>> campaign 2018 continues today as president trump holds a political rally in west virginia. to campaign for state attorney patrick morrissey who is challenging the democratic incumbent. live coverage begins at 7:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. c-span.orgonline at or you can listen on our free radio app. more congressional election coverage tonight from montana. as the incumbent democratic

senator meets his republican challenger. c-span will have live coverage at 9:00 p.m. eastern. that is also on our website and radio app. alex bolton is a senior staff writer and he joins us. recount for us today what happened in the senate committee meeting just briefly. >> it seemed to be heading toward a normal confirmation vote, which would have sent brett kavanaugh to the floor for confirmation on tuesday, but then everything changed when jeff flake, he disappeared and was gone from the committee room. he did not speak at the other senators did, even though he had issued a statement in support of brett kavanaugh. and as the vote was approaching at 1:30 p.m., there was all this whispering going on beyond the dais. and it was clear something

was afoot. and that is when word started to leak that in fact he was having second thoughts. and he wanted, that he was willing to vote no if the chairman, chuck grassley, did not agree to postpone the ultimate floor vote and support a request for supplemental fbi investigation into some of these allegations of that the committee members heard in riveting detail on thursday, when christine blasey ford talked about, what she says was a sexual assault attempt by brett kavanaugh when they were in high school. and brett kavanaugh's angry denials. show >> since then, the senate has met. we thought they would be in a possible weekend session to move forward still with the nomination. what happened, they will not be meeting now until monday. >> because the ultimate vote on brett kavanaugh will be

postponed beyond next week, the -- what they have asked for more agreed to is a supplemental fbi investigation, supplemental to the background check they have already done. it would talk to the witnesses that ford says was, where president at a high school -- present at the high school party over 30 years ago. so there really was no reason for mitch mcconnell to rush it through. on friday evening, he did get consent to proceed to the executive calendar so brett kavanaugh could come up more quickly, but the democrats were fined to agree because now we're looking at a vote the following tuesday, if even that soon. >> as you have been mentioning, jeff flake of arizona asking for the investigation. it could take no more than a week. and some question as to whether president

trump would call for that investigation, whether the senate or the senators themselves could call for that, but in the end the president said yes, how did that come about? >> well, the chairman was adamant that congress does not have power to direct the fbi what to do. he argued that the background checks are courtesies that the white house provides to the senate, to help vet the nominees, so that is really up to the white house. now, donald trump has requested a supplemental investigation. it is only a week, so it will not push the nominee beyond the election if the fbi finds there is nothing to report. and also, when the fbi looked into anita hill's allegations against clarence thomas in 1991, they were not able to find any foundation or corroboration for

those charges. in retrospect, people wondered how hard they looked, but an fbi investigation could help the nominee. the bottom line is, it was clear to everyone that without an additional investigation, that jeff flake and the other two swing republicans, the senator from alaska and the senator from maine, they were going to vote no. so he had to agree to it. and since it is only a weeklong extension, it was not a huge concession. >> you talk a little bit about procedure, lay out for us what happens from here on out in terms of getting to the confirmation vote. >> as leader mcconnell announced, all 51 republican senators support the motion to proceed to the exhibit of calendar that the preliminary step that has to happen before there is a vote, which is a vote to end the debate on the

nominee, and a final vote to confirm the nominee. so it is just, it is a preliminary hurdle. and every republican agreed to it as part of this deal. and the democrats were fine with going along with it, because they do not want to come on saturday and work either. >> thank you so much. we will be watching for your tweets, even on the weekend, at alexander bolton, and also on the hill.com. >> thank you for having me. highlights on the nomination of brett kavanaugh air tomorrow morning it 10:30 a.m. eastern time here on c-span. hearingss confirmation are also on c-span.org and on our radio app. the white house did not release an address by the president this week. deliveredtty murray the democratic address.