Discover and Read the Best of Twitter Threads by @jaketapper

CNN: Information reported by a Turkish newspaper on Saturday morning indicates that Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi may have recorded his own death. He turned on the recording function of his Apple Watch before walking into the consulate on October 2nd...

2/ ... according to Sabah newspaper. The moments of his “interrogation, torture and killing were audio recorded and sent to both the phone and to iCloud,” the pro-government privately owned newspaper paper reported....

3/ ... The Turkish newspaper adds that conversations of the team involved in the reported assassination were recorded.
CNN cannot independently verify the report and is seeking comment from both Saudi and Turkish officials...

Pope accepts embattled DC cardinal's resignation

cnn.com/2018/10/12/us/…

Pope tells Wuerl he has “sufficient elements to ‘justify’ your actions and distinguish between what it means to cover up crimes or not to deal with problems, and to commit some mistakes. However, your nobility has led you not to choose this way of defense. Of this, I am proud...”

More on Wuerl’s “nobility” here:

cnn.com/videos/us/2018…

Time for another edition of.... TOOTY-CUBE™️... by my 9-year-old!

1/ “I don’t know what to do so...”

2/ “FUN facts!!!!”

Visited the set of The Outpost film — the troops who served at the real COP in Afghanistan who are working on the film say it’s eerie how close it is to the original.

Here’s @danielRod_83, who served at COP Keating during the horrific 2009 attack and who plays himself in the film, showing me around the film’s version of the mortar pit.

Here director @RodLurie is filming a scene re-creating when SGT Josh Hardt runs to SSG Clint Romesha to tell him he wants to try to rescue five of his fellow troops trapped in a Humvee, pinned down by relentless enemy fire.

A response to Collins saying “some of the allegations levied against Jusge Kavanaugh illustrate why the presumption of innocence is so important. I am thinking in particular not of the allegations raised by Professor Ford, but of the allegation that when he was a teenager...

https://twitter.com/michaelavenatti/status/1048297890190376961

2/ “...Judge Kavanaugh drugged multiple girls and used this weakened state to participate in gang rape. This outlandish allegation was put forward without any supporting evidence and simply parroted in the public statements of others.”

3/ (The allegations from Julie Swetnick were mentioned in the letter from all the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee calling for the Trump White House to pull the Kavanaugh nomination.)

Short thread here on the back and forth between R's and D's on Senate Judiciary Committee regarding what was in PAST FBI background investigations of Kavanaugh.

2/ The debate began after GOPers on Senate Judiciary tweeted this:

https://twitter.com/senjudiciary/status/1047156858081988608

3/ Democrats took issue and wrote a letter disputing the assertion in this tweet:

https://twitter.com/SenatorDurbin/status/1047592548351574016

23/ Doc Cordova and the other medics and PAs did everything they could, but ultimately Mace had lost too much blood.

thefallen.militarytimes.com/army-spc-steph…

24/ Hours later, the COP had been retaken.

Days later the COP was abandoned and bombed by the U.S.

25/ Unbelievable heroism was demonstrated that day.

Here is General Stanley McChrystal awarding Silver Stars to SGT Thomas Rasmussen and SFC @19JonHill19, as well as - not pictured - Doc Cordova and Bundermann.

militarytimes.com/2013/03/27/sil…

It's difficult to describe just how vulnerable the soldiers at COP Keating were when they were attacked on October 3, 2009.

Here's an attempt to re-create the battle done by the US military:

2/ The Army made this terrain overview -- the Combat Outpost (COP) was at the bottom of three steep mountains just 14 miles from the Pakistan border.

3/ Here's some footage from 2007 of the COP, being constructed. It's all low ground. Which meant the enemy had all high ground.

Nine years ago this morning, at a small outpost in Afghanistan at the bottom of three steep mountains, roughly 50 US servicemembers were attacked by up to 400 insurgents.

2/ By the time the smoke had cleared, 8 US troops had been killed — the deadliest day for the US in Afghanistan that year.

3/ Their names were Gallegos, Griffin, Thomson, Scusa, Martin, Mace, Kirk and Hardt.

This is true and also worth noting that Australia got all the mistakes and items from the irregular bin

https://twitter.com/sannewman/status/1046149296465334274

.@KamalaHarris: “From top to bottom this has been about bullies. listen to the people. All we have asked for is that there be an FBI investigation. Dr. Ford came in and she poured out her heart, she cooperated with the process. She gave the process dignity and respect,...

“... the least we could do is give her the dignity and respect of a process that has credibility. We are talking about putting on the United States Supreme Court for a lifetime. For the sake of our democracy and the integrity of our democracy you would think...

“... that members of the United States Senate would say wait a minute, there’s enough here to push pause. Let’s reflect on what we’re about to do.”

.@JeffFlake is a YES on Kavanaugh

Flake: “I wish that I could express the confidence that some of my colleagues have conveyed about what either did or did not happen in the early 1980s, but I left the hearing yesterday with as much doubt as certainty...

“... What I do know is that our system of justice affords a presumption of innocence to the accused, absent corroborating evidence. That is what binds us to the rule of law....

.@LindseyGrahamSC: “Let me put it this way to my Republican colleagues: If this becomes the new standard where you have an accusation for weeks, you drop it right before the hearing you withhold from the committee a chance to do this in a professional timely fashion,...

2/ “... when they say they’re going to do this is, to delay the vote, get the Senate back in 2018 so they can fill the seat, I don’t want to publicly reward that kind of behavior. I think we’ve been very fair....

3/“... And to my Republican colleagues: if you can ignore everything in this record, an allegation that’s 35 years old, that’s uncertain in time place date and no corroboration, If that’s enough for you, God help us all as Republicans...

Thread on the Senate Judiciary Committee revealing that they interviewed 2 men who each claimed they were the ones who assaulted Ford, not Kavanaugh. 1/

2/ Ford’s legal team tells CNN’s @Arianedevogue: “The Committee fails to point out that they found this to be NOT credible. This last minute attempt that seeks to undermine Dr. Ford won't work.”

3/ Here is what the committee reported within its larger timeline:

POTUS weighs in on the allegations against Judge Kavanaugh from his Yale classmate Deborah Ramirez: "Charges come up from 36 years ago that are totally unsubstantiated...she says it may not be him and there are gaps. And she was totally inebriated and all messed up,...

2/ "...and she doesn’t know. It might have been him, or it might have been him. Gee, let’s not make him a Supreme Court judge. This is a con game being played by the Democrats…

3/ "...It is a shame you can do this to a person’s life. I’ll tell you: Maybe even more important…Who is going to want to go before the system to be a Supreme Court judge or even a politician? I can tell you that false accusations of all type are made against a lot of people...

Collaboration with the 8-year-old. Panel 1:

Panel 2:

Panel 3:

.@VP Pence at Value Voters Summit today: “Judge Brett Kavanaugh is a man of integrity, with impeccable credentials and a proven judicial philosophy. On the District of Columbia court of appeals he wrote more than 300 opinions that reflect a strong record of support ...

2/ “... for limited government, religious liberty and our second amendment. He is a conservative who will interpret the constitution as written, and his record and career deserves the respect of every member of the Untied States Senate...

3/ @VP goes on to say “the way some Democrats have conducted themselves in this process is a disgrace, and a disservice to the Senate and the American people...

A special 8-panel edition of TOOTY-CUBE™️ by my 8-year-old starts.... now:

Panel 1:

Panel 2:

POTUS calls Kavanaugh "an outstanding intellect. An outstanding judge. Respected by everybody. Never even had a little blemish on his record. The FBI has I think gone through a process six times with him over the years where he went to higher and higher positions...

2/"...He is somebody very special. At the same time, we want to go through a process. We want to make sure everything is perfect, everything is just right. I wish the Democrats could have done this a lot sooner, because they had this information for many months....

3/ "...And they shouldn’t have waited til literally the last days. They should have done it a lot sooner. But with all of that being said we want to go through the process."

1/ A word on the false meme bopping around about @nikkihaley’s $52,701 curtains. NYT story notes in 6th paragraph, “A spokesman for Ms. Haley said plans to buy the curtains were made in 2016, during the Obama administration. Ms. Haley had no say in the purchase, he said.”

2/ Elaborating, a source at the US Mission to the UN tells CNN: “It was decided, well before the election in 2016, that the US Ambassador’s residence would move from the Waldorf to its new location. The new location was unfurnished/unfinished....

3/ The source continues: “In June of 2016 it was decided that the State Department's Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations would outfit the new residence (this is standard operating procedure for Ambassadors' residences across the globe.)...

Three other veterans charities I wanted to bring your attention to today --

One is @VeteranAdvocacy, which assists veterans & their families, focusing on those with PTS & TBI, by providing free legal services to access housing, health care, & income.

VeteranAdvocacyProject.org

@VeteranAdvocacy 2/ Another is the National Veterans Legal Services Program (@Lawyer4Warriors) which ensures the govt delivers to vets the benefits to which they are entitled because of disabilities resulting from their military service to our country.

nvlsp.org

@VeteranAdvocacy @Lawyer4Warriors 3/ Third is @TeamRWB which works to enrich the lives of America’s veterans by connecting them to their community through physical and social activity.

teamrwb.org

.@amnesty calls Aung San Suu Kyi defending verdict against Reuters journalists "a disgraceful attempt ... to defend the indefensible."

@amnesty More @amnesty: "...To say that this case had ‘nothing to do with freedom of expression’ and that Wa Lone, and Kyaw Soe Oo ‘were not jailed for being journalists’ is a deluded misrepresentation of the facts....

@amnesty 3/ "...These two men were convicted under a draconian, colonial-era law that was deliberately misused to halt their investigations into the appalling atrocities that took place in Rakhine State...

Horrible news from ⁦@Hortons_Kids⁩: “On Sunday afternoon, TaQuan Pinkney, a recent high school graduate and Horton's Kids alum, was shot and killed while walking home from a corner store...”

2/ “...TaQuan was an active participant in @Hortons_Kids for four years. He regularly attended programs and routinely made his peers, volunteers, and Horton's Kids staff laugh with his humor and good-natured teasing. He was an extremely positive and energetic young man who...

3/“... worked hard to put himself on a path for success. With the help of his mother, Horton's Kids staff, and his College and Career Coach Andrea, TaQuan managed to overcome numerous challenges to graduate from high school in June...

Getting some questions about this, so will post again: my entire advance for this film is going to military charities, especially those recommended by the troops and families of COP Keating.

https://twitter.com/jaketapper/status/1039540014508634113

2/ These include: @vet_reunions, started by the mom of a 3-61 CAV COP Keating veteran, which just held a reunion for the men of 3-71 CAV (COP Keating from 2006-2007) and will next year host one for the men of 6-4 CAV (COP Keating from 2009-2009)

reunitingafterwar.org

3/ And the scholarship fund named for Medal of Honor recipient SSG Jared Monti, of 3-71 CAV

sfcjaredcmonti.com