senators the cover to vote yes, which is what they us want to do any way. so this could actually work out quite well. >> that's the problem. the word limited scope. what does that mean? and does donald trump sit back a week from now saying i gave you your investigation. you're never satisfied. i want a vote. or he'll go the other way and pull kavanaugh back and nominate a woman and put ivanka in charge of vetting her. >> thank god you're here to help us sift through the wreckage. that does it for our hour. >> i think jonathan just hit the nail on the head. we're going to get more into that in a moment. happy friday to you. if it is friday, president trump just ordered the fbi to conduct a background investigation.

>> good evening, i'm katy tur in for chuck todd. we begin tonight with breaking news. the president has just put out a statement. let me red it. i have ordered the fbi to conduct a supplemental investigation to date judge kavanaugh's file. this update must be limited in scope and completed in less than one week. joining me now is capitol hill reporter leann caldwell, who has been following all this on the hill. white house correspondent kelly o'donnell has been watching it from the white house. intelligence and national security reporter ken delaney is also with us. they join the panel. republican strategist and jonathan alter, there's susan right there. you see her there sitting down. sara facten is a contributor and

former white house political director under george w. bush. first to kelly o'donnell. this is a rare reversal from a president who did you want like to reverse himself. it does though say it needs to be limited in scope. can you define that for us? what does he mean by that? >> a reversal brought on by necessity. there would be no confirmation to the supreme court. so this is a decision made by the president under the pressure of today's reality in the senate. limited in scope would suggest based on the description provided by jeff flake, who got this ball rolling earlier in the day. the retiring senator that it would deal with the issues that are currently in the public conversation. that would include dr. ford, who provided testimony. it might also include other allegations that were to a lesser extent a part of the very long day of congressional

hearing before the senate ju dish area committee yesterday for drflt ford as well as judge kavanaugh. limited in time the president says must be done in less than a week. many people have pointed back to the 1991 standard of three days used in the anita hill case. perhaps we'll see something in that range of time depending on what is involved for the fbi. an attorney for mark judge who was the high school friend of brett kavanaugh put out a statement today in addition in his name a letter refuting some of the allegations made by his attorney on behalf of a client who is the woman who alleged there was group activity in which judge and kavanaugh participated. so what i have been able to observe here at the white house just spotted chief of spot john kelly and his deputy moving from

sarah huckabee sanders. these are their offices, but you have a sense of some building pressure toward a decision being made public. chuck grassley also recommended this. so the dominos began falling today at a time when the committee was to vote. we saw the interaction between flake and getting the colleagues of both parties to support his pause idea. saying he has been answering questions, submitting to all of the various scrutiny coming through this process. >> the president backed into a corner here. leann, all eyes are staill on te senators. flake was going to the vote yes for this nominee. are we to believe he could change his mind if more comes out in the fbi investigation or

do you believe he's set and then secondly, what do you think is going to happen with collins? is this cover for them to vote yes or are they holding back their decision until they know more? >> sure, so first this was quite a remarkable development that happened today. when we started the morning, we did not think this was going to happen. democrats have been calling for an investigation now for weeks and republicans were not giving in. as far as if flake is able to potentially vote no, it's absolutely going to determine on what the fbi comes out with. yesterday in the hearing brett kavanaugh kept saying that the fbi doesn't come to conclusions, but they do lay out the facts. and so that has given senators an opening to vote. depending on b what the facts are. that's what the democrats have

been calling for. that's what they have wanted. for susan collins and lisa murkowski, they have been holding out here. they have been these key, critical senators everyone has been watching. we know that murkowski was on the phone with flake in the committee room just outside the committee room talking about the proposal. susan collins was as well. they are withholding judgment right now. i think this is going to give them perhaps cover to vote yes if there's nothing damning that comes out of this fbi investigation. i think they can move forward with a clear conscious. if something does come out, they are going to assess the facts and determine on what their vote is going to be. >> a reminder to all our viewers f all of the democrats vote no for this nominee, it only takes two more republicans to vote no as well in order to sink the nomination. so they would do just that. ken delaney, the fbi is going to reopen this and look into it again. where do they start and what are

they going to be doing? >> that's the million dollar question. and we haven't been able to get a straight answer. an fbi spokeswoman, i asked her that question and she referred to it the white house who isn't saying what is the scope of this investigation going to be. is it simply going to look into the allegations of dr. ford or will the fbi also examine the other allegations made by other women. how extensive will the interviews be? how many agents will be sent out? will it be dr. ford and brett kavanaugh or seek to interview everyone in that july calendar entry that appears to be a party in a house or go and interview every one of brett kavanaugh's classmates. these bgtd checks are normally designed to examine a candidate's fitness for office and don't delve into behavior in high school and college. now we have disputes where brett kavanaugh characterized his drinking and behavior in college that's at odds with what other witnesses are say iing in the

media. will the fbi examine that? these are questions we don't know the answers to, but they could determine the outcome of this investigation. >> what do you think happens? >> i think we see the fbi investigation go forward. i think it's obviously very clear the scope does matter. but there's one other thing that's in play. there's another week now on the clock for people to come out publicly and in the press and say things about judge kavanaugh. and that's the most dangerous thing. that's the time that is scaring the republicans the most. it's that this is going to live in the news cycle for another week. more and more people are are most likely going to come out and you see other people especially on the allegations of drinking. that seems to be the drinking. he was under oath saying he never drank that much that he would black out. you may have a few more people stepping out. >> here is brett kavanaugh's

statement passed along to us. he says throughout this process, i have been interviewed by the fbi. then a number of background calls directly with the senate and yesterday i answered questions under oath about every topic the senators and their counsel asked me. i will continue to cooperate. it's also interesting yesterday when asked if he would himself request an fbi investigation, judge kavanaugh dodged and ducked. he did not answer that question directly. he kept deferring to the committee. it seemed like from the casual viewer's perspective he was deeply uncomfortable with the idea of an fbi investigation. what is your impression of this and do you think this investigation is a good idea? >> with respect to his answer on b the investigation, i us think if you look at his opening statement, he actually indicated he would cooperate with whatever the senate decided. it's actually i think been read

too much into. he is the nominee of the white house. if the white house's position is no fbi investigation and the senate judiciary chairman's position is my investigators are doing a good job i don't need the fbi to tell us what we already know, it's awkward for him to get out in front of them. that's what he was dancing around. >> i would say i'm open to whatever the senate committee thinks is wise. that would have been a wise statement. he said that up front. i don't know why he didn't say it later. the hearings are grueling and can be hard to keep your composure in that environment. that maybe more than anyone in history. i think it's a double edged

sword. it's a chance to clear his name that not doing it wouldn't. so if they go. through this process for a week, everybody says what they have said what they said before. that gives the democrats what they wanted. and certainly gives senators who wish o to for him the cover to do so. the downside risk is these cases have a tendency to bring people out of the woodwork. some who are not sane. we have seen that in the case. it's made outrageous and crazy allegations. so seeing more of those is not a good thing. but he can weather more if it

happens. >> what we know is this is another week. it's going to be another week for people to come out. it's another week for claims to add credibility or not. we have julie making statements that are certainly intense, but we don't know if they are credible or not. they could add credibility to them. what with know is brett kavanaugh did not want this fbi investigation. he was repeatedly asked if he was open to do so and even though he did that in his opening statement, when it came down to it, he did not call for that to happen. so we don't know if that's because there's a mismatch between what he says and the truth or we don't know if he was trying to tow the line of the white house and the committee. but i think jonathan said earlier, this could be cover for senators who want the to vote for him to be able to get to that point. >> i woke up really depressed. depressed at the state of our democracy. depressed at the state of our

legislatiure. i was thinking to myself, how do they get anything done after this? because it dissolved into pa partisan politics. his demeanor was different than when he obviously was going to be different because he was accused of a sexual misconduct. you're allowed to get angry. but at the same time, he did call it a partisan witch hunt. he said it was clinton's revenge. he said democrats were upset about the election and donald trump. and he called far left advertising a problem. he made it very political. jeff flake today pulling back and calling that audible and saying there should be a weak extension. does that do anything to help heal this massive day side not only in congress but across the country. >> i think it does. it doesn't solve the problem, but it begins to provide that

sense of what they call calmty. it means people working together in the government. this is what the public wants. so it begins to salvage some of the very damaged reputation in the last 36 hours. it might begin to take some of the stain off the supreme court. although you still have a nominee who if he's confirmed instead of going in there as a neutral umpire, which he claims he is or justice blind keeping scales like this, he's going in there wearing a cap. we're less depressed right now. >> i do want to ask you that. did it make you uncomfortable when he said this is clinton's reven revenge. this is people upset about the 2016 election. those are things we don't hear from people who are trying to

sit on the supreme court. >> i think the circumstances around this nomination and where we find ourselves and when there's a person who is alleged eight or nine gang rapes that the nominee has participated in -- >> that was not the allegation. >> let's put that aside. i want to focus on dr. ford and the allegation that was in front of congress yesterday and the allegation we're all focused on. i don't want to take away from the other allegations that have come out. let's focus on the one that people are deciding to have a hearing for in which the fbi is now investigating along with the others. focusing on that and that's what he was defending himself for yesterday. he did bring out very political talking points. are you comfortable with that? would you have been comfortable if somebody nominated by president obama or a democrat had done the same thing towards the right? >> the context of the environment before the senate for one specific allegation, but

the news environment was covering everything. i'm not uncomfortable. i'm not uncomfortable because in a moment in time when he's defending his honor and his very good character, which he's built up over his career and hundreds of women who have worked with him, worked for him, been taught by him attest to his good nature, his mild mannered, he's a good guy. i don't think in a moment like that, i don't hold him to account for that for his lifetime of service. where he's been measured including his years in the district court. i don't hold him to account on that anymore than i hold a journalist who has a moment of anger at one point or who is married to a republican or democratic opera ty who tries every day to get it right. this is a great talking point for democrats today. >> can you say it's a great

point for democrats because here's my problem with that statement. i have a lot of friends who are republicans and independents and i heard that from more just my liberal friends. and i have heard that from independent friends. this is a man who is being elevated to the supreme court where he is going to be deciding cases that have a democratic slant, that have a republican slant, cases that have to do maybe with the president of the united states. and there are questions about whether he's going to do that in a nonpartisan way given the vitriol of yesterday towards the left. >> i'm not concerned about it. i know brett. east also going to take an oath to the constitution and to be a fair and impartial judge. he's been that his whole career. i have no doubt he can be that. >> he just didn't have to go there. >> but it's also the truth 37 can i pak a point here?

the president called him. the president didn't like his interrue on fox. all revved up the night before. he ripped up the statement he was going to give. he wrote not just indig nant but partisan opening statement, which you only show to a a law clerk. he didn't even show it to his wife. she probably would have told him to tone it down because he did not come across like a judge who deserves to be promoted to the supreme court. this is a separate issue from what he did. he was constantly yesterday not just dodging questions, but saying things that were factually untrue. where do we begin. ? just start with a a lot of them were small, but they were still

important. we tried to say that all the references that he and 14 classmates of being easy sexually was because they liked her as a friend. >> let me move on from this. i want the to go back to the other conversation we're having. we don't have to rely on my unnamed friends among the political spectrum. you're a a republican. did that make you comfortable? >> it made me uncomfortable. tuesday ufs having dinner with a lifelong democrat. she said she didn't like the way that judge kavanaugh was being treated but maybe this will make him a better judge by being accused of something. i thought that's really interesting fast forward to yesterday's testimony and the

anger i saw, the partisan and the temperament especially with senator klobuchar really disturbed me. even though jonathan and i may not agree on policy, the temperament did not show judicial temperament. i'm worried if he gets to the court and i realize this was said of judge thomas, but i think he will be particularly bitter and particularly partisan and that scares me. >> you know him better than the rest of us at the table. are you confident that's not the case? >> yes, 100%. he over the course of his career and his life is actually yesterday was the most angry i have seen him by a factor of ten. and you know, it was justified in my view. he's fair. he's clearly, as he demonstrated over 30 hours of questioning, a brilliant man.

he's in command of the law. some of the awkwardness around the questioning is even those these folks in the bench are high profile people, they don't do a lot of press. they are not media savvy. they don't spend time thinking about where to look in the camera. and that came across. but i also think that he is somebody whose career should be considered. one hearing in the most political charged thing we have had since the florida recount, in my view, does not make a person and should not be defined by person. and i actually thought i loved his opening statement. i thought it was completely called for. given what has occurred and given the way the democrats on the judiciary handled this. and in my mind, what he said it is search and destroy. that's what we have seen. that's what republicans believe. that's what lindsey graham very articulately outlined.

>> so that sort of talk, you talk about and with all due respect here, that sort of talk i think is the sort of talk that only further divides the country. >> katy, give me a break. look at the way democrats are talking about him. they are calling him a rapist. this doesn't work. >> hold on a second. let's bring in one of the democrats that you're talking about. democratic member of the committee, richard blumenthal of connecticut. first off, there's going to be an fbi investigation. if there are facts ub covered, are you willing to change your mind given those facts? >> i oppose this nominee based on his judicial philosophy, his out of the mainstream views on women's reproductive rights and health care and imperial presidency and workers and consumer rights and environmental protection.

so the absence of highly incriminating absence won't persuade me to be for him. but there's an important jury here, which is a number of my republican colleagues, a small number, who are deeply concerned about the credible serious allegations mad by this courageous survivor of sexual assault. to insinuate she's part of a democratic left wing conspiracy or that she has come forward as a puppet or a pawn could be made only by someone who never saw her yesterday. and contrast her demeanor with the rageful, bitter, self-pitying kind of partisan attitude that we saw on the part of judge kavanaugh, i deeply fear as a citizen and as someone who has cases right now before

the court that he would be a threat to the impartial and objective administration of justice. >> what about your fellow democratic colleagues who have not said whether or not they support him and have been undecided based on his judicial philosophy and are waiting for more information? i'm looking at joe mansion, democrats are in red states and up for reelection at the moment. do you think anything the fbi finds could move them to a yes? >> the fbi has to interview markmark judge, who was allegedly in that room when the alleged assault took place and was laughing along with brett kavanaugh as he allegedly assaulted dr. ford. now mark judge is only one of the witnesses that has to be interviewed.

dr. ford is only one of the survivors whose allegations have to be investigated. there are credible allegations from julie and debra rodriguez and they are current to use the term that the republican leadership used in asking that there be a reopening of the background check. so whether my colleagues will be affected by depends on what is found. but there are such serious allegations here and a number of witnesses who have facts that clearly need to be explored. just one more point. we know that the truth will come out. eventually the truth has a way of finding itself in the public realm. my republican colleagues will be harshly judged and condemned by history if they vote for this confirmation and we learn afterward this these allegations are true and i think they are now aware of it. so yes, they will be affected by this investigation.

>> i want to play a moment, a piece of senator graham's -- of what senator graham said yesterday during the hearings about what he believes the democrats are doing. let me play it. >> this is going to destroy the aublt of good people to come forward because of this crap. your high school yearbook. you have interacted with professional women all your life. not one accusation. you're supposed to be bill cosby when you're a junior and senior in high school. and all of a sudden you got over it. it's been my understanding that if you drug women and rape them for two years in high school you probably don't stop. >> senator, what did you think when you heard senator graham say that? >> fraction nkly, i thought it angry and bitter and over the

top. the reason is that these women have come forward knowing they have everything to lose, nothing to gain. they have done it independently without any encouragement or guidance from democratic senators, as far as i know. what's most important is that others will volunteer for public service. not every justice nominee is going to have these -- the last one neil gorsuch had no problem in this regard. there is something here, a pattern that needs to be investigated. and i made reference to these comments this morning in the judiciary committee. my hope is that we can now come together because we ought to agree that survivors of sexual assault need to be embraced and encourage canned to come forward. this woman has endured public

shaming, character assassinat n assassination, threats to her family, my heart goes out to judge kavanaugh's family for what they have endured personally in terms of the threats. but this woman need to be encouraged so one out of every three american women are survivors of sexual assault at some point in her life. and yet it remains one of the most unreported of crimes in this country. i think dr. ford gave us a teaching moment. she's a teacher. >> one other thing for you. a federal judge has just ruled that congressional democrats lawsuit, which you have signed on to, alleging trump's private business is violating the constitution that that lawsuit can proceed. what do you think? >> the name of the lawsuit is blumenthal vs. trump. i'm the lead plaintiff.

i'm gratified and excited that the court has found that members of congress have legal standing to enforce the chief anti-corruption provision in the united states constitution. we're saying to the president under the constitution you must come to congress for consent if you accept payments, benefits, gratuities from foreign governments, which he has done with um punty us. now we have a standing to proceed with the case. it's a real milestone. >> senator blumenthal, thank you for joining us. we appreciate it. we have much more awe head on this breaking news and historic day on capitol hill. stay with us. historic day on capitol hill stay with us hey allergy muddlers.

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welcome back. there are so many questions about what happens next both on capitol hill and at the white house. just a few hours ago, it looked all but certain that kavanaugh's nomination would be voted out of

judiciary committee with no strings attached. then senator jeff flake who was visibly uncomfortable with the proceedings attached some strings. >> this is what i'm trying to do. this country is being ripped apart here. and we have got to make sure that we do due diligence. i think this committee has done a good job, but i do think this we can have a short pause and make sure that the fbi can investigate. >> things are moving quickly, but here's what we know so far. the committee has agreed to have that short pause senator flake mentioned and president trump has grant ed the committee's request for the fbi to conduct a supplemental background investigation into ford's allegation to be completed in one week. the panel is back with me. first, i want to start with what potentially swayed jeff flake to put this wrench in things this

morning. here is his friend senator chris coons talking as jeff flake was listening. >> if i were convinced this were nothing more than a partisan hit job designed to take down a good man b and hold a position past the election, i would not stand for it. an investigation would be helpful because dr. ford's recollection shared with us so powerfully yesterday of her assault were sering but incomplete. >> so we know from our reporting on capitol hill from our great reporters out there is that flake says that he was the one that approached senator coons about having this one-week delay. what do you think? >> i think it's a sign that senator flake might have been moved. we saw another emotional moment today on the hill where two survivors of sexual violence approached the senator and told their stories. i talked with them today. they said that they felt that the senator was et emotional and was moved by dr. ford's hearing

yesterday and telling their stories today. now we have the senator calling for an additional week to pause a break on. this is a republican that's retiring. this is a republican that's a little more free of the political calculous. but he also was one who does support kavanaugh's nomination. so this could be one of two things. it could be a chance to get down to the facts. it could also be political cover for republicans to say we did all we can and we still haven't been able to get to the bottom of the facts and we'll know fairly soon. >> let's play that protester that you just referred to. >> nobody believed me. i didn't tell anyone. you're telling all women that they don't matter. look at me when i'm talking to you. you're tel iing me my assault doesn't matter. what happened to me doesn't matter. and that you're going to let people who do these things into power. >> what do you think of that? >> it's an extremely powerful moment. there's no question about that.

and i think it also forced senator flake to realize this is the time that you don't make spee speeches. you take action. and i think a lot of people were looking to see him do that. and he did. that's a important first step. >> it was undoubtedly a powerful moment. setting aside what happened in the elevator there, i think jeff flake is a thoughtful person. i was impressed with chris coons in this. i thought of all the democrats, he was the most thoughtful. so it's not surprising that they got together. and ultimately, we know that senators murkowski and collins wanted this, implied it publicly, at least murkowski did. it's not surprising that we ended up here. and ultimately, as we talked about earlier, it could be a good thing for judge kavanaugh and it does provide opportunity for more people to come forward

whether they have a real allegation or not. >> obama care was hanging by a thread there were a lot of disabled people that came to the capitol. you wonder if you're traveling across the country to petition the government for redress of greievances, does it work? and today was an example of how it can work. it can have some effect. even if it doesn't directly cause this deal to be cut, it clearly you could tell from jeff flake's face that it was landing. these women's stories were having an effect on him. the other thing that struck me is that if this nomination goes down, donald trump's attitude toward the seat of arizona after john mccain took down his repeal of obamacare, if flake ends uptaking down this nomination, he's going to want tomexicans. >> the bravery of those women, they had never told their stories before publicly. and in that moment were just

emotionally moved to say it. their family did not know. their friends did not know. they found out from cable news and had to go. tell them i had this moment with the senator. i have to tell you something that this happened to me a long time ago. it was a very raw and real moment that sometimes we lose sight of in the political calculous of the game. but it's one of those real moments. >> does that get wiped away, the good will from that, the good will coons, does it get wiped away if kavanaugh is confirmed or something that is it too optimistic to think it's something that can move and change things, that can heal things? >> not heal entirely, but remember in 2005, they had what they call the gang of 14. they were working on across the aisle on judicial nominations. in 2013 they had the gang of eight working on immigration. now those weren't entirely successful in terms of

legislation, but they built some bipartisanship and good will across the aisle. in the public is locking for that. they are desperate for people in washington to talk to each other more. it might be that the election does do some of that even if there's a lot of anger out there. >> there's one thing. donald trump was relatively quiet during the last couple days. and i think the minute he gets in the mix on something else, whether it be rosenstein, it wipes anything away. you have legislators working towards a goal together. but they are really trying to do it without the executive branch. that's where we get so divided as a country is when the president steps in. >> he spoke respectfully about dr. ford. he called her a decent lady and said that she -- i don't know the exact wording. >> my question is -- he now has his back against the wall. he had to give the fbi

investigation. we'll see. we'll see what his twitter feed looks like. >> this nastiness is contagious. it went to kavanaugh. he can't get away with the insults that trump does. if he gets shellacked in november, you're going to see the legislative branch by definition stepping up a little more and probably on a more bipartisan basis. >> let me play the president talking about dr. ford. >> what did you think of dr. ford's testimony when you heard that? >> i thought her testimony was very compelling. she looks like a very fine woman to me. very fine woman. and i thought that brett's testimony, like wise, was really something that i haven't seen before. it was incredible. it was an incredible moment in the hus istory of our country u. >> you have seen this from republicans. they have done this maneuver after yesterday's hearings.

they found both people credible, both people emotional and moving. you only talked to sexual survivors that's not good enough. if you believe the allegations that dr. ford is saying, if you believe what these women go through, it's not okay to just say both of these people have experience ed hardship and we'l move on. it's interesting it's changed from the anita hill hearings where they were vocally attack ing the accuser. with the new moment, that's not happening. but the result is the still the same. we have yet to see folks say we found her words believable and in doing so we have found him indating. that's another step they have not made even though they are saying we respect are her as the thoughts and prayers. >> it's lingo that's just no longer playing. i think that's the critical point. they are trying to get past this whole thing by showing her respect. it's not going to work.

>> but her being credible doesn't disqualify him because it doesn't mean that he's guilty. i think there's a moment that we have seen where many of these sexual assault survivors are coming forward. it's good and we hope that what it means in the future is women do it right away when something tragic happens to them. but there's also a presumption that he's guilty. that's where i have a problem with this. which is he has said under oath many times this did not happen. others have said it did not happen. there's still no corroborating evidence to say this happened. even if something tragic happened in her life, it doesn't mean brett did it. we too often talk on these shows like it did. >> people did not say under oath it did not happen. they said they didn't remember it. there's a huge difference. this is one of the deceptive

things he did. he kept saying he had been exculpated, ab solved of any blame -- >> he said it under oath many times. >> he said hen couldn't recall. >> he denied it. >> i'm talking about the witnesses. >> i thought you were saying other people had said it did not happen. that's not accurate. >> the other woman that was -- >> she didn't say that. >> she had never been to party with him. >> he she didn't remember the party. but she also said -- >> she was never at a party with him. >> et she also said she does believe dr. ford. >> she's close friends with her, so it's not surprising. >> mark judge is close friends with kavanaugh. does that mean we can't trust him? >> mark judge has also said he's never seen brett behave in a way that was dishonorable to women and has no recollection of the

event and doesn't believe it happened. >> we're going to learn so much more about these parties in 1982 timmy's house. all the things on o the calendar. the july 1st party with mark judge. all of this reporters right now are are already starting to run this down and so when they find out timmy's house, which they will within hours, you're going to see them comparing the diagram that dr. ford drew from memory where she said she was attacked before the calendar came out. they are going to see whether that matches the house where they were. >> if that house is still standing. if it's not, if they can get the blueprints from the old house that was there. i'm sure the fbi has the resources to do that. >> that's where we're headed. >> let's hope the fbi does. panel, stay with us. how the confirmation fight could impact the midterms and beyond. d impact the midterms and beyond i know that every single time that i suit up, there is a chance that's the last time.

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you might or joints.hingotected infor your heart... 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. welcome back. meet the midterms, the kavanaugh battle on capitol hill is reverberating on the campaign trail. senators joe donly and other democrats up for reelection in states president trump won handedly all say they are voting no on judge kavanaugh. that sparked attacks from republican o opponents hitting them on both the process of the

hearings and labeling accusations against judge kavanaugh as smears. as of right now, two more red state democratic senators joe mansion and heidi heitkamp have not disclosed how they are voting on cakavanaugh, but both support the push for an fbi investigation. president trump will be in west virginia tomorrow holding a rally for mansion's challenger and kavanaugh's confirmation could affect at least one republican feel iing the heat i their reelection campaign. that republican, texas senator ted cruz. was one of the 11 republicans or this afternoon who voted to approve judge kavanaugh in the judiciary committee. cruz's democratic opponent has already praised dr. ford's, quote, courage and strength in front of cruz's committee. a debate scheduled sunday night between cruz and o'rork has been postponed as cruz will be in

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in our polarized society we live in today, it's almost tribalized, where half of us wear one team's jersey, the other half wear the other team's jersey, and everything we see, we see through the lens of our jersey. >> it came back so much faster than i thought it would. you got me sighing. welcome back. our supersized panel is back. susan, jonathan and sara. it's 5:50 on very long week, and i'm already looking ahead towards the weekend. but first, let's have this conversation about the midterms. ted cruz, people remarked on twitter that ted cruz didn't sound like ted cruz today. he sounded a little measured, a little more moderate, a little rueful about the current state of politics.

had people wondering is that because of how tight things are with beto o'rourke? >> i think so. for ted cruz to be talking about the politics of personal destruction is pretty rich. when he came to the senate and what he specialized in and the reason he got such a bad reputation is he would just try to destroy people with completely unsubstantiated allegations, including members of the obama cabinet and even his colleagues. so he's scurrying back into some sort of zone. >> it wasn't democrats who didn't like ted cruz. it was republicans that didn't like ted cruz. >> right, right. the one that interests me is heidi heitkamp's race because her opponent, kevin cramer, he said that even if dr. ford, what happened to her actually happened. >> even if it was true. >> even if it was true that kavanaugh should still be confirmed. this is something that even the most conservative republican rejected in the committee. they said if this is actually true, of course he shouldn't be

confirmed. now you a senate candidate on the other side. >> i think that shows the mind-set or people believe the mind-set is of the trump voter, which is -- and this happened with trump. the more he was attacked, the more allegations came out against him, the more he was fact checked, the more he looked like the victim and the more people rallied around him. so i imagine that he is banking on that same sort of attitude. >> yes. >> the brovo. >> no, no, not just the bro vote. this extends beyond bros. there is a whole bunch of people in the trump base that feel that way and feel they have to protect him. but does that extend to republicans running for senate? >> that's a really good point. we've seen over the last year and a half that trump doesn't translate to another person. he can come in and campaign for you, and he can help you to some extent, but you can't be like trump and succeed. because there is only one donald

trump, thank goodness. but i think what we're seeing right now, and i'm a little bit more of the cynic is you see a lot of people looking at polls to see what they can get away with. and that's where we are. we're 5 1/2 weeks out from election day. this is crunch time. this is you have to make your final decisions, you know what your ads are going to look like, you know what your mail is going to look like, and you're really tracking the polls and you're seeing what they can get away with, and not. and i think ted cruz feels pretty comfortable on reelection, even though he is looking to kind of -- >> moved to it a toss-up. >> i think that we're probably about one cycle away from texas going blue. >> but going back to west virginia, or to west virginia, which we haven't been to quite yet, joe manchin, who is obviously in a state that voted heavily towards donald trump, he's in a tough reelection battle at the same time the last poll had him up nine points. i believe if you add joe manchin voting no for the supreme court,

the poll sort of tilts. he is in west virginia today. he is not in the capital today. he is talking to voters. what does this do to joe manchin? does it give him cover to vote yes or does he vote no? >> if i'm joe manchin, i am not too sad about the developments of today. it delays the process a little more. it allows me to get more information to be able to go back to voters and say i wasn't a full partisan. my caucus was saying i was going to vote. i signed on with the republicans to look for this another week, and he can reassess come the fbi investigation and make a choice. i think it is interesting. we saw joe donnelly out in indiana already say he is voting no. and that could be because there are some democrats, some liberals who think that the backlash to this, that trump has inspired is real and true. and that is something that's different than 2016. in 2016, it was donald trump versus hillary clinton, and it wasn't just what he inspired among people, but could she capitalize on it. now we have in 2018 a different

situation where these folks think, you know, the backlash to trump is so real and true, i'm on firm ground to come out against him. >> sara, you give me in ten seconds what race you're looking at? sorry, i just got a wrap cue. >> with texas, that's one place i'm no longer worried about. this supreme court fight has galvanized people certainly on both sides. but republicans were lagging democrats. i doubt they are anymore. >> astead, jonathan, susan, thank you. ahead three, years for three years. years.

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in case you missed it, if it's friday, september 28th, it must be our third birthday. it was on this day in 2015 that "mtp daily" first hit the airwaves here on msnbc, bringing us sunday morning tradition to viewers across america six days a week. we're not on tv saturdays, at least not yet. apparently i was there. apparently. i don't even remember it, along with my colleagues andrea mitchell and hallie jackson. i don't know, guys. it was 2015. i don't remember what i had for lunch on most days in 2015 or what my name was or what city i woke up in. so i trust the producers when they say i was there. but my goodness, so much has changed since that first episode. back then, barack obama was still the president. president trump was just a republican candidate, though he was leading the republican field. vladimir putin was the president

of russia. okay, that's still the same, but we didn't know about all that meddling. so much has happened in the last three years, and so much will happen in the next three. thank you for being with us through all of it. and if it is friday, we cannot wait to begin year four on monday. i'll see you then. that is all for tonight. have a great weekend. you deserve it. "the beat with ari melber" starts right now. hi, ari. >> hi. >> katie. thank you very much. we begin with what's happening in the senate right now. one of the most intense high stakes legal political battles and with a partial surrender by donald trump. the president has been fighting to prevent any background probe of his supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh regarding new allegations of sexual misconduct. tonight i can tell you donald trump just lost this round. he is reversing himself, agreeing to reopen the fbi background check. how did this happen? we begin tonight with some