for the pbs newshour, i'm lisa desjardins in st. louis,. missou >> woodruff: the food and drug administration today issued its toughest crackdown yet on the makers of electronic cigarettes. these vaping devices have become increasingly popular with young people, and, as william brangham reports, the f.d.a. told manufacturers they have two months to prove they can keep their e-cigarettes out of the hands of minors. >> brangham: in announcing its action today, the f.d.a. said the use of e-cigarettes among young people had hit "an epidemic proportion." it's illegal for anyone under 18 to buy any tobacco or nicotine product, including these e- cigarettes. in a moment, i'll talk with the head of the f.d.a., dr. scott gotlieb, but first, to give you a sense of what these e- cigarettes are, and how kids are using them, here's an excerpt from a report special correspondent kavitha cardoza of "education week" did two months ago at a high school in connecticut >> reporter: fran thompson, thea princiof jonathan law high school, opens what he calls his

lisa desjardins, we thank you. also on the newshour onlinea best-sellihor robert kaplan's book "earning the rockies" is our september pick for the newshour-"new york times" book club, "now read this." right now, you'll find his oucommendations for five inspiring books place. that and more is on our website, www.pbs.org/newshour. and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm ju woodruff. join us online, and again right here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, and we'll see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> consumer cellular believes that wireless plans should reflect the amount of talk, text and data that you us we offer a variety of no- contract wireless plans for people who use their phonelia le, a lot, or anything in between. to learn more, go toar consumercellv >> bnsf railway. >> financial services fis. raymond jame >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions anindividuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public br

ever, ever, ever. >> desjardins: this is the divide.e believe that kind of talk defies political correctness. others say it's offensive. some, like supporters of corey stewart, see racism as exaggerated. >> "if you don't agree with me,o re a racist, or a nazi." come on, give me a break. >> desjardins: but other republicans see a serious party problem, allowing and stoking hate. it is an identity crisis spilling onto the ballot this fall, over who republicans are, and who they want to be. >> woodruff: and lisa joins me now. so, lisa, a lot of important reporting there. t what dse racial overtones tell us about the mid transportation this year? do you think race wille an sue in these campaigns? >> it depends on where you're looking but, erall, the naacp did a survey and said sphrearn voters do think this year's mid transportation is more important than in 2014. they believe turnout will be up and that's important forurnout for democrats which is where african-americans usually vote because dls saw that turnout go down two years ago and he

>> desjardins: even as the f.b.i.estigation goes forward, republicans still hope to start senate debate on kavanaugh this weekend. lisa joins us now to go over the very latest twists from capitol hill. and, our own yamiche alcindor is here as well. she's been tracking reaction tol this at the white house. so, lisa, rst to you, where does this stand right now with the f.b.i., with what the senate is planning to do? >> just when you thought there couldn't be more surprises, we had another one today. the pl right now is for the f.b.i. to begin thisground investigation largely in equestioning witnesses, don't know who they're going to question, and the deal that has beenstruck here is that they can do no more than a weekas worth of worbefore republicans will move toward a final vote on this nominee. process marts here and we're going to talk a little bit out that. but first i want to mention the key witness democrats want be swear viewed is mark judge. she put out a statement saying he wants to corporate cooperate but he

congressional correspondent lisa desjardins begins our coverage. >> desjardins: in the senate judiciarymittee, the time to vote quietly came and went. but, there was action-- a lot of it-- in whispers and side conversations. fen, republican senator j flake took his seat, and announced a major change in his approach. >> i think it would be proper t delay oor vote for up to, but not more than one week, in order to let f.b.i. doon an investigaimited in time an allegations that are there. > desjardins: flake said n mmittee democrats raised a legitimate issuemanding the f.b.i. investigate sexual misconduct allegationscogainst supremt brett kavanaugh. >> i'm not expecting them to vote yes, bunot to complain that an f.b.i. investigation has not occurred. this country is beinripped apart here. >> desjardins: the 11 republicans on the panel then voted to move the kavanaugh nomination to the senate floor, where flake would want it to wait a week.t ndsey graham pointed out that flake had no guarantee from other republicans. >> senator flake has made clear what it would take to be comfortable on a

congressional correspondent lisa desjardins begins our coverage. >> desjardins: the day moved st arting with president trump at the united nations,en renewing his d of his nominee and fellow republicans. >> the republicans could not be nicer could not be more than the way that they're handling this. they could have pushed it through two and half weeksdngo and you wo be talking about it right now, which is frankly what i would have preferred. point,ardins: at th the conversation was about two accusations: christine blasey ford's charge that kavanaugh sexually assualted her in high school, and deborah ramirez' account of him exposing himself in college. he has adamantly denied both. but befo noon, attorney michael avenatti disclosed information about a third accuser. julie swetnick, a current submitted a sworn affidavit to the senate judiciary committee. she told of attending over ten high school parties with kavanaugh and his friend mark judge, and said she sed kavanaugh "drink excessively at many of these parties and engage in abusive and physically aggressive behavior toward girls." th

for the pbs newshour, i'm lisa desjardins.yang: and this week we will broadcast the tion hearing for supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh. it begins tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. eastern. check your local pbs station for broadcast details. we will also be streaming it at pbs.org/newshour. ew yang: stay with us, coming up on theour, what the trump rsministration's recent battles with federal worean for labor unions. one year after hurricane harvey, a look at the failure of the 911 and, author keith gessen discusses his new book, "a terrible country." but firs we break down what to expect at the kavanaugh confirmation hearing beginning tomorrow. for that and more, we're joined by our politics monday team of ra keith of npr and amy walter of the "cook political report." welcome to you both. folks, when folks turn in to watch on pbs the hearings tomorrow, tamara, what can they expect? >> tomorrow, there will bec lot of sps. it is opening statement day. so each senator on the ju committee gets ten minutes. there will also be people introd

. >> desjardins: it took just ten seconds for the hearing... >> desjardins: ...to get contentious. ri i welcome everyone to this confirmation h on the nomination of judge... >> mr. chairman... >> brett kavanaugh to serve as associate justice... >> mr. chairman... >> ...of the supreme court of the united >> ...i'd like to be recognized for a question before we proceed. >> mr. chairman. i'd like to be recognized to ask a question before we proceed. the committee ceived, just last night, less than 15 hours ago, 42,000 pages of documents that we have not had an opportunity to read or review or analyze. >> you are out of order. i'll proceed. >> desjardins: one by one, democrats on the senate judiciary committee derailed the planor opening statements an demanded more time to review judge brett kavanaugh's massive >> we believe this hearing irould be postponed. >> mr. cn, if we can not be recognized, i move to adjourn. mr. chairman, i move to adjourn. ( applause ). >> ...directly from judge kavanaugh. >> mr. chairman, i move desjardins: the mele continued for more than an hour. republican

nominati lisa desjardins begins our coverage. >> let's be clear: from the very beginning, he has been strong andal unequivn his denial. >> desjardins: from republicans, a multi-pronged, all-outefense of a supreme court nominee tay fr the white house communications team.id >> does the prt still have full confidence in judge kavanaugh? >> yes, he does. >> desjardins: from republicans in the senate... >> we ve never been, and do not wish to be a society in which a single uncorroborated allegation can float out across decades. >> desjardins: ...and even from brett kavanaugh himself, taking the uncommon step of sitting down for an interview that aired on fox news last night.al to knock down two on-the- record allegations: christine blasey ford, told the "washiton post" that kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in high school. and debldah ramirez, he "new yorker" he exposed himself to her in college. day, at the u.n. general assembly, president trump went on open attack, particularly at ramirez who said admitted she was drinking when her incident happened. >> and there were gaps, and she said s

congressional correspondent lisa desjardins begins our coverage. >> desjardins: after measured talk fort of the week, president trp today fired out sharp words about accusations aom christine blasey ford that kavanaugh sexualaulted her in the 1980s, in high school. today, on twitter, the presidenf went aftd by name, writing, "if the attack on dr. ford was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediely filed." o altwitter today, and at a rally in las vegas last night,th president stepped up his defense of kavanaugh.>> rett kavanaugh is one of the finest human beings you will ever have the privilege of knowing or meeting. president's challenge to ford's credibility unsettled at least one key republican. maine senator susan collins told reporters in her home state thad she was "appay the egesident's tweet." she noted that aions of sexual assault are often unreported, and called the tweer "completely inriate." asked about the presid tweet on msnbc, secretary of state mike pompeo defended the president and lashed out atde crats. >> i regret that this rose at the end. this was unfortun

many of the same senators, 12 yrs ago. >> i have dedicated my career to public service. >> desjardinsthe aim then was rfs current job: a judgeship on the po d.c. circuit court of appeals. then, as now, republicans praised kavanaugh's qualifications. >> i don't see how we can find a cetter person to serve and give public serhan you. >> desjardins: while committee democrats, le senator chuck humer, said he was too political. >> if there has beli a partisan cal fight that needed a cary bright legal foot soldier in the last dede, brett was probably there. >> desjardins: it was a pivotal washington test for kavanaugh, who has a thoroughly wngton resume. born and raised in the nation's capital, he returnedfter yale law school to clerk for supreme court justice anthony kenny, the justice kavanaugh is now tapped to replace. kavanaugh's next job dropped him into a once-in-a-generation spectacle: he became a deputy on independent counsel ken starr's investigation of president and mrs. clinton, and helped draft blrts of starr's report that detailed poslegal grounds for impeaching mr. clinton. si

>> yes, he does. >> desjardins: from republicans in the senate... >>e have never been, and do not wish to be a society in which a single uncorroborated allegation can float out acrs decades. >> desjardins: ...and even from brett kavanaugh himself, taking the uncommon step of sitting down for an interview that aired on fox nst night. all to knock down two on-the- record allegations: christineol blasey ford,the "washington post" that kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in highsc ol. and deborah ramirez, told the "new yorker" he exposed himself to her in college. today, at the u.n. gl assembly, president trump went on open attack, particularly at ramirez who said admitted she was drinking when her incident happened. >> and there were gaps, and she said she was totally inebriated and she was all messed up. and she doesn't know it was him, but it might have been him. "oh, gee, let's not make him a e supreme court judge beca that." >> desjardins: kavanaugh himself did not criticize his accusers, but instead defended his teenage self as good and innocent. >>

investigates all these very serious and very troubling allegations. >> desjardins: some republicans, including jeff flake of arizona, are voicing doubts about proceeding. 'm however this vote goes, confident in saying it will forever be steeped in doubt.s this doubt ithe only thing i'm confident about in this process. >> desjardins: south carolina's ntndsey graham: >> this is gettingthe twlight zone you're talking about brett kavanaugh being a scserial rapist during higol i have a hard time bitieving you dihen and never done it before. i do believe it's important to invite mr. avenatti's client to come to the committee and be interviewed bytaff that should happen right now. te desjardins: grassley has scheduled a commvote on kavanaugh's nomination for friday. >> woodruff: and lisa joins me here, and from new york our i want to say just within the our, a lot of fast-moving pieces here. the president continues to hold sway at a news conference in new york at those u.n. meetings. this news conference is now into its second hour. we can tell that you no long ago, he was asked, of course,

>> desjardins: kavanaugh listened attentively, but silently. republicans tried to speak for him, charging that demrats were enflaming partisan emotion. >> i hope this week we can all take a deep breath. we're not doing very well so far. prd get a grip and treat this ess with the respect and asavity it demands. >> ganyone who practices regularly before the supreme court who doesn't have a partisan agenda and they'll tell you judge kavanaugh is exactly the kind of person we should have on the court. >> you are independent. you've written that, "some of the greatest moments in american traditional history have been when judges stood up to the other branches. everyone knows that you've served in the bush administration and yet when you became a judge ionly two years you ruled against the bush ministration a total of eight times. tr you it simple does not matter w parties are. what we heard today from the 21 senators ho serve e senate judiciary committee. joining me now to consider this dramatic day one in e hearing room are three people who have fo

lisa desjardins, give us a sense of the dissidence in the room, you will, the people who came and satviewers but who made noise and werask to leave. there were dozens today. >> that's right. i counted some 55 protesters. it was interesting initially today, judy, the committee c the public seating in half. later in the day, they resumed the full complof the public, but there were many protests throughout the day and many issues raced by the protesters. i. give us a couple of them. ar>> everything from healtto abortion to the disabled. there was also a weird founding fathers strain, things utered by the protesters like the american people have no faith in u, sir, ore shouted, senators, in the name of democracy, i ask you to halt the hearings. so they were serious and angry but there was a lvel fte ectualness about the protesters as well. >> woodruff: lisa desjardins joining us from the capitol, thanks to all our guests. marcia coyle, jamil jaffer, neal katyal, we thank you. does it give you comhafort tt your critics are coming from both sides? >> no, because i could still be wrong. >> t

our lisa desjardins at the capitolisa, we know a number of democratic senators said at the outset theye not going to vote for juvadge ugh's confirmation. what are you hearing from them and about their reaction to what he saying? >> well, that's right. i think democrats feel like he is holding up the notion that this is a judge who wl potentially overturn some of the settled law, wt they see assetled law, and -- as settled law. i hear a lot from democts about the affordable care act in particular. there is a case in texas now as marcia and guests know about that could be before the sueme court with justice kavanaugh on it. so the democrats for sure.the but as you say, most to have the democrats have decided they are no votesor mr. kavanaugh. what's interesting who wasn't in the room, the undecided key votes, senators collins and murkowski on the republican side, senors heitkamp, manhcin on the other side. senator collins had the television on all day, getting reeslar updgoing over transcripts, so their opinion is the one that mae, not as much as what we're hearing in the room. it was no

as lisa desjardins reports, the allegation has drawn strong responses from the white house to capitol> judge kavanaugh is one of tho fineste that i've ever known. >> reporter: president trump defended his nominee tbut said brett kavanaugh's accuser should be heard out. nt>> at the same time, we o go through a process.e we want to maksure everything is perfect, everything is just right. they'll go through a process and hear everybody out. i think it's important >> reporter: he issued a strong denial-- his second in four days-- saying, "i have never done anything li what the accuser describes to her or to anyone," adding he is willing to cooperate with the senate judiciary committee. kavanaugh's accur-- christine blasey ford-- detailed the alleged attack in a letter to democratic senat dianne feinstein in late july. cnn reported the letter says o kavanaugh and a friend, "they both laughed as kavanaugh tried to disrobe me in their highly inebriated state. with kavanaugh's hand over my mouth i feared he may inadvertently kill me." judge kavanaugh to be heard in sworn testimony about these

. >> woodruff: and with that, we t tuour own lisa desjardins, for more on the fallout from capitol hill; and william brangham, on what more, if anything, could be gleaned from an fbi investigation. hello to both of you. so, william, can the f.b investigate this? >> absolutely. there is nothingrecluding the f.b.i. from looking into this, provided -- and thise big provided -- that the white house request it. that's the barrier here. the white house needs to sayis reopen t background investigation into kavanaugh. once they do that, i that you could to ae rtired seen your official in the f.b.i. today, he said if that request comes in, there's nothing off limits the f.b.i. can look into any of the allegations a they see fit. what exactly sit democrats want to get fom the.b.i. investigation? >> they're asking something new of the f.b.i. in just a fewte mi senator patrick lahi says he wants the f.b.i. to investigate crimes against dr. blasey ford including hacking of her em and death threats against her. there is an investigation into what's happening to her the democrats are restqg. democrats

w-here to unpack what we k and what questions remain unanswered-- are: capitol hill correspondt lisa desjardins white house correspondent yamiche alcindor. hello to both of you. so, lisa, what is the nature of these allegations? >> our own reporting is that there is a letter received by senator feinstein and at least one other member of congress from a woman remaining anonymous in which she alledgeses sexual misconduct from when she was in high school andudge kavanaugh was in high school. that's our reporting. nhe rest we have to refer to the "new york times"the new yorker which are reporting this woman alleges she was held down by then student kavanaugh and that he acetempted to force himself on her, that he and a friend raised the volume of music so her protest couldn't be hear but she made her way out the classmate said he does not recall the incident at all. antime this letter was referred to the f.b.i. for potential investigate by senator feinstein's office. the f.b.i. said they're notin investigthis as a criminal matter, among other issues, there's a statute limitations. they're putting i

our own lisa desjardins has been in the hearing room all week-- she joinus from capitol hill. newshour regular marcia coyle cors the court for the "national law journal." paul clement served as u.s. solicitor general under president george w. bush. and neal katyal. he was acting solicitor general in the obama administrn, and he joins us from new york. welcome to all of you. and lisa, i'm going to come to lou firstment because just fill us in, if you l, briefly on what was going on overnight that lead to the release of some of these documents that this argument started about earlier. >> simply, judy, democrats tcluding senator booker actually requestat the documents which had previsly been confidential be allowed to be made public that is something they had not requested until last night. they did. they did it late and through the night committees, doctors along with doctors for george staffers for gorge w bush andnthe departf justice worked through those and they cleared them for public release t by te the committee met this morning and had that holdback and foth and kerfuffle

yamiche alcindor, lisa desjardins, we thank you both. f woodruff: we will listen to more pivotal momenm the hearing throughout the program: in her opening testimony, ford described the alleged attack, and why she didn't tell her story publicly until years later. let's listen to what she told wmakers. >> brett's assault on me drastically altered my life. for a very long time, i was too afraid and ashamed to te anyone these details. i dinot 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 t rape me, i should be able to move on and just pretend that it didn't happen. over the years, i told very few friends that i had this traumatic experience.hu i told mand before we were married that i had experienced a sexu assault. i had never told the details to anyone, the specific details, until may 2012, during a couplen ling session. my husband recalls that i named my attacker as brett kavanaugh. after that may 2012 therapy session, i did my best

here to help us digest another whirlwind day of diselopments on tory, is our own lisa desjardins, who was reporting on capitol hill forost of the day. and newshour regular marcias coyle, who cove supreme court for the "national law journal." druff: and hello to both of you. so lisa, you have spent the day on the hill. what is the latest in terms of the senators coming together on this? >> republicans and democrats are fuapart on what this hearing should look like monday. we know a hearing is scheduled to happen now. we do not know if christinell blasey ford ppear as of just a few minutes ago, checking my e-mail, the comremittee blicans have not had a response from her or her attorney yet. we also do not know if this will be an entirely public or some portions of this hearing will be private. it depends on what she wants if she's willing to ttis monday. we do know mark judge, a friend of judge kavanaugh's, he has said he does not want to testify and republicans are not going to force him to testify some republicans are moving ahead with two witnesses only on monday should ms. ford want

li desjardins, we will certainly continue to watch this. thank you both. >> pleasure, judy. >>hoodruff: the trade war w china is escalating, with no end in sight soon. as the number of imported goods subject to u.s. tariffs keeps growing, john yang looks at the impact and where it's hitting. >> yang: judy, china saidoday it would levy tariffs on $60 billion worth of u.s. goods ranging from agricultural products and machinery to chemicals. it's retaliation against new u.s. import taxes on $200 billion dollars of chinese good that are setke effect next week. to explain this escalating trade tit-for-tat, we're joined by david wessel, director of the hutchins center on fiscal and monetary policy at the brookings institution. david, thanks so much for being with us. are we headed to a war of attrition here, a trade war of attrition? >> it sure looks that way. i mean, president ump put this new 10% tariff on chinese imports, and he said,hey retaliate, i'm taking it up towe 25%. , they retaliated almost instantly. therdoesn't seem to be an quick resolution of this thing, and the pr

lisa desjardins is here for this week's politics monday. >> desjardins: the early rounds are ending.s a good time to get ready for the finals of this key midterm year. csand a good time for poli monday. here to bring us up to speed: hiawna thomas, d.c. bureauef of vice news. and amy walter of the "cook political report." thank you, let's just jump right into where we are. we have new york gualernato primary on thursday. we've got tomorrow, delaware and new hampshire which is strangely the last primary in the nation, i guess they could say now. but let's go big, why not.te amy, ll us what this means and what are the expected real battleines for november riht now. >> i think the one theme that has been apparent through out ll these primaries in al different kinds of states and districts is the number of women rewho we successful as candidates on the democratic side. my colleague lookeo all the races for a the house and whathe found is all the candidates anidemocratic prries, these are without incumbents, so open, se woman who was running against at least one other man, won 69% of the t

is "newshour" correspondent lisa desjardins. the what does she say happened? >> this woman now coming forward alleges that kavanaugh and hi, frieman by the name of mark judge is the one she is accusing here, coralled her into a back bedroomment that is where she says kavanaugh attacked her she sath of them were falling down drunk at the time. she said she dy d protest. she said no one outside the room heard here ys she was able to get away when the other person, she says was in the room, mark judge fell on both of them and there was a tumble and she ran into a bathroom, lookederself into it. vaw judge kavanaugh, judge brett ugh has said unequivocally and cat gorically deny thiev happened. his friend mark judge has said he has no memory of it he saysis llegation is nuts and of course the white house has responded by sending ou letters from women who knew kavanaugh in high school. lot of questions raised here but this woman is now coming forward with some serious allegations. >> so lisa, why di this woman come forward now. >> she said she did not speal of it a f

our capitol hill correspondent lisa desjardins and white house correspondent yamiche alcindor have beenering both stories and join me now. a note, this andhe next conversation will contain some explicit language. hello to both of you. lisa, i'm going to start with you. summarize for us what these new allegations are against brett kavanaugh. >> it appeared in the new yorker last night and these are from a woman who deborah ramirez. she says she went to college with brett kavanaugh and at a party at a dorm. this is a quote.er she remekavanaugh had exposed himself at a drunken dormitory rty thrust his penis in her face and caused her to touch it without her consent. that is her accusation in this article. now there are no eye wit wnesses the able to corroborate that story. there is one person that weok with who said he remembers hearing about this incident. but the "new york times" after the new yorker is reporting came ry. with its own sto and the "new york times" wrote, quote, the times had interviewed r veral dozen people ohe past week in an attempt torr orate ms. ramirez's story and co