WE KNOW WHY: Why Did NBC News Sit on Evidence Discrediting a Kavanaugh Accuser for Weeks?

The Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee recommended anti-Trump attorney Michael Avenatti and his client Julie Swetnick to the Justice Department for possible criminal charges on Thursday. Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley noted that in multiple public statements, Swetnick and Avenatti contradicted the sworn statement they provided claiming that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh ran a gang-rape-party ring in high school.

What was a very bad day for Avenatti got worse when NBC News reported hours later that “NBC News also found other apparent inconsistencies in a second sworn statement from another woman whose statement Avenatti provided to the Senate Judiciary Committee in a bid to bolster Swetnick’s claims.”

It was very good reporting by NBC News. But it was also reporting based on interviews conducted three weeks ago, with no clear indication of why the outlet chose to sit on it. . . .

But per the newest story, these are the details NBC News knew for a fact during the Kavanaugh debate, and chose not to report:

On September 30, Avenatti forwarded an anonymous woman (I’ll call her Woman B) to NBC claiming she could corroborate Swetnick’s story. On the contrary, she said of the punch spiking “I didn’t ever think it was Brett” and when asked if she ever witnessed Kavanaugh act inappropriately towards women replied, “No.”

On October 2nd, Avenatti publicized a sworn statement from an unnamed woman claiming she had “witnessed firsthand Brett Kavanaugh, together with others, ‘spike’ the ‘punch’ at house parties I attended with Quaaludes and/or grain alcohol” and he engaged in “inappropriate physical contact with girls of a sexual nature.”

The same day, Avenatti confirms to NBC News that the woman is Woman B.
On October 3rd, Woman B tells NBC she only “skimmed” the statement she made to Congress.
The same day, when asked about the discrepancies, Avenatti suddenly backtracks and claims the woman is not Woman B.

On October 4th, Woman B texts NBC: “It is incorrect that I saw Brett spike the punch. I didn’t see anyone spike the punch … I was very clear with Michael Avenatti from day one.”

The same day, when asked about her denials, Avenatti responds, “I have a signed declaration that states otherwise together with multiple audio recordings where she stated exactly what is in the declaration. There were also multiple witnesses to our discussions.”

Five minutes later, Woman B texts NBC: “Please understand that everything in the declaration is true and you should not contact me anymore regarding this issue.”

Minutes later, NBC calls again, and Woman B again reiterates she never saw Kavanaugh spiking punch or being sexually inappropriate.

On October 5th, she texts NBC: “I will definitely talk to you again and no longer Avenatti. I do not like that he twisted my words.”

Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed October 6th. At the time of his confirmation, there was a sworn statement before Congress indicating that the Supreme Court nominee was a sexual assailant and drugged women. As far as the Senate and public knew, there was nothing indicating that statement was false.

NBC News knew that it was false. Four days earlier, they at least had enough to report that Woman B had changed her story. And days before that, they knew that one of the witnesses that Swetnick alluded to could not “attest to the truthfulness” of her allegations as she claimed in her sworn statement.

What gives? One gets the impression that had Grassley not moved to recommended Avenatti for criminal charges, NBC News would have continued to sit on the story.

UGLY HISTORY: On this day in 1838, Missouri Governor Lilburn Boggs issued Executive Order 44, calling for the extermination of Mormons. The order read in part: “The Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the state if necessary for the public peace—their outrages are beyond all description. If you can increase your force, you are authorized to do so to any extent you may consider necessary.” (Boldface added.)

WHAT DESPERATION LOOKS LIKE: Biden to campaign for Heitkamp days before North Dakota election.

Former Vice President Joe Biden will campaign in North Dakota alongside Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D) on Nov. 1, as the senator fights to hang onto her seat in a deep-red state.

Biden will kick off the “Bring it Home, Heidi!” five-day statewide tour in Fargo next Thursday in the final days of the midterm elections.

His visit comes as the race has been trending more towards Republicans, which improves GOP chances of hanging onto their slim 51-49 seat majority.

Heitkamp faces a tough reelection race against Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) in a state that President Trump won by nearly 36 points in 2016. Recent public polls show Heitkamp trailing Cramer by double-digit margins.

Hmm.

ANNALS OF LEFTIST AUTOPHAGY: UN report calls Bay Area homeless crisis human rights violation — Special rapporteur cites SF and Oakland along with worst slums in the world.

Found via “Comfortably Smug,” who tweets, “We need a coalition of the willing to go into San Francisco for regime change.”

Earlier: California Ranks as Poorest State, One of the Worst for Income Inequality. “Want a liberal utopia? This is what it looks like.”

IT DOESN’T MATTER, THEY CAN’T HELP THEMSELVES: Blaming Trump, GOP could backfire for Dems.

MEDIA MAN TELLS WOMAN SHE’S PAID TOO MUCH: CNN’s Stelter: Megyn Kelly Was ‘Paid Too Much’ at NBC.

ABOUT TIME:  PUSHBACK: climate alarmists get sued over false statements.

ABOUT TIME SOMEONE DID THIS:  Tech Community Outraged after SQLite Founder Adopts Benedictine Code of Conduct.  Stop the SJW onslaught on our places of fun and our places of business.  Don’t give them an inch.  Not one. They’re parasites who produce nothing and destroy every field they infect.

AREN’T THEY NOW? IF REPORTS ARE CORRECT, THEY ARE PIPE BOMBS PACKAGED IN PLASTIC AND ATTACHED TO A DIGITAL CLOCK THAT HAS NO ALARM AND THEREFORE NO WAY TO DETONATE.  IN FACT, THE ONLY WAY THOSE “BOMBS” ARE DANGEROUS IS IF THE RECIPIENT DETONATES THEM ON PURPOSE AND THE WORST THAT CAN HAPPEN IS GETTING AN EYE POKED OUT BY A PIECE OF PLASTIC. THE FBI EITHER LACKS AN UNDERSTANDING OF RUDIMENTARY PHYSICS OR IS NO LONGER SERIOUS: Wray on Package Bombs: ‘These Are Not Hoax Devices’.

I BELIEVE THEY CALL THIS DHIMMITUDE:  Insulting Islam Now Illegal in Europe.

CONTRARY TO WHAT THE MEDIA AND THE DEMS (BIRM) WILL TELL YOU THE MOST SALIENT THING ABOUT THE CRAZY IN FLORIDA WHO SENT THE DUD BOMBS IS NOT THAT HE’S A TRUMP FAN OR A REGISTERED REPUBLICAN. IT’S THAT HE’S A KNOWN WOLF:  Our under-incarceration problem, explosive packages edition.  Even if he’s apparently too insane to do any damage, he should have been somewhere he couldn’t even attempt it.

THIS IS MY SHOCKED FACE:  Buyers Remorse? NBC And CNN Suddenly BackPedal On Michael Avenatti.

CORRUPTION AND INSANITY, THAT’S WHAT:  What hath #MeToo wrought?

BUT THEY FIRED JAMES DAMORE FOR MAKING TRUTHFUL GENERAL OBSERVATIONS: Google reportedly paid Android creator millions after sex misconduct claim. “Google is about to pay Andy Rubin, the creator of Android, the last installment of his ­­$90 million exit package — a golden parachute he received despite his being credibly accused of coercing a female employee into performing oral sex, it was revealed on Thursday.”

Don’t be evil. Unless, you know, it pays.

DON’T BUY INTO THE NARRATIVE: Don’t let the media and Democrats get away with it.

OPEN THREAD: Make of it what you will.

YOUR DAILY TREACHER: Insulting Islam Now Illegal in Europe. “Europe does not stand with Charlie Hebdo and never did. It was a pathetic lie and they all know it. #LEuropeNestPasCharlie.”

JERRY HENDRIX: THE NAVY WE NEED.

Everyone seems to remember Ronald Reagan’s 600-ship Navy from the 1980s, but few understand how precipitate the decline was following the demise of the Soviet Union. First the Bush/Clinton “peace dividend,” and then the nation’s focus on its wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, saw the Navy fall from 592 ships in 1989, to 350 in 1998, to its nadir of 271 in 2015. While this was playing out, both civilian and uniformed leaders made the argument that the Navy did not require large numbers of ships so long as the ships it retained were of the most advanced designs. This answer appeared valid, in theory, but the reality was that a smaller fleet simply could not be everywhere we needed it to be at once.

The result has been a slow unraveling of the maritime order of free trade and free navigation that the United States and its Navy struggled so hard to build over the previous 70 years. The current situation recalls the “broken windows” theory of law enforcement first advanced by George L. Kelling and James Q. Wilson in the early 1980s. The theory took its name from the phenomenon wherein an unrepaired broken window acts as a psychological invitation to break other windows. Kelling and Wilson argued that police could control crime by maintaining a general sense of order in their communities, with cooperation from the communities themselves. This entailed patrolling on foot rather than by car — so that officers would be seen as part of the neighborhood — and by taking “quality of life” offenses seriously.

Between 2001 and 2016, when the Navy was shrinking rapidly, the United States’ strategic focus was firmly locked on its counterterrorism wars in the Middle East and Central Asia. Most of the Navy’s deploying ships were either moving towards those conflicts or returning home from them, leaving entire maritime “neighborhoods” unpatrolled — and windows started to break.

I had some related thoughts in this column.

IT’S ALWAYS IN THE LAST PLACE YOU LOOK: Mind’s quality control center found in long-ignored brain area.

CULTURE OF CORRUPTION: FBI undercover agent billed for food, drinks at Andrew Gillum fundraiser, documents show. “The Forward Florida PAC would eventually become the war chest for Gillum’s gubernatorial campaign. It is the first piece of evidence linking an ongoing FBI probe to Gillum’s broader campaign for statewide office. The emails and receipts released Friday as part of a supplemental records request from the Florida Commission on Ethics show that the agent, Mike Miller, was invoiced $4,386 by 101 Restaurant and Mint Lounge, a restaurant owned by lobbyist Adam Corey at the time. An email exchange shows that Miller paid the bill and that Gillum sent him a personal thank you note for the food.”

ANDREW GILLUM: WHEN POLICE REACH FOR A WEAPON, THEY’VE ALREADY HAD TO GO TOO FAR.

In 2016 Trump had Rick Scott working hard on his behalf as governor and he ended up winning the state by 1.2 points. In 2020 it’s likely the Democratic nominee will have Gov. Gillum in their corner plus a whole lot of Puerto Rican voters displaced from the island after Hurricane Maria. That’s 29 electoral votes hanging by a thread. And that thread might fray if Gillum himself ends up the VP nominee, with Democrats counting on him to deliver his home state. It’s not an exaggeration to say that the Florida gubernatorial may be the single most consequential election in the country next month.

Read the whole thing.

JUST THINK OF THE MEDIA AS DEMOCRATIC OPERATIVES WITH BYLINES, AND IT ALL MAKES SENSE: NBC Knew That Third Kavanaugh Accuser’s Claim Was Trash In September.

Related: “Oh cool — TIME sat on that Avenatti ‘white male’ quote since June 25.”

NEWS:

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