First Draft on Politics: Pandemonium at Kavanaugh's Hearing

Senate Democrats tore into Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, painting him as a narrow-minded partisan. View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Wednesday, September 5, 2018 [NYTimes.com/Politics »]( [Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh being sworn in during his confirmation hearing on Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee.]( Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh being sworn in during his confirmation hearing on Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Doug Mills/The New York Times Good Wednesday morning, Here are some of the stories making news in Washington and politics today: - Senate Democrats [tore into]( President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, painting Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh as a narrow-minded partisan as the opening day of his confirmation hearings verged on pandemonium. Dozens of screaming protesters were hauled out of the hearing room in handcuffs. [Here are the major takeaways from the day »]( - Ayanna Pressley upended the Massachusetts political order, [scoring a stunning upset]( in a Democratic primary against Representative Michael Capuano and positioning herself to become the first African-American woman to represent the state in Congress. [See what’s coming up next on the primary calendar »]( - The special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, [eased up slightly]( on his demands to question Mr. Trump in the Russia investigation. His office told the president’s lawyers that it would accept written answers from Mr. Trump on questions about whether his campaign conspired to interfere in the 2016 election. - Mr. Trump alarmed Defense Secretary Jim Mattis so much during a discussion of the nuclear standoff with North Korea that Mr. Mattis [told colleagues]( “the president acted like — and had the understanding — of a ‘fifth or sixth grader,’” a new book by Bob Woodward says. [Here are other highlights from it »]( - Legal scholars and lawmakers said Mr. Trump’s tweet chastising Attorney General Jeff Sessions for the Justice Department’s recent indictments of two Republican congressmen [could be one more exhibit]( toward proving a pattern of obstruction or reckless disregard for the rule of law in a future impeachment proceeding. — The First Draft Team Goodbye, ‘First Draft.’ Hello, ‘On Politics.’ You may soon notice some differences in this newsletter — a new name, a new look and a new writer. Don’t worry: We will still send an email each morning just like this one, highlighting the day’s biggest stories. But starting Monday, a brand-new newsletter — “On Politics With Lisa Lerer” — will arrive in your inbox each evening. What can you expect from “On Politics”? A spotlight on the people reshaping our politics. A conversation with voters across the country. And a guiding hand through the endless news cycle, telling you what you really need to know from those who know it best. ADVERTISEMENT OTTAWA | SEPTEMBER 5 [Canada and the U.S. Midterm Elections]( New York Times journalists will discuss one of the United States’ most consequential congressional elections in a generation. The White House correspondent Julie Hirschfeld Davis will join the political reporters Jonathan Martin and Astead Herndon for a conversation about the midterms. Ian Austen, a Times reporter and author of the Canada Letter newsletter, will moderate the conversation. [• Get tickets here »]( On Washington [A Chaotic New Reality for Court Confirmations]( By CARL HULSE [Protesters shouted objections to Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh and President Trump throughout the confirmation hearing on Tuesday.]( Protesters shouted objections to Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh and President Trump throughout the confirmation hearing on Tuesday. Erin Schaff for The New York Times Welcome to the new reality of Supreme Court confirmation hearings: pandemonium, protesters and razor-sharp partisan lines. Thirty years of warfare over judicial nominations culminated on Tuesday in the chaotic beginning of Senate consideration of the nomination of Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, a tumultuous 90-minute first act that no one in the hearing room had ever seen before. Democrats on the typically staid, decorous committee immediately interrupted Senator Charles E. Grassley, the Iowa Republican who leads the panel, as he opened the proceedings. They sought to postpone the hearing, fuming over a Labor Day dump of 42,000 pages of documents less than 24 hours before the committee would convene. Protesters, mostly women, shouted objections to Judge Kavanaugh and President Trump from the public seats throughout the day and were ejected by the Capitol Police. Republicans, many of them well acquainted with Judge Kavanaugh for years, seethed. [Read more »](  [“We were too slow to spot this and too slow to act. That’s on us,” Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer, said in prepared testimony ahead of a Wednesday congressional hearing on social media.]( [Facebook and Twitter Have a Message for Lawmakers: We’re Trying]( By CECILIA KANG AND SHEERA FRENKEL In prepared testimony ahead of congressional hearings on Wednesday, Facebook and Twitter displayed a conciliatory approach over issues like disinformation and manipulation. [Mayor Rahm Emanuel of Chicago in August. On Tuesday, he announced he would not be seeking re-election.]( [Chicago Mayor Will Not Seek Re-election]( By MONICA DAVEY Mayor Rahm Emanuel was facing a wide field of challengers and bruising critiques over Chicago’s history of troubled relations between the police and black residents. [The Trump administration has said little about the subject, which flared repeatedly during the Obama administration.]( [‘Five Eyes’ Nations Quietly Demand Government Access to Encrypted Data]( By DAVID E. SANGER AND SHEERA FRENKEL The threat stops short of compelling tech companies to give access to intelligence officials from Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and the United States. [An election clerk at the Sacramento County Registrar of Voters, inspect a mail-in ballot, in May 30, 2018, in Sacramento, Calif. More than 1.4 million Californians have already voted absentee in the state’s primary, which could have the highest ever rate of vote by mail.]( [How to Vote as an American Living Abroad]( By JENNIFER JETT Voting from outside the United States is easier than you might think. Here’s how to make your voice heard in the November midterm elections. [Health care demonstrators protest at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. on May 4, 2017.]( [A New Lawsuit Threatens Obamacare. Here’s What’s at Stake and What to Expect in Oral Arguments]( By ABBY GOODNOUGH AND JAN HOFFMAN A federal judge in Texas will consider whether to suspend or kill the law. The Trump administration has chosen not to defend it and its coverage of pre-existing conditions. [Former Senator Jon Kyl with John McCain in the Capitol in 2012.]( [Former Senator Kyl Will Replace McCain in Arizona]( By JONATHAN MARTIN AND DANNY HAKIM Gov. Doug Ducey made the selection of Jon Kyl, a Republican who served 18 years in the Senate. Mr. Ducey was facing a difficult balancing act in trying to please Trump supporters while not alienating Senator John McCain’s family and loyalists. [Scott Pruitt, the former E.P.A. administrator, on Capitol Hill in May.]( [Pruitt’s Spending on Security More Than Doubled in 11 Months, E.P.A. Investigator Says]( By LISA FRIEDMAN AND CORAL DAVENPORT The agency’s inspector general also found that the E.P.A. lacked methods for assessing safety needs. The spending helped lead to Scott Pruitt’s resignation in July. [Randy Credico, the comedian, left, is set to testify Sept. 7 before a grand jury convened by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III. He and his lawyer, Martin Stolar, left the Federal Building in Manhattan last week after being interviewed about his testimony.]( [Mueller’s Office Will Grill a Comedian in Russia Inquiry]( By DANNY HAKIM Randy Credico, a comedian and sometime sidekick of Roger Stone, a longtime political adviser to Mr. Trump, is poised to appear before the Mueller grand jury. “You got to give that grand jury some comic relief,” he says. [North Carolina’s congressional maps, ruled recently to have been unconstitutionally gerrymandered, will be used in November, a panel of federal judges decided Tuesday.]( [North Carolina’s Gerrymandered Map Won’t Be Redrawn for the Midterms]( By RICHARD FAUSSET Even though it found the current House districts unconstitutional, a judicial panel said there wasn’t enough time before Election Day to impose a new map. [President Trump will press the United Nations Security Council to be more assertive toward Iran at a session this month, raising the possibility of a face-to-face confrontation with Iranian officials.]( [Trump Plans to Take Aim at Iran in U.N. Session]( By MICHAEL SCHWIRTZ Mr. Trump will press the Security Council to be more assertive, raising the possibility of a face-to-face confrontation with Iranian officials. LIKE THIS EMAIL? Forward it to your friends, and let them know they can sign up [here](. 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