. tonight on kqed newsroom, the countdown to a supreme court vote. plus federal investigators uncover widespread health and safety issues in c aalifornia immigration facility and theman behind "the onion," takes on big tech and elon musk in his new book. we begin with the showdown overp the me court. theed the senate moved to clear the last preedural hurdle before a final vote on kavanaugh to the supreme court. that vote will come saturday, despite the sexual assault

allegations fbi investigation s wasaid to be not thorough. after pressure from arizona, gop center jeff flake, the white house relented to limited fbi probe. the fbi wrapped up the five day investigation earlier this week. they're discuss it and what lies ahead for judg kavanaugh, i'm joined by eric swallwell, nice to have you back. >> it's nice to be back >> three key senators, all said they wereor going to sup judge kavanaugh, when the final vote t takes plas weekend. now it appears that he has enough votes to be confirmed, what is your reaction to that? >> well, i'm concerned about the future of the court for its integrity, and for the precedent of important cases like roe v. wade that it could be

overturned. it's not one senator who did it, and i think senator colls is unfairly being targeted. she is one of 51 who i have voted in the wrong direction and i hope people remember that as they, evaluat you know, what the decision means to them. in the house, you know,no we ar helpless, and what i think we can do, in a democratic ajority house is to first demand that the fbi reports ac. made publ so we can see if it's a thorougi invetion. >> that is if you win the house in the november. >> yes, and if there's gaps, and witnesses not contacted and victims who came forward could not reach the fbi or did not have phone calls returd, should decide if we want to interview and investigate them to see if kavanaugh did commit perjury. we cannot have question marks around any justice sitting on the court. >> and he is saying he will call

for an investigation of sexual c misco and perjury allegations, how do you interview brett kavanaugh the, e is sitting on the uc. supreme rt. >> you have to interview the 40 wi witnesseshe that saidtried to contact the fbi and were not heard because there was a loosh on t the investigation. there was questions if kavanaugh was being truthful as he was describing their drinking. usually not relevant what people do in high school, and in college. but the fact t he was saying he was always aware of his surroundings. we wa to see if that can be contradicted. >> the process has divided the nation. a lot of people conta congress members over this. what have you been hearing from your constituents? l. it's very emotiona

and i will just say that i hav k and forths with very good friends of mine. and you know, have regretted some of the things that is have d and tried to take a step back to not make it personal. you know, the stakes a so high, and the allegation is serious. i was ato prose for about seven years now in alameda county, and working s withual assault cases, i saw that every sexual a victim comes forward in a different way. they are not given a manuel on how to be a survivor and what you are supposed to remember at the time, you may have to recount i later. i heard different rings of truth from dr. ford as she testified. when i hear people say, it was not kracorroborate rateyd, she e piece of evidence. a lot of times crimes occur when there's one victim and one perpetrator. and no one else around.

>> democrats are saing inin ii investigatiowas a sh. how does it reflect to legitima?y of the proces >> the original sin was the failure to give merit garland a hearing years ago. when mitch mcconnell did th he made the process of having a supreme court nominee go through a confirmation very, very parsan, and itdeinvolved since then so where we are now. where a full a thorough investigation was not conducted or it feels like it was just rushed through to meet a deadline. i fear what that can mean for the future. >> republicans also, accused o democra playing dirt politics in all of this,? rig that you wanted an fbi investigation and you got one and now that the result is not what you wanted, you are attacking the fbi investigation. >> yeah, what we wanted, was an fbi investigation and we wanted them to pursue all leads. and to hear that people called an fbi tip line -- again, it's

so disappointing that this president has gone after the fbi over and over andov er, these past two years. particularly for whaty t did, now, he puts them right in the box, a couple of weeks before another election. that hurt hads tsed credibilitys well. >> if democrats win the house, will you call for an investigation of presidnt ump's taxes in light of the new york times investigation hat says, got the bulk of his money from his father, fred trump, and that he engaged in tax fraud. >> to me in, this is about t credibi and the american people should know if their president, is tax cheat and the new york times went to great length in a years long investigation, eit pages la out in the newspaper, to detail the president's fraud. and the number of different ways that he sought to avoid paying taxes like theest of us.

>> would you call for an investigation? >> yes, we will call for his taxes. whe has refused to release, despite promising it and so, yes, an investigation in to whether any money is owed to the u.s. it looks like new york is pursuing their own investigation as to whether any money is owed nmo the new york govent. there's a lot of investigations that the republicans never cohducted. wh it was on russia, taxes, the president cashing in oe oval office and it musting conducted in a way that -- and it must be conducted in a way that is fair to everyone. no one is above the law. >> you serve on the house internet subcommittee, and facebook is based hye in the area, the company recently revealed that there was a hack. and it affected 50 million users, plus ttolen information could be used to gain access to many otherit s where people use their facebook log-in credentials to access those sites. do you think that, that tech

companies, like facebook, have grown so big, that there needs to be legislation to reign them in? >> i do. and i think a key piece of legislation that we need to pass is congress is to have a national breech notification law. right now, t companiesd to follow the state laws. there's 49 different laws on how you notify consumers of a breech. i think because facebook, you know, they know no state lines, there should be nional standards for when it's equifax or target or facebook, different companies that hadbrooech eache. there's a standard. so people can defend their own dentity against other invasions that could occur. >> all right, congressman, always a pleasure to have you, thank you for taking the time. >> thank you. moving on to immigration, a new federal report has uncovered dangerous and disturbing conditis at an immigration detention s center thisuthern california.

the facility is run by the geo group, a private company under a contract with u.s. immigration and customs enforcement or i.c.e. anpectors with the office of the inspector general paid a surprise visit there and found nooses made from bed sheets in 15 cells and detainees were being denied from timely adequate medical and dental care. the trump administration was blocked from ending a program that gave protected status to hundreds of thousands of immigrants. joining me now to discuss it is our news reporter. and michael kaufmann, a aclu staff attorney. let's start with the ruling that blocks trump from denying protected status to immigrants. what happens now, are they still

subject to deportation? >> well the trumps admiation decided to end the protected status for immigrants from the ur countries that you mngz mentioned. so the first batch of them from sudan were set to lose the permit to live and work in the november. so it halts the deprotection from them. >> these a people who have been in the country for deckade. they have families and businesses here. >> and most of the people were from he wiel salvador. many have lived here for over 20 years. they own homes. they have u.s. citizen children, so, yes, a long time in the states. >> are they still subject to deportatn in the future though? >> well, what the judge did was a preliminary injuncthoon, so te on the end of temporary

protective status stays for as long as the judge decdes the case. >> okay. and michael, one of your colleagues at the aclu represented the plaintiffs in this case. and in judge'sruling, he pointed to disparaging comments that president trump made against immigrant. why did the judge think those comments were relevant in making his decisions? >> one of the claims we bought in the case is that the sescission of t protection by the trump administration was motivated against the animous goodnig against brown and black people. along with other statements from other officials made clear that the administration's efforts here were motivated in part by the rational animus, and violates the protectionuscl >> the trump administration has

not said they will appeal the decision as i understand it. let's move to the inspector eneral's report on the immigration facility. and that report contains a host of alarming findiner. what the key problems that they noted? >> well, inspects with t department of homeland security which oversees immigration authorities found serious t violatio i.c.e.'s own standards for detention. they found a disabled m in a wheelchair who had been confined to wiselchair for nine days and nights, without being a i believe to sleep in a bed. -- without being able to sleep in a bed. and a blind man with limited english proficiency in solitary confinement and people having to wait weeks and months to see a doctor andoonger see a dentist. over a year. >> and nooses in cells? >> and nooses in cells. these are made from bedheets

hanging from vents in the cells that they visited and that rticularly alarming to the inspectors, this is a facility that has a track record of seven people would have tried to commit suicide there, since 2015. an one person who actually died because >> michael, you have mentioned the facility dozens of timesn g over the past three years.at did you hear from the deta detainees that you spoke wh? >> the documents on this facility has been around a long time. serious een reports of medical care, routinely denied necessary treatments and care, or havinghem delaye to the point that the conditions were sn significantly worsened. >> when you saw the inspector wgeneral's report, whas your reaction, michael? >> well, look, we have known about the problems for a long time, but i have to admit, i had my breath taken awayf by some the allegations in the report. some of the comments from

officials at the facility demonstrate a completer disreg for detainees well being. for example, an official that referred to people who attempted suicide as suicide failures. >> and there was also apparently remarks for people teetd floss, that we don't have floss, so t just u string from your socks? >> exactly. that was a comment from dentists, referring to the fact that the detaidetainees did not the things to take care of themselves. the disregard of saying hey, use thou string from socks, shows from top to bottom at the fy, they do not care about their health and being. >> other reports in the past have pointed out deficiencies, a has the aclu or any other organizations challenged the federal government on the systemic issues, chael? >> well, back in 2015, we along

with numr of other advocacy groups filed a written complaint with i.c.e.utining the concerns about sub standard medical care at the facility that led to tragic consequences, there's been a number of deaths the facility, as the oag noted, resulted in part, due to sub standard care in the facility and after we filed the complaint, other congressional members followed up with i.c.e. for more concerns. despite the documentation of problems, i.c.e. had taken no meaningful steps to address thea medical car the dental care at the facility. >> and geo is the company, the private cpany that operates the facility. you spoke with them, you contacted them. about d they have to say the findings? >> they say they take the findingsnd seriously they are already taking steps to correct them. they are going to comply with the full review that i.c.e. said will do of the facility, due tby the reporhe office of the

inspector general. >> do you think thats that t will lead to any changes? because there have been other reports pointing out other reports in the past? >> that's right, it remains to be seen. d geo runs more than 100 facilities throughout the country. and we have heard frommm gration attorneys, and others that there's problems at other facilities in california, and throughout the country as well. >> a michael, there are hundreds of these detention centers in the u.s. what is going on at those facilities and how is the detenti now different than from previous administrations because president obama, his administrationlso detained immigrants? >> absolutely. and a lot of the problems date back, you know, five, six years and they are nothing new. we have seen conditions worsening under the trump administration. look, it's an administration

that made it clear they will make it as paiul as possible for people to go through the immigration system. they areng detai more people than ever before, and in conditions like this that we thhave found. are tearing families apart and separating children and c parents ananging the rules to make it as difficult as possible for people to fight their deportation case so, from top to bottom, the administration is going to try to make detainees and immigrant lives as painful as possible. >> and who is held at this facility? are they political asylum applirnts people caught during i.c.e. raids? >> yeah, i think that is important to remeer about all this. that most of theeoe held at the facilities like these, they are fighting their migration, they are there, their immigration case is ongoing. it could be asylum seekers. it could be people fighting deportati p. many manple do not have a criminal record and they are not suppose to be held i very

punative conditions, but the report makes it, gives us a very detailed insideaook at what be going on in there. >> and michael, you have met with some undocumented immigrants who gave utheir cases to live legally in the u.s. even some with strong cases, why did thaten ha >> absolutely. i have had clients who have told me that the can't bear to stay in detention for thehs monnd years it takes to fight their casesnd give up winnable cases because of the terrible circumstances under which they are detained. d aigger question we should be asking, why aree detaining e people in places like this. this is a civil detentim. sys people are not being held because they are being punished for something they did wrong.im they arey being held so that they will be available to show up for their iurigration hearings. and yet, with he know the federal government ha

to it, other mechanisms in ensuring that they show up, by placing them on supervise or putting them on ankle bracelets or other conditions of release, and so, why a we keeping people lobbed up when the government is -- people locked up when the government has equally good ways to ethure r court appearance. >> thank you very much and also, thanks to our reporter. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> turning now to something lighter, scott dicdickers is th foundeof "the onion," it has never shied away from taking jabs at pblic figures. and now, he is aiming his wit at elon musk, in a new book, "welcome to tture, which is mine," musk is known to be the out spoken ceo of tesla and space-x, now scott is with us in the studio, nice to have you. >> nice to be here. >> there's aot of tech giants

you could have chosen for the book. why elon musk? >> he is the funniest and thest weirnd the most postpone lia -- the most p image. a lot of them hide in their billion dollar heirs. s out there, he is tweeting and doing stuff. i figure, you know, if you are in the public sphere, you will get mocked a but. >> in your lubook, you i a number of what you call inspirational quotes from elon musk, and one of themis, the key to success is to ask yourself, what is the most ludicro ludicrous, most futile thing i can do and make it happen. you don't like any of his ideas? >> oh, no, i think his ideasre cool. on some level, you have tonow that you satyrise, and youave to find them ridiculous. if it's too mean spirited, it's not funny. >> have you heard from him?no

>> but he has been poaching writers from the onion to create a secret comedy enterprise or something. i know a lot of the people who he hasac ed. and i can see, like the project, what is going on? radio silenc i. >> h writing a book about you. everyone knows about me. he is shovelinghem to his private island, and he will hunt them for sport. >> first, he will shoot them ere in a -- >> or maybe he will take them to a ivate planet and there's a human hunting -- a human hunting ground there. where he and other billionaires like t trump sons for example, can hunt the most dangerous game. >> i think you have a sequel in the making, you poke fun at mark zuckerberg, your boo has a foreword for him. if you par take in the book, you must quote, give me all of your personal information. it's kind of a funny line, until you think about, you kn, the

day that breach they had, affecting 50 million users. sdpr yea sd m >> yeah, y times you think it's absurd and then something in realife happen and it's not as absurd after all. it's a great opptunity to make fun of elon musk and all of the tech billionaire scelebrity is what they have become. we made fun of basos, and itchard branson gets a couple of hits. fun. >> do you think big tech is a big mono culture now? >> i don't know much about it. i don't live here and i don't know, you know, anymore than, a common width westerner would know about it -- common midwesterner would know about it. amusing ande as people living on the cusp of the future and wanting to make the futubasically, with their inventions and with their money and that is just fascinating. to me. >> andside from tech, we live

in politically turbulent times right now, does it make it easier? you have no shortae of targets now days. >> that is a hard oques. you are questioning me more than the fbi questioned brett kavanaugh. i like beer. i just like beer. let's befair. just treat me fairly. i like rubbing up against people. so, no. it's easy. always. because there's always terrible people. there's always awful things going in the world. and t point iso point it out with humor. and sometimes it seems likegs thre more crazy and absurd, i think that is just really, surface like you no, underneath humans are going to be pretty awful to each

other, so there's going to be plenty to talk about. and you know, what is worse, is when things are so absurd that what you writeust comes true all the time. you think you are writing some ing crazy andabsurd, and then it comes true in real life. i don't know, it's the gold standard for me when it happens. >> you have aays written that good satyr afflicts thee comfortand comforts the afflicted. how do you decide who or what to target? >> if you go after an oppressed group or someone down and out, it's n funny. nobody wants to see that. if you go after authority figures or biionaires or whatever. everyone wants to see them brought down a peg.s yeah, iretty simple and a lot of times stuff i have done, espeally stuff for "t onion" has been perceived as edgy and inappropriate or whatever. you hat is when, you know, may get close to seeming like you are making fun of the wrong target or whbtever. the sub text is always going after the right target

hopefully, like if you do it right. >> somethinghere there's a true injustice and something is legitimately wrong. >> i'm a good guy. >> are you? >> no. i'm terrible. >> well, what is the difference between humor and satyr? >> another great question. ,umor is just funny. like, try not to laugh videos, aunt slipping and falling i the backyard, everyone loves that or a funny b piece dave berry about how i cannot believe i'm 50. i hate taking out of the trash. that'shumor. it's fun. you know, it's good and it's good jokes. satyr is when you find something wrong with humanity or the world, some kind of injustice and you point it outhrough humor. there's a secret nugget. nobody wants to be preached to. nobody wants to be told what is wrong with them.

but they all want jo so the jokes are the honey on the spoon and the satyr, is the sub text and it's the medicintt they are gg with the honey. >> is your goal to something that is more enrich are and lasting, when the horrible, is so something that may be potentially healed? >> that's the other thing about humor, it's an underrated coping mechanism in times of tragedy. it's the thing that reminds us that we are human. when there's a tragic, we convert to lizard brain o whatever. so, yeah, i think it's super valuable. >> quickly, only thursday seconds left can -- only 30 seconds left. was there a moment or event thats was so darkoucould not buildsatyrrom it? >> no, there's almost a good target. that whole too soon thing, if yourarget is right, it's never too soon. when you are in a funeral and you start laughing and it feels inappropriate. again, it's like a natural healing mechanism thatha we all

. so, i love pushing that boundary and trying to get that o laugh as soon as possib. >> thanks so much for being here. >> you are welcome, great possible re. -- great to be here. >> that will do it for us. thank you for joining us.

♪[music] >> saving kavanaugh. senator susan davis throws her decisive vote behind president trump's supreme court nominee. i'm robert costa. welcome to "washington week." >> i will vote to confirm judge kavanaugh. >> a heated week i washington. the precarious supreme court nomination of brett kavanaugh moved toward a final vote as the f.b.i. investigated allegations of sexual assault and misconduct, sparking a wider debate over power, politics, and gender. >> for goodness sakes! this is the united states of america! nobody is suppoltd to be g until proven innocent. >> let them look back ons t chapter as the shameful culmination of the scorched earth politics practiced by the hard right in america.

>> for democrats, some