♪[music] >> saving kavanaugh. senator susan dis throws her decisive vote behind president trump's supreme court i'm robert costa. welcome to "washington week." >> i will vote to confirm judge kavanaugh. >> a heated week in washington. the precarious supre court nomination of brett k tanaugh movedoward 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 ispo sd to be guilty until proven innocent. >> let them look back on this chapter as the shameful culmination of the scorched earth politics practiced by the hard right in america.

>> for democrats, some republicans and victims of sexual assault, a moment of reckoning. for manyli rns, a controversy beces a rallying cry, just weeks ahead of the midterms. >> think of your son, think of your husband. i've had man false accusations. i've had so many. and when i say it didn't happen, nobody believes me. >> we report on the high stakes, next. ♪[music] >> this is "washington week." funding is provided by...♪ ♪[music >> kevin! >> kevin! >>dvice for life. life well planned. learn more at... >> funding is provided by... newman's own foundation. donating all profits from newman's own food products to charity and nourishing the common good.

the yuen foundation. commdgted to bg cultural differences in our communities. the ethics and excellence in journalism foundation.co thoration for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station fem viewers l you. thank you! once again, from washington, moderator robert costa. >> good evening. reporters began the day at the capitol. enatorscrowded around with our notebooks. the faces of lawmakers and bothe parties w strained. protesters were chanting outside. there, at e thecenter of our nation's cultural divide, the fate of president trump's supreme court nominee, brett kavanaugh, who has been accused of sexual assault and other misconduct, was on the line.y and b late friday afternoon, kavanaugh was poised to become the nextti j on the supreme court. why? the key swing ve, senator susan davis, republican of

maine, said in ahy len floor speech that she would vote yes on kavanaugh, giving him enough votes for confirmation. >> we must always remember that it is when passions are most inflamedhat fairness is most inrd jeo the presumption of innocence is relevant to the advice and consent function when an accusation departs from a nominee's otherwise exemplary record. >> a finalote on the nomination is expected this weekend. joining me around the table tonight, ashley parker, white house reporter for the washington post. carl hulse, chief washington correspondent for the new york times. abby phillip, white house reporter for cnn. and kelly o'donnell, white house correspondent for nbc news. what a day on capitol hill,

kelly. >> amazing. >> when you listened to susan davis, was this someone who wasa alwawing vote and just turning at the 11th hour, or was this someone who was always trying to get to yes? >> from the time that brett kavanaugh waamed, her concern that she expressed was, would he be riable in the area of roe vs. wade? because she is one of the rare abortion rights advocates in the republican party. ander personal meeting made such a difference. but when the allegations came out, when i had contact with her,he was concernbout mark judge, the high school era friend o.brett kavanau and she was part of the group that wanted that additional b.i. information. he did submit to that, mark judge. apparently we don't know exactly what was said, but everyone was saying he was unable toorroborate the account given by dr. christine blasey ford. and for susan dis, that appeared to end the issue. i think what was so profound is, in many ways, she made the best

reasoned, calm case forkarett naugh on the court that we have heard in the whole three months that he has been nominee. and she did it at the moment where there was the most fire and anger over his nomination. in some ways, it's a surprise. but she, i think, was leaning toward being a yes all along. >> calm, to be sure, carl, but she was aretty aggressiv times, going after dr. ford's testimony, gently questioningpe s of her account. what did this whole moment tell us about senator clins, the supposed maverick? >> it was definitely a defining moment for susan davis. she'll be remembered for this, and every decision from now onre that kavanaugh issued when we assume he gets on the court, it will be weighed against i think that -- i agree she wanted to get to yes, from the beginning. she likes brett kavanaugh. e thinks that he is somewhat from the part of the republicany pa that she's familiar with, the bush administration, as opposed to the trump administration. i like to say that judge kavanaugh is really a bush

nominee, since he comes out of that. >> and he's been calling her as well, former president bush has been calling her. >> and he's comin from there. and she was also worried that if kavanaugh fails, then the next nominee is going to be moreva consve. you know, this was susan davis staffer. she was very, you know, methodical. she did her research.d ll her homework, read all the opinions. and she put together this speech ere she just went point by point by point and to explain herself. but already, the left is mad at her. and, you know, if she decides to run againn 2020, this is obviously going to be a overwhelming issue for her. >> that point about bush, ashley, you think about the republicty under president trump. they don't like his tweets sometimes. but they know, at the end day, they want to stack the supreme court with conservatives that they like. they feel like they're getting something out of this bargain. >> and this is really the bargain that these republicans have made a along.

they don't like the tweets. they don't like the tone. they don't like the style. they often sometimes don't even like t substance. but they realize that these appointments, not just to the supreme court, although thate cannot overstated enough, but even just to sort o help stock the conservative judiciary, which has beenni hap very quietly behind the scenes, since office, isnt took one of the key issues where the president is really on their side. o they're willing t tolerate all of these other things. if you even look at this trio of senators, and again, murkowski not voting inon the direchey wanted, but everyone else. when the president came out, and nsfornce, talked and mocked dr. ford at that rally inve mississippi,one was aghast. they could not believe it. yet that didn't detract from this ultimatrize, which is getting the conservative, in this case, judge kavanaugh, on to the supreme court.nt >> presiush was calling the senators. was the white house deeply

involved here? >> the president was not necessarily deeply involved, because his input wasn't necessarav it would not been helpful. but the white house counsel is the person, you know, the man behind the curtain here for the white house, whe it comes to judicial nominations. he is the person driving this whole thing. he is in close contact with senate leaders all the time. h's always on the phone with the people thate needs to be on the phone with to find out what's going on. and i think we saw his input iny some rea key ways. for example, the op-ed that brett kavaugh decido write is one that was kind of a risk in some ways. but it seemed necessary to address a really important problem for kavanaugh, which is that even though he was omperceived as a bushee when he got in there, his testimony last week made people wonder, has herm just trans into a trump nominee? has he just become a different kind of supreme court justice? i think the white house tried to recalibrate him this week.

and it w necessary, because one thing i did not hear susan davis talk about in her -- susan collins talk about in her speech ots that very issue. she did give any more credence to the idea that there were real doubts aboutrett kavanaugh's ability to be a measured person on the court. >> you mentioned mcgahn. but another person involved in everything, senate majority leader mitch wcconnell. yote the story for the times this week, about mcconnell giving the senators what the want. an f.b.i. investigation that goes on for anothereek. givihem the time to talk it through. such a fragile nomination, y mcconnell seems to have got it across the finish line. >> fragile up to today with lisa murkowski. we didn't know what wasng g to happen with her. this is mitch mcconnell's thing. he wants to t populat courts. this is now the second trump nominee that he'll be able to say that he put on the court. and it's interesting about don mcgahn. you have to remember, brett kavanaughasn't on trump's original list of nomination. there wer some machinations to

get him on to that list, because he's a o creaturef washington and and trump wasn't maybe going to look that favorably on this. this is a great victo for mitch mcconnell. he was certainly relieved after susan collins' speech. he gave her the shout-out,is sad was an inspirational speech, one of best i've seen in the history of the senate, because it saved him. because the conservative community, ks youw, is still a little suspicious of mitch mcconnell. >> let's talk about that suspicion, because the conservative community in the senasi, on the o, they're all watching kavanaugh, a little rattled by what happened wh his testimony. before senator collins defended judge kavanaugh's credentials on the senate floor today, the judge, as abby said, presented his own defense in the wall street journal. in anp-ed, he wrote, he was, quote, too emotional last week when senators questioned him and his accuser, dr. christine blasey ford. he said, quote, i know my tone was sharp and i said a few

things i should not have said. you can count on me being hard working, even keeled, open-minded, dedicated to the public good. he's writing that for the moderateeplican senators like senator lisa murkowski of alaska. yet murkowski ihe no column. >> it was a big high-profile op-ed with a very limited audience. lisa murkowski of alaska had also been prettlear that she had issued that were -- issues that were very home state. and for her, the affordable care act, preexisting conditions, something very important in alaska and there were reasons to be concerned about that in his record. and native american, indigenous people's sovereignty, a federal lands issue. that does not come up in a lot of places, but in alaska, it matters. it matters so much in herwn history, because her write-in election save, one of the

greatestac. she'd been beaten by a tea party conservative. many of the alaskan indigenous people were among her most strong supporters. so this was predictable. she talked about belie a good man but not the right man in this moment for the court. >> what about the red state democrats? you thinkat about s camp of north dakota. one of herng sib said she had to vote no, because she needed to be able to look in the when she brushes her teeth. >> from the republican side and white house side,er they practically lethal about the way this was playing out, because they recognized it was going to put a lot of these red state democrats in an incredibly difficult situation. but i think the way she voted, and the sort of moral dilemma she seemed to face, gets at a lot of these issues. it wasn't just abo a nominee to the supreme court. what you had wassss of, you know, he said/she said andt

temperamnd alcohol abuse or lack thereof and gender ati po and legacy, all crashing up against this me t era, which is rapidly changing and shifting. so the senators weren't just considering one thing. they weren'tonsidering only do they believe kavanaugh or do they believe dr. ford but they were considering sort of the full spectrum of, what d vote mean for women? what does this vote mean for women who wer victims of sexual assault? and it was alloipped i this very potent mix. >> and it changes the court potentially for a generation to come, tilting it to the right. >> and that's why the stakes are so high,specially for someone like kampf. i think there's a sense that her race is really spreading out. she's losing. if it m wereh close, this would be a much more difficult stitiodecision for her. as it were, if she's going to lose, there's probably a sense th she ought to make the

morally right decision for her about where she wants the court to be going forward. sthat's why the sta are so high for democrats and republicans right now. this washe ball game for republicans. i think even if they had lost some political capital. >> this fight, it would have be f worth it someone like mitch mcconnell, because you can't get a do-over on a supreme court seat. the next time a seat comes up, it may o may not be trump's term. if it's toward the end of trump's term, it might stay open until the next election. this could be the last shond they needed to take it, because this is changing the court for entire lifetime. >> it was painful for everyone. i think when you look at heidi hyde camp, you're looking at a woman in the democra party who has a future in the democratic party. she could easily be the attorney general of the united states under a democratic president. she was the a.g. in her home

state. survivethink you could in democratic politics if you voted for judge kavanaugh. i think she madet choice t she can live with and one that actually i thinknsures greater future for her. >> she might take agecretary, though. >> she would be good at that too. and jeff flake, who really brought about that moment where the additional week, which i think for many people helps to validate the process,lthough the investigation itself has been so attacked by those who don't think it wasair or thorough enough, but he's an interesting case, because he is a cservative to the core. humanitying to bri back to the senate in the final months of his time. and yet he ended up being a yes. >> i felt we were covering the hamlet of arizona, yet he always, as y say ends up at yes. questions about the process. >> he looked so pai through the process. >> he did. >> then we have joe manchin.oc >> dt of west virginia. >> so he comes on late. >> he walked out late.

t was waitingo see what happened obviously. susanmed very tied to collins. in fact, he announced his yes vote for confirmation as she ended her speech. ori thinkoe manchin, that was a good vote for west virginia. s> why? >> because ts -- trump is super popular there. he's running right now. this is ver close to t election. i think he was in pretty good shapees hy, but i look at this, if you gain the south politically, it wasrt move. he's a former governor too. he's one of those people whon believes the executives' right to make a point. >> let's go back to something ashley talked about, which is esident trump at the rallies. last week, president trump said dr. ford's testimony was compelling. but a few days later, he made the decision to mock her during aally in mississippi. let's take a listen. >> i thought her testimony was very compelling but certainly she was a very credible witness s very good in many respects. >> how did you get home? i don't remember. how did you get there?

i don't rember. but i had one beer. that's the only thing i remember. and a man's life is in tters, a man's life is shattered. >> the white house claimed t esident wasn't mocking ford, just setting the record straight. a stunning turn of event to have president trump kind of be contained in his message and then jutt go right there at a rally and go right at dr. ford. was he giving cover republicans to be more aggressive in their messaging? t was more think w stunning was the contained president we saw. >> yes. >> but i will say that moment, it gave a lot of credittance to the -- credence to the republican establishment. even a number of tmp voters have said they don't like that he said that. what is so stunning to me, if u talk to people in the president's orbit, and this was not a strategic hit, it wasidhe prt sort of sensing a moment and going for it. absolutelhink it was one of the most positive things

he could have done to help push judge kavanaugh over the finish line. and what they tell us, and they say he wasn't mocking her, but they say that he basically pointed out what they argue are ir gaps in her memory. fair potential problems with her story. d and ng so, they move the focus and scrutiny away from judge kavanaugh's youthful drinking and debauchly and on to her a little bit and it sort of gave republicans, allies in these outside groups, republican senators, the sort of green light to go and be an incredibly aggressive and shift that momentum and that's what we saw in these past few days, until today's vote. >> does that green light extend to the democrats? do they wat the president a say the me too movement, women'o rs are going to get up in arms, as much as republican voters have their anger up? >> i think the dynamics are so

divided along party lines. the president is doing something that he thinks is resonating with his voaforts. heh may -- w his voters. he may very well be right about that, at this late sge. motivating republicans to come out is his number one job. i think that's what he was trying to do at that rally in mississippi. on the democrat side, their momentum is already pretty high. their enthusiasm is already pretty high. i think this me too moment onlya amplifies tha it clarifies the issues around not just some ofhe policy issues like health care, but the cultural issues that the democrats want to run . but president trump is, as ashley said, he gave republicans some key permission not just in the kanaugh fight but toward november to lean into some of these culturalssues and get their base really ginned up around the culture that they want to see in this country.s and thaoing to be part of the recipes for november for them. >> i think the questann for republ is, we'd seen this little uhuick in easm.

does that now go away? because they got their win. voters, i hat to say, don't typically go to reward you bor the -- for the great things you did. they go to punish you. i think the strategists who are looking at that are saying to themselves, and some of their colleag,es are say let's just get him on right now so we have some time for this to die down among republicans, while we fan the flames among our voters. >> and 30 days in trump world is a lifetime in politees. to that energy up is going to be a big challenge. some of the things the president sa about dr. ford and the gaps, as the white house described it, reinforces what people alreadyhink about the president. it blends into his sort of style and hashns and the rhetoric -- harshness and the rhetoc he uses. so it was less of a risk for him, especially in the way it has sorte of given peo a way to look at the argument differently. for democrats, dr. ford wille figure of importance for a long time to come.

and she has certainly been harmed by this process, but also hast a -- j an enormous well of good will that has come to her. they didn't get the result that perhaps they wanted, although she was always careful to sayt was not her choice to make whether he be on the court or not. >> in the whiteheouse, for president to be doing that, the president's allies would argue that in a way he's the perfect boogeyman. he's fulfilling a very natural role and he's sort of doing the bidding that no one else wan to do. i went back. i rewatched it, timed it, that riff, it was actually only 36 seconds. but it wasct the per sort of prosecutorial case that could be replayed and rablayed on news and sort of fill that vacuum and provide republicans with cover and make the whi house's case. and that is what trump sort of intuitively understands so well as aormer reality television star. >> and one of the main lessons

thatht we o to take away is we did see the typical people like ake and collins saying, i wouldn't have said that. it was inappropriate. whatmaer. but ully, that didn't change the way they voted. this is the pattern. republans are able to compartmentalize the bad parts of trump in their view and still do what they need to do to get judge kavanaugh on the supreme court. >> when you're talking to senators, republicans, andng ssmen, are they talking about trade? that was the big issue earlier in the week. the president strikes this trade deal. the president with the economy, the jobs report. or is i culture? grievance? is that the way the tide isrn g? >> i think they're frustrated, because i think that they've passed some bills -- their big opioid bill that they passed. >> got no attention. >> the trade deal which they eally good. this was a victory for the property. but it's getting no attention. e tax bill is getting no attention. i think they realize that some ofyhese things t were hoping to carry them through the

election aren't mitch mcconnell said, after the tax bill was passed, if we can't sell this i the next election, we shouldn't be re-elected. he may find out that is the case. they didn't really have an opportunity to breakhrough all this much louder din over kavanaugh, me too, sexual assault. things really do resone with people. this has been talked about all over the country in all sorts o. aren it is a constant topic of conversation. no one really talked about the newic m-canada trade deal. >> one of the stories, unemployment falling to half century lows, great jobsumbers. this great economy. and president trump is not getting credit for it. i mean, i think that's pretty clear. the republican party is notg gettredit for it. that has got to be very, very stressful for republicans. but that's why i do think this idea of culture driving tru

voters out is really important. i think the president understands that.ws he k that he needs to speak to his voters, not just on policy but on other issues that he thinks coalesces them around him. >> and he's heading out to a big campaign run in the next few weeks. >> oh, myoodness, we areoing to be so exhausted. there will be so much travel with the president. up thats trying to drum support and get to those visceral issues you're talking about. i do wonder if west virginia will be off the table now for days.nal 30 >> probably not. >> leave senator manchin alone perhaps. he is going -- and one thing i find too, it'sever a direct flight to a trump event. the places that he goes require a double hop, right? >> yes. >> we've lived this. but he expects to be on the road most of october. 's been raising money. most of these events include a public event whe there'she rally type atmosphere and then preceding that, there are usually some big dollar trying to raise coffers for all of the

candidates, both house level and senate. we don't always see that with presidents campaigning for house races. >> i also think you're seeing another strategy from the republicans, now that h theye seemably won this. they're gonna talk about this is how the demfrats would be i they're in power. this is the kind of -- >> he keeps talking about that. >> these are the kind of actions that you're gonna see if they t take ove house. they're just going to be destructive and after us. so they're hing that that can keep the energy up. >> all-out political war on capi tl hill, on campaign trail. we'll be covering it all. we have to leave it there. thanks, everybody, for joining us tonightat our conven will continue on the "washington week" podcast. it's available on the "washington week" website at pbs.org/washingtonwe and also on the apple podcast app. i'm robert costa. thanks for joining us.

♪[music] >> funding is provided by... financia services firm, raymond james. newman's own foundation. do newman's own food products to charity and nourishing the common good. the ethics and excellence in jonalism foundation. the yu foundation. committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities. the corpor broadcasting.c and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like thank you!

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