| | | | | Senate Judiciary Committee members look at their notes during a markup hearing Friday morning on Capitol Hill. Credit: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images | | | Where We Are Today: "We're in the twilight zone"
Kanye's Being MAGA Again: Ye brought his hat to his "SNL" promo
This New DC Hotel is Also a Political Art Gallery: Inside Eaton | | | What the White House is Talking About:
President Trump today meets at the White House with President Sebastián Piñera of Chile.
What the White House Press Corps is Talking About:
Day 2 of riveting hearings on Capitol Hill about the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh in the wake of yesterday's testimony from Christine Blasey Ford.
Where We Are Today:
"We're in the twilight zone," is what Sen. Lindsay Graham said this morning as members of the Senate Judiciary Committee continued to make lengthy statements (Graham did, too) about yesterday's testimony from Ford and Kavanaugh. Chairman Chuck Grassley pushed through to set the vote for Kavanaugh for 1:30 ET today, and in doing so, angered Democrats enough to force them to walk out of the hearing room in protest. Republicans, including Sen. Jeff Flake, said they were conflicted, but Flake at least indicated he would vote "yes" on Kavanaugh; shortly thereafter he was confronted by two female protesters as he tried to get on the Senate elevator. Everyone in the country, it seems, is engaged in this battle -- and that's what it is, a battle. I always know when something is resonating outside the Beltway when I get texts from my high school girlfriends, all of whom live in different parts of the country. "What's going to happen?" "She was so brave." "I can't believe how old these guys are!" "It's just going to end up like it always does, politics -- right?" Just a sampling of some of the texts that went back and forth in my text group of eight smart, funny, real, engaged and passionate women in their 40s.
Follow along here today for live updates from our CNN breaking news team, and also read solid recaps of everything that happened yesterday, from the testimony to the fallout and the twists and turns (like, what happened to Rachel Mitchell?!).
American Bar Association:
Overnight, the American Bar Association, which had endorsed Kavanaugh's nomination before the Ford accusations, issued a statement saying it changed its mind and is now asking for a thorough FBI investigation, and a delay in the vote. "Deciding to proceed without conducting additional investigation would not only have a lasting impact on the Senate's reputation, but it will also negatively affect the great trust necessary for the American people to have in the Supreme Court," wrote ABA President Robert Carlson in a letter to Grassley.
Two Front Pages:
Here's how The Washington Post and The New York Times handled the big story on their front pages: | | Sad But Important Development That Should Help Women:
I was blown away by this statistic: The National Sexual Assault Hotline experienced a 201% increase in calls yesterday, Sara McGovern, spokeswoman for RAINN, the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, which runs the hotline, told CNN's health team. That's incredible. And it speaks to Ford's bravery. It also speaks to just how many women have been holding close secrets and feelings of shame and guilt and fear. All I can say is, I have always found the best kind of courage to be the kind that comes when you are terrified. Fear and bravery are not mutually exclusive, and many times, you can't have one without the other. I tell this to my daughter a lot. She is 13, and she is watching and listening. We all are. I'm putting this here for women and men who have stories to tell and think there aren't people who want to hear you. There are: | | Christine Blasey Ford Images As Memes and Merch:
Within hours of standing to swear she was telling the truth in front of the Senate, images of Ford went viral. I found several examples of people turning her oath-taking into art, as T-shirts and magnets and images. | | Credit: etsy.com, @browngirldoodles/Instagram, @mary_bothans/Instagram
I'm Off to Africa:
Guys, I'm leaving for Africa for a week or so to cover Melania Trump's trip -- her first major solo international trip since becoming first lady. We're going to Ghana, Malawi, Kenya and Egypt. I'm flying with the rest of the small press pool aboard Executive One Foxtrot -- which is what a plane is called when she is aboard. As we cover four countries in six days, imma do my very best to send Hunter back dispatches and photos for him to include here while I'm away. In the meantime, follow along on my Twitter! Have a great weekend! | | What Washington is Talking About:
This morning, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted down a motion to subpoena Brett Kavanaugh's friend Mark Judge; Sen. Jeff Flake was confronted live on CNN in an elevator by protesters who claimed they had survived sexual assault; Sens. Kamala Harris, Richard Blumenthal and Mazie Hirono walked out of the hearing; and Sen. Dianne Feinstein said she had "never seen someone who wanted to be elevated to the highest court in our country behave" as Kavanaugh did Thursday.
What America is Talking About:
Yesterday's hearing, an attack on Facebook that exposed information on nearly 50 million users, and Tom Hanks, who will play Mister Rogers in an upcoming film, which honestly, is the goodness we all need in our lives today.
A Hearing for the Ages:
Thursday's hearing transfixed the nation. An NPR/PBS/Marist poll earlier this week found 58% of Americans said they planned to follow it, and from Wall Street to school classrooms and airplanes, people were glued to the emotional proceedings. Preliminary Nielsen ratings found nearly 20% of US households with TVs were watching the hearing at any given time between 10 a.m. and 6:45 p.m. Sen. Chuck Grassley served as narrator to the hearings, which stretched out over eight hours and at times veered towards the surreal.
Christine Blasey Ford's voice cracked describing the alleged sexual assault. She was accommodating, telling lawmakers at times, "I wish I could be more helpful" and "Does that work for you?" It was juxtaposed with Brett Kavanaugh's angry defense. He cried as he described what the experience has been like for him and his family. He was at times flippant, throwing back questions at lawmakers, like when Sen. Amy Klobuchar she asked if he'd ever blacked out while drinking (he later apologized to Klobuchar). He said the word "beer" or "beers" more than 40 times, by my count. He offered alternative definitions for slang words like "boof" and "devil's triangle," and the Wikipedia page for "devil's triangle" was edited from a House IP address during the hearing to reference Kavanaugh (Sens. Orrin Hatch's and Mike Lee's Wikipedia pages were also edited from Capitol Hill, with their personal information posted, according to the Congress Edits Twitter bot). | | Credit: @congressedits/Twitter
Kavanaugh claimed the accusations against him were part of a political, Clintonian plot. Sen. Lindsey Graham went off. It felt like the Trumpification of the Supreme Court confirmation. Our Joan Biskupic called it a "partisan turning point" for the court.
Clinton Makes "Murphy Brown" Cameo:
Val the bartender is no more. Hillary Clinton made a surprise cameo in the "Murphy Brown" reboot premiere last night as "Hilary Clendon." She was applying for a secretarial job, for which she said she had experience, and said she was "ready on Day 1" and had "some experience with emails." | | Credit: CBS/YouTube
Kanye's Being MAGA Again:
Kanye West has broken out the MAGA hat again. On Thursday, the rapper stopped by the office of Fader in the hat, which he said he'd redesigned. "I changed the brim. I mean, I changed the shape right here, and I put positive energy into the hat," he said. He was also wearing a Colin Kaepernick sweatshirt he said he'd made that morning and said he wished Louis C.K. were hosting "SNL," where West is performing this weekend. West also wore his MAGA hat and a sweatshirt that read, "Free Hoover," for his "SNL" promo, with Adam Driver and Kenan Thompson. | | Credit: Saturday Night Live/YouTube
Street Art Sighting:
Eaton, a new hotel and co-working space downtown on K Street, hopes to be a space for artists to create and show off their work. I spoke this week with the hotel's founder, Katherine Lo, who said she set out to "use the hotel as a platform for art and social change."
"Most hotels treat art as decoration," Lo said. "To take a mission-driven or explicitly political approach is definitely unique, I think, for the hospitality industry."
The hotel is a political art gallery, with a mural, a mosaic and a video installation, and more art pieces are planned for the future. Below is a mural of Ruby Bridges, one of the first African-American students to integrate US schools, painted into an "Alice in Wonderland"-themed scene by artist Erik Thor Sandberg in Eaton's Allegory bar. | | Credit: James C. Jackson
Eaton is the site of the Human/Progress Festival this weekend, and projection artist Robin Bell, better known for his projections attacking Trump on the Trump International, is putting up a message on the side of Eaton. Here's a shot from his test projection on Wednesday -- a rare positive message from him ("We're always against," he said about artists, who are actually "pretty pro- people."). The message is: "Human Progress The Future is Bright." You can read my story about Eaton and its hopes for political artists here. | | Credit: Hunter Schwarz
If you spot political street art, tweet me @hunterschwarz, tag me on Instagram @hunterschwarz, or email me at coverlinehunter@cnn.com with your sighting so I can feature it in COVER/LINE.
P.S.: If you need me this weekend, I'll be spinning Robyn's "Honey." TGIF, now more than ever. See you back here Monday. | | | | | | |
