Here are the looming legal dangers for the Trump White House, foreseen by former White House lawyers interviewed by Evan Ryan and me.
The bottom line: Obama's White House Counsel Bob Bauer, who has thought considerably about these pitfalls and opportunities, told Axios: "An impeachment process is a legal process, and to defend against the inevitable political attacks, it must be carefully structured and well-presented to the public."
Top officials inside the White House have taken their first steps to prepare for an onslaught of investigations if Democrats win the House.
What we're hearing: According to a source with direct knowledge, Chief of Staff John Kelly recently formed a small working group to start preparing for the possibility that Democrats will soon sic Congress' top investigators on Trumpworld. Senior White House staff have an offsite weekend retreat scheduled for late October. The agenda is expected to include a discussion of investigations under a Democratic-controlled House, according to the source.
Melania Trump finished her six-day, four-country tour through Africa with a trip to the Egyptian pyramids and Sphinx in Giza, Egypt, on Saturday. She landed back in the States early Sunday morning.
"It took Melania Trump's first big solo international trip for her to show a different side of herself — a playful, less serious one," AP's Darlene Superville reports from Cairo.
Supreme Court Associate Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan warned about partisanship on the Supreme Court, saying "[p]art of the court’s strength and part of the court’s legitimacy depends on people not seeing the court in the way that people see the rest of the governing structures of this country now," reports the Washington Post.
Why it matters: Newly minted Supreme Court Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh was criticized following his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee where he suggested accusations from Christine Blasey Ford were part of a partisan plot from Senate Democrats to derail his nomination
Brett Kavanaugh will be sworn in by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Anthony M. Kennedy Saturday evening, reports the Associated Press.
The backdrop: President Trump took to Twitter to congratulate Kavanaugh and the senate and said he'd sign the Commitment of Appointment for Kavanaugh later on Saturday, officially naming him an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Senate confirmed Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court this afternoon by a 50-48 vote, ending one of the most bitter confirmation battles in decades. He was sworn in hours later as protesters denounced the vote.
The big picture: The atmosphere in the Capitol has been poisonous for the past few weeks. Everyone was angry, and everyone was stressed. Police even set up barricades around the Capitol building toward the end of the week, which is highly unusual. And protesters disrupted the final vote several times — another sign of the deep emotions unleashed by the brutal fight.
The New York Tax Department is opening an investigation into President Trump's taxes after allegations were made against the president and his family claiming their fortune was created, at times, through fraud, reports Bloomberg.
Why it matters: The investigation was sparked by a lengthy report released by the New York Times earlier this week detailing how Trump landed his "self made" fortune. The Times' report alleges he and his siblings received $413 million (in today's dollars) in assets from their father and used multiple schemes to evade hundreds of millions of dollars in tax payments. Lawyers of the president claim the story is 100% false.
President Trump said he has great respect for Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) after she announced she would vote in favor of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, describing it as "from the heart."
While President Trump gets low marks from Americans on his temperament, trustworthiness, and leadership, 68% of Americans agree that he stands up for what he believes in, according to a new Pew Research survey.
Why it matters: Trump's refusal to compromise or back down on things he's passionate about is one of the most attractive qualities to his supporters. Broken down along party lines, 91% of Republicans say he stands up for what he believes in, along with 52% of Democrats.
Just before 1 p.m. ET, hundreds of protesters crossed police lines to gather on the steps of the Senate and U.S. Supreme Court steps, chanting, "November is coming," ahead of the final vote to confirm Federal Judge Brett Kavanaugh today at 3:30 p.m., according to NBC News.
Democratic donors and activists are going after Susan Collins in 2020, the Huffington Post reports, with a multi-million dollar campaign they hope will oust her from the Senate.
The details: Collins infuriated Democrats by saying she would support Brett Kavanaugh's nomination, all but securing his confirmation to the Supreme Court. Activists have already raised $2 million — a mark they hit during her floor speech on Friday — and donors have pledged $1 million to "register and educate voters," per HuffPo. Collins' relatively moderate approach has earned her "a measure of bipartisan support" in the past, but president of the Human Rights Campaign Chad Griffin tells HuffPo: "The millions of Americans...must make their voices heard in November and beyond by electing lawmakers who will stand up for our rights rather than sell us out."
At his rallies, President Trump's base gets fired up about the creation of a Space Force. And behind the scenes, the Pentagon is pushing to stand it up on deadline. But publicly at least, it's not much more fleshed out than the idea.
The big picture: A stated objective of the new force is to pull together U.S. space operations — 90% of which remain under the Air Force — to defend satellite infrastructure and combat adversaries. But as of now, the U.S. is far behind its rivals in organizing militarily in space.
Given the rapid success of private space companies, NASA has gone through some profound soul-searching about what its role should be in the rest of the 21st century.
The answer: NASA will continue to be a trailblazer for those private sector innovators. In other words, NASA — and not the billionaires — will still be shining the light. Specifically, NASA — which celebrated its 60th anniversary this week — will prove concepts for private missions in low-Earth orbit, to the Moon or Mars, NASA administrator James Bridenstine tells Axios.
Christine Blasey Ford's lawyers denounced the expected confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh in a statement to the Huffington Post.
One key quote: “Senators claiming to want a dignified debate should not repeat lies constructed by the Judiciary Committee that were cynically designed to win support for Judge Kavanaugh.”
