BRETT KAVANAUGH/FBI/SEX ABUSE/SUPREME COURT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “In a week that began mired in uncertainty — for President Donald Trump, for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, for congressional Republicans, for the FBI — the GOP still had the stolid steadiness of Mitch McConnell to lean on…McConnell’s vow that, come hell or high water, the Senate would render its judgment on Kavanaugh’s nomination was a stark contrast to the swirl of unknowns surrounding the investigation into Kavanaugh’s background launched somewhat haphazardly on Friday. The confusion centered on what, exactly, the FBI was tasked by the White House with investigating. Was the mandate solely to look into claims made by two women — Christine Blasey Ford and Deborah Ramirez — that Kavanaugh had engaged in sexually inappropriate behavior with each of them during high school and college, respectively? Was Kavanaugh’s drinking — and his insistence in last week’s testimony in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee that he never blacked out or passed out — fair game? What about the allegations of women other than Ford or Ramirez — most notably Julie Swetnick, who alleged that she had been at parties with Kavanaugh in the early 1980s in which he engaged in excessive drinking and inappropriate sexual behavior?”
–Chris Cillizza, “Washington holds its breath as the FBI investigates Kavanaugh,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, October 1, 2018 4:48 am