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Former Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) on Friday offered up a line of questioning for Democrats to use on President Trump's Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Franken, who resigned in December after multiple allegations of groping women, said that if he were still in the Senate he would want to drill down details on a statement that Kavanaugh made this week when he was nominated. After being introduced by Trump during an event at the White House on Monday night, Kavanaugh thanked the president, saying, "Throughout this process, I’ve witnessed firsthand your appreciation for the vital role of the American judiciary."...

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) showed his frustration with the nomination process for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, chastising the media's coverage and saying he trusted the FBI's latest investigation.

Christine Ford, who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her in 1982, still hasn’t submitted material evidence supporting her claim, according to Senate Judiciary Committee head Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). Ford’s allegation relies heavily on three components: a polygraph exam she took earlier this year, notes from a therapy session in 2012, and eyewitness testimony. She has been unable to obtain the latter as all of her named witnesses and people at the alleged party where the alleged assault happened have denied being at the party and/or witnessing the alleged crime. That includes her longtime friend Leland...

Esquire’s Ryan Lizza published a lengthy story alleging that Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., has a “politically explosive secret,” that he’s a hypocrite on immigration policy, and that when Lizza went to a small town in Iowa to blow open the conspiracy, he was met by odd townspeople who treated him poorly. It turns out that Nunes doesn’t have a secret, that he’s not a hypocrite on immigration policy, and that the Iowans Lizza met were wary of him slowly driving around town while children were at play because they discovered Lizza had recently been fired from his job for sexual...

Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) on Tuesday sent a letter to Ford's lawyers renewing his request for "all audio or video recordings produced during the course of Mr. Hanafin's polygraph examination of Dr. Ford as well as all polygraph charts and other data that Mr. Hanafin relied upon in preparing his report." Grassley said they he made these requests before and after last Thursday's hearing, but he has yet to receive them.

DAVENPORT, Iowa - Controversial testimony at the nation's capitol is getting some reaction here at home. A local mental health counselor says she's seen the impact of the hearings for Judge Brett Kavanaugh. Miriam Prichard says it took an emotional toll on her and some of her patients. She says hearing the testimony from survivors can be traumatizing for other survivors. Prichard teamed up with a Davenport church so people could reflect in a quiet space. "What I've seen from survivors this past week is that people are just tired because they hear these stories and they hear people doubting...

A pair of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's former classmates at Yale Law on Tuesday withdrew their support of him after previously endorsements. Michael Proctor and Mark Osler wrote in a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and ranking member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) that they can no longer support Kavanaugh's confirmation because of the "nature" of his testimonty in front of the committee last week while addressing accusations of sexual misconduct. “In our view that testimony was partisan, and not judicious, and inconsistent with what we expect from a Justice of the Supreme Court, particularly dealing with...

Democrats and left-wing media have demonized House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) for exposing the Clinton campaign’s role in funding the salacious and unverified “pee dossier” against President Donald Trump, and they are now trying to go after his parents too. Esquire.com published the latest Nunes hit piece on Sunday evening, which involved reporter Ryan Lizza going to Sibley, Iowa, to stalk Devin Nunes’ parents at their home and dairy farm and asking members of their community for dirt on his parents and whether they were employing undocumented workers.

One of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s accusers has already been found to be a liar and now faces potential criminal prosecution and a potential 10-year prison sentence, thanks to actions taken Saturday by Senate Committee Judiciary chairman Chuck Grassley. Last Monday an unnamed male accuser contacted Democrat Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse to accuse Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge of having sexually assaulted a “close acquaintance” 33 years ago on a boat in Newport, Rhode Island. Instead of performing any due diligence, Whitehouse promptly forwarded the allegations to his fellow members on the Senate Judiciary Committee, who subsequently broached the...

Inmate No. 15000-030 is released into the frigid January morning at 8:46, a gray custodial suit of sweatpants and long-sleeved thermal clinging to his immense frame, a bushy salt-and-pepper beard wrapping around his face, a guard escorting him with a high-powered rifle slung over his right shoulder... At the time of his political rise, the Iowa GOP was being subdivided into three sects: libertarian, evangelical, and establishment. The latter two factions had long warred for control of the state party, but it was the “liberty movement” that was muscularly ascendant in 2008 thanks to Ron Paul’s iconoclastic campaign... He believed...

“It’s not surprising that China Daily sought to place advertising with the Des Moines Register, because the Register is Iowa’s largest news organization and Iowa farmers are disproportionately affected by China’s tariffs,” Hunter said. A senior Trump administration official said China uses political, economic, commercial, military and information tools to influence U.S. public opinion and promote the interests of the Chinese government and Communist Party. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence plans to make a speech next week detailing the allegations, said the official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity, saying the U.S. government was working to declassify further...

Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley was in Davenport on Saturday, saying controversies in the White House are pushing unaligned voters to the left in a way that will help Democrats in this year’s midterm elections. “The crazier things get out of that Trump White House, the more independents look our way, and they’re coming our way strong,” O’Malley told more than 40 people at Scott County Democratic headquarters. O’Malley said that President Donald Trump has been a great recruitment tool for Democrats, and this year’s midterms are a chance to push back on the 2016 losses. “Great countries sometimes make...

Charles Grassley, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, seem determined to call a vote next week on the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court, even in the face of this week’s sexual assault allegations against him. Senate Republicans assume, correctly, that if they can hold the party line, his installation on the Supreme Court is a sure thing. This is certainly true — even if the Democratic caucus in the Senate holds firm against Mr. Kavanaugh, they simply lack the votes to block him....

Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.) said Tuesday that the Senate Judiciary Committee should subpoena a former classmate of Brett Kavanaugh as it examines sexual assault allegations against the Supreme Court nominee. Jones weighed in shortly after the former classmate, Mark Judge, told committee leaders through his attorney that he won't testify and that he has no recollection about the alleged incident from the early 1980s. "You can count on the fact that that letter, his response, is going to be entered into the record by someone, and that needs to be tested as well," Jones, who is not a member of...

Senator Dianne Feinstein Won’t Set Up Call for Kavanaugh Accuser to Testify It’s now official: This entire situation is a farce that needs to end immediately. Anything less shows the Democrats are profoundly unserious about the allegations being made against Brett Kavanaugh. Over the weekend, Senator Dianne Feinstein made waves by going public with accusations against President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee. First, she revealed that someone who knew Kavanaugh in high school accused him of sexually assaulting her. Then the accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, actually came out publicly. Senate Republicans tried to pull a fast one on her by challenging...

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley blasted ranking member Sen. Dianne Feinstein for her handling of high-school-era sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh... ....snip.. The chairman explained that “the standard procedure for updates to any nominee’s background investigation file is to conduct separate follow-up calls with relevant parties. In this case, that would entail phone calls with at least Judge Kavanaugh and Dr. Ford,” adding, “I asked Senator Feinstein’s office yesterday to join me in scheduling these follow-ups. Thus far, they have refused. But as a necessary step in evaluating these claims, I’ll continue working to set...

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on Monday said that Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct, “deserves to be heard” in an “appropriate” manner. “Anyone who comes forward as Dr. Ford has deserves to be heard, so I will continue working on a way to hear her out in an appropriate, precedented and respectful manner,” Grassley said in a statement. He said his committee is “working diligently to get to the bottom of these claims,” an indication that another round of committee hearings is possible. The most prominent precedent is from...

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, is working to set up separate phone calls with Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, before a committee vote scheduled for Thursday. "Given the late addendum to the background file and revelations of Dr. Ford’s identity, Chairman Grassley is actively working to set up such follow-up calls with Judge Kavanaugh and Dr. Ford ahead of Thursday’s scheduled vote," a spokesman for Grassley said on Sunday. The aide added that "the Chairman and Ranking Member routinely hold bipartisan staff calls with nominees when updates are made...

Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and West Virginia all have adult obesity rates of at least 35 percent Prevalence ranged from 22.6 percent in Colorado to 38.1 percent in West Virginia Middle-age adults between ages 45 and 54 are twice as likely to be obese as young adults between ages 18 and 24 Data came from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, which is a survey conducted via telephone by the CDC and state health departments. In addition to having the highest obesity prevalence, West Virginia also led the nation in the percentage of adults with diabetes at 15.2....

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is moving to set up a Judiciary Committee vote on Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination, likely next week. Grassley's office on Monday sent out an agenda for a business meeting the committee will have on Thursday. Kavanaugh's nomination is included as one of roughly two dozen judicial nominations that could get a vote. The move means Kavanaugh's nomination could get a vote as soon as this week. But Democrats are expected to delay the vote until next week, meaning Kavanaugh's nomination will likely be taken up by the committee on Sept. 20. Under committee rules, any...