Flake slams GOP, says he feels like he doesn't belong to any political party

Flake the Snake

Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake criticized the Republican Party on Monday for mistaking "opponents for our enemies," and said he sometimes feels like he doesn't belong to any political party.
"I sometimes feel like a man temporarily without a party," Flake said during a speech at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College, the Washington Post reported
He went on to decry the Republican Party in his speech, saying members of the party have "given in to the terrible tribal impulse that first mistakes our opponents for our enemies" that lead the party to becoming "seized with the conviction that we must destroy that enemy."
Flake's remarks came days after the dramatic showdown in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
During his Monday speech, Flake reiterated his support for the FBI investigation, but stressed that it must be a "real investigation."
"It does no good to have an investigation that just gives us more cover," Flake said, according to the Post. "We actually need to find out what we can find out. And we have to realize that we may not be able to find out everything that happened."

"It does no good to have an investigation that just gives us more cover. We actually need to find out what we can find out. And we have to realize that we may not be able to find out everything that happened."
— Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake

The Trump administration has been criticized for allegedly limiting the scope of the probe, despite Trump's claims that the FBI has "free rein" to conduct the investigation as they see fit.
"They [the White House] cannot say, 'Oh hey, only interview the people in their neighborhood on one side of the street.' Or 'Only interview people from a certain period of their life,’" Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said during an appearance of CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “You let the men and women of the FBI, the professionals, do their jobs.”

Trump mocks 'Da Nang Blumenthal,' top Dems in fiery Tennessee rally supporting Kavanaugh, Blackburn

In an wide-ranging, combative rally Monday night in Tennesee, President Trump, in no uncertain personal terms, derided Democrats as shameless hypocrites for questioning the integrity of his embattled Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh.
The event capped a whirlwind day for Trump, who announced a historic new deal to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and authorized an expanded FBI probe of Kavanaugh's background.
Just hours after he cryptically said in the Rose Garden that he had "somewhat compromising" information about a certain "aggressive" Democratic senator in some "very bad situations," Trump took aim at some members of the Judiciary Committee who grilled Kavanaugh at a dramatic, nationally televised hearing Thursday.
"You have the great Vietnam War hero -- who didn't go to Vietnam -- [Sen. Richard] Blumenthal," Trump said, referring to the Connecticut Democratic senator, who repeatedly and falsely suggested he had served on the ground in Vietnam. "How about Blumenthal? We call him 'Da Nang Blumenthal.'"
Blumenthal had said last week that Trump's initial reluctance to order the now-ongoing supplemental background probe of Kavanaugh was "tantamount to a cover-up." He quizzed Kavanaugh during Thursday's hearing on everything from the high court nominee's high school yearbook entries to his drinking habits.
"For 15 years as the attorney general of Connecticut, he went around telling war stories," Trump told the crowd. "'People dying left and right -- but my plattoon marched forward!' He was never in Vietnam. It was a lie. And then he's up there saying, 'We want the truth from Judge Kavanaugh.' And you're getting the truth from Judge Kavanaugh."
WATCH: TUCKER BLASTS 'FAKE WAR HERO' BLUMENTHAL
"And then you have Cory Booker -- who destroyed Newark," Trump continued, describing the New Jersey senator. "And see some of the things he wrote when he was young about women. Take a look."
Booker, a Democrat, once wrote an article detailing an instance where he twice reached for a woman's breast without her apparent consent in 1992, saying the 'Top Gun' slogan was ringing in his head as he went in for a "groping." The New Jersey senator compared himself to the gladiator Spartacus last month and is widely considered a 2020 presidential contender.
Trump also mocked former Vice President Joe Biden, saying that no one paid attention to him before former President Barack Obama lifted him from the "trash heap" of limited support his own presidential bid received.
Trump was campaigning in Johnson City, Tennessee, on behalf of GOP Rep. Marsha Blackburn, who is competing in a neck-and-neck race for retiring Sen. Bob Corker's seat along with ex-Gov. Phil Bredesen, a Democrat.
Trump won Tennessee by 26 percentage points in the 2016 presidential election, and he remains popular in the Volunteer State.
POLYGRAPH REPORT SHOWS APPARENT INCONSISTENCIES IN CHRISTINE FORD'S CLAIMS
Corker, who recently announced his support for Kavanaugh, has sparred with Trump frequently and publicly, and even compared his supporters to cultists. The president, in return, has referred to the senator derisively as "Liddle Bob," although the two reportedly have mended some fences. Trump also took a shot at Sen.Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., calling her a "disaster" and citing polls showing her slipping behind in her upcoming election in the wake of her announced opposition to Kavanaugh.
According to a Fox News poll conducted in September, Blackburn has the support of 47 percent of likely voters in the state, compared to Bredesen’s 44 percent. Her three-point advantage is within the poll’s margin of error.
The economy is the top concern for Tennessee likely voters, the poll showed. Twenty-nine percent say that will be most important to their vote for Senate, followed closely by 27 percent who say it will be health care. Economy voters pick Blackburn (+9), while those prioritizing health care go heavily for Bredesen (+35).
Those and other hot-button issues -- including his breakthrough deal with Canada and Mexico, the improving economy, and the rise of insurgent Democratic socialist candidates -- were also front-and-center Monday night.
WATERS DENIES REPORTS THAT HER STAFF RELEASED GRAHAM'S HOME ADDRESS TO INTIMIDATE HIM
"The Democrats want to turn America into Venezuela," Trump said. He also previewed a potential new line of attack heading into November's midterm elections, calling the Democratic Party the "party of crime."
"Every day, innocent lives are stolen because of Democrat-supported immigration policies," Trump said. "Republicans believe America should be a sanctuary for law-abiding Americans, not for criminal aliens."
Despite his focus on the midterms, Trump evidently had yet another election on his mind. Responding to recent suggestions by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., that she would run for president in 2020, Trump told her to "please, please run."
"The Democrats can no longer be trusted with your power," Trump said, charging that they have "moved so far left that Pocahontas is considered a conservative." Trump frequently refers to Warren as "Pocahontas" because she had indicated that she had Native American ancestry earlier in her career, which critics said helped her obtain a prestigious teaching position at Harvard Law School. Warren has provided little evidence for her claim, but there is similarly no definitive evidence that Warren's claims helped her get the job.
Trump, in closing, urged attendees in the room and those watching at home to take stock of the country's "unlimited promise," as well as the significant economic gains realized under his administration -- and he exhorted voters to avoid what he called the "repression" of misleading polls.
"To every citizen watching all across the land ... this is your time to choose. This is your time. It's the time to choose whether we turn backward to the failure and frustration of the past. Look at what we've done in far less than two years," Trump said. "It is not up to the media to decide our fate. It is not up to the pollsters or the pundits."

White House slams 'ridiculous' NYT report on Kavanaugh's college ice-throwing incident

Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary, called out The New York Times late Monday over its report on a 1985 bar fight that allegedly involved President Trump’s pick for the Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh, throwing ice at a fellow bar patron.
The report said that Kavanaugh and four others were questioned by New Haven police after the Sept. 25, 1985, incident. A 21-year-old man reportedly claimed that Kavanaugh was unprovoked when he threw the ice at him.
Sanders tweeted that Democrats are desperate to attack Kavanaugh and used a July tweet from one of the article's co-authors in an apparent attempt to show biased reporting.
“As a @YaleLawSch grad & lecturer, I strongly disassociate myself from tonight’s praise of Brett Kavanaugh,” Emily Bazelon, a Times reporter, tweeted at the time. “With respect, he’s a 5th vote for a hard-right turn on voting rights and so much more that will harm the democratic process & prevent a more equal society.”
Sanders asked in her tweet, “What motivated New York Times reporter to write this ridiculous story? Throwing ice 33 years ago, or her opinion of Judge Kavanaugh in July?”
Fox News reached out to the paper in an email early Tuesday morning and did not immediately receive comment. Sanders did not challenge any allegations in the article.
The incident occurred after a UB40 concert at a place called Demery’s, according to Chad Ludington, a former classmate. The group of men apparently saw someone who looked like the lead singer of the band. When the man asked them to stop looking at him, Ludington said Kavanaugh launched a beer at the man. Ludington told CNN that he earlier mixed up a beer for a drink with ice, but said that the man "took a swing at Brett" and they fought.
He said  Chris Dudley, a friend of Kavanaugh’s at Yale who went on to play professional basketball, took his drink and "smashed  it up against the guy's head."
The alleged victim "who was bleeding from the right ear" was treated at a nearby hospital, the paper reported.
Dudley denied the allegations at the time, the paper reported. He did not comment for the paper's article.
Ludington, who now teaches at North Carolina State University, said he was friend of Kavanaugh’s at Yale and that Kavanaugh was “a frequent drinker, and a heavy drinker."
Trump said Monday that he called on the FBI to do a "comprehensive" investigation into sexual assault allegations invovling Kavanaugh. But he also said Senate Republicans are determining the parameters of the investigation and "ultimately, they're making the judgment."
"My White House will do whatever the senators want," Trump said. "The one thing I want is speed."

Ex-Boyfriend says Kavanaugh accuser Julie Swetnick threatened to kill his unborn child, 'was exaggerating everything'

The ex-boyfriend of Julie Swetnick, the third woman to make uncorroborated, lurid allegations of sexual misconduct against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, told Fox News exclusively on Monday that she had threatened to kill his unborn child and at times even bizarrely asked him to hit her.
"Right after I broke up with her, she basically called me many times and at one point she basically said, 'You will never, ever see your unborn child alive,'" Richard Vinneccy said on "The Ingraham Angle."
According to Vinneccy, Swetnick told him at the time, 'I'm just going to go over there and kill you guys.'"
Swetnick is represented by anti-Trump lawyer Michael Avenatti. He did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment on Vinneccy's allegation, but in an interview on CNN Monday night, he cast doubt on Vinneccy's credibility and characterized him as an estranged ex-boyfriend.
Vinneccy, who said he dated Swetnick off-and-on for seven years, maintained that Swetnick never once mentioned to him her extraordinary claims, apparently made for the first time last month, that Kavanaugh had engaged in systemic gang rapes decades ago. He said the relationship spanned from 1994 to 2001.
"Never, never once [did] she mention that to me," he told host Laura Ingraham. "We used to talk about everything. She never once mentioned that at all. ... If you ask me personally if I believe her, I don't believe her. I really don't believe her. Nobody knows Julie Swetnick better than me."
He added that while he was not aware of Swetnick's political tendencies, "She always wanted to be the center of attention. . .. She was exaggerating everything. Everything that came out of her mouth was just exaggerations."

"She basically said, 'You will never, ever see your unborn child alive.'"
— Richard Vinneccy

Vinneccy charged that "most of my friends did not like her" and that she would often become belligerent -- even at times asking him to "hit" her, for reasons that Vinneccy said were unclear.
"This has nothing to do with political issues," Vinneccy continued, calling his decision to come forward his "civic duty."
Vinneccy then explained why he did not follow-up on his attempts to get a restraining order enforced against Swetnick. While he filed a petition for a restraining order more than a decade ago, the petition was dismissed shortly afterwards.
"I knew that I had to see her again. ... I didn't want to provoke her," he said. "I knew the type of person Julie is, and I was afraid. So we decided to just leave it alone. At the time, the only thing I was concerend [about] was my family. So we decided to change our numbers, and move. And after that, we never heard from her again."
Swetnick was sued in 2000 by her former employer, Portland-based Webtrends, for allegedly falsifying her educational background and concocting false sexual harssment allegations. The suit, which Avenatti has called "bogus," was voluntarily dismissed by Webtrends shortly afterwards.
POLYGRAPH RESULTS REVEAL MAJOR INCONSISTENCIES IN CHRISTINE FORD'S CLAIMS
In 2001, after her employment at Webtrends ended, Vinneccy filed for a restraining order against her in Florida, claiming that Swetnick threatened him and his family after he ended their four-year relationship. “She was threatening my family, threatening my wife and threatening to do harm to my baby at that time,” Vinneccy told Politico last week. "I know a lot about her. She’s not credible at all,” he said. “Not at all.”
According to The Washington Post, in 2015, the state of Maryland filed a lien against Swetnick's property, citing more than $30,000 in unpaid taxes dating back to 2008. Court records obtained by The Post showed that the total amount owed, nearly $63,000, was resolved in December 2016, although the paper reported it was unclear exactly how. And, in 2017, the federal government filed a lien on Swetnick's property, citing a $40,000 unpaid tax bill from 2014, according to The Post. That lien reportedly was released in March 2018, and the debt was similarly satisfied.
WATCH: MCCONNELL UNLOADS ON SENATE DEMS FOR SHIFTING GOALPOSTS ON KAVANAUGH FBI PROBE
Swetnick has told NBC News that she saw Kavanaugh "paw on girls" and "[touch] them in private parts" at parties as a high school student, but stopped short of claiming that he drugged or sexually assaulted her or other women. MSNBC aired an interview with Swetnick on "The Beat with Ari Melber" Monday evening, with reporter Kate Snow noting that NBC News "has not been able to independently verify [Swetnick's] claims."
Swetnick said she was inspired to come forward after Christine Blasey Ford claimed she was sexually assaulted by Kavanaugh during a party that Ford and Kavanaugh purportedly attended as high school students in the early 1980s. (Ford's account has not been backed up by any of the witnesses she said were at the party, including her lifelong best friend, and she has repeatedly changed key details in her story, including how many people were at the party and when the episode occurred. Notably, Ford also testified she could not recall how she got home from the party, which she said took place far from her residence at the time.).
"I started to think back to ... the early '80s in Montgomery County in Maryland and I thought that I might have some information that might corroborate some of the things that she had stated," Swetnick said.
She added that she met Kavanaugh when she was in community college and attending house parties that would draw "everybody between an age range of 15, 16 to 25, maybe even more." Swetnick said she remembered "specifically being introduced to him" and described him as "very aggressive."
SWETNICK SUED BY FORMER EMPLOYER FOR ALLEGEDLY MAKING UP SEXUAL HARASSMENT CLAIMS
"Very sloppy drunk, very mean drunk," she said of the future federal judge. "I saw him try to shift clothing ... I saw him push girls against walls. He would pretend to stumble and stumble into them and knock them into a wall. He'd push his body against theirs. He would grope them."
However, Swetnick could not say whether she ever saw Kavanaugh or his friend Mark Judge spike the punch at those parties with drugs.
"Well, I saw him giving red Solo cups to quite a few girls during that time frame and there was green punch at those parties," Swetnick said. "And I would not take one of those glasses from Brett Kavanaugh. I saw him around the punch, I won't say bowls, or the punch containers ... I don't know what he did, but I saw him by them."
Swetnick said that Kavanaugh and Judge attended a party where she was drugged and sexually assaulted at the age of 19, but added: "I cannot specifically say that he was one of the ones who assaulted me. But before this happened to me at that party, I saw Brett Kavanaugh there. I saw Mark Judge there and they were hanging about the area where I started to feel disoriented and where the room was and where the other boys were hanging out and laughing. I could hear them laughing and laughing."
Swetnick claimed she reported her assault to the Montgomery County Police Department, but officials there told NBC News that it could take up to a month to recover documents related to any report she may have made.
Swetnick also gave NBC News the names of four friends she said could corroborate her story. Snow said two of those people had not responded to requests for comment, a third was deceased and a fourth said he could not recall knowing Swetnick. Kavanaugh has called Swetnick's accusations a "joke," while Judge has said he "categorically" denies her claims.
President Trump has ordered that the FBI conduct a supplemental background check of Kavanaugh ahead of a planned Senate vote on his confirmation this week. Swetnick's allegations are reportedly not considered credible by the White House, and her account has not been corroborated.

Sen. Mazie Hirono Cartoons

Sen. Hirono doesn't answer when asked whether Dems leaked Christine Ford's letter on Kavanaugh

Sen. Mazie Hirono, who has emerged as one of the most vocal opponents of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, on Sunday didn't directly answer when asked if she was confident Democrats didn't strategically leak Christine Ford's accusations against him just days before a crucial Judiciary Committee vote.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., received a letter from Ford in July outlining her claim that Kavanaugh had attacked her at a house party in the 1980s, and her office immediately recommended Ford retain a prominent liberal lawyer. But, as Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and other top Republicans repeatedly noted last week, Feinstein failed to follow committee protocols and notify her colleagues or federal authorities, even on a confidential basis, about the accusations.
"Are you confident the Democrats didn’t leak that letter, and how do you respond to Senator Graham’s charge that it was inappropriate for the Democrats to refer Dr. Blasey Ford to a lawyer?" host George Stephanopoulos asked Hirono on ABC's "This Week."
"All of these things do not focus on what we should be focusing, which is the credibility of Judge Kavanaugh," Hirono, D-Hawaii, responded, before calling Kavanaugh's claims of a political conspiracy against him "bizarre."
HIRONO SAYS KAVANAUGH DOESN'T DESERVE DUE PROCESS BECAUSE HE'S CONSERVATIVE
"And, by the way, even as all of these accusations about this being politically motivated are being tossed around, everyone acknowledges, including Judge Kavanaugh, that Dr. Ford is not being politically motivated," Hirono, who has suggested Kavanaugh did not deserve due process because of his "outcome-driven" conservative legal philsophy, continued. "That is very clear."
The apparent non-answer likely would fuel Republicans' efforts to seek a deeper inquiry into exactly how news of Ford's confidential letter ended up in the hands of The Intercept -- a leak that GOP leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., have strongly suggested was orchestrated by Democrats.
"I'm going to get to the bottom of it," Graham told Fox News on Sunday, suggesting that someone in Feinstein's office or one of Ford's attorneys may have been responsible for strategically deploying the leak to harm Kavanaugh's chances. Graham also flatly said it was improper for Feinstein's office to recommend to Ford that she hire an attorney, especially one with connections to Feinstein and the Democratic Party.
In an explosive exchange during Thursday's hearing, Feinstein denied leaking the letter under questioning from Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, R-Texas. Feinstein then turned to her staff behind her, who also claimed they did not leak it, and suggested Ford's friends were behind the disclosure.
"Well, I'm telling you I did not," said Feinstein, who added: "It's my understanding that [Ford's] story was leaked before the letter became public and she testified that she had spoken to her friends about it, and it's most likely that that's how this story leaked ... But it did not leak from us, I assure you that."
Feinstein's handling of the letter has drawn the ire of top Republicans for weeks. In a scathing letter to Feinstein earlier this month, Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, wrote that "I cannot overstate how disappointed I am" in the California Democrat's refusal to share Ford's allegation, saying her decision had ultimately compromised Ford's anonymity and unfairly stalled Kavanaugh's confirmation by politicizing a sexual assault claim.
Separately, Hirono also suggested that the unfolding FBI supplemental background check into Kavanaugh -- which Democrats had long demanded -- is shaping up to be a "farce," saying it should not be limited to seven days or limited to certain topics.
President Trump has insisted the FBI will have discretion to interview "whoever" it wants, and in response to Hirono's interview, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said the Hawaii senator was being predictable.
"The goalpost moving never stops," Hatch wrote on Sunday.
LINDSEY GRAHAM TEARS INTO DEMS DURING 'SHAM' HEARING
None of the witnesses that Ford, a California professor, has identified as being present at the party where she was allegedly assaulted -- including Leland Ingham Keyser, her best friend at the time -- have said they remember anything about the episode. Asked about Keyser's statement, Ford suggested on Thursday her friend was having medical issues.
In her testimony earlier in the day, Ford -- who had told Feinstein in her July letter that the party included "included me and 4 others" -- changed the tally, and told senators that there were four boys there, in addition to her female friend. In an August note Ford wrote in advance of a polygraph exam she took at the direction of her lawyers, she maintained that "there were 4 boys and a couple of girls" at the party, again apparently contradicting her letter to Feinstein in July.
Crucially, in Ford's Thursday testimony, she mentioned for the first time that she did not know the identity of one of the boys at the party, offering a possible last-minute explanation for why the other purported attendees were at a party relatively far from their own neighborhoods.
Ford has claimed that her therapist inaccurately recorded in 2012 that she had said four boys were in the room when she was attacked. Ford has also testified that the alleged attack occurred in 1982, after first telling The Washington Post it happened in the mid-1980s.
Additionally, Ford testified Thursday she had been unaware of committee Republicans' offers, which were communicated publicly and to her attorneys, to fly out to California to meet with her so that they could accomodate her reported fear of flying and expedite the confirmation process -- one of several discrepencies that Graham told Fox News on Sunday he wanted to probe.

Restaurant where anti-Kavanaugh protesters disrupted Ted Cruz's dinner hires security

The upscale Italian restaurant Fiola has hired security guards after protesters confronted Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and his wife, Heidi, as they prepared to dine there.
"We are trying to run a restaurant that was besieged this week with the sort of vitriol that is the story of divided politics in America now," the owners of Fiola, located in downtown Washington, D.C., said in an email to customers.
The owners said staff would be re-trained on how to deal with similar instances and went on to implore customers to keep dining there. They described the current situation as a "PR disaster."
STAFFERS AT RESTAURANT WHERE CRUZ WAS CONFRONTED GET DEATH THREATS, OWNER SAYS
"We promise that Fiola is better than ever, and with your support we will emerge from this challenge quickly," they wrote.
Video on social media of Monday's incident shows protesters confronting the Cruzes chanting, "We believe survivors." The protests were tied to Cruz's support for Judge Brett Kavanaugh, the Supreme Court nominee who faced allegations of sexual assault that date back decades. Kavanaugh has denied the allegations, and an FBI investigation is being conducted.

California governor vetoes abortion bill for university campuses

Moonbeam

California Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a bill on Sunday that would have mandated California public universities to provide abortion pills, The San Francisco Chronicle reported.
SB320, introduced by Sen. Connie Leyva, D-Chino, would have required university health centers to offer women medical abortions on campus by Jan. 1, 2022. The majority of the funds-- $9.6 million-- would come from private donors, The Sacramento Bee reported.
The bill also required a $200,000 grant to the University of California and California State University systems to provide 24-hour phone service to abortion medication recipients, according to the report.
CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR SIGNS BILL TO RAISE AGE REQUIREMENTS TO 21 FOR PURCHASE OF RIFLES, SHOTGUNS
In his veto message, Gov. Brown called the bill “unnecessary,” noting that abortions are a “long-protected right in California.” He said most abortion providers are within a reasonable distance from campus communities.
After the governor’s veto, Leyva said she will introduce the bill next session.

[L]egislation such as this is urgently needed to make sure that Californians are able to access the full range of reproductive care regardless of where they may live.
— California state Sen. Connie Leyva, D-Chino

“As the Trump Administration continues to unravel many of the critical health care protections and services for women, legislation such as this is urgently needed to make sure that Californians are able to access the full range of reproductive care regardless of where they may live,” Leyva said in a statement.
CALIFORNIA’S JERRY BROWN SIGNS TOUGH NET-NEUTRALITY BILL, PROMPTING JUSTICE DEPARTMENT LAWSUIT
The bill was drafted after a failed effort in 2016 by students at UC Berkeley to provide medical abortions on campus, according to The Chronicle. Medical abortions differ from surgical abortions in that the former requires taking a pill over two days during the first 10 weeks of a pregnancy to trigger a miscarriage.