hello. i'm jim sciutto. it is 1:00 p.m. here in new york. wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks so much for joining us today. up first, high stakes for the high court. confirmation hearings for brett kavanaugh begin tomorrow before the senate judiciary committee. if he's ultimately confirmed, it could shift the high court further to the right for decades to come. democrats are expected to pepper kavanaugh with questions on roe

v. wade, executive privilege, a host of other hot-button political issues. already a partisan fight has erupted over documents from kavanaugh's time as staff secretary to former president george w. bush. the trump administration is withholding more than 100,000 pages of those documents. cnn's senior congressional correspondent manu raju is with us now live from washington. manu, when you look at this, the democrats clearly at a disadvantage. are they still going to put up a fight during the hearings? >> absolutely. expect a very contentious hearing. tomorrow is when the hearings begin. the questioning begins on wednesday. those questions, i expect them to break down on the democratic side around four main areas. they want to push kavanaugh on his truthfulness in their view about how he testified in two previous appearances in 2004 and

2006 before the senate judiciary committee. they do not believe he was honest at that time over some of his actions and activities over some key issues, including judgeships during the bush era, as well as the issue of detainee policy and wiretapping policy but also major issue like roe v. wade. he's privately told senators he believes it's settled law. they want to push him further. they don't believe that means he's going to uphold the supreme court precedent. expect them also to ask him his views opt affordable care act. expect that to be a huge line of questioning. the fourth area, executive power. expect skepticism about indicting a sitting president. he's expressed skepticism about an independent counsel, separate than a special counsel, but all those questions democrats plan to push him on. they hope that if he does not

answer those questions, that his evasiveness could be enough to get some republicans to defect ultimately. >> certainly a personal interest to president trump as well. on the republican side, you have the two senators, senator susan collins, lisa murkowski being most skeptical. we don't know how they're going to vote. heidi heitkamp, joe donnelly. at the end of the dame, in terms of vote counting, is it a done deal he's confirmed? >> it's going to be hard for democrats to stop kavanaugh unless he makes a major mission take and that convinces republicans to ultimately defect. you mentioned lisa murkowski of alaska, susan collins of maine.

those red state democratic senators in re-election races, joe manchin, joe donnelly of indiana, and heidi heitkamp of north dakota in particular are the ones to watch. they need those trump supporters. >> absolutely. manu in washington, thanks very much. for more on the kavanaugh confirmation hearings, what we can expect, what to look for, let's bring in our guests. >> gloria, if i could begin with you, justice kennedy was for years the crucial swing vote in this court between left and

right conservative and more liberal justices. kavanaugh more cut from the traditional conservative cloth. is it correct to say that this turns the court to the right for many years to come? >> definitely. i mean, if he is confirmed, not only does it turn it to the right, it turns it to the far right. at this moment, justice clarence thomas is the most conservative justice on the court. however, when we talk about justice kennedy, there were things that he did with social justice, for example voting rights and others, that would make him a right-sided candidate. however, kavanaugh goes far right. his mentor is william rehnquist, who is the late chief justice of the supreme court. this is the rehnquist who when he was a law clerk would have upheld. this is the rehnquist who did not believe that brown versus board of education was the case that the court should find in favor of. so now we're talking about someone who would not even be here in this discussion if he

had not shown the bona fide db to be the ultimate conservative that trump wanted, that his base wanted, and conservatives say they want to overturn roe as well as to maintain conservatism on the court for the next three or four decades. >> that was separate but equal, right. >> yes. >> understood. i get smarter when i listen to you on constitutional issues. i heard you earlier saying that he believes it's settled law, which some take as him saying he's going to challenge it. >> saying a supreme court press sent is settled law is not saying much at all. keep in mind abortion is going to be key here. many people think that he's going to be the fifth vote either to overturn roe or really gut it, cripple it. and he has never said exactly what his position is on roe v.

wade. his court just a few months ago did rule in favor of an undocumented teen who sought an abortion, and he dissented. susan collins, who's a republican and supports abortion rights -- it doesn't -- that's why it's really not saying much. >> interesting point. amy, senator lindsey graham, of course republican senator, he's predicted that some democrats will in the end vote to confirm kavanaugh. have a listen to how he said that. >> if he does well at the hearing, he will get my belief is 55 or higher if he does well. i'm sure he will do well. i think there are a handful of democrats who will vote for judge kavanaugh if he does well.

maybe even more. >> amy, of course a lot of this are red state democrats, democrats facing re-election in states that trump won. heidi heitkamp, north dakota. joe donnelly, indiana. is that -- do you think that's an accurate prediction on senator graham's party? >> i think so. it'll be interesting to see mostly how these two republicans vote. if susan collins and lisa murkowski actually do support -- because i think the democratic strategy right now is to focus on abortion, focus on roe versus wade. if they can make the point, if they can scare these two senators into thinking, you know, that he isn't going to uphold it, that he's going to take kind of a radical position on this, those are the two people i think to watch. if they do vote for him, i think a couple of other democrats will as well because we're a couple months away from the midterms. i think a lot of people in these red states are kind of scared

about, you know, their electorate and where these people will go. so i think that these are people to watch as well. but i would focus on these two republican women. >> amy -- gloria, rather, you heard amy say democratic strategy, what's the strategy going forward. there has been criticism from democratic voters that they haven't seen a strategy in terms of challenging the kavanaugh nomination. from your point of view, has there been a coherent plan to try to stand in the way? some of this, you know, you can't magically make him disappear. all you need is a straight majority. do you see a democratic strategy? >> i don't see a legal strategy. i would have liked something creative. i would have liked to see some legal challenges brought, maybe challenge the ability of these senators on the judiciary committee to give their true advice and consent as set out in the constitution without these hundred thousand pages of documents. i mean, i would have liked to see the press force some type of

challenge in the courts regarding the freedom of information or first amendment. i'm just not seeing anything creative. that's been the problem with liberals and democrats for the last two or three decades. they don't bring in the creative legal challenges needed to take things to the next level. >> final question, if i can. you heard gloria mention these hundred thousand documents that the trump administration has refused to release, citing executive privilege there. we don't know really what's in all those documents. is that a significant oversight there, or does that keep us, the american voters, knowing what's truly in his mind? >> well, from senator grassley's perspective, he says, look, brett kavanaugh is a child of the e-mail age, and there's thousands and thousands and thousands of documents, more than we've had for anybody else. and he says, look, i've put forward an unprecedented number of documents, and on top of that, you've got more than 300 of his opinions. so why not use that? but democrats come back hard.

they say three things. first of all, the white house is asserting -- says it's going to assert privilege on 100,000 of these documents, which includes those on judicial deliberations, but also there's a whole pot of documents that are called committee confidential. those are only for members and can't be brought up in front of the hearing. the problem is the democrats say it was trump lawyers and bush lawyers who called them or designated them as confidential. so they're going at the core of the process here. that's what we're going to see erupt probably as early as tomorrow. >> all right. thanks to all of you. coming up, new claims from former trump campaign adviser george papadopoulos now contradict attorney general jeff sessions' sworn testimony. this about a proposed 2016 meeting between then-candidate donald trump and russian president vladimir putin. what does this mean for the attorney general? plus, 64 days out from the

midterms and a new update in a battle for control of congress that could spell trouble for republicans. plus, a tropical storm is headed for the florida keys this holiday weekend and warnings now extending elsewhere in the southeast. we're going to tell you where it's headed and who may be affected. that's ahead. join t-mobile, and get netflix included for the whole family. so you can get lost in space in your own backyard. or get pumped up for your grand entrance. t-mobile lets you watch your favorite movies and shows in more places, without paying more. get an unlimited family plan with netflix on us. and right now at t-mobile, buy one samsung galaxy s9 and get one free.

loyal no longer. they offered more details on action from then candidate trump on a possible face to face meeting with the russian president vladimir putin, this during the campaign. cnn justice correspondent evan perez joins me now.

what are we learning now about this meeting when it was proposed because it sounds like there was -- it was a more welcome idea than we first knew. >> right, that's according to george papadopoulos, the attorney who filed this paperwork in court on friday. he's facing sentencing in a few days for pleading guilty to the fbi -- to lying to the fbi. this is a meeting that happened in march of 2016. a picture we have shown a lot that shows donald trump and sessions and people advising the president on then candidate on national security. here's jeff sessions testifying on capitol hill about exactly what he says happened in that meeting. take a listen. >> yes or no, after the march 31st meeting, did you take any steps to prevent trump campaign officials, advisers, employees from further outreach to the russians? >> mr. nadler, let me just say

it this way, i push back at that, you made statements that he -- >> at the meeting, i pushed back. >> of course, george papadopoulos says now in this memo filed to the court that that is not exactly what happened. he says that president trump seemed a little open to it. here is part of what he says in the court filing. while some rebuff george's offer, mr. trump not in approval. a by the way, there are other people, jim in that meeting who back up jeff sessions' version of events. and we should also underscore that george papadopoulos has, of course, pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi. we'll see which version of the events here holds the day. of course, the judge has to decide in the end whether george papadopoulos gets some leniency in the sentencing. >> evan perez, thanks very much.

>> thanks. >> george papadopoulos offering information on both donald trump and jeff sessions. joining me in new york is cnn national security analyst samantha vinograd. you have george papadopoulos appearing to contradict jeff sessions' account of that proposal for then candidate trump to meet with the russian president during the campaign. now, you could say papadopoulos lied and he's going to go to jail for lying to the fbi. but presumably he knows the penalty for lying, lying once again. from a legal standpoint, you have someone like that, is there credibility automatically impugned by that guilty plea to lying or does this create problems for the attorney general? >> i think it creates big problems for the attorney general. i mean, i think he should be thinking about lawyering up himself. he's clearly on the record under oath stating the exact opposite of what papadopoulos is saying. and at this point, while juries

sometimes factor in the question of credibility of someone who has pled guilty, for purposes of our analysis and the investigation's analysis, papadopoulos has no reason to lie about sessions at this point. and there is this transition that cooperators make where they may start out very aggressively denying things and then papadopoulos obviously without the benefit of counsel really leading him through it continued to fudge, may land with some jail time at this point. that's a transition he's made. i think he's fully on board with knowing he's got to tell the truth now. that's not a transition the attorney general seems to have made. >> he knows he's going to jail for lying. big risk to lie again in those circumstances. samantha, the politics overshadow this entire investigation on every level. you have trump and his lawyers now claiming that there is some sort of 60 day rule, since we're

60 days from the midterm election, that robert mueller is barred, somehow legally even, from releasing any report or making further indictments, et cetera. is that really true? >> it is not true. this has been the subject of much debate by lawyers, much smarter than i am. there is no written rule that says that prosecutors can make indictments or take investigative steps within 60 days of elections. it is general guidance, and prosecutors are supposed to look at any political impact that the steps or indictments may have. but i think that president trump and his team are really glossing over the key point here, which is we should want this investigative process to be thorough. this is about a hostile foreign power directing intelligence operation against the united states. and we have no indication that bob mueller has wrapped up his investigation. we have more hearings next friday. they're e-mailing supporters asking for contributions to his

legal defense fund. so the first question is whether robert mueller is done with his investigation. and at that point the doj will assess the timing. hillary clinton enation investigation, you didn't have objections from many republicans and including trump supporters. that said, in the fbi and elsewhere, there were many critics of comey bringing that investigation so close into the public spotlight so close to a vote. from your perspective, if it is not a law, what is the norm? >> i think the norm is to try to not have bombshells going off right on the eve of an election. and i think that mueller is going to be respectful of that norm, but the way giuliani is pitching it, sounds like desperation as sam said there is no hard-line, no law about that. and as a legal strategy, he's

got two points he's got to think about. first, he's got to satisfy his client, which is the president. and he may be repeating this just to keep the president happy. the other strategy he's got to do is see if he can somehow advance the ball and would like to delay things. that i don't think he's succeeding in at all. he's beginning to sound like he's repeating this over and over again. i think people don't really believe it. and it is not going to have any effect on mueller. that's been very clear. no amount of publicity affects the mueller team whatsoever. in that sense, he's repeating this doesn't get him anyplace. >> that's one big hard and fast rule. special counsel does not seem to be listening to the noise outside this investigation. samantha, on another story, really important story in the new york times, just a couple of days ago, the u.s. made an effort to try to flip russian oligarchs as informants, one of them, someone who became somewhat central to the russia investigation, russia saying today, calling those efforts

brutal tactics, but i imagine from your perspective long time and national security this is something that countries do. >> it is. this is just one of those come on moments, jim. we know the russian intelligence service at putin's direction tried to reach out to members of the campaign and high level officials. this is standard spy craft by the russians and the fbi and the doj working on their own counterintelligence operations and trying to speak with men and women close to vladimir putin is something that routine, par for the course, they know that he would have valuable information and valuable access. >> no question. thank you very much for walking us through. >> thanks. coming up next, new update in the fight for control of the house. and it doesn't look like good news for republicans. we'll have the details right after this. i don't keep track of regrets. i never count the wrinkles. and i don't add up the years. but what i do count on...

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welcome back. it is crunch time for the midterm races, the elections now less than 70 days away. the balance of power in congress on the line as the numbers stand right now. democrats need just 23 seats to take control of the house. will we see that blue wave? here to discuss, cnn politics senior writer and analyst harry enten, rachel bade and mark preston.

let's first look at cnn's latest reporting, 11 house seats now moving towards democrats. three moving towards republicans. harry, if i could start with you, to be clear, these are 11 seats moving towards democrats that are currently held by the gop. >> yeah, that's exactly right. and when i look at what these race ratings are doing moving towards the democrats and that's been a trend we have seen all year, i think the big question was whether or not donald trump's unpopularity would funnel down and hurt house republicans. and that's exactly what is going on here is that if republicans have been trying to separate themselves at least some of them into more moderate swing districts, separate themselves from donald trump, these new race ratings show that has been unsuccessful. >> you look at number, this from a washington poll, among independents, independents turn elections like this, among independents they prefer -- that

speaks to what harry is talking about, does it not? >> it certainly does. talks to the whole idea of having a check on power, what we have seen over the past couple of years and seen this in past administrations as well. democrats enjoy this as well. barack obama did in the first couple of years of his presidency. you're talking about a washington that is run entirely by republicans. that in itself causes independents a little bit of heartburn and you add in donald trump to the mix who has seem to thrown washington on its head. doesn't seem to be a whole lot of checks and balances going on here in washington, specifically with all of the developments we have seen in the russia probe. so, that's why we're seeing these republicans right now be very, very concerned. republicans in suburban districts, republicans in states where hillary clinton did well, these are folks now that are very, very much concerned. >> rachel, of course, as the president goes out, he's been hitting the campaign trail for some time, these rallies, he's got a big friendly audience there, and he will push in those

rallies the idea of a red wave coming. does it appear the numbers back that up at all. but trump's endorsement seemed to work in the primaries. in republican primaries, good record there. played differently in the general election. >> absolutely. no doubt about it. him endorsing our primary, sure, he's the kingmaker. when it comes to the general election, republicans will tell you that the number one thing they're watching is his approval numbers. i've been told over and over again by my house republican sources, if the approval is in the mid-40s, they have a shot at keeping the house. that was at 36 according to an apc poll last week. that's a problem for them. being up there, covering the house republicans for the past couple of years, i know some of them very well, i have heard a lot of panic over the past two weeks and some people have even told me they think they're going to lose the house privately and that has a lot to do with what happened a couple of weeks ago

with the president's top lawyer, flip on him in court. his former campaign chairman being convicted of bank and tax fraud and two house republicans also being indicted for either corruption of some sort or another. there is a fear that this plays into the democratic narrative there is corruption in washington and that democrats need to take the house to be a check again on this republican -- republicans in washington including the president. last thing i want to say, jim, we have also learned this week that republicans are having tough conversations about which vulnerable republicans they're going to let go because they have a finite amount of resources and almost 50 really tough battleground districts. so right now they're talking about who they can't even save and letting them go and that's a bad sign for them. >> that's tough. that's a political triage, right in that sense. let me ask a question, tough question, you'll hear from republicans, you'll hear from the president sometimes, you'll even hear from family and friends i'm sure. if the polls were wrong and i

know there is debate about whether the polls are wrong, i'm just saying, is there a different approach that polling outfits are taking this time around to take into account missed signals in 2016? >> i think the biggest one is that a lot of pollsters are now waiting by college education much more so than they used to. donald trump did particularly well among white voters without a college degree. and a lot of the good pollsters if they weren't waiting by that in 2016, they are making sure they have an adequate amount of white voters without a college degree in their sample. the other thing i would point out, forget the polls. look at the special election results so far. go back to pennsylvania 18, just a few months ago. conor lamb would not have won that special election if this national environment isn't as bad as the poll suggested it is. i'm looking across a slew of indicators and they're all pointing in the same direction, that's a bad year for the republicans. bad enough they lose control of the house? we'll wait and see. certainly right now it is pointing that way. >> right. as you said, most important poll

is the poll on election day. harry, mark, rachael, thank you for taking time out of your labor day holiday. >> thank you. coming up next, the pentagon is confirming the death of the isis leader in afghanistan. how significant is this for the larger war there. scientists now believe that microwave weapons are behind the mysterious attacks on u.s. diplomats in cuba and in china. we'll be live in havana, that's ahead. the fact is, there are over ninety-six hundred roads named "park" in the u.s. it's america's most popular street name. but allstate agents know that's where the similarity stops. if you're on park street in reno, nevada, the high winds of the washoe zephyr could damage your siding. and that's very different than living on park ave in sheboygan, wisconsin, where ice dams could cause water damage. but no matter what park you live on, one of 10,000 local allstate agents knows yours. now that you know the truth, are you in good hands? how do you feel about this one? ♪

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it is the hardest job for commander of forces at combat, just a day into his new assignment, the u.s. commanding general in afghanistan announced a u.s. service member was killed today in what is being described as an insider attack. barbara starr joins us now live from the pentagon. what do we know about the circumstances here? >> hi, jim. very early word coming out of afghanistan that one service member was killed, another wounded in eastern afghanistan in one of these so-called insider attacks, what that generally means is they believe the perpetrator was someone who was a member of afghan security forces or at least in an afghan uniform at the time. no word on what happened to that alleged perpetrator. we're told the wounded member is in stable condition and, of course, they are now conducting next of kin notification on the man who was killed and his name will be made public in the next 24 hours after that notification

is completed. it comes at a very tough time for generals austin scott mill, first full day on the job under a lot of pressure to make progress in the fight against both the taliban and isis in afghanistan with the 15,000 u.s. forces he has on hand. jim? >> america's longest war, americans still dying there. we're getting confirmation of i suppose what you call a victory there, the killing of the isis leader in afghanistan. put this into perspective, of course, the taliban still the primary adversary there. isis was building its presence. >> isis has been over the months and there is now a lot of focus in these areas of eastern afghanistan where isis has taken hold. so they are now confirming that about a week ago they did kill the so-called leader of isis in afghanistan, i say so-called because this will be the third self-declared leader of the organization in that area that they have killed in the last two

years. so what it underscores, of course, is u.s. forces consistently going after these people, these targ heets when t can find them. considered a major and significant threat for u.s. forces to go after them, a top priority, right now as far as the taliban goes, what the u.s. is hoping and the emphasis i think is on hoping, there can be some kind of political settlement with the taliban that somehow they can get to a cease-fire, and somehow they can get them to the negotiating table. >> the taliban is carrying more and more deadly attacks, barbara starr at the pentagon, thank you very much. there is a new commander of the nato led mission in afghanistan during a ceremony in kabul, outgoing u.s. army general john nicholson handed off the missions flag to incoming general scott miller. this just yesterday. miller assuming the role as afghanistan deals with terrorism, poverty, uncertainty heading into a new election cycle. joining me to talk about this

now is cnn military analyst, mark hertling. thank you for joining us today. >> a pleasure, jim. >> interesting bio. he was one of the first u.s. service members on the ground there after 9/11. he has experience there as long as america's longest war. to your knowledge, what does he bring to the conflict and what particular challenges will he face? >> he was on the ground there 17 years ago, jim. scott miller is a good special operator, one of the initial forces that went in, probably -- i think a major at the time perhaps, maybe a lieutenant colonel, but you talk about a long war, you're seeing the evolution of rank structure and the folks who were young men fighting this war when it first began to eliminate al qaeda from that particular country supported by the taliban is now back as the four star general in charge. i think he's the 15th four star in charge of the operation

there, the nato command and the u.s. command. his background as i said is a special operator. he's taking over from general mick nicholson, a good friend of mine who is more of a conventional force guy, an infantry man who knows afghanistan well, has been there 31 months in command of that force. imagine that, almost three years without a day off, fighting that force, not only conducting the military operation, but also doing the things related to afghan governance and economic means. so mick is leaving, yesterday during that change of command. his statement was pretty telling about what he sees as the future of the fight. >> well, amazing to think that he might command someone during his time there who wasn't born when the conflict began as we're coming up on -- passing -- coming up on 17 years. taliban commanders there, they're now offering to talk to the government about peace,

making peace, speaking about isis as their number one enemy. have a listen. >> our enemy is first isis, and then government. >> this is a taliban who just in the last few weeks made a horrible assault on the city of ghazni. is this someone the u.s. can sit down across from and believe they can reach a substantive agreement with? >> you have to pull people into peace talks. that's part of the diplomatic effort. you hit it right on head, if this is duplicitous on the part of the taliban, they in fact waited for the movement of u.s. and afghan forces out of ghazni province before they attempted their attacks there and tried to ambush many of the afghan and u.s. forces. taking over province that had been deserted because the forces had gone other places. so, yeah, the taliban are not to

be trusted. but certainly they should be attempted to be brought in to determine the way ahead for afghanistan, if they're going to play a role, but truthfully they think they have the upper hand, they may have a great deal of momentum on their side from that attack in the middle of august, but truthfully you have to be wary both on the part of the afghan government and the u.s. forces there, pulling them completely into the tent. >> no question. general, thank you very much. >> thank you, jim. well, there is a new theory about what happened during a series of bizarre attacks on u.s. diplomats abroad. dozens of unexplained serious injuries including head injuries forced the u.s. to bring home staff from both china and cuba, speculation at the time was that it was some sort of sonic attack. but now the scientist who led the investigation tells the new york times the main culprit is likely some kind of microwave

weapon. patrick oppmann has been following the story from havana where the attacks first started. what is the evidence here, what happened at the embassy that led authorities to suspect it was this kind of attack? >> you had very precise attacks, u.s. officials say always in diplomats' homes or hotel rooms and calls them to have brain damage, things that -- injuries that resemble concussions but no outward signs of any physical injuries. so how do you explain a concussion when no one can -- actually point to injuries they sustained. and they thought it could be a sonic weapon, they backed off that saying sonic weapons don't work this way. and they have a new theory and they will admit they don't have any evidence to back up the theory, but say it does fit in with microwave weapons and this is not some science fiction term, there are countries with microwave weapon programs, talking about the former soviet union, this is using a highly

concentrated beam of energy, but i was talking to one of the cuban investigators, a neurologist, and he said, listen, from what the u.s. described to us, diplomats in their homes being hit by a very precise beam, not seeing where the weapon is located, microwave weapons don't work that way. here we are two years from the beginning of the incidents and both sides still can't agree on basic science, jim. >> one thing is for sure, people have been injured in a horrible way, something happened. patrick, thank you for staying on the story for us. coming up, tropical storm gordon gaining strength along the gulf coast. we'll tell you where it is headed next. join t-mobile, and get netflix included for the whole family. so you can get lost in space in your own backyard. or get pumped up for your grand entrance. t-mobile lets you watch your favorite movies and shows in more places, without paying more. get an unlimited family plan with netflix on us.

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the break news we are tracking tropical storm gordon as it max its way over south florida. the storm moving very quickly, gaining strength. parts of the gulf coast are now under hurricane watch. let's check in with tom saider from the cnn weather center. tell us, do we know exactly where the storm is heading now? >> we have a good idea, jim. it looks somewhere between biloxi and gulf port. this would be 10:00 tomorrow night. it is moving quickly but really been generating some strength in the last few hours. the warm waters right in the keys here helping ittings proceed this the last couple of days -- or the last half a day. the center has wobbled north now coming off the keys no very close to marco island. i wouldn't be surprised if we see the track change maybe by the national hurricane center by this afternoon. some areas homestead picking up

4.5 to 5 inches since midnight and the track tax it into gulf port and bill oky. because we had a wobble this the last hour or two it's possible they could shift it north or east toward mobile bay. any way you look at it it is the first storm to fact the lower 48. we had storms dropping a lot of rain on the big high land in hawaii. the peak of the season is halfway through and we haven't had much in to deal with. family meetngs are going to be taking place as this develops and most likely be a minimal hurricane by the time it gets to land fall tomorrow. as the process begins tem for what could be one of the most lasting leg cease of the trump presidency, his pick to fill the supreme court vacanty. democratic senators plan to ask tough questions on hot button issues. details ahead. >> i'm proud to nominate -- to

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labor day monday. here's what you need to know today. the president is keeping it low key this holiday. no public events even as he face as week of high stakes. he will hit the road to campaign with republicans with midterm elections just barely over two months away. tomorrow begins the process to what could turn out to be the president's most enduring legacy, the makeup of the united states supreme court. confirmation hearings begin for brett kavanaugh who could give the right leaning justices the default majority on the highest court in the land. plus, there is a new development on the trump administration restricting tens of thousands of pages on kavanaugh. we will dive into that coming up here. let's begin the hour with our white house reporter sarah westwood who is standing by today. sarah, let's talk about how the president plans to hit the road in the next 60 days or so. what are his plans? >> that's right. president this week will hit three states