Presented by Citi | View in Browser |
|
|
The Senate voted to end debate and move to the final vote on Kavanaugh's nomination: |
Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh just cleared a key hurdle, which sets up his nomination for a final vote Saturday afternoon. http://bit.ly/2pEs9Qw Today's cloture vote: 51-49 The gist: Today's vote was to decide whether to advance Kavanaugh's nomination to a final Senate floor vote. I.e.: Senators expected to oppose Kavanaugh voted against advancing his nomination. But keep in mind about today's cloture vote: "Senators sometimes vote to bring debate to a close ... and then vote another way later on the underlying issue. Yet, on other occasions, the cloture vote can predictive of how the final vote may go." http://bit.ly/2yj3WD9 |
|
|
|
THE SWING VOTES WE'VE BEEN WATCHING -- HAVE ANNOUNCED DECISIONS: |
Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.): Flake just announced he is voting 'yes' on Kavanaugh. http://bit.ly/2DZWe7d Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.): Heitkamp is a 'no.' http://bit.ly/2PaArLa |
|
THE SWING VOTES WE'VE BEEN WATCHING -- HAVEN'T ANNOUNCED YET: |
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Ala.): Murkowski just said: "[I] took the very, very difficult vote that I did. I believe that Brett Kavanaugh is a good man. I believe he is a good man it just may be that in my view he's not the right man for the court at this time." Keep in mind: Murkowski was the only Republican to vote with Democrats as a 'no' on the cloture vote to end debate. http://bit.ly/2NqZrfd Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) -- announcing at 3 p.m.: She voted 'yes' in the cloture vote to end debate. Collins's final vote is still a mystery: Collins will announce her final decision on Kavanaugh during a 3 p.m. speech on the Senate floor. http://bit.ly/2DZ2L1L Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.): Manchin voted 'yes' in the cloture vote to end debate, but hasn't announced his final vote. What it comes down to: If Manchin and Collins both vote 'no,' Kavanaugh will not be confirmed. If either of them vote 'yes,' he likely would be confirmed. Here's the full cloture vote count by party: https://politi.co/2IGbQLJ |
|
SIGHTS AND SOUNDS: |
Tidbit about Murkowski's vote: "Murkowski's no was quiet -- press corps all verified [with] each other that it was 'no'." http://bit.ly/2O8kQPP Grassley on the Senate floor: "Sen. Grassley condemns the 'résistance' -- using like a French accent to pronounce it -- on the Senate floor." (Via NPR's Tim Mak) http://bit.ly/2E1nXnN The Daily Beast's Sam Stein ran into White House counsel Don McGahn in the Senate: Stein tweeted: "ME: Do you have the votes? HIM: [shoulder shrug] ME: Well? HIM: 'Well. I'm here' ME: Is that as an intimidation tactic or a good luck charm? [White House deputy press secretary] Raj Shah interjects, jokingly: 'Oh. Leave him alone'" http://bit.ly/2O6uthZ "A" for creativity: A group of protesters, who are against Kavanaugh, dressed as a human wall. Photo: http://bit.ly/2y168jd Here's a pro-Kavanaugh protester: He's yelling, "Support Judge Kavanaugh, thus says the lord." Photo: http://bit.ly/2ygwgpW Happy Mitch McConnell: Politico's Kyle Cheney tweeted, "Silent smiling McConnell makes his way to his office." Photo: http://bit.ly/2zTv9ye It's 5 o'clock somewhere: "There are people drinking PBR from red Solo cups outside Mitch McConnell's house at this early hour. They are chanting 'I like beer.' " http://bit.ly/2OEmUhT Livestream of the vote: https://cs.pn/2OCFJ4R |
|
CONTEXT TO TODAY'S VOTE: |
Tidbit -- one-year anniversary: The Senate is voting on Kavanaugh's confirmation exactly one year after the New York Times published its initial piece about Harvey Weinstein paying off sexual harassment accusers. https://nyti.ms/2OACBGV A GOP senator may miss tomorrow's vote: Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) will be out of town this weekend for his daughter's wedding. Friday's vote sets up a potential confirmation vote on Saturday. We still don't know if the Daines trip will affect that timing. http://bit.ly/2Npq1Fv ^Throwback: Here's a photo of Daines and his family from 2013 during the mock swearing in. (Via C-SPAN's Howard Mortman) Photo: http://bit.ly/2Pd3r4T |
|
Happy Friday! I'm Cate Martel with a quick recap of the morning and what's coming up. Send comments, story ideas and events for our radar to cmartel@thehill.com, @CateMartel and on Facebook. |
|
OTHER NEWS IN THE KAVANAUGH CONFIRMATION FIGHT | |
One thing we know for sure -- DJT is open about his feelings: |
This morning, President Trump accused Kavanaugh protesters of being "paid professionals." http://bit.ly/2ya3AzJ He tweeted: "The very rude elevator screamers are paid professionals only looking to make Senators look bad. Don't fall for it! Also, look at all of the professionally made identical signs. Paid for by Soros and others. These are not signs made in the basement from love! #Troublemakers." http://bit.ly/2O48XKB |
|
Trending -- Judge Kavanaugh published an op-ed: |
Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh published an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal defending his "emotional" testimony last week. https://on.wsj.com/2zTMk2Z Excerpt: "I was very emotional last Thursday, more so than I have ever been. I might have been too emotional at times. I know that my tone was sharp, and I said a few things I should not have said. I hope everyone can understand that I was there as a son, husband and dad. I testified with five people foremost in my mind: my mom, my dad, my wife, and most of all my daughters." |
|
SIGHTS AND SOUNDS FROM YESTERDAY'S KAVANAUGH PROTESTS ON CAPITOL HILL: |
Photo of Amy Schumer and Emily Ratajkowski getting arrested: http://bit.ly/2IFvHL0 Video of Amy Schumer: http://bit.ly/2PbTHru The Hill's Melanie Zanona asked Amy Schumer what the pink bracelets are for: " 'For drinking,' she quipped, without missing a beat. (Colored bracelets are being used instead of ziptie handcuffs)" http://bit.ly/2IFvHL0 I'm sorry, what?: "A staffer comes up from the floor where the Kavanaugh FBI report is being held carrying a frying pan. I don't know." (From Business Insider's Joe Perticone). Photo of the frying pan to prove it -- again, what?: http://bit.ly/2NmNffB How many people were arrested: More than 300 (!) people were arrested for "unlawful demonstrating." http://bit.ly/2RsCMT9 Video of protesters gathering: http://bit.ly/2pFewAl Overheard from a protester: "It's the one-month anniversary since I started protesting here." "Congratulations!" "Yeah, but I miss New York City. I haven't seen my home in so long." |
|
|
J-O-B-S, what does that spell? "Meh.": |
The U.S. economy added 134,000 jobs in September, well below expectations. What was expected: Estimates had been for about 184,000 jobs in September. The good news -- after the summer of '69: The unemployment rate fell to 3.7 percent for the lowest level since December 1969. http://bit.ly/2ODgWh8 |
|
|
This is confusing, but you go, Sen. Leahy! (Glen Coco): |
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) tweeted a selfie of himself with no caption or context. Leahy then tweeted: "yep... that's me..." From the Buzzfeed article: "And we were all like, 'Yep...that's you...' " The tweets about the selfie are pretty hilarious: http://bit.ly/2NoguOZ |
|
Reaction to the Trump tax investigation earlier this week: |
Via The Hill's Niv Elis, "Democrats are calling for changes to the estate tax following a bombshell news report detailing how the Trump family navigated the tax code to protect the family's financial assets." Tidbit: Here's what The New York Times's newsroom looked like when the tax investigation came out. Photo: http://bit.ly/2CsvWIV Here's the original New York Times investigation that came out earlier this week: https://nyti.ms/2E10Eux |
|
|
Read the full article: https://on.wsj.com/2OKwpMF |
|
Lol, this is impressive: |
A lot of people enjoyed this tweet. Photo of the sword: https://twitter.com/fordm/status/1047820440838856705 |
|
|
|
|
The Senate is in. The House is out. President Trump is at the White House, but all of his events are closed to press. 11:30 a.m. EDT: President Trump received an intelligence briefing. 1:45 p.m. EDT: President Trump participates in a Defense Industrial Base Report Presentation. 2:45 p.m. EDT: President Trump signs the FAA reauthorization bill. |
|
|
10 p.m. EDT: First lady Melania Trump speaks with ABC News's Tom Llamas for an exclusive interview on "20/20." |
|
|
Today is National Apple Betty Day. And for planning purposes, tomorrow is National Noodle Day. It's a good thing we already get tomorrow off, huh? :) |
|
And to get your weekend off to an entertaining start, here's one twin baby who is a morning person and the other who clearly IS NOT a morning person: http://bit.ly/2IEgs4N |