♪ it's a make or break day for brett kavanagh. in just a matter of hours, republican leaders are expected to hold their first vote on president trump's supreme court nominee. >> how will this fight over kavanaugh play out in november? president trump told rally goers in minnesota that democratic resistance is backfiring like never before. ♪ good morning, everyone. i'm ayman mohyeldin alongside alex witt. we begin this morning in the senate where the senate plans to hold a key vote at 10:30 a.m.

which will move supreme court nominee brett kavanagh a step closer to confirmation. two critical republican votes, senator susan collins of maine and jeff flake of arizona, indicated yesterday that the fbi probe into kavanaugh was adequate. however, both caution they would continue to read the closely-held report. satisfying flake and collins as well as lisa murkowski of alaska would be enough to confirm kavanaugh to the supreme court. democrats are nearly unanimous in their opposition to kavanaugh's nomination. hi one senator announced she will oppose kavanaugh's nomination. that leaves senator joe manchin of west virginia. he has yet to announce his plans. yesterday manchin was seen reviewing the fbi report and said he would return today to study it more.

after speculation that republican senator steve danes could miss the confirmation vote on saturday due to his daughter's wedding in montana, a spokesperson for the senator says that danes spoke to kavanaugh on the phone last night and assured the judge that he has made arrangements to be there to get him across the finish line as needed. president trump was in rochester, minnesota, last night. speaking to a cheering crowd, the president once again defended kavanaugh and argued that resistance will motivate republican voters this november. >> you see what's going on in congress right now with one of the most respected people potentially, hopefully supreme court justice brett kavanagh.

the dems are willing to do anything to hurt anyone to get the power they so desperately crave. they want to resist, they want to obstruct, they want to delay, demolish, they want to destroy. that's what happens. that's what happens. all you have to do is look at the polls over the last three or four days and it shows that their rage fuelled resistance is starting to backfire at a level that nobody has ever seen before. >> meanwhile, allies of president trump are also hoping the fight to confirm judge kavanagh will rally voters ahead of the midterms. but according to the "new york times," republican strategists say they cannot be sure what issues the electorate would be most animated by five weeks from now when voters actually cast their ballots. senators spent the day taking turns reviewing the fbi report on brett kavanagh. and the general consensus from

republicans is that it yields no new information. >> what we know for sure is the fbi report did not corroborate any of the allegations against judge kavanagh. >> this man is qualified and to put him through this type of a mess just because they are unhappy that donald trump had the right to appoint him is just plain wrong. >> senators who requested the supplemental fbi background check got what they requested, and i am ready to vote. you've humiliated this guy enough and there seems to be no bottom for some of you. >> democrats claim it was

limited in scope and incomplete. >> this is not a thorough investigation. >> it looks to be a product of an incomplete investigation. >> i heard the chairman of the committee say there's no hint of misconduct. in plain english what i just read, there were hints of misconduct. >> i'm not allowed to discuss it. the public can't see it. it's a complete sham. the investigation was a sham. >> to put it bluntly, it smacks of a whitewash, even a coverup. >> one former supreme court justice is speaking out about brett kavanagh, saying that he should not be confirmed. retired justice john paul stevens told a crowd that kavanaugh should not be placed on the supreme court because he lacks the temperament for the lifetime appointment. stevens explained his changing view on the judge. >> i changed my views for reasons that have really no relationship to his intellectual

ability or his record as a federal judge. he's a fine federal judge and he should have been confirmed when he was a nominee. but i think his performance during the hearings caused me to change my mind. >> hundreds of people were arrested aftercare rii carrying mass demonstration against kavanaugh. amy schumer and emily radkowski were among those arrested. orrin hatch was confronted by a group of protesters, facing their anger as he tried to brush them off while attempting to get into an elevator. >> why aren't you brave enough to talk to us and exchange with us? don't you wave your hand at me. i wave my hand at you. >> you grow up.

>> how dare you talk to women that way! how dare you! [indiscernible] >> senator, do you believe women? >> speaking on the floor of the senate this week, majority leader mitch mcconnell said republicans won't be bullied or intimidated by the kavanaugh protesters. >> if facts and evidence couldn't get the job done, then intimidation tactics and bullying would have to do. i'm not suggesting we're the victims here, mr. president, but i want to make it clear to these people who are chasing my members around the hall here or harassing them at the airports or going to their homes, we'll not be intimidated by these people. there is no chance in the world they're going to scare us out of doing our duty.

>> joining us now from washington, senior writer nils. great to have you with us on this friday morning, what is appearing to be a historic day one way or the other. let's talk about republicans and their confidence if they have enough votes to confirm judge kavanagh. >> i think that more likely than not, judge kavanagh is going to have the votes to proceed today to limit the debate on his nomination and then probably eventually to be confirmed some time likely tomorrow afternoon or evening. really there are, as you've said, a very few number of senators who are still undecided. all eyes today, i think, are going to be largely on obviously the two republican women who have been in question here,

susan collins from maine and lisa murkowski from alaska, as well as as the one outstanding democrat here which is joe manchin from west virginia. manchin had said that he hadn't had time, enough time to review the report of the fbi in that closed setting because of the way it was being done and democrats and republicans were alternating time. i'm guessing that manchin is going to try and get to the capitol early this morning to review it some more. >> you have to look at the political fallout from all of this and it brings to mind heidi heitkamp. what does this mean for the election? >> i think that the big question there is that time gap between now and election day, because

certainly if this were to be the last thing on the minds of voters in someplace like north dakota or maybe west virginia or indiana or any of those states that voted overwhelmingly for donald trump but have democrats in the senate, the question really is how that's going to play out when it comes to the election. as you said, it's so far from the election still really and how many news cycles we're going to have between now and then, i don't know if this won't even be the issue people are voting on. >> great to talk to you. stick around for us. still ahead, what brett kavanaugh himself had to say ahead of today's senate vote. we're going to read from the new op-ed in the "wall street journal" he wrote. president trump raised some eyebrows when he declared china was meddling in the midterms. mike pence is saying the same

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welcome back, everyone. last week at the u.n. the president accused china of interfering in america's political system in the upcoming midterm elections. yesterday vice president mike pence held nothing back in echoing the president's allegation. >> beijing is employing a whole of government approach to advance its influence. it's employing this power in more proactive and coercive ways to interfere in the domestic policies of this country and to interfere in the politics of the united states. china has initiated an unprecedented effort to influence american public opinion, the 2018 elections and the environment leading into the 2020 presidential elections. there can be no doubt china is

meddling in america's democracy. our intelligence community says that china is targeting u.s. state and local governments and officials to exploit any divisions between federal and local levels on policy. as a senior career member of our intelligence community told me just this week, what the russians are doing pales in comparison to what china is doing across this country. >> so why is beijing targeting america's political discourse? according to the vice president, it all has to do with one man only, president trump. >> to put it bluntly, president trump's leadership is working and china wants a different american president. when it comes to influencing the midterms, you need only look at beijing's tariffs in response to ours. the tariffs imposed by china to date specifically targeted industries and states that would

play an important role in the 2018 elections. by one estimate, more than 80% of u.s. counties targeted by china voted for president trump and i in 2016. now china wants to turn these voters against our administration. >> my administration has taken the toughest ever action cracking down on china's trading abuses. for years china has been draining us, taking our factories and building up their country with our money and at the expense of our workers and our companies. we're not going to have it. no more. >> china's foreign ministry has responded firmly denying the allegations as unfounded and extremely ridiculous while accusing the u.s. of slander. let's switch gears and bring in nbc meteorologist bill

karins. >> flooding this weekend, a little severe weather. we're going to see this extreme weather pattern where a lot of us are going to be having the air-conditioners on during the weekend. up in northern minnesota, that's snow. it is snowing just north of duluth and fargo northwards. here's the severe weather outlook for today. we will see a chance of slight risk of severe storms north texas, oklahoma, wichita, central kansas and isolated strong storms up near chicago. i'm more concerned with this map. this is the one that shows the risk of flash flooding. the slight risk is from wichita to kansas city all the way through southern wisconsin. then we have this moderate risk area in between madison all the way down through the quad cities in northern illinois. it's rained numerous times this

week, we're going to get thunderstorms and that's why we have a moderate risk of flash flooding. we're wedged in the middle of then count the country right now between fall and summer. this pink is four inches of rain, widespread four inches of rain in this area of north texas to wichita falls to wichita, kansas. here's the forecast for today. still very warm, summerish in ar a the south. cool in new england. there's the early morning rain in chicago. let's get to the weekend forecast. the heavy rain thareat stays hee from st. louis to kansas city and oklahoma city. the east coast is fine on saturday. still cool and snow in the high elevations of the west.

sunday's map doesn't really change. it's kind of a washout weekend for you in north texas, kansas and oklahoma. we start cooler today and by the end of the weekend we're 80 again in new york city, mid 80s in washington, d.c. and a touch of humidity returning to many areas of the east by the weekend. >> my eyes just lit up. i saw mountain snow. >> on monday i'll have pictures of snow from the rockies. there's always that one resort in colorado that wants to be first. president trump is perhaps the most photographed person in the world. he's also bound to have one of those caught on camera moments. yesterday while boarding air force one in minneapolis, see there on his left foot? commander in chief climbing the stairs with what appears to be some toilet paper stuck to his shoe. at the top of the stairs, a wave to the crowds below.

trump then turns and it seems like he was finally freed from the pesky piece of paper. >> how does that happen? how does nobody see that happening and they take that piece -- >> all of his aides and body men and everybody. >> i can't -- >> you could see some people on the bottom of the stairs looking up like what should we do? it happens. still ahead andrew luck and tom brady duke it out in new england in a tale of two games. s gentle means everything,

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this is also his 226th win of his career. matching colts kicker and former

teammate for most nfl victories. so much for the patriots going down, huh? playing pretty well. turning to major league baseball, in the playoffs a pair of nlds openers. the brew crew hosting the rockies. colorado rallies in the top of the nooininth to tie the game a 2-2. here's a baseball name for you, mike mustakis. to los angeles. no drama here. the dodgers come out swinging against the braves in game one. peterson with a solo shot followed by a three run homer in the second. then a third long ball, this one

by hernandez puts l.a. up 5-0 in the sixth. the dodgers go onto shut out atlanta 6-0 and now lead the series 1-0. if you're a baseball fan, today is the day. it's kind of the equivalent to the beginning of march madness in basketball. there are four games. if you love baseball, today's your day. >> i went to high school in atlanta. i wasn't too happy. >> it's been a while. >> from the '90s when the braves were america's team. still ahead, much more on what to expect from capitol hill today ahead of the vote on brett kavanagh. we're going to read some of what the nominee had to say on the eve of the vote. plus, president trump mocks former minnesota senator al

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text "listen5" to 500500 to start your free trial today. welcome back. it is the bottom of the hour. >> a key vote to advance the nomination of supreme court nominee brett kavanagh is set for 10:30 a.m. meanwhile, democrats are blasting the fbi report as the battle over kavanaugh's confirmation enters its final

stretch. >> reporter: thousands of demonstrators marching on the supreme court, protesting nominee brett kavanagh. >> shut it down, shut it down! >> reporter: tensions on capitol hill too where they're blasting the fbi background investigation. these women confronting orrin hatch. >> don't you wave your hand at me! i wa . >> reporter: all day senators filing into a secure room reserved for classified briefings, getting their first look at the fbi's findings that will likely determine kavanaugh's fate. two crucial republican senators seemed satisfied with the report. susan collins saying it appears to be a very thorough investigation. and jeff flake saying it offered no additional corroborating information to back up sexual misconduct allegations against kavanaugh. but heidi heitkamp is announcing

her decision. >> i will be voting no. >> reporter: republicans say the findings vindicate judge kavanagh. >> for goodness sake, this is the united states of america. nobody is supposed to be guilty until proven innocent in this country. >> why don't we dunk him in water and see if he floats? enough. enough already. let's vote. >> reporter: democrats slamming the investigation as restricted and incomplete. >> democrats agreed that the investigation's scope should be limited. we do not agree that the white house should tie the fbi's hands. >> i'm not allowed to discuss it. the public can't see it. it's a complete sham. >> reporter: in total, fbi agents contacted ten potential witnesses, interviewing nine. among those not interviewed, kavanaugh and his accuser christine blasey ford. ford's legal team denouncing what they call the investigation as a stain on the process, on the fbi and on our american ideal of justice.

can the white house say they did a thorough job of vetting these claims? >> anybody that pushes back on the fact that dr. ford wasn't given ample opportunity to make her case has been living in a cave. >> reporter: getting off air force one in minnesota tonight, president trump greeting supporters and praising his pick. >> i think he's doing very well. the judge is doing well, right? >> yeah! >> reporter: at least 300 of those protesters at the capitol were arrested. retired supreme court justice john paul stevens now says he doesn't belong on the court, saying his temperament changed his mind. brett kavanagh is out with a new op-ed in the "wall street journal" hoping to overcome the perception after last week's hearing that he is too political. it is titled, i'm an independent impartial judge. he writes, i was very emotional last thursday, more so than i

have ever been. i know my tone was sharp and i said a few things i should not have said. i hope everyone can understand i was there as a son, husband and dad. i testified with five people in my mind, my mom, my dad, my wife and most of all my daughters. going forward, you can count on me to be the same kind of judge and person i've been for my entire 28-year legal career, hard working, open minded, independent and dedicated to the constitution and the public good. meanwhile the cook political report is shifting around its map and republicans are coming out on top as the kavanaugh fight is galvanizing the base. deb fisher appears to be tightening her grip on nebraska. however, a different story for

the incumbent in new jersey. cook says the ethical problems facing senator bob menendez are weighing him down. democrats do, however, seem to be catching a break in ohio. that race went from lean democrat to likely democrat. president trump's approval rating is up since last week. according to the latest poll, 43% of registered voters approve of trump's job performance, up three points since last week. 53% of voters polled say they disapproved. the president's approval among republicans remains very high, 84% approving of his job performance. his support among independents is 37% with 56% saying they disapprove. joining us once again from washington, nils. let's get to the discussion

about these polls i was just talking about, the cook polls and also the other ones that show republicans in the lead. they've got a few key senate seats here. what do you attribute this to? is it the kavanaugh effect, is it that democrats have been pushing hard for so long and they're losing steam? where do you see the reasoning here here? >> if you talk to republican operatives, they certainly feel like there is a new energy among the conservative base, both in terms of fund-raising and in the voter turnout among republicans. of course, i'm one of those people who is a little bit skeptical of using a screen of registered voters at this point in the election cycle. i think polls are usually better at this point in the cycle when we're looking at people who are more likely to actually get out to the polls. but i think in general things

are looking just a little bit better for republicans, at least in the senate. but obviously members of the house don't get to vote on brett kavanagh. so i don't know how much it will actually affect the state of play in the house races. >> that's a good point. this has been an unprecedented confirmation process in so many ways. the fact that judge kavanagh gave an interview to fox news was somewhat unprecedented. he also penned an op-ed. i'm curious to get your thoughts on what kind of reaction you are hearing about the judge kavanagh op-ed, the fact that it dropped a day before the vote and the tone. it seemed in some ways -- is it too little too late after all of what he said last week? >> what i thought was interesting about the op-ed being published was that it was published at all.

the fact is that someone at the white house or in senate republican circles -- and i don't know who it is -- but someone must have decided that they were actually at risk of losing a potential vote or two in the senate because of the tone that judge kavanagh took during the hearing. because as far as anyone could tell, president trump was kind of enthusiastic about the tone that judge kavanagh took during that hearing and talking about some conspiracy theory in bringing up the clintons. i don't know exactly whom that "wall street journal" op-ed was directed toward, but clearly there are only 100 people who matter right now if you're trying to get a lifetime appointment to the supreme court. clearly it was targeted at maybe one or two of them. >> i was going to say the tone

of that op-ed also kind of makes the presumption he will be confirmed. >> again that it was published at all on this day. okay. just a few moments ago we learned that this year's p recipients of the nobel peace prize are for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict. he has spent large parts of his life helping victims of sexual violence in the democratic republic of congo. last year's peace prize went to the international campaign to abolish nuclear weapons. >> congratulations.

still ahead, president trump criticizes one former senator over his decision to step down amid sexual misconduct allegations. plus, the saying goes don't cry over spilled milk. we're not sure the same can be said about thousands of gallons of spilled wine. >> definitely cry about that one. >> dramatic video. plus, bill karins is going to be back to check on your weekend forecast. r weekend forecast my name is elaine barber, and i'm a five-year

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united states senator from minneso minnesota. so karen is running against a far left democrat who nobody knows who the hell she is. who is she? she was appointed -- she took a whacky guy's place. that guy was -- he was wacky. he folded up like a wet rag, huh? he was gone so fast. i don't want to mention al franken's name. he was gone so fast. it was like, oh, he did something. oh, i resign, i quit, i quit. >> okay. we're going to get a check on the weather now with bill karins. i think we've got some fall and summer going. >> depends where you are. the people that have the summer want some cool fall weather. people that are already in fall

are like, hey, what happened? the unseasonable weather continues. today's high temperatures will be similar to yesterday, many areas in the upper 80s, a few spots will hit 90. it's not just that it's warm. it's still humid. you just want to get rid of the humidity eventually here. 91 in nashville on saturday, 81 in cleveland. 90s in tallahassee. another hot weekend of football in the southeast. next week, look what happens in philadelphia. you're in the 80s from sunday through tuesday. louisville the upper 80s from sunday through tuesday. the opposite of this is what's happening in the northern plains. today we're 39 in bismarck. in the middle is where we've got all the stormy weather. our flood threat over the next couple of days is from north

texas possibly into areas around chicago. i did mention the chicago marathon, big event there on sunday. temperatures are good for running in the 60s, but it could be a little wet. >> when you go out to brunch with your wife, here's the situation. brunch goers around the world are weeping. this was the scene at a winery in italy as 8,000 gallons of sparkling wine went spilling out of one of the facility's silos. it was too much bubbly in the storage container. that's what it was. guess how many people have watched this? like a million views. >> is this going to collapse eventually? >> it's okay because italy is going to produce a lot more like

600 million bottles of sparkling wine this year. >> i drink wine watching your show. >> it makes the show go better sometimes. still ahead, elon musk ramps up his feud with the sec after paying the agency $20 million in fines. plus we are awaiting the release of the september jobs report. jobs report ♪ whether it's a big thing, small thing, or something unexpected, pnc will be right there when you need us. because when it comes to your finances, if you focus on today, tomorrow has a way of working itself out.

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we are just we're just a few hours away from the september jobs report. cnbc will join us live from london. what can we expect in terms of the jobs that were added last month. do you have an ink wling of that? >> the market is expecting another solid jobs report. economists are forecasting 185,000 jobs were added in september. this is slightly below the levels seen in august but still quite a solid number. the other statistic to keep an eye out for today is hourly wages. experts are expecting this also slipped slightly to 2.8% in terms of hourly wage growth on an annual basis. people believe this may prove to be a temporary effect given what we've heard from amazon this

week. they've raised the minimum wage to $15 and others may follow suit. markets have been positioning for this event all week. some big moves yesterday in the market. u.s. treasuries sold off quite heavily on the basis a strong labor report means a strong economy. this built through to u.s. equities, posting some of their worst declines in four months yesterday. time will tell later today, 8:30 a.m., that report is due. >> all eyes on that. can i ask you about elon musk. he cannot help himself when it comes to this ongoing issue with the s.e.c. you think everything is settled and then he goes and lashes out at the agency on twitter. let's talk about what all he wrote there. >> it seems like we can't go a day withouthearing more from musk on twitter.

this is right after he settled his charges. now he's mocking them calling the short seller enrichment commission, taking a dig on the commission and the people betting against his company. if history is any indication, this won't be the last we hear from muchk on twitter. >> i think we can agree about th that. >> he's made some mistakes on twitter. coming up, axios' jonathan swan has a look at this morning's one big thing. and coming up on "morning joe," confirmation countdown. senate republicans look to wrap up brett kavanaugh's supreme court nomination and lock up key votes critical to placing him on the high court as the man himself makes one final argument as to why he should become the next justice. republican senator john kennedy joins the conversation to discuss the final push in this process which he calls a grotesque carnival. stay tune national guard on "morning joe" moments away.

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welcome back, everyone. joining us from washington, d.c. with a look at axios a.m. national political reporter from axi axios, jonathan swan. good to have you with us. what is the one big thing? >> as of fairly late last night, republicans involved in the confirmation of brett kavanaugh at the senior level still didn't have the votes. i had a conversation with a senior source involved. fairly late last night, and they were exhausted and secondly still very nervous about the indecisiveness of collins, murkowski, flake, manchin. they have a scheduled procedural vote to advance at 10:30 this morning. the voice started to quaver and what things might change in the morning, who knows, i don't want

to express confidence there will be a vote. this give ys you a sense of the frayed atmosphere around this very important vote today. >> jonathan, we were talking earlier about the wall street op-ed that brett kavanaugh wrote. the fact that it's been presented today in terms of timing but what you're saying about the tight nature of this vote, is as oklahoma city looking at that as being part of the reason why it was written? what's your take? >> i don't have direct knowledge of the process behind the decision-making to place that op-ed but on its face it's wildly desperate. i mean. i've never heard of anything like it. >> never. >> he did his joint interview on fox with martha mccallum which horrified quite a few people in the senate and also inside the white house, sort of pitching himself and then for this as a last-minute op-ed in the "wall street journal" saying trust me,

guys, i'm independent and impartial. it's extraordinary and it shows the level of anxiety and nervousness that i referred to before. you don't do something like that if you think you're a lock for the nomination. >> let's talk about the context of what we saw unfold yesterday on capitol hill. i know you have been writing about why this cavanaugh fight is so personal for so many. we showed that video of some women confronting orrin hatch where he dismissed them and told them to grow up. tell us about what you guys are learning about why this is so personal for women. >> my colleague, the managing editor of axios, has a piece coming out this morning. she spoke to a lot of the women at axios inside the newsroom and out. it's striking just the number of women -- and you know i found this myself. i've got close female friends who are only just telling me now of experiences or friends that they know of. almost every woman has either a

personal experience or knows somebody and as a man it's confronting because it's not a conversation you hear. they talk about it amongst themselves and often not with the men in their lives so this process has sort of excavated all of these really painful conversations and the fact that it's become so political is a shame to say the least. >> i know you've got polling coming up so we'll look at axios news that will come out in 20 minutes from now. jonathan swan, thank you very much. we'll see you just a bit on "morning joe." axios poll 20 minutes from now. it's biblical. i love reading that. >> go to it by signing up at signup.axios.com. i'm ayman mohyeldin alongside alex witt. "morning joe" starts right now. >> reporter: senator, you just read the background report on

kavanaugh, what are your thoughts? >> if that's an investigation, it's a [ bleep ] investigation. the reality is that is not a full an thorough investigation. >> why aren't you brave enough to talk to us and exchange with us? don't you wave your hand at me. i wave my hand at you. >> when you grow up i'll talk to you. >> you grow up! >> how dare you talk to women that way? how dare you? how dare you? how dare you. >> you can't hold the door. you're going get arrested. >> that is the scene on capitol hill where in just a few hours the u.s. senate appears poised to push forward and brett kavanaugh's nomination to the u.s. supreme court. good morning, it's friday,