis orders investigation of W.Va. bishop on sexual harassment charges, William Branigin, Sept. 13, 2018. The pope instructed the archbishop of Baltimore to conduct a probe into allegations that Bishop Michael J. Bransfield, 75, of Wheeling-Charleston, W.Va., sexually harassed adults. Bransfield is a former rector of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington.
Elliott Broidy Briody, above, was finance chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC) fromFrom 2005 to 2008. In 2017, he was named a deputy finance chairman of the RNC. Broidy resigned from his RNC role in April 2018 after the Wall Street Journal reported that he had been a party to a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with former Playboy Playmate Shera Bechard, paying $1.6 million for her silence about a sexual affair between them.
Mediaite, Opinion: Here’s How and Why People like Me Jumped to the Wrong Conclusion About the Broidy/Bechard Scandal, John Ziegler, Sept. 13, 2018. Of all the many loathsome elements of President Donald Trump’s personality, the one that infuriates people like me the most is his abject disregard for the truth. He lies constantly and, even when it is proven that he has lied, he never even takes any responsibility for it, all while insisting that reporters, who make what are usually honest mistakes, be held to full account even after they have admitted having gotten something wrong.
In that context, it is paramount that I proactively admit that I was one of those who made a speculative allegation against Trump which now, given more evidence, appears to have been false. I am referring to the theory, first outlined by law professor Paul Campos in New York Magazine, that Trump impregnated former Playboy playmate Shera Bechard while president, and then arranged for former GOP fundraiser Elliott Broidy to take the fall for that and the ensuing abortion, all while using Trump’s then personal attorney Michael Cohen to pay her $1.6 million.
I interviewed Campos for my podcast and was immediately convinced that there was a very good chance his view of what really happened was accurate, or, at the very least, that the narrative we were being told didn’t make any sense. At one point, it even appeared to me, Campos, and celebrity attorney Michael Avenatti, that the whole story was finally about to blow up into a massive bombshell.
But then, almost immediately, it started to become clear that there was a problem. When Bechard’s lawsuit was finally unsealed last Friday, however, it became obvious that the details she provided made it nearly impossible for Broidy (who comes across as perhaps a worse person than even Trump) not to have been the man to impregnate her after a lengthy affair.
Sept. 12
Washington Post, Pope summons bishops for summit on preventing clergy sex abuse and protecting children, Chico Harlan and William Branigin, Sept. 12, 2018. The February summit at the Vatican — believed to be the first of its kind — was announced a day before Pope Francis, right, is set to meet with leaders of the U.S. Catholic Church to discuss some of the latest sex scandals.
New York Times, '60 Minutes' Producer Jeff Fager Is Ousted at CBS, John Koblin and Michael M. Grynbaum, Sept. 12, 2018. Jeff Fager, the longtime executive producer of "60 Minutes" on CBS, was fired on Wednesday for sending a bullying text message to one of the network's reporters, just days after Leslie Moonves stepped down as the company's chief executive following numerous allegations of sexual misconduct.
In recent articles in The New Yorker and The Washington Post, Mr. Fager had been accused of touching women at company parties in ways that made them feel uncomfortable and fostering a culture of harassment at "60 Minutes."
Mr. Fager has previously denied any wrongdoing, and CBS has enlisted two law firms to investigate the allegations and the workplace culture at CBS.
David Rhodes, the president of CBS News, told staff in an email that Mr. Fager's departure was "not directly related to the allegations surfaced in press reports, which continue to be investigated independently." It would be hard to overstate Mr. Fager's power inside CBS's news division or the significance of his departure to a network already reeling from the exit of its longtime leader.
Mr. Fager is only the second executive producer in the half-century history of "60 Minutes," a show that despite dwindling audiences for news programs has remained among the highest-rated series on network television. Although Mr. Fager was not the titular head of CBS News, he was given carte blanche to run his fief as he saw fit.
Sept. 10
CNBC, Leslie Moonves will get 'zip' from CBS exit package, veteran media analyst predicts, Berkeley Lovelace Jr., Sept. 10, 2018. Departing CBS CEO Leslie Moonves could walk away from the media empire empty-handed, veteran media analyst Porter Bibb predicted Monday. Bibb, a tech and media analyst with more than 40 years of experience on Wall Street, said Moonves will not receive the $100 million exit package the board is considering if allegations reported by journalist Ronan Farrow in Sunday's New Yorker article and another in July turn out to be true.
The second New Yorker article on Sunday contained allegations by six more women. Moonves denied the accusations and characterized his relationships with some of the women as consensual. "He's denying [the allegations] strongly, and I think he's going to end up getting zip," the managing partner at Mediatech Capital Partners said in an interview with CNBC's "Squawk Box."
Sept. 9
New Yorker, As Leslie Moonves Negotiates His Exit from CBS, Six Women Raise New Assault and Harassment Claims, Ronan Farrow (below right), Sept. 9, 2018. Members of the board of the CBS Corporation are negotiating with the company's chairman and C.E.O., Leslie Moonves, about his departure. Sources familiar with the board's activities said the discussions about Moonves stepping down began several weeks ago, after an article published in the The New Yorker detailed allegations by six women that the media executive had sexually harassed them, and revealed complaints by dozens of others that the culture in some parts of the company tolerated sexual misconduct. Since then, the board has selected outside counsel to lead an investigation into the claims.
As the negotiations continue and shareholders and advocacy groups accuse the board of failing to hold Moonves accountable, new allegations are emerging.
Six additional women are now accusing Moonves of sexual harassment or assault in incidents that took place between the nineteen-eighties and the early two-thousands. They include claims that Moonves forced them to perform oral sex on him, that he exposed himself to them without their consent, and that he used physical violence and intimidation against them. A number of the women also said that Moonves retaliated after they rebuffed him, damaging their careers. Similar frustrations about perceived inaction have prompted another woman to raise a claim of misconduct against Jeff Fager, the executive producer of "60 Minutes," who previously reported to Moonves as the chairman of CBS News.
Update: Three hours after the publication of this story, CNN reported that Moonves would step down from his position at CBS. Later the same day, CBS announced that Moonves had left the company and would not receive any of his exit compensation, pending the results of the independent investigation into the allegations. The company named six new members of its board of directors and said it would donate $20 million to organizations that support the #MeToo movement and workplace equality for women. The donation will be deducted from any severance payments that may be due to Moonves.
Washington Post, Leslie Moonves out as head of CBS as sexual misconduct claims multiply, Steven Zeitchik, Alex Horton and Sarah Ellison, Sept. 9, 2018. Moonves, right, once regarded as one of the country's most respected media titans, fell from his perch after a dozen women alleged sexual misconduct, harassment and retaliation.
Moonves had seemed bulletproof as of just six weeks ago, regarded as one of the entertainment world's most sterling executives. But sexual-misconduct allegations by six women in The New Yorker in July led to the board hiring outside lawyers to conduct an investigation into Moonves and activists to call for his removal. On the magazine's website Sunday, an additional six women alleged behavior that includes sexual misconduct, harassment and retaliation.
As part of the agreement, CBS and Shari Redstone's controlling shareholder National Amusements will end their lawsuit as Redstone agrees not to merge the broadcaster with Viacom for at least two years. That move gives Moonves a victory in that arena; he sought to keep CBS operating as a separate concern.The allegations posted by The New Yorker Sunday include forced oral sex, Moonves exposing himself without consent and the use of physical violence and intimidation to silence the women. The women in Sunday's report echoed descriptions of a culture of downplaying accusations and promoting men even after the company settled allegations against them.
The allegations posted by The New Yorker Sunday include forced oral sex, Moonves exposing himself without consent and the use of physical violence and intimidation to silence the women. The women in Sunday's report echoed descriptions of a culture of downplaying accusations and promoting men even after the company settled allegations against them.
#MeTo Clergy Protest
Washington Post, Trump to provide written answers under oath in Summer Zervos defamation lawsuit, Elise Viebeck, Sept. 9, 2018. The former contestant on "The Apprentice," shown at right in a file photo, says President Trump groped her in 2007. Court rules require the statements to be sworn, meaning that false answers could open Trump to charges of perjury. #MeTo Clergy Protest
Washington Post, Catholic clergyman calls on Wuerl to resign, says he'll refuse to participate in Mass with him, Julie Zauzmer, Sept. 9, 2018. "I cannot, in good conscience, continue to assist you personally," a prominent member of Washington's Catholic clergy wrote to Cardinal Donald Wuerl, who faces calls to resign because of his handling of sexual abuse allegations while he was bishop of Pittsburgh.
A highly visible member of Washington's Catholic clergy has made a dramatic declaration calling on Cardinal Donald Wuerl, shown at right, to resign, the latest blow to Washington's embattled archbishop.
Deacon James Garcia, in his role as the master of ceremony at St. Matthew's Cathedral in the District, typically stands beside Wuerl during almost every major liturgy of the year. But Garcia wrote in a letter to Wuerl, which the deacon published online Saturday, that he refuses to assist in any Mass led by Wuerl again. Since deacons vow obedience to their bishop, it is a bold gesture.
Adult-film star Stormy Daniels said her safety has been threatened this year as her public profile grows and described feeling scared of "some pissed-off Trump supporter or fan coming after me, doing something stupid" as she pursues two lawsuits against President Trump.
In a rare television interview broadcast Thursday in the Netherlands, Daniels described how her role in the legal and political drama that has ensnared the White House dealt a fatal blow to her marriage and has prompted "hurtful" criticism on social media about her parenting.
Daniels, who also goes by the name Stephanie Clifford, only occasionally speaks to the media, making her wide-ranging, 40-minute conversation with the Dutch program "RTL Late Night with Twan Huys" unusual. She is shown at left in a screengrab from her major previous interview, that with CBS 60 Minutes earlier this year.
Related story: Michael Cohen firm seeks to void nondisclosure agreement with Stormy Daniels.
Sept. 7
Elliott Broidy Briody, above, was finance chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC) fromFrom 2005 to 2008. In 2017, he was named a deputy finance chairman of the RNC. Broidy resigned from his RNC role in April 2018 after the Wall Street Journal reported that he had been a party to a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with former Playboy Playmate Shera Bechard, paying $1.6 million for her silence about a sexual affair between them.
HuffPost reported on Friday that Bechard made the allegations in a complaint that remains sealed under court order. The complaint is part of a lawsuit from Bechard that claims Broidy stopped making payments on a $1.6 million nondisclosure agreement.
Bechard has said the agreement and payment required her to remain silent about an extramarital affair and subsequent pregnancy. The deal was negotiated by President Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen, who pleaded guilty last month to several federal charges, including campaign finance violations.
The model says Broidy began hurting her during their sexual relationship and pushed her to excessive drinking so she "would be more compliant toward his physical abuse," according to Bloomberg.
In addition to accusing the GOP fundraiser of physical abuse, Bechard alleges that the former RNC official also exposed her to herpes and emotionally abused her.
She reportedly says he told her she couldn't date or be seen with other men and that he also sought for her to depend on him financially.
Bechard also alleges that Broidy told her he admired President Trump because of his "uncanny ability to sexually abuse women and get away with it," according to the complaint.
California Superior Court Judge Elizabeth White issued a ruling Friday that allowed for Bechard's claims to be made public, Bloomberg reported.
Attorneys for Broidy told the court that the allegations should be struck from the complaint, arguing that they aren't tied to the lawsuit. "This person tried to extract money from me by making up false, malicious and disgusting allegations," Broidy said in a statement reported by multiple outlets. "I have acknowledged making the mistake of having an affair, and I entered a confidential agreement to protect my family's privacy.
New York Times, First person opinion: I Was Sexually Assaulted by Another Marine. The Corps Didn't Believe Me, Justin Rose, Sept. 7, 2018. I would never have guessed that closure would come to me in a small courtroom in Manhattan, Kan. A year and a half ago, on my 34th birthday, I sat on a witness stand and recounted how I was sexually assaulted on New Year's Day 2006 by a fellow Marine — someone I had considered a friend while we were deployed to the Horn of Africa.
Long after the attack itself is over, you're left dealing with all the toxic doubts and self-blame that come with being sexually assaulted. I fought with the idea that I somehow invited this upon myself, that I deserved it or was somehow to blame for the assault.
It stripped away my confidence and degraded the trust I had in my fellow Marines. I questioned the values that I first bought into when I became a Marine: the belief in honor, courage and commitment that was instilled by our drill instructors.
I didn't immediately confront my attacker face to face — so where was my courage or honor? How would I react to real combat? Where was the commitment from my fellow Marines, when I needed support in the aftermath of the attack? Would they be there for me if I needed their help on the battlefield one day?
Sept. 6
New York Times, Modeling in the #TimesUp Era, Vanessa Friedman, Sept. 6, 2018. There are new measures to safeguard young women from predatory behavior, but a wholesale change in the industry remains elusive.
In January, ahead of the first New York Fashion Week after the #TimesUp social revolution began, the Council of Fashion Designers of America sent out its regular preshow missive. For the first time it encouraged fashion houses to, among other things, create private changing areas, the better to guard against models being effectively naked in front of the many makeup artists, hairstylists, photographers, journalists and other random people who work behind the scenes of a show, where the making-of aspect has become as public as the event itself.
Most designers tried to comply. Nevertheless, at one show, as at many other shows over the following month in the other fashion cities, the private changing area was more of an ideal than a reality. "There was a male photographer there taking pictures while girls were getting undressed!" said Edie Campbell, a model.
In February, a model from Minneapolis who met with a photographer to work on her portfolio reported him to the police after she said he forcibly touched her near her breasts and genitals. Four other models' accounts were also described, on Facebook, involving coerced nude photo shoots and suggestive personal commentary with the same man.
Sept. 2
Washington Post, Pope Benedict, in seclusion, looms in the opposition to Pope Francis, Chico Harlan and Stefano Pitrelli, Sept. 2, 2018. Although many hoped to hear from Pope Benedict XVI, 91, and (shown at right in a 2010 photo before his 2013 resignation) amid new allegations that a coverup of sexual misconduct reached the highest levels of the Catholic Church, he has maintained silence on church matters.
Try as he might to stay out of the fray, he has been used as a symbol of resistance for a segment of traditionalists who oppose elements of Francis's reformist papacy.
August
Aug. 31
New York Times, NBC Impeded Weinstein Reporting, Ex-Producer Says, John Koblin, Aug. 31, 2018 (print edition). Ronan Farrow, right, spent months investigating sexual misconduct accusations against Harvey Weinstein while he was at NBC News, but his articles published later in The New Yorker. A producer who worked closely with Mr. Farrow said "the very highest levels of NBC" tried to halt the work. The network disagrees.
Aug. 30
New York Times, A Broken Relationship and Accusations of Emotional Abuse: The Case of Keith Ellison, Julie Turkewitz and Farah Stockman, Aug. 30, 2018. Mr. Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, is running for attorney general in Minnesota. His former girlfriend accused him of emotional abuse. It could open a potentially new chapter of the #MeToo movement.
Pope Francis is shown on a 2014 visit to South Korea (file photo via Wikimedia)
Washington Post, With call for pope to resign, divisions within the Catholic Church explode into view, Chico Harlan, Aug. 28, 2018 (print edition). Some traditionalists blame homosexuality within the church for the sexual abuse crisis. Pope Francis has used more inclusive messages about gays at a time when the religion is losing its hold across the Western world.
New York Times, A new analysis found that nearly 3,000 more deaths than expected occurred in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. Sheri Fink, Aug. 28, 2018. Along-awaited report on the devastation wrought by Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico has found that nearly 3,000 more deaths than expected occurred in the months after the storm, the first official outside evaluation of the toll in a disaster whose damage in some cases took months to unfold.
The report, made public on Tuesday by researchers at George Washington University's Milken Institute School of Public Health, was commissioned by the governor of Puerto Rico after The New York Times and other media outlets and researchers last year estimated that the death count far exceeded the government's official toll of 64.
Aug. 27
Alleged Vatican Cover-up
President Obama greets Vatican Ambassador to the United States Carlo Maria Vigano in 2011 (White House photo)
A former Vatican ambassador to the United States has alleged in an 11-page letter that Pope Benedict XVI, 91, and (shown at right in a 2010 photo before his 2013 resignation) and Pope Francis — among other top Catholic Church officials — had been aware of sexual misconduct allegations against former D.C. archbishop Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, shown below at left, years before he resigned this summer.
The letter from Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, 77, who was recalled from his D.C. post in 2016 amid allegations that he'd become embroiled in the conservative American fight against same-sex marriage, was first reported by the National Catholic Register and LifeSite News, two conservative Catholic sites.
The accusations sent a shock wave across the reeling Roman Catholic Church, but the letter offered no proof of its claims, and Viganò on Sunday told The Washington Post that he wouldn't comment further, beyond confirming that he was the letter's author.
New York Times, Singer Accuses David Daniels, Leading Opera Star, of Rape, Michael Cooper, Aug. 22, 2018. The opera star David Daniels, one of the world's best-known countertenors, took a leave of absence from his job as a music professor at the University of Michigan on Wednesday after a young singer accused him of drugging and raping him after a performance in Houston in 2010.
The singer, Samuel Schultz, a 32-year-old baritone, said in an interview on Wednesday that he had been drugged and raped by Mr. Daniels and Mr. Daniels's partner, Scott Walters, who is now his husband, when Mr. Daniels was appearing at Houston Grand Opera. Mr. Schultz's accusation was first reported by The Daily News, which quoted two people who said that Mr. Schultz had told them of the attack at the time.
Aug. 23
Washington Post, Ohio State suspends Urban Meyer for three games over handling of domestic abuse claims, Will Hobson and Chuck Culpepper, Aug. 23, 2018 (print edition). The football coach (shown in a 2017 file photo) has been on administrative leave since Aug. 1, pending an investigation into what he knew about allegations of domestic abuse concerning a former assistant. Ohio State football Coach Urban Meyer will be suspended without pay for the first three games of the upcoming season because of concerns over his handling of domestic violence allegations lodged against a longtime assistant and family friend, the school announced Wednesday night.
A university investigation found that Meyer and Ohio State Athletic Director Gene Smith failed to inform the school's compliance department about accusations made against former assistant coach Zach Smith in 2015 and instead awaited the conclusion of a law enforcement investigation that ultimately produced no criminal charges. The university also suspended Gene Smith for two weeks.
The school's investigation — led by Mary Jo White, a former U.S. attorney and former chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission — also concluded that while Meyer didn't cover up wrongdoing by his assistant, he didn't act forcefully enough in the face of repeated signs of misconduct by the former receivers coach, which included a 2014 incident in which he took high school coaches to a strip club in Miami while on a recruiting trip representing the school.
Paris Dennard, frequent CNN commentator and columnist for The Hill backing conservative views (screen shot)
Washington Post, Trump called this White House defender 'wonderful.' He was fired from his previous job for alleged sexual harassment, Aaron C. Davis, Aug. 23, 2018 (print edition). A conservative commentator who was lauded by President Trump this week as "wonderful" and who has argued that past sexual indiscretions should have no bearing on Trump's presidency was fired from Arizona State University four years ago for making sexually explicit comments and gestures toward women, according to documents and a university official.
An internal investigation by the university concluded that Paris Dennard, a surrogate during the campaign and now a member of the President's Commission on White House Fellowships, told a recent college graduate who worked for him that he wanted to have sex with her. He "pretended to unzip his pants in her presence, tried to get her to sit on his lap, and made masturbatory gestures," according to a university report obtained by The Washington Post.
According to the 2014 report, Dennard did not dispute those claims but said he committed the acts jokingly. The investigation began after the woman and a second female employee told superiors Dennard's actions went too far and had made them uncomfortable.
Daily Beast, CNN Suspends Trump-Defending Pundit Paris Dennard After Sexual Harassment Claims, Matt Wilstein, Aug. 22, 2018. Less than two hours after The Washington Post published its damning exposé about Paris Dennard, a prominent cable news defender of President Donald Trump, CNN announced that it was suspending the pundit "effective immediately."
"We are aware of reports of accusations against Paris Dennard," a spokesperson for CNN said Wednesday evening. "We are suspending Paris, effective immediately, while we look into the allegations."
Washington Post, Pope says 'no effort must be spared' to fight sexual abuse in Catholic Church, Chico Harlan, Aug. 20, 2018. In a letter, Pope Francis, right, said the Catholic Church has not dealt properly with "crimes" against children and needs to prevent sexual abuses from being "covered up and perpetuated."
The letter came after a Pennsylvania grand jury report detailed alleged abuses by more than 300 priests against 1,000 children over decades.
#MeToo Pioneer Argento Accused
Actress and director Asia Argento is shown with her lover, the late culinary reporter Anthony Bourdain, who supported her in her #MeToo accusations against film producer Harvey Weinstein. Her Twitter feed is illustrated by the 'No Shame' graphic below left)
New York Times, Asia Argento, a #MeToo Leader, Made a Deal With Her Own Accuser, Kim Severson, Aug. 20, 2018 (print edition). The Italian actress and director Asia Argento was among the first women in the movie business to publicly accuse the producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault.
She became a leading figure in the #MeToo movement . Her boyfriend, the culinary television star Anthony Bourdain, right, eagerly joined the fight.
But in the months that followed her revelations about Mr. Weinstein last October, Ms. Argento quietly arranged to pay $380,000 to her own accuser: Jimmy Bennett, a young actor and rock musician who said she had sexually assaulted him in a California hotel room years earlier, when he was only two months past his 17th birthday. She was 37. The age of consent in California is 18.
That claim and the subsequent arrangement for payments are laid out in documents between lawyers for Ms. Argento and Mr. Bennett, a former child actor who once played her son in a movie.
Aug. 19
Washington Post, After #MeToo, Kevin Spacey movie 'Billionaire Boys Club' earns $126 on opening day, Cleve R. Wootson Jr., Aug. 19, 2018. The movie was made two-and-a-half years ago, well before Spacey's accusers came forward. In some theaters, only one person had opted to see it all weekend. Spacey is shown above in a promotional photo for House of Cards, a series in which he formerly starred.
Aug. 16
New York Times, Vatican Calls Details of Abuse in Report 'Reprehensible,' Sharon Otterman and Elisabetta Povoledo, Aug. 16, 2018. "Victims should know that the Pope is on their side," the Vatican said, responding to a grand jury report on pervasive sex abuse committed by clergy and covered up by Catholic Church leaders in Pennsylvania.
Aug. 14
#MeToo: Deputy DNC Chair Accused
New York Times, Representative Keith Ellison Denies Domestic Abuse Allegations, Matthew Haag, Aug. 14, 2018 (print edition). Ahead of Minnesota's primaries on Tuesday, Representative Keith Ellison, right, has denied allegations that he emotionally and physically abused a former girlfriend, including once trying to pull her off a bed while yelling obscenities at her.
The allegations surfaced on Saturday night in a Facebook post published by the son of the ex-girlfriend, Karen Monahan. The post referred to a two-minute video that the son, Austin Monahan, claimed showed Mr. Ellison "dragging my mama off the bed by her feet."
The denial on Sunday by Mr. Ellison, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for state attorney general, was forceful. "Karen and I were in a long-term relationship which ended in 2016, and I still care deeply for her well-being," he said in a statement. "This video does not exist because I never behaved in this way, and any characterization otherwise is false."
In an email to The New York Times on Sunday night, Ms. Monahan, an organizer at the Minnesota chapter of the Sierra Club, said that she survived what she described as "narcissist abuse" after a multiyear relationship with Mr. Ellison, the deputy chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
New York Times, What Happens to #MeToo When a Feminist Is Accused? Zoe Greenberg, Aug. 14, 2018 (print edition). Avital Ronell, a superstar professor, was found by N.Y.U. to have sexually harassed a male grad student. But his charges have met with disbelief from some feminist scholars.
Nimrod Reitman accused his former N.Y.U. graduate school adviser, Avital Ronell, of sexually harassing him, and the university found her responsible. But some leading feminist scholars have supported her in ways that echo the defenses of male harassers.CreditCaitlin Ochs for The New York Times
The case seems like a familiar story turned on its head: Avital Ronell, a world-renowned female professor of German and Comparative Literature at New York University, was found responsible for sexually harassing a male former graduate student, Nimrod Reitman.
An 11-month Title IX investigation found Professor Ronell, described by a colleague as "one of the very few philosopher-stars of this world," responsible for sexual harassment, both physical and verbal, to the extent that her behavior was "sufficiently pervasive to alter the terms and conditions of Mr. Reitman's learning environment." The university has suspended Professor Ronell for the coming academic year.
Washington Post, Hundreds of accused priests listed in Pennsylvania report on Catholic Church sex abuse, Michelle Boorstein, Aug. 14, 2018. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Tuesday released a sweeping grand jury report on sex abuse in the Catholic Church, listing hundreds of accused clergy and detailing 70 years of misconduct and church response across the state.
The release is the culmination of an 18-month probe, led by state Attorney General Josh Shapiro, on six of the state's eight dioceses — Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Scranton, Erie and Greensburg — and follows other state grand jury reports that revealed abuse and coverups in two other dioceses.
Some details and names that might reveal the 300 clergy listed have been redacted from the report. Legal challenges by clergy delayed the report's release, after some said it is a violation of their constitutional rights. Pennsylvania's Supreme Court ruled last month that the report must be released but with some redaction.
The report's release begins an information war, with prosecutors and many victims saying it's the start of holding church leaders at the top accountable for the first time, while church lawyers and other advocates for the institution say the report depicts an era of another century, unfairly smearing today's Catholicism in Pennsylvania.
The report has helped renew a crisis many in the church thought and hoped had ended nearly 20 years ago after the scandal erupted in Boston. But recent abuse-related scandals, from Chile to Australia, have reopened wounding questions about accountability and whether church officials are still covering up crimes at the highest levels.
The new wave of allegations has called Pope Francis's handling of abuse into question as many Catholics look to him to help the church regain its credibility. The pope's track record has been mixed, something some outsiders attribute to his learning curve or shortcomings and others chalk up to resistance from a notoriously change-averse institution.
The Pennsylvania grand jury report follows the resignation last month of Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, right, a towering figure in the U.S. church and former D.C. archbishop who was accused of sexually abusing minors and adults for decades. Both have further polarized the church on homosexuality, celibacy and whether laypeople should have more power. It has also triggered debate about whether statutes of limitations should be expanded.
Aug. 13
Washington Post, New sex scandals roiling the Vatican, presenting a crisis for Pope Francis, Chico Harlan, Aug. 13, 2018 (print edition). Analysts who have studied the Roman Catholic Church's response to sexual abuse, and several people who have advised the pope, say the Vatican has been unable to take the dramatic steps that can help an organization get out from under scandals — and avoid their repetition.
Aug. 6
The Rev. Bill Hybels, longtime pastor of the Willow Creek Community Church
New York Times, Willow Creek Church Says It Will Investigate Its Powerful Pastor, Bill Hybels, Laurie Goodstein, Aug. 7, 2018 (print edition). Willow Creek Community Church near Chicago announced on Monday that it plans to launch a new independent investigation into allegations that the Rev.Bill Hybels, the church's influential founding pastor, sexually harassed female co-workers and a congregant over many years.
The announcement came one day after The New York Times reported on accusations from Pat Baranowski, Mr. Hybels's former executive assistant. She said that Mr. Hybels had sexually and emotionally abused her while she worked at the church and lived with him and his family in the 1980s.
Heather Larson, one of two top pastors at Willow Creek, said in a statement: "It was heartbreaking yesterday to read about the new allegation against Bill Hybels in The New York Times. We have deep sadness for Ms. Baranowski. The behavior that she has described is reprehensible."
The church's other top pastor, the Rev. Steve Carter, resigned on Sunday. He said he could no longer work at Willow Creek in good conscience.
After the pain of watching her marriage fall apart, Pat Baranowski felt that God was suddenly showering her with blessings. She had a new job at her Chicago-area megachurch, led by a dynamic young pastor named the Rev. Bill Hybels, who in the 1980s was becoming one of the most influential evangelical leaders in the country.
The pay at Willow Creek Community Church was much lower than at her old job, but Ms. Baranowski, then 32, admired Mr. Hybels and the church's mission so much that it seemed worth it. She felt even more blessed when in 1985 Mr. Hybels and his wife invited her to move into their home, where she shared family dinners and vacations.
Once, while Mr. Hybels's wife, Lynne, and their children were away, the pastor took Ms. Baranowski out for dinner. When they got home, Mr. Hybels offered her a back rub in front of the fireplace and told her to lie face down.
"I really did not want to hurt the church," said Ms. Baranowski, who is now 65, speaking publicly for the first time. "I felt like if this was exposed, this fantastic place would blow up, and I loved the church. I loved the people there. I loved the family. I didn't want to hurt anybody. And I was ashamed."
Mr. Hybels denied her allegations about her time working and living with him. "I never had an inappropriate physical or emotional relationship with her before that time, during that time or after that time," he said in an email.
Since the #MeToo movement emerged last year, evangelical churches have been grappling with allegations of sexual abuse by their pastors. A wave of accusations has begun to hit evangelical institutions, bringing down figures like the Rev. Andy Savage, at Highpoint Church in Memphis, and the Rev. Harry L. Thomas, the founder of the Creation Festival, a Christian music event.
Ms. Baranowski is not the first to accuse Mr. Hybels of wrongdoing, though her charges are more serious than what has been reported before.
In March, The Chicago Tribune and Christianity Today reported that Mr. Hybels had been accused by several other women, including co-workers and a congregant, of inappropriate behavior that dated back decades. The allegations included lingering hugs, invitations to hotel rooms, comments about looks and an unwanted kiss.
Columbus Dispatch, Urban Meyer and Ohio State: What we know so far, Summer Cartwright, Aug. 2, 2018 (print edition). Ohio State University announced Wednesday that head football coach Urban Meyer (shown in a 2017 file photo) would be placed on paid leave while the school investigates what he knew about allegations of domestic violence involving a former assistant coach.
In a report published online by a former ESPN staffer Brett McMurphy, Courtney Smith detailed the allegations involving her husband Zach Smith. The report came a little more than a week after Courtney Smith filed a civil protection order against Zach Smith. He was fired July 23, three days after the protection order was filed.
The only details released about the investigation are its focus: "supporting our players and on getting the truth as expeditiously as possible."
During the investigation, Meyer will receive paid leave, an action that he said he agreed upon with Athletic Director Gene Smith, saying in a statement that the time away will allow the team "to conduct training camp with minimal distraction."
Aug. 1
NBC News via KVOA News (Tucson, AZ), Former Ohio State wrestling coach urged Rep. Jim Jordan's accusers to recant, texts show, Staff report, Aug. 1, 2018. Retired Ohio State wrestling coach Russ Hellickson reached out to two ex-team members and asked them to support their former assistant coach, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio (shown above), a day after they accused the powerful congressman of turning a blind eye to alleged sexual abuse by the team doctor, according to the wrestlers and text messages they shared with NBC News.
The former wrestlers said their ex-coach made it clear to them he was under pressure from Jordan to get statements of support from members of the team.
Hellickson's appeal to help Jordan came after the congressman repeatedly said that he had no idea that team doctor Richard Strauss was allegedly molesting the athletes — contradicting three wrestlers who told NBC News that Jordan must have known since the abuse was frequently discussed in the locker room.
"I'm sorry you got caught up in the media train," Hellickson wrote in a July 4 text to Dunyasha Yetts that the former wrestler shared with NBC News. "If you think the story got told wrong about Jim, you could probably write a statement for release that tells your story and corrects what you feel bad about. I can put you in contact with someone who would release it."
An NBC article published a day earlier, Yetts recounted how Strauss had tried to pull his shorts down when he went to see him for a thumb injury. Yetts said he told Jordan and Hellickson about what happened and insisted they intervene — an account that was later corroborated by another former Ohio State wrestler who said he had witnessed the conversation.
Yetts said Hellickson also called him later on July 4 and said he was under pressure from Jordan, who was an assistant wrestling coach at the university from 1986 to 1994, and from Jordan's supporters to make "a bold statement to defend Jimmy."
"He said, 'I will defend Jimmy until I have to put my hand on a Bible and be asked to tell the truth, then Jimmy will be on his own,'" Yetts said in an interview this week, recalling his conversation with Hellickson. "I told him, 'I'm going to contradict you, coach, because I'm telling the truth.'"
Mike DiSabato, the former Ohio State wrestler whose whistleblowing spurred the university's investigation into the alleged abuse by Strauss, also shared a text message defending Jordan that he got from Hellickson. Out of loyalty to his old coach, he asked that NBC News not quote directly from it.
"He called me after the story broke, too," DiSabato said of Hellickson. "He said Jimmy was telling him he had to make a statement supporting him and he called to tell me why he was going to make it. "
Yetts, DiSabato and three other former Ohio State wrestlers interviewed recently by NBC News all expressed deep respect for Hellickson but said they believe he has been boxed in by Jordan's denials and is now caught between wanting to support his former protégé and the wrestlers who have called the congressman a liar.
Columbus Dispatch, Ohio State: Urban Meyer placed on administrative leave, Bill Rabinowitz, Aug. 1, 2018. The ex-wife of Zach Smith said she informed Urban Meyer's wife, Shelley, in 2015 that the former Ohio State assistant football coach had abused her and believes that the Buckeyes coach knew about it at the time. Courtney Smith acknowledged in an interview, however, that Shelley Meyer did not say she told Urban Meyer about the abuse.
Thirty-two years ago, Earle Bruce gave Urban Meyer his start in college football as a graduate assistant coach at Ohio State. Now, Meyer's handling of domestic abuse allegations involving Bruce's grandson has put his stellar career in peril.
Ohio State placed Meyer (shown at right) on paid administrative leave as head football coach on Wednesday after reports surfaced that appeared to contradict his contention he did not know in 2015 that receivers coach Zach Smith — Bruce's grandson — had been accused by his now ex-wife of abuse.
Meyer, 54, has a 73-8 record at Ohio State, including the inaugural 2014 College Football Playoff championship. He has not had more than two losses in any season.
Meyer's overall record as head coach, which also includes stops at Bowling Green, Utah and Florida, is 177-31, including two national titles at Florida. His winning percentage of .851 ranks behind only Knute Rockne and Frank Leahy among Division I coaches who coached for at least 10 years.
Meyer said at the Big Ten football media gathering last week in Chicago that he was aware of a 2009 incident when both were at Florida in which Zach Smith was charged with aggravated domestic battery. Meyer said last week that he and his wife, Shelley, worked with the couple and encouraged counseling.
Meyer added, however, that he had no knowledge of an October 2015 incident in which Powell police were called to Courtney Smith's home one day after an alleged assault by Zach Smith. No charges were filed, and two weeks later Courtney Smith filed for divorce, which was finalized in 2016.
"I can't say it didn't happen because I wasn't there," Meyer said on July 24 of the 2015 incident. "I was never told about anything. Never anything came to light. I never had a conversation about it. So I know nothing about that. The first I heard about it was last night. I asked people back at the office to call and see what happened, and they came back and said they know nothing about it."
No one in Congress is more associated with the Me Too movement than Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.). Long before Harvey Weinstein and Matt Lauer became infamous creeps, Gillibrand was focusing her attention on sexual assault and harassment in the military, on college campuses and in the workplace.
But the two-term senator cemented her prominence in the movement last year when she called out members of her own party. In November, she said that Bill Clinton should have resigned the presidency over his affair with Monica Lewinsky. And then the following month, she became the first Democratic senator to publicly call on then-Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) to go after multiple women accused him of engaging in sexual misconduct.
Franken announced his resignation the following day.
Speaking out has consequences. Women who come forward about the abuse they've faced are often barred from further job opportunities. And even someone in power like Gillibrand who tries to be an advocate for victims can find themselves facing a negative response from a previously friendly community.
July
July 30
Washington Post, Top FEMA official allegedly harassed women for years, agency chief says, Lisa Rein, July 30, 2018. An internal investigation found that the senior executive hired women so he and his friends could target them for sexual relationships, agency officials said, calling it a "systemic problem going on for years."
Some of the claims about the agency's former personnel chief are detailed in a written executive summary of the investigation provided to The Washington Post. FEMA officials gave other details and confirmed that the individual under investigation, whose name was redacted from the report, is Corey Coleman, who led the personnel department from 2011 until his resignation in June.
Online records show Coleman was a senior executive who was paid an annual salary of $177,150.
In an interview, Long described a "toxic" environment in the human resources department under Coleman at FEMA headquarters. Starting in 2015, investigators said, Coleman hired many men who were friends and college fraternity brothers and women he met at bars and on online dating sites. He then promoted some of them to roles throughout the agency without going through proper federal hiring channels.
July 28
Washington Post, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick resigns after reports of sexual abuse, Julie Zauzmer, July 28, 2018. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the former archbishop of Washington and longtime globe-trotting diplomat of the Catholic Church, resigned his position as a cardinal, the Vatican announced Saturday.
McCarrick, 88 (shown at right), was found by the church in June to be credibly accused of sexually abusing a teenager nearly 50 years ago. Since then, additional reports of sexual abuse and harassment by the cardinal, over a span of decades, have been reported. The victims include one then-minor and three adults, who were young priests or seminarians when McCarrick allegedly abused them.
Pope Francis ordered McCarrick to remain in seclusion, and in prayer, until a church trial considers further sanctions against him. McCarrick is the highest ranked U.S. Catholic clergy member to ever be removed from ministry due to sexual abuse allegations.
July 27
Associated Press, 10 more ex-students sue Ohio State over sex abuse by doctor, Kantele Franko, July 27, 2018. Ten more former students have sued Ohio State University over alleged sexual misconduct by a now-dead team doctor, accusing school officials of facilitating abuse by ignoring complaints and requiring some athletes to get physicals from him to maintain their sports participation and scholarships.
The case filed Thursday is the third federal lawsuit brought by men alleging sexual abuse by Dr. Richard Strauss (right), who worked at Ohio State from 1978 until he retired in 1998.
"Beginning his very first year of employment at OSU — and spanning his entire two-decade tenure — Dr. Strauss preyed on male students, fondling, groping, sexually assaulting, and harassing them. He did so with OSU's knowledge and support," the lawsuit said, adding that many of the students didn't speak up then because they were embarrassed or unsure whether it was abuse.
The lawsuit accuses the university of having "a culture of institutional indifference" about students' safety and rights and failing to appropriately address Strauss' behavior in violation of federal Title IX law, which bars sex discrimination in education.
An independent investigation is ongoing at Ohio State, which says it's committed to learning the truth.
The allegations that people at Ohio State didn't respond appropriately at the time "are troubling and are a critical focus of the current investigation," university spokesman Benjamin Johnson said.
All three lawsuits seek unspecified monetary damages, but unlike the first two, the newest case doesn't propose to represent all Ohio State students mistreated by Strauss.
The plaintiffs include Steve Snyder-Hill, who lodged a complaint in 1995 about being inappropriately touched by Strauss during an exam at the student health center and recalls being told that Strauss denied it. Ohio State has a record of that complaint and the response sent by the health center's director, who said it was the first such complaint he'd received about Strauss.
Another of the new plaintiffs, former wrestling team captain David Mulvin, said he was fondled by Strauss during an exam and complained back in the late 1970s to another Ohio State doctor, but nothing came of it.
The lawsuit describes the other plaintiffs — most of whom aren't named — as members of the tennis, soccer, basketball and track and field teams during the 1980s who repeatedly experienced sexual misconduct by Strauss. In some cases, it says they complained to their coaches or trainers about his behavior.
Fox News Exit
Donald Trump Jr., Kimberly Guilfoyle and President Trump (file photo)
When it was revealed last week that longtime Fox News host Kimberly Guilfoyle would be leaving the network, some Fox News and White House insiders were surprised that she was choosing to move on from the cable news channel and head to a pro-Donald Trump super PAC. For nearly two years — even once rumors eventually kicked up that she might join the Trump administration — Guilfoyle said that, as a single mother, she had to think of her son's financial future and couldn't afford to leave the high-paying gig, multiple sources told HuffPost.
Guilfoyle's departure was initially billed as her decision. However, as HuffPost first reported last week, multiple sources said she did not leave the network voluntarily. They said Guilfoyle was informed her time at Fox News was up following a human resources investigation into allegations of inappropriate behavior including sexual misconduct, and that her lawyers had been involved since the spring.
Sources also said that despite being told she would have to leave by July, Guilfoyle repeatedly attempted to delay her exit and tried to have her allies appeal to Rupert Murdoch, the executive chairman of 21st Century Fox, the parent company of Fox News, to let her stay at the network.
This story is based on interviews conducted over the past year with 21 sources inside and outside Fox News and 21st Century Fox. All sources spoke to HuffPost on the condition of anonymity because they aren't authorized to speak to the press, did not want to raise Guilfoyle's ire or have signed nondisclosure agreements that prevent them from speaking to others about their experiences.
In response to an email with a list of 19 detailed questions, Guilfoyle's attorney John Singer wrote the following statement:
"Any accusations of Kimberly engaging in inappropriate work-place conduct are unequivocally baseless and have been viciously made by disgruntled and self-interested employees. During her lengthy and decorated tenure with the company, Kimberly was beloved, well-respected, and supportive of anyone she ever met. It's utterly preposterous that there are those who are nefariously and greedily twisting innocent conversations amongst close friends into much more than what it actually was for financial gain. Kimberly has happily moved onto the next chapter of her life and hopes others will do the same."
Fox News was a hotbed of sexual harassment and retaliation under Ailes, but executives at Fox News have worked over the past two years to improve the workplace culture and institute major changes in large part due to potential legal liabilities and regulatory concerns in the U.S. and U.K. Guilfoyle, according to several sources, failed to adapt to the new culture and still operated as if she were working under Ailes.
Guilfoyle, a former San Francisco County prosecutor, started at the network in 2006 as a legal analyst and worked her way up to become co-host of "The Five." She also served as a fill-in host for top-rated Fox News stars like Hannity. While living in the city, Guilfoyle was married for several years to then-San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, shown at right. (Newsom is now lieutenant governor of California and the front-runner in the current gubernatorial campaign). This reporter worked for Newsom for several years but has no relationship with Guilfoyle and has never spoken to her.
July 26
New Yorker, Les Moonves and CBS Face Allegations of Sexual Misconduct, Ronan Farrow (shown at right), July 27, 2018 (August 6 & 13, 2018 print edition). Six women accuse the C.E.O. of harassment and intimidation, and dozens more describe abuse at his company. For more than twenty years, Leslie Moonves has been one of the most powerful media executives in America. As the chairman and C.E.O. of CBS Corporation, he oversees shows ranging from "60 Minutes" to "The Big Bang Theory."
His portfolio includes the premium cable channel Showtime, the publishing house Simon & Schuster, and a streaming service, CBS All Access. Moonves, who is sixty-eight, has a reputation for canny hiring and project selection. The Wall Street Journal recently called him a "TV programming wizard"; the Hollywood Reporter dubbed him a "Wall Street Hero." In the tumultuous field of network television, he has enjoyed rare longevity as a leader. Last year, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, he earned nearly seventy million dollars, making him one of the highest-paid corporate executives in the world.
In recent months, Moonves (shown in a file photo below) has become a prominent voice in Hollywood's #MeToo movement. In December, he helped found the Commission on Eliminating Sexual Harassment and Advancing Equality in the Workplace, which is chaired by Anita Hill. "It's a watershed moment," Moonves said at a conference in November. "I think it's important that a company's culture will not allow for this. And that's the thing that's far-reaching. There's a lot we're learning. There's a lot we didn't know."
But Moonves's private actions belie his public statements. Six women who had professional dealings with him told me that, between the nineteen-eighties and the late aughts, Moonves sexually harassed them.
Four described forcible touching or kissing during business meetings, in what they said appeared to be a practiced routine. Two told me that Moonves physically intimidated them or threatened to derail their careers. All said that he became cold or hostile after they rejected his advances, and that they believed their careers suffered as a result.
Thirty current and former employees of CBS told me that such behavior extended from Moonves to important parts of the corporation, including CBS News and "60 Minutes," one of the network's most esteemed programs. It isn't clear whether Moonves himself knew of the allegations, but he has a reputation for being closely involved in management decisions across the network.
The Atlantic, The 24 Candidates for 2018 Sunk by #MeToo Allegations, Elaine Godfrey, Lena Felton, Taylor Hosking, July 26, 2018. This election cycle, claims of sexual harassment or misconduct have ended the bids of 11 Republicans and 13 Democrats. But many others facing accusations remain in office.
In the 10 months since allegations of sexual misconduct were first leveled against the Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, America has seen the reputational demise of dozens of public figures. But arguably the most significant repercussions have been in the world of politics, affecting those with the power or potential to shape the country's laws and represent communities across the nation.
The #MeToo movement is already having profound effects on the current election cycle, and not just at the national level: According to an analysis by The Atlantic, at least 24 candidates for office in 2018 have ended their campaigns or bids for reelection after allegations of sexual harassment or misconduct.
July 24
Shown above is a C-SPAN screenshot from a 2014 lecture at the National Press Club by then federal appeals court judge Alex Kozinski
Alex Kozinski had largely retreated from public life since allegations of sexual misconduct prompted him to retire as a federal appeals court judge last year. Even as his case sparked changes in how the judiciary handles harassment, the outspoken jurist remained silent — never addressing specific accusations that he showed clerks explicit images in his chambers or touched women inappropriately.
But earlier this month, Kozinski tiptoed back into public view, sitting for an hour-long interview with a public radio station in California and writing a tribute in a legal-industry publication to retired Supreme Court justice Anthony M. Kennedy. Then President Trump nominated Brett M. Kavanaugh, one of Kozinski's former clerks and professional friends, to a seat on the high court.
Kozinski was suddenly back in the spotlight, and the legal and political worlds were left to wrestle with the aftershocks of his fall from grace.
National Press Club, Progressive Women Candidates, Survivors of Sexual Assault and Harassment, Bring the #MeToo Movement to the Ballot Box, Press relations contacts: Kawana Lloyd and Inaru Melendez, July 24, 2018. On July 24 at the National Press Club, young progressive female candidates from battleground states — including survivors of sexual assault and harassment —- will join People For the American Way's Next Up Victory Fund for a panel discussion about the impact of the #MeToo movement on candidates, races and the future of politics under a president with a record of discrediting women.
Rachel Crooks (shown in a file photo), one of the first of at least nineteen women who have accused President Trump of sexual assault, now candidate for Ohio State Legislator, is a featured speaker. Additional panelists will also share their personal stories and discuss how the #MeToo movement influenced their decisions to run for public office and continue to impact their candidacy, their campaigns, and the overall political environment.
• Rachel Crooks, candidate for Ohio State House, District 88. • Anna Eskamani, candidate for Florida State House, District 47 • Katie Muth, candidate for Pennsylvania State Senate, District 44 • Myya Jones, candidate for Michigan State House District 4
Young progressive women running for office in battleground states joined People For the American Way's Next Up Victory Fund today for a National Press Club discussion about the impact of the #MeToo movement on the 2018 midterms and the future of politics under a president with a record of harming women.
"We have a sexual predator in the White House, and that is not OK," said Rachel Crooks, who spoke about being assaulted by rump when she was a 22-year old employee of Trump Tower. "For too long, I was silent and ashamed about what happened. But as I heard more women speak up, I realized I wasn't alone. Watching powerful men like Trump not being held accountable, it made me realize women need to run and win to change this culture. "
The panelists shared personal stories about their experience with sexual harassment and sexual assault, and about how those experiences, in addition to the #MeToo movement and the 2017 Women's March, influenced their decisions to run for office. They also discussed more recent sexist comments like Katie Muth's opponent calling her "that girl," of Anna Eskamani's opponents calling her "immature," of people giving Rachel Crooks unsolicited advice on her clothing and of donors and establishment men touching women without asking.
"Every 98 seconds, an American is sexually assaulted. Generations of survivors have been forced to adapt, but not anymore," said Anna Eskamani. "I can remember far too many occurrences where donors and elected officials have touched me inappropriately. This doesn't just influence my campaign, it influences the way I would legislate in Florida when I win. It's time for change."
"Even before Trump was elected, I knew as a survivor that we needed more women, and especially women of color, running for office," said Myya Jones. "I have long spoken out about the intertwined issues of racial violence and sexual assault -- of the tragedy of black and brown people being murdered, and about the rampant sexual assault problem we have in America. But with Trump in the White House, it's even more important for black women to step up and run for office and for people to support us."
"A lot of people told me that I shouldn't talk about being a rape survivor while running for office," said Katie Muth. "For too long, we survivors have been shamed into silence. But Donald Trump's campaign brought up all of this trauma we had tried to suppress, and we realized we need to speak out instead of being silent."
"In the past couple of years we have witnessed a wave of young progressive women becoming candidates and transforming our politics -- in much the same way that the #MeToo movement has transformed public conversations about sexual harassment and assault and the kinds of barriers that they, and a culture that tolerates them, create for women. That is real change, and we're counting on more of it from the candidates who are here today and the dozens more our Next Up Victory Fund is supporting this year," said People For the American Way President Michael Keegan.
Heiress Indicted In Alleged Sex Trafficking Cult
Nxivm corporate logo from office park signage adjoining its corporate headquarters in New York (file photo)
New York Times, Seagram's Liquor Heiress Charged in Nxivm Sex-Trafficking Case, Sean Piccoli, July 24, 2018. Clare Bronfman, an heiress to the Seagram's liquor fortune, pleaded not guilty on Tuesday in federal court in Brooklyn after her arrest on conspiracy and racketeering charges in connection with her role at Nxivm, a self-help group that prosecutors call a pyramid scheme and former members say is a cult.
Ms. Bronfman was released on a $100 million bond — roughly half of her net worth, according to her lawyer, Susan Necheles — and, after a sometimes contentious hourlong bail hearing, was ordered placed under house arrest by United States District Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis.
Ms. Bronfman will have to wear an ankle monitor at her New York apartment under the terms of her release and must return to court on Friday with assets totaling $50 million to put up as security for her bail.
Ms. Bronfman was one of four people arrested in New York State on Tuesday after the unsealing of an updated seven-count indictment against Keith Raniere, leader of the now defunct-group, and five others in his "inner circle," federal prosecutors said in the indictment.Mr. Raniere, 57, was arrested earlier this year in Mexico and brought to New York to face federal sex-trafficking charges.
Prosecutors said he and one of his followers, Allison Mack, 35, an actress known for her work in "Smallville," coerced female members to have unwanted sex with him and branded them with a symbol containing his initials. Mr. Raniere is being held without bail in Brooklyn to await trial.
Heiress Clare Bronfman, shown above, quoted on an ABC 20/20 report as describing NXIVM founder Keith Raniere
Related coverage: Albany Times Union, Faces of NXIVM: An alleged cult's inner circle and beyond, Keith Raniere has surrounded himself with rich, famous, Joyce Bassett, April 24, 2018. NXIVM, an upstate New York self-help group, is accused of branding some of its female followers and forcing them into unwanted sex.
Keith Raniere has courted the rich and famous for years through his leadership of NXIVM, the secretive Colonie-based "executive success program" that critics have described as a cult. Now, he has everyone's attention.
NXIVM is making news worldwide after Raniere was arrested on March 25 on multiple federal counts of sex trafficking and forced labor. On Friday, Raniere and actress Allison Mack both were indicted by a federal grand jury in Brooklyn.
Raniere, the group's founder — who is referred to within NXIVM as "Vanguard" — was arrested at a $10,000-a-week villa in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, where he fled last November as the federal investigation took shape. Video of that arrest is shown below.
The U.S. attorney's office for the Eastern District of New York is leading the grand jury investigation of Raniere and NXIVM. Numerous people involved with NXIVM have been subpoenaed to testify in Brooklyn.
Background:
NXIVM website: "NXIVM is a company whose mission is to raise human awareness, foster an ethical humanitarian civilization, and celebrate what it means to be human."
Important Message to our Members: It is with deep sadness that we inform you we are suspending all NXIVM/ESP enrollment, curriculum and events until further notice. We will be in touch with more information for anyone currently enrolled in upcoming events/programs. While we are disappointed by the interruption of our operations, we believe it is warranted by the extraordinary circumstances facing the company at this time. We continue to believe in the value and importance of our work and look forward to resuming our efforts when these allegations are resolved."
ABC News,
, April 27, 2018 (7:06 mins. video).
Vanity Fair, The Heiresses and the Cult, Suzanna Andrews, Oct. 13, 2010. To family friends, Seagram heiresses Sara and Clare Bronfman are victims of a frightening, secretive "cult" called nxivm, which has swallowed as much as $150 million of their fortune. But the organization's leader, Keith Raniere,
July 23
Washington Post, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick is the target of new allegations of sexual misconduct, Michelle Boorstein and Julie Zauzmer, July 23, 2018 (print ed.). Since he was suspended a month ago for alleged child sexual abuse, four other allegations of abuse and misconduct against the former D.C. archbishop (shown at right) have surfaced.
It's been 20 days since reports first surfaced about Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) ignoring allegations of sexual abuse when he was an assistant coach for the Ohio State wrestling team. Because of the trumped-up nature of these modern times, most reporters who are tied to the political news cycle have moved on, resigned to the fact that Jordan, shown below at left in a file photo, will remain in his prominent leadership position within the Republican Party.
With each new revelation about Dr. Richard Strauss's decades of abuse during his time as a team doctor at Ohio State, the story is framed in one of two ways: Either as "bad news for Jordan," by those inclined to believe survivors, or as the work of the "deep state" by those on the far right.
But this is not a story about politics. And it is absolutely not a story that should be viewed through the distortion of a partisan lens.
Yes, Jordan should be held accountable for any abuse his silence helped enable. But if we don't look at this story systematically, we're missing the entire point.
This is on behalf of my friend Laser Haas of Los Angeles, a dedicated whistleblower who instantly saw the justice of your appeal and dropped his own important work to help out.
Failed Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore (shown at right with a gun at a campaign rally) was endorsed by Etowah County Sheriff Todd Entrekin despite numerous accusations of Moore's inappropriate sexual behavior with minors. Now Entrekin has also been accused of having sex with underage girls.
AL.com, the publication that broke much of the news regarding Moore's alleged sexual misconduct, reports Entrekin is under investigation after being accused of sexual misconduct at "drug-fueled parties he hosted for fellow law enforcement officers and other adult men in the early nineties."
AL.com detailed the timeline of the accusations:
A 41-year-old woman first detailed the claims during several hours of in-person interviews with AL.com in May, during which she alleged that Entrekin had sex with her four times in the late summer of 1992, when he was 29 and she was 15 years old. In Alabama, the age of consent is 16.
Entrekin, who previously made headlines for pocketing $750,000 that was intended to feed inmates and buying a $740,000 beach house, denied the report on Friday:
"I've never had sex with any 15-year-old girl or had drugs around or anything. I have never done drugs in my life. That's the most absurd thing I've ever heard of. Never, ever has anything like that happened before."
July 20
A new BBC documentary that aired shortly before Donald Trump's visit to the United Kingdom this month was entitled "Trump: Is the president a sex pest?" Above is a graphic by Democratic Underground compiling previous commentaries. Below is a story about it.
The Cut, New BBC Documentary Alleges Trump Pursued Models As Young As 17, Amanda Arnold, July 20, 2018. (video). Just days before the U.S. president's visit to England in early July, the BBC figured it was a good time to revisit a very worthwhile question: Donald Trump, the sex scandal–plagued world leader who has been accused of sexual misconduct by numerous woman, and who once bragged about grabbing women by the pussy — could he be a sex pest?
The BBC first ran a 30-minute report dedicated to this notable query on Monday, July 9 – three days before Trump's visit to England. Titled "Trump: Is the president a sex pest?" it focused on Trump's relations with women in the 1980s and 1990s. Now, for those of us stateside who would like an answer of our own, the documentary is scheduled to premiere in the US and Canada on Saturday, July 21, at 10:30am EST, with another airing on Sunday afternoon.
The report was not initially available for streaming outside of Europe, but outlets such as VICE News and the Mirror gained access when it first aired, and the BBC put out a press release today detailing some of the allegations from the documentary.
The half-hour show features two women and a man who say they witnessed Trump's behavior at parties in the '80s and '90s. One woman, Barbara Pilling — who has never spoken publicly before about Trump — said she met the president at a New York party in the late 1980s, where he questioned her over her age. When she responded 17, the president allegedly responded, "Oh, great. So you're not too old and not too young. That's just great."
"I felt like I was in the presence of a shark getting ready to roll his eyes back in his head and bite me," Pillings told BBC. She also spoke of Trump's predatory behavior toward other women at the party. According to Pillings, when a waitress offered Trump a drink, "He didn't take the drink and slapped her on the bottom. She was a blonde. He gave her butt a slap and it was very loud. He was like, 'Don't worry, that's not your tip.'"
Pillings also describes going to the restroom and discussing Trump with other models; one said the president was "trying to grab [her] ass" as she walked by.
The man, who asked to remain anonymous, claims he attended many of the same parties as the future president, where there was "a lot of cocaine around," and wealthy men solicited sex from younger women. "It was kind of like a feeding frenzy. The girls were there as consumables." ("There's no evidence that Donald Trump had sex with underage girls," the BBC notes, "but the program has been told he did pursue models in their teens.")
Kimberly Guilfoyle became a former co-host at Fox News on Friday after the cable news network confirmed that they had parted ways with the popular news pundit. (Image Source: YouTube screenshot by The Blaze)
The statement released Friday was perfunctory and brief: "Fox News has parted ways with Kimberly Guilfoyle," the statement read.
Guilfoyle had been a longtime co-host of "The Five," but reports that she was dating the recently divorced Donald Trump Jr. have been followed by new career opportunities. The 49-year-old will reportedly join the pro-Trump non-profit organization, America First Politics, according to CNN. The report appeared to be confirmed through a tweet by a Trump Jr. spokesperson. "Having [Kim Guilfoyle] on the trail campaigning with [Donald Trump Jr.] for Republicans this fall is a win for the entire GOP," Surabian tweeted.\Trump Jr., who is 40 years old, has been a prolific fundraiser and defender of his father's agenda and legacy. Guilfoyle recently praised Trump Jr. as "the number one up-and-coming political figure for sure, on the right."
"He has a compelling political voice; he is incredibly bright," Guilfoyle added. "I have seen him at these different rallies, and I went to Montana with him. I've known him for over a decade."
In surveillance footage of the incident, 31-year-old Ryan Cherwinski is shown grabbing Holden's backside as he walks behind her. Holden immediately turns around and grabs him by his collar and slams him into a counter. "I looked at him and I said, 'You don't touch me, motherf—–!' " Holden tells People. "I didn't even think, I just reacted. I don't know how I reacted the way I did. I've never done that before."
Holden says she had just finished taking an order when the man assaulted her. At first, she says, she couldn't fathom that a stranger would grab her in such a way.
New York Times, Federal Prosecutors Questioned Trump's Top Communicator, Elizabeth Williamson and Emily Steel, July 19, 2018. Bill Shine, the president's new aide, brought baggage as well as long experience at Fox News to the White House. He has denied any wrongdoing amid a sexual harassment scandal at the network.
Bill Shine, a former co-president of Fox News hired this month as President Trump's communications chief, brought conservative credentials and heavy baggage with him into the White House. President Trump embraced the former and ignored the latter.
Mr. Shine (shown at left in a file photo), now struggling to limit the damage from Mr. Trump's performance on Monday with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, was ousted from Fox News last year in the wake of a sexual harassment scandal at the network.
Mr. Shine was never publicly accused of harassment, but he was accused in multiple civil lawsuits of covering up misconduct by Roger E. Ailes, the founding chairman of Fox News, and dismissing concerns from colleagues who complained.
Mr. Shine's appointment to the White House job has drawn criticism from some women who worked for him at Fox News, and has brought new scrutiny of his record there.
In one previously undisclosed action, Mr. Shine was subpoenaed last year by a federal grand jury in New York as part of a criminal investigation into Fox News's handling of sexual harassment complaints, according to a document viewed by The New York Times. Mr. Shine was never charged.
Mr. Ailes (shown at right) died in May 2017, and the federal investigation recently/ appeared to have gone dormant, according to people familiar with the case. Mr. Shine has denied any wrongdoing.
July 18
Associated Press via Talking Points Memo, Jim Jordan Interviewed By Law Firm Probing Ex-OSU Doctor Abuse Claims, Kantele Franko, July 18, 2018. Former Ohio State University wrestling coach and current U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan was interviewed by the law firm investigating allegations that a now-dead team doctor sexually abused male athletes there decades ago, his spokesman confirmed Wednesday.
The Ohio Republican (shown right) spoke Monday morning with the firm looking into allegations against Dr. Richard Strauss and how the school responded to any complaints about Strauss, said spokesman Ian Fury, who declined to discuss details of the conversation.
"He told them the same things he's told everybody in the press," Fury said. "You know, the story stays the same because the truth doesn't change."
Jordan has publicly said he was never aware of abuse when he was an assistant coach from 1987 to 1995, and he has repeatedly denied some former wrestlers' claims that he knew they were inappropriately groped by Strauss.
A watchdog group and a former special counsel to President Barack Obama have soughtan ethics review of the congressman, who is a founder of the conservative Freedom Caucus and potential contender for House speaker.
July 17
New York Times, The Baby's Coming. But the Hospital Is 100 Miles Away, Jack Healy, July 17, 2018 (print edition). After years of cost-cutting and closures, fewer than half of rural counties in the United States now have a hospital that offers any obstetric care, researchers say.
A few hours after the only hospital in town shut its doors forever, Kela Abernathy bolted awake at 4:30 a.m., screaming in pain. Oh God, she remembered thinking, it's the twins. They were not due for another two months. But the contractions seizing Ms. Abernathy's lower back early that June morning told her that her son and daughter were coming. Now.
Ms. Abernathy, 21, staggered out of bed and yelled for her mother, Lynn, who had been lying awake on the living-room couch. They grabbed a few bags, scooped up Ms. Abernathy's 2-year-old son and were soon hurtling across this poor patch of southeast Missouri in their Pontiac Bonneville, racing for help. The old hospital used to be around the corner. Now, her new doctor and hospital were nearly 100 miles away.
Medical help is growing dangerously distant for women in rural America. At least 85 rural hospitals — about 5 percent of the country's total — have closed since 2010, and obstetric care has faced even starker cutbacks as rural hospitals calculate the hard math of survival, weighing the cost of providing 24/7 delivery services against dwindling birthrates, doctor and nursing shortages and falling revenues.
Today, researchers estimate that fewer than half of the country's rural counties still have a hospital that offers obstetric care, an absence that adds to the obstacles rural women face in getting health care. Specialists are increasingly clustered in bigger cities. Clinics that provide abortions, long-term birth control and other reproductive services have been forced to close in many smaller towns.
"It's scary," said Katie Penn, who said she was rejected by eight doctors before finding an obstetrician in Jonesboro, Ark., about an hour from Kennett. "You never know what can happen."
New York Times, 'I Just Simply Did What He Wanted,' Emily Kassie, July 17, 2018 (print edition) (9:30 min. video). Immigrant detention has been expanding, increasing the risk of sexual assault. Two women told us their stories of being sexually abused by guards while in U.S. immigration custody.
Associated Press via New York Times, Lawsuit Alleges USA Diving Ignored Sex Abuse of Divers, July 16, 2018. Two former divers are suing USA Diving, accusing the national governing body of ignoring or obstructing inquiries into allegations that a coach sexually abused them when they were young athletes dreaming of Olympic glory.
The federal lawsuit, filed last week, names Indianapolis-based USA Diving, Inc., the Ohio State University Diving Club and Will Bohonyi. The suit alleges that Bohonyi, who had coached at the Ohio State University Diving Club and was fired in 2014, coerced and forced the divers into frequent sex, telling them, "You owe me this," The Indianapolis Star reported.
July 16
New York Times, Ousted U.S. Cardinal Left a Trail of Abused Recruits, Laurie Goodstein and Sharon Otterman, July 16, 2018. Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, right, was removed from ministry last month for sexually abusing an altar boy. But for decades, the church overlooked his harassment of adult seminarians.
As a young man studying to be a priest in the 1980s, Robert Ciolek was flattered when his brilliant, charismatic bishop in Metuchen, N.J., Theodore E. McCarrick, told him he was a shining star, cut out to study in Rome and rise high in the church.
Bishop McCarrick began inviting him on overnight trips, sometimes alone and sometimes with other young men training to be priests. There, the bishop would often assign Mr. Ciolek to share his room, which had only one bed. The two men would sometimes say night prayers together, before Bishop McCarrick would make a request — "come over here and rub my shoulders a little"— that extended into unwanted touching in bed.
It ended in March after Voge's legal threats against a suburban Chicago woman led Latham & Watkins to ask for his resignation. The Wall Street Journal viewed emails and texts exchanged between Voge and the woman, Andrea Vassell of Naperville, Illinois, and spoke with both of them.
Voge was in Chicago for November meetings when he swapped emails and then texts with Vassell, a woman who had accused an official with a Christian group of paying to have sex with her in the mid-1990s. Vassell said she was previously a sex-trafficking victim, and she alleged that the New Canaan Society official was the first customer. The official had turned for help to Voge, a friend and a board member of the society. Voge encouraged a Christian mediation.
Voge sent messages about the dispute to Vassell from his hotel room in Chicago. But "the talk turned flirtatious, then sexual" and continued for about an hour, the Wall Street Journal says. More sexts followed later in the week. Voge and Vassell briefly spoke on the phone, but they never met in person.
Voge's lawyer, Terry Ekl, sent a letter to Vassell threatening legal action if she didn't stop contacting people about the incident. Vassell emailed the letter to Latham and didn't stop there. She emailed New Canaan Society members, Latham partners, another law firm, a few journalists and Voge's wife. She also emailed Voge, sending more than 90 emails in all.
July 15
FBI counter-intelligence supervisor Peter Strzok and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page, above, were interrogated by a GOP-led House investigation, including 10 hours of public hearings on July 13 for Strzok and a long private session grilling Page the following day.
They stuck with Donald Trump when he was heard, on video, boasting about sexually assaulting women. They stuck with him still when he acknowledged paying hush money to a porn actress who alleged an affair.
But this week, congressional Republicans, determined to discredit the investigation by Robert S. Mueller III into Russia's interference in the 2016 election, hauled in FBI agent Peter Strzok and sought to humiliate him over anti-Trump texts he exchanged with his mistress, FBI lawyer Lisa Page.
"I can't help wonder," said Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.), "when I see you looking there with a little smirk, how many times did you look so innocent into your wife's eye and lie to her about Lisa Page?"
The purpose of interrogating Strzok for 10 hours Thursday (after 11 hours in a private session) was clear: ritual humiliation.
In fairness, the vast majority condemned Strzok over his texts to his lover without invoking the affair. But then there was Rep. Karen Handel (R-Ga.), picking up where Gohmert left off. "Engaging in the kind of behavior that you have been engaging in, especially with the extramarital affair, it opens up an agent to exploitation and even blackmail," she proclaimed.
If Republicans really want to go there, they'll need to investigate the vulnerabilities of some of Strzok's inquisitors on their glass-house committee:
Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-Tenn.), who needled Strzok about "text messages with your friend." DesJarlais (right), according to divorce filings, had multiple extramarital affairs and encouraged his ex-wife and a patient with whom he had an affair to get abortions.
Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), who has been under investigation by the House Ethics Committee over payments to a former staffer accused of sexual harassment. Other members of the panel are Rep. Greg Gianforte (R-Mont.), who was sentenced last year to community service and anger-management classes for assaulting a reporter, and Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.), whose infidelity as governor of South Carolina made national headlines.
Judging Strzok also would have been Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-Tex.), but he recently resigned after revelation of a taxpayer-funded sexual harassment settlement. (Farenthold is shown in a photo taken at the "Abyss" nightclub.)
And there's Gohmert himself, who defended Jordan against the wrestlers' allegations and who remained on Trump's leadership team through the "Access Hollywood" scandal.
July 13
Wayne Madsen Report (WMR), Opinion: The FBI's "inquisitors" -- a parade of the depraved, Wayne Madsen (shown above in a cable news screenshot), July 13, 2018 (subscription required). Investigative reporter and author of 15 books Wayne Madsen is a former Navy intelligence officer and frequent broadcast commentator.
On July 12, former deputy assistant director of the FBI Peter Strzok testified before 70 members of a joint hearing of the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees on his actions as the chief of the bureau's counter-intelligence division during the 2016 presidential election.
Strzok's text messages, in which he criticized Trump, were fodder for the Republicans who used the occasion to push their various unfounded conspiracy theories.
The Republicans who took shots at Strzok represent a cavalcade of miscreants, misfits, perverts, and criminals, starting with House Judiciary Committee chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), right, who is retiring at the end of the current term.
Palmer Report, Opinion: Devin Nunes tied to underage sex worker scandal, Tim Faulkner, July 13, 2018. Things just keep getting worse for Congressman Devin Nunes (a California Republican representing the state's Central Valley). On Wednesday, two separate organizations issued letters to the Office of Congressional Ethics requesting an investigation into his personal business investments.
A complaint filed by the Campaign for Accountability alleges that Nunes (shown at left) possibly violated federal laws by omitting information from his financial disclosure forms when he failed to include information on his affiliation with three California companies. He left off information as to whether he had investments or received any financial gifts from the companies' owners. Alpha Omega, a Napa County winery, was listed as one of Nunes's primary assets, which he reported that he purchased in 2006 for between $50,001 and $100,000 but he claims to receive little income from it each year, "despite [its] apparent success."
While this omission would clearly violate federal law, things get even worse for Nunes.
Another complaint, this one from the Swamp Accountability Project, was also filed Wednesday with the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE). This complaint focuses on a sexual harassment lawsuit that was settled in 2015, alleging "the company hosted a fundraiser on a yacht with top investors using cocaine and hiring sex workers — some who appeared too young to consent." With the recent allegations against fellow Republican Congressman Jim Jordan (rigght) of protecting an Ohio State team doctor from molestation complaints, this is not a good time for Nunes to face such allegations.
So far, Devin Nunes has not answered any inquiries about his involvement or knowledge of this incident. "For this reason, OCE should prioritize a review of Rep. Nunes' investment and involvement in the Alpha Omega Winery, and the facts reported by The Fresno Bee. Such review should be undertaken as swiftly as possible," the complaint from the Swamp Accountability Project stated.
Sifting through the box, she was repulsed by what she saw: A trove of pornographic photos — of children. Among them were explicit photographs of herself as a child, according to a court hearing reported by the Manchester Evening News.
The images were painful reminders of her childhood, of the decades of abuse at the hands of a father who allegedly used her as a "sex slave" and raped her hundreds of times, the Guardian reported, citing the Manchester crown court hearing.
"I could feel a black cloud appearing over me," Coombes said in court this week, according to the Evening News. "In a haze of disgust and disbelief, I picked up a shovel I had been gardening with."
Mark Aderholt, above is former associate executive director and chief strategist of the South Carolina Baptist Convention
HuffPost, Inhuman Resources: A Whistleblower's Tale, David Dayen, July 12, 2018. Mike Picarella wanted to protect a co-worker from humiliating sexual harassment. He didn't expect his own life to be destroyed in the process,
The banking industry is hardly known for its moral rectitude. But if you look beyond the executive suites and venture into compliance departments and operations back offices, you'll find a handful of sticklers and self-appointed heroes who have made it their mission to save Wall Street from its excesses. Mike is one of them.
The trauma of sexual violence is not something we fix. It is something we manage daily. It takes work. And that work is as messy and complicated as the individuals who live it.
I aimed to get at that complexity with "Signed, X," a collection of photographs and interviews with long-term survivors of sexual assault. This project began as a series of questions: What triggers you years after sexual violence? How do you ground yourself in those moments? Where do you carry stress? Where do you find hope? These are the questions I began asking survivors last October.
July 9
Predator #MeToo Cover-up Scandal?
The Hill, Former White House ethics chief requests probe into whether Jordan knew of alleged sexual abuse, Avery Anapol, July 9, 2018. Former White House ethics chief Norm Eisen on Monday said that he has filed a formal ethics complaint against GOP Rep. Jim Jordan (Ohio) amid accusations that the lawmaker ignored sexual abuse allegations while serving as an assistant coach for the Ohio State University wrestling program.
Eisen, who served as former President Obama's ethics chief, said that he and Fred Wertheimer of the nonprofit watchdog group Democracy 21 filed the complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE).
Jordan, shown in a file photo, has denied the allegations, saying that if he had known about the alleged abuse, he would have acted to stop it.
Seven former wrestlers have contradicted Jordan's claims, saying that the former assistant coach knew about alleged sexual abuse by athletic doctor Richard Strauss. Strauss killed himself in 2005.
Eisen and Wertheimer's complaint seeks an OCE investigation into whether Jordan is lying about his knowledge of alleged abuse. Eisen and Wertheimer argue that if Jordan is "publicly lying about his knowledge of the matter," he is violating House Rules and should be held accountable.
July 7
U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, represents the heavily gerrymandered Fourth District shown above to encompass heavily white, GOP voters
The Hill, Seventh former Ohio State wrestler claims Jordan knew of alleged sexual abuse, Jacqueline Thomsen, July 7, 2018. A seventh former Ohio State University wrestler came forward Saturday with claims that Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) knew about alleged sexual abuse taking place on the wrestling team while he was an assistant coach.
David Range told The Washington Post that Jordan (shown at right) must have know about the alleged sexual abuse by athletic doctor Richard Strauss because it happened regularly and was often discussed.
"Jordan definitely knew that these things were happening — yes, most definitely," Range told the newspaper. "It was there. He knew about it because it was an everyday occurrence."
July 6
Palmer Report, Opinion: Donald Trump has horrible response to Jim Jordan sexual abuse scandal, Bill Palmer, July 6, 2018. Four former members of the Ohio State University wrestling team have now come forward to assert they informed their coach Jim Jordan that the team doctor was sexually abusing them. Ohio State's own lawyers say they emailed Jordan informing him of the abuse, and asking him to come in for an interview, which he ignored. The evidence is stacking up against Jordan, who is now a Republican Congressman and a close ally of Donald Trump.
Here's what Trump told the pool of reporters: "I don't believe them at all. I believe him." To be clear, Trump is accusing four Ohio State wrestling team members of all falsely claiming that they warned Jim Jordan about what was going on. Trump is also accusing the Ohio State legal department of falsely claiming that it informed Jordan, even though there are email records involved that can prove what the real story was.
July 5
U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio, shown in a 2011 file photo. The House Freedom Caucus leader announced a race to become GOP Speaker and was promptly accused in a sex scandal of years ago involving young men. He has denied knowledge or wrongdoing.
U.S. House Speaker wannabe Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH) has good reason to be concerned about allegations that he covered up incidents of sexual abuse of Ohio State University athletes while he was an assistant wrestling coach on the campus from 1986 to 1995. Jordan is in a typical Republican "full-nelson denial" about his involvement in covering up sexual assaults of male athletes by the OSU's Athletics Team Physician, Dr. Richard Strauss.
WMR Editor Wayne Madsen, shown at left, is a syndicated columnist, author of 15 books and a former Navy Intelligence officer who was deputized by the FBI in the 1980s to help gather evidence used to convict and imprison his Navy commanding officer on pedophilia charges. In 2006, Madsen published a three-part series exposing then-GOP House Speaker Dennis Hastert as a gay pedophile, beginning during Hastert's career as a high school wrestling coach. A decade later Hastert was indicted for financial crimes related to victim payoffs and later imprisoned.
Five former wrestlers, including former UFC world champion Mark Coleman, said this week that Rep. Jim Jordan was aware of, but didn't respond to, allegations of sexual misconduct by an Ohio State University team doctor when the lawmaker was an assistant wrestling coach there in the 1990s.
"There's no way unless he's got dementia or something that he's got no recollection of what was going on at Ohio State," Mr. Coleman, the mixed martial arts champion, said of Mr. Jordan in an interview Wednesday.
NBC News, Fourth Ohio State wrestler says Rep. Jim Jordan knew about sexual abuse, Corky Siemaszko, July 5, 2018. A fourth former Ohio State University wrestler came forward Thursday to contradict Rep. Jim Jordan's claim that he had no idea the wrestling team doctor was molesting athletes.
The wrestler, Shawn Dailey, said he was groped half a dozen times by Dr. Richard Strauss in the mid-1990s, when Jordan was the assistant wrestling coach. Dailey said he was too embarrassed to report the abuse directly to Jordan at the time, but he said Jordan took part in conversations where Strauss' abuse of many other team members came up.
"I participated with Jimmy and the other wrestlers in locker-room talk about Strauss. We all did," Dailey, 43, told NBC News, referring to Jordan. "It was very common knowledge in the locker room that if you went to Dr. Strauss for anything, you would have to pull your pants down."
Dailey spoke out two days after NBC News reported that three former wrestlers who were coached by Jordan more than two decades ago accused the GOP congressman of turning a blind eye to Strauss' alleged abuse and then lying about it. Jordan denied knowing anything about the abuse and continues to do so. Dailey corroborated the account of one of those wrestlers, Dunyasha Yetts, who told NBC News that Yetts had protested to Jordan and head coach Russ Hellickson after Strauss tried to pull down his wrestling shorts when Yetts went to see him for a thumb injury.
"Dunyasha comes back and tells Jimmy, 'Seriously, why do I have to pull down my pants for a thumb injury?'" Dailey recalled. "Jimmy said something to the extent of, 'If he tried that with me, I would kill him.'"
Calling Jordan "a close friend," Dailey said he is a Republican and that he contributed to the powerful Ohio congressman's first political campaign for state representative in 1994.
"What happened drove me out of the sport," said Dailey, a married father of two who works as a fundraiser for an Ohio college. "So I was surprised to hear Jim say that he knew nothing about it."
"Jimmy's a good guy," Dailey added. "But to say that he had no knowledge of it, I would say that's kind of hurtful."
Former Ohio State wrestler Mike DiSabato, right, claims harassment as a student to CNN host John Berman
Daily Caller, Opinion: Jim Jordan's Accusers Have A Sketchy History, Raising Questions About Their 'Authenticity,' Chuck Ross, July 5, 2018. Two former Ohio State University wrestlers accusing Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan of ignoring sexual misconduct by a university physician more than two decades ago have a history of failed business dealings, lawsuits, harassment allegations, and in the case of one accuser, an 18 month prison sentence for fraud.
One of the former wrestlers, Mike DiSabato, is also being accused by the widow of a Marine who was killed in combat in Iraq of intimidating and bullying her over a memorial fund set up in her husband's name.
"I question the intent, the authenticity, the verity, that Mike DiSabato shares in any of his words or actions," Karen Mendoza, the wife of Ray Mendoza — a former teammate of DiSabato's who was killed in 2005 — said in a statement.
The initial reports based on DiSabato and Yetts' claims regarding Jordan ignores a large body of evidence that raises questions about the two former wrestlers' motives.
NBC did note that Yetts served time in prison for a $1.8 million fraud scheme.
Yetts' biggest victim was former NFL star Antoine Winfield, who was bilked out of $1.3 million. Yetts convinced Winfield to invest his NFL signing bonus with Yetts' firm, World Wide Sports. As part of the scam, Yetts provided Winfield with false documents claiming to show his investments. Yetts was instead spending money on country club memberships, cars, student loans, and credit card payments.
Daily Caller, Former OSU Wrestler: 'I Know Jim Knew About … Deviant Sexual Atmosphere,' Virginia Kruta, July 4, 2018. Former Ohio State University wrestler Mike DiSabato told CNN on Wednesday that he was absolutely certain that Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan — who was a young assistant wrestling coach at the time — was aware of the "deviant sexual atmosphere" that DiSabato and others are alleging was fostered by Dr. Richard Strauss at the university.
The move will bolster the White House's messaging operation ahead of what is shaping up to be a fierce partisan battle over Trump's choice for a successor to retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, set to be unveiled on Monday.
Yet the appointment is also likely to open the White House up to attacks regarding Shine's record at Fox, as well as the Trump administration's response to sexual misconduct allegations against officials within its own ranks. During his time at Fox, Shine helped to build the network into the media juggernaut it is today. But much like his mentor and patron, Ailes, Shine's long tenure was clouded by unsavory allegations and associations with darker chapters in the network's history. Ailes died in May 2017.
Trump himself has been accused of sexual harassment and improper behavior by more than a dozen women, accusations which he denies. And earlier this year, White House staff secretary Rob Porter resigned amid reports that he had physically and emotionally abused his two ex-wives.
The presidential appointment reunites Trump with Shine, who gave the then-businessman and reality TV star copious airtime on Fox to opine on a range of subjects. Among them was a regular slot on "Fox & Friends," on which Trump often promoted his false claim that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States. The weekly appearances helped burnish Trump's political credentials, at least with more than a million viewers of the morning program.
Shine has spent the past 14 months off the public grid after his ouster from Fox last May. He briefly succeeded Ailes as the network's top executive after Ailes was driven out by sexual harassment allegations, including a lawsuit by former host Gretchen Carlson (shown at left), which Fox's parent company settled in mid-2016 for $20 million.
Shine himself was never directly accused of harassment at Fox. But his latter years at the network were pockmarked by his association with Ailes, especially accusations that he helped facilitate Ailes's predatory behavior. Shine has consistently denied wrongdoing.
He also was part of Fox's senior management during the period in which the network was paying millions of dollars in settlements to former employees who had accused Ailes and host Bill O'Reilly of harassment.
He was named in suits filed by Carlson and former network contributors Julie Roginsky and Andrea Tantaros for his role in allegedly discouraging women at the network from taking their harassment claims to court. Roginsky, who said Ailes sexually harassed her, accused Shine of retaliating against her for her refusal to join "Team Roger," a cadre of women who supported Ailes in his battle with Carlson. Shine denied those allegations.
He also allegedly played a role in covering up Ailes's relationship with Laurie Luhn, a former Fox booker who claimed she had a long, abusive affair with Ailes that eventually led to her mental breakdown. Luhn received $3.1 million from Fox in 2011 to settle her allegations of abuse and mistreatment by Ailes.
Shine's appointment by Trump on Thursday brought swift rebuke from attorney Nancy Erika Smith, who represented Carlson and Roginsky in their suits against Ailes. "Roger Ailes's enabler and confidant is well qualified to speak on behalf of a president who brags about assaulting women and preying on teenage beauty pageant contestants, and pays adult film actresses to be quiet about his adultery," Smith said. "Being from Fox News, Shine is also well qualified to speak for a president who lies every single day."
July 4
Palmer Report, Opinion: Jim Jordan has deranged response to his worsening sexual abuse scandal, Bill Palmer, July 4, 2018. Republican Congressman Jim Jordan's sexual abuse scandal continues to grow worse for him. He's accused of having known that the team doctor was sexually abusing the athletes on the Ohio State University wrestling team he coached, and of having done nothing to try to stop it.
Jordan (shown during a CNN appearance in his role as a rightist Freedom Caucus leader), claims he didn't know about it, but Ohio State's lawyers say they have evidence that they did inform him about it. As the pressure mounts on him to resign, Jordan is now responding to one of the victims in a manner that can only be described as deranged.
Mike DiSabato is one of the alleged sexual abuse victims. He and other members of the team have told the media that they informed Jim Jordan directly about the abuse, and that Jordan refused to do anything. Now, two different reports today paint a disturbing picture of Jim Jordan's recent behavior toward DiSabato, as the scandal has spilled out into the open.
The Daily Beast reports that after DiSabato wrote a series of emails to Jim Jordan, he called the police and asked them to investigate DiSabato. These emails are being described as "vaguely threatening" but we're not buying it. If the emails contained actual threats, Jordan would have made them public in order to make his case that he's the real victim. Instead it seems more likely that DiSabato was merely threatening to go public, and Jordan is trying to falsely spin this into an actual threat against him. Jordan has already been caught lying about not having known about the accusations, so he has zero credibility in this. It gets worse.
If you're not quite sure what to make of Jim Jordan calling the cops on Mike DiSabato, there's another report today that should spell out just how viciously and derangedly Jordan is handling this. According to Brooke Baldwin of CNN, Jordan has his cousin going around to local media outlets and asking them to "look into" DiSabato. So this scandal is no longer merely about Jordan refusing to put a stop to the sexual abuse of the kids on the team he coached. It's now about Jordan trying to punish one of the victims for having come forward.
Rep. Jim Jordan, the powerful Republican congressman from Ohio, is being accused by former wrestlers he coached more than two decades ago at Ohio State University of failing to stop the team doctor from molesting them and other students. The university announced in April that it was investigating accusations that Dr. Richard Strauss, who died in 2005, abused team members when he was the team doctor from the mid-1970s to late 1990s.
Jordan (shown at right), who was assistant wrestling coach at the university from 1986 to 1994, has repeatedly said he knew nothing of the abuse until former students began speaking out this spring. His denials, however, have been met with skepticism and anger from some former members of the wrestling team.
Richard Strauss, a former wrestling team physician and an assistant professor of medicine, is being investigated by Ohio State on allegations of sexual misconduct. Credit: Lantern file photo
The Lantern (Ohio State University), Rep. Jim Jordan accused by former wrestlers of knowing about Strauss' alleged assaults, Colin Gay, July 3, 2018. Rep. Jim Jordan, a Republican congressman from Ohio's fourth congressional district and former assistant coach for the Ohio State wrestling team, has been accused of knowing about the sexual assaults made by former team doctor Richard Strauss, according to a report.
U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan never witnessed abuse by the Ohio State University wrestling team's doctor and he hasn't been contacted by anyone investigating possible incidents that occurred while he was an assistant coach two decades ago, the Urbana Republican's spokesman said Tuesday.
However, lawyers hired by OSU to probe the allegations said Jordan was contacted — both by phone and email — to request an interview, but he never responded.
And three members of the wrestling team under Jordan insist that he knew about the abuse but looked the other way.
Ian Fury, a spokesman for Jordan, said in a written statement that Jordan "never saw any abuse, never heard about any abuse, and never had any abuse reported to him during his time as a coach at Ohio State. He has not been contacted by investigators about the matter but will assist them in any way they ask, because if what is alleged is true, the victims deserve a full investigation and justice."
Fury also denied that Jordan had been contacted about the case. "Despite claims to the contrary, Congressman Jordan's office has not received a request for interview from the investigative team. We have demanded that they send us the supposed communication and remain willing to assist in any way that we can."
A written statement from Porter Wright Morris & Arthur attorney Kathleen Trafford, provided by the university, said investigators had previously contacted Jordan's office by email and phone to request an interview.
"To date, Rep. Jordan has not responded to those requests, but we understand from public statements issued on his behalf today that Rep. Jordan is willing to talk to the investigative team," Trafford said.
Jordan, who has represented a swath of west-central Ohio since 2007, is considered one of the more-powerful conservatives in Congress and is widely credited as being a driver in former House Speaker John Boehner's resignation. Earlier this year, Jordan said he was considering running for House speaker if Republicans keep control of the chamber in November.
Washington Post, Harvey Weinstein indicted on new sexual assault charges, could face life in prison, Elahe Izadi, July 3, 2018 (print edition). Disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein (shown at right) faces additional counts of sexual assault that could carry a potential life sentence if he is convicted, prosecutors announced Monday.
A Manhattan grand jury voted to charge Weinstein with two counts of predatory assault, which carry a minimum 10-year sentence, and an additional count of criminal sexual act in the first degree, stemming from what prosecutors said was a forcible sexual act against a woman in 2006.
2017
Hollywood Reporter, Personal Opinion: Hollywood Harassment: I Was Fired from a Hit Show and Intimidated By Lawyers, Linda Doucett (shown below at right in an HBO photo with co-star Jeffrey Tambor, who portrayed "Hank Kingsley" and whose assistant she played), Nov. 2, 2017. Linda Doucett, Garry Shandling's "Larry Sanders Show" co-star and girlfriend, filed a wrongful termination and sexual harassment suit when she was abruptly let go after they broke up. Now she offers a cautionary tale about how showbiz attorneys can silence alleged victims of discrimination.
Despite everything that happened between us — the arguments, the betrayals, the lawsuits — I still love Garry Shandling. We were friends up to the end; we had a wonderful phone conversation just two weeks before he died on that awful day in March 2016. But, to be honest, I'm still angry at his lawyers. What they put me through after we broke up was cruel and heartless and inhumane. Even by Hollywood standards.
I lived with Garry for seven years, from 1987 to 1994. And, yes, it's true, in some ways he was a lot like his TV characters — neurotic and difficult. But he was also smart and funny and kind and generous. I'd been making some career headway as an actress, landing parts on The Young and the Restless and General Hospital, but by far the best role I had was the one Garry gave me on The Larry Sanders Show, playing Hank Kingsley's adoring assistant, Darlene. After taping, we'd hang out with Brad Grey and his wife, Jill — Brad and Garry were inseparable in those days; they produced the show together. We were like a family. It was a perfect life.
Except I wanted a baby, and Garry didn't. I was pushing 40 — Garry used to say my biological clock was on snooze alarm — and was starting to panic. Ultimately we broke up. We tried to make it as amicable as possible, but people must have been whispering in his ear. "She's lived with you for seven years, she works with you, she's going to take your money." But I told Garry all I wanted was my job. I just wanted to continue playing Darlene. Garry agreed, and I thought that was that.
The next thing I knew I was presented a stack of papers. The documents asked me to promise not to sue for half the show, not to sue for any of his property. I never wanted his property or a percentage of his show, so I signed everything.
And I guess that was my mistake. Because a week later, I got a call from my agent telling me I'd been fired from The Larry Sanders Show. I tried calling Garry, but he wouldn't take my calls. Neither would Brad. It was as if suddenly I didn't exist.
All of this, by the way, was happening around the time of the O.J. Simpson trial. And one day not long after the breakup, I was sitting in a salon getting my nails done when Robert Shapiro, of all people, walked in and sat down next to me for a manicure. He must have recognized me because he turned and said, "Young lady, I think you have quite a lawsuit."
Before long, he was giving me his card and asking me to come meet him at his office. So a few days later, I went, and he explained why I had a wrongful termination and sexual harassment suit and suggested I meet with a lawyer named Patricia Glaser. He set up a meeting with her for me, stood up and walked me to the door. Then he tried to kiss me. I was shocked. I said, "Aren't you married?" And he goes, "Yes, but you are just so alluring." [Shapiro tells THR he has no memory of this meeting, and kissing a client "is not something I would have ever done."]
After that, I had second thoughts about pursuing a lawsuit, but I ended up taking the meeting with Patty anyway. I remember her sitting behind a big desk with photos of Kim Basinger on the wall, which I thought was strange since the actress nearly went bankrupt in her cou
rt case in 1993 against Glaser's client (now she's representing Harvey Weinstein, though I doubt she has any pictures of him in her office). Patty looked at my paperwork and without a word picked up the phone and called Brad Grey. "Hi Brad, Patty Glaser here. I have Linda Doucett in my office, and I think we've got a claim against you …" By the time I left her office, I figured I was in the middle of a lawsuit. I could hardly sleep that night. But in the morning, I got a call from Patty. "I won't be representing you," she told me. "Because I'm now representing Brad and Garry."
I don't know what Brad said to Patty — he must have either threatened her or enticed her to his side — but I had to scramble to find another lawyer. And that turned out to be nearly impossible. I met with personal injury attorneys, ambulance chasers in the Valley, West Hollywood lawyers in wrinkled sport coats, but no matter whom I retained, they didn't last. Patty Glaser would scare them off. What's more, she denied she'd ever consulted with me. It was infuriating.
Finally, though, I found a junkyard dog of my own, a lawyer named Charles Rubin. He took my case and began a process that would lead to my $2 million wrongful termination and sexual harassment suit.
Next thing I knew, we were all meeting in Shapiro's office to depose him, and I could tell he was nervous, wondering if I was going to bring up the kissing, which I had no intention of doing. Still, I have to admit, there was satisfaction in watching him sweat.
Even better was when he tried to deny that Patty ever consulted with me — because I had found an old answering machine tape with a message from him, saying, "Hi, Linda, it's Robert Shapiro. I just got off the phone with Patty Glaser, and she has reviewed your file." When we played that tape at the deposition, Shapiro's tune completely changed. When we played it later at the trial, the judge ordered Glaser to withdraw from the case. [Glaser tells THR she had no substantive conversation with Doucett: "Under no circumstances would I have talked to a client and then switched horses," she says.]
The very next day, guess who called? We hadn't talked since the breakup, but the first words out of Garry's mouth were, "Two million dollars?! You want two million?!" I laughed and said, "Now you answer my calls."
I ended up settling for half that much, but I was happy just to be done with it. Although, as it turned out, I wasn't quite done yet. Ten years later I ended up back in court during the trial of Anthony Pellicano; the FBI discovered that the private eye had been eavesdropping on me during my lawsuit against Garry and Brad. I couldn't help but wonder if somebody in Shapiro's office had hired the detective to spy on me. I ended up testifying against Pellicano, who wound up in jail.
If I've learned anything from my experience in Hollywood, it's how difficult it is to stand up for yourself. But I've also learned how difficult — and important — it is to forgive people you love. That's why I stayed in touch with Jill Grey after Brad died this year. It's why I stayed friends with Garry till the end. Why I'm glad I answered the phone when he called two weeks before he died.
"Hi, Garry, what's up?" I said.
He was quiet on the line for a few seconds. "You calling because you need some sort of closure?" I asked, laughing.
Finally, after a few more seconds, he answered. "No, Linda — maybe in the next life."
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Francisco J. Ayala, one of the world's most eminent evolutionary biologists and a major benefactor of the University of California, Irvine, has resigned his position there after a monthslong investigation into allegations of sexual harassment. In a sharp rebuke, the university said it would remove his name from its School of Biological Sciences and its science library, as well as from graduate fellowships, endowed chairs and other programs, many of them started or nurtured with his funds.
In a letter sent Thursday to university employees, Howard Gillman, the chancellor, said Dr. Ayala, leaves the university as of this Sunday without "emeritus" status and that he "will abstain from future campus activities."
June 28
New York Times, How Saying #MeToo Changed Their Lives, Melena Ryzik, June 28, 2018. Months after accusing powerful men of sexual abuse and harassment, Ashley Judd, Gwyneth Paltrow and 18 others reveal what happened afterward. stories.
We know what became of the men, the alleged perpetrators, swept aside in the wake of accusations against Harvey Weinstein in October 2017. But what happened to the courageous people whose harrowing accounts prompted the global #MeToo movement?
Here, 20 women and men speak, in their own words, about what came after they revealed their long-secret stories in The New York Times. There was emotional fallout; careers were on the line. Yet there were few regrets. Instead, many were emboldened: At last, their voices matter.
June 27
New York Times, Kathy Shaw, Watchdog on Clergy Sexual Abuse, Dies at 72, Sam Roberts, June 27, 2018 (print edition). Kathy Shaw, a journalist who doggedly investigated allegations of sexual abuse by clergymen and compiled a national register of misconduct accusations so that the public could grasp the dimensions of the crisis, died on Sunday in a hospital in Worcester, Mass. She was 72.
By surveying thousands of cases and posting them on a blog called Abuse Tracker, Ms. Shaw played a meaningful if largely unheralded role in helping fellow journalists and victims of abuse.
"She connected people who were suffering in isolation and blaming themselves and assuming they were the only ones," David Clohessy, former national director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said in a telephone interview. "She helped them understand that, in fact, they were part of a system of corruption that could only really be addressed with a personal response like disclosure, therapy and calling the police, and a collective response like pushing for broad change."
As a religion reporter for The Telegram & Gazette of Worcester, Ms. Shaw was credited in 2003 with bringing into view a confidential 1962 Vatican document that mandated complete secrecy by church leaders in dealing with cases of sexual abuse by priests and bishops.
June 26
Washington Post, Feud over civility in politics escalates amid Trump insults, Felicia Sonmez and Robert Costa, June 26, 2018 (print edition). Rep. Maxine Waters's call to "push back" against administration officials prompted the president to respond on Twitter by calling Waters (shown in a file photo) "an extraordinarily low IQ person" and saying "Be careful what you wish for Max!"
The message stood in sharp contrast to a call for civility by the White House press secretary, who was asked to leave a Virginia restaurant.
New York Times, Opinion: We Have a Crisis of Democracy, Not Manners, Michelle Goldberg, June 26, 2018 (print edition). Michelle Goldberg, right, became an Op-Ed columnist for The New York Times in 2017 and was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2018 for public service for reporting on workplace sexual harassment issues.
Whether or not you think public shaming should be happening, it's important to understand why it's happening. It's less a result of a breakdown in civility than a breakdown of democracy.
Though it's tiresome to repeat it, Donald Trump eked out his minority victory with help from a hostile foreign power. He has ruled exclusively for his vengeful supporters, who love the way he terrifies, outrages and humiliates their fellow citizens. Trump installed the right-wing Neil Gorsuch in the Supreme Court seat that Republicans stole from Barack Obama. Gorsuch, in turn, has been the fifth vote in decisions on voter roll purges and, on Monday, racial gerrymandering that will further entrench minority rule.
All over the country, Republican members of Congress have consistently refused to so much as meet with many of the scared, furious citizens they ostensibly represent. A great many of these citizens are working tirelessly to take at least one house of Congress in the midterms — which will require substantially more than 50 percent of total votes, given structural Republican advantages — so that the country's anti-Trump majority will have some voice in the federal government.
But unless and until that happens, millions and millions of Americans watch helplessly as the president cages children, dehumanizes immigrants, spurns other democracies, guts health care protections, uses his office to enrich himself and turns public life into a deranged phantasmagoria with his incontinent flood of lies.
June 25
New York Times, Key Issue in Weinstein Case: Can Other Accusers Testify? James C. McKinley Jr., June 25, 2018. Prosecutors want women to testify about sexual encounters with Harvey Weinstein (right) beyond the two covered in the Manhattan indictment. A judge must decide if that is fair.
Lawyers call them "prior bad acts," and one of the most important decisions facing the judge presiding over Harvey Weinstein's trial will be whether to allow them into evidence. Dozens of women have accused the movie producer of sexual misconduct from unwanted touching to sexual assault over the last three decades, and some of those accusations could have been the basis of a criminal case in New York had they been reported earlier, before the time limit expired under the state's statute of limitations, law enforcement officials say.
Mr. Weinstein has been indicted in connection with only two of those accusations: He faces charges of forcing one woman to give him oral sex in 2004 and of raping a second woman in 2013. But the Manhattan district attorney's office would like to put some of those other accusers on the witness stand, to establish a pattern of behavior for a person prosecutors describe as a sexual predator.
Source / Reporter Romance?
Former Senate Intelligence Committee staffer James Wolfe and New York Times reporter Ali Watkins (file photos)
New York Times, How Reporter's Affair With a Senate Aide Rattled the Media, Michael M. Grynbaum, Scott Shane and Emily Flitter, June 25, 2018 (print edition). The seizure of email records from a Times reporter alarmed First Amendment groups. Her relationship with an intelligence aide set off an ethical debate.
The pearl bracelet arrived in May 2014, in the spring of Ali Watkins's senior year in college, a graduation gift from a man many years her senior. It was the sort of bauble that might imply something more deeply felt than friendship — but then again, might not.
Ms. Watkins, then a 22-year-old intern in the Washington bureau of McClatchy Newspapers, was not entirely surprised. She had met James Wolfe, a 50-something senior aide to the Senate Intelligence Committee, while hunting for scoops on Capitol Hill. He had become a helpful source, but there were times when he seemed interested in other pursuits — like when he presented her with a Valentine's Day card.
Accused repeat pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, left, with Donald Trump in a 1990s photo at Mar-a-Lago held up last weekend by a protester (Getty images)
"Sorry for interrupting your little rally in Duluth," activist and comedian Sam Spadino (shown in a screenshot from the rally) wrote in an open letter to Trump for the Minneapolis – St. Paul alternative weekly City Pages. "My friend and I just wanted to ask you a question, and figured in person was the best way to do it since you're a busy guy, and no 'fake news' reporters have brought it up lately."
"My question, in case you missed it on the sign, is 'Who is Jeffrey Epstein?'" he continued. "You answered the question once in the October 28, 2002 issue of NY Magazine, saying: 'I've known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy. He's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it: Jeffrey enjoys his social life.'"
"When you said that 'he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side,' did you mean younger than 16?" Spadino continued. "Did you know that at least one of his victims was 14 years old?"
He went on to detail Epstein's insidious resume: a billionaire who, as The Daily Beast pointed out after the Duluth, MN rally, has been accused of "a pedophile ring of dozens of underage girls, whom he groomed and then loaned out to powerful friends." He was charged in Florida and spent 13 months in prison there for "Procuring Any Person Under Age Of 16 For Prostitution," and is considered a Level Three sex offender in the state due to his likelihood for re-offending.
Though Epstein has also been connected to other famous men (and alleged abusers and assaulters) including Kevin Spacey, Woody Allen and Bill Clinton, Spadino noted that "none of them were named in a lawsuit together, like [Trump was], in Jane Doe v. Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey E. Epstein, filed in New York in June 2016."
"That lawsuit goes into great detail about what you and your buddy were allegedly up to with two female children 'on the younger side,'" he wrote of the suit detailing the two powerful mens' alleged assault of a girl who was 13 years old at the time.
"Every time Jeffrey comes up I have more questions, but the only response you gave me was in the form an insult," Spadino wrote. "I know seeing a picture of yourself next to a convicted pedophile is probably not a great look for someone who has recently been putting immigrant kids in cages, but I expected a better comeback from you than a 'cut your hair, hippie' knockoff. Weak."
"I am glad you mentioned my "man-bun" however," he wrote, because "this story would have gotten no press if you had just held your tongue."
June 21
The New Yorker reports that Karen McDougal, shown in a photo drawn from YouTube with President Trump, was paid $150,000 by American Media, Inc., for her story about an affair with the married future president Trump in 2006
New York Times, National Enquirer Executives Said to Be Subpoenaed in Cohen Investigation, Jim Rutenberg, June 21, 2018 (print edition). The investigation into President Trump's former lawyer and "fixer" Michael D. Cohen (right) has ensnared the publisher of The National Enquirer, further thrusting the media company into a federal inquiry involving a onetime top lieutenant to a sitting president.
Prosecutors with the Southern District of New York subpoenaed executives at the publisher, American Media, this spring, according to people who have been briefed about the move but agreed to share the details about it only on the condition of anonymity.
The prosecutors had already asked for communications between Mr. Cohen and American Media's chairman, David J. Pecker (left), and its chief content officer, Dylan Howard. That request was part of a search warrant they secured for Mr. Cohen's home, office, hotel room and electronic devices in April. The people familiar with the investigation said prosecutors sought similar communications from Mr. Howard and Mr. Pecker.
During the presidential campaign, American Media had arranged to effectively silence Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model who claimed to have had an affair with Mr. Trump years earlier, with a $150,000 payout.
The payment caught the attention of investigators conducting a broad investigation into Mr. Cohen's efforts on behalf of Mr. Trump during the campaign, as well as his own business dealings. It is also the subject of a complaint at the Federal Election Commission.
Washington Post, Intel CEO resigns over past consensual relationship with an employee that violated company rules, Miranda Moore, June 21, 2018. Intel's chief executive Brian Krzanich resigned after an investigation found that he had violated the company's non-fraternization rules that apply "to all managers," the company said in a statement Thursday. Intel's chief financial officer, Robert Swan, will be the interim chief executive.
Associated Press via MSN, Cardinal McCarrick, ex-archbishop, hit with abuse claim, Staff report, June 20, 2018. The retired archbishop of Washington, D.C., has been removed from public ministry over allegations he sexually abused a teenager in New York more than 40 years ago. The Roman Catholic church said Wednesday that the allegations against 87-year-old Cardinal Theodore McCarrick (shown at right) were found to be "credible" and that Pope Francis ordered his removal.
McCarrick said in a statement released through the church that he accepted the decision but is innocent and has no recollection of abusing anyone. He was archbishop in Washington from 2000 to 2006 and a priest in New York from 1958 to 1981.
Court filings and witness accounts show that Donald Trump is nothing more than a serial child abuser. This antipathy toward children has taken on many forms over the decades and it includes mental, physical, and, in some cases, sexual abuse.
June 18
Washington Post, It was a Trump favorite. Now lawyers want the famously discreet Beverly Hills Hotel to share its secrets, Frances Stead Sellers, June 18, 2018. Records of Donald Trump's stays at the hotel's exclusive bungalows have been subpoenaed in a defamation lawsuit brought by former "Apprentice" contestant Summer Zervos (shown above in a show screenshot) — the first legal action to open the president's private life to discovery.
Details of Trump's hotel stays have been a closely held secret among employees known for impeccable service and discretion in handling billionaires, visiting royalty and superstars. But now, the records of his visits could become critical evidence in what is evolving into a serious legal threat, brought by a woman accusing him of improper sexual advances. The New York case is being closely followed by constitutional lawyers because of the role it could play in determining whether state lawsuits may proceed against a sitting president.
June 15
New York Times, Ex-Girlfriend Sues Florida College Student and Fraternity in Revenge Porn Case, Daniel Victor, June 14, 2018. A student at the University of Central Florida shared videos of sexual encounters he had with his girlfriend in a secret Facebook group for his fraternity brothers without her permission, the woman alleges in a lawsuit filed on Thursday.
Kathryn Novak, a student in Arizona, said she learned in March that her intimate photos and videos had been shared in a secret Facebook group when she saw someone's text message to her long-distance boyfriend that mentioned a sexual video. Her boyfriend, Brandon Simpson, did not deny sharing the video in the Facebook group named "Dog Pound" in October, according to the lawsuit.
Ms. Novak's lawyer, Michael Avenatti (shown at right) — who is best known for representing Stephanie Clifford, the porn actress professionally known as Stormy Daniels, in her lawsuit against President Trump — said in an interview on Thursday that the sharing of Ms. Novak's images had been "devastating to her."
"The fact that you had a basically frat-boy atmosphere, both literally and figuratively, that was centered on the exploitation of women without their knowledge or consent is outrageous," he said.
June 14
ABC News, Appeals Court denies Trump bid to get Summer Zervos defamation suit tossed, Aaron Katersky and James Hill, June 14, 2018. New York State's highest court on Thursday rejected an appeal from President Trump in a defamation case brought by Summer Zervos, a former contestant on "The Apprentice" who alleges that Trump groped and kissed her without her consent in 2007. This is the third time Trump's attempt to halt discovery in the case and a possible deposition of the president has failed.
In a brief order, the New York Court of Appeals, on procedural grounds, rejected the president's attempt to dismiss the case or delay it until after he leaves office. The court ruled that Trump's appeal is premature because there has not been a final determination of his motions in the lower courts.
But the president's legal team was undaunted. "The Court of Appeals did not address the merits of the issue at stake here (an issue first raised by the U.S. Supreme Court in Clinton v. Jones) —- namely, that, under the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, state courts do not have jurisdiction over a sitting President," a spokesperson for the president's attorney, Marc Kasowitz, said in a statement.
Kasowitz has claimed that the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution bars a state court lawsuit against a sitting president and has said "this issue will likely reach the Supreme Court of the United States." The president has denied he sexually assaulted or harassed women, including Zervos, before he took office.
June 13
Daily Kos, Rudy Giuliani's soon-to-be third ex-wife says he was cheating ... again. And where is Rudy? Jen Hayden, June 13, 2018. Rudy Giuliani, the current personal attorney of Donald J. Trump, is making news again, perhaps not in the way he'd hoped. It was just last week that Giuliani said Trump's former mistress wasn't to be believed because, "just look at her." He pissed off women nationwide with his misogynistic comments, possibly including his soon-to-be ex-wife.His third ex-wife.
New York gossip website, Page Six, is reporting their impending divorce is the result of Rudy's cheating ways:
As The Post exclusively reported Tuesday, Giuliani has been cheating on wife Judith Nathan with married New Hampshire hospital administrator Maria Rosa Ryan, according to sources.
Giuliani denied the affair to The Post, although he added that the dinner and movie he shared with Ryan at a posh spa March 29 — five days before Nathan filed for divorce — occurred when he "was in effect separated."
Nathan shot back in a statement, "My husband's denial of the affair with the married Mrs. Ryan is as false as his claim that we were separated when he took up with her."
Of course, Rudy Giuliani has a history of being an unfaithful ass to women. He began publicly flaunting his relationship with Judith Nathan in 2000, while he was married to Donna Hanover. And if you think breaking up with someone by text is bad, recall that Donna Hanover found out her marriage was over when Rudy held a press conference announcing he was divorcing her. It was ugly:
Then, on May 10, he held a press conference announcing that he and Hanover were separating — without informing her first. Hanover, after learning the news of her dissolved marriage along with everyone else, then held her own press conference a few hours later, accusing Giuliani of starting their troubles by carrying on a different affair with former staffer. Giuliani officially filed divorce papers in October of that year, and it continued to get uglier. Hanover even successfully obtained a temporary restraining order barring Nathan from visiting Gracie Mansion.
June 12
Washington Post, Pope Francis at last opens his eyes on clergy sex abuse, Editorial Board, June 12, 2018. The world has heard it again and again — heartfelt, ringing pledges by Pope Francis (shown in a file photo) and his predecessors that the Vatican, at long last, has gotten the message on the global epidemic of clerical sex abuse. These often have been followed by half-measures, equivocations, inertia and even outright contempt for accusers, who in most cases were victimized as children.
Now, five years into his papacy, there are signs, at last, that Pope Francis is starting to get it.
In an extraordinary move, he summoned all 34 of Chile's bishops to the Vatican last month for an emergency summit and dressing-down, accusing them of collective responsibility for systematically ignoring and covering up for pedophile priests over decades. The pontiff included himself in the problem — "me first of all," he wrote to the bishops — having in January summarily dismissed as "slander" credible accusations that a Chilean bishop, Juan Barros, whom he appointed in 2015 despite warnings by other prelates, was complicit in misdeeds by a notorious abusive priest.
June 8
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, No further charges against ex-Gov. Greitens, prosecutor says, Kurt Erickson, June 8, 2018. A special prosecutor will not file charges against former Gov. Eric Greitens (shown at right). In a sometimes emotional news conference Friday, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said her office did not have sufficient evidence to consider filing new charges against the former governor, who left office under a cloud of scandal last week.
Baker said her team exhausted potential leads in examining evidence. She also employed the Missouri Highway Patrol to investigate issues in the case. And she suggested that Greitens' defense team may have erased a key piece of evidence from a phone that they examined.
As of Friday, with a statute of limitations set to expire this weekend, Baker said corroborating evidence for an invasion of privacy case stemming from an extramarital affair with his hairdresser was still missing.
"We have exhausted every potential lead we could follow," Baker said. The Republican governor resigned effective June 1. He was indicted by a St. Louis grand jury for allegedly taking an unauthorized photo of the partially nude woman in the basement of his former home in St. Louis. Prosecutors dropped the charge last month and Baker was appointed to consider whether it should be refiled.
In exchange for Greitens' resignation, St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner dropped a second felony charge that accused him of using a charity donor list to raise money for his political campaign.
In comments to reporters, Baker left no doubt she believes the woman at the heart of the case but said without further evidence, the entire case would rest on the woman's testimony. "She would get beat up again," Baker said. "She did not wish to go it alone. She alone would carry the burden of these charges.
"I find this victim extremely credible. I believe her statements about there being photographs are true," Baker said.
Los Angeles Magazine, How Lisa Bloom Bounced Back From Controversy, Bryan Smith, June 8, 2018. The legal pundit and attorney (shown at right) made a name for herself taking on powerful men — then all hell broke loose.
It is rare for the cool-as-a-chilled-martini Lawrence O’Donnell to go all fanboy when describing his guests on MSNBC’s Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell. On a night in April 2017, however, he fairly gushed when introducing the woman sitting across from him. “Lisa Bloom,” he began, shoulders set, eyes locked on the camera for the wind-up, “was the best lawyer standing against Bill O’Reilly when he got kicked out the door at Fox News today.” And the boot doing the kicking, O’Donnell continued, was on her foot.
O’Donnell described how Bloom relentlessly pursued O’Reilly, first by persuading her client, Wendy Walsh, a psychologist and former guest on the O’Reilly Factor, to set aside her fears and share her story with The New York Times. She then had Walsh call Fox’s sexual harassment complaint hotline, knowing it would force the network to launch an in-house investigation to comply with its own HR policies.
Bloom was no stranger to big cases, of course, or to the bright lights of national TV. She’d anchored her own show on truTV, Lisa Bloom: Open Court, and had parlayed appearances as a legal analyst on cable news and entertainment shows into a career as the go-to pundit on CNN, MSNBC, CBS News, Dr. Phil, Dr. Drew, and The Joy Behar Show, among others. Her client roster boasted former supermodel Janice Dickinson, who alleged that Bill Cosby raped her in the 1980s and who is suing the disgraced comedian for defamation. She also represented Jill Harth, one of several women accusing Donald Trump of sexual assault.
Along the way, she picked up a number of big-name admirers who lauded her keen legal mind and her outspoken defense of women. “The thing about Lisa is that, unlike some people who appear on television as legal analysts, she actually knows what she’s talking about,” CNN chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin tells me. “It’s one thing to hold a press conference for the client, but it’s another to know how to win something for your client, and she can do that.”
May
May 31
New York Times, N.F.L.'s Alternate 'Cheerleaders' Don't Cheer or Dance, Juliet Macur, May 31, 2018. Several N.F.L. teams determined cheerleading programs had a scarcity problem on game days. If cheerleaders were on the sideline dancing, none were available to serve as scantily clad hostesses who could mingle with fans high up in the cheap seats or in the luxury suites, where teams catered to big-money customers.
To address that shortcoming, some teams created a different kind of cheerleading team — one whose members did not do any cheering or require any dance training. They were hired mainly for their appearance. Their visits with male fans, the teams believed, produced a better game-day experience, akin to the approach of the Hooters restaurant chain.
In interviews with a dozen women who have worked for N.F.L. teams as noncheering cheerleaders and six others who had direct knowledge of the noncheering squads, they described minimum-wage jobs in which harassment and groping were common, particularly because the women were required to be on the front lines of partying fans. The fans had no reason to believe these women were not actual cheerleaders because the women often dressed exactly like the cheerleaders dancing on the field or nearly the same.
"It's a really big secret, and now you know about it," said Jackie Chambers, 33, a model with more than a decade of experience who worked as a Houston Texans noncheering cheerleader last season. "But teams don't want fans to know about it. All of the cheerleaders are supposed to blend in with each other."
HuffPost, Congressional Candidate In Virginia Admits He's A Pedophile, Jesselyn Cook and Andy Campbell, May 31, 2018. Nathan Larson (right) also ran online forums for pedophiles and misogynists. Nathan Larson, a 37-year-old accountant from Charlottesville, Virginia, is running for Congress as an independent candidate in his native state. He is also a pedophile, as he admitted to HuffPost on Thursday, who has bragged in website posts about raping his late ex-wife.
In a phone call, Larson confirmed that he created the now-defunct websites suiped.org and incelocalypse.today ― chat rooms that served as gathering places for pedophiles and violence-minded misogynists like himself. HuffPost contacted Larson after confirming that his campaign website shared an IP address with these forums, among others. His sites were terminated by their domain host on Tuesday.
On the phone, he was open about his pedophilia and seemingly unfazed about his long odds of attaining government office.
In a statement to HuffPost, Bee said: "I would like to sincerely apologize to Ivanka Trump and to my viewers for using an expletive on my show to describe her last night. It was inappropriate and inexcusable. I crossed a line, and I deeply regret it." The apology comes after White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders singled Bee out for criticism and called the host's language "vile and vicious."
May 30
Washington Post, Missouri governor says he will resign amid misconduct allegations, Sean Sullivan, May 30, 2018 (print edition). Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens announced Tuesday that he will resign amid explosive personal and political scandals that marred his once-promising career in public office and threatened to drag down the Republican Party in the midterm elections.
In a brief and defiant statement at the governor's office, Greitens (shown at right) said his resignation would be effective on Friday at 5 p.m. "I am not perfect, but I have not broken any laws," he said.
Under state law, Lt. Gov. Mike Parson, also a Republican, will take over as governor and serve out the remainder of the term. He would face voters in 2020 if he decided to seek a full term.
Missouri Republicans looked to quickly turn the page on an embarrassing saga that loomed over their campaign efforts ahead of the November midterms. The U.S. Senate race in Missouri is a key contest in the fight for the Senate majority.
Democrats have been seeking to use Greitens's troubles to undermine the Republican front-runner for Senate, state Attorney General Josh Hawley. They signaled Tuesday that they would not let up, even after Greitens steps aside.
New York Times Sunday Magazine, The 'Sex Cult' That Preached Empowerment, Vanessa Grigoriadis, May 30, 2018. Why did female members of Nxivm follow a guru named Keith Raniere, who now stands accused of sex trafficking? He made them feel like they were in control.
One winter morning in a conventional suburb outside Albany, N.Y., Nancy Salzman, the 63-year-old president of a self-improvement company named Nxivm, sat on a mahogany-colored stool in her kitchen. Her tasteful home was surrounded by other Nxivm members' modest townhouses or capacious stone mansions that seemed to spring up out of nowhere, like mushrooms, on the suburban streets. In Salzman's den, a photo of her with her two adult daughters hung on a wall, the three of them wearing smiles as wide as ancient Greek masks of comedy; the same happy photo served as the wallpaper on Salzman's laptop. A hairless Sphynx cat prowled the lovely buffet of croissants and fruit on her kitchen island.
Salzman, an extremely fit woman wearing the type of thin athleisure sweatshirt that's all the rage with the middle-aged bourgeoisie these days, turned her attention to a woman sitting at the island: Jacqueline, a 27-year-old with long dark hair, who was a psychology student in college, told me that she hadn't experienced anything as effective as Nxivm (pronounced "nexium," like the heartburn medication).
Like Scientology's L. Ron Hubbard, whose 1950 handbook "Dianetics" was billed as the "modern science of mental health" and whose pseudoscientific methods were, in his view, world-changing, Keith Raniere, Nxivm's 57-year-old founder, believed his organization could heal individuals and transform the world. The way Nxivm did this was through techniques, or "technology," meant to rewire your emotional self.
The scene in Salzman's home was intense but mostly cheery. Yet last October, The New York Times published an article reporting alarming practices by Nxivm. The article explained that some female members of the group, who called themselves "masters," had initiated other women, calling themselves "slaves," into a ritual of sisterhood at homes in and around Clifton Park, near Albany.
First, they stripped naked. One by one, they lay on a massage table while a female osteopath, also a Nxivm member, used a cauterizing pen to brand the flesh near their pelvic bone.
Hundreds of members fled Nxivm after they learned about the branding, but much of the inner circle remained. Citing the fact that Raniere had a cast of girlfriends, the media declared that Nxivm was not a self-improvement company at all but rather a "sex-slave cult." A federal investigation was opened, culminating in Mexican police officers plucking Raniere from a pricey villa; he is now in a federal jail on the Brooklyn waterfront after being denied bail as a flight risk.
The group found itself under a microscope, its secrets exposed. Some members came from the highest reaches of society, forming a kind of heiress Illuminati.
There's no trace of Jimmy A. Williams, the Show Jumping Hall of Fame trainer, at the equestrian club where he was an instructor for nearly four decades, cultivating young riders, some of whom went on to Olympic fame.
The pictures and paintings of Mr. Williams, who died in 1993, and the sterling trophies he won all vanished without a word recently from the clubhouse where he had spent many afternoons tipping back Champagne with some of Los Angeles County's biggest and richest names: the parents of his young charges. Last month, the club removed his name from the grand show jumping stadium at the heart of the sprawling property at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains, once the Jimmy A. Williams Oval. Today it is just Ring 1.
But his former riders cannot forget Mr. Williams. Across the country, in her New Jersey barn adorned with her Olympic medals, Anne Kursinski, one of the country's most decorated show jumpers, remembered her former coach.
How he tasted of alcohol whenever he pinned her in a horse stall and crammed his tongue into her mouth. And far more. "He penetrated me when I was 11," Ms. Kursinski said, revealing publicly for the first time the details of what she said became six years of continual rape and molestation. "I was a little kid," she said. "And he was God."
May 27
Playboy model Shera Bechard, who received hush money from a 'David Dennison,' and Donald Trump
The sheer volume — the plea deals and co-operating witnesses, the raids on lawyers' offices, the porn stars, Russians, the new faces and names emerging weekly — has become numbing and exhausting.
We may delight in the revelations, but many of us just don't have the time for the details and slow drip of legal manoeuvres. Wake us when it's over, whenever that is.
Which might explain why the story of fundraiser, the child pornographer and the Playboy playmate has failed to catch on.
Got your attention now?
Elliott Broidy is a well-connected Republican fundraiser and influence peddler around Washington. Like all lobbyists, his value is in his relationships (real or perceived) and access to power – in this case, to the new president.
During the inauguration festivities, Broidy met George Nader, a Lebanese-born lobbyist working on behalf of the United Arab Emirates. The pair struck up a friendship, and Nader began pressing Broidy to reach out to Mr Trump on behalf of the UAE in their efforts to isolate and punish fellow gulf state Qatar and, by extension, Iran.
Nader (who pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography in 1991) pressed Broidy hard to do the UAE's bidding, and for good reason: the two stood to make hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts from the UAE, whose princes were eager to influence Trump.
Broidy, according to an exhaustive report by The Associated Press, launched all manner of anti-Qatar activities – congressional bills, think-tank forums and donations to members of Congress. Despite Broidy and Nader's denials, the AP suggests all these efforts were paid for by the UAE, which would violate US law.
(Broidy, no stranger to the dark arts of achieving influence, was convicted in 2009 of bribing New York State officials relating to a pension fund).
By the end of 2017, Broidy and Nader were on the verge of a US $600 million contract from the UAE. It was at precisely that moment that two things occurred: Broidy met Mr Trump at the White House, and he began making a series of secret transfers to bank accounts associated with Michael Cohen, Mr Trump's attorney/fixer.
May 25
Washington Post, Disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein charged in N.Y. sex assault cases, Abby Ohlheiser and Elahe Izadi, May 25, 2018. Weinstein surrendered to authorities and was charged with rape, criminal sex act, sex abuse and sexual misconduct for cases involving two women, according to the New York Police Department.
Law enforcement officials did not immediately identify the two women who Weinstein (shown in a file photo) is charged with attacking. Lucia Evans, a onetime aspiring actress who has said Weinstein sexually assaulted her in 2004 at his Manhattan office, told the New Yorker on Thursday that she was pressing charges against Weinstein, saying: "At a certain point, you have to think about the greater good of humanity, of womankind."
In November, New York police officials said the accusations made by actress Paz de la Huerta, including that Weinstein raped her twice in 2010, were "credible."
New York Times, Morgan Freeman Is Accused of Sexual Harassment by Several Women, Sopan Deb and Brooks Barnes, May 25, 2018 (print edition). Morgan Freeman, one of the most celebrated actors in the film industry, has been accused of sexual harassment by several women, according to a report by CNN on Thursday. The accusations ranged from unwanted touching to sexually suggestive comments — on movie sets, in office environments and during meetings with the news media.
One production assistant told CNN that she had endured several months of harassment while working on the set of "Going in Style," a film released last year starring Mr. Freeman, Alan Arkin and Michael Caine. She said that on one occasion Mr. Freeman (shown on the cover of a biography) "kept trying to lift up my skirt and asking if I was wearing underwear," until Mr. Arkin told Mr. Freeman to stop. There were also suggestive comments and unwanted touching, such as putting his hand on her back.
A woman described as a senior member of the production staff of "Now You See Me," a 2013 movie, said Mr. Freeman would routinely comment on her physical appearance and that of her assistant.
Associated Press via Trib Live, Former state AG Kane loses appeal of criminal conviction, May 25, 2018. A Pennsylvania appeals court on Friday upheld the conviction of former state attorney general Kathleen Kane for leaking secret grand jury information and lying about it, saying among other things she wasn't entitled to use evidence of a pornographic email scandal in her defense.
A three-judge Superior Court panel rejected arguments made by Kane (shown in a file photo), who has remained out on $75,000 bail since her October 2016 sentencing to 10 to 23 months in jail.
The court turned down claims that all Montgomery County judges should have been prevented from handing her case, evidence against her was illegally obtained, she was the victim of selective and vindictive prosecution and jurors should have been given certain information about grand jury secrecy rules.
The judges also denied her argument she should have been able to use evidence about a pornographic email scandal that involved the office she ran, or the Jerry Sandusky child molestation case that her former office prosecuted. Kane may still appeal the conviction to the state Supreme Court.
Kane, 51, who had been the first woman and first Democrat elected attorney general in Pennsylvania, resigned in 2016 after being convicted of two counts of felony perjury and seven misdemeanor counts, including obstruction and conspiracy.
Her criticism of how the office had handled the Sandusky investigation at Penn State before she took office created resentment among some of the lawyers who had worked on it. After secret grand jury information about another case was leaked to The Philadelphia Inquirer, two former attorney general's office prosecutors contacted a Montgomery County judge, leading him to appoint a special prosecutor.
The appeals court decision concluded Kane cited "a plethora of specious reasons" in arguing she should have been able to evidence of the pornographic emails, a scandal that rocked the state's judicial community and the state prosecutor's office in particular and led to the resignation of two Supreme Court justices, or the investigation and prosecution of Sandusky, who is appealing a 45-count conviction for child sexual abuse.
May 24
New York Times, Mia, Ronan and Dylan Farrow Dismiss a Son's Defense of Woody Allen, Laura M. Holson, May 24, 2018. Moses Farrow, the adopted son of Woody Allen and Mia Farrow, posted a 4,600-word essay on Wednesday defending his father against sexual molestation allegations and claiming his mother was abusive. In the blog post, titled "A Son Speaks Out," Mr. Farrow, 40, described repeated spankings by his mother and other abuse, and what he called "a deep and persistent darkness within the Farrow family."
He recalled, too, his version of the events on Aug. 4, 1992, when his sister, Dylan Farrow, then 7, claimed Mr. Allen (shown in a file photo at a film festival), one of the most prolific directors in modern cinema, sexually molested her at their home in Bridgewater, Conn. Moses was 14.
On Thursday night, Mia Farrow said that her estranged son's claims were "completely made up." And Dylan Farrow, now 32, responded to the essay in a tweet, writing that her brother sought to "impugn my mother who has only ever been supportive of me and my siblings." The journalist Ronan Farrow, 30, also defended his mother and dismissed his older brother's essay, saying Thursday on Twitter, "I believe my sister."
Washington Post, Harvey Weinstein expected to turn himself in to face criminal charges in NYC, reports say, Elahe Izadi, May 24, 2018. The exact charges against the disgraced movie mogul (right) are still unclear, but multiple reports say they will relate to accusations from at least one woman who said Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex on him in 2004, as detailed in an October story in the New Yorker.
May 23
Washington Post, Prominent Southern Baptist leader is ousted after remarks about abused women, Bobby Ross Jr., Sarah Pulliam Bailey and Michelle Boorstein, May 23, 2018. Prominent Southern Baptist leader Paige Patterson was removed from his job as president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary amid an evangelical #MeToo moment: a massive backlash from women upset over comments he made in the past that are being newly perceived as sexist and demeaning.
Seminary leaders were unspecific about why they made the dramatic move, issuing a statement that didn't mention the controversial comments and saying they were moving "in the direction of new leadership" due to challenges related to "enrollment, financial, leadership and institutional identity."
The brief statement released early Wednesday said Patterson (shown at right in a file photo) will be president emeritus, "for the benefit of the future mission of the Seminary." He will receive compensation and may live on campus as "theologian-in-residence" at a brand new Baptist Heritage Center, the statement said.
A quorum of about 30 male trustees and three female trustees of the 1,200-student Texas seminary were present for a meeting that began Tuesday afternoon to discuss the fate of Patterson, a past president of the Southern Baptist Convention who has been revered as a giant for standing guard for decades against liberalizing changes.
In recent weeks, Patterson, 75, has come under fire for taped comments he made between 2000 and 2014 about women, including those remarking on a teenage girl's figure and saying female seminarians need to work harder to look attractive. He also said women who are abused almost always should stay with their husbands.
New legal docs in the NXIVM case appear to shed further light on the cult's alleged sex-trafficking techniques—and the continued involvement of Seagram's heiress Clare Bronfman. Following the arrests of leader Keith Raniere and his alleged top lieutenant, former Smallville actress Allison Mack (shown at right), Clare Bronfman is now rumored to be calling the shots.
In April, Vice wrote that, "Heiress to Canadian liquor fortune Clare Bronfman is now in charge of an estimated dozen or more 'slaves' spread between New York and Toronto," citing former NXIVM publicist-turned-whistleblower Frank Parlato.
Parlato also claimed that Bronfman might be attempting to intimidate ex-NXIVM members, telling Vice, "They bought up a number of domain names to attack some of the witnesses… If Jane Doe 1 or 2 decided not to testify, that would certainly hurt the case against Raniere… I think she would do whatever it takes to see that those witnesses don't testify."
Parlato's theory is in keeping with legal docs filed on the subject of Allison Mack's bail, in which the government spoke of "evidence" that, "after its investigation was reported in the press, high-ranking members of DOS undertook efforts to undermine potential witness, including by registering domain names such as [Witness Name]exposed.com, with the intention of publishing damaging information regarding those witnesses."
Ex "slaves" would be particularly susceptible to these sorts of threats, since a main instrument of control and retention within DOS, a secret sorority within NXIVM, was demanding "collateral" from victims.
In a Wednesday filing, U.S. Attorney Richard P. Donoghue argued that two Halfmoon, New York, properties are liable to condemnation and forfeiture to the government, detailing the sex trafficking that allegedly took place on the NXIVM compound outside of Albany.
Sikander Imran, a former doctor at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, was sentenced Friday after his former girlfriend, Brook Fiske, asked a judge for a more lenient punishment, ABC affiliate WJLA reported.
Imran was charged last June with premeditated killing of a fetus of another and illegally causing abortion or miscarriage. Online records show he was also charged in November with assault and altering food, drink and drugs. He pleaded guilty earlier this year to fetal homicide.
Washington Post, Settlement with Larry Nassar victims will have impact on Michigan State, Will Hobson and Susan Svrluga, May 17, 2018 (print edition). Michigan State University agreed to pay $500 million to settle lawsuits filed by 332 alleged victims of disgraced former sports physician Larry Nassar on Wednesday, ending the university's involvement in litigation over the former Olympic gymnastics doctor's rampant sexual abuse of girls and women under the guise of medical treatment.
The settlement will pay $425 million to the 332 girls and women who have come forward to date, averaging about $1.28 million per victim. Michigan State will set aside an additional $75 million in a trust fund for any victims who come forward in the future.
"This historic settlement came about through the bravery of more than 300 women and girls who had the courage to stand up and refuse to be silenced," said John Manly, one of several attorneys representing victims, in a statement. "It is the sincere hope of all of the survivors that the legacy of this settlement will be far reaching institutional reform that will end the threat of sexual assault in sports, schools and throughout our society."
Nassar (shown at left in a court hearing with his attorney, 54, is serving an effective life sentence in prison after pleading guilty to assaulting nine girls and women in Michigan, as well as to federal child pornography crimes. At his sentencing hearing in January, the emotional testimony of more than 150 girls, women and parents triggered national outrage about the case, prompting fallout that continues for the organizations through which Nassar accessed his victims.
The impact of the scandal on the university, which has about 39,000 undergraduate students, has been substantial, including the resignations of president Lou Anna Simon and athletic director Mark Hollis in January, and may extend beyond the financial. The settlement surpasses the more than $109 million paid by Penn State University to settle claims by at least 35 people who accused assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky of sexual abuse.
The money will have to come from some combination of insurance, state funding and student tuition revenue, said Thomas L. Harnisch, director of state relations and policy analysis for the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.
A New York appeals court on Thursday rejected a request from President Trump to stay proceedings in a defamation suit filed by a former contestant on "The Apprentice" who has claimed that he sexually harassed her.
The ruling on Thursday is a legal setback for Trump, who is facing multiple lawsuits focused on allegations women have made against him as well as his public comments about those women. It could open him up to discovery in the case, although he could also file further appeals to try to delay proceedings.
Trump's attorneys sought a temporary halt in the case filed by Summer Zervos (shown at left) — who has accused him of groping and forcibly kissing her — while they awaited word on their appeal of a judge's ruling this year that Zervos's defamation lawsuit could proceed. Zervos sued Trump for defamation after he denied her accusations, along with those of other women who accused him of unwanted sexual contact before he was elected president. He called them all "liars."
New York Times, 'The Grossest Thing': Women Recall Exams by U.S.C. Doctor, Jennifer Medina, May 17, 2018. Dozens of women have called a university hotline amid allegations of misconduct against a campus gynecologist, George Tyndall, that date to the 1990s.
He quipped about the looseness of a woman's vagina. He remarked on the smoothness of another woman's skin. He surprised one patient by suddenly removing her tampon and dangling it in front of her.
Former students at the University of Southern California are coming forward by the dozens, re-examining years-old interactions with Dr. George Tyndall, the longtime gynecologist at the student health center who is now at the center of a growing scandal. What they considered inappropriate and humiliating at the time, they are now reporting to a special university hotline as signs of the doctor's trail of abuse.
May 15
New York Times, Gov. Eric Greitens's Charge Is Dropped, for Now, in Missouri, Alvin A. Reid, Mitch Smith and Julie Bosman, May 15, 2018 (print edition). Jury selection had been underway for three days in the case against the Missouri governor. The abrupt decision left Mr. Greitens's legal and political fate uncertain.
The trial was to be a major test for Gov. Eric Greitens of Missouri, a former Navy SEAL once lauded as a rising star in the Republican Party and, perhaps someday, a contender for president.
Prosecutors said that, in 2015, Mr. Greitens (shown at right) had taken an explicit photo of a woman with whom he was having an affair, without her consent. For months, the accusation had dogged his young governorship and upended politics across Missouri.
Then on Monday, with a trial set to begin this week and jury selection already well underway, Mr. Greitens watched from a St. Louis courtroom as the case suddenly collapsed. Prosecutors abruptly announced that they were dropping their felony invasion-of-privacy charge against him.
For Mr. Greitens, who has for weeks proclaimed his innocence and fought off demands that he resign, the announcement was a significant win. "This is a great victory, and it has been a long time coming," Mr. Greitens, 44, said outside the courthouse, where he spoke briefly but did not answer questions. "This experience has been humbling, and I have emerged from it a changed man."
Still, Mr. Greitens, only a year and a half into his first term in office, remains entangled in a legal and political thicket, and his future remains very much in doubt. A second felony charge, of tampering with computer data, awaits; prosecutors contend that he illegally obtained a donor list from a veterans' charity he founded and used it for his 2016 campaign. And he faces a looming threat to his governorship from the Missouri General Assembly, which has scheduled a special session on Friday that could lead to a vote on impeachment.
In dropping the invasion-of-privacy charge, prosecutors cited the defense team's decision to call the St. Louis circuit attorney, Kimberly Gardner, as a witness in the case. The lawyers for Mr. Greitens had accused Ms. Gardner of condoning misconduct and lying by an investigator on the case, and apparently intended to question her on those issues.
Ms. Gardner, a Democrat, filed the felony charge in February, accusing Mr. Greitens, who is married, of taking the explicit photo of his former hairdresser, with whom he has acknowledged having an affair. The woman, who has not been identified, was captured on a secretly recorded tape telling her then-husband that Mr. Greitens had blindfolded her, torn off her shirt and pants and taken a photo without her consent. Her ex-husband released the audio recording of the conversation to the news media over her objections.
May 14
HuffPost, Opinion: Not An Onion Story: Blake Farenthold Gets A New Job Lobbying Congress, Jennifer Bendery, May 14, 2018. It's only been a month since he quit his House seat amid an ethics committee probe into sexual harassment allegations. Please pay back the $84,000 you owe taxpayers so I can stop writing about you, Mr. Farenthold.
A month after abruptly resigning from Congress in an apparent effort to avoid more fallout from sexual harassment allegations, former Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-Texas, shown at right) already has a new job: lobbying his former colleagues on port issues.
Farenthold announced Monday on a Corpus Christi radio show that he landed a new gig at the Calhoun Port Authority in Port Lavaca, Texas, as reported by Caller Times. He is now the port's full-time legislative liaison, and his job responsibilities include increasing the port's visibility with federal lawmakers and the Trump administration. Port Lavaca sits on the Texas coast some 70 miles northeast of Corpus Christi.
"I'm starting a new job today that has an hour-and-a-half commute," Farenthold said on 1360 KKTX-AM's "Lago in the Morning." "You're going to have me listening and calling in a whole lot now."
It is generally illegal for a former member of Congress to immediately become a lobbyist, but there are exceptions for those lobbying for state or local government agencies.
Caller Times reports that Farenthold's annual salary will be $160,000. That's roughly double the amount he spent in taxpayer money to settle a 2014 sexual harassment lawsuit brought against him by his former aide Lauren Greene.
Greene alleged in legal documents that the Texas congressman had told another aide that Greene could "show her nipples whenever she wanted to" and that he had "wet dreams" about her. She described Farenthold as often being drunk and flirtatious at work, complaining of a sexless marriage, and telling her a story about a female lobbyist who propositioned him for "a threesome."
Farenthold spent $84,000 in taxpayer funds to quietly settle that lawsuit. When the news broke this past December, he vowed to quickly pay the money back but never did. By April, with the House Ethics Committee close to wrapping up a probe into more office misconduct, he quit Congress.
The good news for the ex-lawmaker is that he can now repay taxpayers for the settlement and still have $76,000 left of his salary. Not bad!*
Randy Boyd, the chairman of the six-member board that oversees the Calhoun Port Authority, did not return a request for comment on why Farenthold was a good hire. Charles Hausmann, the director of the Calhoun Port Authority, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
WGBH News (Boston), Opinion: The Human Face Behind The Stan Rosenberg Tragedy, Harvey Silverglate (right), May 14, 2018. Former Mass. Senate President Stanley Rosenberg, an Amherst Democrat, was elected by his colleagues to serve in the powerful position of president of the Massachusetts Senate.
Over the course of a half-century as a criminal defense and civil liberties lawyer, I have witnessed myriad human tragedies, many rooted in the soil of the human condition. Few, however, lay bare the stuff of life as dramatically as the saga of former Senate President Stanley Rosenberg.
Once one of the most powerful men in the state, Rosenberg (shown at left) resigned his seat last week. He ultimately was felled by his loyalty to his palpably mentally-ill companion and (later) husband Bryon Hefner.
Of the long list of dramatis personae in this legal, political, and human drama, I have concluded that Rosenberg emerges as the lone sympathetic actor. The rest all appear to have deviated from the roles that they should have limited themselves to, rather than over-stepping in a veritable orgy of unseemly piety and, all too often, schadenfreude.
The outlines of the saga are well-known. The Boston Globe reported in a November 30, 2017 investigative story that Hefner sexually assaulted four men, hinting to his victims that he could be useful to them in accomplishing their legislative or lobbying agendas on Beacon Hill if they gave in to Hefner's sexual advances.
The Globe story clearly disclosed criminal conduct on Hefner's part, although a fair reading of the disclosures surely should have led all of the then and future actors in the saga to ask themselves whether it was not obvious that Hefner's conduct was occasioned not by a true extortionate intent, but rather by a serious and persistent mental illness. Despite this obvious fact, the Suffolk County District Attorney and Attorney General Maura Healey secured, and then announced in April, Hefner's indictment by a state-wide grand jury.
May 10
New York Times, Schneiderman Falls. Trump Allies Gloat. Democrats Seethe, Alexander Burns, May 10, 2018 (print edition). The White House's exultation over liberal men who resign, like Eric Schneiderman, over sexual misconduct has grated politicians in both parties, who view President Trump as a poor messenger on women's rights.
May 9
New York Times, Trump Lawyer Got $500,000 From Firm Tied to Russia Mogul, Mike McIntire, Ben Protess and Jim Rutenberg, May 9, 2018 (print edition). A firm tied to a Russian oligarch gave money to a company that Michael D. Cohen, President Trump's lawyer, previously used to pay Stormy Daniels, an adult film actress. The shell company also received funds from several corporations with business before the Trump administration, according to records reviewed by The Times.
A shell company that Michael D. Cohen (shown at right) used to pay hush money to a pornographic film actress received payments totaling more than $1 million from an American company linked to a Russian oligarch and several corporations with business before the Trump administration, according to documents and interviews.
Financial records reviewed by The New York Times show that Mr. Cohen, President Trump's personal lawyer and longtime fixer, used the shell company, Essential Consultants L.L.C., for an array of business activities that went far beyond what was publicly known. Transactions adding up to at least $4.4 million flowed through Essential Consultants starting shortly before Mr. Trump was elected president and continuing to this January, the records show.
Among the previously unreported transactions were payments last year of about $500,000 from Columbus Nova, an investment firm in New York whose biggest client is a company controlled by Viktor Vekselberg, the Russian oligarch [and chairman of Renova Group, shown at left in a file photo]. A lawyer for Columbus Nova, in a statement on Tuesday, described the money as a consulting fee that had nothing to do with Mr. Vekselberg.
Other transactions described in the financial records include hundreds of thousands of dollars Mr. Cohen received from Fortune 500 companies with business before the Trump administration, as well as smaller amounts he paid for luxury expenses like a Mercedes-Benz and private club dues.
References to the transactions first appeared in a document posted to Twitter on Tuesday by Michael Avenatti (shown at right), the lawyer for Stephanie Clifford, the adult film star who was paid $130,000 by Essential Consultants to keep quiet about an alleged affair with Mr. Trump.
The lawyer's seven-page document, titled "Preliminary Report of Findings," does not explain the source of his information but describes in detail dates, dollar amounts and parties involved in various dealings by Mr. Cohen and his company. Most of the transactions involved two banks: First Republic Bank and City National Bank.
Related documents, stories:
Avenatti & Associates Project Sunlight, Preliminary Report of Findings [On Michael Cohen activities, funders and evidence], Michael Avenatti (shown at right, is an attorney representing porn actress Stormy Daniels in a defamation suit against President Trump), May 8, 2018. Avenatti editor's note: This information is true and correct as of the date of this Preliminary Report of Findings (May 8, 2018) to the best of our knowledge. Additional information is being obtained on a neardaily basis. The below information and findings [which can be read in a seven-page report here], therefore, are subject to change.
Michael Dean Cohen ("Mr. Cohen") is an attorney licensed in the State of New York. He is a graduate of Cooley Law School and a resident of Manhattan, New York City, New York. Mr. Cohen served at the right hand of Mr. Donald J. Trump ("Mr. Trump") as Mr. Trump's attorney beginning in approximately 2007 and continuing until at least April of this year. During this same approximate time period, Mr. Cohen also occupied a senior position with the Trump Organization (although it is unclear as to when he formally left the company). Importantly, at all relevant times, Mr. Cohen and Mr. Trump have consistently referred to Mr. Cohen as Mr. Trump's attorney. In fact, in answering reporters' questions on Air Force One on April 5, 2018, Mr. Trump, referring to Mr. Cohen, stated "Michael is my attorney" (present tense).
Essential Consultants, LLC. On or about October 17, 2016, Michael D. Cohen established a limited liability company named Essential Consultants, LLC ("Essential") by filing the requisite paperwork with the Secretary of State in Delaware. At all material times, Essential has been exclusively owned and controlled by Mr. Cohen.
Equally swift was the response from allies of President Trump, a longtime nemesis of the attorney general. Conservative commentators and vocal Trump supporters gleefully pointed out social media posts in which Schneiderman advocated for victims of sexual abuse or accusers of disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein — tweets they described as hypocritical.
Kellyanne Conway (shown in a Gage Skidmore portrait), counselor to the president, and one of the president's sons, Donald Trump Jr., both shared a tweet posted by Schneiderman in October of last year. "No one is above the law, and I'll continue to remind President Trump and his administration of that fact everyday," Schneiderman wrote in the tweet.
Meanwhile, critics of Trump fired back at those who were quick to condemn Schneiderman while defending a president accused by more than a dozen women of improper conduct or sexual assault. While Trump has chided Democrats accused of misconduct, such as former senator Al Franken (D-Minn.), he has given a pass to accused Republicans and allies, including former Senate candidate Roy Moore of Alabama and former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly.
New York Magazine, Opinion: Here's a Theory About That $1.6 Million Payout From a GOP Official to a Playboy Model, Paul Campos, May 8, 2018. On May 2, Rudy Giuliani (shown at right) revealed that the Trump administration has been lying for months about the fact that Donald Trump reimbursed his personal attorney Michael Cohen (shown below left) for the $130,000 he fronted to buy porn star Stormy Daniels's silence about her affair with Trump.
Until then, Trump had been claiming that he didn't know about any settlement, and that he hadn't had a sexual liaison with Daniels. (The official White House line continues to be that Daniels is lying about having sex with Trump, but almost no one believes this.) Giuliani has claimed that Trump gave him the okay last week to contradict several months' worth of denials, by revealing Trump's payments to Cohen.
In journalism this is known as getting out in front of a story. After federal law-enforcement officials raided Cohen's office on April 9, they surely had documentary evidence of these financial transactions, which meant it was inevitable the truth would eventually come out.
We should consider the strong possibility that the same tactic — i.e., shameless, baldfaced lying — may have played a role in the exposure of yet another Trump-related sex scandal. The Wall Street Journal published a story on April 13 revealing the existence of another nondisclosure agreement involving an affair between an adult entertainer and a client of Cohen's. The NDA employed the pseudonyms David Dennison and Peggy Peterson — the same names used in the Stormy Daniels NDA — and was otherwise very similar to the Trump-Daniels agreement.
According to this newly revealed NDA, Dennison agreed to pay Peterson $1.6 million, in exchange for Peterson's promise not to reveal the affair or her claim that Dennison had impregnated her. This NDA, like the Trump-Daniels document, was negotiated by attorneys Keith Davidson, on behalf of Peterson, and Michael Cohen, on behalf of Dennison. Payments were also delivered through Essential Consultants LLC, the same LLC created by Cohen to facilitate payments in the Stormy Daniels deal.
Whatever source revealed the existence of this NDA to the Journal also disclosed that, according to another document in Cohen's office, the Dennison in this agreement was not Donald Trump but rather Elliott Broidy, a top Republican fundraiser, while Peterson was Shera Bechard, Playboy's Miss November 2010 (shown at right in a photo via Wikipedia).
Apparently, Bechard had been Broidy's mistress until he got her pregnant, at which point she hired Davidson, who contacted Cohen to demand the payment of hush money.
By a stroke of good fortune, Cohen already had a sex-scandal-with-an-adult-entertainer-hush-money-NDA template in his hard drive, since he had recently drafted at least one for Donald Trump. Indeed, Cohen didn't even bother to change the pseudonyms. (That economical use of attorney resources explained away what otherwise could have been a very awkward detail in the narrative.)
This is the story that was leaked to the Journal — and to the New York Times, and CNN, which the Journal beat to the punch by publishing it first. It has since been repeated as fact by just about every major media outlet in the country. But there are good reasons to consider whether it might not be yet another audacious lie from Trumpworld.
Let me offer an alternative explanation of the affair and the payoff. It is still just a hypothesis, but, I would argue, it fits more comfortably with what we know about the various players than the reported version of events: Donald Trump, not Elliott Broidy (shown at left), had an affair with Shera Bechard.
Bechard hired Keith Davidson, who had negotiated both Playboy playmate Karen McDougal's deal with the National Enquirer and Stormy Daniels's NDA with Trump. Davidson called Cohen, and the two of them negotiated a $1.6 million payment to Bechard.
Both Cohen and Briody have held high-ranking positions with the Republican National Committee during the Trump administration, illustrating how scandal penetrates politics and not just the private sector.
May 7
New Yorker, Four Women Accuse New York's Attorney General of Physical Abuse, Jane Mayer and Ronan Farrow, May 7, 2018. Eric Schneiderman (shown above in a file photo) has raised his profile as a voice against sexual misconduct. Now, after suing Harvey Weinstein, he faces a #MeToo reckoning of his own.
A third former romantic partner of Schneiderman's told Manning Barish and Selvaratnam that he also repeatedly subjected her to nonconsensual physical violence, but she told them that she is too frightened of him to come forward. (The New Yorker has independently vetted the accounts that they gave of her allegations.) A fourth woman, an attorney who has held prominent positions in the New York legal community, says that Schneiderman made an advance toward her; when she rebuffed him, he slapped her across the face with such force that it left a mark that lingered the next da
Update: Three hours after the publication of this story, Schneiderman resigned from his position. "While these allegations are unrelated to my professional conduct or the operations of the office, they will effectively prevent me from leading the office's work at this critical time," he said in a statement. "I therefore resign my office, effective at the close of business on May 8, 2018."
Eric Schneiderman, New York's attorney general, has long been a liberal Democratic champion of women's rights, and recently he has become an outspoken figure in the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment. As New York State's highest-ranking law-enforcement officer, Schneiderman, who is sixty-three, has used his authority to take legal action against the disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein, and to demand greater compensation for the victims of Weinstein's alleged sexual crimes. Last month, when the Times and this magazine were awarded a joint Pulitzer Prize for coverage of sexual harassment, Schneiderman issued a congratulatory tweet, praising "the brave women and men who spoke up about the sexual harassment they had endured at the hands of powerful men." Without these women, he noted, "there would not be the critical national reckoning under way."
Now Schneiderman is facing a reckoning of his own. As his prominence as a voice against sexual misconduct has risen, so, too, has the distress of four women with whom he has had romantic relationships or encounters. They accuse Schneiderman of having subjected them to nonconsensual physical violence. All have been reluctant to speak out, fearing reprisal. But two of the women, Michelle Manning Barish and Tanya Selvaratnam, have talked to The New Yorker on the record, because they feel that doing so could protect other women.
They allege that he repeatedly hit them, often after drinking, frequently in bed and never with their consent. Manning Barish and Selvaratnam categorize the abuse he inflicted on them as "assault." They did not report their allegations to the police at the time, but both say that they eventually sought medical attention after having been slapped hard across the ear and face, and also choked. Selvaratnam says that Schneiderman warned her he could have her followed and her phones tapped, and both say that he threatened to kill them if they broke up with him. (Schneiderman's spokesperson said that he "never made any of these threats.")
In a statement, Schneiderman said, "In the privacy of intimate relationships, I have engaged in role-playing and other consensual sexual activity. I have not assaulted anyone. I have never engaged in nonconsensual sex, which is a line I would not cross."
Washington Post, New York attorney general resigns after four women accuse him of physical abuse, Marwa Eltagouri and Mark Berman, May 7, 2018. Within hours of publication of a New Yorker article reporting the accusations, Eric Schneiderman faced calls to resign, most notably from the state's Democratic governor. Schneiderman said he contests the allegations.
Washington Post, 'We are shocked': Thousands of Southern Baptist women denounce leader's 'objectifying' comments, Sarah Pulliam Bailey, May 7, 2018. The Southern Baptist Convention, the nation's largest Protestant denomination and a major force in conservative Christianity, is encountering its own #MeToo moment: a wave of anger over repeated comments by a prominent church leader seen as demeaning to women.
In sermons he gave between 2000 and 2014 that have been made public, Paige Patterson, seminary president and former denominational president (shown at right), has encouraged women who are abused by their husbands not to divorce but to pray instead. He also commented in the sermons on female bodies, including that of a teenage girl, and women's appearances. Now, thousands of people are calling for his removal just weeks before he is scheduled to deliver a key sermon at the huge denomination's annual convention.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is asking the House Ethics Committee to investigate allegations of child sex abuse against California Rep. Tony Cárdenas (shown at right). A civil lawsuit has been filed against Cárdenas in Los Angeles County alleging that in 2007, when he was a member of the city council, he groped a 16-year-old girl. Cárdenas, who holds a junior position in Democratic leadership, denies the allegations.
Writer Zinzi Clemmons said the incident happened when she was a 26-year-old graduate student. She had invited Diaz to speak at a workshop, but Diaz "used it as an opportunity to corner and forcibly kiss me," Clemmons wrote on Twitter. Other female writers have since come forward, accusing Diaz of mistreatment and misogynistic verbal abuse. Diaz won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.
May 4
Washington Post, How the music industry turned a blind eye to decades of allegations that R. Kelly abused young women, Story by Geoff Edgers, Video by Sarah Hashemi and Whitney Leaming May 4, 2018. Record executives, low-paid assistants and other players in the music industry allowed R. Kelly (at right in his Twitter photo) to thrive even as allegations of abuse began to grow, a Washington Post investigation found.
Six women once connected with Kelly spoke to The Post about what they say were abusive relationships. Two, who reached settlements with Kelly, have never publicly spoken about him.
Washington Post, Southern Baptist leader's advice to abused women sends leaders scrambling to respond, Sarah Pulliam Bailey, May 4, 2018 (print edition). Southern Baptist leader who advised abused women not to divorce doubles down, says he has nothing wrong. Controversial comments about women, abuse and divorce made by a highly respected leader in the Southern Baptist Convention have put many of its leaders in a deeply uncomfortable position as some scramble to respond under pressure from Southern Baptists and other evangelicals.
An audio recording recently surfaced on which Southern Baptist leader Paige Patterson (shown at right) says that abused women should focus on praying and "be submissive in every way that you can" and not seek divorce. Those comments, which were made 18 years ago, have set off a wave of criticism within Southern Baptist circles over the message it could send to women.
The backlash has some wondering whether Patterson, who is not known for backing down from controversies about women, will resign from his presidency at Fort Worth-based Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. The firestorm comes weeks before the SBC, which has thrived on giving churches autonomy while still claiming a strong network of 15 million members, will have its annual meeting in Dallas. Patterson, who is 75 and once served as president of the convention, is scheduled to give the one sermon at that meeting, which is considered an important honor.
On April 28, 2008, Sarah Schacht received an email that terrified her. The Sunlight Foundation, a government transparency group, had invited Schacht, the head of a budding good-government nonprofit, to join a conference call. There on the invitation list was Clay Johnson — a man she says once tried to rape her.
Reeling, Schacht called a friend at Sunlight, who told her the foundation had just hired Johnson. Within an hour, she said, she was on the phone with Sunlight’s executive director, Ellen Miller.
Schacht said Miller received her story with a stern voice and a battery of excuses: “Well, I’m sure there was some confusion, it was so long ago, he was so young at the time, and now he’s in this great relationship,” Schacht recalls Miller saying. In her disbelief, Schacht blurted out that she wasn’t Johnson’s only victim, but that didn’t seem to faze Miller either. “I left the phone call shaking,” Schacht said.
Although Miller insists no such call ever happened, the conversation Schacht remembers must have been repeated many times. For more than a decade, women have accused Johnson, a leader in the world of political technology, of physical and verbal abuse. They’ve complained to some of the most powerful people in Washington’s nonprofit and progressive circles — only to watch, horrified, as Johnson became a powerful figure, too.
May 1
Washington Post, Megyn Kelly warns Brokaw defenders: 'You don't know what you don't know,' Kyle Swenson, May 1, 2018. In her rocky passage from Fox News to the lighter touch of NBC's "Today" show, Megyn Kelly has been at her best channeling her own experiences. Some of her most compelling recent television has tackled the "Me Too" movement.
On Monday, the host (shown in a file photo) dove headfirst into the controversy swamping her current network when Kelly addressed the allegations aimed at former NBC "Nightly News" anchor Tom Brokaw. The subject — the intersection between network insider politics and personalities — is one Kelly knows well.
"I just came from Fox where we just went through this," she said on Monday. As reported in The Washington Post and Variety, a former NBC correspondent named Linda Vester has come forward to allege Brokaw sexually harassed her on two occasions in the 1990s. The former news anchor has since vigorously denied the allegations, saying Vester was a "character assassin."
Sitting with NBC correspondents Stephanie Gosk and Kate Snow, Kelly discussed the network's response to the allegations. The panel also noted that a petition is circulating among dozens of current and former female co-workers pledging their support for the anchor, whom they described as "a man of tremendous decency and integrity." Among those signing were Rachel Maddow, Andrea Mitchell and Maria Shriver.
Kelly, however, offered such a letter is "basically a character reference" but can also be "dicey."
"I understand that because when you love the person under attack you want to say, 'This has been my experience,' " Kelly said. "I will say that the same thing did happen at Fox. And the truth is, you don't know what you don't know. And that's not in any way to impugn Tom, who I love and who has been so good to me. I'm just saying, you don't know what you don't know."
April
April 28
New York Times, Why She Testified Against Cosby: 'I Had the Strength,' Cara Buckley, April 28, 2018. Lise-Lotte Lublin was one of several women who spoke in court about their experiences with Bill Cosby (shown at right), helping prosecutors convict him of sexual assault.
New York Times, Cosby Verdict, Hailed as Breakthrough, Was Also an Anomaly, Timothy Williams, April 28, 2018 (print edition). #MeToo flooded the world with reports of sexual assault. But it did not wash away the legal hurdles to proving it.
April 27
More #MeToo At NBC
Washington Post, Amid allegations against Lauer and Brokaw, NBC faces doubts on harassment reforms, Sarah Ellison, April 27, 2018 (print edition). Matt Lauer is not the only prominent anchor accused of seeking inappropriate relationships with younger women. One former NBC correspondent told The Post that legendary anchor Tom Brokaw made unwanted advances toward her in the 1990s.
Matt Lauer (shown at left on the Today Show set) is not the only prominent anchor at NBC who allegedly sought inappropriate relationships with younger women. Linda Vester, a former NBC correspondent, told The Post that legendary anchor Tom Brokaw made unwanted advances toward her on two occasions in the 1990s, including a forcible attempt to kiss her. Vester was in her 20s and did not file a complaint.
Brokaw denied anything untoward happened with Vester. "I met with Linda Vester on two occasions, both at her request, 23 years ago, because she wanted advice with respect to her career at NBC," he said in a statement issued by NBC. "The meetings were brief, cordial and appropriate, and despite Linda's allegations, I made no romantic overtures towards her, at that time or any other."
Another woman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, also told The Post that Brokaw acted inappropriately toward her in the '90s, when she was a young production assistant and he was an anchor. He said no such incident happened.
April 26
New York Times, Opinion: What Do We Do With These Men? Katie J. M. Baker, April 27, 2018. Ms. Baker is an investigative reporter for BuzzFeed News who has covered institutional responses to sexual violence and harassment.
The bad men are plotting their comebacks. In recent days, Page Six reported that the former CBS anchor Charlie Rose, accused by employees of acts ranging from groping to walking around naked in their presence, is shopping a return to television. His new project? Interviewing other men felled by #MeToo.
Mr. Rose isn't alone: In the past few weeks, men from Tom Ashbrook to Matt Lauer to Mario Batali to Louis C.K. have reportedly been testing the waters.
I get it. For the first time in history, it seems, an unprecedented number of powerful men are facing significant consequences for predatory behavior. For a minority — such as Bill Cosby, who was found guilty this week in the first post-#MeToo celebrity sex crimes trial — the road to justice seems obvious. But for the vast majority, it isn't.
That's especially true of men who aren't famous enough to make headlines, and whose career moves aren't subjected to constant scrutiny. And so if we want the #MeToo movement to be about more than just which celebrity will be the next to fall, or whose comeback must be stopped — if we want it to lead to real, lasting and widespread cultural change — we need to talk. About what we do with the bad men.
Washington Post, Bill Cosby convicted on three counts of sexual assault, Manuel Roig-Franzia, April 26, 2018. Iconic entertainer Bill Cosby was convicted on three counts of sexual assault, a decision that punctuates one of the most thundering falls from grace in American cultural history. Cosby (shown in a file photo) faces a maximum of 10 years for each count of assault. No sentencing date has been set. The conviction comes in a retrial of a 2017 case in which a mistrial was declared.
As the foreperson of the jury, a slender woman with long graying hair and glasses, said those three words — guilty, guilty, guilty — the courtroom rocked with emotion. Two women who have accused Cosby of sexual assault but did not testify at the trial, burst out in loud sobs from their seats in one of the back rows of the cramped and tension-filed courtroom.
They were escorted from the courtroom by security officials. But their tears — tears of joy, sadness and exhaustion after a frustrating years-long struggle — still filtered into the courtroom through the heavy closed wooden doors. Their tears became the soundtrack for the next few moments of courtroom drama, an off-stage symphony of relief, release and pain.
New York Times, Did the #MeToo Movement Affect the Cosby Verdict? Timothy Williams, April 26, 2018. Between Mr. Cosby's trials came the revelations about Harvey Weinstein and a cascade of other powerful men.
The trial of Bill Cosby provides what social scientists might call a natural experiment. In the spring of 2017, a jury could not agree on whether Mr. Cosby had drugged and sexually assaulted Andrea Constand, setting the stage for a retrial.
But between that trial and this one came the revelations over Harvey Weinstein and a cascade of other powerful men that invigorated the #MeToo movement. The big question: would it make any difference? It well may have. The jury deliberated not even two days — compared with six days the first time around — before finding Mr. Cosby guilty on all counts.
President Trump and Porn Star Stormy Daniels (File photos)
Washington Post, Trump says for first time that Cohen represented him in Stormy Daniels case, Philip Rucker, April 26, 2018. The president has previously denied knowledge of a $130,000 payment to the adult film star that was arranged by his personal attorney Michael Cohen (shown at right) and is the subject of a federal investigation.
But Trump also said something that would seem ... less than ideal. While describing Cohen's allegedly limited work for him — a "tiny fraction" of his legal work, Trump assured — Trump confirmed to "Fox and Friends" that Cohen "represented" him in the Daniels case."Michael would represent me, and represent me on some things," Trump said. "He represents me — like with this crazy Stormy Daniels deal, he represented me."Daniels's attorney, Michael Avenatti, said shortly after Trump's interview that this constitutes a "hugely damning admission." But does it?Experts generally agree that Trump faces an impossible choice. He can either disown Cohen's actions -- which would undermine both his claims to attorney-client privilege and the non-disclosure agreement that Daniels signed -- or he can own them and potentially implicate himself in Cohen's actions.
Wayne Madsen Report (WMR), Investigation: Al Franken's chief inquisitor, Kirsten Gillibrand, linked to New York sex slave cult, April 26, 2018 (subscription required). Known as the "#MeToo" senator, who was the first Democratic senator to call for the resignation of her Democratic colleague from Minnesota Al Franken over a series of dubious sexual harassment allegations, Kirsten Gillibrand is now mentioned as a potential 2020 presidential candidate to take on Donald Trump.
April 20
New York Times, Allison Mack of 'Smallville' Is Charged With Sex Trafficking, Christopher Mele, April 20, 2018. An actress from the television series "Smallville" was charged on Friday with sex trafficking for her involvement in an organization promoting itself as a self-help group for women that forced its members to have sex with its leader, federal prosecutors said.
The actress, Allison Mack, 35 (shown at right, helped gain recruits for what was purported to be a mentorship group but instead exploited its followers, who were branded with a symbol containing the initials of the organization's leader, said Richard P. Donoghue, the United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York, in a statement.
Ms. Mack participated in a group know as Nxivm (pronounced Nex-e-um), the authorities said. The organization, near Albany, was led by Keith Raniere, 57, who was arrested in March by federal officials in Mexico on sex-trafficking charges. Its followers were forced to have sex with him because they feared that if they did not do so, compromising material that they had provided about themselves would be released publicly, according to a complaint.
The group has denied it was a cult, but former members have said that Mr. Raniere demanded obedience from his followers, who referred to him as "Vanguard." Ms. Mack played Chloe Sullivan in "Smallville," which told the story of the upbringing of Clark Kent in Smallville, Kan., before he became known as Superman. In the series, which lasted for 10 seasons starting in 2001, Ms. Mack's character was one of his best friends. Ms. Mack is also known for her roles in the movies "The Ant Bully" (2006) and "Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves!" (1997).
The young girl was Muslim. Her alleged assailants are Hindu, a circumstance ripe for conflict in an area where religious tensions and nationalism are rising under the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Texas Observer, Blake Farenthold and the Consequences of Extreme Gerrymandering, Michael Barajas, April 19, 2018. How the Corpus Christi Republican, who abruptly resigned from Congress this week, benefited from a discriminatory redistricting plan that's now before the Supreme Court.
Blake Farenthold's frat bro image started with a photo from an adult pajama party that surfaced a month before his unlikely rise to Congress in 2010. Thanks to Farenthold, the image of a portly, rosy-cheeked man stuffed into a duck-pattern onesie posing next to a young lingerie-clad waitress is now forever burned into the collective memory of Texas politics.
A lawsuit lodged against the Corpus Christi Republican, filed not long after BuzzFeed revealed that Farenthold's computer consulting business bought up domains like "blow-me.org," further fueled the congressman's party boy reputation. The complaint, by former communications director Lauren Greene, alleged that Farenthold's excessive drinking and office sex-talk had created a toxic work environment where he'd dish to staffers about his "sexual fantasies" and "wet dreams"
By late 2017, however, Farenthold's political career, one filled with more gaffes than legislative accomplishments, took an even sharper nosedive when news broke that he'd settled Greene's sexual harassment lawsuit with $84,000 of taxpayer money. While Farenthold has denied any wrongdoing and insisted he's a misunderstood shy guy, he nevertheless abruptly resigned from Congress last week upon learning that a House Ethics Committee investigation into his behavior would not end well, as first reported by the Huffington Post.
How did Farenthold hold on to his seat for so long? Maybe he was simply a shining example of a statesman truly in touch with the people. The more likely answer: He was the beneficiary of extreme gerrymandering.
April 17
New York Times, Times, New Yorker Win Pulitzers for Harassment Coverage, Michael M. Grynbaum, April 17, 2018. The Pulitzer board recognized The New York Times and The New Yorker for reporting on sexual harassment in the workplace — including the predations of the film mogul Harvey Weinstein (shown at right).
Pulitzer Prizes were awarded on Monday to the news organizations that drove two of the biggest stories of the year: the high-stakes investigation into President Trump's relationship with Russia and the consequential reckoning about the treatment of women by powerful men.
The prize for public service, considered the most prestigious of the Pulitzers, went to The New York Times and the New Yorker magazine for their revelations of sexual harassment and abuse that had gone on, unheeded and unpunished, in the spheres of Hollywood, politics, the media and Silicon Valley.
Wall Street Journal, Trump Lawyer Michael Cohen Negotiated $1.6 Million Settlement for Top Republican Fundraiser, Joe Palazzolo and Michael Rothfeld, April 13, 2018. President Donald Trump's personal lawyer negotiated a deal in late 2017 to pay $1.6 million to a former Playboy model who said she was impregnated by a top Republican fundraiser, according to people familiar with the matter.
New York Times, R.N.C. Official Quits Over $1.6 Million Payment to Model, Rebecca R. Ruiz, and Jim Rutenberg, April 13, 2018. Elliott Broidy resigned as deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee after the revelation of a $1.6 million payout to a Playboy model arranged by President Trump's lawyer.
A major donor with close ties to the White House resigned on Friday as deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee after the revelation that he had agreed to pay $1.6 million to a former Playboy model who became pregnant during an affair.
The deal was arranged by President Trump's personal lawyer and fixer, Michael D. Cohen.
Under the terms of the deal, the Republican donor, Elliott Broidy, would pay the woman in installments over the course of two years, and in return, she would agree to stay silent about their relationship, two people with knowledge of the arrangement told The New York Times. The deal was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
The lawyer for the woman, Keith M. Davidson, also represented two women who were paid during the presidential campaign for their silence about alleged affairs with Mr. Trump — a former Playboy model, Karen McDougal, who sold the rights to her story to American Media Inc., and Stephanie Clifford, the pornographic actress known as Stormy Daniels, who received a payment of $130,000 that Mr. Cohen said came out of his own pocket.
#MeToo Scandal Hits Nobel Prize Leader
New York Times, In Nobel Scandal, a Man Is Accused of Sexual Misconduct. A Woman Takes the Fall, Christina Anderson, April 13, 2018 (print edition). The first woman to lead the body that awards the Nobel Prize in Literature was forced out on Thursday, a stunning casualty in a sexual abuse and harassment scandal that has threatened to sully one of the world's most acclaimed cultural honors.
Since 2015, Sara Danius, a literary scholar and the first woman to lead the body, had been the permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, which was created in 1786 and has awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature since 1901. She was ousted on Thursday from her role as permanent secretary — the de facto public face of the literature prize — as part of a feud that has bitterly divided the academy's board.
"It has already affected the Nobel Prize quite severely, and that is a big problem," an emotional Ms. Danius told reporters Thursday evening, accompanied by an ally, the author Sara Stridsberg, who has also threatened to quit. The scandal has reached the highest levels of the government. "It's up to the academy to restore faith and respect," the prime minister, Stefan Lofven, told reporters on Thursday. "It's a very important issue for Sweden, and therefore it is important that this institution works."
April 12
Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens and First Lady Sheena Greitens at 2017 Inaugural Ball (Missouri National Guard Photo)
New York Times, Report on Missouri Governor Gives Vivid Details of Sex Claim, John Eligon, April 12, 2018 (print edition). The report details allegations of unwanted sexual advances by Eric Greitens and has led to bipartisan calls for him to step down. Mr. Greitens says he is the victim of a witch hunt.
He blindfolded and bound a woman to exercise equipment, spanked her, and tried to kiss her without her consent.
Those are among the scandalous allegations against Gov. Eric Greitens of Missouri (shown at right) that were released in a legislative report on Wednesday that has put the first-term Republican governor's political future in deep trouble.
The report, the result of a House committee's weekslong investigation into an extramarital affair that the governor admitted he had before he took office, has led to intense, bipartisan calls for him to step down. Mr. Greitens, however, insisted that he would not resign.
Among those calling for Mr. Greitens to step aside was Josh Hawley, the Republican state attorney general who is challenging longtime incumbent Senator Claire McCaskill, a Democrat, in November. (Ms. McCaskill also called for his resignation.)
"The conduct the report details is certainly impeachable, in my judgment," Mr. Hawley said in a statement.
Labeling the report "tabloid trash, gossip," Mr. Greitens, who took office in January 2017, said that the relationship was consensual and that any claim of violence or sexual assault was false.
"I want to say again what I've said from the beginning: This is a political witch hunt," he said from the State Capitol in Jefferson City, Mo.
He added: "I will continue to serve the people of Missouri as their governor and to work for you every day. And they know, they need to know, that fake charges and falsehoods aren't going to stop us."
He is scheduled to go on trial in St. Louis next month on felony charges that he took a picture of the woman without her consent and threatened to release it if she told anyone about their affair.
The report made no recommendations on the governor's political future. The investigative committee will continue its work and will probably not make any recommendations on how to proceed until after the regular session ends next month, the speaker of the House, Todd Richardson, said. Republicans solidly control both the House and the Senate.
April 11
Washington Post, Trump signs 'FOSTA' bill targeting online sex trafficking, enables states and victims to pursue websites, Tom Jackman, April 11, 2018. President Trump signed a bill Wednesday that gives federal and state prosecutors greater power to pursue websites which host sex trafficking ads, and enables the victims and state attorneys general to file civil lawsuits against those sites. Addressing the victims and family members in attendance, the president said, "I'm signing this bill in your honor…You have endured what no person on earth should have to endure."
Standing next to Trump as he signed the legislation was Yvonne Ambrose of Chicago, whose 16-year-old daughter, Desiree Robinson, was slain after being prostituted on Backpage in 2016. "It means so much to our family," Ambrose said of the bill. "Hopefully there won't be many more people who have to endure that pain."
But at the same time as he was making Machado's life miserable by allegedly calling her "Miss Piggy" and forcing her to exercise in front of television cameras, the man who is now President of the United States was repeatedly trying to have sex with the then-teenage beauty queen, Machado (shown above in a 2016 campaign ad on behalf of Hillary Clinton) claimed for the first time last week.
In an exclusive interview with the Spanish-language channel Telemundo, Machado explained that she had a preexisting contract with Miss Universe before Trump purchased the Miss Universe Organization in 1996. The purchase meant that Trump was now her boss, although he didn't have the power to alter the terms of her employment, Machado said. Nevertheless, she noted that Trump disrespected her continuously throughout their time working together, and he also tried to sleep with her.
"I know Trump very well. I know him as a person," Machado said during the interview, adding that she never had sexual relations with Trump.
"Did he try?" the Telemundo anchorman asked Machado. Machado has previously claimed that she developed an eating disorder and suffered psychological trauma due to Trump's actions. The events were used by then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential election when she accused Trump of sexism over his treatment of Machado. The former Miss Universe is now a successful actress in Latin America, and has started speaking out against Trump since he rose to political prominence.
Washington Post, FBI seizes records related to payment of adult-film star in raid of Trump attorney's office, Carol D. Leonnig and Tom Hamburger, April 9, 2018. Among what federal agents seized in Michael D. Cohen's offices were records related to a 2016 payment Cohen (shown at right) made to adult-film star Stormy Daniels, who says she had a sexual encounter with President Trump. The raid came as part of an investigation referred by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III to federal prosecutors in New York, an attorney for Cohen said.
April 7
New York Times, Backpage.com, Accused of Enabling Prostitution, Is Seized, Charlie Savage and Timothy Williams, April 7, 2018. The federal authorities took down the site, which had been under pressure in recent years, partly because it featured ads that included what child advocates said were code words for underage girls.
Federal authorities have taken down Backpage.com, a major classified advertising website that has been repeatedly accused of enabling prostitution and sex trafficking of minors. "Backpage.com and affiliated websites have been seized," a notice on the website says.
Backpage has been under increasing pressure in recent years, in part because it featured ads that included what child advocates said were code words for underage girls, including "Amber Alert."
In January 2017, the site shuttered its "adult services listings" section under mounting criticism from law enforcement groups and senators. But many of the adult listings were simply rerouted to sections of the site dedicated to dating. Revenue at Backpage increased to $135 million in 2014 from $5.3 million in 2008, according to a Senate report last year. More than 90 percent of the earnings came from adult ads, the California Department of Justice found.
The federal seizure notice appeared on the website Friday afternoon. Earlier that day, according to news reports in Arizona, the F.B.I. had raided the Sedona home of Michael Lacey (shown at right in a mug shot), a founder of Backpage. An F.B.I. spokesman in Phoenix confirmed that there was "law enforcement activity" there and referred further questions to the Justice Department.
April 7
TPM, Ex-Trump Aide Says Jason Miller Forcing Long Custody Battle For 'Revenge,' Nicole Lafond, April 7, 2018. A.J. Delgado feels she has been misled by Jason Miller (shown above with her in file photos) since the two first started dating while working as high-profile spokespeople for President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign.
At the start of their relationship in October 2016 — when she became "a mistress without knowing it," she said — Miller told her that he was separated from his wife and regularly spoke with Delgado about the stress the couple's split was causing him. He confided in Delgado about meetings he apparently had with divorce accountants and told her he was worried that his wife might move away with their daughter.
"I thought I was dating somebody who was legally separated, which people do all the time," she said. "I never gave it a second thought, and there was no reason to."
But that wasn't the case, Delgado later learned. Miller and his wife were still married, and expecting a child.
So, too, was Delgado, who found out she and Miller were pregnant not long after the 2016 election.
Now, a year and a half later, Delgado is locked in a bitter custody battle with Miller over their son that began nearly nine months ago: A "no end in sight" series of expensive court proceedings that Delgado thinks is largely fueled by Miller's desire for retaliation.
"I think the motivation is revenge," she told TPM by phone on Saturday. "He refuses to speak to me, we haven't spoken since this came out. … He blames me for not terminating the pregnancy or not keeping it confidential, like how dare I not hide it? His wife obviously has a tremendous deal of resentment toward me and her family has attacked me on social media. This is their way of getting back at me, but it doesn't make sense to spend this much time and money to do that."
April 6
GOP Harasser, Slush-Fund Cheat Resigns From House
U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold at the Abyss Club in Texas before his first race
New York Times, Congressman Resigns After Settling Suit With Taxpayer Funds, Emily Cochrane, April 6, 2018. Blake Farenthold, the Texas Republican who used $84,000 in taxpayer funds to settle a sexual harassment case with his former communications director, abruptly resigned from Congress on Friday afternoon.
In December, Mr. Farenthold, who represented the 27th District of Texas, said that he would not run for re-election amid scrutiny over the payment and accusations from other aides that he set the tone for a hostile work environment in his office. At the time, he was one of several lawmakers to announce his eventual departure from Congress after being accused of sexual harassment and discrimination.
"While I planned on serving out the remainder of my term in Congress, I know in my heart it's time for me to move along and look for new ways to serve," Mr. Farenthold said in a statement on Friday, thanking his staff, his family and the voters who elected him.
It was known for several years that Mr. Farenthold, already notorious for a heavily circulated photograph of him in duck pajamas, had been accused of sexual harassment by Lauren Greene, his former communications director. She sued him in 2014, claiming that he had illegally fired her after she complained about mistreatment.
Over 600 former staffers have signed a letter urging Senate leadership to consider legislation that would address sexual harassment on Capitol Hill. That number continued to grow Friday morning. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (right), Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, Rules Committee Chairman Richard Shelby and ranking member Amy Klobuchar will receive the letter early next week, coinciding with the Senate's return.
"Part of our goal is to make sure that this issue stays in the forefront and senators are hearing from hundreds and hundreds of former staff who care about the institution and want to make sure that the folks who are there now are being protected and supported," said Kristin Nicholson, former chief of staff to Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I.
Nicholson worked on the Hill for 20 years and left in January 2017. She has been a leading voice for Congress Too, the group behind the letter. "It's been certainly a bipartisan effort in the House, our letter is completely bipartisan, the measures that are pending in the Senate are largely bipartisan and so we would hope that it would make it pretty easy for the momentum to continue," she said.
The group said it was discouraged when the omnibus spending package did not include the House-passed harassment measure and feels the clock is ticking as midterms approach. "We wanted to make sure that we stayed energized and tried to get something done before everyone tunes out for the election," Nicholson said.
New York Times, Trump Says He Didn't Know About Payment to Porn Actress, Julie Hirschfeld Davis, April 6, 2018 (print edition). In his first public remarks, Mr. Trump told reporters on Air Force One that he knew nothing about $130,000 paid to Stormy Daniels (shown above along with a file photo of the president). President Trump denied on Thursday knowing of a $130,000 payment his lawyer made to a pornographic film actress who claims to have had a sexual encounter with him, referring questions about the transaction to his personal lawyer.
Mr. Trump made his first public remarks about the matter on Air Force One as he returned to Washington from White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., where he had held a round table on tax cuts. Asked by a reporter whether he knew about the payment to the actress, Stephanie Clifford, known in her films as Stormy Daniels, he said, "No."
Asked why Michael D. Cohen, his personal lawyer, had made the payment, Mr. Trump said, "You'll have to ask Michael." The president said he did not know where the money had come from.
Ms. Clifford has said that she was paid $130,000 before the 2016 election to buy her silence. She is now suing Mr. Trump to abrogate a nondisclosure agreement that was supposed to prevent her from discussing her relationship. She claims the agreement is null and void because Mr. Trump never signed it.
Ms. Clifford's pugnacious lawyer, Michael Avenatti, quickly responded to the president on Twitter, pressing to use legal discovery to expose the back-and-forth around the $130,000 payment. He accused Mr. Trump of a "feigned lack of knowledge" about the payment. And he repeated his desire to depose Mr. Trump in a legal proceeding. "As history teaches us, it is one thing to deceive the press and quite another to do so under oath," Mr. Avenatti wrote.
First, if Trump is telling the truth and really did not know about the payment — made days before the election and designed to stave off more controversy over Trump sexual conduct — Cohen may have made an illegal campaign donation.
The Hill, Air Force officer charged over solicitation of graphic photos, Josh Delk, April 6, 2018. An Air Force Officer once assigned to the president's security detail has been charged after allegedly encouraging a group of active military officers to send him graphic photos from different "cool" places around the world, according to The Associated Press.
Second Lt. Travis Burch could face a court martial in Texas on charges of conduct unbecoming an officer and gentleman after being arrested at an Air Force base there earlier in April as part of a case that investigators have been following for over a year, according to the AP.
The secret club known by the code name "Whiskey Delta Tango" consisted of 84 people, including 58 active military, who would reportedly take explicit photos of their genitals in different locations, and send them to him for a chance to win commemorative items.
Upon searching Burch's quarters, investigators found the hard-drive used to store the photos in a hollowed-out book, and items such as T-shirts and tokens emblazoned with a rooster given as rewards to club members who completed certain challenges. Burch reportedly served on the presidential detail from 2014 to 2016 while stationed at the Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, and took his most recent explicit photo outside the vice president's residence in Washington before being charged.
The defense lawyer for Burch has stated that his client and Burch's compatriots committed no crimes, though the lieutenant could face a court martial on any of three counts including that he solicited military members to commit indecent conduct.
Benjamin Sparks, a political strategist who has worked on several high-profile Republican campaigns over the last decade, was fired in March from his position working on former Rep. Cresent Hardy's campaign after police responded to a domestic dispute between Sparks and his then-fiancee. Hardy, shown at right, is seeking re-election this spring for a seat he lost in 2016.
It turns out Sparks and his fiancée had signed a contract in November making the woman his "slave in training," the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported, citing text messages, emails and a copy of the contract the ex-fiancee shared with the publication. The contract, signed a day after the two began dating, stated that she would be Sparks' "slave and property." She was forced to kneel and look down when she entered his presence, be nude at all times, have sex with him whenever he wanted and wear a collar when they were in private, the Review-Journal reported.
"He was very demanding and did not take no for an answer," Sparks' ex-fiancée said. "Over the last month it escalated into very rough sex where he'd actually hurt me. He back-handed me … and forced himself on me."
Sparks, 36, was political affairs director for RedRock Strategies, a political consulting firm in Washington, D.C., with an office in Las Vegas. Before he was fired last week, he had been working on Hardy's campaign to win back Nevada's 4th District, which the former congressman represented from 2015 to 2017.
He had also been working for Republican Yvette Herrell, who is campaigning for New Mexico's 2nd District seat. Both RedRock Strategies and Hardy did not return multiple calls for comment, the Review-Journal reported. Herrell declined to comment on the story. Sparks previously worked as a top communications aide and spokesman for Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign.
Incumbent Ruben Kihuen (D) announced that he would not seek re-election on December 16, 2017, following reports that he had solicited sexual favors from a female staffer.
New York Times, Trump Says He Didn't Know About Payment to Porn Actress, Julia Hirschfeld Davis, April 5, 2018. In his first public remarks, Mr. Trump told reporters on Air Force One that he knew nothing about $130,000 paid to Stormy Daniels (shown above along with a file photo of the president). President Trump denied on Thursday knowing of a $130,000 payment his lawyer made to a pornographic film actress who claims to have had a sexual encounter with him, referring questions about the transaction to his personal lawyer.
Mr. Trump made his first public remarks about the matter on Air Force One as he returned to Washington from White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., where he had held a round table on tax cuts. Asked by a reporter whether he knew about the payment to the actress, Stephanie Clifford, known in her films as Stormy Daniels, he said, "No."
Asked why Michael D. Cohen, his personal lawyer, had made the payment, Mr. Trump said, "You'll have to ask Michael." The president said he did not know where the money had come from.
Ms. Clifford has said that she was paid $130,000 before the 2016 election to buy her silence. She is now suing Mr. Trump to abrogate a nondisclosure agreement that was supposed to prevent her from discussing her relationship. She claims the agreement is null and void because Mr. Trump never signed it.
Ms. Clifford's pugnacious lawyer, Michael Avenatti, quickly responded to the president on Twitter, pressing to use legal discovery to expose the back-and-forth around the $130,000 payment. He accused Mr. Trump of a "feigned lack of knowledge" about the payment. And he repeated his desire to depose Mr. Trump in a legal proceeding. "As history teaches us, it is one thing to deceive the press and quite another to do so under oath," Mr. Avenatti wrote.
April 4
Washington Post, Fired over an Instagram post and a rumor, Saints cheerleader could force NFL to address double standard, Adam Kilgore, April 4, 2018. . For three years as a member of the New Orleans Saints cheerleading team, the Saintsations, Bailey Davis complied with the eight-page booklet of team rules. Sometimes they made her angry, but she loved performing and had worked her entire life to make it to an NFL sideline, so she accepted what was asked of her.
The form of social interaction most scrutinized was contact with players. It was forbidden in any form. If an NFL player liked her social media post, it was incumbent on her to block the player. She could not be in the same section of a club, or party, or restaurant as a player, regardless of who arrived there first.
Despite her efforts to follow rules, Davis was fired in January after a rumored encounter with a player at a party and a picture the Saints considered racy posted to her Instagram account. Davis subsequently filed a gender discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the Saints and the NFL, claiming female cheerleaders and male players unfairly faced different standards.
The rules that led to Davis's firing and complaint filing, first uncovered last week by the New York Times, typify attitudes and treatment toward NFL cheerleaders. After a flurry of movements nationwide meant to empower women and increase equality between genders, rules that have been overlooked or accepted for years in the NFL may no longer be compatible with the cultural moment.
The publisher of the National Enquirer asked a California court Monday to dismiss a lawsuit brought by a former Playboy centerfold (shown above) who claims she had an affair with Donald Trump, arguing that the deal it struck with Karen McDougal is protected under the First Amendment.
The 199-page response by American Media Inc. comes less than two weeks after McDougal sued in Los Angeles Superior Court to get out of the deal in which she sold the rights to her story for $150,000. McDougal argued that the National Enquirer violated campaign finance law when it bought her story not to publish it but to bury it, sparing Trump from an embarrassing revelation in the run-up to the 2016 election.
McDougal alleges that AMI colluded with the Trump campaign to hide the story of her affair, citing as evidence company chief executive David Pecker's friendship with Trump.
In its response, AMI said McDougal was attempting to run roughshod over freedom of the press, suing over an ordinary editorial decision. Media organizations "have a First Amendment right not to publish, and cannot be punished for exercising that right," the company said in its court filing.In a tweet, McDougal's attorney, Peter Stris, said: "As we have learned through brave truth-tellers like Ms. McDougal, the tabloid went to great lengths to silence her and others, and they are now attempting to silence her again with the absurd claim that their own free speech was violated."
March
March 31
Washington Post, Lawyer Gloria Allred withdraws from Summer Zervos's defamation suit against Trump, Frances Stead Sellers, March 31, 2018 (print edition). Gloria Allred (shown at right in a file photo), the prominent women's rights attorney who represented former "Apprentice" contestant Summer Zervos in her high-profile defamation suit against President Trump, is withdrawing from the case.
The shake-up is the latest twist in a saga that Zervos said began in 2007, when she alleges Trump groped her at the Beverly Hills Hotel. In a statement Friday, Zervos (shown at left in a file photo) said it was her decision to end the legal relationship. "I decided to part ways with Gloria Allred purely for personal reasons," she said, "having nothing to do with her work as my attorney." Mariann Meier Wang, Allred's New York-based co-counsel, will continue to represent Zervos.
March 30
Then and Now: The front page of a 2016 New York Daily News edition presents a counterpoint to President Trump's current policies
The Hill, Trump declares April sexual assault prevention month, Josh Delk, March 30, 2018. President Trump on Friday issued an official proclamation observing April as National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month. In a statement, Trump encouraged the nation to "remain steadfast" in working to prevent sexual crimes and reaffirmed his administration's commitment to empowering individuals to speak out in their communities and workplaces against perpetrators.
"Sexual assault crimes remain tragically common in our society, and offenders too often evade accountability. These heinous crimes are committed indiscriminately: in intimate relationships, in public spaces, and in the workplace," Trump said.
The longstanding observation of the month, which often sees outreach by public health organizations and community crisis centers nationwide, comes this year following a wave of newly-empowered women leveling allegations of sexual misconduct and assault against high-profile men in media, entertainment and politics in recent months.
The proclamation also hits home for the Trump administration, which was embroiled in controversy earlier this year over allegations of past domestic abuse against former White House staff secretary Rob Porter from his two ex-wives.
The president himself has also faced accusations of misconduct by multiple women dating back to his days as a real estate mogul and reality television star, and has faced controversy for making lewd comments about his relationships with women in the past.
Palmer Report, Opinion: Donald and Melania Trump are in for a very ugly weekend, Bill Palmer, March 30, 2018. Just as the Stormy Daniels interview was airing on 60 Minutes on Sunday evening, Melania Trump was remaining behind at Mar-a-Lago while Donald Trump was heading back to Washington DC alone. Her people floated the excuse that she was spending the week in Florida due to Barron's spring break.
If there was any doubt that this was an intentional snub on Melania's part, that was erased when she had her friends feed a story to Us Magazine about how badly she wants to divorce Donald. Now it's about to get uglier.
We already know from the Us Magazine profile that Melania Trump is keen on causing public humiliation for Donald Trump right now. You don't have your friends plant quotes about you in the media like "She is very, very unhappy with her life" and "If she could, she would get away from Donald" unless you're trying to make your husband's life a living hell.
March 29
Washington Post, Conn. congresswoman kept aide on staff for 3 months after she learned of threat allegation, Elise Viebeck, March 29, 2018. The threat from Rep. Elizabeth Esty's chief of staff arrived in a voice mail. "You better f-----g reply to me or I will f-----g kill you," Tony Baker said in the May 5, 2016, recording left for Anna Kain, a former Esty aide Baker had once dated.
Kain, who provided a copy of the recording to The Washington Post, alerted the police, filed a report for felony threats and obtained a 12-month restraining order against Baker. According to emails obtained by The Post, Esty found out about the episode within a week. At that point, the Connecticut Democrat (shown at right) took matters into her own hands.
Rather than firing or suspending Baker, the congresswoman consulted her personal attorneys and advisers, she said. Baker did not leave for three months. By his last day on Aug. 12, according to documents Esty provided to The Post, he and Esty had co-written a positive recommendation letter he could use in a job search and signed a legal document preventing her from disparaging him or discussing why he left.
Baker went on to work for Sandy Hook Promise, the gun-control group created after the 2012 shooting in Esty's district. He was dismissed from the group this week after The Post contacted him.
March 28
New York Times, Star Broker, Accused of Abuse, Still Works at Morgan Stanley, Emily Flitter, March 28, 2018. Douglas E. Greenberg, a top Morgan Stanley broker, was repeatedly accused of violence against ex-wives and girlfriends. Bank managers were told. But he kept his job.
March 25
New York Times, Stormy Daniels Says She Stayed Silent on Trump Out of Fear, Jim Rutenberg, March 25, 2018. The porn actress told "60 Minutes" that in 2011 a man threatened her to stop talking about her affair with Donald J. Trump. "He leaned round and looked at my daughter and said, 'That's a beautiful little girl, it would be a shame if something happened to her mom.' "
Editor's Note: She said her affair was consensual and thus not a "#MeToo" situation. For purposes of this archive, however, he claim that she and her daughter were threatened places this squarely within the topics of this archives of recent scandals.
March 22
New York Times, Sex Trafficking Bill Passes, Despite Tech Firms' Concerns, Cecilia Kang and Sheryl Gay Stolberg, March 22, 2018 (print edition). The Senate gave final passage to a bill over opposition from many Silicon Valley companies, which said the legislation could chill internet content and harm free speech.
CNN, Karen McDougal tells CNN Trump once tried to pay her after sex, Eli Watkins, March 22, 2018. McDougal: Trump tried to pay me after intimacy. Donald Trump once tried to offer Karen McDougal money after they had been intimate, the former Playboy model told Anderson Cooper Thursday in an exclusive interview on CNN.
"After we had been intimate, he tried to pay me, and I actually didn't know how to take that," she said of their first alleged sexual encounter. hen Cooper asked if Trump tried to hand her money, McDougal said, "He did."
"I don't even know how to describe the look on my face," she said. "It must have been so sad."
McDougal appeared on CNN to tell her story of an alleged affair she had with now-President Donald Trump over a decade ago and its emotional fallout, as well as to air her grievances with the company she's suing over the story.
As for Trump's wife, Melania, who Trump was married to during the alleged affair, McDougal expressed remorse and apologized.
"What can you say except I'm sorry?" she said. "I'm sorry. I wouldn't want it done to me."
A spokeswoman for the first lady did not respond to a request for comment.
Thursday's sitdown is McDougal's first televised interview since she filed a lawsuit earlier this week against American Media Inc., the company that owns The National Enquirer, to be released from an agreement with the company.
In response to Trump's offer of money after the first time she said they had sex, McDougal said she told Trump, "That's not me. I'm not that kind of girl."
"And he said, 'Oh,' and he said, 'You're really special,'" she said, adding that "it hurt me that he saw me in that light."The White House has said Trump denies the alleged affair.
New York Times, 'He Tried to Pay Me,' Model Says, Alleging Affair With Trump, Jim Rutenberg, March 22, 2018. In a lengthy television interview, Karen McDougal said she was hurt when the president offered her money after sex, but added that they ended up in love.
Washington Post, Opinion: Trump's new female accusers may put him in greater danger, Greg Sargent, On Thursday night, Karen McDougal (shown below right), a former Playboy model who claims she had a 10-month affair with Donald Trump, will have an interview aired on CNN Thursday night. This Sunday, CBS will air an interview with former porn star Stormy Daniels, who also says she had an affair with Trump.
Which raises two key points about our politics right now: First, is it possible that the deep alienation from President Trump that has set in among female voters could continue to get even worse — particularly among the suburban and college-educated white women who are driving the Democratic resurgence. Second, that dynamic could matter in this fall's elections — potentially increasing Democratic chances of taking back the House, which would effectively check Trump's agenda and bring real accountability that is now basically nonexistent.
CNN's Stephen Collinson has a good article this morning explaining how the new round of female accusers Trump faces are putting him in greater peril. While we all obsess over the threat posted to Trump by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's probe, it's possible these new cases could also leave Trump very exposed. The evidence is mounting on many fronts that the energy, organizing and engagement among female voters — manifested in everything from the initial Women's March through the #MeToo movement through recent Democratic electoral wins — constitute the cardinal factor in our politics right now. And it seems clear that female alienation from Trump is at the center of it.
The Hill, Former Fox News anchor Dhue files defamation suit against O'Reilly, Joe Concha, March 22, 2018. Former Fox News anchor Laurie Dhue has filed a defamation lawsuit against former network star Bill O'Reilly (shown at right), accusing the 68-year-old host of mounting a "smear campaign" against her.
Dhue (shown below in a publicity photo for her work at the Blaze Channel) claims that O'Reilly made false allegations about her following a New York Times bombshell report nearly one year ago saying she had received a $1 million settlement over sexual harassment allegations against him and then-CEO and chairman Roger Ailes.
Dhue, who worked for Fox News as an anchor from 2000 to 2008, also appeared on "The O'Reilly Factor" on a weekly basis for several years as a guest. "O'Reilly published false statements about Dhue — as well as the other women — calling her a liar, swearing that her allegations were fabricated in an effort to obtain a settlement, falsely asserting that her purported claims against O'Reilly were politically motivated, and lying by saying that he only paid settlements to avoid having his family go through litigation, not because he had engaged in the claimed sexual misconduct," according to the lawsuit filed in Manhattan Federal Court.
The New York Times reported in April that O'Reilly paid five women, including Dhue, $13 million over allegations of sexual harassment or inappropriate behavior. "O'Reilly ensured that these statements were distributed widely, attempting to sacrifice the character reputation of Dhue and the other women mentioned," the suit says.
March 21
Washington Post, With at least three women now hoping to break their silence on Trump, his challenges grow, Beth Reinhard, Emma Brown, Frances Stead Sellers and Mark Berman, March 21, 2018 (print edition). On the same day a former Playboy playmate sued for the right to speak out about an alleged affair, a judge ruled that the defamation lawsuit of a former "Apprentice" contestant can proceed against President Trump, potentially allowing her lawyers to begin collecting evidence to support her claim that he forcibly kissed and groped her years ago.
The decision in the case brought by Summer Zervos (shown above in a photo from the show) came on the same day a former Playboy playmate, Karen McDougal, sued the publisher of the National Enquirer for the right to break her silence about the 10-month affair she says she had with Trump more than a decade ago.
The nearly simultaneous developments added to the political and legal challenges for the president, who has faced weeks of reports about his alleged affair with another woman, porn star Stormy Daniels, and his attorney's effort to buy her silence.
All three women are now seeking to tell their stories on their own terms. McDougal is scheduled to give an interview Thursday to CNN's Anderson Cooper, while "60 Minutes" is scheduled to air an interview with Daniels on Sunday.
As she rejected Trump's effort to block Zervos's lawsuit from proceeding, New York Supreme Court Justice Jennifer G. Schecter cited precedent from the Paula Jones case against President Bill Clinton, which led to his impeachment in 1998.
Quinebaug Valley Community College, Jane Doe No More: April 23 Discussion on Sexual Assault, Staff report, March 21, 2018. QVCC to Host Discussion on Sexual Assault with Strong Survivors Fighting for Change On April 23 at 6 pm, On Cue: Culture and Conversations at QV will present "JANE DOE NO MORE: Sexual Assault Survivors Fighting for Change," an exploration of the challenges faced by sexual assault survivors who speak up about their experiences.
The event will feature Dylan Farrow, with assault survivors Donna Palumbo and Susan Campbell. Investigative journalist Andy Thibault will moderate. The event will be held in the Robert E. Miller Auditorium at the Quinebaug Valley Community College main campus in Danielson. Seating is limited, so attendees are urged to arrive before the event, which is free and open to the public. Audience members should be aware of the potential for emotionally difficult content.
Panelists will include Farrow, who renewed allegations of a sexual assault she suffered as a 7-year-old with a column in the Los Angeles Times and an interview on CBS This Morning. Director Woody Allen, Farrow's adoptive father, has denied the allegations.
Joining Farrow are rape and assault survivors Donna Palomba and Susan Campbell. Palomba is founder of Jane Doe No More, Inc. a CT based non-profit organization that honored Farrow last year with the Dr. Henry C. Lee Award. Farrow is a member of The Jane Doe No More Survivors Speak Outreach Team. Campbell, a well-known journalist and author, teaches at the University of New Haven and appears regularly on WNPR wnpr.org/people/susan-campbell.
In an interview with Gayle King on CBS, Dylan Farrow commented on her motivation to make her story public "With so much silence being broken by so many brave people against so many high profile people, I felt it was important to add my story to theirs because it's something I've struggled with for a long time ….It was very momentous for me to see this conversation finally carried into a public setting."
Veteran investigative journalist
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March 20
New York Times, Ex-Playboy Model Sues to Break Silence on Trump, Jim Rutenberg, March 20, 2018. Karen McDougal, shown above, is the second woman this month to challenge Trump associates' efforts to bury stories of extramarital affairs. A former Playboy model who claimed she had an affair with Donald J. Trump sued on Tuesday to be released from a 2016 legal agreement requiring her silence, becoming the second woman this month to challenge Trump allies' efforts during the presidential campaign to bury stories about extramarital relationships.
The model, Karen McDougal, is suing the company that owns The National Enquirer, American Media Inc., which paid her $150,000 and whose chief executive is a friend of President Trump's. The other woman, the adult entertainment star Stephanie Clifford, better known as Stormy Daniels, was paid $130,000 to stay quiet by the president's personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen. She filed a lawsuit earlier this month.
Both women, who argue that their contracts are invalid, are trying to get around clauses requiring them to resolve disputes in secretive arbitration proceedings rather than in open court. Mr. Trump has denied the affairs, which both women have described as consensual.
Ms. McDougal, in a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, claims that Mr. Cohen was secretly involved in her talks with A.M.I., and that the media company and her lawyer at the time misled her about the deal. She also asserts that after she spoke with The New Yorker last month after it obtained notes she kept on Mr. Trump, A.M.I. warned that "any further disclosures would breach Karen's contract" and "cause considerable monetary damages."
March 19
Tronc Chairman Michael W. Ferro, Jr. Resigns (File photo)
New York Times, Michael Ferro Steps Down as Tronc's Chairman; Accused of Unwanted Advances, Syney Ember, March 19, 2018. Michael W. Ferro Jr., a Chicago entrepreneur and the biggest shareholder in the newspaper publisher Tronc, has stepped down as the company's chairman, Tronc announced on Monday, hours before the publication of a report in which two women accused him of inappropriate sexual advances.
March 16
Porn Star Lawyer Claims Threat
NBC News, Stormy Daniels' lawyer says she was threatened with physical harm, Adam Edelman, Mar ch 16, 2018. Stormy Daniels' lawyer says she was threatened with physical harm.Michael Avenatti, the attorney for the adult film star, wouldn't say who threatened her.
Adult film star Stormy Daniels — who has said in a lawsuit that she had an "intimate" relationship with Donald Trump a decade before he became president — was physically threatened in relation to her attempts go public with her story, her attorney said Friday.
In an interview with MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Michael Avenatti, an attorney for Daniels, repeatedly said that his client had been threatened, but wouldn't say by who. He also declined to give details on the nature of the threats. Attorney says Stormy Daniels (shown with Trump in a 2006 photo) was threatened physically.
"There's the act and then there's the cover-up, and the American people are going to learn about both," Avenatti said, referring to a secrecy agreement facilitated by Trump's personal attorney, Michael Cohen, that Clifford signed in exchange for $130,000 before the 2016 election.
"Morning Joe" co-host Mika Brzezinski then asked whether Clifford was "threatened in any way."
March 15
Fox Pushes Reverse #MeToo, Targeting Women
New York Times, At the Fox News Site, a Sudden Focus on Women as Sex Offenders, Jonathan Galinsky, March 15, 2018 (print edition). In November, there was the story of a 22-year-old science teacher arrested in Oklahoma for her "sex romp" with a male student. In September, an article told of a 38-year-old teacher who kissed a student and let him "touch her breasts behind Culver's," a burger joint in Kerrville, Tex. And in July there was a report on a 54-year-old music teacher in Georgia who, a headline announced, "blames male student, 17, for tricking her into having sex 'like a used-car salesman.'"
Instances of female teachers sexually abusing male students are rare. But stories on the subject have lately taken up a lot of space at FoxNews.com.
Through the first half of 2017, the site posted fewer than 20 stories on women accused of sex offenses. The new focus started on June 30, when FoxNews.com published an article on "the apparently increasing frequency of female teachers having sex with their young male students." Over the next six months the site posted some 98 articles on instances of sexual abuse allegedly committed by women, most of them teachers.
Tales of the unusual suit the tabloid aesthetic of much of the site's content. What was noteworthy was the spike in coverage of the subject, which began a few weeks after Noah Kotch, a former producer at NBC's "Today" show, became the site's editor in chief. It also came in the aftermath of numerous sexual harassment scandals at Fox News.
March 13
New York Times, Celebrated Architect Is Accused of Sexual Harassment, Robin Pogregin, March 13, 2018. Five women say that Richard Meier sexually harassed them, The Times has learned. In response, he announced a six-month leave as founder and managing partner of his firm.
Richard Meier, the celebrated architect and Pritzker Prize winner who designed the Getty Center in Los Angeles, established a graduate scholarship in January at his alma mater, Cornell University's architecture school. Intended to honor the 55th anniversary of his practice, the scholarship was designed to "recruit and retain the most talented women applicants."
But four women who have worked for Mr. Meier — and another who met him when he was working on the Getty — have described encounters when the architect, now 83, was, in fact, not good to women.
Two of the women have described incidents over the past 10 years in which they were sent to Mr. Meier's New York apartment, where he exposed himself, according to interviews with one of the women and several former employees of the firm.
A third woman said in an interview that Mr. Meier grabbed her underwear through her dress at a firm holiday party, and a fourth said he asked her to undress at his apartment so she could be photographed.
Disputed #MeToo Claim On Video
Washington Post, Security video shows encounter that prompted Md. lawmaker's complaint against lobbyist, Ovetta Wiggins, March 13, 2018. A Maryland state senator and a lobbyist she has accused of harassment both released security camera video Tuesday of their recent encounter in an Annapolis pub, with each declaring the footage proves their version of events.
The video shows lobbyist Gil Genn approaching Sen. Cheryl Kagan (D-Montgomery) near a crowded bar at Castlebay Irish Pub, putting his hand on Kagan's back and moving it around. The physical contact is brief, and it is hard to tell exactly when Genn — who previously denied touching Kagan at all — removes his hand. (The two are shown at the lower right of the video, with the incident at the beginning)
At a hastily called news conference, Kagan held up her laptop to play the 86-second video, saying it showed how Genn put his hand on her back and slid "it down my body." "Most women who are harassed or sexually assaulted will not have access to such undeniable proof," she said in an interview.
Genn, meanwhile, demanded an apology from Kagan, saying in a statement that the video shows "beyond dispute that I did not grab or grope her."
New York Daily News, Metropolitan Opera fires James Levine after sexual abuse allegations, Kate Feldman, March 12, 2018. Three months after multiple men accused James Levine of sexual assault, the Metropolitan Opera officially fired the conductor. "The investigation uncovered credible evidence that Mr. Levine had engaged in sexually abusive and harassing conduct both before and during the period when he worked at the Met," the opera said in a statement Monday.
"The investigation also uncovered credible evidence that Mr. Levine engaged in sexually abusive and harassing conduct towards vulnerable artists in the early stages of their careers, over whom Mr. Levine had authority." Four men accused Levine of assault, including Ashok Pai, who told the Daily News that the conductor "basically sexually assaulted me hundreds of times."
New York Times, James Levine's Final Act at the Met Ends in Disgrace, Michael Cooper, March 12, 2018. The Metropolitan Opera fired Mr. Levine, one of the greatest American conductors and one who defined the company for more than four decades, after finding evidence of "sexually abusive" conduct.
The Metropolitan Opera fired the conductor James Levine on Monday evening, ending its association with a man who defined the company for more than four decades after an investigation found what the Met called credible evidence that Mr. Levine had engaged in "sexually abusive and harassing conduct."
The investigation, which the Met opened in December after a report in The New York Times, found evidence of abuse and harassment "both before and during the period" when Mr. Levine worked at the Met, the company said in a statement. It was an extraordinary fall from grace for a legendary maestro, whom many consider the greatest American conductor since Leonard Bernstein.
A front-page story from a December 2017 edition of the New York Post shows how the scandal coverage progressed.
March 9
New York Times, Opinion: The Stormy Daniels Scandal Gets Serious, Michelle Goldberg, March 9, 2018. In January we learned, thanks to The Wall Street Journal, that Michael Cohen, a lawyer for Donald Trump, arranged a $130,000 hush money payment to the pornographic film star known as Stormy Daniels in the closing days of the 2016 presidential campaign. The payment was to stop Daniels from speaking out about an alleged affair she'd had with Trump shortly after Melania Trump, his third wife, gave birth to their son, Barron.
As this drama unfolds, it's becoming clear that, for all its sordid details, it isn't really a sex scandal. It's a campaign finance scandal, a transparency scandal and potentially part of an ongoing national security scandal. It's salacious and absurd, but we should take it seriously. Trump's team certainly seems to; Cohen recently obtained a temporary restraining order to silence Daniels.
Let's start with the campaign finance piece. On Jan. 22, the nonpartisan government watchdog group Common Cause filed complaints with the Federal Election Commission and the Department of Justice claiming that the $130,000 payment to Daniels constituted an in-kind contribution to Trump's presidential campaign, in violation of federal campaign law.In response, Cohen claimed that the payment was a private transaction that he was able to "facilitate" with his own personal funds. (It was made through a limited liability company Cohen created called Essential Consultants.) "Neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Ms. Clifford, and neither reimbursed me for the payment, either directly or indirectly," Cohen said in a statement to The Times.
Paul Seamus Ryan, vice president for policy and litigation at Common Cause, told me that even if Cohen didn't tell Trump what he did, Trump was still responsible, since "the actions of agents are attributable to their principals." But the release of the NDA makes clear that Trump himself was a party to the agreement. If Trump authorized the $130,000 payment, it's harder to explain away his campaign's failure to disclose it, as required by law. The White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, all but confirmed Trump's involvement on Wednesday, when she said that a recent arbitration proceeding — the one that resulted in the temporary restraining order — was "won in the president's favor."
Norman Eisen, the chairman of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and Barack Obama's former ethics czar, points out another potential violation on Trump's part. He calls it the "Al Capone problem." The Daniels NDA refers repeatedly to "property" that she agreed to turn over to Trump, including video images, still images, emails and text messages. Eisen argues that Trump was required to report ownership of this property, as well as any obligations he might have had to reimburse Cohen for the $130,000, in his federal financial disclosure forms.
"The asset here is this incredibly valuable agreement with Stormy," Eisen told me. "Imagine what she could get if she has texts or images. Imagine the millions she could command! So there's this incredibly valuable agreement, and the L.L.C., Essential Consultants, which Trump now appears to be a beneficiary of. That's an asset." But it's an asset Trump didn't reveal.
March 8
New York Times, Yale Student Is Found Not Guilty of Rape, Vivian Wang and Cheryl P. Weinstock, March 8, 2018 (print edition). Defense lawyers worked relentlessly to discredit the accuser's account, resulting in a verdict that showed the divides in a national reckoning around sexual consent and assault.
A Yale student who had been suspended by the university was found not guilty on Wednesday of sexually assaulting a fellow student, in a rare college rape accusation to be tried in the courts. The verdict laid bare seemingly gaping divides in the national reckoning around sexual consent and assault.
Over several grueling days on the witness stand in a New Haven courtroom, the woman described what she said was her rape by the accused student, Saifullah Khan, 25, on Halloween night 2015. The testimony, in open court, offered a glimpse into the kinds of encounters that are more often described behind closed doors, to university panels or among friends.
Mr. Khan's lawyers worked relentlessly to discredit the account of the woman, who was not identified by name in the arrest warrant application. They asked repeatedly how much she had to drink, and how she could claim not to remember certain details, such as how she arrived back at her dorm room, but remembered others, such as the alleged assault itself. They parsed her text messages with Mr. Khan, asking if she had not been flirting with him in the days before the incident. They showed off her Halloween costume, a black cat outfit, and asked her why she had not chosen a more modest one, such as "Cinderella in a long flowing gown."
Laura Palumbo, a spokeswoman for the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, called the defense's line of questioning "all victims' worst fears in coming forward."
Washington Post, Opinion: Stormy Daniels beat Trump at his own game, Eugene Robinson, March 8, 2008. The president who boasted of treating women like sex objects is being outplayed at his own tabloid-warfare game by a porn star. Maybe there's justice in the world after all.
You might have missed it in the ceaseless fusillade of news, but on Wednesday the White House all but confirmed the story that actress and director Stormy Daniels is dying to tell: Shortly before the election she was paid $130,000 in hush money to keep quiet about an "intimate relationship" she had with Donald Trump in 2006, soon after Melania Trump gave birth to the couple's son, Barron. They are shown together in a file photo.
New York Times, Stormy Daniels Suit Opens Door to More Trouble for Trump, Jim Rutenberg and Mike McIntire, March 8, 2008. The actress's case, seeking to break an agreement to keep silent about an alleged affair with the president, could lead to his having to testify in a deposition.
A frequent visitor to the Trump White House in 2017, Nader is the latest enigmatic character to saunter onto the stage as part of Mueller's inquiry. A New York Times story last weekend said that Mueller was looking into whether Nader, a Lebanese-American with access to Persian Gulf elites, had helped funnel foreign money toward Trump's campaign. On Tuesday, the paper said that Nader was cooperating with Mueller's investigation.
The 1985 criminal case against Nader on child pornography charges was eventually dismissed, according to court documents obtained by The Intercept. The existence of the charges was first reported by The Atlantic.
"The court found that Mr. Nader's constitutional rights had been flagrantly violated, and the case was thrown out in its entirety before trial," a representative for Nader told The Intercept. "Mr. Nader vigorously denies the allegations now, as he did then."
The 1985 criminal case against Nader on child pornography charges was eventually dismissed.
According to prosecutors, as relayed in the U.S. District Court judge's ruling on a motion to suppress evidence in the case, Nader received a package that included both a film of young boys engaged in sexual acts and pictures depicting nude boys. Authorities conducted a search based on a warrant, and similar material was found in a room that Nader rented in a Washington home, according to the court documents. The evidence discovered in the home was ruled inadmissible when the warrant was challenged, but the material delivered in the original package was not ruled inadmissible at the time.
March 7
Pornographic actress Stormy Daniels alleges she had an affair with President Donald Trump during the months after first lady Melania Trump gave birth to their son, Barron Trump. The Trumps are shown in a White House photo during the Inaugural in 2017.
Roll Call, Stormy Daniels Lawsuit Raises Election Law Questions for Trump, Griffin Connolly, March 7, 2018. Democratic lawmakers have asked FBI to investigate payments from president's lawyer to porn actress. As Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller continues to probe members of President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign for possible collusion with Russia, some lawmakers have raised ethical concerns over the president's alleged preemptive coverup of an affair with porn actress Stormy Daniels.
Reps. Kathleen Rice of New York and Ted Lieu of California, both former prosecutors, have asked the FBI to investigate payments from Trump's lawyer, Michael Cohen, to Daniels, who filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the president in Los Angeles Superior Court. NBC News first reported the lawsuit.
Lieu and Rice believe the alleged "hush" agreement — which involved a $130,000 payment from Cohen to Daniels — violates federal election laws. "[The] hush agreement & side letter attached to Stormy Daniels' filing essentially shows coordination between @realDonaldTrump, Cohen & Daniels," Lieu tweeted Tuesday night. "That means the $130k payment from Cohen to Daniels to silence her during the campaign violated federal election law." The penalty, he added, is a five-year felony sentencing.
In the lawsuit complaint filed Tuesday, Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, states that her nondisclosure agreement regarding her alleged 2006 affair with Trump is invalid because Trump never actually signed the document — only Cohen and Daniels did. According to the lawsuit, Daniels' affair with Trump lasted "well into 2007."
The suit alleges that Cohen has tried to intimidate Daniels into silence on the matter as recently as Feb. 27. "To be clear, the attempts to intimidate Ms. Clifford into silence and 'shut her up' in order to 'protect Mr. Trump' continue unabated," the suit claims. "On or about February 27, 2018, Mr. Trump's attorney Mr. Cohen surreptitiously initiated a bogus arbitration proceeding against Ms. Clifford in Los Angeles." The suit also alleges Trump must be aware of Cohen's attempts to silence Daniels since New York bar rules require Cohen to keep his client informed at all times.
The president has not publicly commented on the alleged affair, which is said to have occurred in the months after his third wife, Melania Trump, gave birth to their son Barron. White House spokesman Raj Shah told members of the press he had never asked the president about the alleged relationship, NBC reported. Cohen has acknowledged the payment, but has not publicly said what the payment was for. He has also said he paid out of his own pocket and was never reimbursed.
President Trump and porn star Stormy Daniels (separate screengrab file photos)
Washington Post, Porn actress Stormy Daniels sues Trump, says hush agreement is null because he didn't sign it, Beth Reinhard, Frances Stead Sellers and Emma Brown, March 7, 2018 (print edition). The lawsuit filed in Los Angeles alleges that President Trump, then the Republican presidential nominee, never approved a $130,000 settlement arranged by his personal attorney, making it invalid.
Stormy Daniels, the porn star who says she was paid to keep quiet about her alleged affair with Donald Trump, sued the president Tuesday, asking the court to declare that her nondisclosure agreement before the 2016 election is void because Trump did not sign it.
In the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, Daniels — whose real name is Stephanie Clifford — said she had wanted to go public with the story of her alleged decade-old affair with Trump in the weeks leading up to the election. The lawsuit was first reported by NBC News.
Trump's lawyer, Michael Cohen, and Daniels's attorney at the time, Keith Davidson, negotiated what the lawsuit calls a "hush agreement" in which she would be paid $130,000. After delays and even a cancellation of the contract by Daniels on Oct. 17, the payment arrived on Oct. 27, 12 days before the election, according to e-mails reviewed by The Washington Post. Cohen said recently that he had used his own money to "facilitate" the payment.
New York Times, Trump's Lawyer Got Restraining Order to Silence Porn Star, Jim Rutenberg and Peter Baker, March 7, 2018. The order was obtained last week to keep the porn star quiet about her alleged affair with Mr. Trump. President Trump's lawyer secretly obtained a temporary restraining order last week to prevent a pornographic film star from speaking out about her alleged affair with Mr. Trump (shown with her twelve years or so ago), according to legal documents and interviews.
The order, issued by an arbitrator in California and reviewed by The New York Times, pertained to the actress Stephanie Clifford, who had been paid $130,000 shortly before the 2016 election in what she calls a "hush agreement." In recent weeks, she had prepared to speak publicly about Mr. Trump, claiming his lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, had broken the agreement.
The details of the order emerged on Wednesday after the White House's spokeswoman, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said that Mr. Trump's lawyer had won an arbitration proceeding against Ms. Clifford, who goes by the name of Stormy Daniels.
Ms. Sanders's statement put the White House in the middle of a story that Mr. Trump and his lawyer had been trying to keep quiet for well over a year. The turn of events created the spectacle of a sitting president using legal maneuvers to avoid further scrutiny of salacious accusations of an affair and a payoff involving the porn star.
Washington Post, David Dennison' and other interesting details from Stormy Daniels's lawsuit against Trump, Aaron Blake, March 7, 2018. The lawsuit filed by the porn star, who says she had an affair with President Trump, represents the latest development in an increasingly troubling situation for the White House. It also serves as confirmation of key details surrounding the alleged relationship [which has been creating news for nearly two months, as indicated by the New York Daily News front page from Jan. 13].
Exactly how likely Daniels's lawsuit is to succeed is a major question. If she does prevail, it could free her up to talk about the (alleged) affair. But if nothing else, the lawsuit itself serves as confirmation of key details. The full lawsuit is 28 pages and includes the alleged nondisclosure agreement. Below, I've isolated the key parts. (Note that the lawsuit refers to Daniels by her real name, Stephanie Clifford.)
"2. Defendant Donald J. Trump a.k.a. David Dennison ('Mr. Trump'), an individual, is a resident of the District of Columbia (among other places). ...Ms. Clifford began an intimate relationship with Mr. Trump in the Summer of 2006 in Lake Tahoe and continued her relationship with Mr. Trump well into the year 2007. This relationship included, among other things, at least one 'meeting' with Mr. Trump in a bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel located within Los Angeles County."
In some ways, this lawsuit seems to be a way for Daniels to put her side of the story into the public record without directly telling it. Here, she confirms details about the alleged affair that she previously shared with InTouch magazine in a 2011 interview that wasn't published until recently.
This also confirms previously reported details. But it's the first time Daniels has confirmed that she was shopping her story before the election. She has publicly been coy about the whole thing, apparently because of the nondisclosure agreement.
"16. After discovering Ms. Clifford's plans, Mr. Trump, with the assistance of his attorney Mr. [Michael] Cohen, aggressively sought to silence Ms. Clifford as part of an effort to avoid her telling the truth, thus helping to ensure he won the Presidential Election. Mr. Cohen subsequently prepared a draft nondisclosure agreement and presented it to Ms. Clifford and her attorney (the 'Hush Agreement')."
Two points here: First, this is Daniels alleging that Trump was personally involved — something the White House and Cohen have declined to confirm or deny (despite the Journal's reporting). And second, she alleges that the effort was geared toward aiding Trump's election. That may seem like a given, because it happened just before Election Day, but as The Washington Post's Philip Bump has reported, the payment is more legally problematic if it was clearly for this purpose.
Whether Trump needed to sign this agreement is the major legal question here.
Legal Schnauzer, Analysis: Three Republicans deal with legal fallout of sex scandals in one 24-hour news cycle, giving new meaning to the term GOP (Gross Old Perverts), Roger Shuler, March 7, 2018. Republicans put on quite a display of their "family values" recently, according to an article at the Wayne Madsen Report (WMR). In one 24-hour news cycle, three Republicans were hit with legal issues connected to sexual misconduct. And that did not include another GOPer's use of public funds to help pay for trysts with a prostitute -- in one of our most conservative states. That missed the list only because it came just before the infamous news cycle.
Gee, imagine how bad it would be if conservatives weren't so virtuous. Madsen dubbed them the GOP (Gross Old Perverts), and the phrase seems to fit. From the article at WMR:
"Within a 24-hour news cycle, three top Republican officials in three states were mired in legal trouble stemming from sex scandals. One, Missouri Governor Eric Greitens, was arrested. Rhode Island State Senator Nicholas Kettle (shown at right) resigned as he faced certain expulsion from the body. In Louisiana, Secretary of State Tom Schedler was accused of sexual harassment and stalking."
"A British newspaper reported Thursday that Rep. Jon Stanard, R-St. George, resigned abruptly Tuesday after he met a Salt Lake City call girl twice for sex, and it released racy texts that it says he sent to her."
March 6
Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens, a first-term Republican, is shown meeting Vice President Mike Pence in a file photo
On top of that, St. Louis circuit attorney Kim Gardner has procured the services of Harvard law professor Ronald S. Sullivan to assist with the Greitens prosecution, and former FBI agent Anthony Box has been hired as chief investigator.
Reports in recent weeks indicate investigators are looking at more than just the Greitens sex scandal. A recent Associated Press report shows the probe extends to campaign-finance issues. From AP: Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens (shown at right) used an email address for a veterans charity he founded to arrange political meetings as he prepared to launch his first bid for public office, despite a federal ban on nonprofits participating in political campaigns, according to records obtained by The Associated Press.
Greitens, who was on the board of directors of The Mission Continues at the time, sent meeting invitations from the charity's email address to three political consultants. He asked them to join him for a series of meetings over two days in January 2015 with more than a dozen state lawmakers, a lobbyist and an anti-abortion activist, according to copies of the emails obtained by the AP.
New York Times, Harvard Professor Resigns Amid Allegations of Sexual Harassment, Stephanie Saul, March 6, 2018. A prominent government professor at Harvard who has been accused of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior by as many as 18 women over several decades resigned on Tuesday following a decision by the university to place him on leave.
The professor, Jorge I. Domínguez, 72, was the subject of a Feb. 27 article in The Chronicle of Higher Education that reported that at least 10 women had accused him of sexual harassment. A subsequent article, published on Sunday, reported that additional women — including Harvard professors, students and staff members — had come forward alleging inappropriate behavior by Dr. Domínguez, bringing the total to 18.
The reaction to disclosures about Dr. Domínguez — many just now coming to light despite occurring years ago — reflects a marked shift in the type of behavior tolerated in the workplace since the reports last year regarding inappropriate sexual behavior by high-profile men like Bill O'Reilly and Harvey Weinstein.
While the public reckoning over sexual harassment and assault swiftly knocked out captains of industry, media stars, Hollywood moguls and politicians, Trump has survived. Now one of those defenders is leaving — communications director Hope Hicks, the loyal, mostly silent one (shown in a screenshot of a formal affair in Japan last year).
Among those left are his daughter Ivanka Trump, senior adviser Kellyanne Conway and press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Women in such those rightly or wrongly can defuse the criticism aimed at Trump, who has been accused by 19 women of sexual misconduct.
Rob Jacobson, who worked as a video editor for Infowars for 13 years, filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claiming Jones (shown above right) frequently singled out his Jewish background and referred to him as a "beefcake" over the course of four years, according to documents obtained by the Daily Mail.
Jacobson, who said the term referred to male porn stars, wrote, "I felt like this was intimidating and harassing and a form of sexual harassment in that he was grooming me for homosexual sex."
Associated Press via Chron, House GOP leaders urge member accused of sex abuse to resign, Mark Scolforo, March 1, 2018. A state representative (shown above in a screenshot from TV) was urged Thursday by House Republican leaders to resign amid allegations he forced a woman to have sex after they broke up and threatened to kill another while driving at a high speed and brandishing a gun. The chamber's seven highest-ranking GOP leaders released a statement that said the claims should be properly investigated by police but Republican Rep. Nick Miccarelli of Delaware County should step down in the meantime.
"What we have in front of the House right now is about the integrity of the institution, the safety of its staff and members, and the best paths forward for the individuals involved — the accusers and accused, as well as their respective families," the statement read. "With that in mind, it would be in the best interest of all involved if Rep. Miccarelli would resign." In a Facebook post Wednesday evening, Miccarelli denied the allegations entirely, calling them "complete fabrications.
Washington Post, In a prestigious high school math and science program, alumni say #MeToo, Donna St. George, March 1, 2018. Years after they left one of the nation's premier high school programs in math and science, hundreds of alumni have come forward to support allegations that a celebrated Maryland teacher sexually harassed and demeaned female students. Many have described sexual comments, suggestive humor and sexist put-downs they said went unchecked for years as Eric Walstein became one of the pillars of a selective magnet program in a suburb outside Washington.
They accuse the nationally recognized teacher at Montgomery Blair High School of giving back rubs, leering at girls, calling them sexy, stroking their hands, and remarking on their bodies and sex lives — one account after another in what has become a #MeToo moment focused on experiences in high school.
Wyoming Tribune Eagle, Wyoming Secretary of State Ed Murray resigns amid sexual misconduct allegations, Joel Funk, March 1, 2018. Wyoming Secretary of State Ed Murray resigned Friday following two separate allegations of prior sexual misconduct within two months. Murray made the unexpected announcement through a statement emailed to the media just before the close of business. He said no one asked him to resign.
"After deep and profound contemplation, I am announcing my resignation as secretary of state, effective today," the statement said. "I step aside with peace and serenity in order that I may fully focus on what is most important in my life: my marriage, my family and my health." In December, Tatiana Maxwell, a Colorado resident, made allegations on Facebook that Murray assaulted her more than 30 years ago when they worked together at a Cheyenne law firm.
A second accuser, Theresa Sullivan Twiford, the daughter of former Democratic Wyoming Gov. Mike Sullivan, said in a January statement to the Casper Star-Tribune that Murray forcibly kissed her in 1988. Twiford now lives in Virginia. Both women were 18 at the time the alleged incidents took place.
Murray forcefully denied the first allegation and said he could not recall the second alleged incident. It all follows speculation last fall about whether Murray would enter the race to become Wyoming's next governor. Before the allegations, Murray told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle he was considering a run for governor, but planned to seek re-election as secretary of state should he not pursue higher office.
February
Feb. 26
Ivanka Trump, the president's elder daughter (shown in a Twitter photo), was asked in an interview there about the sexual misconduct allegations against her father. She said, "I think I have that right as a daughter to believe my father."
New York Times, Ivanka Trump Calls Question About Father's Sexual Misconduct 'Inappropriate,' Niraj Chokshi, Feb. 26, 2018. Should the women who have accused the president of sexual misconduct be believed? That's a question that his elder daughter and White House senior adviser, Ivanka Trump, believes she should not be asked.
"I think it's a pretty inappropriate question to ask a daughter if she believes the accusers of her father when he's affirmatively stated that there's no truth to it," Ms. Trump told the NBC News correspondent Peter Alexander in an interview that aired on NBC's "Today" on Monday.
Ms. Trump had been in South Korea since Friday, leading the United States delegation at the Winter Olympics. In a wide-ranging interview there on Sunday, Mr. Alexander asked her, "Do you believe your father's accusers?"
"I don't think that's a question you would ask many other daughters," she said. "I believe my father. I know my father. So, I think I have that right as a daughter to believe my father."
Feb. 23
Wayne Madsen Report (WMR), Opinion: The GOP (Gross Old Perverts) hit with three sex scandals in 24-hour period, Wayne Madsen (shown at left), Feb. 23, 2018. Within a 24-hour news cycle, three top Republican officials in three states were mired in legal trouble stemming from sex scandals. One, Missouri Governor Eric Greitens, was arrested.
Feb. 22
Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens, a first-term Republican, is shown meeting Vice President Mike Pence in a file photo
Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens (shown at right) was indicted Thursday afternoon by a St. Louis grand jury on felony invasion of privacy charge for allegedly taking a nude photo of a woman he had an extramarital affair with in 2015, according to city officials.
Greitens had allegedly threatened to blackmail the woman by saying he would distribute the photo of her if she exposed the relationship. The accusations stem from a secret recording by the woman's ex-husband published by KMOV in St. Louis, in which the woman is heard describing how Greitens invited her to his home in 2015 and, with her consent, taped her hands to exercise rings, blindfolded her and took photos of her naked.
St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner launched an investigation in January, after Greitens admitted he had been unfaithful to his wife before he was elected governor in 2016. His lawyer has denied the blackmail accusations.
Despite calls from numerous Republican and Democratic state lawmakers to resign, Greitens has said he has no plans to do so. Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens and First Lady Sheena Greitens at 2017 Inaugural Ball (Missouri National Guard Photo).
Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens was indicted Thursday afternoon by a St. Louis grand jury on felony invasion of privacy charge for allegedly taking a nude photo of a woman he had an extramarital affair with in 2015, according to city officials.
Greitens had allegedly threatened to blackmail the woman by saying he would distribute the photo of her if she exposed the relationship. The accusations stem from a secret recording by the woman's ex-husband published by KMOV in St. Louis, in which the woman is heard describing how Greitens invited her to his home in 2015 and, with her consent, taped her hands to exercise rings, blindfolded her and took photos of her naked.
St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner launched an investigation in January, after Greitens admitted he had been unfaithful to his wife before he was elected governor in 2016. His lawyer has denied the blackmail accusations. Despite calls from numerous Republican and Democratic state lawmakers to resign, Greitens has said he has no plans to do so.
Louisiana Secretary of State Tom Schedler, a Republican in charge of the state's elections and accused of sexual harassment, is shown above
The suit says Schedler would send the woman Valentine's Day cards addressed to "My Dearest Sunshine," roses, bottles of wine, clothing and sex tapes, despite her telling him she was not interested in a sexual relationship.
Through a spokeswoman, Schedler said he had a "consensual sexual relationship" with the woman in the past. Jill Craft, the woman's attorney, said that relationship did not happen.
Schedler kept watch over her home after buying a townhouse directly across from her and had her monitored by Secretary of State security personnel, the lawsuit alleges. Schedler obtained her boyfriend's license plate number and had it run, putting the printout on his desk for her to see, along with her boyfriend's business address, according to the suit.
"When she arrived at work, he inquired about why she was engaging in certain activities at her residence, such as planting, engaging in crafts, and painting, and why she had certain visitors at her residence, particularly male visitors," the suit states.
Schedler said in a written statement that his office takes any allegation of sexual harassment "very seriously."
"I have not seen the suit or the specific details but as the father of three grown daughters and three granddaughters I can assure the public that I believe in a safe workplace, free from harassment, and will continue my record of transparency with my constituents," he said.
Schedler added that he and his wife have been living apart for a long time, and that "our friends and family have known of our personal status and have lovingly supported our decision."
Craft said Schedler acknowledged in a communication with the woman that she sent him an email telling him to leave her alone.
"In spite of what he acknowledged as very clear directives from my client …, Mr. Schedler persisted and not only refused to take 'no' for an answer, but punished her for saying 'no,'" Craft said.
WPRI-TV 12 (Providence), Facing expulsion, Kettle resigns from Senate, Ted Nesi, Feb. 22, 2018. State Sen. Nicholas Kettle resigned his seat Thursday, forestalling an effort by Senate leaders to expel him from office following his indictment last week. Kettle, the former Republican minority whip, is shown in an official photo at right.
Kettle, R-Coventry, made the announcement in a letter to senators released by one of his attorneys, Priscilla Facha DiMaio, that also criticized Senate President Dominick Ruggerio and Senate Republican Leader Dennis Algiere for moving to expel him. DiMaio formally delivered the letter to the State House at 2 p.m. DiMaio and Senate aides were seen clearing out Kettle's office, and his name was scraped off the door by a custodian shortly thereafter.
See related story: Providence Journal, R.I. senator charged with 2 counts of extorting sex from former State House page, Patrick Anderson and Tom Mooney, Feb. 19, 2018. A grand jury indictment unsealed Monday accuses state Sen. Nicholas Kettle, a 27-year-old Coventry Republican, of twice coercing a Senate student page to have sex with him in 2011, Kettle's first year in the General Assembly. The indictment accused Kettle of threatening to injure the page or harm his reputation if he did not comply.
The alleged victim was a legislative page in 2011 and 2012, when he was 16 or 17 years old. Legislative pages range in age from 15 to college-age, and run errands for the lawmakers in the State House, including shuttling paperwork and bringing water.
Kettle (GOP minority whip and shown in a mug shot) was arrested Friday afternoon at his job in Richmond on a charge of video voyeurism that state police say was a result of him sharing pornographic images of his now ex-girlfriend.
State police also seized more than a dozen mobile phones, computers and hard drives from Kettle's home and office.Regarding the voyeurism charge, court documents allege that Kettle was exchanging naked pictures of his former girlfriend with a New Hampshire friend. His former girlfriend told investigators she thought the two had known each other for a long time and had initially met in the Boy Scouts. (Kettle is an Eagle Scout.)
The documents allege Kettle's friend also exchanged with Kettle pictures of his wife. The men talked about swapping partners and videotaping sex acts. Kettle suggested his friend should have sex with him and his girlfriend, the documents allege. The documents also allege that Kettle and his friend exchanged pictures of their genitalia.
Politico, How a black history event at USDA became a 'Me Too' moment, Catherine Boudreau, Feb. 22, 2018. Rosetta Davis said she had not planned on publicly sharing what she alleges are the most intimate and painful details of her 16 years working for the Agriculture Department.
But after hearing department officials praise the work environment at USDA during a Black History Month event last week, she said she felt compelled to speak.
"I sat there and I listened, and I became emotional, and I bowed my head and I prayed, and before I knew it, I was on the stage," a visibly shaken Davis told Politico during an interview Wednesday at her lawyer's office in Washington.
Before an audience of USDA employees in Jefferson Auditorium at USDA headquarters, Davis said she was fed up by what she described as years of sexual harassment and retaliation by senior management in civil rights offices. She said she had had consensual sex with D. Leon King, a director in the Office of Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, in exchange for a promised promotion. Davis also named Brian Garner, director of the Farm Service Agency's Office of Civil Rights, and several other top officials as contributing to a hostile work environment.
"Don't hide your faces now!" Davis told the audience, adding, "Don't try to stop me from speaking. Why won't anyone do something about this? Can someone please help me?"
Davis, 54, told Politico that the worst abuse occurred after 2008, when she ended consensual relationship she alleged in her civil complaint having with King. She claims she became the target of sexual harassment and retaliation, never received a promotion despite taking on duties performed by employees with a higher pay grade, and was shuffled to different posts within USDA civil rights offices, most recently at the department's Farm Service Agency. The USDA has filed a motion asking the court to dismiss Davis' lawsuit, and that motion is pending.
A USDA spokesperson said in an email to Politico that the department was "looking into these matters and will address them as appropriate, based on federal personnel and civil rights laws and regulations." The spokesperson declined to make any of the officials named in the suit available for an interview.
New York Times, A Charter Schools Co-Founder Is Fired Over Abuse Claims, Anemona Hartocollis, Feb. 22, 2018. Michael Feinberg was accused of sexually abusing a female student in the late 1990s. An investigation found the claim credible, though he has denied it.
KIPP, one of the country's largest and most successful charter school chains, dismissed its co-founder on Thursday after an investigation found credible a claim that he had sexually abused a student some two decades ago, according to a letter sent to the school community.
The co-founder, Michael Feinberg, was accused last spring of sexually abusing a minor female student in Houston in the late 1990s, according to someone with close knowledge of the case who was not authorized to speak publicly and asked not to be identified. An outside investigation found her claim credible after interviewing the student and her mother, who both gave the same sequence of events.
Mr. Feinberg denies the accusation, his lawyer, Christopher L. Tritico, said.
Investigators also uncovered evidence that Mr. Feinberg had sexually harassed two KIPP employees. One case, in 2004, led to a financial settlement, the letter said; the other could not be corroborated because the woman involved would not cooperate, but the letter found it to be credible.
New York magazine has a report on the women who were not called to testify against Thomas during his confirmation hearings, while one of those women calls for Thomas' impeachment in an opinion piece for the Huffington Post. The National Law Journal summarizes the Feb. 18 New York magazine report and calls attention to another woman who alleged in 2016 that Thomas groped her at a dinner party in 1999.
New York magazine also tells of reported allegations by a then-reporter at the Bureau of National Affairs to a friend that Thomas had made sexual comments to her. New York magazine said that the now-retired reporter, Nancy Montwieler, didn't deny the allegations prior to the story's publication. But she did after the fact in emails to both New York magazine and the National Law Journal.
"I knew Clarence Thomas in a professional capacity and never experienced any type of inappropriate behavior from him," she wrote in an email to the National Law Journal. "Moreover, despite allegations in the article, I do not recall any conversations with Justice Thomas regarding inappropriate or nonprofessional subjects."
Thomas, through a spokesperson, declined to comment to New York magazine and the National Law Journal; and a Supreme Court spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the National Law Journal.
The most famous allegations against Thomas were made during the confirmation hearings by Anita Hill (shown in a file photo), who said Thomas had made sexual comments to her when she worked with him at the U.S. Department of Education and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Thomas denied the allegations and complained that the confirmation hearing was "a high-tech lynching."
The Huffington Post article is by Angela Wright-Shannon, described by New York magazine as an accuser who would have been the most devastating witness against Thomas. Then-Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Joe Biden told Teen Vogue in December that he regrets not being able to "tone down the attacks" on Hill, and said he wasn't able to persuade three women to testify against Thomas after they changed their minds about appearing at the last minute.
New York magazine reports that the women wanted to testify, or would have testified if subpoenaed.
In the Huffington Post article, Wright-Shannon says that, after learning she was willing to testify, some members of the Senate Judiciary Committee went on the attack, characterizing her as "as a revengeful, foul-mouthed incompetent seizing an opportunity to strike back at the boss who had fired her." Wright-Shannon had worked as director of public affairs at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission before becoming a metro editor at the Charlotte Observer, and she noted that Thomas had provided a recommendation for her for that newspaper job.
"It's highly unlikely that Thomas will be impeached, but we can hope," Wright-Shannon wrote. The New York magazine article also asserted that it's time to consider impeachment.
"Not because he watched porn on his own time, of course," says the article written by Jill Abramson, who wrote a book on the Thomas confirmation hearings. "Not because he talked about it with a female colleague—although our understanding of the real workplace harm that kind of sexual harassment does to women has evolved dramatically in the years since, thanks in no small part to those very hearings. Nor is it even because he routinely violated the norms of good workplace behavior, in a way that seemed especially at odds with the elevated office he was seeking. It's because of the lies he told, repeatedly and under oath, saying he had never talked to Hill about porn or to other women who worked with him about risqué subject matter."
Washington Post, USDA staffer shocks agency with public admission about sex for promotion, Joe Davidson, Feb. 20, 2018. The event at the Agriculture Department's headquarters started like many others honoring Black History Month, but no one imagined how it would end. Rosetta Davis was among the employees listening to the program on Thursday, but she wasn't like the others. She couldn't take the talk about USDA being a good place to work. The emotional toll of sexual harassment and feeling her agency didn't care could no longer be contained.
At one point during the program, which employees said was televised to department facilities across the country, Davis unexpectedly took the stage and alleged to her colleagues in emotional and specific terms how she was sexually harassed on the job. She described how a supervisor, whom she named, offered to give her a promotion to grade GS-13 in exchange for sex.
The supervisor and others are named in a lawsuit she filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Davis alleges USDA managers retaliated against her because of her equal employment complaints against the agency and her involvement in an investigation of whistleblower complaints involving the department's Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights. (The Department's headquarters is shown at left in a file photo.)
Davis acknowledged she submitted to the supervisor's advances in hopes of getting promoted. "I agreed to the sex," she said in an interview.
Shortly after the program, she received a letter placing her on paid administrative leave. She was told not to use any agency facilities, not even voice mail. Furthermore, the letter added, "you and your family or close associates are prohibited from contacting any USDA employees at work or at home, to discuss any matters associated with your employment with USDA."
Curiously, the letter indicates Davis was not placed on leave because of what she did but, apparently, because of what she might do.
"This action is not a disciplinary action, rather is taken as a precautionary measure pending further review of occurrences in the workplace on February 15, 2018," said the letter from Thomas A. Mulhern, USDA's director of human resources.
The notion that the leave is not a disciplinary action is "a joke," contended Yaida Ford, Davis's lawyer with Ford Law Pros in the District. "It's clearly punitive in nature, and it's retaliatory in nature." The current Secretary of Agriculture is Sonny Purdue, a former Georgia governor named by President Trump lat year and shown at right.
Feb. 19
Washington Post, Trump accuser keeps telling her story, hoping someone will finally listen, Carolyn Van Houten, Feb. 19, 2018. She believed her best chance to be heard was through sheer repetition, so Rachel Crooks took her seat at the dining table and prepared to tell the story again. She was used to difficult audiences, to skeptics and Internet trolls who flooded her Facebook page with threats, but this was a generous crowd: a dozen women, all friends of her aunt, gathered for a casual dinner party on a Friday night. The hostess turned off the music, clanked a fork against her wineglass and gestured to Crooks. "Would you mind telling us about the famous incident?" she asked. "Not the sound-bite version, but the real version."
"The real version," Crooks said, nodding back. She took a sip of water and folded a napkin onto her lap.
"It all happened at Trump Tower," she said. "I had just moved to New York, and I was working as a secretary for another company in the building. That's where he forced himself on me."
Crooks, 35, had been publicly reliving this story for much of the past two years, ever since she first described it in an email to the New York Times several months before the 2016 election. "I don't know if people will really care about this or if this will matter at all," she had written then, and after Donald Trump's election she had repeated her story at the Women's March, on the "Today" show and at a news conference organized by women's rights attorney Gloria Allred. Crooks had spoken to people dressed in #MeToo sweatshirts and to her rural neighbors whose yards were decorated with Trump signs. In early February, she launched a campaign to become a Democratic state representative in Ohio, in part so she could share her story more widely with voters across the state. And yet, after dozens of retellings, she still wasn't sure: Did people really care? Did it matter at all?
Despite her story, and the similar stories of more than a dozen other women, nothing had changed. Trump, who had denied all of the accusations, was still president of the United States, and Crooks was still circling back to the same moments on Jan. 11, 2006, that had come to define so much about her life.
Providence Journal, R.I. senator charged with 2 counts of extorting sex from former State House page, Patrick Anderson and Tom Mooney, Feb. 19, 2018. A grand jury indictment unsealed Monday accuses state Sen. Nicholas Kettle, a 27-year-old Coventry Republican, of twice coercing a Senate student page to have sex with him in 2011, Kettle's first year in the General Assembly. The indictment accused Kettle (the GOP minority whip, shown in a mug shot)of threatening to injure the page or harm his reputation if he did not comply.
The alleged victim was a legislative page in 2011 and 2012, when he was 16 or 17 years old. Legislative pages range in age from 15 to college-age, and run errands for the lawmakers in the State House, including shuttling paperwork and bringing water. (Editor's note: This story is excerpted more fully on Feb. 22 in a report on the senator's resignation.)
Feb. 18
New York Magazine, Do You Believe Her Now? Jill Abramson, Feb. 18, 2018. It's time to reexamine the evidence that Clarence Thomas (shown at right) lied to get onto the Supreme Court — and to talk seriously about impeachment.
In the same fall night in 2016 that the infamous Access Hollywood tape featuring Donald Trump bragging about sexual assault was made public by the Washington Post and dominated the news, an Alaska attorney, Moira Smith, wrote on Facebook about her own experiences as a victim of sexual misconduct in 1999.
"At the age of 24, I found out I'd be attending a dinner at my boss's house with Justice Clarence Thomas," she began her post, referring to the U.S. Supreme Court justice who was famously accused of sexually harassing Anita Hill, a woman who had worked for him at two federal agencies, including the EEOC, the federal sexual-harassment watchdog.
"I was so incredibly excited to meet him, rough confirmation hearings notwithstanding," Smith continued. "He was charming in many ways — giant, booming laugh, charismatic, approachable. But to my complete shock, he groped me while I was setting the table, suggesting I should 'sit right next to him.' When I feebly explained I'd been assigned to the other table, he groped again … 'Are you sure?' I said I was and proceeded to keep my distance." Smith had been silent for 17 years but, infuriated by the "Grab 'em by the pussy" utterings of a presidential candidate, could keep quiet no more.
Tipped to the post by a Maryland legal source who knew Smith, Marcia Coyle, a highly regarded and scrupulously nonideological Supreme Court reporter for The National Law Journal, wrote a detailed story about Smith's allegation of butt-squeezing, which included corroboration from Smith's roommates at the time of the dinner and from her former husband. Coyle's story, which Thomas denied, was published October 27, 2016. If you missed it, that's because this news was immediately buried by a much bigger story — the James Comey letter reopening the Hillary Clinton email probe.
Smith, who has since resumed her life as a lawyer and isn't doing any further interviews about Thomas, was on the early edge of #MeToo. Too early, perhaps: In the crescendo of recent sexual-harassment revelations, Thomas's name has been surprisingly muted.
Perhaps that is a reflection of the conservative movement's reluctance, going back decades, to inspect the rot in its power structure, even as its pundits and leaders have faced allegations of sexual misconduct. (Liberals of the present era — possibly in contrast to those of, say, the Bill Clinton era — have been much more ready to cast out from power alleged offenders, like Al Franken.)
But that relative quiet about Justice Thomas (shown at left early in his career on the bench) was striking to me. After all, the Hill-Thomas conflagration was the first moment in American history when we collectively, truly grappled with sexual harassment....
But it's well worth inspecting, in part as a case study, in how women's voices were silenced at the time by both Republicans and Democrats and as an illustration of what's changed — and hasn't — in the past 27 years (or even the last year)....
But, most of all, because Thomas, as a crucial vote on the Supreme Court, holds incredible power over women's rights, workplace, reproductive, and otherwise. His worldview, with its consistent objectification of women, is the one that's shaping the contours of what's possible for women in America today, more than that of just about any man alive, save for his fellow justices.
And given the evidence that's come out in the years since, it's also time to raise the possibility of impeachment. Not because he watched porn on his own time, of course....It's because of the lies he told, repeatedly and under oath, saying he had never talked to Hill about porn or to other women who worked with him about risqué subject matter.
Lying is, for lawyers, a cardinal sin. State disciplinary committees regularly institute proceedings against lawyers for knowingly lying in court, with punishments that can include disbarment. Since 1989, three federal judges have been impeached and forced from office for charges that include lying. The idea of someone so flagrantly telling untruths to ascend to the highest legal position in the U.S. remains shocking, in addition to its being illegal. (Thomas, through a spokesperson, declined to comment on a detailed list of queries.)
Thomas's lies not only undermined Hill but also isolated her. It was her word versus his — when it could have been her word, plus several other women's, which would have made for a different media narrative and a different calculation for senators. As the present moment has taught us, women who come forward alongside other women are more likely to be believed (unfair as that might be). There were four women who wanted to testify, or would have if subpoenaed, to corroborate aspects of Hill's story. My new reporting shows that there is at least one more who didn't come forward. Their "Me Too" voices were silenced.
In June, 2006, Donald Trump taped an episode of his reality-television show, "The Apprentice," at the Playboy Mansion, in Los Angeles. Hugh Hefner, Playboy's publisher, threw a pool party for the show's contestants with dozens of current and former Playmates, including Karen McDougal, a slim brunette who had been named Playmate of the Year, eight years earlier. In 2001, the magazine's readers voted her runner-up for "Playmate of the '90s," behind Pamela Anderson. At the time of the party, Trump had been married to the Slovenian model Melania Knauss for less than two years; their son, Barron, was a few months old. Trump seemed uninhibited by his new family obligations. McDougal later wrote that Trump "immediately took a liking to me, kept talking to me - telling me how beautiful I was, etc. It was so obvious that a Playmate Promotions exec said, 'Wow, he was all over you - I think you could be his next wife.' "
Trump and McDougal began an affair, which McDougal later memorialized in an eight-page, handwritten document provided to The New Yorker by John Crawford, a friend of McDougal's. When I showed McDougal the document, she expressed surprise that I had obtained it but confirmed that the handwriting was her own.
The interactions that McDougal outlines in the document share striking similarities with the stories of other women who claim to have had sexual relationships with Trump, or who have accused him of propositioning them for sex or sexually harassing them. McDougal describes their affair as entirely consensual. But her account provides a detailed look at how Trump and his allies used clandestine hotel-room meetings, payoffs, and complex legal agreements to keep affairs — sometimes multiple affairs he carried out simultaneously — out of the press.
On November 4, 2016, four days before the election, the Wall Street Journal reported that American Media, Inc., the publisher of the National Enquirer, had paid a hundred and fifty thousand dollars for exclusive rights to McDougal's story, which it never ran. Purchasing a story in order to bury it is a practice that many in the tabloid industry call "catch and kill." This is a favorite tactic of the C.E.O. and chairman of A.M.I., David Pecker, who describes the President as "a personal friend." As part of the agreement, A.M.I. consented to publish a regular aging-and-fitness column by McDougal. After Trump won the Presidency, however, A.M.I.'s promises largely went unfulfilled, according to McDougal.
McDougal, in her first on-the-record comments about A.M.I.'s handling of her story, declined to discuss the details of her relationship with Trump, for fear of violating the agreement she reached with the company. She did say, however, that she regretted signing the contract. "It took my rights away," McDougal told me. "At this point I feel I can't talk about anything without getting into trouble, because I don't know what I'm allowed to talk about. I'm afraid to even mention his name."
The New Yorker reports that Karen McDougal, shown in a photo drawn from YouTube with President Trump, was paid $150,000 by American Media, Inc., for her story about an affair with the married future president Trump in 2006
Washington Post, Salacious new claims surface about a Trump affair and alleged coverup, Beth Reinhard, Frances Stead Sellers and Alice Crites, Feb. 16, 2018. President Trump's alleged extramarital affairs attracted fresh attention Friday amid new claims about a nine-month relationship with a former Playboy centerfold who was reportedly paid $150,000 by a tabloid publisher who never ran her story.
The alleged liaison with 1998 "Playmate of the Year" Karen McDougal was described in an article in the New Yorker. It is said to have included a July 2006 sexual encounter during a Lake Tahoe celebrity golf tournament where two adult film stars also claim Trump made sexual advances.
The Wall Street Journal had previously reported that McDougal was paid by American Media Inc., publisher of the National Enquirer, for the exclusive rights to her story. The New Yorker article contained new details about the alleged affair, as well as what it said were months-long negotiations with AMI during the 2016 campaign.
The White House declined to comment. Keith Davidson, the attorney who the magazine said orchestrated the payment during the 2016 campaign, also represents Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, one of the porn stars who also claims to have been with Trump at the golf tournament.
Feb. 15
Feb. 15, 2018 New information emerges in "Maria" Trump story By Wayne Madsen and Andrew Kreig New information has emerged in the joint Wayne Madsen Report/Justice Integrity Project investigation of the "Maria" case.
Maria was temporarily held for ransom in 1993, according to witnesses speaking to police. As we previously reported, Katie Johnson alleged in federal lawsuits that Donald Trump and his friend, billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, raped her when she was 13 in New York City in 1994. Johnson's alleged also that the two men raped a 12-year old — only identified as "Maria."
Our investigation discovered that Maria had been abducted from Waterbury, Connecticut in March 1993 when she was 11. Eventually, Maria ended up at "parties" at a midtown Manhattan townhouse owned by Epstein's billionaire friend Les Wexner where underage girls were allegedly sexually assaulted by Trump and Epstein.
We previously reported (including via the graphic at right showing the mansion and file photos of Trump and Epstein) that Maria's kidnappers were involved in a child trafficking ring that provided abductees to wealthy individuals like Trump and Epstein. Lawyers for Trump and Epstein have sought to deny or otherwise downplay the claims.
Our new information is that Maria was reported missing by her late mother to the Waterbury Police on March 20, 1993, at 11:30 pm. However, Maria was actually abducted the previous day, March 19, authorities said, creating a gap betweenthe kidnap and the mother's report of it to authorities. Update: The New Yorker, Donald Trump, a Playboy Model, and a System for Concealing Infidelity, Ronan Farrow, Feb. 16, 2018. One woman's account of clandestine meetings, financial transactions, and legal pacts designed to hide an extramarital affair. Maria was last seen on March 19 by a young girl in the predominantly Puerto Rican neighborhood. The girl said she saw Maria talking to a man who turned out to be a Colombian national known by the nickname of "Papito," which means "little daddy" in English.
Later, the man claimed that he once lived in Maria's neighborhood but he was not in Waterbury at the time of the alleged conversation with Maria but was in New York "with his family." The Waterbury Police Department missing person report states that Maria was last seen outside of Nash's Pizza, a corner eatery located in the neighborhood where she lived with her mother and step-father. To read full story, click here.
New York Times, Analysis: Shifting Stories on Porter Prolong Crisis for White House, Peter Baker, Feb. 15, 2018. The rule of thumb for crisis communications is to get the facts out quickly. But President Trump's White House has thrown out the rule book in its handling of the resignation of Rob Porter, the staff secretary who was accused of abuse.
New York Times, Riding an Untamed Horse: Priebus Opens Up on Serving Trump, Peter Baker, Feb. 15, 2018. Reince Priebus, the president's first White House chief of staff, said his tenure was even more arduous than outsiders knew. "Take everything you've heard and multiply it by 50," he writes in a new book.
Washington Post, White House reslsts as FBI director rebuts Porter timeline, Ashley Parker, Philip Rucker and Josh Dawsey, Feb. 15, 2018 (print edition). FBI Director Christopher A. Wray's direct contradiction of the White House's official version of how it handled domestic violence allegations against senior aide Rob Porter plunged the West Wing into a deeper bout of infighting and heightened the uncertainty about Chief of Staff John Kelly's future in the administration.
Wray is shown at right above in his official photo and below at left in a Justice Department photo at his swearing in ceremony on Aug. 2, 2017. With him was his wife, Holly Howell, and Attorney Gen. Jeff Sessions.
Roll Call, Gowdy Launches Oversight Investigation Into Rob Porter Scandal, Griffin Connolly, Feb 15, 2018 (print edition). 'How in the Hell was he still employed?' House Oversight Committee chairman asks. The House Committee on Oversight and Government reform has launched an investigation into the White House's handling of senior aide Rob Porter, who was not issued a permanent security clearance due to allegations of domestic abuse by his two ex-wives.
"Who knew what, when, and to what extent? Those are the questions that I think ought to be asked," the committee's chairman, GOP Rep. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina(shown above right) said Wednesday on CNN.
Shown below is a catalog of recent news stories reporting on allegations of harassment, domestic violence or sexual assault and/or sex-related blackmail and extortion. The reports are listed in reverse chronological order, and are drawn primarily from U.S.-based claims of scandal within high-level government and business circles, including the media and entertainment.
The Justice Integrity Project has initiated this project in part because of the prevalence of such problems and their harms, and in part because the scandals (particularly in the case of government officials who rely on public images of "family values") create strong incentives for blackmail and extortion secretly affecting a full range of government actions. These government decisions potentially affect almost everyone, including those living outside of the United States.
What came out was the most grudging, nonspecific utterance you could imagine. Indeed, he sounded resentful in having to address the issue at all. "I'm totally opposed to domestic violence of any kind. Everyone knows that. And it almost wouldn't even have to be said. So, now you hear it, but you all know." Everyone knows that. But, until now, we had not heard the president say it. What was more revealing was that he did not say any of the following:
I won't tolerate any abuser in my administration.
We must encourage women to come forward and believe them when they do.
I believe Rob Porter's ex-wives.
We should not have people with a history of spousal abuse in high government positions.
Nope, he didn't express any of these sentiments, which in any other administration would never be questioned. Trump, however, has a troubling past.
Feb. 13
On June 1, White House Staff Secretary Rob Porter, 40, assists President Trump with Vice President Pence (r) and Chief of Staff Reince Priebus
The excerpts include, for example, extensive reports and commentary about the crimes and official cover ups surrounding Jeffrey Epstein, right, the wealthy pedophile and sex trafficker found dead in his federal prison cell in Manhattan on Aug. 10, 2019.
The #MeToo movement, a major topic in this catalog, became widely known in the fall of 2017. The movement had been founded by 
Washington Post, Fake-porn videos are being weaponized to harass women: ‘Everybody is a potential target,’ Drew Harwell, Dec. 31, 2018. “Deepfake” creators are making disturbingly realistic, computer-generated videos with photos taken from the Web, and ordinary women are suffering the damage.
federal judiciary today, focusing on the judiciary’s response to allegations of sexual misconduct in the workplace. Roberts had discussed this issue in his 2017 report, after several female law clerks accused Judge Alex Kozinski – then a prominent judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit – of inappropriate sexual conduct.
According to a recent court transcript, among those people Ransome claims she was directed to have sex with was Epstein’s lawyer, Alan Dershowitz, who helped negotiate a controversial plea deal that gave the eccentric multimillionaire — and co-conspirators employed by Epstein — federal immunity in 2008.
Cohen’s latest series, Who Is America?, the character comedian and provocateur nudged former and current Republican members of Congress into endorsing armed kindergartners, revealed anti-Muslim racism and got Dick Cheney to autograph a waterboarding kit. But there was one scene the Showtime series captured on camera that was too dark and extreme, even for Baron Cohen.
there’s a pedophile ring in Las Vegas that’s operating for these very wealthy men. And this concierge had said that he’d worked for politicians and various billionaires.”
New York Times, CBS Says Les Moonves Will Not Receive $120 Million Severance, Edmund Lee and Rachel Abrams, Dec. 17, 2018. The CBS Corporation, battered by 
scandal and facing a leadership vacuum, said its former chief executive, Leslie Moonves, misled the company about multiple allegations of sexual misconduct and tried to hide evidence as he made a frenzied attempt to save his legacy and reap a lucrative severance. As a result, the company said Mr. Moonves would not receive his $120 million exit payout.
2018. Joy Evans Ryder (shown in a yearbook photo) was 15 years old when she says her church youth director pinned her to his office floor and raped her.
New York Times, Opinion: Why Does Alex Acosta Still Have a Job? Michelle Goldberg, Dec. 4, 2018 (print edition). The cabinet official’s connection to a shady deal for an alleged child molester. It is the perverse good fortune of Alexander Acosta, left, Donald Trump’s secretary of labor, to be part of an administration so spectacularly corrupt that it’s simply impossible to give all its scandals the attention they deserve.
New York Times, For Urban Meyer and Ohio State, a Parting Months in the Making, Marc Tracy, Dec. 4, 2018. From the moment the university suspended the coach, shown at right, in August for three games, a special relationship was irrevocably severed.
communications director Anthony Scaramucci that her newspaper “planted” a story linking Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, right.
Acosta did not respond to requests to comment from the Herald on the story, which detailed his work as a U.S. attorney to secure a lighter punishment for Epstein via a plea agreement despite evidence that the billionaire was involved in bringing underaged girls to the U.S. for prostitution.
“I haven’t decided yet what to do about legal representation moving forward,” Daniels said in a statement. “Michael has been a great advocate in many ways. I’m tremendously grateful to him for aggressively representing me in my fight to regain my voice. But in other ways Michael has not treated me with the respect and deference an attorney should show to a client.”
In 2007, the FBI had prepared a 53-page federal indictment charging Epstein with sex crimes that could have put him in federal prison for life. But then-Miami U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta (shown with his being sworn by Vice President Pence as Labor Secretary last year) signed off on a non-prosecution agreement, which was negotiated, signed and sealed so that no one would know the full scope of Epstein’s crimes. The indictment was shelved, never to be seen again.
Washington Post, Explosive report on clergy sex abuse spawns wave of inquiries as Catholic church stalls, Tom Jackman, right, Michelle Boorstein and Julie Zauzmer, Nov. 23, 2018 (print edition). A Pennsylvania grand jury report in August set off an unprecedented wave of investigations over the last several months, with attorneys general in 14 states and the District of Columbia announcing probes and demanding documents from Catholic officials.
Washington Post, Four months after McCarrick’s resignation, silence from the Vatican on his fate, Julie Zauzmer, Nov. 23, 2018. The ex-cardinal, right, whose conduct scandalized the church is living in Kansas and has not faced a trial.
Wall Street Journal, Donald Trump Played Central Role in Hush Payoffs to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, Joe Palazzolo, Nicole Hong, Michael Rothfeld, Rebecca Davis O’Brien and Rebecca Ballhaus, Nov. 9, 2018. Federal prosecutors have gathered evidence of president’s participation in transactions that violated campaign-finance laws.
As a presidential candidate in August 2015, Donald Trump huddled with a longtime friend, media executive David Pecker, in his cluttered 26th floor Trump Tower office and made a request.
Less than a year later, Mr. Trump asked Mr. Pecker to quash the story of a former Playboy model who said they’d had an affair. Mr. Pecker’s company soon paid $150,000 to the model, Karen McDougal (shown with Trump at left), to keep her from speaking publicly about it. Mr. Trump later thanked Mr. Pecker for the assistance.
New York Times, Facebook to Drop Forced Arbitration in Harassment Cases, Daisuke Wakabayashi and Jessica Silver-Greenberg, Nov. 9, 2018. Facebook said on Friday that it would no longer force employees to settle sexual harassment claims in private arbitration, making it the latest technology company to do away with a practice that critics say has stacked the deck against victims of harassment.
New York Times, Schneiderman Will Not Face Criminal Charges in Abuse Complaints, Alan Feuer, Nov. 8, 2018. After a six-month investigation, prosecutors said Thursday that they would not pursue criminal charges against Eric T. Schneiderman, right, the former New York State attorney general who resigned in May after four women accused him of assaulting them.
New York Observer, Rudy Giuliani Has Spent $286,000 on His Mistress in Six Months, According to his Wife, Davis Richardson, Nov. 8, 2018. According to his third wife, Judith Nathan, Rudy Giuliani, right, has two very expensive habits: Cigars and mistresses.
Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Keith Ellison defeats Doug Wardlow in Minnesota attorney general race, Stephen Montemayor, Nov. 7, 2018. Democratic U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison will be Minnesota’s next attorney general, defeating Republican Doug Wardlow after a bitter campaign marked by allegations of domestic abuse and an intense spotlight on both candidates’ pasts.
Hart, and a new Jason Reitman movie about the Rice imbroglio, The Front Runner, both pose the question: Is there a direct connection between Hart’s fall and Trump’s rise?
Washington Post, Pakistan’s highest court spares the life of a Christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy, Shaiq Hussain, Meagan Flynn and Pamela Constable, Oct. 31, 2018 (print edition). Pakistan’s highest court has spared the life of a Christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy in a long-awaited ruling Wednesday, prompting celebration among human rights activists and countrywide protest by religious parties. Asia Bibi, a mother and farmer, had spent eight years seeking mercy from appeals courts while imprisoned on death row.
What Google did not make public was that an employee had accused Mr. Rubin of sexual misconduct. The woman, with whom Mr. Rubin had been having an extramarital relationship, said he coerced her into performing oral sex in a hotel room in 2013, according to two company executives with knowledge of the episode. Google investigated and concluded her claim was credible, said the people, who spoke on the condition that they not be named, citing confidentiality agreements. Mr. Rubin was notified, they said, and Mr. Page asked for his resignation.
“The president does not stand above the law,” Mariann Wang, an attorney for former “Apprentice” contestant Summer Zervos (shown in a file photo), said last week during a little-noticed hearing in Manhattan.
Koupriianova said the abuse, which she documented in the form of transcribed conversations, emails, photographs and even a chat with the National Domestic Violence Hotline, continued throughout the course of their eight-year marriage and included incidents that occurred while she was pregnant.
Washington Post, D.C. attorney general launches investigation of clergy sex abuse in Washington archdiocese, Peter Jamison and Michelle Boorstein, Oct. 23, 2018. D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine, right, said Tuesday that his office has begun an investigation of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy in the archdiocese of Washington, the latest in a string of state-level law enforcement officials now looking into the Catholic Church’s handling of abuse complaints.
come under intense criticism in recent months.
Miller and Delgado (shown at left) started an affair during the presidential race; Delgado became pregnant while Miller’s wife was pregnant as well. Now Miller and Delgado are involved in a vicious custody battle over their son, which Delgado chronicles on her Twitter feed.
The court enabled a new state rule barring voters who use for election purposes Post Office boxes instead of street addresses. Many Native Americans living on reservations use only PO Boxes and have heavily supported Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, below, the incumbent Democrat who is now an underdog in her race.
The court's refusal to intervene follows its recent practice of avoiding review for the most part of voter suppression and gerrymandering efforts by Republican state officials who have taken major steps recently to reduce voter registrations and polling place en masse in ways that heavily disadvantage Democrats in November.
Taking another broad view, investigative reporter Wayne Madsen linked Kavanaugh with presidential election rigging in the United States with Karl Rove and in the Ukraine with Paul Manafort in 2004, as portrayed at right and as described in his column Exclusive Investigative Commentary: Bush backed Kavanaugh to keep election thefts of 2000 and 2004 a secret.
Earlier this week, President Trump invited the newest justice and his family to the White House to reenact the official weekend swearing-in ceremony.
Future of Freedom Foundation, Opinion: Christine Ford’s Corroborating Evidence, Jacob G. Hornberger, right, Oct. 9, 2018. Throughout the controversy over the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, some people were saying that Christine Blasey Ford did not produce “corroborating evidence” to support her accusation that Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her when they were teenagers. Therefore, since Kavanaugh was denying that he committed the assault, the argument went, he should be given the benefit of the doubt in what seemed to be a “he-said, she-said” controversy.
New York Times, Opinion: The Paranoid Style in G.O.P. Politics, Paul Krugman, right, Oct. 9, 2018 (print edition). Republicans are an authoritarian regime in waiting.
ABC News, Trump apologizes 'on behalf of the nation' to Kavanaugh during swearing-in, claims he was 'proven innocent,' Adam Kelsey and Meridith McGraw, Oct. 8, 2018. President Donald Trump apologized to incoming Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh Monday evening "for the terrible pain and suffering" that he and his family endured during his confirmation process, going so far as to claim that Kavanaugh was "proven innocent" of the sexual assault allegations made against him.
NBC News, Hillary Clinton calls Kavanaugh's ceremonial swearing-in a 'political rally,' Adam Edelman, Oct. 9, 2018. Trump's remarks at the White House event "further undermined the image and integrity of the court," the former secretary of state said.
In an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour, parts of which aired Tuesday morning on the network, Clinton (shown in a file photo by Gage Skidmore) said that the way Trump carried out the event "troubles me greatly."
"Bush White House aides Brett Kavanaugh and Karl Rove, left, closely coordinated their election fraud operations with two experienced Washington campaign advisers for Republican candidates, Rick Davis, and Davis's partner, Paul Manafort."
Note: Former Navy intelligence officer, NSA analyst and defense contractor computer scientist Wayne Madsen for many years has exposed techniques to rig U.S. and international elections, electronically and by other methods. He is the author of 16 books, including the just-published "Trump's Bananas Republic," which portrays administration scandals through the lens of iconic Hollywood movies.
The conservative struggle for the court began in the 1960s, but it hit its stride in the Bush v. Gore decision after after the 2000 election. Five conservative justices violated the principles they claimed to uphold on states’ rights and the use of equal-protection doctrine to stop a recount of votes in Florida requested by Al Gore, the Democratic nominee. They thus made George W. Bush president.
New York Times, Kavanaugh Is Sworn In After Close Confirmation Vote in Senate, Sheryl Gay Stolberg, Oct. 7, 2018 (print edition). Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh was confirmed to the Supreme Court on Saturday by one of the slimmest margins in American history, locking in a solid conservative majority on the court and capping a rancorous battle that began as a debate over judicial ideology and concluded with a national reckoning over sexual misconduct.
Washington Post, The politicians and players whose legacies will be shaped by the Kavanaugh fight, Amber Phillips, Oct. 6, 2018 (print edition). How they navigated the emotionally fraught Supreme Court nomination battle could define their careers. This was a Supreme Court nomination that will go down in the history books. If confirmed, Kavanaugh will have overcome accusations of sexual misconduct and assault, questions about his judicial temperament and surprise delays to his confirmation.
Murkowski said in her floor speech that she hoped after the bitter debate over Kavanaugh that the Senate could take a few steps back toward a more respectful tone.
for President Donald Trump’s nominee.
the Supreme Court, and might end up the only Democrat to do so.
completed FBI report, I have found Judge Kavanaugh to be a qualified jurist who will follow the Constitution and determine cases based on the legal findings before him. I do hope that Judge Kavanaugh will not allow the partisan nature this process took to follow him onto the court,” Manchin said in a statement.
WhoWhatWhy, Exclusive: Kavanaugh Father-Son Cancer Powder Keg, Doug Vaughan, Oct. 5, 2018. If Justice Brett Kavanaugh is confirmed by the Senate, sooner or later he may be asked to weigh some damning evidence — that his own father advocated for a product that he knew was carcinogenic to both mothers and fetuses. Unless he recuses himself.
Instead, there are three primary issues in this controversy: (1) Did Kavanaugh commit the sexual assault on Christine Blasey Ford (shown as a schoolgirl) and, if so, should that make a difference with respect to his appointment to the Supreme Court? (2) Did he commit perjury with his denial of having committed the offense and, equally important, with respect to other matters in his sworn testimony and, if so, should that make a difference to his appointment to the Supreme Court? and (3) Does Kavanaugh have the necessary temperament to serve as an associate justice on the Supreme Court?
“Much of Washington has spent the week focusing on whether Judge Brett Kavanaugh should be confirmed to the Supreme Court,” Lisa Graves wrote in a Slate column on Sept. 7, more than a week before the New Yorker published the then-anonymous sexual assault claims of Christine Blasey Ford. “After the revelations of his confirmation hearings, the better question is whether he should be impeached from the federal judiciary. I do not raise that question lightly, but I am certain it must be raised.”
Kavanaugh’s story is also one of the power and insularity of wealth. He grew up in an idyll of country clubs and beach retreats, private schools and public prominence. The only child of a lobbyist and a judge, he had parents who pushed him hard, teachers who assured him that he faced no limits, and friends whose families knew the art of making problems go away quietly.
The Intercept: Analysis: Sen. Susan Collins and Brett Kavanaugh Are Both in the Bush Family Inner Circle. That Helps Explain Her Vote, Ryan Grim, right, and Akela Lacy, Oct., 5, 2018. The announcement Friday by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, that she would vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court was about family. Namely, the Bush family.
Susan Collins has never been a party loyalist. In the past two years alone, she’s cast multiple deciding votes against the GOP on major issues, including the attempted Obamacare repeal, and the original Senate Intelligence Committee decision to investigate the Trump-Russia scandal. So no matter how many social media posts might claim that “Collins voted this way because she always votes the party line,” that’s a factually false statement. No, this has to be about something else.
Amanda O’Brien sat on a bus for 10 hours to get from Maine to Washington D.C. to meet with Sen. Susan Collins and share her opposition to Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. The bus was full of sexual assault survivors, who shared their stories with their seat mates as they crawled toward the Capitol.
Senators Jeff Flake of Arizona, right, and Susan Collins of Maine did not say that they will vote for Judge Kavanaugh, President Trump’s second Supreme Court nominee.
Gorsuch, left.
Senior White House officials, after reviewing summaries of interviews conducted by the F.B.I., are increasingly confident that the information collected would ease the path for senators to confirm Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, a person briefed on the findings said Thursday morning.
back. Against all his instincts, President Trump for the most part resisted directly attacking the woman whose sexual assault allegation has jeopardized his Supreme Court nomination. The accuser was to be treated with kid gloves, like “a Fabergé egg,” as one adviser put it.
Omaha World-Herald, In emotional speech, Ben Sasse says he told Trump to nominate a woman to Supreme Court, Joseph Morton, Oct. 4, 2018. Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., right, delivered an emotional floor speech Wednesday night rejecting suggestions that the vote on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is about whether lawmakers care about women.
Palmer Report, Opinion: One of Brett Kavanaugh’s key GOP Senate defenders suddenly sounds nervous about holding a vote, Bill Palmer, right, Oct. 3, 2018. We all witnessed Republican Senator John Cornyn use his position on the Senate Judiciary Committee last week to try to help a mentally unstable Brett Kavanaugh through his testimony. There is no doubt that Cornyn, who is as corrupt as they come, is a “yes” vote. But now congressional reporter Chad Pergram says that Cornyn suddenly doesn’t want to rush the Kavanaugh vote, and wants to “do it one step at a time” instead. So what’s going on here?
Washington Post, Opinion: Senators, if you think you are ‘appalled’ now, just wait, Jennifer Rubin, right, Oct. 3, 2018. Appearing on the “Today” show, Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) reacted to President Trump’s mocking of Christine Blasey Ford at a political rally Tuesday night. “There’s no time and no place for remarks like that. But to discuss something this sensitive at a political rally is just not right … It’s kind of appalling.”
The event first launched in 1928 at the St. Andrews Church in New York City, in 1953 at St. Matthews in the District of Columbia and in a number of other metro areas around the United States.
The sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh have sparked a wave of unbridled anger and anxiety from many Republican men, who say they are in danger of being swept up by false accusers who are biased against them.
U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, Transcript of staff interview with Judge Brett Kavanaugh on allegations of sexual misconduct, Alderson Court Reporting, released on Oct. 1, 2018, dated Sept. 26, 2018 (19 pages with four-page index). 
Yale undergraduate yearbook from 1928 shows that Everett Edward Kavanaugh, Judge Kavanaugh's grandfather, was a Yale graduate.
OpEdNews, Opinion: Sex, Lies, and Hypocrisy: Kavanaugh's Glass House, Carl Petersen, Oct. 1, 2018. Much like Dr. Christine Ford, Monica Lewinsky's life was turned upside down by the glare of someone else's spotlight.
Lewinsky, left, has always maintained that the relationship was consensual, but "power imbalances -- and the ability to abuse them -- do exist even when the sex has been consensual." As a society, have we established where the lines are?
Given this history, one has to wonder what Lindsey Graham was thinking as he bloviated that if Kavanaugh was looking "for a fair process, [then] he came to the wrong town at the wrong time." When does he think that this poisoned, political atmosphere began?
If the nominee thinks that the "confirmation process has become a national disgrace," how does he feel today about what he put Lewinsky through and what it did to her and her family? If "the idea of going easy on [Clinton, left] at the questioning [was] abhorrent to [him]," his current outrage should be directed at the Republican majority in the Senate.
In the five-page memo, obtained by the Washington Post, Rachel Mitchell (shown in a file photo) outlines more than half a dozen reasons why she thinks the testimony of Christine Blasey Ford — who has accused Kavanaugh of assaulting her at a house in suburban Maryland when they were teenagers in the early 1980s — has some key inconsistencies.
Director/Producer Kimberly Reed (shown at right) has had featured work on The Oprah Winfrey Show, CNN, NPR, The Moth and in Details magazine. One of Filmmaker Magazine's "25 New Faces of Independent Film," she directed and produced Prodigal Sons, which landed on many best of the year lists, screened at more than 100 film festivals and garnered 14 audience and jury awards, including a FIPRESCI Prize. Reed was recognized as one of Out magazine's "OUT100" and was number one on Towleroad's "Best LGBT Characters of the Film Year" list. She also produced, edited and wrote Paul Goodman Changed My Life and produced The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson. Reed is a fourth-generation Montanan.
Deborah Ramirez, right, was interviewed by the FBI earlier today, according to a CNN report this evening. Not only that, she provided the FBI with a list of witnesses who can corroborate her sexual assault accusations against Brett Kavanaugh.
Ford said in Senate testimony Thursday that she was "100 percent" certain that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were both in high school. Ramirez alleged that he exposed himself to her when there were students at Yale. Kavanaugh has staunchly denied allegations from Ford, Ramirez, below left, and Swetnick, right.
Instead of investigating Swetnick's claims, the White House counsel’s office has given the FBI a list of witnesses they are permitted to interview, according to several people who discussed the parameters on the condition of anonymity.
Associated Press via Yahoo, Trump cites Kavanaugh to rally voters, staff report, Sept. 29, 2018. President Donald Trump is turning his embattled Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh into a rallying cry for Republicans to vote in November. He said at a West Virginia rally that they can help reject the "ruthless and outrageous tactics" he says Democrats used against the judge.
Washington Post, American Bar Association had concerns in 2006 about Kavanaugh, Avi Selk, Sept. 29, 2018 (print edition). The ABA flagged concerns of possible bias just before the Senate made Brett M. Kavanaugh a federal judge.
This confirms Palmer Report’s earlier premise that once the FBI begins an investigation like this, there really are no limits to the FBI’s ability to follow the evidence to any and all federal crimes. By our count, Kavanaugh [shown in a Palmer Report graphic] appeared to commit at least four separate provable instances of perjury during his televised Senate testimony, even before the sexual assault accusations surfaced. He lied extensively about the circumstances under which he received and forwarded stolen emails, and among other issues.
New York Times, A Bitter Nominee, Questions of Neutrality, and a Damaged Supreme Court, Adam Liptak, right, Sept. 28, 2018. In the first round of his Supreme Court confirmation hearings early this month, Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh kept his cool under hostile questioning, stressed his independence, and exhibited the calm judicial demeanor that characterized his dozen years on a prestigious appeals court bench.
Ashley is currently town manager of Chevy Chase Section Five, Maryland. She graduated from Abilene Cooper High School in 1993 and attended the University of Texas.
Roll Call, 
Washington Post, 
more women have accused Judge Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct at parties in high school and in college. 
Ms. Murray, left, was one of a number of female senators who was emboldened to run for office after watching Anita F. Hill testify in 1991, and she referenced that experience directly, calling on her colleagues to learn from their past mistakes.
“Twenty-seven years later, in 2018, we need to do better and we certainly should not do worse.”
Chuck Grassley, Iowa, Chairman, right.
Avenatti tweeted out a sworn testimony from Julie Swetnick, shown above, in which she declares she met Kavanaugh in “approximately 1980-1981” and attended several house parties for which Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge were also present.
one of these ‘gang’ or ‘train’ rapes where Mark Judge and Brett Kavanaugh were present,” she added.
Washington Post, 
The Senate Judiciary Committee released calendar pages [one is shown] from the summer of 1982 on Wednesday that paint an image of a party-hopping Brett M. Kavanaugh in high school, complicating his self-drawn portrait of a diligent student obsessed mainly with sports and reaching the top of his class
Politico, 
Washington Post, 
Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-IA), right, has rescheduled a committee vote on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh for this upcoming Friday. That’s just one day after a hearing that will take place on Thursday, which is set to scrutinize sexual misconduct and assault allegations that have been brought against Kavanaugh.
Kent Sinclair, Douglas Rutzen and Mark Osler were among roughly two dozen of Kavanaugh’s law school classmates who lauded Kavanaugh’s qualifications in an Aug. 27 letter to leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Washington Post, 
When I was 16 years old, I started dating a guy I met at the Puente Hills Mall in a Los Angeles suburb. I worked there after school at the accessories counter at Robinsons-May. He worked at a high-end men's store. He would come in wearing a gray silk suit and flirt with me. He was in college, and I thought he was charming and handsome. He was 23.
they were racing against time.
The New Yorker, 
classmate of the Supreme Court nominee, has described a dormitory party gone awry and a drunken incident that she wants the F.B.I. to investigate.
The offices of at least four Democratic senators have received information about the allegation, and at least two have begun investigating it. Senior Republican staffers also learned of the allegation last week and, in conversations with The New Yorker, expressed concern about its potential impact on Kavanaugh's nomination. Soon after, Senate Republicans issued renewed calls to accelerate the timing of a committee vote. The Democratic Senate offices reviewing the allegations believe that they merit further investigation.
Fox News, 
A former Supreme Court clerk, Mr. Hawley, right, made his first campaign commercial about control of the court, and he assailed Ms. McCaskill for refusing to say if she would support Judge Kavanaugh. And after the accusation of sexual assault against Judge Kavanaugh last week, Mr. Hawley denounced Democrats for staging an "ambush."
The court filing, obtained and reported on by Splinter, alleges that Miller, shown in a file photo below at right, had an affair with a woman he met at a strip club in Orlando, Florida in 2012. As a result of the affair the woman got pregnant, at which point Miller is accused of giving her with an abortion pill without her knowledge or consent. The woman claims that the pill caused her to lose the baby and nearly cost her her life.
After NBC News raised questions about Ventry's employment history and the sexual harassment allegation against him, Judiciary Committee Spokesman Taylor Foy replied in a statement: "While (Ventry) strongly denies allegations of wrongdoing, he decided to resign to avoid causing any distraction from the work of the committee."
Politico, 
2018. Republican state Rep. Jim Knoblach, right, abruptly ended his re-election campaign Friday as MPR News prepared to publish detailed accusations from his daughter of inappropriate behavior toward her since childhood.
"Did y'all hear this latest late-breaking news on the Kavanaugh hearings?" Rep. 
The incident resurfaced this week as Booker joined calls for an FBI investigation into the allegation of high-school-era sexual assault leveled by Christine Blasey Ford against Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump's nominee to the Supreme Court.
Wayne Madsen Report (WMR), 
Mark Cuban (shown in a file photo), the billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks, will pay $10 million to women's leadership and domestic-violence organizations under an agreement with the N.B.A. announced Wednesday to address sexual harassment and other improper conduct among employees in the team's front office.
CNN, 
Speaking to reporters, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), right, said he was concerned by "gaps" in the account of Christine Blasey Ford, a psychology professor in California, who told The Washington Post in an interview published Sunday that Kavanaugh drunkenly pinned her to a bed on her back, groped her and put his hand over her mouth at a house party in the early 1980s when the two were in high school.
did nearly three decades ago.
Webb County Sheriff Martin Cuellar said police officers arrested the agent, Juan David Ortiz, early on Saturday morning after a woman who claimed she had been abducted by Mr. Ortiz escaped half-clothed and sought help at a gas station in Laredo.
Broidy resigned from his RNC role in April 2018 after the Wall Street Journal reported that he had been a party to a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with former Playboy Playmate Shera Bechard, paying $1.6 million for her silence about a sexual affair between them.
In that context, it is paramount that I proactively admit that I was one of those who made a speculative allegation against Trump which now, given more evidence, appears to have been false. I am referring to the theory, first outlined by law professor Paul Campos in New York Magazine, that Trump impregnated former Playboy playmate Shera Bechard while president, and then arranged for former GOP fundraiser Elliott Broidy to take the fall for that and the ensuing abortion, all while using Trump’s then personal attorney Michael Cohen to pay her $1.6 million.
Washington Post, 
CNBC, 
In a rare television interview broadcast Thursday in the Netherlands, Daniels described how her role in the legal and political drama that has ensnared the White House dealt a fatal blow to her marriage and has prompted "hurtful" criticism on social media about her parenting.
Washington Post, 
A university investigation found that Meyer and Ohio State Athletic Director Gene Smith failed to inform the school's compliance department about accusations made against former assistant coach Zach Smith in 2015 and instead awaited the conclusion of a law enforcement investigation that ultimately produced no criminal charges. The university also suspended Gene Smith for two weeks.
But in the months that followed her revelations about Mr. Weinstein last October, Ms. Argento quietly arranged to pay $380,000 to her own accuser: Jimmy Bennett, a young actor and rock musician who said she had sexually assaulted him in a California hotel room years earlier, when he was only two months past his 17th birthday. She was 37. The age of consent in California is 18.
NBC News via KVOA News (Tucson, AZ), 
No one in Congress is more associated with the Me Too movement than Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.). Long before Harvey Weinstein and Matt Lauer became infamous creeps, Gillibrand was focusing her attention on sexual assault and harassment in the military, on college campuses and in the workplace.
Washington Post, 
The case filed Thursday is the third federal lawsuit brought by men alleging sexual abuse by Dr. Richard Strauss (right), who worked at Ohio State from 1978 until he retired in 1998.
HuffPost, 
Fox News was a hotbed of sexual harassment and retaliation under Ailes, but executives at Fox News have worked over the past two years to improve the workplace culture and institute major changes in large part due to potential legal liabilities and regulatory concerns in the U.S. and U.K. Guilfoyle, according to several sources, failed to adapt to the new culture and still operated as if she were working under Ailes.
National Press Club, 
Ms. Bronfman was one of four people arrested in New York State on Tuesday after the unsealing of an updated seven-count indictment against Keith Raniere, leader of the now defunct-group, and five others in his "inner circle," federal prosecutors said in the indictment.Mr. Raniere, 57, was arrested earlier this year in Mexico and brought to New York to face federal sex-trafficking charges.
With each new revelation about Dr. Richard Strauss's decades of abuse during his time as a team doctor at Ohio State, the story is framed in one of two ways: Either as "bad news for Jordan," by those inclined to believe survivors, or as the work of the "deep state" by those on the far right.
Failed Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore (shown at right with a gun at a campaign rally) was endorsed by Etowah County Sheriff Todd Entrekin despite numerous accusations of Moore's inappropriate sexual behavior with minors. Now Entrekin has also been accused of having sex with underage girls.
The BBC first ran a 30-minute report dedicated to this notable query on Monday, July 9 – three days before Trump's visit to England. Titled "Trump: Is the president a sex pest?" it focused on Trump's relations with women in the 1980s and 1990s. Now, for those of us stateside who would like an answer of our own, the documentary is scheduled to premiere in the US and Canada on Saturday, July 21, at 10:30am EST, with another airing on Sunday afternoon.
Bill Shine, a former co-president of Fox News hired this month as President Trump's communications chief, brought conservative credentials and heavy baggage with him into the White House. President Trump embraced the former and ignored the latter.
Mr. Shine's appointment to the White House job has drawn criticism from some women who worked for him at Fox News, and has brought new scrutiny of his record there.
The Ohio Republican (shown right) spoke Monday morning with the firm looking into allegations against Dr. Richard Strauss and how the school responded to any complaints about Strauss, said spokesman Ian Fury, who declined to discuss details of the conversation.
Washington Post, 
If Republicans really want to go there, they'll need to investigate the vulnerabilities of some of Strzok's inquisitors on their glass-house committee:
Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), who has been under investigation by the House Ethics Committee over payments to a former staffer accused of sexual harassment. Other members of the panel are Rep. Greg Gianforte (R-Mont.), who was sentenced last year to community service and anger-management classes for assaulting a reporter, and Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.), whose infidelity as governor of South Carolina made national headlines.
Judging Strzok also would have been Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-Tex.), but he recently resigned after revelation of a taxpayer-funded sexual harassment settlement. (Farenthold is shown in a photo taken at the "Abyss" nightclub.)
On July 12, former deputy assistant director of the FBI Peter Strzok testified before 70 members of a joint hearing of the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees on his actions as the chief of the bureau's counter-intelligence division during the 2016 presidential election.
Strzok's text messages, in which he criticized Trump, were fodder for the Republicans who used the occasion to push their various unfounded conspiracy theories.
A complaint filed by the Campaign for Accountability alleges that Nunes (shown at left) possibly violated federal laws by omitting information from his financial disclosure forms when he failed to include information on his affiliation with three California companies. He left off information as to whether he had investments or received any financial gifts from the companies' owners. Alpha Omega, a Napa County winery, was listed as one of Nunes's primary assets, which he reported that he purchased in 2006 for between $50,001 and $100,000 but he claims to receive little income from it each year, "despite [its] apparent success."
2018. Barbara Coombes, 51 (shown at right), had just been gardening in her father's backyard, on a street of red-brick terrace homes in their suburb near Manchester, England, when she went inside and spotted a box on the dining room table.
WMR Editor Wayne Madsen, shown at left, is a syndicated columnist, author of 15 books and a former Navy Intelligence officer who was deputized by the FBI in the 1980s to help gather evidence used to convict and imprison his Navy commanding officer on pedophilia charges. In 2006, Madsen published a three-part series exposing then-GOP House Speaker Dennis Hastert as a gay pedophile, beginning during Hastert's career as a high school wrestling coach. A decade later Hastert was indicted for financial crimes related to victim payoffs and later imprisoned.
Shine has spent the past 14 months off the public grid after his ouster from Fox last May. He briefly succeeded Ailes as the network's top executive after Ailes was driven out by sexual harassment allegations, including a lawsuit by former host Gretchen Carlson (shown at left), which Fox's parent company settled in mid-2016 for $20 million.
He also allegedly played a role in covering up Ailes's relationship with Laurie Luhn, a former Fox booker who claimed she had a long, abusive affair with Ailes that eventually led to her mental breakdown. Luhn received $3.1 million from Fox in 2011 to settle her allegations of abuse and mistreatment by Ailes.
Washington Post, 
cautionary tale about how showbiz attorneys can silence alleged victims of discrimination.
Washington Post, 
Raw Story, 
New York Times, 
During the presidential campaign, American Media had arranged to effectively silence Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model who claimed to have had an affair with Mr. Trump years earlier, with a $150,000 payout.
20, 2018 (subscription required). Wayne Madsen is an investigative reporter, syndicated columnist, author and former Navy intelligence officer once temporarily deputized by the FBI to help investigate pedophilia by a fellow Navy officer.
Washington Post,
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 
Los Angeles Magazine, 
HuffPost, 
In a statement to HuffPost, Bee said: "I would like to sincerely apologize to Ivanka Trump and to my viewers for using an expletive on my show to describe her last night. It was inappropriate and inexcusable. I crossed a line, and I deeply regret it." The apology comes after White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders singled Bee out for criticism and called the host's language "vile and vicious."
One production assistant told CNN that she had endured several months of harassment while working on the set of "Going in Style," a film released last year starring Mr. Freeman, Alan Arkin and Michael Caine. She said that on one occasion Mr. Freeman (shown on the cover of a biography) "kept trying to lift up my skirt and asking if I was wearing underwear," until Mr. Arkin told Mr. Freeman to stop. There were also suggestive comments and unwanted touching, such as putting his hand on her back.
conviction of former state attorney general Kathleen Kane for leaking secret grand jury information and lying about it, saying among other things she wasn't entitled to use evidence of a pornographic email scandal in her defense.
Seminary leaders were unspecific about why they made the dramatic move, issuing a statement that didn't mention the controversial comments and saying they were moving "in the direction of new leadership" due to challenges related to "enrollment, financial, leadership and institutional identity."
New legal docs in the NXIVM case appear to shed further light on the cult's alleged sex-trafficking techniques—and the continued involvement of Seagram's heiress Clare Bronfman. Following the arrests of leader Keith Raniere and his alleged top lieutenant, former Smallville actress Allison Mack (shown at right), Clare Bronfman is now rumored to be calling the shots.
Washington Post, 
A month after abruptly resigning from Congress in an apparent effort to avoid more fallout from sexual harassment allegations, former Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-Texas, shown at right) already has a new job: lobbying his former colleagues on port issues.
WGBH News (Boston),
Once one of the most powerful men in the state, Rosenberg (shown at left) resigned his seat last week. He ultimately was felled by his loyalty to his palpably mentally-ill companion and (later) husband Bryon Hefner.
Among the previously unreported transactions were payments last year of about $500,000 from Columbus Nova, an investment firm in New York whose biggest client is a company controlled by 
References to the transactions first appeared in a document posted to Twitter on Tuesday by Michael Avenatti (shown at right), the lawyer for Stephanie Clifford, the adult film star who was paid $130,000 by Essential Consultants to keep quiet about an alleged affair with Mr. Trump.
Washington Post,
Kellyanne Conway (shown in a Gage Skidmore portrait), counselor to the president, and one of the president's sons, Donald Trump Jr., both shared a tweet posted by Schneiderman in October of last year. "No one is above the law, and I'll continue to remind President Trump and his administration of that fact everyday," Schneiderman wrote in the tweet.
Roll Call, 
Cárdenas, who holds a junior position in Democratic leadership, denies the allegations.
Edgers, Video by Sarah Hashemi and Whitney Leaming May 4, 2018. Record executives, low-paid assistants and other players in the music industry allowed R. Kelly (at right in his Twitter photo) to thrive even as allegations of abuse began to grow, a Washington Post investigation found.
Washington Post, 
On Monday, the host (shown in a file photo) dove headfirst into the controversy swamping her current network when Kelly addressed the allegations aimed at former NBC "Nightly News" anchor Tom Brokaw. The subject — the intersection between network insider politics and personalities — is one Kelly knows well.
Wayne Madsen Report (WMR), 
The young girl was Muslim. Her alleged assailants are Hindu, a circumstance ripe for conflict in an area where religious tensions and nationalism are rising under the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
New York Times, 
Washington Post, 
million in 2008, according to a Senate report last year. More than 90 percent of the earnings came from adult ads, the California Department of Justice found.
April 6, 2018. The president's denial and refusal to comment on whether there is a hush-money slush fund raises a raft of questions and complications for both Trump and Cohen.
The secret club known by the code name "Whiskey Delta Tango" consisted of 84 people, including 58 active military, who would reportedly take explicit photos of their genitals in different locations, and send them to him for a chance to win commemorative items.
Roll Call, 
Washington Post,
Kain, who provided a copy of the recording to The Washington Post, alerted the police, filed a report for felony threats and obtained a 12-month restraining order against Baker. According to emails obtained by The Post, Esty found out about the episode within a week. At that point, the Connecticut Democrat (shown at right) took matters into her own hands.
Dhue
New York Times, 
In an interview with MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Michael Avenatti, an attorney for Daniels, repeatedly said that his client had been threatened, but wouldn't say by who. He also declined to give details on the nature of the threats. Attorney says Stormy Daniels (shown with Trump in a 2006 photo) was threatened physically.
The investigation, which the Met opened in December after a report in The New York Times, found evidence of abuse and harassment "both before and during the period" when Mr. Levine worked at the Met, the company said in a statement. It was an extraordinary fall from grace for a legendary maestro, whom many consider the greatest American conductor since Leonard Bernstein.
Pornographic actress Stormy Daniels alleges she had an affair with President Donald Trump during the months after first lady Melania Trump gave birth to their son, Barron Trump. The Trumps are shown in a White House photo during the Inaugural in 2017.
Gee, imagine how bad it would be if conservatives weren't so virtuous. Madsen dubbed them the GOP (Gross Old Perverts), and the phrase seems to fit. From the article at WMR:
As for the Gross Old Pervert who fell outside the news cycle, that would be Utah Rep. 
Washington Post, 
New York Daily News, 
Wyoming Tribune Eagle, 
Wayne Madsen Report (WMR), 
Kettle (GOP minority whip and shown in a mug shot) was arrested Friday afternoon at his job in Richmond on a charge of video voyeurism that state police say was a result of him sharing pornographic images of his now ex-girlfriend.
ABA [American Bar Association] Journal, 
The most famous allegations against Thomas were made during the confirmation hearings by Anita Hill (shown in a file photo), who said Thomas had made sexual comments to her when she worked with him at the U.S. Department of Education and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Thomas denied the allegations and complained that the confirmation hearing was "a high-tech lynching."
The supervisor and others are named in a lawsuit she filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Davis alleges USDA managers retaliated against her because of her equal employment complaints against the agency and her involvement in an investigation of whistleblower complaints involving the department's Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights. (The Department's headquarters is shown at left in a file photo.)
"This action is not a disciplinary action, rather is taken as a precautionary measure pending further review of occurrences in the workplace on February 15, 2018," said the letter from Thomas A. Mulhern, USDA's director of human resources.
But that relative quiet about Justice Thomas (shown at left early in his career on the bench) was striking to me. After all, the Hill-Thomas conflagration was the first moment in American history when we collectively, truly grappled with sexual harassment....
As we previously reported, Katie Johnson alleged in federal lawsuits that Donald Trump and his friend, billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, raped her when she was 13 in New York City in 1994. Johnson's alleged also that the two men raped a 12-year old — only identified as "Maria."
Washington Post, 
Roll Call, 
New York Times,