. >> her name is christine blasey ford.om >> the's name is christine blasey ford. >> christine blasey >> narrator: mcconnell wouldn't back down from the coming fight. >> i think he was furious. you ow, this was the torpedo that he dreaded. >> christine blasey ford mbdescribed kavanaugh as sng drunk... >> narrator: he was worried t about losi senate in the upcoming midterms. he had to get kavanaugh confirmed fast. >> you know, those words of mcconnell, "you will rue the day," back in the bork fight? those equally applied to himlo if h the kavanaugh fight, because the democrats, if theyen controlled thee after this election, he would rue the day of what he'd done in garland. >> narrator: mcconnell launched a unterattack. >> senate democrats and their allies are trying to destroy a man's personal and professional life on the basis of decades-old allegations... >> narrator: bork. thomas. now kavanaugh. the fight for the court had become personal. d mcconnell blamed tocrats. >> democrats wouldn't let a few eeconvenient things get be them and a good smear. it's despicable. >> he's never fac

. >> dana: i have a big rant on that but -- >> juan: i recall christine blasey ford.sse: let dana respond. >> dana: it's not the same. the use of staff counsel is unusual. it's for a special committee, like watergate or iran contra. >> juan: they brought in a lawyer to question christine blasey ford. >> jesse: to take it easy on her. >> juan: no, >> dana: that's exactly why. >> juan: get out of here. >> jesse: everybody was screaming about your wasting your time. >> dana: they didn't want republican men to look like they were berating her. they have the staff attorney do it. >> jesse: i think he takes the bucket of kfc, take it out and dump it on his head. >> greg: imagine republican bringing chicken and handing a drumstick to an african-american woman like he did. >> jesse: he did? >> greg: we didn't have the tape but that's what he did. if any republican had done that, holy crap. politics has changed. you talk about stunt politics, the media has changed it by rewarding the worst behaviors, grandstanding, demonization, threats, scapegoating. exaggeration. this man is

christine blasey ford had to submit to questioning by somebody other than a member of congress and that was deemed acceptable. why the change now? you had the arguments being made on bost sides as the head lawyer in the country you should be more than capable of fielding questions about issues. on the other side you have the idea couldn't there have been some flexibility to allow the person people and members of congress to proceed with congress. i think senator lay lee said it best when he was interviewing william barr when he said he seems to know the rules of fill busters perhaps better than members of congress. perhaps he was hoping to run out the clock as opposed to having the opportunity to have holistic questioning that could be followed through, follow-up questions even without all of that being said and with it all being said, however, it really is absurd that this is a form over substance matter when william barr should be more than capable of answering questions about matters of extreme importance of which congress has the ability and the right to exercise oversight. >> david

christine blasey ford could suggest himself to expert counsel, certainly the attorney general of the you don't think that's a different scenario altogether? it's a little bit apples and oranges. >> i think the reason the attorney general is concerned is because of contradictions in his testimony. on the one hand he is telling people that bob mueller was concerned about the press and the confusion in the press. on the other hand he is saying bob miller was upset. "he sent me a letter, i wish he had called me. he was upset at me." so i think is very concerned about these possible contradictions, and i think the american people have a right to have expert counsel asked him about this. >> dana: in his right, since he's only been there for about six weeks, couldn't he say, "i'm going to sub sit in a deer to a separate turn he was more familiar with this than i am?" it is and sally could be very productive or appropriate oversight. >> if a doj staff attorney had written and signed the letter, that would have been fine. but he himself chose to sign the letter. bob mueller was in republican

the whole nation watched kr eed christine blasey ford watch why she didn't report as a teenager. >> brett'sed my life. i was too ashame and afraid. i didn't want to tell my parents that i at age 15 was in a house without parents present drinking beer with boys. i convinced myself that because brett did not rain me, i should just move on and pretend it doesn't happen. >> she did come forward. the man was confirmed in the supreme court anyway. now he can be the deciding vote to the constitutionality of bills like this one out of alabama and overturn women's right to make their own decisions about what happens to their bodies. you wouldn't accept an incomplete job from any one else. why accept it from your allergy pills? flonase sensimist relieves all your worst symptoms, including nasal congestion, which most pills don't. and all from a gentle mist you can barely feel. flonase sensimist. ♪ you can barely feel. woman 1: this is my body of proof. man 1: proof of less joint pain and clearer skin. man 2: proof that i can fight psoriatic arthritis... woman 2: ...with humira. woman 3: humira target

oepublicans used a similar format t question christine blasey ford during the confirmationaring for supremecourt justice brett kavanaugh. th py called todayn inappropriate. blayne alexander is tracking that battle and many more tonight. blayne. >> reporter: doreen, we saw a lot of things inside that hearing room today. several momts of political posturing. even a pukt bucket of fried chi. one thing we did not see the attorney general. tha h disagreement overow the hearing would play out. no secret there's been bad bloor between thesident's department of justice and how democrats. tod that went to a whole new level. inside today's house judiciary e committ hearing, a seat reserved for attorn general william barr standing empty. >> he has failed the men and women of the department of justice by placing the needs of the president over the fair administration ofc justi he has even failed to show up today. >> reporter: barr did not attend after democrats insisted he answer questions from committee lawyers, not just lawmakers. >> we're not getting that opportunity today because the stunt and the

last year, the whole nation watched christine blasey ford explain why she never reported being sexuallyssault on me drastically altered my life. for a long time, i was too afraid and ashamed to tell anyone these details. i did not want to tell my parents that i at age 15 was in a house without any parents present drinking beer with boys. i convinced myself that because brett did not rape me, i should just move on and just pretend that it happen. >> when she finally came forward the man she accused was confirmed to the supreme court anyway. now he could be the deciding vote to up hold the constitutionality of bills like this one out of alabama and to overturn women's rights to make their own decisions about what happens to their bodies. i can't tell you who i am or what i witnessed, but i can tell you liberty mutual customized my car insurance so i only pay for what i need. oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no... only pay for what you need. liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ every curve, every innovation, every feeling. a product of mastery. lease the 2019 es 350 for $379 a month for 36 mont

you saw the impact of the kavanaugh hearing where the president actually first thought that christine blasey ford had won the day. and i think that's the only thing that can change public opinion. >> neal katyal, is there any tactic available that can somehow speed up these processes to kind of make the subpoena process move more quickly for the democrats in the house? >> i do. i think that they can have expedited proceedings in court if the administration decides to try and block people from testifying and the like. so i do think that that's possible. but i think, lawrence, there are really two fundamental issues, apart from the politics or even the law. one is, what does it say about us if we don't launch investigations and subpoena people right away? i think it also says that we're in some sense, you know, weak and too afraid to get at the truth. the other thing is what it says about them. because even if they can stretch this out a little bit, maybe they'll even stretch it out to next year's election cycle. there is now a damning historical record, not just about the president but about his a

the senate judiciary committee brought in its own outside counsel during the testimony of christine blasey ford. and sarah sanders says nat white house long ago lost confidence in nadler. the committee chair. she said if he doesn't have the confidence to lead that committee, to ask the questions on his own behalf, then he should resign. >> amazing, they don't remember the christine bra schltkcasekas. >> we're here frwith congressma collins who laid out why the republicans are unhappy. do you expect democrats to hold william barr in contempt? >> i believe that will be their next step. they want to continue this story because as long as they can believe and let the american people believe that there is still something wrong, that the mueller report didn't actually say there was no collusion, no obstruction, if they can still deflect back to the president, they will keep the circus going. >> what incentives would democrats have it not have the attorney general to show up to be able to ask him questions? you seemed to say that they wanted to play out this way. why? >> because they wanted to look li

republicans on the senate side brought in outside counsel to question brett kavanaugh and christine blasey ford. >> melissa: that was the senate side, i think they were making a point about the house. >> marie: but is not this unprecedented crazy thing that the judiciary committee would bring them counsel to question a witness. i do think barr will be subpoenaed. i think that will be a bigger deal if he refuses to show up. but there are more questions we need to ask barr about why he made the decision not to bring charges on obstruction, and the person i think we really need to hear from is bob mueller. because barr yesterday -- >> melissa: i agree with you on that. >> marie: he went very far in saying what he thought mueller meant, what he thought mueller was saying in a phone call. answering so many of those questions would be easier if bob mueller would come testify. >> harris: do you think democrats will invite him? >> marie: democrats are definitely going to invite him. >> harris: that's the right word, right? if you are not subpoenaed -- >> dagen: but how are they going to handle it if bo

that was 32 years ago, the christine blasey ford case is completely different.all, she is not a sick cabinet secretary. secondly, she was interviewed by a woman because of the fact that republicans didn't want an all-male panel to have a bunch of men questioning her, so it really seems that the only two cases that we could find were one, iran contra and two, during watergate and i guess that's the question, congressman, wasn't this an effort by the house judiciary committee to make the russian investigation seem as bad and as serious as iran contra and watergate? >> congressman cicilline: i do think it's as bad and as serious but that's not the purpose for asking staff attorneys to question. it's been done. i don't think whether it matters if it's a sick cabinet secretary or a lay witness, the fact is the committee has the right to collect evidence in the way that we think is appropriate and the reason that itself typical -- the attorney general is a master of invading and you have 5 minutes that you go back and forth republican and democrat, you sometimes can't

christine blasey ford received questions from somebody who was an attorney, a former prosecutor, a sexualtor and expert, because members of congress and the senate did not want to ask her questions. she did not recoil to that request. she appeared in public. so, what was held of her to have to do in front of the public in this hearing, the attorney general will not do? that's extraordinarily absurd. now, it's not the first time in history that we've had an attorney general say, i'm not going to comply with your demand, house committee. remember, eric holder was held in contempt in congress in 2012 over the fast and furious refusal to hand over documents. so we have a little bit of a precedent, but we didn't want that to be repeated. >> let me ask jeffrey toobin. jeffrey, go ahead. >> this is a real lesson in the powerlessness of the house democrats. so they'll issue a subpoena. so they'll find him in contempt. so what? it's not going to make any difference. eric holder's reputation is entirely in tact, even though he was found in contempt. this just shows that if the trump white house and

just as i think what happened with christine blasey ford and the kavanaugh hearings. it was not just a teaching moment about reminding us that women are still being sized at the most public high levels but also running us of our history. reminding us of anita hill, the woman that came first, that first had this experience. the first woman to come forward and speak truth to power in that way. and have the entire livelihoods destroyed. because of that. this has been a teachable moment i think across many decades, across many civil rights movements. this seems to come and it's an ebb and flow. in this particular case, because i am living in it, i can speak for the entertainment business because that is where i come from. i will say that this is an unprecedented time. and it may not feel like a huge change but the fact that say, you know, an unprecedented number of women and people of color were invited in to the academy, the voting academy. which they are responsible for the academy awards and things like that but there also success makers. that is how you get a movie to

he watched christine blasey ford and was so moved by her performance, never mind it was the telling of the most horrific moment of her life that he was almost swayed on brett kavanaugh. i don't know that this is about what it should be about for donald trump, it's always about the show. >> unless congress is able to conduct oversight, perform its constitutional responsibilities, unless court orders are respected, temporary retrainistg orders are respected by the executive branch, we don't live in a democracy. maybe that's donald trump's america, an extreme way of putting it. but that's what's at stake here? >> if those are stakes, why is impeachment such a hard question for democrats. >> i don't think it's off the table forever for democrats. i think the question is how far will the executive branch push congress? if there are contempt votes after contempt votes if the executive branch doesn't comply with any process, then congress has no choice but to investigate to abuse of power, abuse of oath of office and that leads to impeachment hearings. >> phil, do you have any faith they're g