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"I’m glad that Dr. Ford was heard; I'm glad that Judge Kavanaugh was heard," she added. With the Great Sphinx of Giza and the pyramids visible over her shoulder, first lady Melania Trump expressed support for Brett Kavanaugh, her husband's nominee for the Supreme Court, on the final day of a trip to Africa trip that focused on her advocacy for children. The first lady had stayed largely quiet about the Supreme Court battle that had raged in Washington since Kavanaugh was publicly accused of sexual assault by Christine Blasey Ford last month, but Melania Trump spoke about what the...

Wow, what a week. First, some background. I have a source on the judiciary/courts whom I call "Zen Master" because in two years he hasn't been wrong. He has given me heads up on all the circuit court judges, was right on Gorsuch, and very early said Judge K would be the selection (he favored another) and that Judge K would get confirmed. He predicted the confirmation would be September 28 by 53-47. Ok, the date was a tad off because of the extra week demanded by Flakey, and the final will be two votes short because of MurCowSki's betrayal...

Fox News anchors said Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony was compelling. Republican strategists sent panicked text messages anticipating an electoral disaster. And even some Brett Kavanaugh supporters questioned whether he could rescue his nomination. But as Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court appeared to be crumbling under the weight of sexual assault accusations, President Donald Trump had already become convinced that abandoning the judge would come at too great a cost to his administration and his party’s chances in the midterm elections. The president, according to half a dozen officials and people working on the confirmation, came to the determination that...

President Trump’s fight for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is breaking up the “Never Trump” coalition of GOP leaders and pundits, many who are now uniting behind the president in advance of Saturday’s Senate confirmation vote. Rocked by the wall of Democratic opposition no matter what evidence supporting Kavanaugh is presented and impressed with Trump’s solid backing amid a brutal media attack, Never Trumpers are abandoning their opposition in a show of support for the man they once mocked. One famous Never Trumper even told Secrets that Trump’s unwavering support for Kavanaugh, a long-time public servant who worked for former...

A Pennsylvania county has become the example of how Trump took the nation by storm with a conservative rhetoric that reached the forgotten corners of America in the 2016 cycle. Ben Bradlee Jr., a former Boston Globe reporter who led the Pulitzer-Prize winning team featured in the movie "Spotlight," sat down with ABC’s Political Director Rick Klein this week for the Powerhouse Politics Podcast to discuss his book, “The Forgotten: How the People of One Pennsylvania Country Elected Donald Trump and Changed America.” His book takes a deep dive, through the lives of 12 characters, into how Luzerne County became...

The White House on Friday expressed confidence the Senate will confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. "We sure hope so. I think we should," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said when asked by reporters if Kavanaugh has enough votes. "Moving into the weekend, we certainly hope the Senate will vote to confirm him," she added. The comments come after Kavanaugh cleared a key procedural hurdle in the Senate, setting up a final vote on his confirmation as early as Saturday. But the vote was full of drama and was called without Kavanaugh knowing beforehand whether he would...

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker made one last attempt to derail the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court, urging his 4.1 million Twitter followers to flood the Senate switchboard in opposition. Booker, D-N.J., issued his call to action as senators pored over a new FBI investigation into allegations of sexual assault leveled against Kavanaugh. "The time to call your senators is now," Booker tweeted with the hashtags "Stop Kavanaugh" and "Believe Survivors." THE 202 224 3121 TIME 202 224 3121 TO 202 224 3121 CALL YOUR SENATORS 202 224 3121 IS 202 224 3121 NOW 202 224...

More than two dozen Maine women, many of them survivors of sexual assault, are in Washington D.C. Thursday to try to meet personally with Sen. Susan Collins before a confirmation vote on Judge Brett Kavanaugh. Becky DeKeuster of Sidney is among those who chartered a bus from Portland Wednesday night in order to attend a noon rally outside the Supreme Court, and to lobby Collins and other senators who have not yet announced their positions on Kavanaugh. Speaking from the bus, DeKeuster says there's more than one reason Collins should vote “No.” "I want her to know, number one, that...

There are two immediate reasons that President Trump might have decided that, after weeks of holding his fire, it was worth disparaging Christine Blasey Ford during a rally in Mississippi on Tuesday night. The first is that Ford’s allegation that Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court, Brett M. Kavanaugh, had assaulted her when the two were in high school was putting Kavanaugh’s nomination at risk. Trump insists that he punches his opponents only after they punch him first, which isn’t true, but it’s certainly unusual for him to incur political damage without lashing out. On Tuesday, that moment arrived for...

Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., echoed Leader Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday, saying Democrats shouldn’t consider impeaching Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh before the Senate makes it decision and the FBI finishes its reopened background check. Though a number of key House Democrats have said they want to investigate the allegations of sexual assault against Kavanaugh if their party wins the lower chamber in November, Democratic leaders were more hesitant to jump on the bandwagon. “I don’t want to prejudge,” Hoyer said Thursday in a sit-down with reporters, where he boasted about Democrats' chances of flipping control of the House. “I...

Local- and state-level leaders across the country say they’re ready to lash out against Democrats in the midterm elections. When many conservative women around the country watched Christine Blasey Ford appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, they didn’t find her testimony compelling or convincing, as many liberals did. They saw a political farce. “Honestly, I don’t think I have ever been so angry in all of my adult life,” says Ginger Howard, a Republican national committeewoman from Georgia. “It brings me to the point of tears, it makes me so angry.” In interviews with roughly a dozen female...

Anti-Brett Kavanaugh protesters have flooded Capitol Hill since news of allegations of sexual misconduct against him, walking hallways in protest, holding loud demonstrations and confronting senators in elevators. One such protester approached Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana on his way through a Senate building walkway Monday. She asked, “Why are you supporting Kavanaugh?” to the brisk-walking senator. Cassidy took the chance to push back, asking her if she would like it if her loved ones were “destroyed” by “uncorroborated” charges. Cassidy: “Why wouldn’t I support Kavanaugh?” Protester: “Because rapists are bad.” Cassidy: “Wait a second — everybody there said...

The GOP senator told Sean Hannity that the president should basically appeal any Senate “no” vote to the American people. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) released a statement on Tuesday calling on President Donald Trump to renominate alleged sexual abuser Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court should his current nomination fail. Graham opened by sharing his admiration and empathy for Kavanaugh and his family, imploring other senators to “not quit on him,” before diving into the senator’s suggestion to the president. “I believe Judge Kavanaugh will be confirmed to the Supreme Court very soon,” Graham said. “However, if his nomination were...

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Opponents of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh plan to keep up the pressure on Republican Sen. Susan Collins, a key swing vote. Collins has not said how she would vote on Kavanaugh's nomination. Demonstrators planned to show up at her Portland office on Monday to urge her to vote no. It's the latest in a series of demonstrations at Collins' offices. Demonstrators also held a sit-in at her Portland on Friday, the day the Senate Judiciary Committee voted along party lines to advance Kavanaugh's nomination to the Senate floor....

BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — Democratic U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont says he believes that if Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is seated, it would diminish the confidence Americans should have in the court. Leahy, a member of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, made the comments Monday in his Burlington office before flying back to Washington. He said questions that arose during the confirmation process about an alleged sexual assault in high school and bad behavior in college demonstrate what happens when "you try to rush through a judicial nominee." Leahy said he believes the allegations against Kavanaugh are "completely...

AUSTIN, Texas (KTRK) -- Senate-hopeful Beto O'Rourke used his free time from the postponed debate Sunday to reach voters on Facebook Live. His campaign billed his interactive effort as a live television ad in response to the spate of recent negative ads against him. During the Facebook Live broadcast, he mentioned the timing of his campaign, especially given the contentious testimony during the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee last week. Rather than point out the emotional nature of the proceedings, O'Rourke offered his gratitude to Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who has accused the Supreme...

Rest assured that if there’s a rumor that, in third grade, young Brett Kavanaugh yanked on the ponytails of the girl in the second row (war on women!), The New York Times, NBC News and phalanxes of their journalistic colleagues will be all over it. Meanwhile, Rep. Beto O’Rourke had a pair of felony arrests in his mid-to-late 20s, including a reckless drunk-driving incident in which he crashed into a car and allegedly tried to flee from the scene. The cases appear to have mysteriously disappeared without serious prosecution, notwithstanding that O’Rourke continues to deny basic facts outlined in at...

Senator Lindsey Graham said that in a conversation with Donald Trump Thursday night, the president told him that first lady Melania Trump was “proud” of his fiery attack on the sexual allegations brought against Brett Kavanaugh by Christine Blasey Ford. After a hearing in which Republicans had allowed female prosecutor Rachel Mitchell to question both Ford and Kavanaugh, Graham took the microphone and angrily denounced Democrats and the whole process that threatened to derail Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court. “This is not a job interview. This is hell,” a furious Graham said. “What you want to do is destroy...

Judge Brett Kavanaugh was defiant and visibly angry as he testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday afternoon, rebutting earlier emotional testimony from the woman who has accused him of sexual assault, Christine Blasey Ford. Departing from his prepared statement he had submitted to the committee the night before, Kavanaugh cast himself as the victim of a political smear campaign driven by the partisan divide in the country. "This whole two-week effort has been a calculated and orchestrated political hit," Kavanaugh said, "fueled with apparent pent-up anger about President Trump and the 2016 election, fear that has been unfairly...

One of the country's most popular Republican governors on Thursday called for an independent investigation into the allegations made against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and said the Senate should hold off on a vote. Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker made the comments as Professor Christine Blasey Ford testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that Kavanaugh sexually and physically assaulted here. "The accusations brought against Judge Kavanaugh are sickening and deserve an independent investigation," Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker tweeted. "There should be no vote in the Senate." Baker, who faces re-election this November, is one of only a few Republican governors,...