Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in his nomination hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee, September 2018


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Chief Justice John Roberts has transferred judicial misconduct complaints over Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh — confirmed on Saturday despite allegations of sexual assault and deceptive, partisan testimony — to the 10th US Circuit Court of Appeals for further review.

The complaints were originally lodged with the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Kavanaugh’s former court. The executive of that court asked Roberts to transfer the matters to another circuit out of a “concern that local disposition may weaken public confidence in the process”.

A source said the complaints are over Kavanaugh’s testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee — including on September 27, following that of the first of his three accusers, Christine Blasey Ford — and not his conduct as a sitting judge.

Roberts referred in his letter to more than a dozen complaints filed between September 20 and October 5.

The referral could raise further issues of jurisdiction, however. Judge Timothy Tymkovich, the chief judge of the Colorado-based 10th Circuit, was on the White House shortlist of candidates for Kavanaugh’s position.

FBI Director Confirms: White House Limited Kavanaugh Investigation

FBI Director Christopher Wray confirms that the White House limited the scope of the bureau’s investigation of the sexual assault claims against Kavanaugh.

Under questioning from Kamala Harris during a Senate hearing, Wray said “the investigation was very specific in scope, limited in scope” as the White House set strict parameters.

The White House and GOP leaders were forced into an investigation of up to one week when Republican Senator Jeff Flake put the condition on his vote for Kavanaugh. But the Trump Administration immediately issued instructions preventing the FBI from anything more than a cursory check — Kavanaugh, two of his three accusers, and dozens of possible witnesses were not interviewed.


Former Top FBI Lawyer: Rosenstein Was Serious About Taping Trump

The FBI’s former top lawyer says Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein was serious when he suggested that officials secretly tape conversations with Donald Trump to protect themselves.

James Baker, who was the bureau’s General Counsel, said FBI staff dismissed the idea within days as too risky and unlikely to deliver meaningful information.

The New York Times, cited multiple sources, reported last month that Rosenstein suggested recording Trump and discussed recruitment of Cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office. The episode occured in May 2017, days after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey to curb the Trump-Russia investigation — and bragged to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov about dismissing a “crazy…nut job”.

Rosenstein denied the account, but it prompted speculation that he would finally be removed by Trump after months of insults and threats by the President. The Deputy Attorney General even went to the White House expecting his dismissal, only to be spared — Trump was in New York at the UN General Assembly — and to join a scheduled meeting.

TrumpWatch, Day 613: White House Chaos over Trump v. Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein

In testimony to the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees, Baker said he was aware that Rosenstein discussed invoking the 25th Amendment, which provides for the removal of a President deemed unfit to carry out his duties.

But Trump appears to have set aside the dismissal of Rosenstein — the only official who can remove Special Counsel Robert Mueller over the Trump-Russia investigation — for now. He invited the official aboard Air Force One on Monday to travel to a conference of law enforcement officers in Florida.

In a change of tone, Trump said he and Rosenstein “actually have a good relationship”.


Trump’s Latest Lies — Clinton Colluded With Russia in 2016 Campaign

In his latest lie to try and undermine the Trump-Russia investigation, Donald Trump claims that it was Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton who colluded with Moscow.

As the crowd at a Pennsylvania rally chanted, “Lock her up!”, Trump said — with no evidence — “There was collusion between Hillary, the Democrats and Russia. There was a lot of collusion with them and Russia and lots of other people.”


Trump’s Latest Lies — in A USA Today Opinion Piece on Healthcare

Donald Trump puts out a series of lies about US healthcare in an opinion article for USA Today.

Trump — or his staff — sought to deride proposals to expand Medicare to all Americans with almost every sentence containing a misleading statement or outright lie.

Among the falsehoods:

*”Democrats across the country [are] uniting around a new legislative proposal that would end Medicare as we know it and take away benefits”

Medicare-for-All provides for all Americans through the Federal Government supporting coverage for the elderly and disabled and people under 65 insured through employers, through the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”), or through Medicaid, the federal-state health system for the poor

*“As a candidate, I promised that we would protect coverage for patients with pre-existing conditions and create new health care insurance options that would lower premiums. I have kept that promise, and we are now seeing health insurance premiums coming down.”

Trump has broken the promise by supporting Republican plans that weaken protections for individuals with preexisting conditions, and by refusing to defend the Affordable Care Act against a lawsuit that undermines the protections.

Premiums are still increasing. They are rising at a lower rate than in the past, but experts say the fall would be even lower without the Trump Administration’s measures.

The piece seems to be much more than an innocent mistake — it links to two articles from the Washington Post’s Fact Checker exposing previous deceptions by Trump.