we don't know. we have to see what happens tomorrow. everything indicates that's how they will vote. >> it appears to be a very thorough investigation. we see no corroborating evidence. jeff flake. remember those words. an amazing hour today. inside politics with dana bash starts now. welcome to inside politics. i'm dana bash. john king is off. the clock is ticking towards a monumental vote on whether brett kavanaugh will be confirmed to the supreme court. the tension here in washington is palpable. key senators pore over the new report. the report is not being released to the public. this just in as well from a key republican senator, jeff flake. the man who forced the investigation in the first place. he said we have seen no additional corroborating information.

republican senator bob corker who is often critical of the trump white house is supportive of brett kavanaugh. he echoed that. >> for me, again, no corroboration of any allegation that has been made. not any corroboration. very clear. >> there are many unknowns at this dramatic hour. amid all of this, the only unknown that matters in the short-term is this. how will the new fbi background check that senators are reviewing affect the decisions of five key senators it. the doors that you see on the screen there, they lead to a secure room in the capitol. inside is the key to judge kavanaugh's confirmation. an fbi supplemental background investigation. the bureau interviewed nine more witnesses trying to get at a question. is there any corroboration that proves or disproves accusations that kavanaugh committed sexual

assault. i mentioned that senator jeff flake said he has seen no additional corroborating information. another one of the key senators, republican susan collins said this just moments ago after a briefing on the fbi report. she said it appears to be a very thorough investigation, but i'm going back later to personally read the interviews. as for the leadership, reaction is predictable. the republican majority is definitive, saying at least chuck grassley, the chairman of the judiciary committee there is nothing we didn't already know. dianne feinstein and the democratic leader, chuck schumer. >> the most notable part of this report is what's not in it. as we noted by the white house, the fbi did not interview brett kavanaugh, nor did the fbi interview dr. blasey ford. >> we had many fears that this

was a very limited process that would constrain the fbi from getting all the facts. having received a thorough briefing on the documents, those fears have been realized. >> but again, to reiterate, a lot of that is partisan noise because it is jeff flake, susan collins, lisa murkowski, joe manchin and heidi hide camp are the only names that matter. how they interpret the documents will determine brett kavanaugh's fate. let's go straight to phil mattingly and talk again about what we heard in the last hour from two of the five key senators. susan collins thinks it was thorough and jeff flake saying he did not see any additional corroborating information. take me behind the scenes in what you are seeing and hearing

on the hill. >> those votes are everything. as well as everybody else chasing the five senators in particular pretty much every day. susan collins stopped talking to people as she waited for the fbi to finish the investigation and accepted it up to capitol hill and susan collins is not known to be loose with her words. she is known to telegraph. that's what he said today. both senators flake and collins said they only received the briefing on the report. a couple of people reported the report is more than 1,000 pages long. koth i collins and flake said they would review it later in the day, but the initial returns mean everything. the aides felt confident going into the day from what they are hearing from the senators and feel very good that things are on the right track. the key issues are a couple. if there wasn't an explosive confirmation of one of the

allegations, republicans felt like they were going to be in a good place. you heard that they did not hear they saw that. democrats saying the biggest issues are the facts of what's not in the report. they are not pointing to things in the report they can't disclose, saying they are troubled by them, but they are troubled by the scope of the investigation. not specifics of the report. this is just a drill down. one of the key issues for both flake and collins has been an interview with mark judge. that's one of the primary reasons this investigation was launched in the first place. y thatter told that interviewed occurred and it was three hours long. except them to read the transcripts, but right now if you had to gauge, republicans feel very good about what they are hearing. >> they sure do and three hours is a significant amount of time for people like you alludeded to this, susan collins who one of the main reasons she wanted this additional investigation was to speak to that man who blasey

ford alleges was at the party in the room when she said she was attacked. phil, please keep us posted. things are fast moving and anything you got, raise your hand and we will get back to you. >> here with me to share their reporting and insights, the associated press and bloomberg. lisa lair with the "new york times" and cnn. let's do the simple math. you have jeff flake who again forced this investigation in that dramatic way last week because he wanted to get a better sense of whether or not these allegations were true. he said no corroborating information. he was a yes in the committee and publicly for the nomination. doesn't sound like anything has changed for him. what does it mean in terms of simple math? the republicans need just one more vote in order to put brett kavanaugh over the top and make him justice. listening to susan collins, she

hasn't said where she is going to go, but the fact that she thinks it was a thorough investigation is a little bit of a tell tale sign. >> you got the sense from collins that she is looking for a reason to get to yes. we got a different sign who is the other swing republican, but susan collins has been speaking favorably on the issues and when the blasey ford issue came forward, she has been using her words carefully, but seemed to be pushing towards a yes vote. she needs to read what's in the fbi investigation, but what she said was significant because the democratic argument is that this was not a complete investigation. there was information that was with held and if she came out and said she disagrees with that argument, it's hard to see where the wiggle room is to oppose him. >> no other senator heard more opposition. she is one of the rare

republican senator who is is swimming upstream. it's more of a blue state. we will see what she decides to do. anyone who thinks we are in the same position as a week ago, this is a different moment. the white house never felt more confident. people are asking questions now. why didn't they order this investigation almost three weeks ago? could they have saved a lot for judge kavanaugh? could they have saved a lot of personal anguish for him? >> that was the white house call. >> it was a don mcgahn call who was talking to judge kavanaugh. >> privately they are about that. >> that would have changed everything. just wait 24 hours because we thought it was a different moment. you can feel the difference. people want to get on. >> it took a major weapon from the democratic arsenal. they are in the position where they are arguing over how this was conducted. was it a thoroughly conducted

investigation? who sent out the orders for the parameters of this investigation? when you are fighting about process issues, it feels like right here at this moment, things are moving quickly. jeff flake was a yes before this investigation. nothing changed. he appears to be a yes. two undecided senators. i would be surprised if either of them comes out as a 50th vote. they are in wait and see mote. the calculus is not about the investigation. the question before them is not whether there is reasonable doubt. that's the single most important thing for her. they are against this nomination.

they are about 15% of the state who question whether kavanaugh is supportive of the programs and protections for him. >> it's a huge issue and not to go too deep in the history of this, but history does drive the future. lisa murkowski lost a republican primary way back when, not that long ago. she had an historic write in conversation and a write in vote that allowed her to be a senator. a big part of that was the native population in her state. they helped drive it in a big way and moderates. >> she owes very little to gop leadership. >> except her chairmanship which she very much enjoys. whenever we have a vote, people genuinely usually vote with their friends and other things.

senator mcconnell is a driving force in this. if there is a wild card at this moment, i would say the wild card is much more lisa murkowski than anyone else. >> let's talk about mitch mcconnell. he has been increasing in his vinegar in his statements over the past week or so. it certainly was the same this morning. he was incredibly tough on the notion that he said the senate is the one that is on trial, not anything else. let's listen and talk about it. >> we are going to say this is the united states of america. nobody is supposed to be guilty until proven innocent. is that what the senate is going to be known for? the nomination comes up here and we destroy a reputation. trying to intimidate the senate into defeating a good man. are we going to allow this to

happen? in this country? >> it's so interesting because obviously he is echoing what he is hearing and what republicans across the country are saying. give me a break, judge kavanaugh is being railroaded. the last part what he was alluding to that there are protesters who are trying to talk to the senators at the airport and at their houses. it has escalated in a way i don't remember ever seeing. they could be intimidating senators, but the flip side is aren't they doing what they are supposed to be doing? >> certainly i think the tension on the hill is quite high and the physical proximity has gotten scary for some of the lawmakers who are right in the middle. people are there to represent their constituents. on a basic level, this is how the democracy is supposed to be working. it's ironic to have such push back.

>> it underscores how big the fight is. it's a huge battle and the whole court and the position of the court for a generation and all these things. it's also these very cultural fights. the high pressure cultural moment we are living in with me too and the role of the women. you had these really strong forces clashing. that's why you see the very emotional confrontations of sexual assault survivors targeting not just flake, but the campaign. >> we have to take a quick break and we have to show you something that just happened. a look at how high stakes the issues are for the senators on the fence. look at what happened inside the office of senator susan collins. >> i will stand here in collins's office for as long as i need to and every other senator who is planning to vote yes in this confirmation. of good start packaging. i'm ker

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the white house message today to senators is simple and direct. you got the report you wanted. now let's wrap this thing up. >> we feel very confident without getting into the details that when the senators have an opportunity to review this material as they are just beginning to, they are going to be comfortable voting to confirm judge kavanaugh. the president and the white house are firmly behind brett kavanaugh. >> to everybody here, particularly those of you who are at the white house every day, what is your sense in -- you mentioned a little bit in the last segment. what is your sense in the after action report. not that they are there yet, but whether or not they could have handled this a bit differently. >> i am hearing a couple of things from a lot of people. that's the best sign that it might be some version of the

truth. one is that the president was not reluctant to reopen that. he did not object to that. there was objection in the white house counsel's office because of that. they thought if we give them anything, we will open the door to things. why didn't they do that? the fox news interview. a lot of people are questioning why he sat for the interview which allowed other who is went to high school and college with him and gave them four extra days to flood the zone with their own versions of stories he was not a choir boy. those are two points, but interestingly the president has been a bit all over the map. he has been supportive of him, but privately in some respects he wants this fight to continue. i talked to people who said he would be fine if kavanaugh goes down because in the short-term that would help republicans in the mid-terms. others are like no, no, that is

one thing he talked about. the emotional thing, sarah sanders said yesterday, keep emotion out of it. facts only. the president is stoking emotions. i was at that mississippi rally. he was at the center of stoking emotions. my guess is he will do it again in minnesota. >> i'm glad you brought that up. there are different points of view with regards to how the president is leading. brett stevens, a conservative said in an opinion piece on this issue. i'm grateful because trump has not backed down in the face of the slipperiness and hypocrisy of the o pone ants to brett kavanaugh. ferocious and crass ob sti nens has uses in life and never more so than sly moral bullying. i'm grateful because he's a big fat hammer fending off a razor sharp daggar.

interesting language there. it's obvious that this is giving voice to a lot of the republicans that we are seeing, rank and file voters who are waking up. maybe not enough, but waking up to the idea that there are a lot of issues at stake and the democrats have been the one with all the energy. >> we are seeing a couple ever hour this morning with a number of pollsters and we are seeing a tightening and concern about the enthusiasm. democrats very, very eicher to vote were polling 12 to 15 points higher and that is significant. they have seen a tightening of that which they attribute to the kavanaugh confirmation. president trump definitely always has this instinctual feel for the base. his base feels like white men are under attack and this is the wronging of a white man. there is data that shows that people who vote for the president are likely to see that

bias in society. he is playing right into the arguments. it's not election day. we have a long way to go. >> this is also the president of the united states who no matter what your party, a president is supposed to show leadership. ben sasse, another republican who is no fan of the president is going to vote to support brett kavanaugh said this on the floor. >> we all know that the president cannot lead us through this time. we know that he is dispositionally unable to restrain his impulse to divide us. his mockery of dr. ford last night in mississippi was wrong, but it doesn't surprise anyone. it's who he is. >> that's the big question. we will have this vote, but the cultural moment is probably just beginning, not ending. >> it's clear that the strategy is to rally the base and create a counter narrative.

they said treat her fairly they say treat him fairly. it's only going to worsen the gender gap in the suburban districts with college educated women. >> and sasse's comments drives democrats and moderate republicans crazy. if you feel like that about the president, why do you continue to vote with him. ben sasse will be a yes vote on kavanaugh as he has been on every other issue. >> as likely will flake. the enthusiasm gap is moving. they haven't seen the same movement on the ballot. at the end of the day, that's what matters. >> we will talk about that later in the show. senators are getting a look at that super secret fbi report. what does this investigation actually entail? we will talk to experts on that, next. this place isn't for me.

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six-million low-income people to low-cost, high-speed internet at home. i'm trying to do some homework here. so they're ready for anything. cnn has learned that the fbi interviewed nine people for its probe into the kavanaugh allegations. the fbi talked to deborah ramirez who accused kavanaugh of exposing himself at yale. mark judge, the classmate who ford said was in the room when she was allegedly assaulted.

leland kaiser who was at the same party 36 years ago. patrick smyth, another classmate, chris garrett also went to prep with kavanaugh and allegedly attended at that july 1982 party that appeared on kavanaugh's calendar and he is connected to the same july party. the names of the other three are unknown. the white house insists it did not interfere with the fbi probe. >> any background investigation has to have some form of limiting scope. this time it's always in these matters set by the white house, but we defer to the senate's requests. the fbi has trained professionals. we have not micromanaged. they did follow-up interviews with people who could have seen firsthand accounts or be able to provide additional information. >> joining me now is tom fuentes

and cnn's evan perez. you have new reporting on what went into this investigation. >> the senators are now in this secure room, reading the documents. there are over 1,000 pages included in the documents. the fbi ended up including information that was unilater unilaterally brought in through tip lines and people calling and people who are sending stuff online. the question is, what is in that information. was the fbi able to corroborate any of it? if it was the tip line, it was information they did not get to. they did not do interviews with the people. it will be interesting to see what they take away. going back to your point, the white house insisting they did not interfere with the investigation. i guess that's true, the white house governed what the fbi was going to do. >> that's the fbi's client?

>> the office was the client here and they told the fbi what to look at and that's what they did. >> tom, you have overseen probably more fbi background theks than you can count. looking at the process and what you know about what they found and didn't find, what does this tell you? >> it tells me they were as thorough as they could be. he had been prior background investigations in this case. they didn't need to go back over the ground they covered. in any background, the use of alcohol and drugs and other situations like that personal behavior is part of the routine background all the time. he would have been through the questions with classmates and professors and neighbors and relatives and friends. that would have been covered. what was supposed to be covered in this case is what's new based on what ford said in her letter and in her sworn testimony. >> given your experience, do you think that the fbi had the

ability to do as extensive of a background supplemental check in the past few days? >> absolutely. >> you heard in this case they are not. now you are hearing today they have gone forward with the other interviews they have done and tips they have gotten. the white house said we don't want you to do years, 50 thousand interviews, but narrow it down to the most recent allegations that are credible and take a look at that and it sounds like they did. the senators who looked at the report wouldn't be saying it looks thorough. >> they are not saying mark judge in particular who is a key person for a lot of the pivotal senators was talked to for three hours. separately though, we hear from the attorneys of both christine blasey ford and deborah ramirez,

they are not thrilled with how it went down. let me read you a quote from ramirez's attorney. she was one of the nine interviewed. fewer than four days later, the fbi concluded the investigation without permitting the agents to investigate. we are deeply disappointed by the failure. we can only conclude that the fbi or those controlling the investigation did not want to learn the truth behind ms. ramirez's actions. the thing is she gave the fbi other people to talk to and it was not followed up on. >> the problem is if you let me control who you ask questions to, i'm going to control what your answers are. that's the big unknown. if don began at the white house was shepherding the whole thing and there are the clients, telling them who they can talk to, it doesn't matter how good they are. they are only going to get the answer that the white house is prepared to have. our consciousness of was this

well done or not, it's well done perfectly. if you control who gets to be questioned, you control the outcome. >> a lot of people misunderstand the process. it's not a criminal investigation so this is not the normal thing people think of when they think of the fbi. this is a big part of what the fbi does. the fascinating back story that plays on is if the democrats take over the house and they are going to spend time reviewing what the fbi did here, the fbi knows this. that's why you see a lot of this investigation including the tip line so i think the fbi is kind of tired over the last couple of years of being the political football for the politicians. >> i would imagine. real quick before we go to break. blasey ford's lawyers say it's ridiculous that she was not talked to as well. as somebody who has done this before or do you think what she said in public was enough? >> was she said in public was

under oath. she gave her letter and her statements through herself and her attorneys to senator feinstein as far back as july, but she testified under oath for several hours as did judge kavanaugh. that's their statements. that's everything that needed to be said and she supplied the names of what they should look at and talk to. they went to them and did that. if they fail to corroborate her story, where else were they going to go? they don't have a date, time, place, or anything about this party. >> thank you all for your insights and your experience. appreciate it. up next, what popular game show host apologized as moderator of the important political debate? if you give your answer in the form of a question, you will get it right. opportunity is everywh. like here. and here. see? opportunity. hi! cinturones por favor. gracias. ev-er-y-where. about to be parents.

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traffic and roads... a mess, honestlyrents going up,le. friends and family moving out of state, millions of californians live near or below the poverty line. politicians like gavin newsom talk about change, but they've done nothing. sky-high gas and food prices. homelessness. gavin newsom, it happened on your watch. so, yeah. it is time for a change. time for someone new.

topping our political radar, the justice department is changing seven intelligence officers with hacking, wire fraud, identity theft and money laupdering. they targeted anti-loping agencies and two 50 athletes in an effort to distract from the state-sponsored doping program. capitol police arrested a respect for allegedly docksing lawmakers in the kavanaugh hearings. it's the publishing of people's personal information online. 27-year-old jackson of "washington post"ed private information of one or more

senators. he is expected in court today. alex trebeck is apologizing for his performance as moderator at the gubernatorial debate. he added his own jokes and commentary between tom wolf and his challenger, scott wagner. he said he failed to recognize the seriousness of the event for voters and his role to just ask a simple question and then let the gentlemen go at each other. here's a clip. >> please, sir, tell me the name of the starting defensive lineman for the eagles who has won two consecutive super bowls, each one with a different team. >> i guess you want me to put that in the form of a question. >> so alex trebeck is a smart guy, but maybe the person should apologize who nominated a game show host.

>> i thought it was a joke actually, but he said he was not taking it serious enough. it would have been fun fe they had to ask the question or answer in the form of a question. >> there is some debates. >> he was not reading off the card. you had the answer in front of you. >> some debates, you can let them go and say nothing. >> yeah, that is true. i like the idea of potentially hosting jeopardy, but i will leave that at this point. before we go to break, one of the five key senators, lisa murkowski said through her office that she is looking as we speak at the report on brett kavanaugh. she is feeling pressure from both sides back home and around the country as kavanaugh becomes a lightning rod in the mid-terms for other senators. we'll be right back. liberty mutual saved us almost $800 when we switched our auto and home insurance.

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president trump and his supreme court nominee, brett kavanaugh, are not the only ones with a lot riding on the results. a key question is how will it affect senate majority leader mitch mcconnell's ability to keep his job. republicans hold a very slim majority. 51 to 49. the five u.s. senators you are looking at are on the fence. three are republicans if they can't be persuaded to vote, they won't make it. so far president trump, mcconnell and the senate have made considerable impact. this often goes unnoticed, but they made a lot of impact on the federal judiciary and installed one supreme court justice, 26 appellate court judges, 41 district court judges and

senator mitch mcconnell took to the floor in the senate just a short while ago to talk about this. >> let's not lose sight of the opportunity before us. this process has been ruled by fear and anger and underhanded ga gainsmanship for too long. it's time to stand up to this. we owe it to the american people not to be intimidated. we owe it to the american people to underscore thaw are innocent until proven guilty. it's the senate on trial here, mr. president. what kind of image will we convey to the public? >> so, this all speaks to what's going to happen in november. right? as i mentioned there is a very thin majority. the democrats in the toughest races are trying to defend their seats for the most part in very republican states. the places where donald trump is

super popular still. particularly for those five senators, two of the democrats, the two democrats in play at joe manchin and heidi hide camp for those reasons. because the constituents support the president and the they are up for reelection in five weeks. i want to show one example here. there was a poll recently taken asking if her vote on brett kavanaugh is going to make a difference for the voters, whether they support her or not. only 34% said less likely. i shouldn't say only, but 34% is less likely. that's significant, but 46% said no difference. i'm not so sure how if you are height camp route, there are so many other factors at play.

>> a week ago you had the rush of red state democrats saying they would vote no. that's how we ended up in this situation. joe donnelly in a tough race there. clair mccaskill in missouri. the politics seem clear. even in a state where donald trump won by a significant majority, they could win with a no vote. whether manchin and hide camp feel the same is unknown, but perhaps this vote is not as significant in their reelection because of the other factors. >> the point here is they have to worry about their own base as well. every red state democrats need the liberal base to show up. >> worry the senate races, the thing we know about kavanaugh from the polling is that it is mobilizing on both sides. if you are heidi, you are in a very, very red state. joe manchin is in a very, very

red state. mobilizing is more significant than it is for a donnelly or mccaskill. they are in a different position and have different races. manchin hez takas a significant. >> we will talk about house races after the break, but senate races are different. republican bases are not as enthused. this is dangerous in the senate races. >> that's what the president's central role is now. look where he is not going. florida and some places presidents would normally go. he is going to the reddest of red states. the geography line for him perfectly. north dakota and montana. i'm talking to democrats there who said jon tester is very montana and comfortable in that state, but that will be an issue

as well. the no vote against us. the problem for her is that there not enough to come out. there are liberals in fargo, but the democratic minority voters there. house races are totally different. >> we will talk about that and you know, because it's less than five weeks away, it's decision time on where the money is being spent in the key house races. we have an update for you and what it really means for the balance of power. stay with us.

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32 days until the mid-terms and democrat and republicans are reassessing where to spend their ad money. they need to win a net of 23 sets to retake the majority. cnn rates 28 seats as toss ups with another 35. they are lean republican or democrat. both parties are significantly scaling back ad spending in key races. the congressional leadership fund which is a big source of money. they are condition celling $3 million worth of ads in michigan. the house races there with the republican parties are trying to get republicans elected in the house. they are pulling ads in kansas and pennsylvania districts.

on the democratic side they are axing spending in that colorado and virginia district because they are confident they are going to win and can use the money elsewhere. what do the races have in common? they are in suburban districts where the trump factors have them on defense in a big way. more broadly, the kavanaugh factor have hurt republicans and in these suburban districts where independents and women tend to decide the fate of the members. it looks like it could help tip the scale in the democrats's way. >> that's why it's so interesting to see. they generally move in the same direction.

>> let me put something up on the screen. on one of the districts we are talking about that shifted in terms of the money spent in suburban washington and northern virginia. barbara com stock is down seven to her opponent and look at the factor here. the most important factor, 73% donald trump. >> this is precisely the district that in a previous era would have been republican. a lot of suburban and upper income voters. that dramatically shifted because of trump and the kavanaugh aspect and the gender gap. republicans are not at all optimistic. >> colorado stuck out to me. >> that say congressman who always pulls it out. he knows his district and republicans feel like it's looking back for him. that is a good indicator of where the house map is going. >> it looks like america.

>> with trump's impact, that is the piece for republicans that they can't separate themselves. they are tied to trump. >> house republicans? >> yes, house republicans. so much to talk about this for the next five weeks. thank you so much for joining me on inside politics. wolf starts right now. >> i'm wolf blitzer. it's 1:00 p.m. here in washington. the fate of the u.s. supreme court justice on the line right now. will he be confirmed or not. the three key gop senators, lisa murkowski, susan collins and jeff flake are reviewing the report into the nominee, brett kavanaugh who has been accused of sexual abuse. we heard from two of them. senator jeff flake has seen no additional corroborating in