>> i don't know. i knew i life is opening up and don't know. i don't have any answers. i just have to get over this. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. good morning. i'm dara brown in new york at msnbc world headquarters. it's 7:00 in the east, 4:00 out west. here's what's happening. no limits. new reaction from the president to the scope of the fbi investigation of brett kavanaugh. >> the fbi, as you know, is all over talking to everybody. and i would expect, he's a high quality person. i would expect it's going to turn out very well for the judge. >> but a white house official tells us aou different story. details ahead.

>> making contact. who the fbi has reached out to in their reopened investigation, including an alleged key witness. >> mark judge. >> mark m judge. >> mark judge. >> mark judge. >> and live from new york, snl returns with matt damon in the hot seat. >> this is my speech. there are others liket but this is mine. i wrote it myself last night while screaming into an empty bag of doritos. >> we begin with new details about thewi scope of the fbi investigation into sexual assault allegations against brett kavanaugh. claims he has repeatedly denied. for now,at the fbi will look in the allegations made by christine blasey ford and deborah ramirez. an attorney for ramirez released a statement saying we can confirm theca fbi has reached o to interview her and she has agreed to cooperate with their investigation. meanwhile, aig trump administration official tells nbc while investigators may not be interviewing julie swetnick,

the third accuser, that doesn't preclude them from asking other witnesses about the allegations shetn has made. two people familiar with the matter tell "the new york times" four people will be questioned over the next few days. investigators will end up asking mark judge about julie swetnick's als allegations. president trump weighing in on the. allegations of the -- d whether there's any chance he couldan withdraw the allegation. i think it's fine. i think actually this could be a blessing in disguise because having the fbi go out, do a thorough investigation, whether it's three days or seven days, i think it's going to be less than a week, but having them do a thorough investigation i think will be a blessing in disguise. it will be a good thing. [ inaudible question ]. >> i don't have anything. i don't need a backup plan. we'll have to see what happens. i thinko he's going to be fine

>> nbc's kelly o'donnell has more on the conflicting narrativesnf about that fbi background check on brett kavanaugh. >> president trump left the white housesi on day one of the new fbi background check he ordered on supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh. >> i think it's going very well. theve fbi, as you know, is all over talking to everybody. >> republican jeff flake and democrat chris coons upended the conversation friday when they negotiated aon last-minute dema to investigate sexual misconduct violations against kavanaugh. they authorized a one-week fbi investigation of current crediblein allegations. multiple sources tell nbc news the bureau is limited by the whitehe house to pursue claims made by christine blasey ford andde deborah ramirez. president trump said the fbi can follow its own leads.

>> they have free rein and do whatever they have to do. >> amy klobuchar expressed concern. >> the issue is that the white house has to give guidance. >> this new probe of kavanaugh is not a criminal investigation andst that limits agents' authority. >> i could imagine that the fbi is in a box if they were only asked to interview x number of people.ew remember, those interviews are voluntary. >> judge kavanaugh denied any wrongdoing and says he will continue to cooperate. kelly o'donnell, nbc news. let's bring in white house reporter for buzz feed news and chiefew washington corresponden for bloomberg tv. great to have you both here. your take aways from the fbi investigation, president trump says they have free rein but it doesn't sound like it, right? >> i think it's going to be interesting to see what exactly the fbi deals in their results. what if the fbi asks for more time or what if the fbi has

something in the written report that would lead folks to ask questions in a different direction. the bottom line, the fbi has to release something and this has toso come to another vote. most penal aople are saying wit week or under a week. the question becomes really, if they needed more time, would folks refuse it? i think if the fbi asks for more time they wouldfo get it. >> the sixth sense nominee, he's dead but he's the only one who doesn't know it. with this new fbi investigation, is he more dead today or more likely toda come back to life? >> the way a lot of trump allies see it or convinced themselves, this fbi investigation helps them. a lot of swing republican votes they're trying to get, it puts those people at ease. if a this investigation comes bk andck there's no really credibl sort of follow-up after this

investigation, they feel like they'll haveat the votes to confirm brett kavanaugh, when on friday, they did not have the votes. >> kevin, president trump called thereev dr ford a fine earn. what do you make of the measured tone since thursday's hearing? >> there wasda the measured ton then and then the tone on his twitter account. i think that the president has taken different tones with regards to dr. ford. i do think, however, the ordering of an fbi investigation is a departure from what we had seen the white house strategy has been for the past several days. i would totally agree with her and add that youy could have a situation on the one hand, i think the fbi investigation, number one, is the right thing. numberhi two, provides cover fo republicans. but number three, provides cover for democrats. there are some democrats, like senator joe manchin and the

democrat from west virginia running for election carried by 42 political percentage points init the presidential cycle. frankly, you could have a situation where if judge kavanaugh is cleared, you have folks like manchin voting for him. if he's not cleared, i think it falls apart. it truly is -- we'll have to wait and see what the fbi says. >> absolutely. let me play for you what senator chris coons told my colleagues yesterday. let's lis in. >> jeff flake is the real hero of what happened. he needed reassurance to listen to his own conscience and recognize that the very real doubts he had atth the end of d ford's testimony and which a number of other colleagues had were worth taking a pause and investigating. jeff's first comments in the ante room said this is tearing americas apart. a number of people e-mailed us

and o talked to us during the hearing. >> you wonder how senator flake got to this point. >> we're learning a lot more details after friday when this big turn in events occurred. we know that senator flake actually spoke with rod rosenstein when he was trying to make the decision. he wanted a process he could be proud of and he thought the hearing was tearing the country apart and he wanted something to make people comfortable in terms of realizing how the process ended before making this vote. as you saw senator coops and senator flake have this great bipartisan relationship that they've shared. he tried to cater to senator flake knowing he's the swing vote on the committee and has a lotmm of leverage. we know that all senators hearing from their family members, their friends, everyone was sort of reaching out to them and utthen, of course, senator

flake also had that power fuffu moment in the elevator and approached by protesters and a victim of sexual assault. >> kevin, to another point, let's listen to something else the senator said thyesterday. >> i support it being one week. that's what a compromise is all about.a i would have liked longer, but one week i think was a key compromise and commitment here. >> you had touched on the time situation here. do you think that democrats, like camilla harris and cory booker, will be satisfied if nothing significant for or againstgn kavanaugh comes out? >> i think that's a great question and it will be fascinating to hear what the two senators say with regard to that. i would, again, note and i think she hit it spot on. the time lines set up have proven time and time again to be arbitrary. we all saw the deadlines of dr. ford having to rsvp for lack of

a better term to the senate judiciary committee at this time on this day and what not and ultimately, folks moved through the process. i would note that senator jeff flake, moments after calling for that extension and that one-week compromise, i would note that you have people like senator lynsie graham, a republican from south carolina immediately saying theca senate majority leader mitch mcconnell was in fact the one in charge and deciding this. what you saw on friday was senator jeff flake, senator chris coons essentially saying to leadership, not so fast. the rank and file might not always fall in line. >> thank you. we have more to discuss on upcomings midterms. there are claims against up kavanaugh. the white housear won't allow t fbi to investigate. can they even do that? that's up next. how do you win at business?

stay at la quinta. where we're changing with stylish make-overs. then at your next meeting, set your seat height to its maximum level. bravo, tall meeting man. start winning today. book now at lq.com start winning today. ♪ one look at you and i can't disguise ♪ ♪ i've got hungry eyes applebee's new 3-course meal starting at $11.99. now that's eatin' good in the neighborhood. if his denture can cope with... a steak. luckily for him, he uses super poligrip. it helps give him 65% more chewing power.

leaving brad to dig in and enjoy. super poligrip. that's confident. but it's not kayak confident. kayak searches hundreds of travel and airline sites to find the best flights for us. so i'm more than confident. kayak. search one and done.

this is moving day with the best in-home wifi experience and millions of wifi hotspots to help you stay connected. and this is moving day with reliable service appointments in a two-hour window so you're up and running in no time. show me decorating shows. this is staying connected with xfinity to make moving... simple. easy. awesome. stay connected while you move with the best wifi experience and two-hour appointment windows. click, call or visit a store today.

new developments in the brett kavanaugh confirmation battle. an administration official tells nbc news that while the fbi will not interview kavanaugh's third accuser, julie swetnick, they could ask other witnesses about her accusations. meanwhile, president trump said late saturday, there are no limits on the fbi's investigation, which will interview the first two kavanaugh accusers, christine blasey ford and deborah ramirez. joining me now is criminal defense attorney ashley merchant. great to have you here this morning. >> good morning. >> these limitations include a tight witness list and not including the drinking habits at yale. realistically, what can they accomplish in a week anyway? >> they could accomplish a lot in a week. i understand they're going to hit the ground running and the fbi could do a full investigation in a week.

but they couldn't do a full investigation if they're limited on the witnesses and the leads they're able to follow-up on. if i represented either dr. ford or mr. kavanaugh, judge kavanaugh and i regularly represented both the alleged victim and the criminal defendant in a case like this, i would want a full investigation. i would want the fbi to follow-up on every single lead. what that means in a case like this is what we call prior acts or other act evidence. other act evidence, if you're looking at the allegation with dr. ford, other act evidence is ms. ramirez. it's ms. swetnick. you've got to be able to fully investigate and vet their claims as well. because it sheds light on wloor whether or not dr. ford is telling the truth and whether or not judge kavanaugh is telling the truth. to rein in the fbi is not allowing them to do their jobs and not to actually get to the truth of the matter. they need to go further and follow-up on whatever investigative leads they have. >> "the new york times" reports that deputy attorney general rod

rosenstein told republican senator jeff flake that the one-week deadline would be feasible, but was quote, unlikely to unearth much more than was already known. what can investigators uncover given the restriction sns. >> i think the time is not as much as the witnesses. limiting the time, if they put enough manpower on this, if the fbi does, they can get this done within a one-week time period. the problem is if they limit the witnesses they're allowed to investigate. what they no. need to do is intervut the witness face to face. we've got a letter written by his attorney, mark judge. you need to bring him in and question him on the yearbook and the specific allegations and see if you can jog his memory. see if there's inconsistencies with his story, with judge kavanaugh's story and dr. ford's

story. they try to decide where there's corroboration or where there's actually a significant inconsistency. the other thing that they can look at, is look at whether or not they were telling the truth about other details. it's whether or not judge kavanaugh was telling the truth about what these things in his yearbook meant. what the statements that a lot of people think were sexual in nature, whether or not they were that or whether or not they were drinking games. so they can determine the veracity of his testimony, and that would shed credibility on whether or not he's telling the truth as to if he remembers the sexual assault or if he committed this sexual assault. >> ashleigh, the fbi has reached out to deborah ramirez, the woman who says kavanaugh exposed himself to her. this allegedly happened their freshman year in yale. does this suggest anything about the scope of the investigation? >> it suggests that they are going to be interviewing the ramirez scope of it. it's my understanding that they're limiting whether or not they can investigate swetnick, which is unfortunate. you've got similarities with all three of these claims.

the similarities are that they were sort of happening with other friends around in a party atmosphere when there was drinking involved. so because of those similarities for them to actually -- for the fbi to do a thorough investigation, they've got to look at these similarities. they've got to see if there's any patterns. they've got to interview all of the witnesses to all of these incidents in order to determine whether or not there's credibility and whether or not there's corroboration. because it's been so many years, there's not going to be any forensic evidence. the only way to determine the truth of this is this corroboration. >> so many what ifs in the scenario. >> i know. >> ashleigh, thank you for being here. >> good to be here. the familiar faces on the campaign trail to rally young voters. we'll tell you who the former first lady was stumping for. matt damon as the surprise celebrity guest on is the nl's premiere. here he is as brett kavanaugh. >> meanwhile, i've got these.

i've got these calendars. these beautiful, creepy calendars about lifting weights with p.j. and squi and donkey dong doug. but you don't care about them, do you? you want to humiliate me in front of my wife and parents and alyssa, milano. waze integration- seamlessly connecting the world inside with the world outside. making life a little easier. ♪ the new well-connected 2019 lincoln mkc.

are you one sneeze away from being voted out of the carpool? try zyrtec®. it's starts working hard at hour one. and works twice as hard when you take it again the next day. stick with zyrtec® and muddle no more®. i'm a fighter. always have been. when i found out i had age-related macular degeneration, amd, i wanted to fight back. my doctor and i came up with a plan. it includes preservision. only preservision areds 2 has the exact nutrient formula recommended by the national eye institute to help reduce the risk of progression of moderate to advanced amd. that's why i fight. because it's my vision. preservision. also, in a great-tasting chewable. start with 100% cleancheese? ingredients. like vermont white cheddar. then... add bacon, bbq chicken, or baja blend. catering and delivery now available. panera. food as it should be.

the devastating impact of the earthquake and tsunami in indonesia is growing worse. the death toll now more than 830 people. nbc's lucy kafanov is here to talk about more. >> hey there.

this was a 7.5 magnitude earthquake followed by a tsunami, waves as high as 20 feet tall. hundreds of aftershocks. the magnitude of the destruction is huge. that is the reason why authorities fear that the death toll will ultimately end up being in the thousands. this is because they're still struggling to get to the hardest hit areas. we're talking about damaged roads, disrupted communications. all of that means information from certain parts is still limited. aid and supplies, for example are being sent in by military and commercial aircraft. but the palu airport was damaged. the runway and air traffic tower were damaged. that's slowing down the search and rescue and relief efforts. right now, we're look at three parts, three districts with combined population of 1.2 million people that's yet to be assess assessed. to get to the areas, you're talking about digging through mud, digging through rubble, buildings have been toppled by the tsunami. the water has receded but roads

washed away. this is going to take a very long time to comb through. unfortunately, there are people -- there are still a lot of people who are unaccounted for. that is why the fear is that the death toll could likely rise quite a bit. dare a? >> lucy, those pictures look devastating. lucy kafanov in london. now back to politics and michelle b michelle obama making her -- she told a group of college students in miami on friday. >> i have frustrated too. i am tired of the daily chaos, the pettiness, the meanness that too often dominates the political discourse. just when i feel like it might be time to shut it all out, i think about my dad. he showed up to vote in every election because he showed up for his family in every way that he could. >> let's bring back at that rinna party and kevin saah ril

i. >> how much do democrats think that michelle obama has going into the midterms here? >> i think the obamas remain extremely popular with both the democratic base and sort of more moderate democrats, and they feel like they can be a really strong pull for democrats to come out and vote in november, especially in states like florida where there is a governor's race and a senate race and we've seen president obama being able to build a democratic coalition that got him twice to the white house. he's also someone president trump has not been able to attack as strongly as with hillary clinton. of course calls her crooked hillary. obama hasn't gone after him in that same way. >> as she said, he's hitting the campaign trail hard. do you think an obama like to

compete with trump? >> what's interesting the obamas clearly very much in their -- the dominant influence in the democratic party, much more so than the clintons are. i think that that's going to shape not only the 2018 political race, but also the 2020 presidential cycle. i think that obviously the clinton apparatus has a -- but there's no question that the obamas are taking a much more aggressive campaign schedule for the midterms than the clintons. >> you're a step ahead of my two points. before i let you go -- it's great. i want your take on hillary clinton's cameo on murphy brown. >> i know that republicans would be thrilled if she were considering running again. i think she knows she doesn't have the support to win the white house. this time around, the democrats won't clear the field for her the way that they did in 2016. bernie sanders was running

against her but they cleared the field. >> yes or no? >> no. >> great to have you here on this segment. >> i'm darea brown. thanks for watching. >> first, your business is up next. is up next of nowhere. you do, too, but not in time. hey, no big deal. you've got a good record and liberty mutual won't hold a grudge by raising your rates over one mistake. you hear that, karen? liberty mutual doesn't hold grudges... how mature of them. for drivers with accident forgiveness liberty mutual won't raise their rates because of their first accident. liberty mutual insurance. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty ♪ you wouldn't accept from any one else. why accept it from your allergy pills? flonase relieves your worst symptoms including nasal congestion, which most pills don't. flonase helps block 6 key inflammatory substances. most pills only block one. flonase.

not long ago, ronda started here. and then, more jobs began to appear. these techs in a lab. this builder in a hardhat... ...the welders and electricians who do all of that. the diner staffed up 'cause they all needed lunch. teachers... doctors... jobs grew a bunch. what started with one job spread all around. because each job in energy creates many more in this town. energy lives here.

good morning. westbound. coming up, this hairdresser to the stars keeps creating product companies. why after making millions of dollars did he continue to come up with new ideas and new businesses. these two millennial entrepreneurs take a deep dive to rid the ocean of plastic. and a special star from the world of reality television. >> i'm kristin calf letter i. you're watching your business. i'm in nashville, tennessee, you'll learn about how i got this crazy company off the ground. >> all that and much more coming up on your business.