On Politics: F.B.I. Was Alerted to New Kavanaugh Allegation

Last year, a senator expressed concern that the F.B.I. was not following up on the allegations.

View in browser|nytimes.com SEPTEMBER 17, 2019

Good Tuesday morning. Here are some of the stories making news in Washington and politics today.

As the F.B.I. began looking into allegations of sexual assault against Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh last year, a Democratic senator wrote to the director of the bureau saying that he had "information relevant" to the inquiry, but that the F.B.I. apparently failed to follow up. The letter came to light after a book by two New York Times reporters surfaced a new allegation of sexual impropriety by a young Mr. Kavanaugh. A new petition asks the court to decide whether Delaware can factor in the political affiliations of judges to try to seek ideological balance on its courts.

State prosecutors in Manhattan have subpoenaed President Trump's accounting firm to demand eight years of his personal and corporate tax returns as they examine hush money paid to Stormy Daniels during the 2016 campaign.

After oil installations were blown up in Saudi Arabia over the weekend, Mr. Trump declared that the United States was ready to strike back but promised to wait for the Saudis to give him instructions as to when to proceed, setting off a torrent of criticism from those who have long accused him of doing Riyadh's bidding. The 2020 Democratic presidential candidates have one major goal for Afghanistan: Get out. They are struggling to differentiate themselves from a president they say has a feckless, isolationist view of American power.

Younger candidates are running as agents of generational change — something many voters say they want — but it's the three septuagenarians who have emerged as the Democratic front-runners. The Working Families Party, the labor-aligned progressive group that endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders in 2016 and whose electoral influence has grown since then, has now endorsed Senator Elizabeth Warren. In a rally Monday evening in New York, Ms. Warren laid out a forceful argument for attacking corruption in government in a defining speech of her White House bid.

For more than a century, the biennial stump meeting in Galivants Ferry, S.C., was the place where South Carolina Democrats would make their case to voters. This year, organizers of the Galivants Ferry Stump added a new twist: hosting presidential candidates. Set up nearly 18 years ago to house detainees in the war on terrorism, Guantánamo Bay has grown into what appears to be the most expensive prison on earth. The cost per prisoner? $13 million.

Today's On Politics briefing was compiled by Isabella Grullón Paz in New York.

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