blasey ford was questioned by democratic senators on the judiciary committee who held her testimony as courageous and heroic. this is illinois senator dick durbin. >> dr. ford, with what degree of certainty do you believe right kavanaugh assaulted you? >> 100%. they make one of the 11 republican senators on the senate judiciary committee who are all white men question dr. blasey ford direcectly. instead, seating all of their time to rachel mitchell, an crimes prosecutor, longtime registered republican, who senate majority leader mitch mcconnell called a female assistant. mitchell was also scheduled a question brett kavanaugh on behalf of the republican senators, but was quickly stopped from her line of questioning by them after she asked brett kavanaugh after details of the parties he attended in the summer of 1982, around the time the alleged sexual assault took place. in his testimony to the committee, judge kavanaugh repeatedly deny dr. blasey ford's allegations, denouncing them with barely controlled rage and repeatedly choking up with tears in his eyes. he singled out democrats on

jeffrey klein, who led the now-defunct independent democratic conference, a group of democratic senators who aligned themselves with republicans. and community organizer and democratic socialist candidate julia salazar won her new york state senate primary in brooklyn, unseating 16-year incumbent martin dilan. 27-year-old salazar ran on a platform of affordable housing for all, while her opponent, has received more money from real estate developers than nearly any other new york state senate democrat. salazar won despite a number of recent news articles that raised questions about how she had described her political affiliations, family wealth, and birthplace. at columbia university, she was president of christians united for israel and in anti-choice

those who are interested in preserving and protecting our democratic process and institutions should shun the chaos senate democrats appear intent upon creating. in this country, we debate and evaluate ideas on the nominee's merits. i urge my colleagues to do just that. if they do, i'm confident they will understand the broad support, justified support that judge kavanaugh has for his

her all the senators on the committee, they have made up their mind. most of the democratsn the senate have made up their mind. as you said, i could not agree more. what can brett kavanaugh do to clear his name? to tell his children i am not in attempted rape us. neil: do think that will be the effect, too, with the senators up for reelection? some have cover now to vote no. what do you think? >> we don't know how that will play out. we live in a world where appearances matter. we certainly do. we do not have to like it and we certainly do not have to indulge it. let's get back to evidence. this week has seen insane charges. georgetown prep. no evidence at all. will that be the standard? i think that is a really bad place for this country to be. again, old-fashioned. i want want to see evidence. no one is talking about evidence or the lack thereof. it seems to me that if a man is going to be smeared, there are to be be some evidence to cooperate it. >> you are great speech writer. you know the power of fords. you also know the power of those words coming on someone's heart.

are there republican senators, possibly democratic senators, possibly democratic senators, who will gopen to listening and able make up their mind at the end. the retiring senator from arizona has seemingly said he would support the nomination, then you look at his face, he is paying attention, this may have swayed some republicans who thought they were going to support brett kavanaugh, thought they were going to support brett kava naugh, they thought they were going to support brett kavanaugh, they might think they will pull the support back. whether he will lose democratic support? i think they will support her. i do not think they will support brett kavanaugh. there will be nothing said by brett kavanaugh later today that will sway democrats. speu democrats. spell that out for us. it is one thing watching on television, i cannot imagine what it is like being in that room, and the senator from arizona looked pained, if he was to see, i cannot thought for this nominee, what happens? he has two votes on thejudiciary committee and then in the senate. this is down to what the representat

. >> two members of the senate judiciary committee, the former chair, pat leahy, democrat from vermont and senat vermont. there are ten democratic senators. in a half-hour votes as we continue here on c-span 3. we'll continue to have the video posted on our website at c-span.org. but right now, the opening statement earlier today. the hearing began shortly after 10:00 and christine ford speaking just before 11:00. here it is in its entirety. >> do you swear that the testimony you're about to give before this committee this be will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god? thank you very much. please be seated. before you give your statement, i want to say that to everybody that she has asked for any time you ask for a break, you get a break. and any time there's something that you need you don't have, just ask us. and you can have as much time for your opening statement as you want. just let us know if there's any issues. proceed please. >>. >> thank you, senator grassley. i think after i read my opening statement i anticipate needing some caffeine is tha

some democrat members walked out. a republican senatoreen wavering was ambushed in a left the senate building after he announced he was backing judge kavanaugh. you're telling me i don't matter, that what happened to me doesn't matter and you are going to let people who do these things into power. white have staff have been straining every sinew to getjudge kavanaugh on to the supreme court and other candidate may be bloodied and other candidate may be bloodied and bruised and with undoubted damage to his reputation, the democrats would say with still many questions to answer, it looks as though they are going to get their man, finally over the line. it felt likejudge man, finally over the line. it felt like judge kavanaugh his man, finally over the line. it felt likejudge kavanaugh his testimony was powerful and riveting and it was honest. the judiciary committee will vote shortly, assuming they vote for brett kava naugh vote shortly, assuming they vote for brett kavanaugh his nomination will go before the full senate ending the formal a

democrats are so panicked to bring down this nomination. but in the meantime a good and honorable man are receiving death threats and with those smears h facing senate democrats with no presumption of innocenc innocence. but before the week is that both judge kavanaugh and doctor ford will testify under oath before the judiciary committee. chairman grassley has made sure the facts will be heard that the american people deserve nothing less. but to make it pretty clear mister president here on the senate floor. up or down. to be nominated to the supreme court in the senate in the near future. >> it is the senate's job to thoroughly review the nominees credentials

—— senators, democratic governors, senate —— senators, excuse democratic governors, senate —publican states, who may have in pressured to vote for kava naugh states, who may have in pressured to vote for kavanaugh before yesterday's hearings who have now become comfortable in saying they are not actually going to vote for kavanaugh's are not actually going to vote for kava naugh's confirmation. are not actually going to vote for kavanaugh's confirmation. does senator flake become some kind of hero to be left as a result of all this? i think he becomes a hero to the left if he eventually votes no. he eventually voted for the process in making this compromise in delaying the hearing for a week. if he turns around and then votes no, he turns around and then votes no, he probably wouldn't become a hero to the left. but this was definitely an important step in favour of process. lots of the attention is likely going to focus on the two moderate women senators, lisa matkowski of alaska and susan collins of maine. they are also calling for a deeper investigation. susan collins in pa

immediately after the hearing, there was a meeting of four senators, three republican, one democrat, tential swing voters it is. there are 51 out of 100 robbie deans senators. so they have a very slight charity. but they have a very slight charity. but they need to try to keep all on—board. and that is pretty much all of the senators on board, if they want to go through to the confirmation process. although this is limited to one week, if anything, the last few days have shown a week and bea the last few days have shown a week and be a long time in washington, and be a long time in washington, and that is the concern for the white house generally. they want to try to move ahead with this process as quickly as possible, because they are aware that they don't know what will come up or what will be set in the week ahead. chris buckler live in washington, thank you. around 50 million facebook users have had their accounts hacked in the latest security breach to hit the social media network. the company says hackers had full access to the accounts and were also able to access any third—par

-period simple aided and abetted of the united states senate. democrats received a letter about doctor ford with the uncorroborated allegation of misconduct. she requested the matter be handled discreetly and confidentially. the next step would be to eliminate long --dash alert the committee to a full investigation to begin to follow the standard practice for backgroundto information have questioned their meetings while respect when disrespecting the request for confidentiality but the democrats did not do that they sat on doctor ford's letter for seven weeks. they did nothing and then leaked it to the press. that either the ranking member's office likely leaked documents. that chain of custody went through democratic side of the judiciary committee. does this sound like democratic senators take their responsibilities seriously? >> or does it sound like a choreographedde smear campaign for confidentiality to inflict maximum damage on judge kavanaugh and his family? >> this is an allegation of misconduct of all witnesses to flatly contradict or are unable

the gamut. >> feel like this hearing made senate republicans more certain of his innocence and senate democratsore convinced of his guilt. donald trump and vice president mike pence through their support behind brett kavanaugh after the hearing with mike pence saying this, today senate republicans conducted a hearing that was fair and respectful to brett cavanagh and doctor ford, the same cannot be said for the democrats. based on today and decades of service i stand with brett kavanaugh, a person of integrity and impeccable credentials, take the vote. republican senator bill cassidy signing and saying enough with the delays, time to confirm brett kavanaugh and bring washington democrats shameful smear campaign to a end but democratic senator cory booker addressed the accuser saying doctor ford, thank you for speaking truth to power. what you did today for survivors across this country was nothing short of hero. in all of your courage and bravery. it is up to those key swing votes. lawmakers were huddled together after the hearing and we have to wait and see. >> overall it gave politics a bad t

senate within the jurisdiction of the committee. there are certain protocols, let them handle it. heather: criticism from democratsaven't had enough time to look at these documents and that is leading to some of these problems. how they respond? >> talking about committee confidential. did have one senator ask in a timely way. a lot more could be done. the midnight hour since last night asking for document so i would say it is a little bit their own laziness about getting their request in. heather: the level of document he released for this nominee are more than the nominees combined. a lot more from the nominees. >> these are the relevant documents necessary, a lot more, if you tell me what senator schumer said, something senator leahy said on sonja soto mayor's nomination, she was a circuit court judge who went like this, i am paraphrasing. if you want to know what kind of judge somebody is going to be, that is the best record to make a determination. this gentleman on the circuit court for the best way of knowing whether to be on the supreme court. heather: did this backfire? ethan bearsman and pat vincent, wel

the senate is likely going republican, even if senate -- democrats are one -- win back the senate it will be by the narrowest majority. the most extreme of potential crimes could be alleged there and it would be difficult to imagine, and maybe even democrats who do think in the house the president should be impeached depending upon is conclusions might see it as not resulting in his removal anyway. host: sean, in maryland. an independent. good morning. caller: i disagree with you when you say the republicans will likely take the senate. if you look at nevada, dean is arizona,is is up in joe manchin is up in west virginia, the tennessee race is pretty much tied. with thes tied governor down there. i think the democrats could possibly pull it off, and i think a lot of people are sleeping on the democrats when it comes to the senate. i think the senate will go democrat and also people like joe manchin are playing it smart. they don't want obama coming to the state which is a good move, and on top of that, with the kavanaugh vote about to come up. they might vote for him and that could pl

has to take on and deal with those accusations from rachel mitchell, can either side, senators most notably democrats, get their chance to pounce on him an question him? >> senator grassley will be presiding over the hearing. i don't know exactly what to expect in terms of whether democrats will try to jump in, whether republicans try to jump in. i'm sure that senator grassley has a strategy and i'm sure that he has laid out his expectations to both sides as to how he expects this to play out. we've seen him be very forceful. he's used a great tone in explaining that he wants fairness and he wants people on both sides to come with a sense of primary mission to get to the bottom of this, not boost their presidential bid or put on partisan shows. we'll have to see how it goes down. i expect probably a more reserve process than what we saw in the initial hearings. >> neil: the focus had to be on at least originally christine ford's allegations. it's possible the democratic senators could go on to the other allegations and particularly with the judge, right? >> it's certainly possible. i think it would b

strange they have six female republican senators none of them on the judiciary committee. the democratsnators on this committee. you know, it's going to be incredibly tense. every word will be parsed with incredible precision. and then in the end, the country is really going to have just a few days, it looks like, to make up their mind who they believe. and unless, jeff flake, one of the four senators who really could stray from this who is on the committee, he would be the most important person to watch because he is -- he is the wavering senator who is on the committee. >> trace: david hockings former senior editor of "roll call." thank you. >> thank you. >> trace: more ahead on row rod rosenstein including comments from the former fbi deputy director andrew mccabe who lost his job for lying to investigators next. you're headed down the highway when the guy in front slams on his brakes out of nowhere. you do, too, but not in time. hey, no big deal. you've got a good record and liberty mutual won't hold a grudge by raising your rates over one mistake. you hear that, karen? liberty mutu

senate democrats. into 1991 when clarence thomas had his hearings and then there was the anita hill hearings i don't know this until yesterday gallup polls before and after had approval of clarence thomas at 52% in any july. and then it goes up to 58% after the hearings. are the democrats making a strategically bad decision here if they want to try to figure out a way to win back the senate, they have five red state senate democrats who are up for re-election right now and are under tremendous pressure on this issue. >> yeah. those polls are fascinating. and i teach the supreme court so we often go and watch, you know, the anita hill, clarence thomas hearings. i think one of the things that explains that was that clarence thomas, you know, was an african-american man in front of a senate judiciary committee made up of all white men as was aknit that hill. both of them put in a horrific situation in that hearing. and the democrats were in charge of that. i do want to take a step back though and say ther

the panel is made up of 11 republicans on the majority side, 10 democratic senators on the minority side. one of the sticking points remains who actually will question these two witnesses about this incident. normally in a situation like this, senators will ask the questions. we saw that at the start of september when the senators at the judiciary committee posed in their questions during to the viewer days of hearings with judge kavanaugh. this time around, republicans want to bring in outside counsel to represent their side. they say they want to just have lawyers, people familiar with being on the stand, doing questioning, take this over. but we are in the backdrop of the me too movement, this whole situation has echoes of 27 years ago with the anita hill hearings for justice clarence thomas. senators are 11 men. there is a concern among republicans that the optics of the 11 men questioning this woman over these very detailed the way judge kavanaugh, when they were teenagers, assaulted her at a party, that that would be too uncomfortable, not the kind of image republicans would want h

a democratic senator on this committee publicly refer to me as evil. evil. think about that word, and said that those who supported me were, quote, complicit in evil. another democratic senator on this committee said, quote, judge kavanaugh is your worst nightmare. a former head of the democratic national committee said, quote, judge kavanaugh will threaten the lives of millions of americans for decades to come. i understand the passions of the moment, but but i would say toe senators, your words have meaning. millions of americans listen carefully to you. given comments like those, is it any surprise that people have been willing to do anything to make any physical threat against my family, to send any violent e-mail to my wife, to make any kind of allegation against me and against my friends, to blow me up and take me down? you sowed the wind for decades to come. i fear that the whole country will reap the whirlwinds. they behavior that several of the democratic members of this committee at my hearing a few weeks ago was an embarrassment, but at least it w

a democratic senator on this committee publicly referred to me as evil -- evil. think about that word. and said that those who supported me were "complicit in evil." another democratic senator on this committee said "judge kavanaugh is your worst nightmare." a former head of the democratic national committee said, "judge kavanaugh will threaten the lives of millions of americans for decades to come." i understand the passions of the moment, but i would say to those senators, your words have meaning. millions of americans listened carefully to you. given comments like those, is it any surprise that people have been willing to do anything to make any physical threat against my family, to send any violent e-mail to my wife, to make any kind of allegation against me and against my friends to blow me up and take me down. you sewed the wind. for decades to come i fear the whole country will reap the whirlwind. the behavior of several of the democratic members of this committee at my hearing a few weeks ago was an boston marathon, but at least it was just a good old-fas

there is only one democratic senator asked for access to that, senator klobuchar got it. if you are interested in it, you could have been asking ever since august 25th, i believe. >> we've been asking to have those made public. i'm not as interested if i see this in a closed room where i can't talk about it. i want judge kavanaugh to see the e-mails which came from mr. miranda and -- >> give us citation of the documents and we'll get them for you. >> that testimony up there is true. 100%. >> can somebody read it? >> of course it would be helpful if we allowed the national archives time to complete their review. >> but i want to reassure you because you are asking important yes questions, what you have up on the board is 100% accurate. >> can somebody move it so we can see it here? >> i am concerned because there is evidence that mr. miranda provided you with materials that were stolen from me. and that would contradict your prior testimony. it is also clear from public e-mails that you have reason to believe materials were obtained inappropriately at the time. now, mr. ch

the other from a call to democratic senator sheldon whitehouse. it was an accusation about events in 1985. so this is according to the newly released transcripts from the judiciary committee hearings, okay? the senators asked kavanaugh about both accusations, and he denied them. he denied them strongly. but the focus tonight and tomorrow morning is going to be on the three women who have come forward to tell their stories. so i want you to listen. just listen to what president trump says about christine blasey ford, deborah ramirez, and julie swetnick. >> are you saying that all three of those women are liars? is there anything that could be said -- >> yeah. >> -- tomorrow that could cause you to withdraw the nomination? anything at all that -- >> i won't get into that game. i only tell you this. this is one of the highest quality people that i've ever met, and everybody that knows him says the same thing. and these are all false to me. >> so you heard that. the president says they're all false. now, remember, we don't have evidence that proves wha

democratic senators have been filing back and forth and republican senators have been filing back andrth as well. the chairman has gone back a couple of times as well and the key staff is there. something is happening. we don't know what it is or what will result, but the fact that the conversations are happening at all and he was so trouble and torn about this nomination for the last couple of days, it shows you that something is clearly happening right now. wolf? >> stand by, phil. dana is getting information from her sources. >> i am told by a source familiar with what is going is that there are serious conversations under way about how and weather a brief additional investigation could be done by the fbi and a vote to be delayed by no more than one week. those are the discussions that are going on right now behind the scenes with jeff flake and others. conversations about a potential fbi investigation and the democrats have been screaming from the roof tops that they need and wanted and think they need and deserve and the parameters are unclear if the democrats will get there. her

senate democrats saying that they are participating in the process under protest. after the president said the white house would be withholding more than one -- 1000 pages of the record. senate republicans have been having a difficult time voicing their support for judge cavanaugh because of all of those protests. >> here are the facts. judge cavanaugh is one of the most distinguished judges in the entire country. he has served for over 12 years now on the u.s. court of appeals and the dc circuit. the dc circuit is often referred to as the second highest court in the land because it hears many critically important cases. >> you can see senator hatch from utah having a difficult time getting to his points there because of all of those protests. abortion expects to be one of the major issues. judge cavanaugh says he believes roe versus wade is settled law but not says if he believes it was settled appropriately. senators are likely to raise our executive power in particular if a sitting president should be shide from prosecution or intrusive probes. the affordable car

they started the top ranking democrat on the senatejudiciary the top ranking democrat on the senate judiciaryn to the questions about the issue of mistaken identity. you were very clear about the attack, being pushed into the room, so you don't know quite by whom, but that it was brett kava naugh that know quite by whom, but that it was brett kavanaugh that covered your mouth to prevent you from screaming and then you escaped. how are you so sure that it was he? the same way that i am sure that i am talking to you right now. just basic memory functions. and also just the part of the brain that encodes that no tra nsfer the brain that encodes that no transfer into the hippocampus and so the trauma related experience is kind of lock the whereas other details kind of growth. what you are telling aussies that this could not bea telling aussies that this could not be a case of mistaken identity. absolutely not. christine blasey ford. we were talking about this, she is but a witness and an expert in this particular case because she does have this background as a professor of psychology where she ca

my guests this morning, republican senator dan sullivan of alaska and democratic senator amy clobishire of minnesota. florida republicans pick a die-hard trump supporter.

neil: democratic senators in particular who might not want to question dr. ford but certainly interrogate the judge when it is his turn to speak. this could easily get out of control? >> look what happened during the hearings before, democrats were criticized for some of their guerrilla tactics, trying to blow up the hearing, parliamentary questions. they have to watch their ps and qs to be careful about this. this is all about the optics. i talked to both chuck schumer and also to mitch mcconnell yesterday asking them whether or not they thought this nomination would get through. i talked to schumer, he said quote, i believe there is a chance once the facts come out that judge kavanaugh will be, would not be approved is what he said. that is because they think that they can try to drum up something in this hearing tomorrow. when i asked mcconnell he said quote, i'm confident we're going to win and he will be confirmed in the near future. again the timeline we expect senate has to be in session over the weekend so they can run some of the procedural hurdles.

while he was still a democrat. senatorharry byrd did the same being in virginia. disillusion with the democrats, both conservative democratic senator thought nixon is the better alternative to kennedy. when the governor of louisiana had his plan for non-kennedy democratic electors sorted in louisiana, he made certain an independent elect her sleep -- sleet qualified for the ballot. kennedy was fairly popular in louisiana because it was the one southern state that had a lot of catholics, so kennedy won. in mississippi, the segregationist governor ross barnett put independent electors on the ballot and the states rights electors nearly defeated the democrats in november. in alabama, the party picked its electors in spring primaries before anybody knew who the nominees would be. five electors were pledged to support the then unknown national candidates while six were unpledged. the six electors, as well as the eight in mississippi and the one republican defector from oklahoma, cast 15 votes for byrd inthe electoral college de

democratic senators have already called for an investigation, but now at least one republican senatord. senator flake in arizona, who is a conservative who supported brett kavanaugh, is now saying, not that he has withdrawn his support, he does think that we should hear from kavanaugh's accuser, which means the scheduled vote for thursday would need to be postponed in orderfor us to hearfrom her. now, so far i think he is the only republican that has said that, but as you know, the majority is very slim for republicans in the senate. it looked like kavanaugh was going to be confirmed before this allegation came out and became public, but it was a razorthin majority that would have voted for him. now, we are not sure. so you just mentioned that the republicans want to get this locked down by next week in order to have kavanaugh sitting by october ist, just explain to us david, would you, why the timetabling for all of this in the next few months is really important for president trump and the republicans. well, it is going to be a wild week here in washington. because as you mentioned,

a democratic senator on this committee publicly referred to me as evil. evil. about that word. and said that those who supported me were complicit in evil. another democratic senator on this committee said judge kavanaugh is your worst nightmare. a former head of the democratic national committee said judge kavanaugh will threaten the lives of millions of americans for decades to come. i understand the passions of the moment. senators,y to those your words have meaning. millions of americans listened carefully to you. those, isomments like it any surprise that people have been willing to do anything to make any physical threat against my family? to send any violent emails my wife? to make any kind of allegation against me and against my friends? to blow me up and take me down? for decades to come after the rest of the country will reap the whirlwind. the behavior of several democratic members of this committee was an embarrassment. a goodt it was just old-fashioned attempt at working. that did not work. i did ok enough at the hearing said it looked like i would

but under questioning by democrats, ford said she is "100%" certain of her account. california senator and jude iary committeranking member, dianne feinstein: >> so what you are telling us is this could not be a case of mistaken identity. >> absolutely not. >> nawaz: democrat patrick leahy asked ford about her strongest memory of the incident, 36 years later. >> indelible in the hippocampus is the laughter-- the uproarious laughter between the two and their having fun at my expense. >> nawaz: democrats also, repeatedly voiced moral support for ford. >> you've given america an amazing teaching moment. >> you are not on trial. >> nawaz: republicans on the committee, all of them men, yielded their time to rachel mitchell, a sex crimes osecutor from phoenix, w meticulously walked ford through details of the incident. >> do you recall prior to getting there-- so, i'm only talking about up to the gathering-- had you had anything to drink? >> not at all. >> were you on any sort of medication? >> none. >> mitchell probably ford's decision to go forward with allegation including takina polygrap

senate. what are the realistic chances the democrats take the senate and what seats they need to pick up? s. maybe a one in four chance or one in five chance. they have to win in arizona and nevada two, states looking at all year long. republicans are feeling better about arizona and dean heller in nevada is the only, the only republican senator running for re-election in the state that hillary clinton won. democrats also have their eyes and hearts set on two other races. they love to take out ted cruz in texas, beto is the candidate of choice, beto o'rourke, running a good campaign and cruz is certainly facing a bigger challenge than he expected. it wouldn't be a total shock if he's defeated. that would be a big upset, but it's moving in a somewhat plausible range. the laws of political gravity take over. this is texas we're talking about. if they're doubtful about ted cruz, they're going to say we prefer team trump to the democrats. republicans will do okay. tennessee is another state republicans are worried about and democrats have their heart set on. i think the political gravity of th

democrats did.t this is the democratic caucus whose leader the senior senator said just after he was nominated to say he would oppose him with everything i'veer got. just hours after the nomination. this is the democratic caucus of which several members preemptively announced opposition to any nominee before judge cavanagh was even named the democratic caucus spent all summer looking for reasons to delay this nomination. there were not enough documents. too many documents. headlines. know they did not treat doctor ford or her allegations with the seriousness and s discretion she deserved. apparently they took no meaningful action for weeks and then finally at the 11th hou hour, when it was virtually certain for the vote they got it to the press to invoke delay. so much for her request for confidentiality i guess. so what lessons can we draw from this mister president? the rights to senate democrats in complete confidence you will wind up a household name. and if you are a public servant that the far left happens to oppose because they dislike the fact he will i

senators up in 2020 will feel intense heat for the next two years and brett cavanagh will not serve for life. a threat that he will be impeached. allen revealed the democratic playbook earlier this week saying they want to defeat brett kavanaugh and when the senate back to block donald trump from nominating anyone to the court past the 2020 election. the president tweeted he believes a search and destroy strategy, he is behind brett kavanaugh and wants the senate to move forward. shannon: alabama senator doug jones will be a no vote. he wasn't thought to be in the mix. he is a democrat from a very conservative place taking the seat that was jeff sessions's, the roy more election down there, and it up with doug jones. thank you very much. the president said he was going in with an open mind, he said yesterday he could change his mind about brett kavanaugh if he thought he was guilty. the hearing was barely over when he tweeted his support for his pick. white house spokesman for the brett cavanagh confirmation here to weigh in on how things look today. you were in the hearing room today. there were brakes along the way. we heard there were concerns how credib

senate. other democrats saying, if you expel him, expel me, too, because i'm joining in. i don't think we have seen things like this on the floor of the senate since 1850s. this is televised. it tells us it's very distressing and saddening and shocking to see how raw the sent sentiments are. i think -- the way the democrats have come at it, make it less likely that three or four democrats may come over. this may be -- come down to a party line vote at the end of the day. kavanaugh has successfully duck and dodged. he left himself from the point of view of collins and others who care about roe v. wade, he left himself a big, big loophole to overturn roe v. wade. he never really answered the question of whether it was a correctly settled law or correctly decided case. he left that wide open. he said, the precedent upon precedent. but at the end of the day, he can do anything he wants. i can't say how partisan this is. it's driving each side into a block that is irreconcilable. it's a sad day for democracy, a fascinating day for politics. >> jeffrey? with a do y what do you t

they like the attorney general is the republican running hopefully the that seat may help by democratic senator joe manchin. other people from west virginia who told me they like senator joe manchin may have respected him and like how he reaches across the aisle. they came here because without like it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the present. i asked them what they hope to hear and expect it to here in the main feeling in the room as they want to hear president trump. we've covered a lot of these and you hear people talk about how they want to see president trump. they like him. they feel like it's an environment where he thrives and see the man that they voted for. you can hear from the music that people are excited and waiting for president trump to arrive. the general attorney told me earlier he expects president trump to not only campaign and advocate but address the situation with cavanaugh and attorney general said he hoped he will talk about it the 80's hoping he will use that as an attack on joe manchin but we don't know how senator manchin or bo. you considered a key swi

democrats. the letters in the johnson library are quite interesting. senator clinton anderson, the democrat from new mexico. along the border, kennedy got those votes that he would not have gotten without johnson. in louisiana, kennedy was almost kept off the ballot. johnson caught wind of the plot because he had spies everywhere. he sent senator russell along into louisiana for the state convention to make a personal plea in johnson's name to keep kennedy on the ballot. the convention voted by a vote of 51-49. think about that. 51-49 to do so. johnson also helped georgia avoid casting electoral votes for harry byrd. johnson's brilliant railroad to or through eight southern states saved south carolina, and north carolina as well. lbj spoke to 1247 local democratic party officials who were on board the train for at least part of the ride. the message was always the same. lbj would be the south's link to the administration. nixon had no southern ties. indeed lbj made the point crudely but effectively as his train pulled out of culpeper, virginia. putting on a th

there's only one democratic senator asked for access to that, senator klobuchar got it. if are you interested in it, you could have been asking ever since august 25th, i believe. >> we have been asking to have those made public. i don't -- i'm not as interested if i see this in a closed room where i can't talk about it. i want judge kavanaugh to see the e-mails which came from mr. miranda and give us the citation of the document, we'll get them for you. >> that testimony up there is true. 100 100%. >> can somebody read it? we can't see it, right? >> of course, it would be helpful if we have the national archives time to complete their review. >> i want to reassure you, senator, you asking important questions. i want to reassure you what you have up on the board is 100% accurate. >> can somebody move it so we can see it here? >> i am concerned because there is evidence that mr. miranda provided you materials that were stolen from me. and that would critic your prcot your prior testimony. we are going into non-public ones you had reason to believe materials were obtained i

one senator who was set up with the democrats attempts to tarnish this command, senator lindsey graham. >> did you meet with senator dianne feinstein on august 20. >> i did meet with her. >> did you know her staff had already recommended a lawyer to doctor fort? >> i did not know that. >> did you know that her and her staff had this allegation for over 20 days? >> i did not know that at the time. >> if you wanted an fbi investigation you could have come to us. what you want to do is destroy this guys life, hold the seat open and hope you win in 2020. you said that. not me. you have nothing to apologize for. when you see stoudamire and kagan tell them that lizzie said hello because i voted for them. i would never do to them what you've done to this guy. this is the most unethical sham that since i've been in politi politics. to my republican colleagues, if you vote no, you are legitimizing the most despicable thing i have seen in my time in politics. you want to the seat? i hope you never get it. i hope you are on the supreme court. that is exactly where you should be and i hope that th

we'll talk to former prosecutor and democratic senator doug jones and the man who investigated president clinton, ken starr, next. and progressive power? democrats believe they have the enthusiasm and outrage needed to push through 2018 and all the way to 2020. >> vote, vote, vote, vote, vote. >> but will party divisions knock them off track? rising democratic star alexandria ocasio-cortez will be here in minutes. >>> i'm jake tapper in washington where the state of our union is still concerned for the carolinas. florence has taken more than a dozen lives, left hundreds of thousands without power, homes and businesses are destroyed. roads washes away with flash floods and mudslides the immediate and urgent concern. after slamming ashore as a hurricane, florence has been downgraded to a tropical depression but there's little comfort in that. the storm is braking rainfall records as it moves inland, turning rivers into lakes and towns into islands. first responders and citizens fighting back with everything they can. k kaylee hartung is with the cajun navy. tell us what you're seeing. >> j

democratic senators on the[indi] committee also repeatedly interrupted senate judiciary committee chair charles grassley to demand he halt the hearings and allow time to pore over information contained in a ofute -- last-minute dump documents from kavanaugh's time 40,000 in the white house counsel's office. the trump administration is also withholding more than 100,000 pages of kavanaugh's records on the basis of presidential privilege. we'll have more on the first day of kavanaugh's confirmation hearings after headlines. the trump administration says it will end all u.s. funding for unrwa, the u.n. agency that provides humanitarian aid to palestinians. the move to end funding is seen as an effort to undermine palestinians' right to return to the lands they were displaced from by israeli settlers. this is chief palestinian negotiator saeb erekat. >> i know this is an american political decision, attitude the the setettlements are illegal. actually, this is a program and -- who gave the u.s. the righght to approveve the stealif capital,my future, my by c church? they have no r right what

and to show just how dramatic senate democrats have gotten, every single senate democrat just a few yearsgo voted to gut the religious freedom restoration act. legislation that passed congress with overwhelming bipartisan support in 1993, signed into law by bill clinton, and yet two decades later, the democratic party has determined that religious freedom is inconvenient for their policy and political objectives. they want justices that will further that assault on religious liberty. finally, let's take the second amendment. the presidential debates, hillary clinton explicitly promised to nominate justices who would overturn helder versus district of columbia. heller is the landmark decision issued by justice scalia, likely the most significant decision of his entire tenure on the bench, the right to individually keep and bear arms. hillary clinton wanted judges who would vote to overturn heller. overturning heller, i believe, would be a truly radical proposition. to understand why, you have to understand what the dissenters said. the second amendment protects no individual right to keep

this is the democratic caucus whose leader, my friend, the senior senator from new york, said just hours after judge kavanaugh was nominated that he'd, quote, oppose him with everything i've got just hours after the nomination. this is the democratic caucus of which several members preemptively announced fill in the blank opposition to any nominee before judge kavanaugh had even been named. this is the democratic caucus that spent all summer searching for reasons to delay, delay, delay this nomination. there weren't enough documents because there were too many documents, because of unrelated headlines. you name it. mr. president, these democratic colleagues did not treat dr. ford or her allegation with the seriousness and discretion she deserved. apparently, they took no meaningful action with respect to her claim for weeks, and then finally at the 11th hour, when its introduction was virtually certain to introduce further delay, they got it to the press. so much for dr. ford's request for confidentiality, i guess. so what lessons can we draw from all this, mr. president? if you write to

if democrats control the united states senate and control the congress next year, do you anticipate that democrats would want to call people like mark judge and would continue this inquiry even after the outcome of this vote, whether or not he gets confirmed? >> well, let me make it clear. i believe dr. ford. i believe not only her story but i believe that in the context of this moment in american history, not just this nomination, but at a time where one out of three american women according to the center for disease control experienced sexual violence, sexual assault in their life times. i believe she is nothing less than an american hero. she has stood up to this body, and she has told her truth, despite the harassment, death threats and more. and i believe that she should have a thorough investigation. and if it's not gotten, yes, the senate or the house had the power to investigate. that's our job. and whether it's -- we're a coequal branch of government with the judiciary and with the presidency, and we have responsibility to conduct investigations. so i don't want to speak to what

a democratic senator [inaudible] published. as you were able. even able. think about about our word. it says it does some sort of wanted me world won't come come listless should in you have all [inaudible] another automatic. quote judge judge. shows your a formal. she said quote judge judge [inaudible] why? ins for decades tom. i understand have how soon the moment. but i would i would [inaudible] here's your your has any meaning. millions of listeners who listens. to what you physical ready ready i finally am way. to send. my line we mailed your what your life. to make a major. asian again jenny. ends up to only. entertainment down. use use so wins. for decades call hard. one country we real world warm winds [inaudible] the better. remember numbers because it. we we go was and is a merry christmas. but it will usually was it was just a little. i've been working working. those are separate more wor. when i when it is least okay on off at the? net like i like actually show confirmed a new characters needed. some of the wind wait wait and have had it ready.

joining me now is democratic senator richard blumenthal who's been in this hearing all day long. nks for coming in. >> thank you. >> where are we now after hours of testimony and these two riveting, riveting moments that we've seen between kavanaugh and blasey ford. >> where i think we are is that my republican colleagues and one democrat colleague really have to look into their hearts and their conscience, because dr. blasey ford's testimony was so powerful and credible that clearly she is entitled to the respect of at least a thorough, fair investigation. so far, an fbi investigation has been blocked by the white house. she's requested it. she's taken a polygraph. she has corroborating witness who have never been interviewed by the fbi, including mark judge, who allegedly was in that room. so, what's needed now is some delay in this vote tomorrow on her nomination by the senate judiciary committee. proceeding, rushing to judgment would be the ultimate insult to this courageous survivor but also to the entire community of survivors around the country who have been so inspired and