Politics

Updated at 7:50 a.m. ET

Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, along with the American public, are hearing, for the first time, on Thursday directly from Christine Blasey Ford, the university professor who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault when they were both teenagers in high school.

President Trump said Wednesday his "preference" would be for Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to stay in his job — and he also may delay a meeting scheduled for Thursday with Rosenstein about his future with the Justice Department.

On Thursday, Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh will appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify on a sexual assault allegation by Christine Blasey Ford, who is also testifying. Read Kavanaugh's opening statement below, submitted to the panel on Wednesday.

Christine Blasey Ford has accused Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were in high school in the early 1980s. On Thursday the psychology professor is testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Read her opening statement below.

Updated at 9:24 p.m. ET

During a rare press conference Wednesday, President Trump sent mixed messages about the fate of his embattled Supreme Court nominee, Judge Brett Kavanaugh.

The outside attorney who will be directing questions to Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault, is a prosecutor from Arizona who has dedicated her career to prosecuting sex crimes — and pushed for best practices in investigations to protect and serve victims of assault.

Rachel Mitchell is head of the sex crimes unit at the Maricopa County Attorney's Office and has decades of experience prosecuting criminal cases of sexual assault and abuse.

When you’re thinking about money in politics, you’re probably thinking the Koch Brothers and Citizens United.

But the single biggest donor in American politics is a Democrat: Tom Steyer. He put in around 90 million dollars during that campaign and is now funding a $20 million dollar advertising push that advocates for the impeachment of President Trump. That’s probably where you’ve seen him lately.

“[P]hotographs furnish evidence,” critic Susan Sontag wrote.

From the essay On Photography:

Updated at 5 a.m. ET on Thursday

President Trump accused China of trying to interfere in upcoming U.S. midterm elections because of the hard line he has taken on trade, airing the claim as he opened Wednesday's meeting of the U.N. Security Council in New York.

Updated at 6:10 p.m. ET

The House voted 361-61 to approve a spending bill to avoid a shutdown threat until early December. President Trump has said he plans to sign the legislation.

The legislation also includes a full year of funding for the Departments of Defense, Labor and Health and Human Services and a short-term extension of the Violence Against Women Act; but it has no new money for Trump's proposed wall with Mexico.

Updated at 8:59 p.m. ET

The Senate Judiciary Committee is reviewing a statement from a third woman who has come forward with sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh.

The allegations, from a woman identified as Julie Swetnick, were made public by attorney Michael Avenatti on Wednesday morning. Avenatti posted Swetnick's three-page sworn declaration on Twitter.

The stakes are high for Thursday's Capitol Hill hearing, pitting Trump Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh against Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused him of sexual assault — an accusation Kavanaugh has denied — when they were both in high school more than three decades ago.