this is "nightline." >> tonight, having the talk with teenagers. getting real about kavanaugh and ford. >> she was in a situation which was already horrific. and then something like these boys laughing at her? i understand that's -- how terrible that was for that girl. >> today's high schoolers judging the supreme court nominee's teenage behavior. >> saying, oh, it's about the boys. it's just a way to distract people. >> and their reaction to the president's recent rally cry. >> how did you get home? i don't remember. how'd you get there? i don't remember. where is the place? i don't remember. how many years ago was it? i don't know. i don't know. plus alicia's keys to coparenting. the singer/songwriter knows that no one has a family without a

dose of drama. her husband swizz beats and his ex-wife. despite a bitter start, how the three blended their families. ♪ first here are the "nightline 5." >> for all those who love details. the element of surprise. and a good laugh. whatever your style, shop up to 50% off select home items. jcpenney. style and value for all. take prilosec otc, take control of heartburn. so you don't have to stash antacids here, here, or here. kick your antacid habit with prilosec otc. one pill a day, 24 hours,

good evening. in just a few hours, a major development in the story that has really transfixed america. the senate will review the fbi report into supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh. tonight on the floor of the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell set a procedural vote on the nomination for friday, teeing up a possible final vote over the weekend. as this story has consumed the nation's attention, it has created a special challenge for parents. how to discuss the extremely sensitive issue of sexual assault. tonight abc's sunny hostin sits down with a group of teenagers. >> for him to reference that young men are in trouble, it's false. >> donald trump saying, it's about the boys, it's just a way to distract people. >> it's a victimizing the people who were the oppressors, same as in the kavanaugh case where people are saying, oh, poor kavanaugh, poor kavanaugh. >> reporter: opinions flaring across the room as a group of teenagers in new york reacted to president trump's remarks

yesterday. >> it's a very scary time for young men in america when you can be guilty of something that you may not be guilty of. this is a very, very difficult time. >> reporter: these comments the latest in the bare knuckle politics over the president's nomination to the supreme court. >> brett and mark came into the bedroom and locked the door behind them. >> reporter: it's a battle that began last thursday when some very personal details were laid bare under the national spotlight of a congressional hearing. >> i was pushed onto the bed and brett got on top of me. he began running his hands over my body and grinding into me. >> reporter: the testimonies of christine blasey ford and brett kavanaugh -- >> i've never sexual assaulted anyone. not in high school, not in college, never. >> reporter: ignited the latest national reckoning about sexual assault. >> a lifetime appointment to the supreme court -- >> reporter: people making their voices heard in the halls of congress. >> don't look away from me, look

at me and tell me that it doesn't matter what happened to me! >> reporter: in newspapers. just today connie chung penning a letter to blasey ford saying, i too was sexual assaulted. in high schools across the country, like millions of americans, these teenagers we sat down with said they were glued to the hearings even during the school day. did you find people were talking about the kavanaugh hearings in the hallways and classes? -- yeah, people were watching the hearings at lunch. >> watching on their phones? >> yeah. >> reporter: this group was decidedly behind dr. ford. >> raise your hand if you believed dr. ford's allegations prior to the hearings. raise your hand if you believed judge kavanaugh's denial of her accusations prior to the hearings. raise your hand if you believed dr. ford after the hearing. so all of you think, going into it, okay, i made my mind up even

before you heard it. >> i did try to go into it with an open mind, see if maybe kavanaugh showed some perspective to the situation, or if he seemed credible. but then watching it, the way he acted and she acted, side by side, they acted so different that it really shed a light to the situation. >> let's talk about judge kavanaugh. what did you think about his demeanor when he was testifying? >> a lot of kids my age were looking at this and watching it, and i just think that the way he composed himself really didn't set a good example for these kids. >> i thought it was super disrespectful when he shot back questions to the people asking him the questions. when it was sort of his interview, his job interview. and particularly towards the woman asking him questions. >> you're saying there's never been a case where you drank so much that you didn't remember what happened the night before or part of what happened? >> you're asking about blackout. i don't know, have you?

>> could you answer the question, judge? so that's not happened, is that your answer? >> yeah, i'm curious if you have. >> i have no drinking problem, judge. >> nor do i. >> that made me -- like how could anyone think that was like an appropriate question to ask? >> i thought he was clearly angry, or he had to think to himself, my goodness, we're talking about my yearbook in front of the u.s. senate. i thought he had every right to defend himself as vociferously as he felt he needed to. >> maybe he was just showing how he felt, he felt wrongfully accused. >> i mean, like if someone accused me of something i know i didn't do, i would be upset. >> what do you think, if someone's wrongfully accused, they'd be upset? >> i think you have to have trust in the system. and the system that he's going to work for, he seemed like he didn't trust them at all. so i think that's reflective of his character. >> what do you think would have been the result if dr. ford

behaved the way judge kavanaugh behaved? >> i think they would have gone even further as to label her as some hysterical woman. >> what is the strongest memory you have? >> indelible in the is the laughter, the uproarious laughter between the two. and their having fun at my expense. >> when she said that i was like, okay, you are a human being who went through this. >> also one of the biggest fears of a 15-year-old is being pub c publicly ridiculed. something like these boys laughing at her, i felt deeply with that. her feelings during that situation, it made me -- it made my heart drop a little more. >> reporter: but the president, who initially called dr. ford a very fine woman and a very credible witness, has pivoted,

saying this at a rally last night. >> 36 years ago, this happened. i had one beer. right? i had one beer. well, do you think it was -- nope, it was one beer. how did you get home? i don't remember. how did you get that? i don't remember. where is the place? i don't remember. how many years ago was it? i don't know. i don't know. >> we want kavanaugh! we want kavanaugh! >> clearly political motivation there. you're seeing the president as he always does try to play offense. we'll have to see in november if he's playing the right cards. >> reporter: the three closely watched republicans, the holders of the key swing votes, responded critically. alaska senator lisa murkowski calling the comments wholly inappropriate, and unacceptable. arizona senator jeff flake, who demanded the additional fbi investigation, telling the "today" show -- >> it's kind of appalling. >> reporter: senator susan collins of maine had these simple words.

>> just plain wrong. >> reporter: the president also garnered criticism for his comments yesterday that young men in this country should be concerned of being falsely accused. >> somebody could accuse you of something and you're automatically guilty. but in this realm, you are truly guilty until proven innocent. >> there are a lot of young men in this country who are looking to him and looking to other male politicians. and as a way to think how they should progress in their lives. and he's sending them back. he's not pushing them forward, he's not helping the next generation. he's stopping them, halting them. >> i think the president is tapping into concerns you see in conservative media. interestingly a lot of them coming from conservative women who are saying, this is dangerous, this could be your son, this could be your husband, this could be your brother who are brought down by allegations that don't have a whole lot of evidence behind them. >> reporter: according to r.a.i.n.n., the nation's largest

anti-sexual violence group, the reporting of false rape is low, 2% to 8%. rape is underreported, two of three rapes are never reported to police. you're 15, the same age she was then. how hard do you think it was for her to come forward? >> well -- i can see how would -- how many sexual assault victims would stay more quiet. i think it was so incredibly brave of her to come forward at all. >> the people that come out and say, oh, i was assaulted, they become like a target of like the public eye. and everyone is looking at them. and that's terrifying. >> that's why you think people don't come forward? -- yeah. my school is maybe 600 students and i'm scared to walk in with a stain on my t-shirt. these people are coming out and saying, i was attacked. >> what did you say to people that say, okay, maybe he did these things, but he was 17, you can't hold that against him now. >> i think about incarcerated

individuals who are probably put in jail at 15, so young, and they still have that one act reflect the entirety of their lives. i think that you are held accountable to things that you do today. i'm held accountable if i don't do my homework. it's not like you can excuse someone's actions, especially at our age. >> by letting him get away with this, it's reinforcing the saying, boys will be boys. >> does it shake your faith in the government? >> for sure. because it's a lifetime appointment. so i think to kind of rush over and brush over any flaws that this person has is kind of telling of the true motive of whoever's appointing him. >> people watching i think are going to say, you're teenagers what do you know? >> yeah, we're teenagers. but many of us will be voting either this year or next year. it's our future. it's not like, oh, we're just -- we suddenly pop into political existence when we turn 18. it's like, we've been here. this is affecting us. >> did this make any of you

think, i'm going to get into politics when i get older? i'm going to become a lawyer when i get older? >> i do want to go into something venturing politics. i feel i need to see more people like me in our government. the system that we have. and the fact that there's such an absence is disheartening and that's really my motivation. >> bottom line these hearings have made you want to get involved? >> yeah. >> 100%. >> yes. ♪ next, alicia keys and her fight to create a blended family with her husband's ex. ♪ cleaning floors with a mop and bucket is a hassle, meaning you probably don't clean as often as you'd like. for a quick and convenient clean, try swiffer wetjet. there's no heavy bucket, or mop to wring out,

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being a parent is challenging at baseline. parenting with your spouse and his ex? that's even harder. but alicia keys, her husband, and his ex-wife, are a model in coparenting. the trio's powerful message contained in ex-wife mishonda's new book called "blend." abc's michael strahan tonight on how they've mixed things up. >> each of you, one word to describe your blended family. >> flow. >> my inspiration. >> notorious. >> yes! >> reporter: this is life today for mishonda, her ex-husband music producer swiz beats, and

singer/songwriter alicia keys. >> we love each other, hang out with each other, go to dinner together. our family's one big beautiful family. we're doing thanksgiving, we're doing the holidays, we'll do a birthday celebration together. it is a beautiful partnership. i'm very, very proud of that. it's a real thing and it's possible. >> reporter: bringing their families together didn't happen overnight. >> it wasn't easy. it was a roller coaster ride. a lot of prayer, a lot of meditation. >> reporter: after a painful divorce, mishonda and swiz who share a son, now 11, weren't getting along. >> things started off with a little bit of miscommunication, negativity. >> reporter: something that was affecting their son. >> he wanted to know why i couldn't go see him at his dad's and why can't his dad come over and see his bedroom at our house? it was really a wakeup call. even if we don't want to, for ourselves right now, we have to do it for him. because he doesn't deserve this. >> reporter: now in her new book "blend," with the foreword by alicia and a chapter by swiz,

she shares what she learned along the difficult but ultimately joyous journey to blend their families, parents and sons. >> our culture is comfortable with being miserable, being unhappy. i lived through a messy divorce with my parents. and as a child i remember the negative energy. the feeling of just not having any security in my own home. and that's just not something i wanted for our son. when you realize that, if your focus truly is the child's and the well-being of the child, that's the ultimate, like, let me fix this now. >> put your ego -- >> away. >> the ego is the biggest killer. >> yeah. >> it's not as if you wake up and go, we're going to blend our family, it's going to be smooth, we're going to have this understanding! there was a lot of communication between you guys, mediators involved. >> totally. what people don't see, and i

understand. they see us here now loving each other, coexisting, getting along. but there's a whole middle that they didn't see. and that's where we all put the work in on ourselves individually. we healed. we healed our children. we gave them an opportunity to see us growing. and that's the real blend. that healing, it's the first step to blending. >> reporter: a turning point in their relationship, when mishonda invited alicia to kassim's 6th birthday party. >> that was a pivotal moment. we'd been doing a lot of the work as far as communicating and consciously trying to get to a new level of humanity with each other. by the time that was transpiring, we were in a really great place. and i felt like, you know, i really -- i want alicia to be here. not only did she come, but she stayed until the end of the party. and that moment was our first time really hanging out together

as a family. ♪ what you do what you do what you do for love ♪ >> you wrote a beautiful song "blended family." the video, everybody together. i heard kassim had a reaction to that. >> he did. it's one of my favorite songs. it's really my love song to kassim and our experience. so we did the video. we really wanted to make it exactly what it was, which is our life together. all of us. all of his brothers, his mom, me, his only -- totally his only. >> stepmom was never an option. >> that sounds wrong. >> it's too wrong. like this bad ring to it. so omi, which is so endearing. i call alicia umi all the time. >> she got me calling her umi. >> we came up with umi. and i was like, it's beautiful. >> does this blended process ever stop?

is it something you've got to be consciously conscious of? >> it can't ever stop. our children are growing. they're going to have graduations. they're going to have weddings. they're going to have children. so it's a continual flow. >> we're partners. >> yeah. >> really, we're life partners. i remember one day mishonda said to me, we're going to be grandparents together. and i was like, wow. >> we're going to share -- i mean, it's worth it. people don't think that far ahead. we're going to share grandbabies. it's that real. >> it gives me chills right now. it makes so much sense, it's so beautiful. ♪ a blended family ♪ and it's all right to love ♪ and it's all right it's all right ♪ next here, a firefighter's goldi lox moment, including three real bears and one solution that turned out to be just right.

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