*By Carlo Versano*
The FBI will likely conclude its investigation into sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh on Wednesday night and issue a report to Senators on Thursday, sources told Cheddar's J.D. Durkin.
Investigators are under extreme pressure from Republicans to deliver a report in time for a Friday vote, a deadline Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has demanded.
CNN reported late Tuesday that the FBI has actually widened the scope of its investigation, adding a specific party from Kavanaugh's calendar to its inquiry.
Sen. Angus King (I-ME) told Cheddar Wednesday that, even if Kavanuagh is confirmed to the high court, the nominee has revealed himself to be so partisan that it will be difficult for the judge to impartially decide certain cases. King alluded to a portion of Kavanaugh's testimony in which he blamed the allegations against him on a Democratic witch hunt. The Senator called that moment "very disturbing."
"I don't see how he can sit on a case involving partisan gerrymandering, for example," King said.
Meanwhile, President Trump shed all his prior restraint on the topic of Kavanaugh's first accuser, Prof. Christine Blasey Ford. Days after saying he found her to be a "credible witness" and a "very fine woman, he mocked and questioned Ford's testimony at a rally in Mississippi on Tuesday night to roaring applause from the audience. Earlier in the day, Trump also expressed concern that the #MeToo movement had made it "a very scary time for young men in America."
Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), a key swing vote in the Kavanaugh confirmation process, told NBC's "Today" show he found Trump's comments "kind of appalling."
By midday Wednesday, the Dow had plunged roughly 500 points, before rebounding slightly, while the S&P and Nasdaq Indexes were also down.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Wednesday, October 2, 2019.
One man was shot in the chest with a live round by police in Hong Kong on Tuesday during widespread and violent protests that coincided with celebrations across China marking 70 years of the Communist state.
The current instability led the Geneva-based organization to cut its forecast for trade volume growth to just 1.2 percent in 2019, an over 50 percent drop from an earlier estimate.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney, the author of the pending Smithsonian Women's History Museum Act, told Cheddar that it's "difficult to empower women, if you don't even recognize them."
From Wall Street to Silicon Valley, these are the top stories that moved markets and had investors, business leaders, and entrepreneurs talking this week on Cheddar.*
The latest tally represents about a 50 percent surge in illnesses and deaths since the CDC last took stock of the damage. As illnesses mount, regulators have stopped short of issuing a ban on vaping, recommending instead vape users abstain from vaping until the cause of the illness is identified.
The embattled Justice Department's top official, Attorney General William Barr, and the president's personal attorney, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, are now under a great deal more scrutiny.
The House of Representatives made history on Wednesday, passing landmark legislation that would protect U.S. banks that provide services to legitimate cannabis businesses in states where cannabis is legal.
As pressure mounts to detect and combat the spread of deepfakes, startups like Canny AI are embracing the technology and attempting to commercialize it.
