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Author: Mary Chastain

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Mary Chastain

Mary is the resident libertarian. She covers stories in every vertical, but her favorite thing to do is take on the media. She saw its bias against the right when she was a socialist.

Mary loves the Chicago Cubs, Chicago Blackhawks, tennis, cats, Oxford comma, Diet Coke, and needlework.

Just before President Donald Trump boarded Air Force One, he told the press he has no plans to fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Rosenstein is traveling with Trump to Orlando, FL. Speculation has grown around a possible firing of Rosenstein after The New York Times reported last month that he offered to tape Trump and discuss invoking the 25th amendment with Cabinet Members.

Superstar Taylor Swift has always remained silent on politics...until now. On her Instagram account, Swift took the opportunity to slam Tennessee Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn, who is running for the senate, and endorse Tennessee Democrats. She wrote that "several events" in her life "and in the world in the past two years" changed her mind and explains why she can't support Blackburn:
Running for Senate in the state of Tennessee is a woman named Marsha Blackburn. As much as I have in the past and would like to continue voting for women in office, I cannot support Marsha Blackburn. Her voting record in Congress appalls and terrifies me.

(Updated by WAJ) Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) voted to invoke cloture on the debate on Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh this morning. In one of the most extraordinarily intelligent and thoughtful speeches I've ever heard from the Senate floor or elsewhere, Collins announced that she would vote in favor of Kavanaugh.

The Senate voted 51-49 to invoke cloture, which limits the debate on Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh to 30 hours. This sets up a final confirmation vote on Saturday afternoon. Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski voted no while West Virginia Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin voted yes. Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Jeff Flake (R-AZ) also voted yes.

The Department of Justice has indicted seven Russians who participated in a cyberattack against those who exposed a Russian doping conspiracy that led to the country's banishment from the 2016 and 2018 Olympics. A grand jury located in the Western District of Pennsylvania indicted the men on charges of "computer hacking, wire fraud, aggravated identify theft, and money laundering."

The FBI handed over its report on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh to the Senate Judiciary Committee. A source familiar with the report said that "it shows no evidence corroborating the allegations of sexual assault or misconduct against the nominee." The FBI also interviewed nine people and received a sworn statement from another.