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[throat clears] say hello to your fairy godmother, alice. oh and look they got gain scent beads and dryer sheets too! >>> president trump and republicans standing by the supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh. judge kavanaugh speaking out publicly for the first time in a prime time interview last night denying christine blasey ford's allegation that he sexual assaulted her three decades ago. >> the truth is i've never sexual assaulted anyone, in high school or otherwise. i am not questioning and have not questioned that perhaps dr. ford at some point in her life was sexual assaulted by someone in someplace, but what i know is i've never sexual assaulted anyone. >> all right. let's talk about t we want to bring in senior correspondent for the new york magazine arian carmon, talou and john avalon. >> good morning. >> talou, when did brett kavanaugh resort to a national televised interview where he talked about really personal awkward things, when so many of the republicans have said, you know, this woman is making her case in the court of public opinion, she has gone to the media, you know, this isn't fair, and why do you think he took that tactic? >> i think "the new yorker" article that came out really sort of changed the game, it made brett kavanaugh and his team specifically his team at the white house want to try to gain the narrative back, take control of the narrative. we know the president likes to watch fox news, we know that when people go on fox news had has outside influence on the president so there was the audience of one factor, but also creating a narrative of brett kavanaugh being somewhat seen in a more compassionate light, he is there with his wife, he's having to divulge all this personal information about when he lost his virginity, he is also taking some air out of this explosive thursday hearing where there are going to be a number of different questions, he was able to answer a lot of the questions that the senators will have for him, so his categorical denial on tv on fox takes away some of the explosiveness of the thursday hearing because he has already answered and he's sort of fully said that this is not something that i have ever done to anyone and we now know what he's going to say on thursday, it's going to be much more difficult to push him further than what he has already said. >> professor blasey ford hasn't spoken on television and has been invited everywhere. this was a smart strategy to get his message out. i think the answer to the question where he revealed that he was a virgin for many, many years as he says through high school, he went into that interview ready to say that. i don't think you answer that question in that way in a spur of the moment thing. it was in response to the question about whether he was involved in some kind of group sex. it was specifically in answer to that. nevertheless do you think this was designed to make people uncomfortable so that they would say, you know, a supreme court nominee shouldn't have to talk about when the first time he had sex was. look how far we've devolved here. this whole process stinks. >> john, i think it was a risky strategy honestly from a pr perspective. yes, you have his unequivocal denial, he was answering uncomfortable questions, but i also think he provided an entire arsenal for democrats. he previewed what he's going to say on thursday and i think two really important things emerged from this interview and one is that martha maccullem asked you if you did not do this why don't you talk with the fbi. he didn't engage with why he didn't juan the fbi to interview everyone. he made representations about who he was as a young man which don't prove whether he sexual assaulted anyone, he said he was never blackout drunk, he said he was mostly volunteering and going to church. there are a lot of people who know him back then and his yearbook is ul if of references to heavy drinking, mark judge wrote multiple memoires about this. i think it calls into question his honesty and candor to represent a person that is totally different from what has been heard before and that gives democrats in thursday's hearing if it takes place an opportunity to go in on the attack. >> his yearbook in damning. i mean, it's damning. i'm sure all of our high school yearbooks are damning, okay, but his talks about heavy drinking and it talks about, you know, there's this reference to this person or word named ronata and it turns out that there are 14 references in this georgetown prep yearbook to renate schroder. she was one of the 65 women who sent a letter of support and now it turns out that these are references it appears to having had some sort of sexual contact with this woman at a different school. now she says that she's appalled by the idea that there was this gross group of guys who were all claiming this in their high school yearbook. again, it's high school, okay, so i understand that people do silly things but it is still that strain of moss -- misogynistic fervor. >> it's relevant because it's during the time in which he was accused. >> the gap between what he presented last night in the interview and the evidence not only in professor ford's system but the yearbook in stark. he is trying to present a vision of high school as a jesuit mayberry and we're confronting an animal house culture and the two probably collide and that's the reality. the question is how you mediate that. high school can be ugly. high school can be petty, it can be where mistakes were made, but now he's holding himself up as a paragon of virtue in high school and there is contradictory evidence baked in the cake in his yearbook. >> he says repeatedly i've always treated women with dignity. the fact is just that yearbook alone is not treating this woman with dignity. that doesn't prove or disprove the sexual assault allegation, but it does disprove the notion that he always treated women with dignity. >> i could be wrong, but if we go back to his yearbook there is not a lot of references to going to church on sunday but there are a lot of references to drinking in excess at 100 kegs and all that stuff. i understand that it's high school but it is just a very -- this captures it in realtime. yearbook is in realtime. >> it's an indelible snapshot. it also could have very little to do with the man he is. he's standing by his wife and the allegations and even probably some evidence in the yearbook does not seem to be reflective of the man she knows, how he has lived his life professionally and part of the question we are going to have to confront as a country in these hearings as they go forward is how much do you weight someone's adolescent id i don't sayity and potential beyond that. >> we are not just -- >> go ahead. >> it's not just weighting his adolescent, you know, indiscretions or allegations of sexual assault because we're weighing his honesty now. this is somebody who is being elevated to the supreme court potentially and so it's not really about what he did then, it's about what he's saying now. is he being honest with the american people? >> and, again, i'm just not so sure what he is accused of and he has denied is such a high bar that it is difficult to consider it when you're talk being a lifetime appointment to the supreme court. he denies it. what's fascinating to me also is yesterday i think we saw a big shift in the republican plans to get this nomination through. mitch mcconnell gave a fiery speech on the senate floor, making clear there will be a vote on judge kavanaugh and we're hearing from senators that they could have a committee vote as soon as thursday or friday. i think there are -- they are circling the wagons to use one commonly used metaphor and showing their resolve that this is going to happen. >> i think "the new yorker" article, again, created this shift where republicans are starting to question whether or not it was smart to even delay the hearing and accommodate dr. ford because now they believe that more women are coming out. they have michael avenatti throwing himself into the process saying there is another woman who is going to come out. they're second guessing whether or not they should have plowed through with this in the first place and they are not seeing some of the benefits they thought they would see, especially heading towards the midterm where there is this gender gap and now they're second guessing whether or not it makes sense to say we're going to get this guy on the court, as long as we have the votes we're going to push through and move this as quickly as possible. >> there is no plan b. plan b is coming up with a new nominee which wouldn't get through before the midterms. >> why not? they had a list of paper. >> it just takes too long. >> that's what's providing the urgency with mcconnell's statement. his determination to go forward is driven by political reality. they're dealing with pay back to merrick garland and that's what they don't fully appreciate but mcconnell's determination to move this forward will be predicated on having the votes. >> to that, on that same note, how about susan collins and what she's confronting, these, you know, scores of protesters who are demanding that she vote against kavanaugh. i mean, the pressure is on for her, but what she's saying is let's wait until thursday. she, too, wants to hear the whole story. that's fair, right? >> look, i mean, what about a fair process for dr. christine blasey ford? if you have all of the senators who were involved in this hearing on thursday saying, all right, let's get this over with, let's, quote, plow through which i think is an unfortunate choice of words, what is the fairness there? and i think that actually that they might be bluffing, they might actually be overstating whether they have these votes with susan collins, lisa murkowski from alaska, also potentially waiting and seeing until thursday, even jeff flake, although i don't think democrats should hold their breath is saying he wants to make sure that this goes okay, wants to see what happens on thursday. i mean, again, if it's not about keeping an open mind on thursday then why are they doing it? is this a pro forma proceeding? is it a rigged game? or do they actually want to hear what this woman has to say? regardless it is the appropriate thing for collins to say let's wait and hear what she has to say on thursday. >> thank you very much. >>> this is definitely not something you want to see while out in your canoe. >> oh, my god. >> no, that should not be along for the ride. the story behind this wild video next. get your groove on with one a day 50+. ♪ get ready for the wild life ♪ complete multivitamins with key nutrients that address 6 concerns of aging, including heart health, supported by b-vitamins. your one a day is showing. brushing only reaches 25% of your mouth. listerine® cleans virtually 100%. helping to prevent gum disease and bad breath. never settle for 25%. always go for 100. bring out the bold™ ♪ ♪ ♪ olly. >>> president trump rejected the idea of state hood for puerto rico soongs his critics on the island are in office. this was during a radio interview with geraldo rivera, the president went directly after the mayor of san juan and she has been very critical of the president's response to hurricane maria. >> with the mayor of san juan as bad and incompetent as she is, puerto rico shouldn't be talking about statehood until they get some people that really know what they're doing. that certainly could be something they talk about, but with people like that involved in puerto rico, i would be an absolute no. >> president also once again claimed the official hurricane death toll which stands at nearly 3,000 americans was inflated for political reasons. it was not. >>> the dallas police department has fired amber guyger, the officer charged with manslaughter in the shooting death of his neighbor botham jean. he was killed inside his apartment. she claims she thought she had entered her own apartment. an internal affairs investigation included she engaged in adverse conduct. >>> the fbi is joining local authorities in the search for a missing six-year-old autistic boy maddox ritch, he went missing on saturday after a trip with his father to a park in gastonia which is north of charlotte in north carolina. police extended their search in the ground and in the air to two miles outside the park to use trained dogs to cover part of the terrain. they're looking -- if you have any information on this young boy, please call the fbi or local police. >>> john, imagine this, you are taking a ride, a relaxing ride on the water when your canoe gets stuck on something. it's a giant alligator's back. a company in st. petersburg, florida, called see through canoes hosted this video so its instagram company. the man in the canoe who is a supervisor at gator world says the alligator dragged the canoe several feet before backing away slowly. >> you will need a bigger boat and that is a huge head, that's not a small head. >> i'd like to know what the rules are for when that happens. i mean, what exactly -- >> how loud you're supposed to scream? really loud. >> i don't think you're supposed to hit them with your paddle. i don't think that would be a good response, though you might be tempted to. so what are you supposed to do when your boat runs aground on an alligator's head. >> i'm still concerned about the size of the head, i think that alligator has some kind of condition, some kind of medical condition. you are not supposed to have a head that big. is it disproportionately large to the rest of his body? >> i'm not sure but we will find out. >>> the fate of the man who oversees the russia investigation remains uncertain this morning, so what will congress do, if anything, to protect special counsel robert mueller? stay with us. we're drowning in information. where in all of this 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yeah one bottle has the grease cleaning power of three bottles of this other liquid. a drop of dawn and grease is gone. investigation into the president's dealings with russia hangs in the balance. this as the president weighs whether to oust deputy attorney general rod rosenstein. rosenstein oversees the russia investigation and there's serious questions about what happens to it at all if he goes. so what will congress do, if anything, to protect mueller if rosenstein goes? joining us now two former members of the congress, former democratic congresswoman jane harmon, she is now the director, president and ceo of the wilson center and mike rodgers, a cnn national security commentator. we have two former chairs of the intelligence committee here, that is more intelligence than we can handle in one place. jane, i want to start with you on the issue of what you think should happen over the next few days with rod rosenstein. >> well, i think he should stay. i think president trump should figure out what's in his personal legal interest, which according to sean hannity and i agree is for rosenstein to stay, but if for some reason he doesn't, he either resigns -- well, if he resigns it's trickier for congress, but if he's fired i think that those in congress, including many republicans like lindsey graham, should follow through on their view that they want to protect him and they can reconstitute the inquiry as an inquiry for congress, i think getting that through right now is tricky, but i don't think this sideshow is helpful in the elections at all and i frankly think that there is redundant information from the mueller probe in grand juries and elsewhere and the probe is not going to die, i think it just puts trump at serious legal jeopardy if he tries to kill it. >> mr. chairman, you heard what madam chairman said, she wants congress to step in with legislation to protect the mueller investigation. you don't believe that's necessary. >> i don't. i think congress has a couple options. i think that the mueller probe should be allowed to proceed, i think firing rosenstein would be a terrible decision and i'm hoping that some external pressure would allow the president to see through what i think is impulsive on his desire to do this. congress will have other options. this he could do a 9/11 kind of commission if that were to happen, they could do a special committee like a watergate committee that they've done before. they could also pass a law that says that the appeals court would nominate a special counsel to finish the investigation. so i think i would let that play out before i'd get into the big drama of trying to preempt something that we do not know for sure would happen. >> whatever happens, jane, you think it should happen quickly because of the message its sending to the intelligence community, everyone involved in the different investigations. >> i'd love the mueller probe to conclude quickly. i think he has enormous information and i think having it over but, you know, completed is in everybody's interest including the president's interest and the country's interest. we have so many crucial things to think about including what's going to happen here at the u.n. general assembly which is why i'm here, and frankly this kavanaugh thing also needs to play out on the same day in a manner that is fair to the women who have claimed what they've claimed and, i don't know if it's plural women but it might be, i guess it is now, but also fair to him. >> i will note that we have spoken to people involved in the u.n. general assembly and they are all watching what's going on here in the united states. they know what's going on with the kavanaugh confirmation process and the rod rosenstein matter. mike, i do want to ask you about world affairs right now, specifically north korea because the president -- the difference between last year and this year is just staggering between little rocket man as he was speaking to the united nations one year ago and this year when he's going in saying glowing things about north korea. what do you think needs to happen if the president will sit down with another meeting with kim jong-un? >> i think we need some real concessions. listen, you told me last year that this year we would have had freed prisoners, no nuclear test detonation and no missile tests, i would have said, well, probably not likely. so there was some movement, but that, too, is all optics. we need something concrete. we do believe and i believe the intelligence services when they say they believe that he is, kim jong-un, is still engaged in developing a nuclear weapon program. we need something more concrete. remember, we gave up a lot to get where we are. we gave up those military exercises and really didn't get anything in return. not having missiles in a parade is not a concrete step toward denuclearization. we need -- i just hope the president doesn't decide he's going to go in and charm kim jong-un in a fairly unprepared way. we need to say, if you are going to have this second summit you need to show us what you a're doing, including giving up that one nuclear site for sure would be a great start and probably more than that. >> strongly agree. i usually do agree with mike and we worked together closely on the intelligence committee. >> we do. we do. >> let me add two more things, though. first of all, declaring an end to the korean war would then put our 28,000 troops on the border at risk of being sent home, i think that's a really bad idea, that's an insurance policy against north korea's activities, not just in south korea but in the region and should we ever need to do something we need those troops. the other bad idea is moving thad, our high altitude missile interceptor system that's in south korea to portland, oregon, which apparently appeared in the woodward book as a trump idea. we have to worry about how japan sees this. i don't think that moon's agenda, south korea -- the south korean president, is the same as our agenda. he wants reconciliation on the opinions la, that peninsula, that's good for him, but we want serious real denuclearization. >> gada great to have you with this morning. appreciate the discussion. >> thank you. >>> all right, john, she is a pint-sized powerhouse, a seven-year-old stuns the crowd with her rendition of the national anthem. it's all in the bleacher report next. making my dreams a reality takes more than just investment advice. from insurance to savings to retirement, it takes someone with experience and knowledge who can help me build a complete plan. brian, my certified financial planner™ professional, is committed to working in my best interest. i call it my "comfortable future plan," and it's all possible with a cfp® professional. find your certified financial planner™ professional at letsmakeaplan.org. find your certified findoespeninsula trail?he ional you won't find that on a map. i'll take you there. take this 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