sarasota. >> great to hear their perspective. it's going to be a busy week. don't miss our daily interactive newscast on facebook at 6:25 eastern facebook.com/andersoncooperfull circle. i want to hand it over to chris. "cuomo prime time" starts now. >> welcome to "primetime." another wild day in washington, and it's only friday. it could really go all weekend long. so what happened today? the good news is senators from both parties found common ground on brett kavanaugh and called for further review of sexual assault allegations surrounding the judge. the bad news is that people keep discussing this development in terms that are not accurate. we're going to tell you the truth of what this week extension is and is not. now more impressive than what happened is how it happened. this scene that you're watching put heads on a swivel. senators flake and coons,

friends but not friendly when it comes to thoughts about kavanaugh's fitness. let's go outside. what happened next will be talked about for a long time, and really only two men know exactly how this went down and one of them is here tonight. democrat from delaware, senator chris coons. and if the fbi looks into the allegations with any depth kavanaugh's truth about his partying may become relevant. did he lie under oath? we have someone who can help answer that question from firsthand experience. friday night. let's get after it. one week. that's what the fbi is being told they have to conduct a supplemental investigation into the shocking allegations against judge kavanaugh. big turn of events that unfolded in the final minutes before a critical vote this afternoon

that could have set the stage for kavanaugh's swift confirmation. not now. so it seems it was all set in motion after republican senator jeff flake, who was seen as a swing vote, announced he was a yes on kavanaugh, delighting republicans, crushing the hopes of democrats. but then this twist, senator flake stepped into an elevator at the u.s. capitol, was suddenly confronted by two women who identified themselves as victims of sexual assault. take a look. >> look at me when i'm talking to you. you're telling me that my assault doesn't matter, that what happened to me doesn't matter, and that you're going to let people who do these things into power. that's what you're telling me when you vote for him. >> what an amazing turn of events. it looked in that elevator like flake really couldn't make eye contact, he was looking down. i didn't know if he was trying to push the button to close the door. he was doing everything he could

to avoid the situation. but then, not long after, he would be the man of the moment as senators delivered their final speeches in the committee before the vote, senator flake rose from his chair. here is the scene, walks to the back of the room, taps chris coons. i didn't know if they were going out to talk or throw down. and then there was chitchat. something is happening. something is happening. soon flake returns. and turned everything upside-down. here's a moment. >> i think it would be proper to delay the floor vote for up to but not more than one week in order to let the fbi do an investigation limited in time and scope to the current allegation that is are there. >> we're going to get into what does that mean? what happened? but how it happened, that we can get straight from the source. democrat from delaware, senator

chris coons joins us now. i know you were at a town hall tonight. i know you wanted to go and check in with your people and see what they want in the situation but, boy, when i talked to you last night and when i talked to you this morning you were crest fallen. you were like nothing good can happen in this situation. and then what happened? >> well, chris, i'm here at the delaware city fire hall where we just finished a robust town hall, several hundred delawareans came out with a wide range of views about dr. ford's allegations about judge kavanaugh. but i want to start by saying how grateful i am to my senator jeff flake of arizona for acting on his concerns. he's heard, just as i have, here tonight as well as throughout yesterday. i've heard from a lot of survivors of sexual abuse who have come forward with their stories and i think it was hard for anyone to listen to dr. ford testify yesterday for hours and not come away with some doubt,

with some concern. it was also hard to listen to judge kavanaugh and not hear the pain that this has caused his family and his categorical denial of the allegations against him. jeff, senator flake conveyed to me that he still had doubts and that he was listening to the argument that i and others were making that we should take one week for a limited in scope and duration further background investigation and because as you pointed out in the opening there were few things we could get into that might really help. >> definitely going to get into it but we don't see this. we don't see this on, like, mundane stuff, like budget stuff where you should be finding ground. people are trying to find common enemies. but on something like this so polarizing, so flake says he's a yes. they come at him in the elevator and he seems hurt by that and he has a reputation for being a sensitive person, that he feels deeply, he processes things.

not every man does. but he has a reputation for that. i watched that scene in the elevator. he can't wait to get out of here. he wants to cast his vote and be done with it. was i wrong. when he tapped you on the shoulder and said let's go outside, what did you think was going to happen and what did happen? >> i frankly thought that we were going to go in the ante room and just have a conversation about how while we respect each other as senators and hope to remain friends that this was a pretty bitter moment for both of us because each of us is on the other side of what ought to happen with judge kavanaugh. i'm so encouraged when he said to me, you know, chris, this whole thing is tearing our country apart and we have to do something. we have to do something to show that we can hear each other and that the argument you're making if we can find a way to set the parameters right is something that we ought to consider doing. one week. not indefinite. not every possible allegation. the allegations in front of us right now. will you work with me on that?

can you get some commitment out of senator feinstein that will be the scope of this? and it started a conversation. and as you noticed the two of us were back there talking for a few minutes and then a second senator, a third, and a fourth came back and we had virtually the whole committee back there having a very vigorous argument. >> how did it unfold? when you heard that, you said you were encouraged. i think you're underselling it. you must have been in a mild state of shock. but when they started coming over, how easy was it for you to get feinstein and other people on both sides of the ball to be okay with this? >> exceptionally difficult because, frankly, some of the sharpest partisans on the committee came back and really leaned on senator flake very hard to say this is ridiculous, this process is over. the fbi has closed the investigation. there's absolutely nothing for them to investigate and there were others who were arguing

forcefully, the other side, and accusations started going back and forth about what democrats were really trying to do, what republicans were really trying to do. >> how did flake take it? >> there were a couple of encouraging moments. you saw the result which was that he came out and stood firm. this really, frankly, is all hanging on his willingness. he voted to move forward with the committee process to show good faith with his caucus. at the end of the day what will keep this week a week is his willingness and several other undecided senators to be clear they're not going to vote for cloture or kavanaugh until we get the report back from the fbi. >> i want to get into the details of it. in terms of your time in there and, look, you'll work but you have a good reputation, you're someone you can work with.

we were just sitting shoulder to shoulder 24 hours ago having this conversation and it was like what a horrible day. somebody is not telling the truth when you listen to the two people in their testimony and there's very little interest in figuring out who that is. have you ever had anything like this happen before on something so divisive that in the critical moment when the side with the leverage was about to win it was their side who said i'm not going to win at all costs. i'm going to do this out of fairness. >> i'll tell you, chris, i can think of several instances over the last eight years on the biggest issues, the tax package, the tax break, changing the rules of the filibuster, changing some other things that have been important. a group of us have together, tried to work out bipartisan solution and often failed. it is very difficult the

partisanship and the division, the pressures brought to bear on senators make it very hard to come to reasonable solutions. the last time that a group of us were meeting about the supreme court and the filibuster rule was in john mccain's office and he was the one who pulled together a dozen of us. a group of us tried to find a centrist solution on dreamers and providing more funding for border security, the president's requirements. it is very difficult in this environment to do anything, chris. >> good on you and flake. to the judge, also. if they come back in a week and they say, look, we tracked this stuff down, nothing impresses us in terms of being corroborative. we could never make a case on this, for what that's worth. good for him to have that so there's no stain on him if he gets confirmed. let's talk about what this is. one week, christopher wray has

to be okay with it. for the audience you don't just tell him what to do. he has to want to do it. >> correct. >> one week -- everybody says, well, anita hill, that was one thing. it was just going on. there was a limited scope of people that they could talk to. here you could slice this a lot of different ways. so how do you decide -- let's put up the statement for the audience about what this is being called, this supplemental fbi background investigation. it's not a new investigation. it's not a criminal investigation. current, credible allegations which are those and whom do they reach out to? what do you know? >> well, chris, let me be clear, as you know the fbi does not take direction from me. they take direction from chris wray, the fbi director, and the white house. it is an executive branch agency. i can talk about what i hope they will do, what i think would be reasonable for them to do but i am not able to direct them in any way. >> understood. >> i would think if they take up a supplemental background

investigation they would test the allegations made by dr. ford. >> just ford? >> they would question some of the folks -- and they would question some of the folks who have already come forward in the public and made statements about judge kavanaugh. for example, you were talking at the opening of the show about the credibility of his categorical denial, his categorical denial that he's ever had a night that he can't remember from drinking. there are already several folks who have come forward, college classmate, roommate, acquaintances to say that's not true. we were with him. we have evidence. there's obviously a list of folks who are classmates or friends who have come forward to say we support judge kavanaugh and we support his characterization. i think there is a fairly ready list of people -- >> what about ramirez and swetnick? >> i think the statement made here was all credible allegations so there's a number of allegations made public where there are sworn statements in front of the committee. i think that's what ought to be

the first road map for the fbi is to look into those allegation that is are in front of us. there are many potential other allegations, and i would assume the fbi could make some quick decisions about which of them fall into the category of credible or not. the central issue that got us to this moment, chris, was dr. ford's testimony in front of the committee. it was the fact that by the end of the time she testified there were real doubts. there were concerns on the participate of several senators on and off committee who were left uncomfortable with the idea that we would push forward with judge kavanaugh's nomination without any further investigation of her allegations. i think that's central to this. it's possible he will be cleared of these allegations, that further evidence corroborating dr. ford's allegations may be uncovered.

we are hearing those folks who have come forward with allegations, we are respecting them and investigating and that we're trying to add a bipartisan commitment to due process to what was a pretty rough and tumble, divisive process here so far. this thing is tearing our country apart. what i embraced was his spirit of trying to work together to get back to a sense of what a fair hearing would look like. >> i have to tell you, i wear black most of the time for two reasons. i can't dress. two, i feel it suits the mood. you guys proved me wrong today. a republican and a democrat, more than one on both sides this took a minnievilleage to make this happen. we didn't see it coming. we didn't expect it. we weren't sure it was possible anymore. that keeps hope alive for a lot of people their interests will come first. senator, good on you.

i hope that was reflected in your town hall tonight. as you know going forward when the american people need to know anything about this process you know you have a home here. >> thank you, chris. >> be well, senator. what an amazing turn of events. now i'm not saying that it's a game changer, all right, remember what we've been saying on the show from the beginning. the process stinks. it's not fair. it's not complete. it's not reasonable, it's not good for ford, for accusers, for the judge, for you. so for them to do this today when they didn't have to, the republicans, to nod in the right direction and for the democrats to work on it and not get over reachy and martyr themselves about this, that was impressive as well. now what does it all mean? one of the things that will come under close scrutiny, i think what did kavanaugh say about himself? that picture that he painted of himself that was perfect. will he be able to paint himself

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background investigation. what does it mean? we're not exactly sure. but it's a hell of a lot different place than we were just 24 hours ago. watch this. >> if the president and the republican majority had asked for the fbi to do an investigation at that time like we asked, it would likely be finished by now. none of us have talked to or questioned james roche, lynn swisher, tom kaine or chris doddly. >> two points for that cliff. one, they were talking about this as a done deal, this process has been malignant and is over. it isn't. there are names of people that should be spoken to. lynn brooks, right now another person from that list you just heard senator feinstein giving, liz swisher, one-time roommate of debbie ramirez.

thank you for taking the opportunity. i know this isn't what you've been dying to do with your life, but i'm glad you recognize how much it matters right now. >> thank you for having me, chris. >> you heard me talking to your friend lynn last night, and her feelings that she's a republican, she believes in kavanaugh's pedigree as a jurist but she heard him say things under oath she knows not to be true. do you share her opinion? >> i do. i absolutely share her opinion. >> how so? what do you know about brett kavanaugh that he was not truthful about in the hearing? >> i've known brett since the beginning freshman year. there's no problem with drinking beer in college. the problem is lying about it. he drank heavily. he was a partier. he liked to do beer bongs.

he was a sloppy drunk. he was more interested in impressing the boys than he was in impressing the girls. i never saw him be sexually aggressive but he was sloppy drunk. >> so in terms of the allegations of a more serious nature you have nothing on that? you never saw him do anything wrong, offensive or inappropriate with any women. good to note out of fairness. however, his description of himself as, certainly in high school, i was about my church programs, going to church, studying, being number one, doing my sports teams, didn't have sex in high school or for years after that. loved beer but nothing to excess. you don't buy it? >> i don't buy it. i didn't -- that's not the brett i knew. as soon as i met him in college. it's not the brett i saw during four years at yale, and i don't think many of his answers were credible.

i question any senator that thinks he has a weak stomach. that's not what ralphing means to any college kid. >> yes, it means you're just throwing up from drinking too much in general. >> exactly. >> there were a lot of things he explained in a way that didn't meet with people's expectations. if he is lying about how much he liked drinking and whether or not he got drunk a lot, if he is not telling the truth about that, do you think that that is disqualifying for him in this nomination? >> absolutely. that's perjury. he was under oath. >> even if it's not about the main allegations, even if he's telling the truth i'm not the one who did this to christine ford, i didn't do what your former roommate at yale, ramirez, alleges. i never did that to her. i was never there. if he's truthful about all that but not telling the truth about how he was with booze, that's enough for you? >> that's enough for me.

if he said -- i would have stayed on the sidelines if he said i drank to excess in high school. i drank to excess in college. i did some stupid things, but i never sexually assaulted anybody. that i would have stayed on the sidelines for. but to lie under oath, to lie about that, then what else is true? to blur, to not know the difference between truth and lies is terrible. it's not about women versus men, democrats versus republicans, it's about the integrity of the supreme court. >> now i'm not asking you about what ramirez alleges. you weren't present. you hadn't heard about it. let me ask you something, are you willing to talk to the fbi? >> i'm willing to talk to the fbi yes. >> that's a scary proposition,

too. one of the differences, even if you put out a sworn statement, i think in mark judge's case it was through his attorney so it's tricky in terms of whether or not that's a sworn statement that has the same penalty of a felony. when you sit across from the fbi you have to tell them the truth or it's a crime. not a problem for you? >> not a problem for me. i believe in the truth. >> liz swisher, thank you very much for taking this opportunity. i know it is not a conversation that you've been dying to have, but it matters to the country. it matters right now, thank you. >> thank you, chris. >> all right. so this fbi probe, who is it good for? i think it's good for everybody, and that's not just sol pollyanna optimism. if they look and corroborate, you need to know that matters, right? that would be good for whoever's accusation that is. if they can't corroborate this is good for the judge. if it's not legitimate why should he have a stain over his

head? and at the end of the week does he still get confirmed? do we believe there's a change in outcome? great topics for a great debate next. ok here we go guys, you ready? hi! cinturones por favor. gracias. opportunity is everywhere. ♪ it's gonna be fine. it's a door... ♪ it's doing a lot of kicking down there. waiting to be opened. ♪ whatever your ambition... ♪ whatever your drive... ♪ whatever you're chasing... driver, are we almost there? we're gonna have a baby! ♪ daddy! daddy! opportunity is everywhere. ♪

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when you have the votes, you vote. when you don't have the votes, you talk. so with the senate judiciary

committee delaying kavanaugh's floor vote and the president ordering the fbi to do a supplemental investigation of the allegations surrounding judge kavanaugh, whatever that means, does the gop really care about the allegations against him, or are they just buying enough time to get the votes to confirm him? that is a distinction with a difference. but let's take it up with our great debaters. good to have you both on a friday night. mcintosh, i start with you. what do you think this is about? is it bona fides, is everybody in good faith here or is this just delay by the gop to get the votes together? >> i have a very hard time believing most republicans are operating in good faith considering how the process has gone thus far, but i don't want to take it completely out of the realm of credibility. i think what happened yesterday the second dr. ford stopped her opening statement and women started pouring out their stories, i mean, the c-span

call-in line turned into one woman after another just calling in and telling her own experience and my feed has been flooded with videos of women lining the senate, stalking the senators, making themselves be heard. the two women who cornered jeff flake in the elevator today deserve a lot of credit for what happened. i don't want to take any of that away. it is rare that a woman speaking her truth actually makes a republican man change his mind. i'm hopeful that's what happened. >> let's turn your frown upside-down for one second. forget about what you're angry about. we both know that many women have been silenced in our culture. we know this. and i'm not blaming any partisan. in truth, everybody is to blame, the whole culture is to blame for it. for those women who came forward and cornered flake, if they're speaking their truth, that's hard to do. it certainly impacted flake. he was a different guy in that hearing than he was this morning. he was a yes, and it changed

him. so what do you make -- or do you believe them allowing the fbi to come in cutting this deal, do you believe that it's an unqualified bad? >> no, i don't. >> good. i actually think it's very healthy for the country and i hope that the fbi has a comprehensive investigation that includes researching and finding out exactly who the leak was on the senate democrat committee that leaked dr. ford's letter to the public. i would love to find that out. i hope the fbi subpoenas or makes an attempt to ask the lawyers for the notes, the therapist notes, the lawyers of dr. ford that the lawyers refused to turn over to the investigators of the senate committee. so as long as the fbi is not politicized and let's keep in mind that liberals, i suspect jess among them, said that the

fbi under comey torpedoed hillary clinton's campaign and was politicized. as you know, chris, i have history and lineage that goes back to the fbi probe. i think the fbi most fbi officers and individuals are heroes and do god's work. >> we all agree the fbi is not god. >> stipulated. >> they should try to ascertain how correct ford's testimony is. and if they can do that in any way that makes sense within their purview including the therapist notes which are not always easy to get. if they're made available because ford wants to be as helpful as possible, fine. in terms of looking at the leak, the leak was a bad thing. that's not going to change your mind whether or not you vote for kavanaugh. not that that doesn't have its

place, i don't think it has its place right now. what's your take? >> it certainly doesn't seem like the most pressing issue as we are looking to confirm him to a lifetime appointment. i would be fine with the fbi looking at anything that they chose to look at. that doesn't seem like the most pressing concern right now. >> all right. so now let me go from sunshine to rain. here's my fear, okay. my fear is, and i don't like being a kasandra, but my fear is a week from now assuming christopher wray says, fine, you want it to be a week, that's crazy to ask me to do it in a week but, fine, i'll do it. what if they say my men and women doing this, i threw everybody at it, they say it's incomplete. they say they have some real stuff, they're finding value or whatever terminology they use, they're not done. now what, niger? >> that's going to be a pickle. i have to be candid here and not talk like a conservative pundit. that is going to be a pickle.

it would have to be, i would suspect that the vote would have to be delayed a little bit longer. obviously there would have to be a discussion between grassley and feinstein and wray and i suppose other stakeholders to find out how long the fbi would need. the question that i think you should ask is if the fbi comes back with the information that we already know from the testimony and from just the public knowledge in general if they come back and say there's no more there there, are there going to be any democrats that change their mind and actually vote for kavanaugh other than those moderate democrats in trump-dominated states? i think the answer to that question is no. >> fair point. but it's okay for it to be no if the reason they're not voting yes is they weren't going to anyway because they don't like his jurisprudence. you have to be fair what the basis of their no was, jess.

so when we get to next week, i believe this helps the judge as much as it does with the accusers involved because if they can't corroborate it he deserves that disclosure. and if they can get judge at a minimum, he says he wants to cooperate, it's through his lawyer, if that's true it doesn't have the same value that others do in terms of what happens if you're lying. if he'll talk to them under penalty of law and tells them what he knows and what he doesn't, i think that would go a long way. but at the end of the day if this comes back uncorroborated, are you okay and do you believe that would mean no more on this point and whatever you feel about the judge's jurisprudence is fair game? >> i think it's unlikely that it's going to come back with the fbi saying dr. ford was lying and brett kavanaugh was telling the truth. i think we would have seen mark judge willing to testify on behalf of his friend if that

were something that could happen. instead this odd thing he couldn't talk because he couldn't do speaking in public. he had ptsd or depression, but he's listed as a public speaker by his agency online. >> about his book. >> i'm glad we have the week. more than just the assault, i think it's nice to put a couple days between the kavanaugh testimony and when they have to vote. some very disturbing things happened yesterday. he lied repeatedly in front of the senate judiciary -- >> the alleged assault. >> saying over and over -- alleged assault, i'm sorry. he lied in front of the committee saying over and over again that witnesses said this never happened when, of course, that's not what the witnesses said. he asked senator klobuchar if she had a drinking problem after she disclosed her father's alcoholism which was a stunning moment in a supreme court nominee hearing. i think it's important to take some time and breathe about it.

>> kavanaugh is a fighter and a political operative before he was a judge. all somebody has to do is look at the questions he wrote up about bill clinton when he was working for ken starr. he knows how to fight when he has something he believes is worth fighting for. thank you to both of you. enjoy your weekend. get ready for a heck of a week. rest up. so, look, here is what we know, when it comes to fbi investigations one of the things you hear us argue is why do you think we haven't heard from the mueller probe like it should be over by now? federal investigations take forever. one week to get to the bottom of this kind of stuff? is that possible? is it probable? what will they do? what can they do? good news for you we have a former agent who used to do exactly this. he's more than his looks. the pluses and minuses next. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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kudos to jeff flake. an fbi investigation. what does that mean? trump and the republicans had been refuse to go do any kind of extra investigation. but -- >> you specifically asked for an fbi investigation, did you not? >> this also could have been investigated in the last 11 days. >> why aren't you also asking the fbi to investigate these claims? >> i think an fbi investigation will help all of us on both sides of the issue. >> flake was like, you know what, i think they're right. i think we should do it. let's get into what they've decided to do. perfect guest, former fbi supervisor james galliano is

here. what this is and what this is not, not a criminal investigation, right? so what's the reasonable look at what they're going to do? >> so the fbi doesn't typically investigate sexual assault violations, chris, that's a state crime. montgomery county, maryland, would normally handle that. because this is part of the investigation or a background investigation for judicial nominee, the fbi would have purview over this. we know judge kavanaugh has been part of six of these. they've been asked to take part in a supplemental investigation in this. they can go back and ask the same questions they asked before and anything out of the senate judiciary committee they can raise those hands, go talk to people that are brought up. mark judge is one of those people they want to talk to. look at the forensic things and try to get to the bottom whether or not this is truly an issue. >> guilt or innocence? no. >> they don't determine the veracity. they will not interview somebody and say this person was

believable or not. a testimonial document they only stipulate to the facts. >> okay. but that would get us further than we were. not everybody was spoken to. time frame, one week. the mueller probe, we're always saying these things take forever. >> one week i can tell you right now director wray is going to put the right people on top of this. whatever that squad needs, the fbi will open up a special inquiry which means fbi headquarters will have oversight and will bring folks in tdy, dispatch whatever resources to get it done. is one week enough time? if it's just to exonerate judge kavanaugh and they don't find any there there, yes. if it opens up something else, it could potentially take longer. >> that will be what we call the pickle in the last debate. if they come back and say we found something new. now there are two big things you

think would be relevant. the first is the yearbook, eyes roll on the republican side of the aisle. are you going to look at what he said high school? his character is an issue. you think they look at this? >> they would but here is where the devil gets into the details. typically an fbi background is for judicial nominees or new agents coming in or five-year reinvestigations for top-secret security clearances. the fbi goes back as far as 18. they look at you from your time as an adult forward. they may not have gone back that far. they'll talk to folks in the neighborhood, yes. they'll talk to folks he may have worked with while he was in high school but they typically don't go past the 18th birthday. >> how do we know if he'll do this or not? >> under these circumstances, chris, all hands on deck. i guarantee they will do an exhaustive and full investigation into this. >> you like the calendar, why? >> for a number of reasons.

you can look at this from handwriting analysis situation, a handwriting analyst can look at this and take a handwriting analysis. now your handwriting typically changes from when you were in high school to now. they can check the ink and determine that. as a forensic tool it's good in that sense. is this legitimate? let's stipulate that it is am agents can look at this. when they interview mark judge and others reported to be at the party they can ask them particular questions that may not have come up in the hearing. >> that's very help and the biggest thing that you tipped us off on is if a week from now they say we can't corroborate anything that was there, good for the judge. if they say we did find something we believe, they will tell the white house. what does that mean? that could be the pickle. thank you, have a good weekend. appreciate it. so yesterday lindsey graham led the counter resistance to save kavanaugh and i think it's

fair to say he changed the tone and it tenor of that hearing. he called it a sham, an amazing turnaround, a very sober lindsey graham. what was the behind the shift next.

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>> if you wanted an fbi investigation you could have come to us. what you want to do is destroy this guy's life, hold this seat open, and hope you win in 2020. i would never do to them what you've done to this guy. this is the most unethical sham since i've been in politics. to my republican colleagues, if you vote no, you're legitimizing the most despicable thing i have seen in my time in politics. >> i have to tell you that is a high bar that he's trying to get over. all the time he's been in there, all the stuff he's been involved in and this is the worst politics he's ever seen? but then today came, very different response. >> well, all i can say it's there right now. what jeff is saying is -- makes sense to me. >> do you think that murkowski -- >> i don't know. i'm not speaking for mitch.

i'm going to talk with jeff. somebody's got to explain this to trump, so i guess that will be my job. >> if it's going to take -- >> makes sense to me? don lemon, please come in here. makes sense to him? never, if you ever, if i'm ever the, i will never. now it's not that bad an idea. >> first he's got the vapors. >> he did have the vapors. >> oh, i got the vapors. and then, you know, he's like, well, you know, i'm mr. pragmatic, and i have to explain this to the president. that, my friend, is a screen test, what you saw, to be the attorney general once sessions is gone. >> you bounce this off the old radio show, sirius xm. that's my new show. you believe that this really, really significant shift we've seen in graham is not schizophrenia. it's planned. >> yeah. this is just my belief, and not just over the last couple of

days. i think over the last few months or so. >> sure. >> since the president really started having trouble with -- or since the president came out and started criticizing jeff sessions publicly. and you heard it was back in august, i think the end of august where lindsey graham said, well this -- their relationship is irreparably harmed. they can't really repair it. >> that's true. he has been a little bit more final about things than he used to be. i never figured that was because he saw an angle. >> he wants to be the attorney general. that's what i think. he wants to be the attorney general. he said that he wants grassley's job. but i think, boy, he would love a job in in administration. he was one of the biggest, harshest critics of this president not so long ago, and now they're golf buddies and now he's defending the indefensible. >> he was the picture of the description cooler heads prevailed from yesterday till today. >> i know you got to go, but did you see this truth chart that

box did on -- >> no. >> there is an answer chart. who answered and who didn't answer the questions yesterday for ford and kavanaugh. >> you've got it. >> i got. >> beautiful. can you give me the vapors line one more time. >> i've got the vapors. >> thank you, don lemon. i'll see you in a little bit. all right. something happened today that seemed impossible 24 hours ago. it's kind of like graham yesterday, graham today. this was even more dramatic. and what it means to all of us. my friends, if you look up in those clouds, what is that? could that be a ray of sunshine? closing argument, next.

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it is always darkest before dawn. we lived that in the last 24 hours. just as it seemed our senators could feed nothing but their own base political instincts and that a scotus member, a swing vote no less, would be made as a rush to judgment with so much hanging in the air and over the head of the nominee. and then the sunshine of

compromise and common ground. you could almost see teddy and john smiling down on their colleagues and their consternation. all of the sudden, you hears senators coons and flake, from different parties, very different pages when it comes to kavanaugh's fitness, but they both saw this process as what it was lacking. so then something happened. atypical, without being forced, not because there was a quid pro quo, flake used his all-important vote to do something just because he thought it was right. to be fair to the allegations, to the accusers, and to the judg judge, let's remove this specter of unknown about the allegations and have the fbi investigate. amen. but just like the darkest before dawn quote, this is not as true as it seems. it is not darkest before dawn. it's darkest around midnight. and the quote is not from the

bible. it's from thomas fuller. and the fbi is not starting a criminal investigation or anything like it. a in truth, we're not exactly sure what they'll be looking at. at this point, we know more about what it is not -- not a new criminal look into the guilt or innocence. it's not going to be about veracity. they're not going to say who's lying. but we do know it's limited in scope, whatever that means, and certainly limited in duration. the last may be the most troubling. a name we've not heard much in this process now just became a big deal. christopher wray, the head of the fbi. now, the president, the white house, they can make suggestions to him. but technically he decides what he does and how long it takes. it's really his call. and if he says, i can't do it in this time, or if they come back in a week and say, you know, we found some stuff we need to dig into a little bit more, well then what? the supplemental fbi background

investigation is supposedly limited to current credible allegations. which are those? who will be interviewed? what if they say no? what if they discover this legit lead in the course of this? these are beguiling questions, and we need to know the answers. now, this development, does it make kavanaugh's confirmation more or less likely? i could argue it either way. something new could come up. something alleged could be corroborated, or he could be cleared by nothing being corroborated, nothing from any of it. all we know for sure is that there will be more respect and review given to the allegations than was expected when today started. those women who cornered flake and demanded he look at them in the eye, he saw you, he heard you, and he made this happen. and think about it. if the senators can make something happen on something so ugly and hostile and partisan, even when it wasn't convenient, even when it didn't play to the

advantage of the party with the leverage and was so unpopular, they did it simply because it was right and fair. imagine what they could do on so many other issues. there's so much more common ground to be staked out. so hopefully as a friday night wish heading into what could be a turbulent week, hopefully the best is yet to come. thanks for watching. "cnn tonight with don lemon" starts right now. >> you're so optimistic. remember our conversation about ted cruz and the protesters? >> yep. >> yeah. and i told you the power of protesting. >> mm-hmm. time, place, and manner. >> there you go. >> they were in a private restaurant. these people were in the halls of congress. they're allowed to be there. >> sometimes you feel that's the only power you have. >> and sometimes it works. sometimes it's productive. and today it seems it was. fairness was served. >> it's not comfortable. jeff flake was not comfortable. >> nope.