Politics

Politico reports: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ security detail is projected to cost up to $7.74 million from now through the end of September 2019, a spokesman for the U.S. Marshals Service told POLITICO on Tuesday night. The Marshals Service said the final cost of protection for DeVos in fiscal 2018 was $6.79 million. That’s more than the $6.54 million officials …

The Hill reports: Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is asking for Christine Blasey Ford, the first woman to accuse Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault, to turn over notes from her therapy sessions and recordings of the lie detector test she took. Grassley made the request in a letter sent to Ford’s attorneys on Tuesday night, …

Mediaite reports: Sen. Jeff Flake criticized President Donald Trump for mocking Christine Blasey Ford at his rally on Tuesday night, in an appearance on the Today Show alongside Sen. Chris Coons. “There’s no time and no place for comments like that,” the Arizona Republican said. “And to discuss something this sensitive at a political rally, is just not right. I …

From the Hollywood Reporter: Stormy Daniels had a decidedly less coy appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Tuesday night than previously. Daniels said she met with Trump in a hotel room where he answered the door in silky pajamas. “I’m pretty sure I thought he was channeling Hugh Hefner,” said Daniels. “Significantly less sexy.” Of the detail that Daniels spanked Trump …

Talking Points Memo reports: White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said Tuesday that she doesn’t plan to share any additional details from her recently revealed past sexual assault, calling the disclosure on Sunday unplanned. Speaking at The Atlantic’s Festival in Washington, D.C., the senior Trump White House aide shared that she has received negative comments since she revealed the assault during …

CNBC News reports: New York state tax officials are investigating allegations detailed in an exhaustive New York Times investigation into Donald Trump and his family’s business dealings. The Times reported on Tuesday that Trump and his family committed “instances of outright fraud” in order to transfer millions of dollars from the real estate empire of the president’s father, Fred Trump, …

The Washington Post reports: Michael R. Bloomberg, the billionaire former mayor of New York City who is considering a 2020 presidential campaign, will give $20 million to the main Democratic Senate super PAC this week — jolting the national battle for control of the chamber just five weeks away from the midterm elections. Bloomberg’s intervention bolsters the Democrats’ Senate chances …

TIME Magazine reports: A record number of people registered to vote in the midterm elections on National Voter Registration Day last week, surpassing the previous record set during the 2016 presidential campaign. More than 800,000 people registered to vote this year as part of National Voter Registration Day, which fell on Sept. 25. The corresponding campaign had aimed to register …

Mitch McConnell this afternoon said that only Senators will be allowed to see the FBI’s just-completed report on Brett Kavanaugh. “We’ll get an FBI report soon. It will be made available to each senator and only senators will be allowed to look at it,” McConnell told reporters. He added, “that’s the way these reports are always handled.” The FBI is …

Via press release from Twitter Rules: Distribution of hacked materials: Our rules prohibit the distribution of hacked material that contains private information or trade secrets, or could put people in harm’s way. We are also expanding the criteria for when we will take action on accounts which claim responsibility for a hack, which includes threats and public incentives to hack …

The Washington Post reports: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) doubled down Tuesday on his vow to hold a vote by the end of the week on the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, saying he was the victim of open “floodgates of mud and muck.” “One thing we know for sure: The Senate will vote on Judge …

The Hill reports: Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) on Tuesday vowed to stay involved in politics after he leaves the Senate in November, noting that he doesn’t yet know “at what level or in what way” but plans to remain committed. “I’m not leaving the Senate because I’m not tied to this institution or ‘pox on all your houses,'” Flake said …

“Here’s what I would tell the president: I would appeal the verdict of the Senate to the ballot box. This good man should not be destroyed. If you legitimize this process by one vote short, we’ll be on to the next person. I’d hate to be the next person nominated. I would feel horrible that we destroyed Kavanaugh. So what …

Courthouse News reports: A French atheist living in Massachusetts lost her court battle Friday to strike the phrase “so help me God” from the U.S. citizenship oath. Granting the government summary judgment, U.S. District Judge William Young found that nothing about how the oath is administered, or how it burdens challenger Olga Paul Perrier-Bilbo, amounts to a constitutional violation. Though …

Politico reports: Three New Yorkers are suing in federal court to try to halt a test scheduled for Wednesday of a system that allows President Donald Trump or any future president to send alert messages to the cellphones of all Americans. The activists filed the suit last week in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, arguing that the system violates their …

The Harvard Crimson reports: Embattled Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh will not return to teach at Harvard Law School in January, according to an email administrators sent to Law students Monday evening. “Today, Judge Kavanaugh indicated that he can no longer commit to teaching his course in January Term 2019, so the course will not be offered,” Associate Dean …

Houston’s KHOU reports: A billboard truck with an old tweet from President Trump on it was spotted at Hermann Park Monday morning. The truck shows a tweet from then-candidate Donald Trump criticizing then-opponent Senator Ted Cruz during the 2016 presidential race. The truck is an advertisement purchased with funds raised by Antonio Arellano, a Houston-based activist and Latino community organizer …

The Washington Examiner reports: A new poll shows Republican challenger Rep. Kevin Cramer leading Sen. Heidi Heitkamp by a 10-point margin, with North Dakotans overwhelmingly in favor of confirming Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court. Losing a race in North Dakota would make it significantly more difficult for Democrats to retake the Senate. The poll, from Mason Dixon and …

Earlier today Glorious Leader disputed Brett Kavanaugh’s own sworn testimony before Congress by saying that the nominee has had “a little bit of difficulty with drinking.” Now comes the damage control: The White House on Monday blasted out two statements from men who attended college with Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, both of whom claim they never saw Kavanaugh black …

NBC News Washington reports: D.C. Council member Vincent Gray, a former mayor of the city, says he was injured when a bouncer at a nightclub pushed him on Saturday, causing him to fall. Gray told police an employee pushed him at the DC Eagle on Benning Road NE, leaving him with injuries. The Metropolitan Police Department classified the report as …