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New revelations in The Wall Street Journal continue to reveal evidence that supports allegations we made in January and March Department of Justice and Federal Election Commission complaints of violations of campaign finance laws and criminal code provisions related to hush money payments to Stormy Daniels. The Wall Street Journal reports today that in February of this year President Trump personally directed his lawyer, Michael Cohen, to initiate an arbitration proceeding and seek a restraining order against Stormy Daniels pursuant to a nondisclosure agreement negotiated with Daniels in October 2016. President Trump’s familiarity with the arbitration clause in the contract is strong evidence that Trump was familiar with the details of the October 2016 contract, notwithstanding his constantly-changing story and claims that he didn’t know about contract with Daniels before the 2016 election.

The rushed and deficient process to confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court has been anything but deliberative. The Senate must immediately hit pause. Hastily convening a hearing on Monday concerning Professor Christine Blasey Ford’s serious allegations is unacceptable and it should be postponed. It is past time to activate an emergency brake.

Today, Common Cause called on the Senate Judiciary Committee to delay its scheduled vote on the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court in light of new allegations of sexual assault by the nominee. In a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Common Cause urged the committee to require Kavanaugh to testify under oath about the accusations.

Paul Manafort’s plea deal will surely tempt President Trump to consider pardoning his associates, or firing senior Justice Department officials or Special Counsel Robert Mueller, or take other steps to sabotage the investigation of the Russian attack on the 2016 presidential race. Congress must stand ready to take decisive action if President Trump abuses the power of his office by obstructing justice. Such blatant obstruction by the President must be a line in the sand that, if crossed, will trigger immediate Congressional action. The Republican majority in Congress must put their country before their party.

Today, Common Cause called on Congress to uphold its oversight responsibilities and immediately investigate the alarming accounts of President Trump’s “reckless” and “erratic behavior” since taking office that were made by a “senior official in the Trump administration” in an op-ed published anonymously in The New York Times last week. In a letter to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Common Cause urged immediate hearings on the disturbing reports of a President run amok and a nation being run behind his back by unelected senior officials.

Americans deserve the whole record of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, not the whitewashed version the Senate Judiciary Committee’s majority has released. As this week’s extraordinary events in the Committee have made clear, this is the least transparent Supreme Court nomination process in our lifetime. Millions of pages of Judge Kavanaugh’s records have been withheld from the Senate and from the public. Many that are in the Judiciary Committee’s possession are still marked “committee confidential,” even though making them public will provide important information to the American people, as questioning by Senators Feinstein, Leahy, Klobuchar, Hirono, Booker, and Harris have made clear. Though the nominee may not recall many of his actions, the records have shown a very different story in some instances. Moreover, in response to probing questions by Sen. Blumenthal, Judge Kavanaugh refused to commit to recusing from cases involving President Trump’s potential criminal and civil liability that may be headed to the Supreme Court.