A rundown courtesy of today's WTF Just Happened Today feed:
https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2018/09/24/day-613/
Day 613: Lingering stench.
1/ Rod Rosenstein reportedly verbally resigned to John Kelly in anticipation of being fired by Trump. The two will meet on Thursday to discuss the deputy attorney general's future at the Justice Department. While Rosenstein has not submitted a formal resignation, he went to the White House this morning for a meeting where he "expect[ed] to be fired." The news follows reports that Rosenstein discussed the idea of wearing a wire last year to secretly record Trump in order to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove the President from office. Rosenstein has been overseeing Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether any Trump associates conspired with those efforts. Noel Francisco, the solicitor general, would take on oversight of Mueller's investigation and could fire or limit the investigation. (Axios / New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / CNN / Wall Street Journal / CNBC)
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/24/deputy-attorney-general-rod-rosenstein-is-reportedly-resigning.html
On Friday, Trump promised to get rid of the "lingering stench" at the Justice Department and FBI following reports that Rod Rosenstein discussed secretly recording Trump last year. "You've seen what happened in the FBI and the Department of Justice. The bad ones, they're all gone. They're all gone," Trump said at a political rally in Missouri. "But there is a lingering stench and we're going to get rid of that, too." Trump did not explicitly mention the Rosenstein in his comments. (Associated Press)
https://apnews.com/59bd51fcd7bb4a979a9a4da2258c3d87
2/ A second woman publicly accused Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault when they were both freshmen at Yale during the 1983-84 academic school year. Deborah Ramirez said Kavanaugh exposed himself and shoved his penis in her face without her consent at a dorm party. Kavanaugh's roommate at the time said he "cannot imagine [Ramirez] making this up" and that Kavanaugh was "frequently, incoherently drunk." After learning of Ramirez's allegation last week, Senate Republicans called for the Senate Judiciary Committee to accelerate its confirmation vote. (New Yorker)
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/senate-democrats-investigate-a-new-allegation-of-sexual-misconduct-from-the-supreme-court-nominee-brett-kavanaughs-college-years-deborah-ramirez
Michael Avenatti tweeted that he represents "a woman with credible information" about Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge, who Christine Blasey Ford alleges was in the room at the time of the Kavanaugh's alleged assault. Avenatti said he has "significant evidence" that Kavanaugh and Judge "would participate in the targeting of women with alcohol/drugs." (Axios / Politico)
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/23/second-woman-assault-kavanaugh-837678
Sen. Dianne Feinstein called for the Senate Judiciary Committee to delay the Kavanaugh nomination. In her letter, Feinstein asked "that the newest allegations of sexual misconduct be referred to the FBI for investigation, and that you join our request for the White House to direct the FBI to investigate the allegations of Christine Blasey Ford as well as these new claims." (Washington Post)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/as-hearing-on-kavanaugh-assault-allegations-loom-senators-seem-unwilling-to-budge/2018/09/23/99f3fd3e-bf37-11e8-90c9-23f963eea204_story.html
Kavanaugh and the White House denied Ramirez's allegation, calling it "a smear, plain and simple." (CNN)
https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/23/politics/kavanaugh-allegation-second-woman/index.html
3/ Christine Blasey Ford agreed to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Blasey will appear Thursday before a committee of 21 senators for questioning, but no decision has been reached about whether Republicans would use staff attorneys to question Ford about her claim. All the Republicans on the panel are men. (New York Times / Politico)
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/23/kavanaugh-ford-hearing-837444
Sen. Lindsey Graham: Ford's testimony won't change my vote. Graham said he wasn't prepared to "ruin this guy's life based on an accusation." (Politico)
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/23/kavanaugh-ford-lindsey-graham-837391
Kavanaugh will turn over calendars from the summer of 1982 to the Senate Judiciary Committee that don't list a party matching Christine Blasey Ford's account. Kavanaugh's team acknowledged that he could have attended a party he did not list. (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/23/us/politics/kavanaugh-senate-calendar.html
4/ Trump called the allegations against Kavanaugh "totally political" and said he believes Kavanaugh "all the way." Trump defended his nominee as "a fine man, with an unblemished past," despite at least two women accusing Kavanaugh of sexual assault. (Politico / CNN / ABC News)
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/24/trump-kavanaugh-allegations-totally-political-837684
Mitch McConnell called Trump on Friday to say his tweets about Kavanaugh weren't helpful. Trump said that if Ford's attack "was as bad as she says," then she would have filed charges immediately. (CNN)
https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/23/politics/donald-trump-mitch-mcconnell-christine-blasey-ford/index.html
Ben Carson claimed that a century-old plot by Socialists to take over America is responsible for the recent allegations of sexual assault against Kavanaugh. The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development said the timing of the allegations "make perfectly good sense" because the Fabian Society, a British socialist organization that was founded in the 19th century, have "wanted to fundamentally change this country." (CNBC)
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/21/hud-secretary-ben-carson-kavanaugh-allegation-is-part-of-a-socialist-plot.html
poll/ 52% of voters prefer Democrats to control Congress following the midterm elections, 40% want a Republicans to control Congress, and 8% are not sure. (NBC News)
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/nbc-news-wsj-poll-democrats-hold-advantage-november-s-elections-n912046