Today’s edition of quick hits:
* North Carolina: “Florence’s floodwaters breached a dam holding back a large reservoir at a Wilmington power plant Friday, and coal ash from an adjacent dump could be flowing into the nearby Cape Fear River.”
* By one account, where things stand in the Supreme Court fight: “The Senate Judiciary Committee is giving Christine Blasey Ford’s attorney until the end of the day Friday to work out terms of next week’s proposed hearing on Ford’s allegations that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her, according to a Republican senator.”
* Prejudging the outcome: “Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) just thoroughly justified Christine Blasey Ford’s concerns. In comments Friday, he laid plain his intention to put Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court, apparently no matter what Ford has to share.”
* Preparing for the next round: “In preparation for what may be a high-stakes week of testimony, Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh has retained an experienced Washington trial attorney, Beth Wilkinson, while the woman accusing Kavanaugh of sexual assault, Christine Blasey Ford, has hired strategist Ricki Seidman, who has Democratic ties and readied Anita Hill to testify in 1991.”
* Kavanaugh pal Ed Whelan: “The head of a prominent conservative research organization apologized on Friday for a bizarre string of tweets in which he suggested that the woman accusing Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh of sexual assault might be confusing the judge for one of his high school classmates, whom he posted pictures of and named.”
* That’s a little weird: “President Donald Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, has paid an unannounced visit to the federal courthouse in New York where he pleaded guilty a month ago. Cohen left the building at around 1:30 p.m. Friday, declining to say why he was there.” * I have so many questions about Trump’s legal team: “A top lawyer for President Trump this year sought to help pay legal fees for Paul Manafort and Richard Gates, initially trying to divert money from the White House legal defense fund and later soliciting donors and pledging $25,000 of his own.” * Hmm: “Documents reviewed by BuzzFeed News show that $3.3 million began moving on June 3 between two of the men who orchestrated the [2016 Trump Tower] meeting: Aras Agalarov, a billionaire real estate developer close to both Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump, and Irakly ‘Ike’ Kaveladze, a longtime Agalarov employee once investigated for money laundering.” Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past." Recommended
