Politics

CBS News reports: The Democratic National Committee on Friday officially served its lawsuit to WikiLeaks via Twitter, employing a rare method to serve its suit to the elusive group that has thus far been unresponsive. As CBS News first reported last month, the DNC filed a motion with a federal court in Manhattan requesting permission to serve its complaint to …

Politico reports: Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s Senate confirmation hearings will start on Sept. 4 and last between three and four days, Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) announced on Friday. That scheduling tees up the GOP to meet its goal of getting President Donald Trump’s pick seated on the high court by the time its term begins in early October, …

The Washington Post reports: A federal judge has found a witness in contempt for refusing to testify before the grand jury hearing evidence in special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. U.S. District Chief Judge Beryl Howell made the ruling Friday after a sealed hearing to discuss Andrew Miller’s refusal to appear …

CNN reports: There is something in the current “Notorious RBG” fervor that offers the perfect paradox for a woman whose early career was marked by rejection and work in the trenches of anti-discrimination law. Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s superstardom has not been fleeting, precisely because of what she did before and what she represents today. She made the law review at …

The Des Moines Register reports: Michael Avenatti has arrived in Iowa. After three canceled flights and a 700-mile road trip, the lawyer known for representing adult film actress Stormy Daniels in her case against Republican President Donald Trump, is ready to put his stake in the ground in the first-in-the-nation caucus state. “I’m exploring a run for the presidency of …

The Guardian reports: Donald Trump is a “racist” who has used the “N-word” repeatedly, Omarosa Manigault Newman, once the most prominent African American in the White House, claims in a searing memoir. The future US president was caught on mic uttering the taboo racial slur “multiple times” during the making of his reality TV show The Apprentice and there is …

NBC News reports: Rapper Kanye West isn’t known for holding his tongue, but at one point in a meandering interview on TV’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” Thursday, one question brought silence. Kimmel, a near nightly critic of President Donald Trump, hammered the performer over his support for Trump, whom West once described in a tweet as “my brother.” Kimmel asked, “I …

The Wichita Eagle reports: Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach said in a cable news interview Thursday night that he plans to recuse himself from the vote tally process in the face of pressure from Gov. Jeff Colyer and mounting confusion over vote totals. Kobach said that he would recuse himself in an interview with CNN hours after Colyer had …

Roll Call reports: Sen. Ted Cruz has admitted his race against Democratic challenger Rep. Beto O’Rourke will be a tough one. The Republican told ABC13 that his re-election bid is a “real race” because of energy on the “hard left.” “The anger on the left is real. And so I think the urgency for conservatives, the urgency for Texans who …

The New York Daily News reports: An online petition advocating for LeBron James to replace Betsy DeVos as the United States Secretary of Education is garnering a wave of public support. More than 16,000 people have signed the plea, which was published to the Care2 Petitions website less than two weeks after the new Los Angeles Laker opened a public …

CBNC reports: Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., used campaign funds to pay legal bills while he faced investigation for alleged insider trading for more than a year. A federal criminal investigation culminated in his arrest Wednesday, but before that he was under scrutiny by congressional ethics investigators. Since July 2017, Federal Election Commission records show Collins’ campaign has been paying up …

The Daily Mail reports: First lady Melania Trump’s parents were sworn in as U.S. citizens in New York City on Thursday. Viktor and Amalija Knavs have been living in the United States on as permanent residents on green cards. They arrived and departed from a Manhattan federal building escorted by Homeland Security police. They got no special treatment during the …

The Wichita Eagle reports: Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach said Thursday that he has no plans to recuse himself from a recount process in the race for governor because any counting of ballots would take place at the county level. “The recount thing is done on a county level, so the secretary of state does not actually participate directly …

The New York Times reports: In the not too distant future, Representative Chris Collins will likely have his day in court to answer the insider trading charges that were leveled against him on Wednesday, but the Republican lawmaker may well be judged sooner — by voters in November. A spokeswoman for the campaign arm of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, …

Heavy reports: Conservative commentator and provocateur Ben Shapiro wants to take on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Democratic nominee for Congress from New York. In a tweet, Shapiro said that he would donate to Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign if she agreed to hold a debate with him. There’s been no reaction from the Ocasio-Cortez twitter account as yet. The relationship between Ocasio-Cortez has been …

The Cincinnati Enquirer reports: The tight race between Democrat Danny O’Connor and Republican Troy Balderson just got tighter. Election officials in Franklin County found 588 previously uncounted votes in a Columbus suburb. The result: O’Connor had a net gain of 190 votes, bringing the race’s margin down to 1,564. “The votes from a portion of one voting location had not …

The New York Daily News reports: The City Council voted Wednesday to stop issuing new licenses for most for-hire vehicles for a year in an effort to regulate e-hail apps like Uber, Lyft and Via, whose rapid growth has thrown the city’s taxi industry into chaos. “This is about supporting and uplifting drivers, making sure they are paid enough to …

The San Jose Mercury-News reports: Amid a tense battle over rent control in California, real-estate interests are writing big checks to defeat a November ballot measure that would give cities more power to regulate what landlords can charge tenants — and the initiative’s backer responded this week with a $10 million cash infusion. “We know we will be significantly outspent …

Politico reports: A former Republican congressional staffer is launching an independent write-in campaign in the Chicago-area district where an avowed Nazi will be on the ballot in November representing the party. Lawyer and former congressional aide Justin Hanson, of LaGrange, Ill., said he decided to throw his hat in the ring as a write-in candidate for the 3rd Congressional District …

CNN reports: WikiLeaks announced in a tweet Wednesday the Senate Intelligence Committee called on its founder Julian Assange to testify on Russian interference in the 2016 election. The tweet also included a copy of the letter delivered to Assange. It requests Assange make himself “available” for a closed interview with the committee “at a mutually agreeable time and location,” and …