World News: OnPolitics Today: 'Belligerent and aggressive'

FROM WASHINGTON AND BEYOND

Monday, October 1

Also in today's edition: USMCA is the new acronym you have to learn

Today's subject line quote: Charles "Chad" Luddington, a Yale graduate commenting on how Brett Kavanaugh acted when he drank in college

It's Monday, OP friends, and after last week's barrage of news, it feels like we're in a standstill while we await the results of a certain FBI probe. But we'll get to that.

In the meantime, share your thoughts, get your friends to subscribe, join our new Facebook group (!) and keep up with the latest.

FBI scrutiny

Ana Maria Archila, a survivor of a sexual assault, right, confronts Republican Senator from Arizona Jeff Flake in an elevator after Flake announced that he vote to confirm Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh in the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington, DC, on Friday.

JIM LO SCALZO/EPA-EFE

Were you checked out on Friday? We wouldn't blame you if you were.

But to put it succinctly, it all comes down to Sen. Jeff Flake.

The Arizona Republican had announced earlier that day his plans to vote for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, less than a day after Kavanaugh and one of his accusers, Christine Blasey Ford, gave emotional testimony before lawmakers. But a confrontation in an elevator and the speeches of his colleagues weighed on him. That led to a tap on the shoulder , a bipartisan discussion and a compromise: He would vote to advance Kavanaugh's nomination to the Senate floor - but only if the FBI was given a week to investigate the sexual misconduct allegations against the circuit court judge. Flake later said in an interview that if Kavanaugh lied during his testimony, Kavanaugh's nomination would be over.

And here we are. President Donald Trump ordered that the investigation be opened, and since then, the FBI has reached out to one of the women - Deborah Ramirez - who has accused Kavanaugh of misconduct. More to come, we're sure.

In other Kavanaugh news:

•	Brett Kavanaugh's Yale classmate says he was a "belligerent and aggressive" drinker
•	The prosecutor hired by GOP senators says Ford has a weak case
•	One senator thinks Ford may have "false memories" of her assault
•	Lindsey Graham wants to look into the "despicable process" behind the Ford-Kavanaugh hearing

Tweet o' the day

We chuckled.

Screenshot via Twitter

"Reminder that Trump has a good sense of humor." - Politico's Marc Caputo, after President Donald Trump noted that he'd never had a beer and subsequently joked: "It's one of my only good traits... Can you imagine if I had, what a mess I'd be?"

USMCA doesn't really roll off the tongue

Trump avoids Kavanaugh question

White House

Say it three times fast, folks: The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement is here.

The trade deal between, well, the United States, Mexico and Canada was announced late Sunday and will take the place of the North American Free Trade Agreement. What does it mean for the U.S.? Greater access to Canada's dairy market, for one.

The new deal is expected to be signed by all three countries by the end of November.

President Donald Trump, who had long attacked NAFTA as being terrible, lauded the new deal on Monday.

"The agreement will govern nearly $1.2 trillion in trade, which makes it the biggest trade deal in United States history," Trump said.

"It puts us in a position we've never been in before," he said. "This is a terrific deal for all of us."

Elsewhere in politics

•	'I knew something was not right': Mass cancellations of diagnostic test orders at VA hospitals draw scrutiny
•	Kentucky's Rep. John Yarmuth worries that the Supreme Court in jeopardy
•	On the anniversary of the Las Vegas shooting, Trump vows bump stocks will be 'gone' in a matter of weeks
•	The Supreme Court opened its new term with a case about a frog. Yes, you read that correctly.
•	'Jeopardy!' champ Richard Cordray vs. Mike DeWine in Ohio is brain over bombast