Also today:

A federal judge on Friday gave the go-ahead to a lawsuit filed by 200 congressional Democrats against President Trump alleging he has violated the Constitution by doing business with foreign governments while in office.

The lawsuit is based on the Constitution’s emoluments clause, which bars presidents from taking payments from foreign states. Trump’s business, which he still owns, has hosted foreign embassy events and visiting foreign officials at its downtown D.C. hotel.

The decision opens up yet another legal front for the president, who is now facing an array of inquiries into his business, his campaign and his charity.

Trump is already facing a separate emoluments suit filed by the attorneys general of Washington, D.C. and Maryland

In case you want to watch the waking nightmare that is that Trump press conference.

CBS picks out some highlights.

 

Mr. Trump reiterated his support for Kavanaugh throughout the press conference, lauding him as one of the great intellects of the country. But he did say he could change his mind after testimony from the women accusing the nominee. “That is possible,” he said.

Asked by CBS News’ Steven Portnoy what message the president is sending to young men with his stance on Kavanaugh, Mr. Trump decried a situation he sees as “guilty until proven innocent.”

“In this case, you’re guilty until proven innocent,” he said.

This is the guy who paid for a full-page ad in the New … Read the rest

Trump thinks Kavanaugh is doing a bad job of defending himself so he’s taking over.

President Donald Trump has grown increasingly dissatisfied with the way Brett Kavanaugh has defended himself in wake of sexual assault allegations that have threatened to derail his Supreme Court nomination, multiple sources tell CNN.

It has led the President to believe that he must personally take charge of defending his embattled nominee ahead of Thursday’s critical appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Trump made the decision to hold a news conference on the eve of the hearing, making it the fourth he has held as president.

…

Trump is in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, but is being kept up

Trump did his talk at the UN today. He came across as…barely conscious. Drugged or exhausted or strokey.

He started with his usual boast, and the UN people laughed.

WOW! The UN audience laughs at Trump after he claims, "my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country." pic.twitter.com/tXg50ejQqy

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 25, 2018

… Read the rest

Trump says oh gee it’s all so political.

On Monday in New York, President Donald Trump dismissed the second allegation of sexual misconduct against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh as “totally political.”

Meaning what, exactly? That the nomination of Kavanaugh wasn’t political? They can’t be serious. How about Mitch McConnell’s boast about looking Obama in the eyes and saying, with a macho stab of the finger, “you will not fill this Supreme Court vacancy”? That wasn’t political?

The Supreme Court is political. I know it’s supposed to be above that, but it’s not and never has been.

White House counsel Kellyanne Conway said in an interview with CBS on Monday morning that the allegations against Kavanuagh are “starting to

Unconscious humor in Times report on Trump’s rally in Missouri last night purportedly to boost the Republican candidate for senator:

Thousands of supporters waved cardboard signs and wore hats bearing Mr. Trump’s election slogans — “Make America Great Again,” “Keep America Great” and “Drain the Swamp” — while two large placards bracketing a giant American flag declared “Promises Made” and “Promises Kept,” the argument the president has been making about his first two years in office.

Signs in support of Mr. Hawley were few and far between, and the digital banner around the arena directed people to send a text to Mr. Trump’s campaign, not Mr. Hawley’s, to sign up as supporters.

The president spoke at length about how his

Trump’s project for this morning: trash Jeff Sessions some more. Sessions richly deserves trashing, but not for the reasons Trump is doing it.

“I don’t have an attorney general. It’s very sad,” Trump said in an interview with Hill.TV, in which he also said the former senator from Alabama came off as “mixed up and confused” when he appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee in January 2017.

Not as mixed up and confused as Trump comes off every time he opens his mouth.

Trump doubled down on his criticism of Sessions as he left the White House on Wednesday morning for North Carolina to survey hurricane damage.

“I’m disappointed in the attorney general for many reasons, and you understand

pic.twitter.com/G0BjCXEnaX

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 18, 2018

“One of the wettest we’ve ever seen from the standpoint of water.”

“There’s been a loss of life and” – sticking flap-hands out to the side – “MAY GOD BE WITH THEM. AND THEIR FAMILIES.” When he remembers a formula his voice gets louder, because he’s not diverting energy to thinking of Correct Words To Say.

“It’s a tough one…tough to understand…but this has been a difficult period of time for a lot of people – FEMA!” – the hands shoot up into the air – “the job you’ve done, the military…uh, the Coast Guard – what you’ve done in saving so many lives has been…really something special.”

… Read the rest

Trump thinks it’s a terrible terrible sad thing…for Kavanaugh.

“I feel so badly for him that he’s going through this,” Trump said at a White House press conference with Polish President Andrzej Duda. “This is not a man that deserves this.”

Well of course President You Can Grab Them by the Pussy thinks that.

Trump on Tuesday chose to focus on the wrong he felt had been done to Kavanaugh, however. “I feel terribly for him, for his wife who is an incredible lovely woman and his beautiful young daughters,” said the president.

They’re hot, see. His wife is hot, and his daughters are hot. Obviously they wouldn’t matter if they weren’t, but they are, so Trump feels “terribly” … Read the rest

Greg Sargent at the Post:

President Trump and his Republican allies in Congress are running a systematic campaign of harassment and disruption directed at legitimate law enforcement activity being conducted on behalf of the American people — with the active goal of protecting Trump and his cronies from accountability and denying the public the full truth about a hostile foreign power’s effort to corrupt our democracy.

They call it “transparency” – which is idiotic, because “transparency” about ongoing investigations is not a thing. Sargent says this move will probably blow up in Trump’s face. I sure hope so.

Beyond this, the release is a remarkably brazen abuse of power. As national security expert David Kris notes, Trump

When President Obama said that he has been to “57 States,” very little mention in Fake News Media. Can you imagine if I said that…story of the year! @IngrahamAngle

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 15, 2018

I know this one! I can explain!

I don’t mean I know the “57 states” slip of the tongue, I never heard of it; I mean I know why it wasn’t headline news while the idiotic things Trump says do get covered.

It’s because Obama is not a bumbling brain-rotted malevolent ignorant fool, so his misspeaking on one occasion isn’t worth reporting because it’s not a pattern. One verbal fumble doesn’t mean anything, it’s just random.

Trump, on the other hand, can’t … Read the rest

As the hurricane continues to dump rain on flooded North Carolina, Trump’s thoughts turned to…

Trump, of course.

As Hurricane Florence continued its destructive path in North and South Carolina on Friday, President Donald Trump has reportedly been fixated on unflattering news reports about his response to Hurricane Maria, which hit Puerto Rico in September 2017.

That is definitely the most urgent concern here.

Trump has particularly been irritated by video footage of him throwing rolls of paper towels to a crowd of relief workers on the island, according to a Washington Post report published Thursday. Trump had characterized his gestures as good-natured, but the footage prompted accusations that Trump lacks empathy.

“They had these beautiful, soft towels. Very

Trump’s self-obsessed lie about the death toll of Hurricane Maria is not going over all that well.

BREAKING: Pres. Trump rejects independent study that reports an estimated 2,975 people died in Puerto Rico in 5 months after Hurricane Maria; provides no evidence to discount the study; declares, without evidence, that the higher death toll is political ploy to make him look bad.

— NBC News (@NBCNews) September 13, 2018

I’m not gonna quote tweet the Bad Man’s comments on Puerto Rico, but you all know he’s lying, right?
*Planet Earth nods, shakes its collective head*
Yeah, okay. #2975https://t.co/HvZj7TEkTK

— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) September 13, 2018

Wherein the president dismisses the official government of Puerto Rico death count from the

We got A Pluses for our recent hurricane work in Texas and Florida (and did an unappreciated great job in Puerto Rico, even though an inaccessible island with very poor electricity and a totally incompetent Mayor of San Juan). We are ready for the big one that is coming!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 12, 2018

NPR does a fact check on that claim.

During an Oval Office briefing on preparations for Hurricane Florence, a reporter asked President Trump if there were lessons to be learned from the widely criticized FEMA response to Hurricane Maria last year in Puerto Rico. Trump’s response? In short: nothing to see here.

“The job that FEMA and law enforcement and everybody did, working

Trump either is or is not going to drop in on Ireland in November.

The White House has not yet made a final decision on whether US President Donald Trump will make a stop in Ireland in November, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has said.

…

The comments came after it was reported Mr Trump’s planned visit to Ireland in November had been put off.

The Government on Tuesday evening confirmed that the visit of President Trump has been “postponed” for what it called “scheduling reasons”.

The Irish Times understands that the proposed details of the trip had been changing constantly since the White House first announced President Trump’s intention to visit last month.

Not a very adult or polite … Read the rest

The usual dignity and empathy and respect.

.@realDonaldTrump First Lady Melania Trump greet supporters as they arrive in Johnstown, PA to attend the Flight 93 September 11 Memorial Service in Shanksville, PA pic.twitter.com/SRMBvlDLKJ

— Doug Mills (@dougmillsnyt) September 11, 2018

… Read the rest

Trump says he’s going to “write” a “book.” Uh huh, and I’m going to fly the 6 o’clock plane to Heathrow.

The Woodward book is a Joke – just another assault against me, in a barrage of assaults, using now disproven unnamed and anonymous sources. Many have already come forward to say the quotes by them, like the book, are fiction. Dems can’t stand losing. I’ll write the real book!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 10, 2018

That would be laughable even if he did know how to write, because he’s a narcissist who can’t stop bragging, so any book he “wrote” on the subject would be a pack of lies and tedious as well.

During his business career,