EVERYONE'S TALKING
- New corroboration on Kavanaugh. On the one-year anniversary of Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court confirmation hearings (Dr. Christine Blasey Ford went public on Sept. 16 of 2018), new reporting appears to corroborate a past sexual misconduct allegation against the now-Supreme Court justice—and bring to a light new one.
Robin Pogrebin and Kate Kelly are New York Times reporters and the authors of the forthcoming book The Education of Brett Kavanaugh: An Investigation. In a NYT piece adapted from that work, the pair put forward new evidence that supports the account of Deborah Ramirez, Kavanaugh's Yale classmate who said that Kavanaugh had "pulled down his pants and thrust his penis at her."
"During his Senate testimony, Mr. Kavanaugh said that if the incident Ms. Ramirez described had occurred, it would have been 'the talk of campus,'" they write. "Our reporting suggests that it was."
Seven people, including two fellow Yale classmates told Pogrebin and Kelly that they knew about the incident years before Kavanaugh became a federal judge. (Kavanaugh has strongly denied Ramirez's claims.)
The authors also report learning that another Yale student, Max Stier, told senators and the FBI he saw Kavanaugh do something similar at another party with another female student. The FBI reportedly did not investigate Stier's account. (Kavanaugh declined to answer questions about Stier’s allegations.)
The New York Times piece turned into a bit of a media kerfuffle after the paper tweeted out the story, saying: "Having a penis thrust in your face at a drunken dorm party may seem like harmless fun..." (the paper has since apologized and deleted the tweet). But the reporting done by Pogrebin and Kelly rises above the incredibly ill-advised social media framing. In an ironic bit of timing, the news arrives as the Justice Department honors the attorneys who worked on Kavanaugh's confirmation with the Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service.
And another note: Fortune's Most Powerful Women International Summit in Toronto kicks off today. Watch for our coverage this afternoon and tomorrow—and see the action in real time here.
Emma Hinchliffe
[email protected]
@_emmahinchliffe
ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
- Planned Parenthood disaster. Leana Wen, the former president of Planned Parenthood who was fired amid a battle over the group's future as a political organization, says Planned Parenthood is now trying to "buy [her] silence." She accuses her former employer of withholding severance and health insurance until she signs a confidentiality agreement. New York Times
- GM strike. Contract talks stalled between Mary Barra's General Motors and the United Auto Workers union, and the union's members began a strike at midnight. The strike is "the largest by any union against any U.S. business since the last time UAW members struck GM in 2007." CNN
- Cloudwell. Cloud computing and security service Cloudflare saw its stock soar 19% by closing after it went public Friday morning. Co-founder and COO Michelle Zatlyn talked to TechCrunch about the IPO. In more IPO news, Madewell, led by CEO Libby Wadle, filed for its own public offering to split off from struggling J. Crew.
- Women who travel. Fortune's Rachel King dives into the world of adventure travel for women. One company called, fittingly, AdventureWomen, is run by a mother-daughter team that now offers trips to more than 30 countries annually. Fortune
MOVERS AND SHAKERS: WEX CEO Melissa Smith is now chair of the company's board.
Correction: On Friday, the Broadsheet incorrectly stated that two female candidates qualified for Thursday's Democratic presidential debate—overlooking Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar. Apologies, senator!
The Usefulness of Meetings
We spend a lot of time in meetings, but is it time well-spent? In Deloitte’s latest WorkWell podcast, Jen Fisher, Deloitte’s chief well-being officer, looks into the science of meetings and how to foster a culture of safety and trust to help improve productivity. Listen here
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
- Not so RealReal? A new report by consumer watchdog the Capitol Forum casts suspicion on the authentication practices used by Julie Wainwright's The RealReal. According to the group's findings, the consignment site entrusts most of its authentication to copywriters with no expertise in luxury goods. Fashionista
- Landmark legislation. California's legislature on Friday passed a bill that would require its public universities to provide students with medication abortion on campus. The bill, which came out of a student movement led in part by Berkeley student Adiba Khan, has already inspired similar legislation in Massachusetts. New York Times
- Doubling expectations. Ad-tracker Kantar initially expected the Women's World Cup to bring in about $43 million in ad revenue. But as it turns out, the competition actually brought in nearly $100 million. Some of that jump is due to Spanish-language broadcasts that weren't included in the original estimate. But it's also due to high demand for last-minute ad buys. Wall Street Journal
- Sister act. If you're anxiously awaiting the new Little Women or are just a longtime fan of the last film adaptation, I highly recommend this oral history of the 1994 movie. It opens with a fun fact: former Sony exec Amy Pascal was named "Amy Beth" for two of the four March sisters. New York Times
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ON MY RADAR
Vice's next pivot New York Magazine
What if we didn't dread menopause? New York Times
How I get it done: Maya Rupert, Julián Castro’s campaign manager The Cut
Moderator Linsey Davis talks about the debate questions that weren’t asked Refinery29
QUOTE
"I was never really the ingénue."
-Actor Judith Light in a New Yorker interview
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