♪ this morning the senate is expected to receive the fbi supplemental background information on brett kavanagh as mitch mcconnell takes a key step in advancing his nomination to the supreme court. renewed calls for president trump to release his tax returns after a report by the "new york times." but the white house is calling the times investigation highly defamatory and very boring. and one officer killed and six others wounded in south carolina after a man opened fire while the officers tried to serve a search warrant. ♪ good morning.

i'm ayman mohyeldin alongside frances rivera. we begin with the fbi which has finished its supplemental background check into brett kavanagh. >> this evening the senate will receive the results of the fbi supplemental background investigation of judge brett kavanagh. there will be plenty of time for members to review and be briefed on the supplemental material. >> the report was given to the white house and delivered to capitol hill where it will be reviewed today. the investigation centered around decades old allegations of sexual abuse will be kept secret. chuck grassley will be first to see the report at 8:00 a.m., followed by diane feinstein at 9:00 a.m. the gop members on the committee will get the report at 10:00 a.m. and democrats on the panel can view the report an hour

later. other senators will have access afterwards. mcconnell arranged for a key vote for kavanaugh's nomination to be held on friday. if that vote passes, there will be up to 30 hours of debate setting up a final confirmation vote on kavanaugh as early as saturday. there are more than 40 people with potential information on sexual misconduct allegations against kavanaugh who were not contacted by the fbi. sources close to the investigation tell nbc news that the fbi did not contact dozens of potential witnesses, including friend of kavanaugh and two of his accusers, christine blasey ford and debra ramirez. attorneys for ford and julie swetnick said their clients were not interviewed by the bureau. one current and two former fbi officials confirmed that dozens of witnesses have come forward to field offices to say they have information on kavanaugh

but agents have not been permitted to talk to many of them. a senior u.s. official and two other sources briefed on details of the probe confirmed to nbc news that the fbi's work on the kavanaugh matter remained significantly limited in scope. meanwhile, as mitch mcconnell announced the end of the fbi investigation into kavanaugh, ford's attorneys released a statement. an fbi supplemental background investigation that did not include an interview of dr. christine blasey ford nor the witnesses who corroborate her testimony cannot be called an investigation. we are profoundly disappointed that after the tremendous sacrifice she made in coming forward, those directing the fbi information were not interested in seeking the truth. the "wall street journal" is reporting that the white house has examined the supplemental background check. it was unclear whether the white house had completed its review of the fbi report.

the white house's conclusions from the report are not definitive at this point in the confirmation process. senators may draw different conclusions. r . the white house is defending president trump after he mocked kavanaugh accuser christine blasey ford at that rally in mississippi tuesday night. here's what sarah huckabee sanders and kellyanne conway had to say yesterday. >> the president was stating the facts. every single word judge kavanagh has said has been picked apart, every single word. yet if anybody says anything about the accusations that have been thrown against them, that's totally off limits and outrageous. >> she's been treated like a faberge egg by all of us. he's pointing out inconsistencies. can you fill in her memory gaps?

that is part of the evidence gathering process in any hunt for truth. >> you have democrats and a key group of republicans who are criticizing president trump for mocking dr. ford. >> i don't approve of the comments from last night. i thought that they were wrong and extraordinarily unfortunate. >> the president's comments were just plain wrong. >> there's no time and no place for remarks like that, but to discuss something this sensitive at a political rally is just not right. it's just not right. i wish he hadn't have done it. it's kind of appalling. >> later we'll hear from the other side of the aisle when senator chris coons joins the conversation to talk about the

kavanaugh confirmation fight. democrats have renewed their call for president trump to release his tax returns and a key republican may be game. it follows that "new york times" investigation that claims the president helped his paints dodge taxes, including instances of outright fraud. the ron widen wants the irs to investigate what he calls serious and credible allegations of potentially illegal tax fraud. orrin hatch reportedly told cnn that the president, quote, may have to give up those returns. the president for his part called the times story a very old, boring and often told hit piece. >> it's totally false attack based on an old recycled news story. i'm not going to go through every single line of a very boring 14,000 word story. one thing the article did get right was that it showed that the president's father actually had a great deal of confidence

in him. i wawe are just three hoursy here from members of the judiciary committee to take a look at that fbi report. but last night mitch mcconnell pushing this vote. is that signaling that republicans have enough votes to confirm judge kavanagh even before seeing what's in the investigation? >> it signals that they aren't in panic mode. that's what we can say with a high degree of confidence. remember, the white house telegraphed several hours ago that they didn't find anything in this report that they think is going to be problematic for kavanaugh that they think is going to support the allegation s th allegations. it's unlikely that mitch mcconnell would have moved to invoke cloture if he wasn't confident he would be able to get kavanaugh through the confirmation process.

one senator, joe manchin of west virginia, polls there show that voters support kavanaugh's confirmation by a pretty substantial margin. he's in a hotly contested reelection bid in a red state. he potentially could be someone who would support kavanaugh's nomination. he has kept very mum is unlikely to say anything until he reads the fbi report. it's going to be an interesting couple of hours. >> i wanted to pick up on something that may derail this and that is the president's own action, the comments that he made about dr. ford. he was mocking her at what was obviously a political rally. could that potentially alienate some key republican senators and ultimately derail the vote? >> frankly i think that's unlikely. i spoke to a number of

republicans close to the confirmation process yesterday. one thing that i heard and a theory of the case that's been emerging is that the president's mockery of dr. ford actually could provide cover to some of the republicans who make sort of quieter criticisms of her credibility. people like kellyanne conway, who have gone after ford's credibility and seriousness but without doing it in such a hyperbolic manner as the one that the president used at that rally. some republicans are hopeful that his antics could provide something of a distraction from the criticisms that they've leveled at ford that are a little bit more even keel sounding even if perhaps they also would raise eyebrows. >> given the timeline here that the deadline was supposed to be on friday but now we have this fbi investigation wrapping up wednesday night.

if you are flake, if you are on the fence here, collins, murkowski, what are they doing? what are they looking at in these final few days knowing we have mcconnell pushing for the vote? >> the top thing is for any evidence corroborating the allegations that christine blasey ford has brought forward. that's really the central question. additionally, flake has made clear that he perhaps cares more about the process than anything else. when he pulled that sort of shocking turn around on the dais of the senate judiciary committee last friday, one thing he was explicit about was he wanted american voters to have confidence that the way the confirmation process was handled is above board and thorough. the report may actually be enough for senator flake, who previously had indicated he was

going to support kavanaugh's confirmation. one of the big questions is do people have faith in the institution of the u.s. senate. it's an extremely open question. >> no doubt, it will have an impact on the midterms. a federal judge has halted the government from deporting hundreds of thousands of immigrants, ruling to prevent the deportation of an estimated 240,000 immigrants under the temporary protected status program. those immigrants who fled their home countries ravaged by war or natural disasters faced a series of deadlines starting next month to leave the united states or risk become undocumented citizens.

a spokesperson for the department of justice said the trump administration disagrees with the judge's ruling and will continue to fight for immigration laws and national security. still ahead, seven offices come under fire in south carolina while trying to serve a search warrant. opportunity is everywhere.

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38-year-old william c. allen iii has formal charges to come friday. none of the letters he's accused of sending actually include the

deadly poison ricin. the first letter was discovered monday at a washington facility on this military base that screens white house mail. it was addressed to president trump and contained a note that investigators say made no sense. two more were found at the off site facility that handles mail sent to the pentagon. they also contained crushed castor beans. they now believe a letter containing a white powder received at the offices of ted cruz is not poison. none of the three found so far were considered hazardous. but sending any mail intended to intimidate or threaten is illegal. more than 5,000 american flags covered the national mall

yesterday in an effort by iraq and afghanistan veterans for america to draw awareness to the issue of veteran suicide. a new report released by the department of veterans affairs shows suicide rates among veterans continues to be higher than the rest of the u.s. population. in 2016 for every 100,000 veterans, 45 committed suicide. that's up from about 40 in 2015. let's switch gears and bring in bill karins for an update on your weather. >> we are watching strong storms still rolling through kansas. this cold front is cooling you off. in indianapolis you're going to get a downpour in the next 15 minutes or so. that line of showers and storms extends along the lake shore in

between toledo and cleveland. the big cities from new york city southward you're looking mostly dry today and it still feels like summer. near 90 in d.c., 90 in atlanta. let me get to the weekend outlook. the extremes are going to become even more apparent over the upcoming weekend, with colder air and even snow in the mountains whereas summer is holding on for the southeast. in between we're going to have heavy rain threats. that flood risk really increases here from missouri to kansas, oklahoma and north texas on saturday and that continues into sunday. in the meantime we're warm, almost summer-like on the east coast this weekend.

extreme weather pattern to start october. we're going to have a lot of flooding trouble in the middle of the country next week. still ahead, the nhl season kicked off yesterday. the bronx bombers lived up to their nickname last night. last. ♪ last. a moment of joy. a source of inspiration. an act of kindness. an old friend. a new beginning. some welcome relief... or a cause for celebration. ♪ what's inside? ♪ [laughter] possibilities. what we deliver by delivering. where we're changing withs? contemporary make-overs. then, use the ultimate power handshake, the upper hander with a double palm grab.

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russell over allegations of domestic abuse. the suspension will carry over into the first 29 games of next year. now to the nhl and the start of the new season in the nation's capital, but not before stanley cup champion washington has a chance to raise its first ever title banner to the rafters in capital one arena. the caps begin their title defense with an assertive victory, 7-0. good start. finally on the college gridiron it appears winning has become routine at the university of alabama. the students don't even bother to show up to the games anymore. nick saban sounded off on the student section yesterday, airing frustration over empty

seats during last saturday's 56-14 win against louisianna-lafayette. >> i can say i was disappointed there weren't more students at the last game. i think we're trying to address that. i don't think they're entitled to anything either. i think it ought to be first come first serve and if they don't want to come to the games, they don't have to come. i'm sure there's enough people around here that would like to go to the games. when i first came here, there was great spirit. now they don't even cheer. they introduce our players. nobody even cheers. >> i'm trying to find a way to address this story without offending louisianna-lafayette and their football program. >> i don't think that's what that story is about.

>> we checked with mike barnicle and his boots. he's not wearing boots and he's not shaking in them. still ahead, republican senator ben sasse makes an unexpected admission. plus mike pompeo prepares for another meeting with kim jong-un as south korea tries to break the stalemate in talks between the u.s. and north korea. e in talks between the u.s. and north korea. managing my type 2 diabetes wasn't my top priority. until i held her. i found my tresiba® reason. now i'm doing more to lower my a1c. once daily tresiba® controls blood sugar for 24 hours for powerful a1c reduction. tresiba® is a long-acting insulin

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welcome back. i'm frances rivera alongside ayman mohyeldin. it is the bottom of the hour. the fbi has finished its supplemental background check of supreme court nominee brett kavanagh. the report was given to the white house and delivered last night to capitol hill, where it will be reviewed today. the investigation which is centered around allegations of sexual misconduct against kavanaugh in high school and college is planned to be kept secret. sources tell nbc news that senator chuck grassley will be the first to see the report at 8:00 a.m., followed by ranking democrat senator diane feinstein at 9:00 a.m.

the gop members on the committee will get the report at 10:00 a.m. and democrats on the panel can view the report an hour later. other senators will have access afterwards. if the vote passes, there will be up to three hours debate setting up a final confirmation vote as early as saturday. one of the republican members of the senate judiciary committee is speaking out. ben sasse said he urged president trump earlier this year to nominate someone other than kavanaugh. >> i will say that i urged the president back in june and early july to make a different choice before he announced this nomination. i urged him to nominate a different individual. i urged the president to nominate a woman. part of my argument then was the

very important me too movement was also very new and this senate is not at all well prepared to handle potential allegations of sexual harassment and assault that might come forward. this was absent knowing a particular nominee. >> sasse did not elaborate on who he urged the president to nominate. the battle over the confirmation appears to have fired up republican voters. according to a poll, the large advantage democrats held in terms of enthusiasm has all but evapora evaporated. 80% of republicans now say the elections in november are very important, a more than 10-point jump since july. the gop figure is just two points shy of the democrats, who saw their enthusiasm tick up only slightly. new fox news polling shows republicans making gains in a couple of battleground senate races.

in north dakota the democrat is trailing her republican challenger by 12 points. in tennessee where president trump rallied on monday, marsha blackburn is leading the democrat by five points. the fox news poll shows a tie in missouri's senate race, while in arizona the democrat tops the republican by just two points. in indiana, joe donnelly leads his republican challenger by two points. let's talk a little bit about these polls. do these polls signal democrats are seemingly losing steam nearly a month from the midterms? >> the undercurrent that sort of connects all these polls is they don't so much suggest democratic voters are losing interest, but rather that as democratic interest in these key midterms

stays quite robust. republican interest is also growing. that's important because the enthusiasm gap prior had been something that generated a lot of optimism for democrats. the conventional wisdom was democrats saw these midterms as a chance to potentially hobble the trump administration. now the change that we're seeing is that republican enthusiasm is starting to catch up and grow significantly closer to democratic enthusiasm. that means the lead the democrats would have going into the midterms seems to be shrinking. the thing to remember about these polling numbers is that fast changes often reverse themselves. just because we're seeing the shift now doesn't mean that trend is going to persist from the coming weeks to the midterms.

nonetheless, it's something that national democrats find disconcerting. >> the headlines we're covering day to day, judge kavanagh, the confirmation and how polarizing that can be. how could the success or failure of that confirmation of judge kavanagh impact these races, especially when it comes to the all-important female vote and how that may be pushing females to the polls? >> it's very much going to vary from state to state. in west virginia where senator joe manchin, a democrat, is in a challenging race, there's a significant level of support overall among the electorate for kavanaugh's confirmation. the national electorate is not a monolith so the political dynamics for the incumbent in north dakota can be different than the way the dynamics are working in arizona, where it's

an open seat. i think one of the big take-aways here is that the kavanaugh confirmation has been to politically electric that this is a bit of a cliche but i think it's true, it seems to be galvanizing voters on both sides. it's just generated so much enthusiasm and attention both from republican and democratic voters. >> it is a galvanizing moment in this country's political history. south korea has unveiled a proposal meant to break the stalemate in talks between the united states and north korea. south korea's foreign minister says in exchange for the verified dismantlement of one of north korea's nuclear facilities, the united states would formally declare an end to the korean war and hold on on the demand that pong angelina

jolie -- pyongyang hand over a list of nuclear facilities. the administration says it will not lift sanctions until north korea takes steps to denuclearization, something top u.s. officials say the regime has done the opposite of. it all comes as mike pompeo is set to head to north korea for the fourth time this weekend for preliminary preparations for a second summit between president trump and kim jong-un. pompeo is expected to meet with kim, although last time kim decided at the last minute to visit a rural potato farm instead of meeting with the secretary. a key trend in the trump administration's foreign policy has been removing the united states from international treaties. and now you can add one more to the ever growing list. yesterday the trump administration withdrew the united states from the 1955

treaty which normalized relations with iran. the move is largely symbolic and comes in direct response to a decision issued yesterday from the international court of justice, which ordered the united states to lift some sanctions on iran, mainly due to how they could impact the import of humanitarian goods and services. in its complaint iran said the sanctions violated that treaty. secretary pompeo feels otherwise. >> i'm announcing that the united states is terminating the 1955 treaty of amity with iran. this is a decision, frankly, that is 39 years overdue. >> and the practical fallout from pulling out of the treaty? >> the iranians have been ignoring it for an awfully long time. we ought to have pulled out of it decades ago. today marked a useful point with

the decision that was made this morning from the icj. this marked a useful point for us to demonstrate the absolute absurd di ity of the treaty. still to come, lawmakers advance a bill to combat the country's opioid crisis. the new tools offered to address the epidemic. plus, the new type of alert hitting cell phones across the country. and bill karins is back with a check of the forecast and how long this summer-like warmth will stick around. summer-like wh will stick around.

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the bill aims to expand programs and policies across almost every federal agency focusing on addressing different aspects of the opioid epidemic. a grand program for recovery centers that would include housing and job training as well as physical and mental health care. last year 72,000 americans died from drug overdoses. the bill will head to president trump who is expected to sign it into law. most of us have cell phones. chances are -- >> got it yesterday. >> our phones all went off yesterday with a new type of alert. it was the first test of the new presidential alert system for national emergencies. >> reporter: from coast to coast the alert came at exactly the same moment, 2:18 p.m. in the east, 1:18 in the midwest, 11:18 pacific time. 225 million devices were

supposed to have received the first test of the presidential alert system. from new york to chicago. >> the president can text us? >> i thought like, what now? >> reporter: to l.a. >> i panicked. i wasn't sure what to think of it. >> reporter: just after 2:20, the alert hit every radio and tv nationwide. the ultimate goal, to reach every american simultaneously in the event of a national emergency. from natural disasters to a terror attack to a disease epidemic. >> information in public safety situations, whether it be a fire, earthquake, terrorist attack is essential. >> reporter: not everyone did receive a text. fema says it was hoping for a 75% success rate. it will review the test to find out who didn't get a message and why.

>> we've all been there in a public place when these alerts come off and it all goes off at the same time. let's get a check of our weather now with nbc meteorologist bill karins. >> the best thing about this alert thing is i have this clock in my car that's always off. i knew it was at 2:18. i got to reset it. let's talk about this pattern, amplified pattern. a big dip in the jet stream is going to keep it cool and unsettled in the west. in the east, all the warm air from the gulf and the south are why it's so unusually warm. in between is where you get the active weather. the storms will follow the jet stream in between the two here. with the moisture coming off the gulf, we have a big flood risk in the upcoming week in the areas in the middle of the

country. we'll get some significant snows in the mountains of wyoming and possibly the dakotas. in the next five days this area in red is up to 7 inches of rain. we'll be talking about flooding probably from sunday right through wednesday of next week in oklahoma, kansas, possibly up into iowa. as far as the temperatures, today it's going to be only 44 degrees in north plat. at the same time, we're going to be 89 in little rock. a 40-degree temperature swing in areas of the middle of the country. that continues into friday and saturday with 80s and 90s throughout the whole southern half of the country. temperatures in the buffalo in the 80s. that doesn't usually happen in october. the extreme weather pattern continues right into the weekend. if you like the summer warmth on the east coast, this has been the early fall for you.

>> no putting away the flip-flops and the shorts. they're still out. still ahead, shares of barnes and noble get a major boost on word the company could be up for grabs. plus two auto makers team up to create the next generation of cars. create the next generatiof rsca ok i'll admit. i didn't keep my place as clean as i would like 'cuz i'm way too busy. who's got the time to chase around down dirt, dust and hair? so now, i use heavy duty swiffer sweeper and dusters. for hard-to-reach places, duster makes it easy to clean. it captures dust in one swipe. ha! gotcha! and (new) sweeper heavy duty cloths lock away a twice as much dirt and dust. it gets stuff deep in the grooves other tools can miss. you know what? my place is a lot cleaner now. stop cleaning. start swiffering.

welcome back, everyone. let's turn to business.

honda and general motors have announced they're teaming up to work on a new fleet of autonomous cars. i to have you with us. i personally am too afraid to get into one of those cars, but what role will the tech companies have in this new adventure? >> honda and general motors self-driving car unit crews are attempting to create a vehicle that we will eventually want to try out. the two have teamed up together in the past on electric vehicles. so this is a logical next step in their partnership. honda will look to combine their expertise in manufacturing, engineering and design with cruz's self-driving technology. no date yet on a rollout. certainly one to watch. i'm moving from one company that is creating new technology to one that has been suffering from the rise of new technology.

barnes & noble. barnes & noble shares soared yesterday after the company announced they will consider a sale. this is something shareholders have been pushing for for quite some time. investors suggesting it is a well received possibility. >> i know there's been more bad news for sears holding ahead of the holidays as the company has announced that it is closing more stores. how many more closures are we looking for here and what does this mean for the company? >> so sears has been closing stores for a number of years now. hundreds of stores have closed. but unfortunately, not the end yet, as you say. according to.compa company fili they will look to close more sears and k-mart stores before christmastime. they have a number of debt repayments coming due, so it looks like more challenging times for sears.

>> all right. and right before the holidays. thank you so much. still to come axios's look at this morning's one big thing. then on "morning joe," the fate of brett kavanaugh's nomination now in the hands of the senate. >> majority leader mitch mcconnell paves the way for a final vote. >> and the latest from capitol hill as republican leaders try to ultimately decide kavanaugh's fate. ultimately decide kavanaus fate when you have a baby gentle means everything to you and to us. so at johnson's, we improved everything. we used 50% fewer ingredients. took out dyes, parabens, phthalates and sulfates. beat the top safety standards in the world and added one handed pumps. gentle means pure, gentle means safe, gentle means love. the new johnson's®.

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all right. joining us now from washington, d.c. with a look at axios a.m., editor in chief, nicholas johnson. good to have you here this morning. what is the one big thing you are tracking this morning? >> the brett bounce. i've been in this chair a lot this fall telling you all about the trend. here is some good news for republicans. gop operatives are telling us the big fight over brett

kavanaugh is electrifying their electorate, changing dynamics of races all across the country. one republican referred to it as a grenade that's been thrown into the electorate. today there was a new ncr poll that shows the enthusiasm gap between republicans and democrats showing it statistically tied. republicans are saying this could trickle into a lot more senate races, particularly in these red states that trump won where democrats are running -- are facing strong republican challengers. republicans are hoping to raise a lot of money to push into the advertising game later in the year. one thing i do want to caution is that jonathan swan e-mailed me about, this is something that really affects the base. republicans are still under water on those. >> when it comes to this bounce, this grenade, what are we going to hear on a damatangible leveln it comes to the midterms? >> a lot of these people will

push for. there's a huge segment of the republican base that voted for the candidates because of the judiciaries. there's a lot of cultural issues settled at the supreme court. donald trump has not been doing this a lot on these campaign rallies. he's touted the fact that he has tilted the balance of the court. if cavanaugh gets across, that could change the course of the court for a generation. i think very motivated republicans will certainly respond to that. >> so as we reported, the senate received the results of the fbi's background check on kavanaugh last night. they're going to get briefed on it this morning. what is the over/under that is going to get leaked either officially or from the hill? >> this document is being stored in a secured document where they typically keep intelligence documents. they're not going to give copies of it to take out of the room.

there's one thing i know after covering the hill when i was younger. there's nothing you can give to members of congress that won't eventually make it to media. senators will see this document in the next couple of hours and i think by lunchtime we've have a pretty good sense of what's in it. >> ax axios is reporting on a new poll. >> showing most americans are becoming indifferent to president trump's tweets. i think they're finally getting rid of it. less than half trust the media. friends and family, people trust their peers to tell them what's going on. >> what are you tracking for the rest of the week in terms of the vote and how that plays out? what is going to be the

immediate aftermath for what you're looking for? >> it's very much if these four or five senators who are somewhere on the fence about where they're going to go on that. there will be swarms around senator collins and murkowski and flake when they come out of this room. look at the democrats and see who they flip. we talked about this, the kavanaugh effect. how are they going to vote? >> we're seeing some of them with security detail as far as escorting them out. as always, thank you so much for your time. >> thank you. >> we'll be reading axios.com as well. >> "morning joe," everyone, starts right now. this confirmation process has become a national disgrace. the constitution gives the senate an important role in the confirmation process. but you have replaced advice and

consent with search and destroy. >> i was calculating daily the risk-benefit for me of come forward and wondering whether i would just be jumping into a train that is headed where it was headed anyway and that i would be personally annihilated. >> one week ago today, two people went to capitol hill to tell two very different stories. dr. ford worried about being personally annihilated. judge kavanaugh talked about a broken system. on those points, at least, both seem entirely correct. welcome to ""morning joe." it is thursday, october 4th. we have mike barnacle, jonathan lameer, and betsy woodruff joins us this morning. the republican push to confirm