Sens. Flake and Collins condemn President Trump for ridiculing Kavanaugh’s accuser. Utah’s wealthiest residents are weighing in financially on hot-button initiatives. Hatch criticized for tweeting a letter against a woman who says Kavanaugh assaulted her.
Happy Wednesday. Sens. Jeff Flake and Susan Collins, key undecided votes on confirming Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, criticized President Donald Trump for mocking a woman who has accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault, calling the president’s performance “appalling” and “just plain wrong.” Trump, addressing a rally Tuesday night in Mississippi, imitated and ridiculed Christine Blasey Ford. [Politico]
Topping the news: Utah’s wealthiest residents are cutting checks to help encourage voters for or against the ballot initiatives being presented in November’s midterm elections. Utah Jazz owner Gail Miller made a huge donation to Drug Safe Utah opposing Proposition 2’s medical marijuana initiative in addition to smaller donations encouraging proposals to increase gasoline taxes to fund education and political redistricting. [Trib][Fox13]
-> Sen. Orrin Hatch shared via Twitter a former Utah man’s letter criticizing a woman accusing Judge Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct. The action brought significant backlash down onto the senator, with some calling the letter “slut shaming.” [Trib]
-> The Salt Lake City Council can’t stop the inland port from being created, but it’s doing what it can to preserve environmental and air quality conditions that may result. [Trib]
-> Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox said Tuesday that Mitt Romney’s run for Senate might make Utah a target for Russian hackers, as Romney has previously made comments against Russia. Cox is confident that the government’s websites can withstand a cyberassault, and he added that there’s a paper trail for every vote cast in Utah. [Trib][Fox13][ABC4][KUER]
Tweets of the day: From @GovHerbert: “I have declared a state of emergency due to potential flooding. The @NWS has issued a flash flood watch for much for Utah. Communities near burn scars created by recent wildfires are at increased risk. Heed all warnings and orders from local public safety officials.”
-> From @StephenAtHome: “The FBI is investigating Kavanaugh this week, and I'm on the edge of my seat to learn whether he's innocent or super innocent.”
-> From @BlogGuero: “Remember last week when the President of the United States accused China of meddling in our upcoming midterms without any further elaboration? Yeah, me too.””
Happy birthday: To KSL’s Doug Wright and Rep. Mia Love’s spokesman Rich Piatt.
In other news: Attorney General Jeff Sessions will be in Salt Lake City on Wednesday to give a presentation on a program designed to reduce rates of violent crimes. A big part of this effort is Project Safe Neighborhoods, a proposal started in 2002 but reignited under the Trump administration that seeks to control violent crime through aggressive law enforcement. [DNewsviaAP][ABC4][KUTV]
-> A Senate panel Tuesday endorsed a bill to fix up national parks and help cover a multibillion-dollar maintenance backlog — a proposal spearheaded by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, who visited Zion National Park last week. The bill passed 19-4, with Utah Sen. Mike Lee joining three other senators in opposition. [Trib]
-> Former President Ronald Reagan has been referenced to advocate for November’s vote on Proposition 4, an independent political redistricting proposal for Utah. Critics say that the redistricting is merely a partisan attempt at creating a Democratic congressional district in Salt Lake City. [DNews]
-> After a federal judge found San Juan County to be illegally gerrymandering county commission and school boundaries, the boundaries have been redrawn and the state of Utah will be watching the election to ensure that there aren’t any problems. [Fox13]
-> Pat Bagley offers his thoughts on new claims about the modern times being “scary for young men." [Trib]
Nationally: A New York Times investigation found that President Donald Trump engaged in suspect tax schemes, reaping an estimated $413 million in today’s dollars from his father, considerably more than the amount he says he received from his parents. The article stated that Trump helped his parents evade taxes by setting up a fake corporation with his siblings to disguise millions of dollars in gifts from the parents, and he supposedly helped create a scheme to undervalue his parents’ real estate holdings, which greatly reduced the tax bill when those properties were transferred to him and his siblings. The New York Tax Department has confirmed that it is investigating these claims. [NYTimes][BBC][CNN][Globe][Fox]
-> The FBI has not yet interviewed Christine Blasey Ford about her sexual assault allegations against Brett Kavanaugh. Some have alleged that the White House believes it may not be necessary to interview Ford as she has already testified. [Time][Politico][CNN][Globe]
-> Suspicious envelopes possibly containing ricin, a deadly poison, have been sent to President Donald Trump and other key government officials. The parcels were intercepted before reaching their targets. [BBC][WSJ]
-> The Trump administration will no longer be administering family visas to same-sex domestic partners of diplomats and other employees of international organizations working in the United States. The policy states that only married couples of the same sex will be admitted; however, a majority of states in the UN have not legalized same-sex marriage. [NYTimes]
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— Thomas Burr and Cara MacDonald
https://twitter.com/thomaswburr and Twitter.com/carammacdonald