North Korea ready to allow inspectors into missile sites, Pompeo says

U.S. Secretary of State met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Sunday in a meeting that was seen as productive. (Mike Pompeo/Twitter)

North Korea on Monday said it was ready to allow an international group of inspectors into the country’s clandestine nuclear and missile sites, a move that could be seen as more evidence in Washington and Pyongyang’s thawing relationship.
Mike Pompeo, the U.S. secretary of state, made the announcement after a Sunday meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The meeting was apparently productive, and they even discussed another summit between Kim and President Trump, Reuters reported.
Pompeo identified Punggye-ri as one of the testing sites mentioned in their conversations. The U.S.’s top diplomat retweeted Trump’s tweet touting a “good meeting” in Pyongyang.
"We continue to make progress on agreements made at Singapore Summit," Pompeo tweeted. Trump met with Kim in Singapore in June and – at the time – announced that the two countries are set to "start a new history."
The tone of the meeting was cordial. Pompeo was hit by North Korean officials a few months ago as having a “gangster-like demand for denuclearization.”
Trump also called off a meeting with Pompeo in August, due to a lag in the negotiations.
The Washington Post reported that Pompeo met with Kim for about two hours and had lunch. Kim told Pompeo as they sat down, “It’s a very nice day that promises a good future for both countries.”

Democrats to appeal to voters to channel anger over Kavanaugh confirmation

Democrats' 'blue wave' may be in jeopardy as new polls suggest the bitter confirmation battle of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh could actually help Republicans; insight from former Clinton campaign chief strategist Mark Penn.

Democratic politicians appear eager to try and channel voter anger over the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to voter turnout in November.
The realities are that Democrats have a better chance at regaining control of the House than they do the Senate. They need to win 23 more seats to take over the House. The hope is that women – already frustrated with President Trump – turn out in droves for the midterms.
"I really think this is going to drive women out to the polls in unprecedented numbers," Katie Hill, a Democratic House candidate in California, said, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Whit Ayres, a Republican pollster, told The Journal that Christian conservatives will be happy with Trump for his Supreme Court picks, but he said the Democratic "enthusiasm in the midterms will go even higher if that’s possible."
Sen. Mazie Hirono, D- Hawaii., who was an outspoken critic of the former federal judge, told ABC’s ‘This Week’ that she is focused like a ‘laser beam’ on the upcoming elections.
"I'm very focused on the here and now, which is that all these angry women, mainly, out there who saw what was going on and how the Senate was not able to deal with the entire issue of sexual assault," she said.
The climactic 50-48 roll call on Saturday capped a fight that seized the national conversation after claims emerged that he had sexually assaulted women three decades ago — allegations he emphatically denied. Those accusations transformed the clash from a routine struggle over judicial ideology into an angry jumble of questions about victims’ rights, the presumption of innocence and personal attacks on nominees.
His confirmation provides a defining accomplishment for Trump and the Republican Party, which found a unifying force in the cause of putting a new conservative majority on the court.
Republicans will likely also use the Kavanaugh confirmation process to stir their base, pointing at what they saw as a fundamentally flawed approach Democrats took in handling sexual assault allegations against the nomination.
"Our energy and enthusiasm was lagging behind theirs [Democrats] until this," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R., Ky., told "CBS Sunday." "And I think this gave us the motivation and the opportunity to have the kind of turnout in this off-year election that would help us hold the Senate."
Some Democrats have already mentioned investigating Kavanaugh if they regain control of the House. Rep. Ted. Lieu, D-Calif., and Rep. Louis V. Gutierrez, D-Ill., called for impeachment proceedings in the event that an investigation proved Kavanaugh lied while in front of Congress.
That investigation, Democrats have said, could well lead to impeachment proceedings. Federal judges can be impeached by a simple majority of the House, but actually removing Justice Kavanaugh from the bench would then require a two-thirds vote of the Senate -- an extraordinarily unlikely scenario. No sitting U.S. Supreme Court justice has ever been removed from the bench using this mechanism.
Some Democrats appear to flinch at the prospect of seeking impeachment.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was asked about the prospects of impeaching Kavanaugh, and she said it “would not be my plan.”
“I have enough people on my back wanting us to impeach the president,” Pelosi said, according to The Times.
Alan Dershowitz, the Felix Frankfurter professor of law, Emeritus, at Harvard, wrote on Fox News that he hopes Democrats take over the House in November, and they act “as an appropriate check and balance on the other branches rather than as a revenge-driven Javert, the villain of “Les Miserables,” obsessed with righting past wrongs rather than preventing future ones.”
Fox News' Gregg Re and The Associated Press contributed to this report

Nancy Pelosi Cartoons

Trump, at Kansas rally, praises Kavanaugh, slams Democrats

President Trump spoke at a rally in Kansas on Saturday night, praising his newly confirmed Supreme Court pick Brett Kavanaugh while also slamming Democrats and urging people to vote Republican in the upcoming midterm elections.
Upon taking the stage, Trump told the crowd in Topeka that he was "thrilled" to be with them on a "truly historic night."
The president was in Kansas to support Kris Kobach, the GOP nominee for governor, as well as political newcomer Steve Watkins, a Republican seeking to succeed retiring U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins.
The president praised Republican senators and Kavanaugh, calling him "a man of great character and intellect," while also condemning Democrats for what he described as their "disgraceful campaign" against him.
"The radical Democrats have turned into an angry mob" who have thrown to the side "every notion of fairness, of justice, of decency and of due process," Trump said.
He went on to urge the crowd to go to the polls next month, telling them they "have a chance to stop the radical Democrats" by electing Republicans to Congress.
"The Democrats are willing to cause such destruction in the pursuit of power, just imagine the devastation they would cause if they ever obtained the power they so desperately want and crave," Trump said.
He also applauded GOP Sens. Chuck Grassley and Mitch McConnell, saying both are "great," as well as Sen. Susan Collins, who announced her support for Kavanaugh on Friday in a 40-minute speech on the Senate floor.
"How good was Sen. Susan Collins yesterday?," Trump asked the crowd.
During a post-rally interview on Fox News' "Justice with Judge Jeanine," host Jeanine Pirro asked Trump about controversial comments he made earlier this week at a rally in Mississippi, questioning the sexual assault allegations made by Kavanaugh accuser Christine Blasey Ford.
"Well, there were a lot of things happening that weren’t correct. They weren’t true. And there were a lot of things that were left unsaid. And I thought I had to even the playing field because it was very unfair to judge -- now I can, you know, very nicely say Justice Kavanaugh," Trump said. "It was a very unfair situation. So I evened the playing field. And once I did that, it started to sail through. He was treated very, very unfairly."
Earlier Saturday, the Senate voted 50-48, mostly along party lines, to confirm Kavanaugh to the nation’s highest court.
During the rally, the president also accused Democrats of supporting sanctuary cities and of wanting to strip funding from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
"Democrats also support deadly sanctuary cities that release violent predators and bloodthirsty killers, like MS-13, into our communities," Trump said. "Republicans believe our country should be a sanctuary for law-abiding Americans, not criminal aliens."
He said members of the GOP "stand proudly" with law enforcement, Border Patrol and ICE, who he added are "not treated properly."
"MS-13 doesn’t like ICE. That’s why I like ICE," Trump said.
Separately, Trump took aim at a few Democrats, including Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., the latter of whom he referred to as "Pocahontas" because of her claims of Native American ancestry.
"I’ve got more Indian blood in me than Pocahontas -- and I’ve got none," Trump said.
Following the rally, Warren fired back at Trump on Twitter.
"Hey @realDonaldTrump, hope you’re having fun at your rally. Too bad you’re the least popular incumbent president in modern history," she tweeted. "And in the meantime, we are coming for your pathetic rubber-stamp Republicans in Congress in 31 days."
Fox News’ Adam Shaw and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Pence faces Kavanaugh protesters, tells security detail 'Let's do it' as he walks down Senate steps

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Vice President Mike Pence says “Let’s do it” and walks down Senate steps toward a sea of protesters shouting “Shame! Shame! Shame!”

Vice President Mike Pence refused to exit the Capitol building through a side entrance as he faced a horde of protesters shouting “Shame! Shame! Shame!” following the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh on Saturday.
Pence was exiting toward the Senate steps with his security detail when he appeared to pause when a large crowd of demonstrators across the plaza increased their chanting as the doors opened to reveal the vice president.
Assistant Sergeant-at-Arms Jim Morehand reportedly told Pence that he could exit through the Carriage Entrance if he preferred.
PROTESTERS GATHER AT KAVANAUGH CONFIRMATION VOTE, SHOUT ‘SHAME ON YOU’ IN SENATE GALLERY
Pence turned and his security detail radioed the new exit but he quickly stopped and pivoted.
“Let’s do it,” he said.
The doors to the protesters opened and a defiant Pence walked toward his motorcade, waving along the way.
Kavanaugh was confirmed along party lines in a 50-48 vote, making his the closest successful confirmation vote in over 100 years.
Pence said in a statement that Kavanaugh’s confirmation marked another success for the Trump administration.
“In nominating Judge Kavanaugh, President Trump kept his word to the American people to appoint judges who will interpret the Constitution as written and uphold the God-given liberties enshrined there.”
Fox News’ Chad Pergram contributed to this report.

Kavanaugh confirmed: The party of Trump wins the street brawl (and these are the lessons)

As I write this column on Saturday, the GOP has just won one of the most brutal political battles in history. Judge Brett Kavanaugh has been confirmed to the Supreme Court. President Trump wins again.
Here are the lessons (and winners) of this epic, historic battle.
First, America always does the right thing…but only after exhausting every other option.
Second, the biggest winner is President Trump. Notch another victory on his belt. The score after about 21 months in office is Trump 100, Democrats 0. Against all odds, Trump just keeps winning.
Remember this week Trump also won the Mexico-Canada trade battle; unemployment dropped to the lowest level since 1969; Hispanic unemployment dropped to the lowest ever; manufacturing jobs growth was the best since 1995, and Trump’s approval rating soared to 51 percent in the latest Rasmussen survey. Polls show Republicans pulling away in Senate races across the country. Add in the Kavanaugh victory and this was the best week of the Trump presidency.
Trump continues to teach us all lessons about #WINNING. In Trump’s world, it’s all about the fight and your fighting spirit. It’s all about your ability to bare-knuckles brawl.
This battle for the Supreme Court played out exactly like my upcoming book, “Trump Rules.” My book isn’t about politics. It’s about the rules that have empowered President Trump to become one of the greatest achievers and winners in history. The “Trump Rules” are simple. Winning isn’t about brains, or IQ, or brilliant ideas, or unique strategy.
Winning is all about being a relentless fighter. Being a bulldog. Being a bull in a china shop. It’s about fighting spirit. It’s about believing in yourself and your goals. It’s about fighting so hard, so passionately, you never let go until victory is achieved.
It’s about who wants it more. Trump always wants it more.
That’s what Trump is all about -- the fight. Sure, you get bruised and battered and slandered. Sure, it hurts. But anything worth having is worth fighting for.
Trump proved it in the 2016 election. He was attacked, denigrated, slandered, and humiliated more than any politician in world history. But he never backed down. Instead, he doubled down. He came right back at his critics. Winston Churchill said, “When you find yourself in hell, just keep going.” Trump just kept going…and fighting.
And after being called all those bad names, and all that slander, for the rest of all-time, he’s called “President Donald J. Trump.” Was it worth it? You bet it was.
Churchill also said, “Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never...” That rule is more important than anything else.
It’s the reason Trump keeps getting his brains beat in and yet always comes out ahead. He’s bloody, dizzy, staggering, but his arms are raised in victory. You can’t beat Trump, because you can’t outlast Trump.
The other big winner was Brett Kavanaugh. The vicious, soulless, American left tried to destroy him, ruin him, and eviscerate him. They never imagined a wimpy, middle-aged judge from Yale had it in him to fight back like a no-holds-barred, street brawler. But Kavanaugh studied Trump, he learned from Trump.
All his brilliance, eloquence and fancy Yale education didn’t win the Supreme Court for Kavanaugh.
He had to take off the suit, get down in the mud and fight for it. For the first time in history, we witnessed a judge fight like a no-holds-barred, bare-knuckles brawler. Like Trump.
Kavanaugh channeled the “Trump Rules.” If you want something in life you’ve got to fight for it. Just as Trump proved, once you’re on the other side of the battle, with your hands raised, it was all worth it. The ugliness, lies, and slander are all forgotten. All that matters is that they call you “Justice Brett Kavanaugh.”
The final winner was the entire GOP. Republicans have always been the party of wimps, cowards and “nice guys who finish last.” Trump changed all that.
This isn’t your father’s GOP. This is the party of Trump. The GOP has gone from a party of guys wearing green pants with a yellow shirt, going golfing at the country club with Muffie and Chip, to a party of brawlers, head-bangers and New York street fighters.
Now Mitch McConnell, Chuck Grassley, Lindsey Graham and even (gulp) Susan Collins are all bar-room brawlers. They've all clearly learned from Trump.
Heck, even our judges are willing to get into the ring and go 12 rounds! Everything has changed because of the "Trump Rules."
I’m from the streets of New York. This is my kind of political party! Thank goodness the GOP is now Trump’s Party.

After Kavanaugh confirmation, Pelosi vows to unearth FBI docs as Dems demand impeachment inquiry

Before and immediately after the Senate narrowly voted to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court on Saturday, top Democrats vowed that they would continue to fight -- not only at the ballot box in November's midterm elections, but also through further investigations and potentially even impeachment proceedings afterwards.
On Saturday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi announced she planned to file a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to obtain documents related to the FBI's supplemental probe of Kavanaugh, which senators said showed no corroboration of the decades-old sexual misconduct allegations against him. FBI background checks on judicial nominees have traditionally been kept confidential so that only senators, White House officials, and certain aides can view them.
“In purposefully limiting the FBI investigation, it is clear the Republicans were not seeking the truth,” Pelosi, D-Calif., wrote in a statement. “They were seeking cover to do what they wanted to do anyway. To add insult to injury, they blocked the public’s access to the report.”
Pelosi also requested any communications from Senate Republicans to the FBI concerning the scope of the investigation. Congress is legally exempt from FOIA requirements, and it was not immediately clear to what extent the FBI would respond to Pelosi's request.
READ THE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE SECRET FBI REPORT ON KAVANAUGH: WHAT WITNESSES WERE INTERVIEWED?
Meanwhile, an online petition to impeach Kavanaugh reached more than 125,000 signatures in wake of Kavanaugh's confirmation. The petition claims as grounds for impeachment, among other grievances, that Kavanaugh lied under oath about not having "legacy" connections to Yale Law School because his grandfather attended Yale as an undergraduate.
However, Yale Law School admissions officials have said that Kavanaugh would have received no boost from his grandfather's attendance at the university as an undergraduate.
SWING-VOTE SENATORS FACE MASSIVE BACKLASH OVER KAVANAUGH VOTES: TRUMP SAYS MURKOWSKI 'WILL NEVER RECOVER'
The petition also accuses Kavanaugh of lying under oath about when he learned of Deborah Ramirez's uncorroborated allegation that he exposed himself to her at a college party. Kavanaugh testified that he had heard generally that Ramirez was asking former classmates over the summer about the party to try to find someone to support her story; his denial appeared in The New Yorker's piece describing her allegations.
"There is no room for an accused sexual predator and liar on the Supreme Court," the petition, organized by the progressive CREDO Action group, continues. "Brett Kavanaugh faces credible accusations of sexual assault and perjury and should be impeached. Initiate impeachment proceedings to remove him from the federal bench."
WATCH: PELOSI COMPARES KAVANAUGH TO PUTIN, KIM JONG UN
Republicans had warned in recent days that liberal groups would rachet up their impeachment rhetoric. "You better believe that Democrats are going to do everything in their power to impeach Kavanuagh from the Supreme Court if they take control of Congress in November," Donald Trump Jr. wrote on Twitter Friday.
Alan Dershowitz, an emeritus Harvard Law School professor, told Fox News that it would be more appropriate for the Department of Justice, not Congress, to probe any viable legal violations by Kavanaugh. Partisan impeachment proceedings, he said,  "would really undercut the process of confirmation and introduce a new level of McCarthyism into the process."
Nevertheless, Democratic politicians have seemingly embraced calls to continue to go after Kavanaugh. Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y, who is poised to become the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee if Democrats prevail in the lower chamber in November, promised this weekend that the FBI's recently completed supplemental review of Kavanaugh's background wouldn't be the final word.
“The Senate having failed to do its proper constitutionally mandated job of advise and consent -- we are going to have to do something to provide a check and balance, to protect the rule of law and to protect the legitimacy of one of our most important institutions,” Nadler told The New York Times on Friday.
IN BOMBSHELL LETTER, CHRISTINE FORD'S EX-BOYFRIEND DIRECTLY CONTRADICTS HER TESTIMONY ON POLYGRAPHS
“We would have to investigate any credible allegations certainly of perjury and other things that haven’t properly been looked into before," the ranking Judiciary Committee Democrat said in a separate interview.
That investigation, Democrats have said, could well lead to impeachment proceedings. Federal judges can be impeached by a simple majority of the House, but actually removing Justice Kavanaugh from the bench would then require a two-thirds vote of the Senate -- an extraordinarily unlikely scenario. No sitting U.S. Supreme Court justice has ever been removed from the bench using this mechanism.
"If we find lies about assault against women, then we should proceed to impeach," Luis Gutiérrez, D-Ill., said in an interview last week.
And far-left Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., wrote on Twitter in September that Congress should being investigating to see if Kavanaugh "should be impeached" based on the "new criminal allegations by Julie Swetnick."
Swetnick's credibility has taken a beating in recent days, with one ex-boyfriend telling Fox News she "exaggerated everything" and had threatened to kill his unborn child. Another ex-boyfriend similarly cast doubt on her credibility, as reports surfaced that she had previously been sued for allegedly concocting false sexual harassment claims. Swetnick is represented by anti-Trump lawyer Michael Avenatti.
And Christine Blasey Ford, the California professor who accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault, has faced questions of her own. One of her ex-boyfriends, in a sworn declaration obtained by Fox News, directly contradicted her testimony on a variety of issues, including her experience with polygraph exams and her purported fear of enclosed spaces in the wake of her alleged assault.
Republicans have defended the supplemental FBI probe into Kavanaugh's background as fair and thorough. Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans last week released an executive summary of the FBI's report, outlining each of the witnesses who were interviewed about the decades-old, uncorroborated accounts of sexual misconduct by Kavanaugh.
The full confidential report was only available to senators on a confidential basis in a secure room of the Capitol complex. While Republicans, including key swing-vote moderates like Maine Sen. Susan Collins and Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, said they were satisfied with the report, Democrats in the Senate were openly critical.

"The fight over Judge Kavanaugh is increasing base intensity for both parties."
— Political analyst Bruce Mehlman

"Well, that report -- if that's an investigation, it's a bull---- investigation," Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., told a man as he walked through the Capitol complex on Thursday. "The reality is, that was not a full and thorough investigation."
There were signs that, even though Democrats face long odds in their effort to have Kavanaugh impeached, they will be successful in rallying their base to the polls in key House races in November.
“Our guys are taking a beating,” GOP consultant Rob Simms told The Washington Examiner on Tuesday, saying that House Republican candidates are being badly outspent by well-funded Democratic groups.
A new poll from Quinnipiac University showed that 49 percent of voters preferred that the Democrats take back Congress, compared with 42 percent for Republicans.
“For the first cycle in a decade, the priority in Democratic infrastructure is to win the House,” Democratic strategist Jesse Ferguson told the Examiner. “The Trump administration is fueling the desire of Democrats to win the House so that we have at least one arm of government.”
Meanwhile, though, polls by Fox News and other organizations have shown that Republicans have also been energized by what they saw as unfair, politically motivated last-minute smears during the confirmation process. Because of the specific Senate seats up for grabs this year, Republicans are expected to see gains in the Senate from the Kavanaugh confirmation battle.
Republican voters were responding not only to Kavanaugh, but Republicans' broad success in installing conservative jurists throughout the federal system. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has led a successful push to install new conservative appellate and district court nominees at a record-breaking pace this year, with several more to be appointed in the coming weeks. In the last two years, he has secured not only two solidly conservative Supreme Court justices, but also 26 federal appellate judges, all with lifetime tenure.
Still, political headwinds normally work against the party of incumbent presidents in their first midterm elections. According to an analysis by former George W. Bush administration official Bruce Mehlman, in the past 11 such midterm seasons, new presidents saw their party make net gains only once in the House, four times in the Senate and zero times in state gubernatorial contests.
HOW THE KAVANAUGH SLUGFEST IS BOOSTING THE GOP IN KEY SENATE RACES
"The fight over Judge Kavanaugh is increasing base intensity for both parties, helping Democrats with white college-educated women in suburban House districts while bolstering Republicans among evangelical voters in the many rural red state Senate contests," Mehlman told Fox News. He recently authorized an analysis outlining how some other major factors, including the economy and record-high levels of spending, will impact the upcoming vote.
Voters appeared particularly energized in Missouri, which Fox News polls show is tied up at 43 percent apiece for incumbent Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill and Republican challenger Josh Hawley. Just three weeks ago, McCaskill was up 44-41 percent. Even before Ford testified against Kavanaugh, McCaskill announced that she would not support the nominee.
That decision seems to be costing McCaskill some key support. Crucially, according to Fox News polling, among the 28 percent of voters who say they could still switch candidates, almost twice as many say McCaskill voting against Kavanaugh’s confirmation would make them less inclined to back her.
North Dakota shows an even clearer picture. Vulnerable North Dakota Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, who remains undecided on Kavanaugh, appeared to be treading carefully after McCaskill's loss of support. Fox News' polling shows Republican challenger Kevin Cramer now leading by 12 points (53-41 percent). Last month, he was up by only 4 points.

Liberal Left Meltdown Cartoons