♪ this morning, brett kavanagh is officially a justice on the supreme court after a bitter confirmation battle, he was sworn in this weekend. now the question is how will this fight play out in november? plus, a veteran saudi journalist and "washington post" columnist vanishes after entering the saudi consulate in istanbul. turkish officials say he was murdered, but saudi officials call that baseless. and 20 people are dead after a limousine crashed in upstate new york, killing everyone on board as well as two bystanders. ♪

good morning, everyone. it's monday, october 8th. brett kavanagh was confirmed to the supreme court by one of the narrowest margins in history. in a private ceremony kavanaugh was sworn in by chief justice john roberts and retired justice anthony kennedy. now, the swearing in came hours after the senate narrowly confirmed kavanaugh in a 50-48 vote saturday afternoon. kavanaugh's confirmation to the supreme court was marked by massive protests that swept the capital including throughout the confirmation vote when demonstrators repeatedly interrupted from the senate gallery. >> the sergeant at arm wills restore order in the gallery. the sa

>> meanwhile, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell says the protests will help the gop come midterms. >> ironically, the behavior of the first democrats on the senate judiciary committee and then the overreach of the protesters at the capital have energized the republican base, particularly in the road states where we're trying to pick up seats out across america. i want to thank the other side for the tactics that have allowed us to energize and get involved our own voters. >> president trump slammed republican voter lisa murkowski against the supreme court nominee. trump criticized murkowski for her decision, forecasting her defeat in the republican primary should she run for reelection in the 2022. the president said, i think the people from alaska will never forgive her. trump also said he was shocked by murkowski's decision.

>> i thought it was a very, very sad vote. i thought it was very frankly disgraceful. i've done so much for alaska, i was shocked to see her vote, absolutely shocked. frankly, so were other republicans. it was a very sad day, i think, for her. >> trump praised senator susan collins for her support for kavanaugh. >> susan collins was a star. what she did was incredible. i spoke to her yesterday. what she said and the way she said it was brilliant and it really covered it. she has from the beginning really liked brett kavanagh. she had respect for his incredible genius, him as a scholar. we're very proud of her. i tell you what, she's more popular now than she's ever been. >> in light of christine blasey ford's testimony, republican senator susan collins explained why she decided to vote yes on

kavanaugh's nomination to the prourt. -- supreme court. >> i found dr. ford's testimony to be heart wrenching, painful, compelling. and i believe that she beliefs what she testified to. i don't think she was coming fo forth with a political motive, although i do not think she was treated well by those who breached her confidence. but we also had a case where judge kavanagh came forward and said, i'm 100% certain that this did not happen. so here you have two people who are each 100% certain of what they're saying under pain of perjury. so then i had to look at the other evidence and was there corroborating evidence. that's why i pushed hard for the fbi to do a supplemental

background investigation. >> so do you still think it is possible that he did it? you just don't have the proof to back that up. >> i do not believe that brett kavanagh was her assailant. i do believe that she was assaulted. i don't know by whom and i'm not certain when, but do i not believe he was the assailant. >> amid celebrating the confirmation of brett kavanagh, mitch mcconnell defended his decision to block president obama's supreme court nominee merrick garland. >> senator, how broken is the senate? >> the senate's not broken. we didn't attack merrick garland's background and try to destroy him. we simply followed the tradition in america, which is that if you have a party of a -- a senate of a different party than the president, you don't fill a

vacancy created in a presidential year. that went all the way back to 1888. you have to go back to the 1880 to find the last time a senate controlled by a different party than the president confirmed a supreme court justice to a vacancy created in the middle of a presidential election. joe biden said in 1992 when he was chairman of the judiciary committee if a vacancy occurred, they wouldn't fill it. they also conveniently forgot that chuck schumer and harry reid said if a supreme court vacancy occurred, they wouldn't fill it. talk about hypocrisy. >> so president trump drew criticism last week after he mocked kavanaugh accuser christine blasey ford at a campaign rally. during an interview with fox news this weekend, he explained why he did it. >> there were a lot of things happening that weren't correct. they weren't true. and there were a lot of things that were left unsaid. i thought i had to even the

playing field, because it was very unfair to judge. now i can very nicely say justice kavanaugh. >> right, right. >> it was a very unfair situation. so i evened the playing field. once i did that, it started to sail through. he was treated very unfairly. >> protesters flooded the areas outside the supreme court and capitol hill ahead of the confirmation vote for brett kavanagh. 150 people were arrested on the rotunda steps saturday, 14 others were arrested and removed from several senate galleries. before kavanaugh was sworn in on saturday, president trump tweeted out the crowd in front of the u.s. supreme court is tiny. looks like about 200 people and most are onlookers. the fake news media tries to make it look so big and it's not. he went onto write, you don't hand matches to an arsonist and you don't give power to an angry

left wing mob. democrats have become too extreme and too dangerous to govern. republicans believe in the rule of law, not the rule of the mob. vote republican. so republicans are hopeful that judge kavanagh's nomination will help them in the midterms. that's certainly what they're projecting, at least from the senate majority leader. democrats, though, are also claiming that it may fire up their base to vote republicans out of office. what are you seeing so far when it comes to trends? >> well, what you said is exactly correct. republicans are looking at this and senate majority leader mitch mcconnell has said this as well. republicans are hoping it will give their base that energy they need to come out to the polls in november. that's something the republican party has been lacking so far, at least in comparison to the democrats, who have shown to be really energized and have really

been able to rally around their dislike of this administration and this president. th republicans are hoping kavanaugh will give them that enthusiasm to match. polls show republicans have been really angered by this entire supreme court nomination for brett kavanagh and has closed that enthusiasm gap between republicans and democrats, which will only help republicans come november. at the same time, though, with everything going on with the me too movement and christine blasey ford's testimony, a lot of democrats are also really fired up about this process. so it hoolooks like a lot of ths we've seen this past year and a half under this administration. the partisan divide is deeper than ever. >> let's talk a little bit about justice kavanaugh for a moment, obviously sworn in on saturday. he's going to have a ceremonial swearing in today with president trump, but he's already hitting the ground running in terms of

work. what can we expect him to weigh in on early in his term? >> he'll be starting as early as tomorrow deliberating with the supreme court. a bunch of cases that began last week, he will not have to vote on or deliberate on since the term started last week before he was sworn in. but this week we can look at a couple of cases involving immigration, something called the armed conflict. it's a 15-year minimum on gun sentencing laws and something that the court has seen a lot. and also some stuff with navy sailers looking for those in the oceans and weighing in on that. so a couple of cases that don't seem to be big partisan issues really for justice kavanaugh. one thing that is really interesting is that the administration has asked that in the case regarding wilbur ross, the commerce secretary --

basically with his decision to ask for a citizenship question on the 2020 census has drawn a h lot of opposition. the trump administration is asking that the supreme court block those depositions so that he can go forward with this process. ruth bader ginsberg said last week she kind of rebuffed that and moved forward with it. but if the trump administration comes forward with that, then justice kavanaugh could have to decide on that as early as this week as well. now the mysterious disappearance of a prominent saudi columnist was killed inside the saudi consulate in istanbul last week. we're told he tried to get paperwork to marry a turkish

woman. he was told to return on a different day. when he did, he never walked out. turkish officials claim more than a dozen saudi agents moved in, murdered him and then hit his body. the saudi call the allegations baseless. the turkish president called the disappearance upsetting and vowed to investigate. the "washington post" featured a blank space in its opinion page friday with the title, "a missing voice" and the columnist's byline. the expresident of interpol is being investigated by china on charges of bribery and other crimes. he has since resigned as chief of the international police agency. his wife told reporters he sent her a phone message with an emoji of a knife before he

disappeared during his trip to china. she took it as a sign he was in danger. she said she hasn't heard from her husband in nearly two weeks. still ahead, what we're hearing this morning about a deadly limo crash in upstate new york. plus, president trump attacks democrats during a rally in topeka, kansas, and claims the party supports a bill that doesn't actually exist. bill tht doesn't actually exist

(nicki palmer) being a verizon engineer is about doing things right. and there's no shortcut to the right way. so when we roll out the nation's first 5g ultra wideband network, it'll be because we were the first to install the fiber-optics and small cells, and upgrade the towers that will change the way we learn, work and live. and i'll always be proud that we're not just building america's first 5g network. we're doing it right.

you can do things like change your settings, learn tips and tricks, troubleshoot, and even manage your account. finding your xfinity username or wifi password, restarting your equipment, or paying your bill is easier than ever with x1. x1 help. another reason to love x1. say "teach me more" into your voice remote to get started. welcome back. a birthday celebration for a group of friends suddenly turned tragic on friday when the suv they were riding in sped into the parking lot of a country store killing everyone in the limo and two pedestrians. the national transportation safety board was called in.

>> reporter: in a matter of moments, a 30th birthday party turned to tragedy. an suv limousine carrying 18 people careened off a new york state highway near albany. >> everyone inside was killed. >> reporter: witnesses say the limo sped down a hill, through a parking lot and collided with a parked car. two pedestrians in the parking lot were killed. >> i heard some screaming and just it looked serious because people were just, you know, running back and forth. >> reporter: the snarled wreckage ended up in a nearby creek bed. state officials declined to comment on whether the driver had been drinking, refusing to answer questions about what might have caused this tragic accident. >> i've been on the board for 12 years and this is one of the biggest loss of lives that we've seen in a long, long time. >> reporter: saying they won't release the victims' names until autopsies are complete. some family members are already

speaking out. >> i can't believe it. you know, it's not something you can wrap your head around. >> reporter: barbara douglas said four of her nieces, all sisters, were among the dead. >> they were very smart and they were beautiful and they lived life to the fullest. >> reporter: the collision, said to be the worst highway accident since 2009, is now the focus of a federal investigation. the ntsb sent a team to the site. >> absolutely heartbreaking story. let's switch gears for a moment and bring in meteorologist michelle grossman with a check of weather. >> it's kind of a tale of many different seasons. that tends to happen in october. we have mountain snow, so we have winter weather to the west. we have very summer-like weather to the east still, kind of that taste of summer holding on. and then we are watching tropical rain over the next

week. we have tropical storm michael tuesday into wednesday. we expect it to make landfall along the gulf coast. but we do expect it to become a hurricane before that. right now 70 miles an hour winds. let' track michael for you. we're ho ee we're looking at a tropical storm now. by tuesday, 2:00 a.m., category 2 storm. that's what we're expecting when we make landfall along the gulf coast, somewhere near panama city. wednesday 2:00 a.m., 110 miles an hour winds and later on wednesday finally making that landfall. then it will move towards the carolinas and impact the northeast through the end of the week. in the meantime, we're looking at a lot of rain with this storm, even up to four inches in some spots. we are looking at the potential for some deadly storm surge. something to keep in mind. that is not the only place we're seeing rain.

we're seeing flooding rains in the middle of the country. again, could see widespread flooding where we've seen rain in this area. still ahead, the feds move to take paul manafort's condo in trump tower, plus several other properties as part of his plea deal with robert mueller. of hia deal with robert mueller cancers of america, we use diagnostic tools that help us better understand what drives each person's cancer. like christine bray. after battling ovarian cancer for several years, her test results revealed a drug therapy that targeted her tumor. today, christine's metastatic cancer is in remission. we're not just fighting cancer. we're outsmarting it. visit cancercenter.com. appointments available now. i couldn't catch my breath. it was the last song of the night. it felt like my heart was skipping beats. they said i had afib.

what's afib? i knew that meant i was at a greater risk of stroke. i needed answers. my doctor and i chose xarelto® to help keep me protected from a stroke. once-daily xarelto®, a latest-generation blood thinner significantly lowers the risk of stroke in people with afib not caused by a heart valve problem. warfarin interferes with at least 6 of your body's natural blood-clotting factors. xarelto® is selective, targeting just one critical factor. for afib patients well managed on warfarin, there is limited information on how xarelto® compares in reducing the risk of stroke. don't stop taking xarelto® without talking to your doctor, as this may increase your risk of stroke. while taking, you may bruise more easily, or take longer for bleeding to stop. xarelto® can cause serious, and in rare cases, fatal bleeding. it may increase your risk of bleeding if you take certain medicines. get help right away for unexpected bleeding or unusual bruising. do not take xarelto® if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. before starting, tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures and any kidney or liver problems. learn all you can to help protect yourself from a stroke.

talk to your doctor about xarelto®. little things can be a big deal. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not a cream. it's a pill that treats moderate to severe plaque psoriasis differently. with otezla,75% clearer skin is achievable. don't use if you're allergic to otezla. it may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts, or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla reported weight loss. your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. tell your doctor about your medicines and if you're pregnant or planning to be. otezla. show more of you. special counsel robert mueller's office is reportedly examining a late republican

operative secret fund-raising campaign to obtain what he believed were hillary clinton's e-mails. the "wall street journal" reports that peter w. smith, whose death at 81 last year was rai ruled a suicide had raised money for donors in 2016 in his search for hacked chin on the eed clin. in addition to giving hard drives to the house and senate intelligence committees, mr. smith's estate has given documents to mr. mueller's team. buzzfeed news has reported that smith's bank transfers are under scrutiny. according to documents reviewed by the "wall street journal" smith went to an extraordinary length to ensure the privacy and secrecy of his projects. one e-mail showed the

anti-clinton funds as donations that were to be sent to a scholarship fund for russian students. robert mueller is looking to seize several properties owned by paul manafort. according to a court document, attorneys for mueller asked a judge to grant the government full and exclusive custody and control of five properties in new york, three bank accounts and one life insurance policy. the properties include manafort's condo in trump tower, which is valued at $3 million and luxury property in the hamptons. he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy against the u.s. and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice by witness tampering. president trump is apparently using opposition to separating migrant children from their parents at the southern border to attack the democrats. at a campaign rally saturday night in kansas, the president repeated several of his usual

falsehoods and exaggerations along with adding this. >> every single democrat in the u.s. senate has signed up for the open borders. it's a bill. it's called the open borders bill. what's going on. and it's written by -- guess who -- diane feinstein. >> all right. so there actually is no bill by that name and trump's invocation of feinstein suggests this is possible a reference to her bill to end the separation of families at the border. it is similar to an attack that republican senate candidate josh holly recently leveled in missouri which is false. mike pompeo meets with kim jong-un for the fourth time. plus pop star taylor swift dives into politics, sharing her thoughts about one of this year's most closely watched

senate races. t closely watched senate races ♪ ok here we go guys, you ready? hi! cinturones por favor. gracias. opportunity is everywhere. ♪ it's gonna be fine. it's a door... ♪ it's doing a lot of kicking down there. waiting to be opened. ♪ whatever your ambition... ♪ whatever your drive... ♪ whatever you're chasing... driver, are we almost there? we're gonna have a baby! ♪ daddy! daddy! opportunity is everywhere. ♪ all you have to do to find it is get out... here. ♪

because when you want to create an entirely new feeling, the difference between excellence and mastery, is all the difference in the world. introducing the all-new lexus es. a product of mastery. experience amazing at your lexus dealer. with large debris and stuck-on dust, so shark invented duoclean, replacing the front wall with a rotating soft brush. while deep cleaning carpets, two brush rolls pick up large particles with ease, make quick work of stuck-on dust, giving hard floors a polished look, and fearlessly devour piles. shark duoclean technology, designed to do more on carpets and floors, available in corded and cord-free vacuums, and only available from shark.

get stronger... get closer. start listening today to the world's largest selection of audiobooks on audible. and now, get more. for just $14.95 a month, you'll get a credit a month good for any audiobook, plus two audible originals exclusive titles you can't find anywhere else. if you don't like a book, you can exchange it any time, no questions asked. automatically roll your credits over to the next month if you don't use them. with the free audible app, you can listen anytime, and anywhere. plus for the first time ever, you'll get access to exclusive fitness programs a $95 value free with membership. start a 30-day trial today and your first audiobook is free. cancel anytime and your books are yours to keep forever. audible. the most inspiring minds. the most compelling stories. text "listen5" to 500500 to start your free trial today.

♪ welcome back, everyone. i'm ayman mohyeldin. let's start with the morning's top stories. president trump is hooking to continue the celebration over the confirmation of his second supreme court nominee with a prime time ceremony. it comes after the president hit the campaign trail over the weekend looking to use the political wind to fire up republicans ahead of next month's midterms. kelly o'donnell has more from

the white house. >> reporter: good morning. the supreme court fight was longer than most people expected. it went a full three months. it was more bitter and brutal and partisan than many anticipated. it isn't quite over. for both parties it has the potential to drive voters to the polls next month. justice brett kavanagh's sworn oath was not an end point, but instead a political reboot. for energized and sometimes angry democrats. >> i've said to the women who are justifiably angry but determined and i said they should be just focused hikelike laser beam on the elections. >> reporter: and a recharge for republicans. >> i want to thank the other side for the tactics that have allowed us to energize and get involved our own voters. >> reporter: the president headed for the golf course with

senator lindsey graham. >> i'm going to go throughout this country and let people in these purple states know what i thought, know what i think about this process. >> reporter: the president in rally mode saturday night made the bitter confirmation fight a call to act. >> on november 6th, you will have the chance to stop the radical democrats -- and that's what they've become. >> reporter: but sticking with her party could have real consequences. republican susan collins yes vote unlearned instant anger to unseat her in 2020. >> i have to do what i think is right. and over the years the people of maine have trusted me to exercise my best judgment. >> reporter: while north dakota democrat heidi heitkamp who could lose her seat next month tells 60 minutes voting yes

would have been safer. >> i think that the politically expedient vote here was a yes vote. >> why not then? >> because this isn't about politics. >> reporter: the white house is planning to embassy tend its own celebration by holding a ceremonial swearing in for justice kavanaugh in the east room of the white house tonight. while several other justices have also had both a private and public ceremony, those were daytime events. president trump announced this would happen at 7:00 tonight. that means the potential for a larger live tv audience and more of an opportunity for him to tout his accomplishments right before the midterms. the top democrat on the house judiciary committee is promising an investigation into brett kavanagh if democrats retake control of the house come this november. jerry nadler who is in line to become the committee chairman should democrats win, said, quote, it is not something we are eager to do, but the senate having failed to do its job of

advise and consent, we are going to have to do something to provide a check and balance to protect the rule of law and the legitimacy of one of our most important institutions. the congressman also argued that there was evidence that senate republicans and the fbi had overseen a whitewash investigation of the allegations against kavanaugh. according to the paper, the congressman sidestepped the issue of impeachment. senator chuck grassley spent his weekend trying to clear up his comments over the lack of women on that panel. he seemed to suggest that the committee's workload was a deterrent for women senators from joining. >> do you have the sense now that you want to see a woman on the committee for the republican side? >> we can't do anything about that. first of all, the people of the states elect women or men. so you've got to go by that. then you've got to have a desire to serve.

and my chief of staff of 33 years tells me that we've tried to recruit women and we couldn't get the job done. >> you think they don't want to be on the committee? >> well it's a lot of work. don't forget, compared to a lot of committee meetings, we have an executive every thursday. so it's a lot of work. maybe they don't want to do it. >> all right. so less than 24 hours later grassley walked back his remarks while mitch mcconnell said that republicans are currently trying to recruit more women for the judiciary committee. watch. >> i should have said that it's even hard to get men to serve on the committee and three people are on the committee because the leader had to talk them into being on the committee because nobody wants to serve on the committee for two reasons. one, it has executive session every thursday, at least most thursdays. another thing is it's so ideal

logically divided. >> their particular priorities have not -- there's been no effort to avoid it. >> i think top democrats don't want to audiocassettalk about i because they feel that's going to energize republican voters. in the polls that we had show that there's an enthusiasm gap that has almost all but evaporated between republicans and democrats when it comes to the midterm elections.

more than 80% of both parties think the midterms are very, very important. brett kavanagh already has republicans feeling like they want to go to the polls. as a result, democrats want to be try to go and say we want to focus on what we can do for the party, what we can do for your life and not talk about taking out a republican nominated supreme court justice nominee. >> we know that today brett kavanagh is a justice on the supreme court. his life is moving forward to some extent. how are the women who accuse judge kavanagh of sexual misconduct reacting to his confirmation? have we been hearing from them? >> we've been hearing from representatives of these women. so there's a lawyer for dr. ford that was speaking to nbc's kasie hunt. she said she was horrified when the president mocked her at his campaign rally in mississippi. they said anita hill got a full

fbi investigation. they think dr. ford's fbi investigation was really rushed and that a lot of stuff was left out. then you have julie swetnick whose lawyer michael avenatti also spoke out. she says she was really disappointed with the fact that people said she shouldn't have come forward because they said her allegations in some ways hurt dr. ford. she said she was horrified also by susan collins' vote and felt she was really someone who wasn't in the corner of women. those are at least two of the women speaking out. what we know is that women all over the country including a lot of democratic women saw this nomination, saw the process and all that went into it and were even more fired up to go to the polls and push back against president trump and other republicans.

fresh off a meeting with north korea's kim jong-un, secretary of state mike pompeo says there has been, quote, significant progress made toward denuclearization. he traveled to pyongyaonyongyant with kim following months of cancelled meetings and mixed messages between the two countries. pompeo explained that the two agreed to hash out the next steps of the denuclearization process, including the placement of inspectors at one of kim's allegedly dismantled nuclear facilities. north korea's state run news agency called the talks productive and wonderful. south korean president moon jae-in who has been an sbintegr part of getting the two countries to sit down says the latest visit has paved the way

for a trump-kim summit. president trump tweeted that he's looking forward to seeing kim again, quote, in the near future. a meeting date and location are still being worked out according to the state department. accordg to the state department.

david. what's going on? oh hey! ♪ that's it? yeah. that's it? everybody two seconds! "dear sebastian, after careful consideration of your application, it is with great pleasure that we offer our congratulations on your acceptance..." through the tuition assistance program, every day mcdonald's helps more people go to college. it's part of our commitment to being america's best first job. to take care of yourself. but nature's bounty has innovative ways to help you maintain balance and help keep you active and well-rested. because hey, tomorrow's coming up fast. nature's bounty. because you're better off healthy. nature's bounty. but some give their clients cookie cutter portfolios. fisher investments tailors portfolios to your goals and needs. some only call when they have something to sell. fisher calls regularly so you stay informed.

and while some advisors are happy to earn commissions whether you do well or not. fisher investments fees are structured so we do better when you do better. maybe that's why most of our clients come from other money managers. fisher investments. clearly better money management. cle...is a hassle.th a mop and bucket... swiffer wetjet makes cleaning easy. it's safe to use on all finished surfaces, ...trapping dirt and liquid inside the pad. plus, it prevents streaks better than a micro fiber strip mop. for a convenient clean, try swiffer wetjet. what does help for heart fait looks like this. entresto is a heart failure pill that helped keep people alive and out of the hospital. don't take entresto if pregnant; it can cause harm or death to an unborn baby. don't take entresto with an ace inhibitor or aliskiren, or if you've had angioedema with an ace or arb. the most serious side effects are angioedema, low blood pressure, kidney problems, or high blood potassium. ask your doctor about entresto.

♪ the beat goes on. yeah! ♪ 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. welcome back, everyone. a new poll shows the race in the senate a mixed bag for both parties. ted cruz leads beto o'rourke 50% to 44%. in arizona the democrat has the

lead. tennessee republican marsha blackburn has an eight-point advantage against the democrat. in new jersey bob menendez has a ten-point lead over republican bob hugin. taylor swift endorsed two tennessee democrats for congress. she made her statement on instagram sunday night, one day after finishing the north american leg of her reputation world tour. she voiced her support for the former governor and u.s. representative jim cooper. she also offered harsh words for republican nominee marsha blackburn, writing as much as i have in the past and would like to continue voting for women in office, i cannot support marsha blackburn. her voting record in congress apa appalls and terrifies me.

any discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender is wrong. i believe that the systemic racism we see in this country toward people of color is terrifying, sickening and prevalent. these are not my tennessee values. let's get a check now on your weather with meteorologist michelle grossman. >> we are talking about tropical storm michael. we have watches that have been issued as expected. where you see the pink, that's a hurricane watch. where you see the yellow is tropical storm watch. that really just means we have conditions that we expect to be tropical storm force winds and conditions that expect to be hurricane watch. we watch this over the next several days. we expect tropical storm michael to become a hurricane. it could happen as early as today. we're seeing winds at 70 miles an hour. the biggest impacts will be the chance for deadly storm surge, some localized flooding. you want to prepare now. we could also see widespread power outages. this is a time to prepare.

you really have today and early tomorrow before we start to see some of the effects of michael along the gulf coast. we do expect it to increase in strength as we head toward the gulf coast and could make impact as a category 2 storm. right now we are looking at the location 90 miles east of mexico. it's moving slowly north at 7 miles an hour. as we look at the track here, this is wednesday 2:00 a.m. that puts it at a category 2 storm. then it nears the coast. we are expecting it to make landfall as a category 2 storm. then it moves north and east impacting the carolinas and the north atlantic. rainfall could be over four inches in some spots. still ahead, apple and

amazon get support from one government agency over their denials of being compromised by chinese spy chips. plus, global markets are under pressure this morning over renewed concerns over china's economy. details on those stories and the ow others driving your business day. others driving your business day.

super emma just about sleeps in her cape. but when we realized she was battling sensitive skin. we switched to tide pods free & gentle. it's gentle on her skin and out cleans the other free and clear detergent. dermatologist recommended. it's got to be tide.

the congressional budget office is offering the first snapshot of government revenue for this fiscal year. it's not exactly a pretty

picture. despite economic growth, the budget deficit rose from 6$666 billion to $782 billion. it is the third con sesecutive increase since federal revenue essentially flat lined. tax revenue fell some 31% as companies took advantage of the new lower tax rates. government spending increased by an estimated 3%. let's turn to business for a moment. global markets were dragged down by china as the ongoing trade fight with the u.s. continues to stall its economy. what is the latest? >> so the chinese central bank has cut the reserve requirement ratio for its banks. this ratio is intended to inject

up to $109 billion into the chinese banking system to spur growth. experts say this move represents nervousness from beijing around the trade war with the u.s., suggesting they think maybe it will last for quite a bit longer. y th chinese stocks reactedink maybet wi negatively to this newsll las a we're starting to see it filter through to the u.s. and european markets as well. moving from the macro to the micro pret amager is back in focus. reports of a second individual passing away after an allergic reaction to one of its products has come through. this comes after news of a 15-year-old girl passing away after suming a baguette that contained sesame that wasn't labeled on its products. they say they will affix proper labels to their fresh food products as a result of this room. >> whatlt a heartbreaking story that is. let's switch gears to another story that has made a lot of headlines in the u.s. before this new announcement from the department of homeland security which is siding now with apple and amazon after that recent report claimed that the

company supply chains were actually compromised by chinese intelligence services, b allegations that the two companies themselves originally denied now being backed up by the department of homeland security. what more can you tell us about this? >> yes, so that report that you referenced last week sent a raft of concern through the market around amazon, apple and several other tech companies. now the fact that the u.s. department of homeland security is backing not only amazon and apple but also the british national cybersecurity agency really adding some credibility to these tech companies' claims remains to be seen who is in the right ihere. back to you. >> all right. thank you julianna. coming up ax os' mike allen has a look at this morning's one big thing. coming up on "morning joe" the bitter batting over brett kavanaugh's confirmation comes to an end. what his presence on the bench will mean for the supreme court

as they start their new terms going forward. plus how democrats and republicans plan toow use the journal's arrival on this high court to energize their base with less than a month to go before the midterm elections. "morning joe" just moments away. s "morning joe" just moments away. (burke) that's what we call a huge drag. seriously, that's what we call it. officially. and we covered it. talk to farmers. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ mechanic: midas has all the top king: yes! indeed.ires. take these michelin tires for example... king: or these goodyear tires over here! now at midas, get up to $200 off select goodyear and cooper tires with the midas credit card. request your appointment today. i couldn't catch my breath.

it was the last song of the night. it felt like my heart was skipping beats. they said i had afib. what's afib? i knew that meant i was at a greater risk of stroke. i needed answers. my doctor and i chose xarelto® to help keep me protected from a stroke. once-daily xarelto®, a latest-generation blood thinner significantly lowers the risk of stroke in people with afib not caused by a heart valve problem. warfarin interferes with at least 6 of your body's natural blood-clotting factors. xarelto® is selective, targeting just one critical factor. for afib patients well managed on warfarin, there is limited information on how xarelto® compares in reducing the risk of stroke. don't stop taking xarelto® without talking to your doctor, as this may increase your risk of stroke. while taking, you may bruise more easily, or take longer for bleeding to stop. xarelto® can cause serious, and in rare cases, fatal bleeding. it may increase your risk of bleeding if you take certain medicines. get help right away for unexpected bleeding or unusual bruising. do not take xarelto® if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. before starting, tell your doctor about all

planned medical or dental procedures and any kidney or liver problems. learn all you can to help protect yourself from a stroke. talk to your doctor about xarelto®. to help protect yourself from a stroke. (music throughout)

welcome back. joining us now from washington, d.c. with a look at axios a.m. the co-founder of axios mike allen. what is axios' one big thing for us? >> happy holiday. the axios one big thing, the white house prepares for a legal storm. officials in the white house now realize it's more likely than not that they are going to face a democratic house in january, that means subpoena power, that means investigations, that means e-mails, calendars, schedules, documents, meeting notes all can be requested by the hill. the white house has been way behind in preparing for this. the bush white house when they saw a democratic house coming in 2006 spent months preparing for it. axios jonathan swan now reports

that the white house chief of staff john kelly has a small working group that's getting ready to deal with this white house incoming and later this month the senior staff will have a weekend retreat and this is going to be one of the topics for that retreat. >> let me ask you about the concern within the white house not about the legal aspects of what a democratic white house could mean but just the shear fact that the house could possibly flip into democratic control in november adding to the president's problem. is that a serious concern? i mean, what are they basing that on? simply the polling and the trends or do they have, you know, other statistics and data that they're using? >> no, the intensity of their voters is something they've been watching. they've seen for a long time that enthusiasm among democrats has been much higher and that's the basic reason a lot of trump officials have been assuming they lose the house. there has been a little bit of denial going on in the west wing, partly because of the president's optimism.

he wants to run in and save the day. he maybe thinks he will run in and save the day and that's part of the reason that this planning has been put off for so long, but now they recognize that even with the kavanaugh effect that's helping them in senate races they need to be ready for a speaker pelosi and all the investigations and subpoenas that that's going to mean. >> so obviously this is going to require some legal preparation as you mentioned from the team at the white house. what do the lawyers from previous white houses telling axios about the potential legal challenges this administration may face? >> the analogy we're hearing again and again is the clinton white house. that these will be very similar legal battles and axios jonathan swan and evan ryan talked to a bunch of previous white house counsels and asked them what the traps are that are out there for the trump white house, and they include the idea of compartmentalization, one of the

reasons that president clinton was able to survive for eight years of investigations is he could put it in a literal box, he had a different team that dealt with those investigations. president trump is the opposite, of course, he loves to talk about what's on his mind, he loves to talk about it more in these flurry of rallies that we're having this week. second is talent. jack quinn a former white house counsel for democrats said that trump essentially needs to build the biggest investigative and powerful litigation firm in the city. that's how many things are coming at them and that's just from the democrats not even including mueller. and the third issue for this white house is the quality of the investigators. something that clinton benefited from was the republican congressional investigators weren't always at the top of their game, weren't always sharp. democrats have had a couple years now to prepare for this, they are going to be at the top of their game and so this could be a battle between great talent on the democratic side, the white house having to suddenly

build and backfill talent. >> before i let you go i have to ask you really quickly i know that axios is looking at the growing political power of women with less than a month before the midterms. we saw the images over the weekend of women leading the protest charge on supreme court and even against the confirmation of brett kavanaugh. what are you seeing in regards to this translating into actual political momentum in that trend? >> this has been building momentum. if you look at it the real october surprise has been increased political power for women because you look back, it was two years ago yesterday, october 2016, that the access hollywood tape came out putting women's issues at the forefront of that presidential race. then a year later it was october 5th almost to the day 2017 that the first harvey weinstein story came out in the "new york times" touching off me too and times up and then a year later this fall

you have dr. christine blasey ford out who is testimony also ignited women. every woman has a story, so people who track this say that president trump animated this trend, but they think it will last long beyond trump. >> mike allen, thank you very much. of course, we will be reading axios a.m. in just a bit. you, too, can sign up for the newsletter by going to signup.axios.com. that does it for me on this monday morning. "morning joe" starts right now. the sergeant-at-arms will restore order in the gallery. the sergeant-at-arms will restore order in the gallery. >> that was the scene in the senate gallery on saturday as protests swept through the capitol including during the confirmation vote of brett kavanaugh to the supreme court. the senate confirmed kavanaugh in a