BRETT KAVANAUGH/FBI/SUPREME COURT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Thursday [10-4-18] was a very good day for Brett Kavanaugh — maybe his best day since being chosen as Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee back in July. Friday [10-5-18] was even better, as his confirmation to the court appeared to be sealed with three key senators deciding he’s worthy of being confirmed. Yes, North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D) announced Thursday she would vote against his nomination. On that same day, two of the three swing Republican senators — Maine’s Susan Collins and Arizona’s Jeff Flake — praised the thoroughness of the recently concluded FBI investigation into allegations of sexual assault against Kavanaugh. Tea leaf readers saw the broadly supportive comments from that duo as a sign that the FBI’s supplemental check on Kavanaugh had a) turned up no corroboration of claims made by Christine Blasey Ford and Deborah Ramirez and b) provided Kavanaugh with something very close to the 50 senators’ votes he needs to make it to the court. And on Friday morning, what was once a fluid situation became much more solid: Flake and Collins both voted in favor of Kavanaugh on Friday’s key procedural vote, and announced they would vote to confirm him as well. Republican Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski voted against Kavanaugh on Friday’s vote, but her vote was canceled out by Democratic West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin crossing party lines to give Republicans a 51-49 win.”
–Chris Cillizza, “What Kavanaugh’s confirmation would mean,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, October 4, 2018 9:05 am