forward. the college professor it would "the washington post" if her story is going to be told, she is going to be the one to tell it. "the washington post" identifying the writer as bli christine bra christine blasey ford. ford said one summer in the early 1980s kavanaugh and a friend both drunk cor rald hral into a bedroom. attempting to pull off the one piece bathing suit. when she tried to keescream, het his hand over her mouth. a research -- kavanaugh released a statement saying i categorically and unequivocally

deny this allegation. i did not that do this back in high school or at any time. "washington post" says kavanaugh declined to comment on the allegations today. nbc news has reached out to kavanaugh and they have not independently confirmed the accuser's identity. want to bring in kristen welker and josh letterman and mia wiley and. all of you welcome. kristen, let's get started with you. can we expect to hear anything else from the white house when it comes to this? >> reporter: i would be surprised if we didn't hear from president trump at some point, whether it be today or tomorrow on twitter. he'll undoubted ly get asked about this the next time he's with reporters. i can tell you what i think the strategy will be from the administration. this is a president who digs in. he doesn't back away from a fight. that's effectively what's unfolding now.

pointing reporters to that denial by judge brett kavanaugh saying those words stand. bottom line according to judge cavanaugh, he did not at any time engage in that type of activity. i categorically and unequivocally deny this allegation. i did not do this back in high school or at or any time. of course you have republicans lashing out about the timing of all of this. chuck grassley saying it's disturbing these are corroborated allegations from 35 years ago during high school would surface on the eve of a committee vote after democrats sat on them since july. but you have a number of democrats saying just the opposite. hey, wait a minute, we need to postpone that committee vote. one tweeted out we have a responsibility to scrutinize the n nominees.

the vote must be delayed until there a's thor ris a thor ro-- feinstein had the note written by christine blasey ford since until. she says she's essentially making this public now. because of course you have blasey ford speaking out. why is blasey ford speaking out right now? i want to read thu kyou this ke section in which she initially says she stayed silent because she said to herself this according to the post why suffer through the annihilation if it's not going to matter saying that the confirmation of judge kavanaugh was a fore gone conclusion. what changed? as the story snowballed, she heard people repeated inaccuracies about her and felt her privacy being chipped away. her calculation changed. that's her side of the story. we know reporters were reaching out to her. again, you have a number of republicans saying wait a minute, the timing of this is

clearly a political calculation. so that's where this fight stands. now we await to see if these confirmation hearings or if the vote that was scheduled for this upcoming week is in fact delayed. >> especially you hear so many voices calling for a delay. details in this article from the accuser citing how profoundly impacted ford was by the encounter saying, quote, notes from an individual therapy session the following year when she was being treated for what she says had been a long-term effects of the incident show she described a rape attempt in her late teens. how do these details impact the legitimacy of the accusations, especially when you hear also her saying i thought he might kill me and it was a rape attempt. >> i think it's powerful to hear her side of the story. having her come out publicly is both brave. she's right.

there are a lot of people that will say nasty things about her because she's speaking out and because of the timing. she took a lie detector test. we know that now as a result of her coming forward and we know that she talked to her therapist and her husband back in 2012. long before the hearing she was talking to someone and obviously not to any reason that was to harm brett kavanaugh which really increases the appearance that she is telling the truth and i find it much more credible. >> according to the article she even named him, last name in those sessions as well. i want to read more about the reaction that we've been getting in the last hour. we have reaction, especially from the senators calling for delay. senator chuck grassley released a statement. kristen welker read part of it. it is disturbing that these allegations from more than 35 years ago during high school would surface on the eve of a

committee vote after democrats sat on them since july. if ranking members took this claim seriously, they should have brought it to the full committee's attention much earlier. instead they said nothing during two joint phone calls with the nominee four days in august, four days of hearing, a closed session with committee members with the nominee where sensitive topics can be discussed and more than 1,300 written questions. 65 senators met individually can judge cavanaugh during a nearly two month period before the hearing began yet feinstein didn't share this with her colleagues ahead of many of those discussions. grassley is the same senator who originally released a letter with the signatures here of 65 women defending kavanaugh's care last week. josh, i want to hear your take on that response and does it point r poito that these suppor knew this was coming? >> certainly the white house had lined up supporters for

kavanaugh to speak publicly about why he should be confirmed on a whole range of issues. one of the problems that republicans are going to face now is that folks like chuck grassley in the last week or so have been saying this is an anonymous accusation, we can't really halt everything where there's an anonymous accuser we can't question. now the accuser is not anonymous, so that talking point republican his put forward now is going to come back into their face and democrats are going to say we have a real person. she took a lie detector test. she's attesting to the details and she should be taken seriously. i've been speaking about how they plan to respond to this more broadly. i think we may expect to hear three main points. one they're going to focus on the fact this happened a long time ago, several decades ago and it's something in the past. second, i think republicans are going to be focusing on the fact that some of the details in ford's story can't really be

pinned down. she says she doesn't know exactly where it took place or how she found out about the party, how she got to the party. they're going to say if she doesn't have full details, how do we know she's accurate about what she is alleging. thirdly i think republicans are going to point to the fact there's this discrepancy which referred to four people being in the room and the account from ford now that says there was only two. she says there was an error on behalf of the therapist in taking her notes on the session, but it's certainly something republicans are going to point to as they try to create questions about the veracity of the allegations overall. >> also disclosed in those therapy sessions i want to ask this to you because it seems like she'd been worried not just mentioning him by name, but worrying about the trajectory of his career. this is what is in the article, washington port. in an interview her husband russell ford said in the 2012 sessions that she recounted being trapped in a room with two

drunken boys, one of whom pinned her to a bed, molested her and prevented her from screaming. he said he recalled that his wife used kavanaugh's last name as we were talking about and then voiced concern that kavanaugh, then a federal judge, might one day be nominated to the supreme court. so what does it say about the culture when you have an accuser here that can have a legitimate fear about her abuser sitting in the position he is, alleged abuser and possibly in the chair of the highest court? >> rape, sexual assault this is a crime of power. it's not actually a crime of pleasure. people who do it do it because they want to and feel better in some way because they abuse that power. we know that young women, particularly between 16 and 19 are four times more likely to experience exactly the kind of incident that professor ford has

described. and that most women don't come forward. and this is why. because it's also an issue of power about who gets believed. fundamentally the question for the senate isn't whether or not kavanaugh can be found guilty of a crime in a criminal court. the issue is whether or not someone responsible for upholding the law of the land, who have no other jurists above them, who can tell a united states president he can't do something, that that person in the amount of power that person has in the seat should demonstrate and certainly should be questioned on whether or not they themselves kpcomply with t law and abuse power. >> we saw that why suffer through the annihilation and then say i feel like it's my responsibility. as we move forward and we have a

list of more and more of the senators calling for delay, calling for an investigation, is this account enough to sway the key republican senators? everybody is watching collins, murkowski knowing they have been so focused on women's issues, roe v wade. can that be enough? >> that's the million dollar question. we've seen swift reaction from democrats. half now of the democrats on the committee in including -- in addition to senator schumer saying that these votes should not proceed until this matter gets worked out. but of course democrats are in the minority. will that be enough to affect those two key senators, collins and murkowski? is this something that will be enough to change their mind? they have tried to be coy in the last few days about how they're proceeding. until we get a better sense from

them, it will be difficult to really tell how much of a problem this is going to be for judge kavanaugh. >> the clock is ticking and this calls for a delay. i know you'll stay with us. kristen and josh, thanks to both of you. if you are just joining us we are following a major development in the secret letter cent to senator feinstein accusing brett kavanaugh of sexual assault when he was a teenager. he deny its happened but now his accuser, alleged accuser has come forward to the "washington post." we'll continue our discussion after the break. roe your mornings were made for better things

than rheumatoid arthritis. before you and your rheumatologist move to another treatment, ask if xeljanz xr is right for you. xeljanz xr is a once-daily pill for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well enough. it can reduce pain, swelling and further joint damage, even without methotrexate. xeljanz xr can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections, lymphoma and other cancers have happened. don't start xeljanz xr if you have an infection. tears in the stomach or intestines, low blood cell counts and higher liver tests, and cholesterol levels have happened. your doctor should perform blood tests before you start and while taking xeljanz xr, and monitor certain liver tests. tell your doctor if you were in a region where fungal infections are common and if you have had tb, hepatitis b or c, or are prone to infections. don't let another morning go by without talking to your rheumatologist about xeljanz xr.

we distributeus, i'm the owner environmentally-friendly don't let another morning go by packaging for restaurants. and we've grown substantially. so i switched to the spark cash card from capital one. i earn unlimited 2% cash back on everything i buy. and last year, i earned $36,000 in cash back. that's right, $36,000. which i used to offer health insurance to my employees. my unlimited 2% cash back is more than just a perk, it's our healthcare. can i say it? what's in your wallet?

breaking news here on nbc. the woman who accused brett kavanaugh of sexual misconduct decades ago has identified herself and spoken on the record to "the washington post." she is christine blasey ford, a professor in c. this is how the incident was described to her. >> she believed it happened in 1982 towards the end of her sophomore year and the end of brett kavanaugh a's junior year. she says she was at a house party. not clear exactly whose home it was, but there were definitely no parents home. people were drinking. she said brett kavanaugh and his friend were very drunk. when she went to leave the room

where everybody was and go to the bathroom up a set of narrow stairs, she was pushed into a bedroom. at that point she says that brett kavanaugh held her down on a bed while mark judge watched from the other side of the room. there was very loud music. brett kavanaugh was on top of her. as you read some of the quotes there, groping her, trying to pull at her clothes, pull her clothes off. the way she described it, she felt at the time that she was sort of saved by his inneebriatn and mark judge tumbling on them and she was able to break free and run out of the room and into the bathroom across the hall. she says she tried to call out for help and kavanaugh then put his hand over her mouth and that for her has been the most important thing for the lasting trauma that she's experienced.

she felt like she was already starting to pay a price for having written that anonymous letter. reporters were showing up at her door. a reporter came to -- she teaches graduate level courses and as she was leaving a lecture was approached by a reporter. reporters called her colleagues. she was feeling like her privacy was already invaded and she has this all along i think a feeling like she had something important to say. and i think her calculation changed over time. like she had already sort of paid a price for writing that anonymous letter, so she figured she might as well come out and have people understand she is a real person and her allegation is coming from a human being. she felt probably it can't be easily dismissed when it's from a person with a name. >> the post says cavanaugh declined further comment on the aelg

allegations and said i categorically and unequivocally deny this allegation. i did not do this back in high school or at any time. mark judge, the friend who was alleged to have been in the room when this occurred, did not respond to the post for comment sunday. he told the weekly standard on friday, though, it's just nuts. i never saw brett act that way. joining me now, peter baker, chief white house correspondent for "the new york times" and nbc political analyst and laura bassett, political reporter. to both of you as we get started with you, peter, talk about this with this las of lawmakers growing longer by the minute calling for a delay. what does this mean for the confirmation project? a need some say on the other side to rush it. >> the list so far are democrats and democrats aren't in control so it didn't matter how many come out in favor of delay. chuck grassley the chairman decides there is enough pressure on him to delay a vote because they don't want to go forward

absent more information, to lisa mur murkowski or susan collins call for a delay. obviously they're still eager to get him confirmed but don't want to look as if they are insensitive to what seem to be very serious allegations against him. >> of course the question if we will see this christine blasey ford now that we have a name and also a face appear when it comes to these hearings to testify. i actually want to play more of david gura's interview with 'em -- emma brown, the person who wrote the interview. >> i can only say she made for her what was a very difficult decision to come forward and i think she knows she's going to face a lot of skepticism, criticism, and attack.

so she's already made the decision to be public. i would not be surprised if she was willing to speak to the senators about her experience. >> laura, what's the expectation here when it comes to her being subpoenaed to testify? do you see that happening? >> it should happen. this is tracking very similarly to what happened with anita hill back in 1992. similar to what happened back then. and she of course testified in front of a panel of all men on the judiciary committee. so i would imagine that if they're going to do a full investigation, this is definitely a senate matter. if they're going to do a full investigation, they need to have her come tell her story to the senate. i think that what's really interesting about what she said is she was afraid to come forward because she was accusing an extremely powerful man and she knew that probably nothing was going to happen to him and a lot of going to happen to her and that what was made her hesitate for this long. i think from having interviewed sexual assault victims, that's often why they don't come forward. they're accusing a very powerful

man who is sort of immune to these kinds of things. it will be interesting if this accusation actually does put a dent in the confirmation process. >> there's also another facet. "the washington post" is reporting as well that they have retained a lawyer here and also submitted a lie detector -- results to the polygraph test which she passed. what does that say when it comes to her credibility? >> you know, as we know, polygraphs aren't admissible in trourt. we don't want to set up a system in which women are not believed in which they pass a lie detector test. however, it does mean that she is credible. just adds a layer to her credibility. she's got notes. she spoke with her therapist. she spoke with her husband about this many years ago. this polygraph test just kind of adds to the mounting evidence that she's telling the truth. >> peter, i want to talk about the list, the 65 women who came forward friday to defend kavanaugh against this alleged incident. the pr firm, again, re-released

that today in light of this article coming out. how do you think these women would react to the story? >> well, that's a good question. these are women who have known him in other contexts than the one professor ford has talked about. and it's -- you know, they're defending him at the time against what was an anonymous allegation. now that's been backed up by a real person with a real name and a real story, a horrific story that would no doubt trouble anybody who hears it if they think it true. that would certainly give pause to anybody who would sign a letter. on the other hand, it says something about judge kavanaugh, that he has people willing to defend him at this point. he has from the very beginning tried to position himself as a nominee who has great respect for and, you know, support for women. he talked about his mother at his announcement and his daughters and so forth. it's funny -- not funny. it's interesting that from the very beginning that has been an important part of this

nomination. because obviously both matters when it comes to issues like roe v. wade and other issues that are of important to women in this country. >> reaction and statement on this and on this reporting and now the name of this christine blasey ford is coming fast and furious. the most recent one here coming from congresswoman anna eschew who is of course the representative that blasey ford contacted and then having that letter forwarded by congressman eschew to dianne feinstein that reads today congressman -- i'm sorry, i'm proud of my constituents for the courage she has displayed to come forward to tell her story. in weighing her privacy and the consequences to herself and her family, she has demonstrated her willingness to risk these factors to present the truth. i am grateful to her for weighing these equity in choosing to speak out in one of the controversial decisions in our country. in a democracy we always seek

the truth and honor it. we're hearing more and more from these people. again, we have to understand this is the seat for the highest court in the land. >> right. it's the seat in the highest court in the land and he's nominated by a man who has been accuse accused by assault by more than a dozen women. he would be sitting on the court with another man who has been credibly accused of a sexual assault and he would be the deciding vote on reproductive freedom in this country. the stakes are incredibly high. i think it's interesting the only people we're heard from so far wanting to delay the vote are democrats. it will come down to whether one or two republicans are willing to come forward and vote against him or ask for the process to be delayed. >> we will see this week as crucial days ahead of us. stay with us. laura, thank you for your time. still to come. what does he know now that paul

manafort is cooperating with robert mueller, will he incriminate anyone else in president trump's inner circle or even the president himself? you might take something for your heart... or joints. but do you take something for your brain. with an ingredient originally discovered in jellyfish, prevagen has been shown in clinical trials

to improve short-term memory. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. a moment of joy. a source of inspiration. an act of kindness. what will it bring? an old friend. a new beginning. some welcome relief... or a cause for celebration. the help you've been looking for. what's inside?

possibilities. what we deliver by delivering.

president trump is attacking

special counsel robert mueller for the first time since the announcement of paul manafort plea deal saying the counsel is highly conflicted and the probe is not a lourllowed under the l. manafort struck a deal with mueller and admitting his guilt to ten charges in a prior case in virginia. manafort is now part of the growing list of trump associate whose have agreed to cooperate with the russia probe. back are peter baker and mia wiley. joining is 2016 independent presidential candidate evan mcmullen. let's get started with you here. right after manafort's plea deal announcement the president's attorney sent out the statement direct le referri directly referring to paul manafort and claiming he will tell the truth and as we know he told that lie. took it out of the revised statement. what does that tell you about how the president is reacting to what he considers manafort flipping on him?

>> he's been very angry at the idea of flippers as he calls them in the past. people who turn against him and provide other people to prosecutors in order to win a lighter sentence. i think the change of that statement indicates that they're prepared to take on manafort's credibility if he says something that is incriminating against the president. they're not going to rule out calling him a liar if he threatens the president with information or allegations that could get the president in trouble. once you're on the other side with president trump, you're on the other side. paul manafort at this point has chosen a side that is very threatening to donald trump. >> we haven't heard from the president tweeting even though did he attack robert mueller. allen dershowitz has also been vocal. >> this was a very bad day for the trump administration.

it's bad because he doesn't know what manafort is saying and he can't count on manafort saying only things that the special counsel already knows. when you don't know what a cooperate on saying, then it's a bad day for you because you're vulnerable and exposed. >> he also called this a big win. what does that mean when it comes to the talks with him. >> this was a total win for mueller, let's be clear. the only reason -- that's why donald trump is attacking him. by the way, he didn't attack jeff sessions who he wanted not to recuse himself even though the regulations of the department of justice said he must. but really what mueller gets here is someone directly close to the president, engaged in the campaign during the critical months in which there was the potential of a conspiracy between the campaign and russians. he was actually in the meeting

in june with jaired kushner and don junior. we know don junior entering into that meeting in trump tower in june that manafort attended was one in which he was promised dirt on hillary clinton. so that's one category of question. he's also going to ask him about his relationship with a man who was a foreign russian military intelligence officer he worked with and he had an e-mail exchange with him in april of 2016 about getting to one of the oligarchs. he's very close to putin. wondering if they understood what position paul manafort was now in and whether he could essentially buy some peace. all of those are going to be questions that we know that mueller is going to be asking. and we don't know what else mueller knows as a result of conversations with manafort that we may not even be in the public

domain. it account implicate any number of people close to donald trump. >> we know that because we see those dots and whether we're drawing the line to connect them even closer. adam schiff weighed in on manafort's plea deal. as far as being considered in the cross hairs, here's what he had to say. >> this sends a message to anyone who is in bob mueller's cross hairs right now, you better get to the special counsel and make your deal down because anyone who gets indicted by bob mueller goes down. and the longer you wait to come clean, the worst deal you're going to get, the more time you're going to face. >> who is that message to? is it trump's son? his son-in-law? >> i actually do think that's exactly it. i think paul manafort now can connect all kinds of dots that are sort of little bits and pieces of information we have about the trump tower meeting, the change in the republican platform, all of these things

manafort can start to connect. he knows i think a lot about what the president knew or did not know because frankly the russians effort to influence our election was running at full bore while manafort was running the campaign. this was manafort's bread and butter. this is what manafort knew how to do which was to help elect russian-backed candidates. he did it in ukraine. he was back to doing it once again here in the united states during this campaign. he can tell the prosecutor so much. but i think with regard to other people, who's really under pressure because of manafort? it's the president himself. it's now don trump jr. it's jared kushner. and potentially the vice president. it's people who are higher than manafort, people who are closer to the president than even manafort was, than even michael flynn was. these people are now in additional jeopardy. >> before this plea deal, there

was another "p" word being floated around. pardon. peter, i want to ask you about that. with this deal, what are the likelihood of a pardon now is that dead? >> clearly paul manafort's legal team came to the conclusion or the client did that a pardon wasn't coming forward and they had to make this deal in order to spare him from a much, much worse fate. if they thought a pardon was coming, they might not have made the deal. president trump seemed to dangle that out there saying that was at least something that has been discussed. i think he's been talked out of it repeatedly by advisers around him. it also might not settle the issue. imn i'm not a lawyer. if president trump were to pardon paul manafort, that means he would not have any right to avoid testifying because of federal charges. that would mean that mueller would be able to put him on the stand and say you have to answer

my questions because you have no legal jeopardy to justify staying silent. >> peter's absolutely right. that's one of the things that would have made a pardon difficult for trump. remember that rudy giuliani went public saying that they wouldn't pardon manafort until the investigation was over. that's probably one of the reasons as well as the fact that in and of itself it could become part of an allegation of obstruction of justice. >> also interesting too what make michael cohen can bring in the picture. he's having discussions. we don't know the extent or nature of those but that could add another layer. great to have you with me. thank you. historic flooding. floodwaters continue to rise in the carolinas forcing mandatory evacuations. that's next. >> this is terrible. this is the worst one i've ever seen. i was worried more about them. i'm scared.

i don't want nothing to happen to my children. of my parents and my grandparents. i was getting all these leaves and i was going back generation after generation. you start to see documents and you see signatures of people that you've never met. i mean, you don't know these people, but you feel like you do. you get connected to them. i wish that i could get into a time machine and go back 100 years, 200 years and just meet these people. being on ancestry just made me feel like i belonged somewhere. discover your story. start searching for free now at ancestry.com. burning of diabetic nerve pain, these feet... ...raised a good sport... ...and became a second-generation firefighter. but i couldn't bear my diabetic nerve pain any longer. so i talked to my doctor, and he prescribed lyrica.

lyrica may cause serious allergic reactions, suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worse depression, unusual changes in mood or behavior, swelling, trouble breathing, rash, hives, blisters, muscle pain with fever, tired feeling, or blurry vision. common side effects: dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain, swelling of hands, legs, and feet. don't drink alcohol while taking lyrica. alan dershowi e until you know how lyrica affects you. those who have had a drug or alcohol problem may be more likely to misuse lyrica. now i have less diabetic nerve pain. ask you doctor about lyrica. but mania, such as unusualrder can rchanges in your mood, activity or energy levels, can leave you on shaky ground. help take control by asking your healthcare provider about vraylar. vraylar treats acute mania of bipolar i disorder. vraylar significantly reduces overall manic symptoms,... and was proven in adults with mixed episodes

who have both mania and depression. vraylar should not be used in elderly patients with dementia, due to increased risk of death or stroke. call your doctor about fever, stiff muscles, or confusion, which may mean a life-threatening reaction or uncontrollable muscle movements, which may be permanent. side effects may not appear for several weeks. high cholesterol and weight gain; high blood sugar, which can lead to coma or death decreased white blood cells, which can be fatal; dizziness upon standing; falls; seizures; impaired judgement; heat sensitivity; and trouble swallowing may occur. you're more than just your bipolar i. ask about vraylar.

the fury of florence still being felt across the carolinas and virginia. the death toll stands at 16. hundreds of people have been rescued and the storm has been downgraded to a tropical depression. the big concern is now rising floodwaters. north carolina is being pounded with record rainfall totals of up to 30 inches in some spots. the last count more than 600,000

were still without power. in wilmington some of the power lines have been taken out from floodwaters and water is covering roads in and out of towns. hundreds of people have been rescu rescued. this video overnight as people were rescued by helicopter. floodwaters from a nearby river have kicut off access to the to. we start our coverage in lumberton north carolina. matt, how bad are things getting there are? >> reporter: francis, as you mentioned, this is no longer a hurricane but a tropical depression, but that doesn't mean that we're out of danger. this is proof of that. as you see, this lumber river which is just over my right shoulder just over route 95, that has been breached its walls now. there was a levy here that the residents of this town of lumberton spent days building with their bare hands and with shovels. we witnessed a really dramatic scene here earlier today when there were earth movers that were racing back and forth

between these piles and the levy trying to firm up that barrier. trying to keep that berm from being breached by the lumber river. they failed. it broke through. as you can see, there's stillwater coarsi stillwater coursing through the levy right behind me. they've been through this back in 2016 in the aftermath of hurricane matthew. the lumber river also breached and spread water throughout the town and tauzcaused some fatali and the residents here are worried that's going to happen again. yes emblematic of the entire region. even as this storm passes over the carolinas, it's still dumping huge amounts of water and that means there's going to be basically double trowel for all the residents who live in the coastal part of north and south carolina. not only did they have to weather the hurricane, but now they're going to have to have flooding as all of that water courses back across the state

through rivers and streams and floods them once again. francis. >> it may be a while before people see their homes or are able to get back to them. let's go outside of fayetteville north carolina. give us the scope of the vehicle and where you're headed. >> reporter: right now we're on a road call manchester road. we're north of fayetteville. this is a critical area that emergency crews are actually going around a mile from the river where we're headed telling everybody to evacuate. this is going to be a place that they are watching very closely tonight. if we can go back to this, i want to show you something here. here is the radar right now. this is four days. we've had four days of nonstop rain. the ground out here is completely saturated. up ahead you're going to see the bridge that we're looking at right now. i'm go to give you a live look. the bridge has been closed off.

a little bit earlier we were down here. this is usually supposed to be running at about 9 feet. that's about 20 feet. the water is out there about 20 feet. we're going to get out and take you up to that gate. first i'm going to tell you this quick story. on our way up here we came across a pretty remarkable scene. it was the national guard and they were basically rescuing families. those families had been stranded inside their houses. they used these vehicles to get to those homes. then they found a family inside. that family said that the floodwaters came so up quickly they didn't know what to do and then their phones started to go off and they were alerted that there was a tornado warning in their area. they wanted to get out as quickly as possible. fortunately the national guard there was. if we can come back, we're going to see if we can switch audio here. i think we're going to be on mmh 10 here. i want to show you this gauge.

>> gadi, i kacan't hear you whi you're switching that audio. i know you're traveling and the situation there, your signal is kind of breaking up. we're going to try and work on that and see if we can get gadi back at another point. for now we appreciate your reporting there, gadi, as we understand there's rescues still happening as we were seeing in that video. chuck grassley kuaccusing tm of playing politics. new information from the woman accusing kavanaugh of sexual misconduct in their teens. will they try to rush a confirmation vote this week?

♪ be right back. with moderate to severe crohn's disease, i was there, just not always where i needed to be. is she alright? i hope so. so i talked to my doctor about humira. i learned humira is for people who still have symptoms of crohn's disease after trying other medications. and the majority of people on humira saw significant symptom relief and many achieved remission in as little as 4 weeks. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores.

don't start humira if you have an infection. be there for you, and them. ask your gastroenterologist about humira. with humira, remission is possible.

♪ girls are not in school because of economic issues and they have to work. at the malala fund, we help girls stay in school. the malala fund invests in education champions who work in the community and pave the way so that girls can actually go to school. to have our financial partner guiding us is very important. the fact that citi is in countries where girls are vulnerable ensures that we're able to get funds to the people that we're working with. when girls go to school, we're going to maximize their talents. we could have a solution for climate change in that girl. that girl could be the next nobel peace prize winner. ♪

committee is scheduled to hold a vote on the supreme court nomination of judge brett kavanaugh this thursday, but that was before kavanaugh accuser christine blazy ford came forward in today's "washington post" publicly detailing for the first time her alleged sexual assault by the supreme court nominee in the early 1980s. kavanaugh declined to comment further on today's post story but has said he's categorically and unequivocally denies the

allegation. joining me now, nick pore, a republican strategist, also, michael star hopkins. to both of you, welcome. i want to start with you, noelle. we have both senator dianne feinstein, kamala harris, also chuck schumer, the first to respond with a statement, calling for delay in voting until the fbi conducts an investigation. so do republicans still push forward this vote in the wake of what we know now? >> yes. i think so. and this is really awful to me. i think the grand standing and the political posturing over this is unbelievable. it is, you know, what has happened is a side show. is it a political side show, and don't get me wrong. i'm 100% for the me too movement. you know, any woman that has been harmed or put in harm's way sexually, it's awful. harvey weinstein, all these monsters, you know, bill cosby,

that have done these horrible things. but you know what. i smell a rat in this. i think eventually, kavanaugh is going to be confirmed anyway. so i think this is much ado about nothing. >> much ado about nothing. talk to me about that, when you have somebody here who is a nominee for the supreme court. and the importance of that. and when you have calls for people saying let's look into this. maybe give her an opportunity or maybe a subpoena may come up for her to testify. why the rush? >> absolutely. i think that's been the real question for republicans. why rush this through? i heard a republican say today, if the kavanaugh nomination is stopped, then that's reckoning day for men when it comes to sexual assault allegations. maybe we do need a reckoning because i think i'm sick and tired of and i think a lot of women across this country are sick and tired of men being able to do and say whatever they want when it comes to women. >> go ahead. >> i would say we're now looking

at putting a justice on the court who has the ability to change roe v. wade, to affect women's rights. this is at its essence what this is all about. >> noelle, what harm would there be in pausing this for a moment and letting this more than just breathe and look into it? >> more of a clown car show, more again, more of these televised deals for him to go through. number one, and number two, he's going to be confirmed. he's got the votes to be confirmed. >> but he doesn't have the votes. >> let's talk about that. >> he's going to get the votes to get confirmed. >> i think collins is going to confirm. i really do. and murkowski as well. this guy is qualified. this guy is totally qualified. and i mean, i know -- i think this has to do with a deeper deal on trump. i think this has to do with trump. and not really necessarily kavanaugh. >> trump has also sexual assault allegations against him, but this isn't an unfounded allegation. she passed an fbi lie detector

test. >> administered by a former fbi agent. >> she also has records from her doctor where she talked about the trauma from this. the idea we're just going it ignore this so republicans can get a win. this is about who is going to be on the court for their lifetime. >> noelle, you seem very confident about murkowski and collins. what backs up that confidence for you? >> what backs my confidence on this is that the fact that both of these women, murkowski and collins, said that they wanted to talk to kavanaugh for one reason and one reason only, basically, and that was what was he was going to do with roe v. wade. he said it is said law. that got their vote. that's what they're looking at. and that's what everybody should be looking at here, is how he is going to rule when it comes to the law, when it comes to the constitution. the rest of this is a political side show. and you know what.

even pundits on morning joe have said the same thing. >> michael, go ahead. i want to see if noelle sees it like she does and this goes through, can the democrats do anything to stop it? >> well, i think one of two things will happen. either miss ford will have the opportunity to come before congress and talk, be asked questions and she can explain what happened, and we'll go from there, or republicans will ram this through and i've got to say, they'll be held accountable come november because women were already excited to go to the polls with donald trump, whether it's in name or whether in action on the ballot. and this only furthers that. there's a lack of respect for women across this country and men will be held accountable whether it's democrats or republicans and this is another example of women not being appreciated or respected. >> in this era of me too, you still think this is a side show, a clown show in your words, as you put it? >> yes, i do. i really do. you know, this is not saying that i am -- i believe in the me too movement. i think that there have been

some really bad actors. really horrible, despicable monster men that have, you know, been out. i mean, look at what's happening with les moonves, look at harvey weinstein, bill cosby. the list goes on. >> the president. >> what about clinton? if you want to go there. what about bill clinton. what do you mean, come on? i don't want to go there. we're talking about kavanaugh and kavanaugh should be confirmed. >> noelle and mike, thank you to both of you for a spirited conversation. i appreciate it. we'll are have much more on the breaking news at the top of the hour, why the woman who accused judge kavanaugh of sexual abuse has decided to come forward and tell her story on the heels of his confirmation vote. ♪ i put a spell on you ♪ yeah, because you're mine ♪ with chase atms serena can now grab cash on the go,

all with the tap of her phone. ♪ stop the things you do no card? no problem. life, lived serena's way. chase, make more of what's yours. you wouldn't accept an incomplete job from any one else. why accept it from your allergy pills? flonase sensimist relieves all your worst symptoms, including nasal congestion, which most pills don't. and all from a gentle mist you can barely feel. flonase sensimist.

captured lightning in a bottle. over 260 years later as the nation's leader in energy storage we're ensuring americans have the energy they need, whenever they need it nextera energy.

good to be with you. i'm frances rivera in for ayman mohyeldin. we begin with breaking news. just days before the first vote was expected to take place for his supreme court nomination, judge brett kavanaugh's once anonymous accuser is telling her story. "the washington post" publishing a detailed interview with christine blazy ford who alleged kavanaugh attacked her in high school. the post reports speaking publicly for the first time, ford said one summer in the early 1980s, kavanaugh and a friend both stumbling drunk, ford alleges, corralled her into a bedroom. she said kavanaugh pinned her to a bed on her back and groped her over her clothes, grinding his