♪ we are counting down to friday as the fbi undertakes a week-long investigation into the sexual misconduct allegations against brett kavanagh. this morning, democrats are demanding more information about the scope of the probe. plus, breaking overnight, after a weekend of frantic talks, the u.s. and canada have reached a last-minute deal to salvage nafta. in indonesia, the death toll has hit more than 800 after a tsunami. rescuers are digging through rubble, hoping to find survivors. ♪ good morning, everyone.

it is monday october 1st. i'm ayman mohyeldin alongside hallie jackson in washington, d.c. the investigation into supreme court nominee brett kavanagh is under way as the trump administration looks to limit the probe. president trump said in a tweet saturday night that he wants the fbi to interview whoever agents deem appropriate at their own discretion. however, the "new york times" reports that the white house authorized the fbi to interview just four witnesses, mark judge, leland kaiser, pj smith and debra ramirez, who accused kavanaugh of sexual misconduct at yale. a senior u.s. official and another source familiar with the matter tell nbc news the fbi has not been allowed to investigate the allegations made by julie swetnick. sources also say that former classmates who have contradicted

kickoff's account of his college alcohol congress -- consumption, instead describing him as a heavy drinker, do not appear on the witness list. they characterized the instructions as a significant constraint on the probe and cautioned that the limited scope may actually make it more difficult to pursue additional lea leads. the "washington post" reports that the white house had not placed any limits into the investigation on the allegations but was opposed to a fishing expedition that could take a look at kavanaugh's credibility and behavior. >> senate democrats are demanding more information about what exactly is the scope of this investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against brett kavanagh. according to the "new york times" officials have said this background check could be wrapped up as early as today.

but democrats have questions about what limited means exactly. senator diane feinstein sent a letter to white house counsel don mcgahn and fbi director christoph christopher wray. she wrote in part, if the fbi requests any expansion beyond the official directive, please provide the names of any additional witnesses or evidence. her democratic colleagues are not thrilled with what they see as the scope of this background check. watch. >> to limit the fbi as to the scope oand who they're going to question, that really -- i want to use the word farce, but that's not the kind of investigation that all of us are expecting the fbi to conduct. >> i'm very concerned about this, because the white house should not be allowed to micro manage an fbi investigation. i've never heard that the white house either under this president or other presidents is

saying, well, you can't interview this person, you can't look at this time period, you can only look at these people from one side of the street from when they were growing up. i mean, come on. >> a source has confirmed that the fbi has spoken with debra ramir ramirez, the second woman to come forward with an accusation against kavanaugh. she claims he exposed himself to her during his time at yale. ramirez provided the fbi with a list of witnesses whom she says corroborate her claim. lawyers for christine blasey ford told nbc news yesterday that neither ford or her legal team have been contacted by the fbi since president trump ordered the supplemental background investigation on friday. nbc news is getting its first look at a letter we obtained overnight sent to all republican senators from rachel mitchell, the counsel who questioned christine blasey ford

and brett kavanagh at last week's hearing. in it, she says no reasonable prosecutor would bring sexual assault charges against kavanaugh. she writes, the bottom line is that a he said-she said case is incredibly difficult to prove. mitchell says dr. ford identified other witnesses to the event and those witnesses refuted her allegations or failed to corroborate them. mitchell highlighted inconsistencies of memories in dates, memories, details. she notes while i am a registered republican, i am not a political or partisan person. >> joining us, white house reporter for the associated press jill kcolbin.

>> this is a conversation that obviously is going around all across the country and really hit washington when allegations against a shoe lew of members o congress came up. this city, like the rest of the nation, was absolutely transfixed throughout dr. ford's testimony, paying attention to the tick tock as republicans and democrats fight over the scope of the inquiry here. this has caught the attention unlike anything elso to the point where other things in washington right now like the fate of rod rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, really seem to have faded into the background. >> we talk about things like the president saying he's in love with kim jong-un, the nafta deal. we're talking about all that, but this certainly has captivated the nation's attention. we know this thing is not going to go longer than friday, at

least according to the parameters set. you've got the midterms coming up in a month. how does this all play out? >> the number one question now is whether the fbi will finish the investigation before friday. we knee the white house is desperate to have this wrap up as soon as possible. they want to make sure there is no chance that they will put themselves in a situation where it is post midterms where they might have no longer a majority in the senate and have this seat up for grabs. but the white house is also facing a big risk here. of course they were forced to sort of go along with this fbi investigation which the president had not supported early on. but one of the benefits of this fbi investigation for the white house, for the president, is that if nothing new emerges, if the fbi doesn't find any evidence here, it would help kind of lift this cloud over brett kavanagh. if now you've got questions about whether this fbi investigation was done

thoroughly, they're not going to be able to lift that cloud over him. >> it's notable there is based on my reporting with sources in the white house, there's no backup plan. it's brett kavanagh. the president himself seemed to acknowledge that. there's not a plan b that is actively being discussed. they're really putting all their eggs in the kavanaugh basket. >> absolutely. the president has not considered any replacement. there has been no serious vetting, no work done cueing up another potential nominee. th they're resting everything on kavanaugh now. we are also waking up to big news on trade this morning. the u.s. and canada have now reached a deal after weeks of back and forth. the administration is calling it, quote, the united states mexican do canada agreement.

it comes about a month after the u.s. and mexico signed a trade deal between the two of them. at the time the administration threatened to leave canada out. leaders of the three countries are expected to sign the deal before the end of next month. the big sticking point here was dairy. canada will make some concessions for that. that's really been a source of frustration for the u.s. so in return, the united states will dial back the threat of new auto tariffs, although the details still aren't clear. the president's steel and aluminum tariffs will stay in place. this new deal also updated several pieces of nafta like adding positions on digital trade and intellectual property. the white house calls that a significant new form of leverage. the las vegas strip will go

dark tonight to honor the victims of the deadliest mass shootings in u.s. history one year ago. 58 lives were lost and more than 400 injured when gunman steven paddock opened fire from a high-rise hotel onto concert goers. paddock then turned the gun on himself as police closed in on his room. no motive has ever been determined. the strip will go dark just after 10:00 p.m. tonight. at 10:05, the same time as shots rang out one year ago, a somber reading of victims' names will begin. still ahead, the death toll is rising and it is a desperate search for survivors. a desperae search for survivors

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welcome back. this morning the focus in indonesia is on this massive recovery effort after at least 844 people died in an earthquake and tsunami friday when a 7.5 earthquake hit the country, triggering a tsunami with waves as high as 20 feet. what is the latest this morning? >> good morning. as you say, four days on from this disaster and we likely still don't have a full picture of this devastation. that's because most of the dead so far are in a single city in central indonesia. rescuers haven't even reached the remote villages closest to

the epicenter and there are fears that entire towns could be wiped out. over the weekend rescuers scrambled to save people buried alive in the rubble. they simply don't have enough of the heavy equipment you really need to move the rubble. the city of palu is facing a very grim problem, what to do with all these bodies. in situations like this, limiting the spread of disease and contamination is absolutely critical. they need to get these victims buried quickly. volunteers have begun digging an enormous mass grave more than 300 feet across. sadly, that means that many people won't be able to say good-bye to their loved ones before they're laid to rest. it does show you just how concerned the government is that this natural disaster could escalate into a humanitarian crisis. people are desperate for clean drinking water, food and fuel.

let's switch gears and get a quick check on your weather with bill karins. >> the power of water in those tsunami videos, you just can't. just misery for them. we're dealing with our own potential for flash flooding. this is tropical storm rosa going into baja, california, and heading into arizona. arizona and heavy rain do not really go together. for that reason, we have 11 million people at risk of flash flooding. after today it extends northward through utah and colorado and even a sliver of idaho. how much rain are we talking about? in phoenix we could see about two inches of rain. a lot of the washes will fill up

with that. this area is 3-4 inches of rain. they call this the rim. that's prescott to se doudona. here's the timing on this mess. we're watching the storm currently. we're not worried about winds at all, but the heaviest rainfall is expected to arrive as we go through tuesday afternoon. that's when we could see the greatest threat of nasflash flooding. it's warm on this first day of october. it's warm and it won't stop. it's going to be a very warm start to the month. this is on the heels of the warmest september we've ever seen in many areas of the southeast. 84 in d.c., 83 in atlanta, 86 in st. louis. there will be some rain in

northern new england. look at this map. it still looks like summer with 88 in st. louis the next two days. >> i know you're a big fan of "saturday night live." i'm sure you caught the season premier taking us back into the hearing for supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh. this time it was academy award winner matt damon who brought the fury in the season's cold open. watch this. >> we've heard from the alleged victim, now it's time to hear from the hero, judge brett kavanagh. >> i'm going to start at an 11. i'm going to take it to about a 15 real quick! i am usually an optimist. i'm a keg is half full kind of guy. but what i e've seen from the monsters on this committee makes me want to puke and not from

beer. dr. ford has no evidence, none. meanwhile, i've got these. i've got these calendars, these beautiful, creepy calendars. give me a can of water. >> still ahead, 162 games were clearly not enough to decide anything as for the first time in baseball history two divisions will be determined by one game playoffs literally on the same day. playoffs literalln the same day like here. and here. see? opportunity. hi! cinturones por favor. gracias. ev-er-y-where. about to be parents. it's doing a lot of kicking down there. meeting the parents. it's gonna be fine. and this driver, logging out to watch his kid hit one out of the... go dani, go! opportunity is everywhere. all you have to do to find it is get out...

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play action, looking for a wide open receiver! and it's a touchdown for burton! >> dalton, end zone again! sliding catch in the end zone for the touchdown by a.j. green! >> mariota for the end zone. touchdown titans! bowling for touchdowns in tennessee. >> it's a penalty and it's a big one. tries to get to the edge, does so. ezekiel elliott on his way! >> he's wide open! patterson, acrobatic catch. great move by mcdonald.

that is six! >> it's donte touchdown jackson! >> inside the 10, the five, into the end zone, touchdown! >> he's got a huge opening. and he's able to get past the secondary for his third touchdown of the game! >> so much for the demise of the patriots. how about trubisky and the bears? they're back. well, let's start with also news from a kicker in indianapolis where the texans beat the colts in over time. the kicker set the nfl record for the most field goals ever, including the 566th of his

career. he's 45 years old. he started kicking in '96. the jets quarterback wasn't even born yet. in phoenix, this is just absolutely horrible. earl thomas, his career is in jeopardy now because he broke his leg. he was a holdout. he didn't get the new contract. that's how upset he is about not getting the new contract. no more guaranteed money for him and now he's dealing with a broken leg. let's go to pittsburgh and the steelers hosting the ravens on sunday night football. baltimore jumped out to a 14-point lead in the first quarter. pair of touchdown passes thrown by quarterback joe flacco. pittsburgh got even by the break, but the ravens shut out the steelers in the second half leaving it to kicker justin tucker. baltimore wins 26-14.

turning now to major league baseball where the playoff picture not quite set as four teams will play an extra regular season game today. with the victories by the cubs and brewers yesterday, the two teams will meet this afternoon in chicago for game 163 to decide the nl central. the winner will also earn the top seed in the national league while the loser will host either the dodgers or the rockies in the nl wildcard game on tuesday. that is after those teams play to decide who claims the nl west crown and another tie-breaker this evening in los angeles. here's the deal. ratner's working out a flowchart and he'll have that. >> i was going to say it's hard to keep track. you play 162 games and even by the end of the season you still can't figure out who's in the lead. >> the bottom line is it's going to be fun to watch sudden death baseball games. still ahead, senators jeff

flame and chris coops talk about what happened this week in the investigation with brett kavanagh. president trump praises kim jong-un, even telling a crowd that the two of them fell in love. a crowd that the two of them fell in love shaquem get in here. take your razor, yup. alright, up and down, never side to side, shaquem. you got it? come on, get back. quem, you a second behind your brother, stay focused. can't nobody beat you, can't nobody beat you. hard work baby, it gonna pay off. you got this. with the one hundred and forty-first pick, the seattle seahawks select. alright, you got it, shaquem. alright, let me see.

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welcome back, everyone. i'm ayman mohyeldin alongside hallie jackson. we're going to get the latest in the kavanaugh investigation in a moment, but first to some breaking news on trade. the u.s. and canada have reached a deal to replace nafta with

what's called the united states mexico, canada agreement. break it down for us. >> it's been a fair amount of drama, many months. but minutes, hours really before this midnight deadline, everything kind of came together. 2016 on the campaign trail, then-candidate trump hated nafta. he talked about it at every rally. he said it was the worst deal the u.s. has ever come up with. now there's this deal to salvage nafta. the president says it's nafta no longer. this usmc. but it's basically nafta wrapped up in a different package with different provisions. one of the sticking points had been can cwith canada over the of milk. well, they managed to get an

agreement where canada will ease up on some of the ways that u.s. farmers can get into the canadian dairy market. that was what let this whole thing move forward. this thing came down right just before midnight. >> relief for dairy farmers in the midwest. >> yeah,big deal and when we talk about trade, a lot of the president's base who said this trade war is not good for them. so they're really happy this is now something that will benefit them potentially. the other piece is the u.s. in return is giving up this threat of auto tariffs. the details are still sketchy. i expect later on today we will find out more. >> i suspect that this, because it will have the official authority of a treaty, that it will have to be ratified by congress, right? >> still does, yes.

that will happen after the three leaders sign onto everything. it then goes over to congress. the expectation is it should happen by the end of the year. >> another thing that the midterm elections could impact, right? >> well, yeah. again, some of the people who voted for president trump back in 2016 as we head into the 2018 midterms not happy with this. we're still trying to figure out what exactly the political impact is going to be now these guys are looking through this and getting the details. definitely a significant step. we also want to talk about the news that has been dominating all of washington for the last week, the supreme court nomination of judge brett kavanaugh. it is now on hold as the fbi investigates those allegations of sexual misconduct. what is still not clear right now is just exactly what the scope of that investigation will be. kelly o'donnell has more. >> reporter: with a friday deadline looming over the fbi's

relaunched background check on supreme court nominee brett kavanagh, the president's team claimed to be keeping its distance. >> the white house isn't intervening. we're not micro managing this process. >> reporter: careful to emphasize the fbi's work on kavanaugh is not a criminal probe. >> it's not meant to be a fishing expedition. the fbi is not tasked with doing that here. >> reporter: officials tell nbc news the fbi has not received new direction that would alter the original scope of the background check, which is currently focused on only two allegations made against kavanaugh. sources close to christine blasey ford say her legal team has not yet been contacted by the fbi after her wrenching public testimony thursday. >> brett groped me and tried to take off my clothes. >> reporter: but the fbi has already contacted kavanaugh's college era accuser debra ramirez, according to her lawyer, who says she will cooperate. kavanaugh categorically denies

any misconduct. >> i am innocent. >> reporter: democrats raised doubts about the investigation itself. >> finally we're going to get one and the question is are we going to get the kind of investigation that is thorough and fair. >> it was a good moment when we got that reopened. but now it's going to be on him to make sure this is a credible investigation. >> reporter: the president pushed back, tweeting in part the democrats are starting to put out the word that the time and scope is not enough. for them, it will never be enough. nbc news obtained a letter send sunday from diane feinstein to don mcgahn and chris wray asking for a copy of the directive that expand the scope of this probe involving brett kavanagh. we're also learning more about what happened behind the scenes to force that fbi investigation. in fact, early friday senator jeff flake announced that he

would vote to advance brett kavanaugh's nomination from the judiciary committee, but then two things happened. a, he was cornered in an elevator by two assault survivors who demanded he explain his support of kavanaugh. and b, hours later there was the moment during friday's committee meeting when flake's friend and committee member chris coons implored his colleagues to let the fbi investigate. >> when you were making that compromise proposal, you were lobbying your friend, senator flake. >> yes. >> you didn't expect to change the minds of other republicans, you were trying to change one mind? >> i was principally concerned about helping my friend listen to his doubts and his conscious. >> reporter: after he floated his compromise, republican jeff flake stood up and walked from the republican side of the dais

to the democratic. there is a moment in the hearing which senator flake walks by, taps on your shoulder and the two of you walk out. what happened when you walked out of the room? >> i followed jeff into the room and he said very intently, this is tearing our country apart, we have to do something. eventually we literally had the whole committee crammed into this tiny hallway. jeff says i want to talk to chris and we went into literally a phone booth that was like this big talking to another senator. there's this whole committee right outside. >> looking in. >> reporter: looking in on the phone booth wondering what's going on. >> literally. it was quite a moment. >> i don't think anybody expected, you know, what happened on friday to happen. i can't say that i did either. i just knew that we couldn't

move forward, that i couldn't move forward without hitting the pause button, because what i was seeing and experiencing in an elevator and watching it in committee and just thinking, this is ripping our country apart. >> in the end senator flake agreed to send the nomination out of committee, but would not support it on the full senate floor without that additional fbi investigation. now, if the investigation shows that kavanaugh lied to congress, flake says the nomination is over. joining us once again white house reporter for the associated press jill kcolvin. will an investigation, even with a limited scope as we have seen play out over the last couple of days, be enough for republicans like senator jeff flake, lisa murkowski and others who are on the fence about kavanaugh's confirmation? will this be enough to satisfy

their concerns? >> that is the big question that we are all going to be asking all of our source this is week trying to get a handle on what that small handful of undecided senators is going to do. the general wisdom in washington right now is that, barring any new massive ref lavelation, the feeling is that kavanaugh probably will end up being confirmed at the end of all of this. but this is really something in flux right now. i think a lot will depend on how this investigation proceeds forward. this idea of this being limited in scope and time is something that started with the senate judiciary committee. that's their own language here. how that's interpreted and how senators are fighting over this, i think, will have a significant impact. >> you remember last week when this hearing was going down, there was a point where it seemed like we would have a

split screen moment, brett kavanagh and dr. christine blasey ford. and the president pushed that rosenstein meeting with the deputy attorney general to i think as early as today. what are we hearing about that? >> this is all in flux right now. there's also been some chatter that the president has used this threat about rosenstein, when this meeting is going to happen, as a political tool to tract fr distract from any of the kavanaugh news. at this point, we do not know when this meeting is going to be scheduled. an interesting hiccup to off of this is rosenstein has also been a key contact for primarily jeff flake as they're trying to determine the scope of this fbi investigation. you see how rosenstein is sort of involved in everything. it's not just the russia

investigation. it's even the ford investigation. >> thanks, jill. still ahead, we continue to follow breaking news overnight. the united states reaches a trade deal to bring canada into its proposed trade agreement with mexico. >> just last week the president said he reject add meed a meeti canadian prime minister justin trudeau. we're back in just a moment. trudeau. wee 'rback in just a moment. ♪ a moment of joy. a source of inspiration.

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tell your doctor if you have diabetic retinopathy or vision changes. taking ozempic® with a sulfonylurea or insulin may increase the risk for low blood sugar. common side effects are nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain, and constipation. some side effects can lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems. i discovered the potential with ozempic®. ♪ oh! oh! oh! ozempic®! ♪ (vo) ask your healthcare provider if ozempic® is right for you. welcome back. let's get more on that breaking news from overnight, the u.s. coming to a deal with canada to join a proposed trade agreement with mexico. big news on this, right? what other details are there? >> after round-the-clock negotiations over the weekend, the u.s. and canada finally reached an agreement on a new trade deal. this new deal will be called

usmca for u.s., mexico and canada and it will replace the prior nafta deal. they are set to sign the accord by november just before the mexican president is due to exit office. the deal will offer improved access for u.s. farmers to canada's dairy market, also tighter rules around origin of auto production and also some ground breaking provisions around intellectual property and digital trade. really modernizing the old nafta agreement. we've seen a rally in u.s. futures and also a nice balance in the mexican and canadian currencies. less positive news in the social media front. facebook has announced that they discovered a massive security issue on friday that affects 50 million accounts. hackers had access to 50 million accounts. they have now fixed the issue but they have yet to determine whether this data was used

inappropriately. sweching gears for a moment, overnight iran's revolutionary guard said it has launched ballistic missiles into syria targeting militants it claims was behind the recent attack on a military parade in iran. state media showed the launch of one of the missiles which was inscribed with, quote, death to america, death to israel, death to the saudi royal family, in addition to the arabic quote. that comes as the trump administration says that as part of its strategy towards syria, the united states will remain in the country until the syrian civil war is over in order to force iran's retreat and prevent tehran's expansion across the middle east. let's switch gears and bring

in nbc meteorologist bill karins with a quick check on your weather. >> we're still in the middle of hurricane season. we can occasionally get storms that affect the west coast. it's rare. the rainfall is heading up into arizona. we have one flash flood warning but the watches consist of about 11 million people. we're going to have some problems out here in the next two days. we just finished one of the warmest septembers ever on the east coast, especially in the southeast. september was off the charts warm from florida up into the carolinas. now we're going into october, very warm. it's going to continue into tuesday. st. louis about 12 degrees above average. it's still like summer. memphis at 88 degrees.

late in this week the heat continues to build throughout the region. richmond could be near 90 on wednesday. it's going to be a pretty warm week ahead. today if you're traveling around chicago late this afternoon, could have some thunderstorms that give you delays at o'hare. as we go throughout the middle of this week, we're going to watch a rainy tuesday in areas of the northeast. we clear out for a nice wednesday. still very warm. the west coast is actually going to be the wet spot. the weather pattern to start october, cooler and wetter in the west, warmer and drier in many areas of the east. wintery mix in areas of the northern plains. it is october. that's not unusual. more storms in the great lakes. almost every single climate site in the southeast saw their warmest september that's ever been recorded. >> a little bit of everything.

>> it's a lot of extremes to start october. still ahead, senator elizabeth warren says that a 2020 presidential run is on the table. plus, the latest comments from president trump and his love for north korean dictator kim jong-un, his word, not mine. but there appear to be some trust issues. we're going to explain that, coming up. we're going to explain that, coming up. when you combine ancestry's dna test

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so did you catch this, president trump opening up about his relationship with north korea's kim jong-un? it happened during a rally in west virginia saturday night. check it out. >> i like him, he likes me. i guess that's okay. am i allowed to say that? that was a big, big problem. and you know the interesting -- when i did it, and i was really being tough, and so was he, we were going back and forth, and when we fell in love. okay? no, really. he wrote me beautiful letters. and they're great letters. we fell in love. >> no, really. at around the same time the president said that is correct by the way, north korea's foreign minister had a very different message telling the u.n. that under current conditions pyongyang has no intention of denuclearizing and cited u.s. sanctions as one reason for the lack of trust. mike pompeo said the sanctions

must continue in his words rigorously and without fail until denuclearization happens. >> love is in the air. so massachusetts democratic senator elizabeth warren is eyeing is potential run for president in 2020. senator warren made the comments during a town hall meeting saturday while also taking aim at president trump and the embattled fight for the next supreme court justice. take a listen. >> it's time for women to go to washington and fix our broken government and that includes a woman at the top. so here is what i promise, after november 6th i will take a hard look at running for president. >> so warren is currently running for reelection to her senate seat in november. >> so not an unexpected announcement from elizabeth warren. >> a lot of people who follow politics would say it's not necessarily news making. >> but still notable.

axios co-founder mike allen has a look at this morning's one big thing. developing news into the fbi investigation into judge kavanaugh. more where it stands right now, how it came to be and questions over whether the scope of the investigation. i know you will be joining that conversation. >> indeed. >> nbc's kasie hunt, the "washington post's" robert costa and jeremy peters all will weigh in on that. "morning joe" moments away. l wih in on that "morning joe" moments away ld to. and we've got all the top brands of tires. king: yes indeed. take these michelin tires, for example... king: or these goodyear tires over here. i like this guy. always a touch better means great brands at great prices. now get up to $200 off select goodyear and cooper tires with the midas credit card. request your appointment today. take your razor, yup. up and down, never side to side, shaquem, you got it? come on stay focused.

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all right. welcome back. joining us now from washington, d.c. with a look at axios a.m. the co-founder of axios himself mike allen. great to have you with us on this monday morning. what is the one big thing for us? >> good morning and welcome to kt, the first monday in october. the axios one big thing, brett kavanaugh is too big to fail. that's what white house sources are telling us. they say there's no plan b for brett kavanaugh. if he goes down, there's no one who is being vetted, there is no one who is being prepped. there is not a plan to replace

him. the sources say that the base, the people inside the white house, republicans around the country are so invested in kavanaugh that they plan to force a vote no matter what. mitch mcconnell we know believes he has the votes in his back pocket, perhaps depending on joe manchin of west virginia, one democratic vote to get it up to 50 and let mike pens be trump's hero. >> here is the thing, though, we talked about this a little bit ago, i'm hearing from sources theres no backup plan. i'd love to know what you guys jonathan swan and others are hearing about the idea that it is really brett kavanaugh or nobody else in the eyes of administration officials. >> no, that's a great point. they say that, a, there wouldn't be time to get someone else through before the midterms, b, they talk about now a kavanaugh problem, a great quote to jonathan swan said how do you vet for that, an accusation from 36 years ago. so cold feet about anyone else,

plunging ahead with kavanaugh. i think you're probably hearing the same thing. they are hopeful, definitely not certain. a week is an awful long time. >> obviously all this politics aside has serious implications on the supreme court. >> yes. >> the supreme court opens up its new term today, possibility of a 4-4 court more likely on some key decisions now it seems, right? >> that's exactly right. and that 4-4 could last a while. sources told jonathan swan that if democrats take the senate in january, that trump is not headed toward putting forward a compromised candidate who might be acceptable to democrats and therefore could be confirmed under a democratic senate. instead the white house is talking about holding this opening -- this seat open for two years as a 4-4 court. their view is that it still is basically a conservative court

even without that decisive ninth vote that brett kavanaugh would supply. >> mike, can i ask you about something else, the story that we've been wanting to stay on top of, my grant kids. right? the president's border policies, what is the update on that now sort of weeks now after it first started making headlines? >> that's right. so it's faded from the news but it's actually a bigger problem than ever. so last year the u.s. government had 2,400 migrant kids in custody. "the new york times" today reports that there are now 13,000 and "the new york times" story has an astonishing piece of color about how these kids are being treated. because shelters are getting so overwhelmed from kansas to new york, a lot of these kids are being moved to that tent city down in texas that we've seen so many times, but here is the new fact, these kids often are being awakened in the middle of the night, put on buses and planes because they think then they are less likely to run away. so they're getting no warning

about the fact that they are going to move in an effort to keep them from fleeing. >> what an absolutely staggering number. 13,000. all right. mike allen live in washington, d.c. as always a pleasure. we're going to be reading axm in just a bit. signup.axios.com. that does it for me. hallie, stand by for "morning joe." >> will do. >> starts right now. we've heard from the alleged victim, but now it's time to hear from the hero, judge brett kavanaug kavanaugh. >> i'm going to start at an 11, i'm going to take it to about a 15 real quick. now, i am usually an optimist. i'm a keg is half full kind of guy, but what i've seen from the monsters on this committee makes me want to puke and not from beer. dr. ford has no evidence. none. meanwhile,