democratic senator heidi heitkamp is considered vulnerable in the mid-terms. released an ad touting her willingness to vote with president trump on issues. watch. >> when i ran for the senate six years ago, i said i wouldn't vote the party line because i don't think either party has all the right answers. that's why i voted over half the time with president trump. that made a lot of people in washington mad. but when i agree with him, i vote with him. >> president trump is questioning heitkamp support on big issues, tweeting about her opponent last night saying congratulations to kevin cramer on his huge win in north dakota. we need him in the senate and i support him. heidi voted no when we need her. kevin is big on cutting taxes and strong on the boarder. matt, you're paying attention to the state of play. more largely speaking what is the state of play for the senate races? >> basically you read all about the big blue wave and the fact that trump is so toxic and all of these republican house members fled because they were scared about re-election. that blue

heidi heitkamp is going to be in a very tight race there. closely as the president arrives and we will bring you their lives. have a great night everybody and we will see you in florida. >> tucker: and president trump is about to speak in fargo, north dakota and we will go to that event as soon as it begins. good evening and welcome to "tucker carlson tonight." it was a drama packed newsday today thanks to the supreme court kennedy. he announced his retirement this afternoon which gives the president at the chance to appoint a second justice which could result in a big change to the court's ideological makeup as well as quite any ideological battle. kennedy was routinely the swing vote in the most contentious cases before the court. our judiciar

joe manchin, joe donnelly, heidi heitkamp in particular, heitkamp getting some treatment from the president when he visited her home state earlier this week. >> we need kevin cramer to replace liberal democrat heidi heitkamp in the senate. heidi voted no on our massive tax cuts for north dakota families. she voted no. heidi voted no on legislation to stop late-term abortions. you need a senator who doesn't just talk like they're from north dakota. but votes like they're from north dakota. >> so will the president need those democrats? will he lose votes from his own party given those questions? our big question today -- would collins and murkowski actually break with the president on a supreme court pick? let's break down the latest on the question of senate math, confirmation math, supreme court math. again, the bottom line, democrats sit here with 49 votes and no filibuster. so if they want to block this trump pick, they are going to need help from republicans. what's it looking like with this news about collins and murkowski and how they are talking right now. let's do the math. we say r

he took aim squarely at heidi heitkamp. >> reporter: she had always been president trump's favorite democrat. >> senator heitkamp, senator, come up on. >> reporter: from the presidential stage. >> everyone's saying what's she doing up here, good woman. >> reporter: to the white house. >> heidi heitkamp. >> thank you very much. >> reporter: she had done what few in other party had managed to pull off in the age of trump. escape his wrath. all that have came to an abrupt halt in north dakota. >> heidi will vote no to any pick we make for the supreme court. she will be told to do so. >> reporter: he didn't mention heitkamp was one of three democrats to support the president's first nominee neil gorsuch or now that she's breaking ranks with democrats saying it should be filled before the elections. >> she may give us a couple of quickie votes because she has no choice, but the day after that election, she's voting party line, 100%. >> reporter: the president didn't tell the roaring crowd that he's twice asked her to become a rep

one of them is from north dakota, heidi heitkamp. but you've also got the senators of montana, missouri, west virginia, indiana. they are democrats, but they are going to feel the heat to get behind whoever trump nominates because they're from states that trump won. and in the case of indiana, a state where there's a very strong social conservative leaning of the electorate. and so this is going to be difficult for schumer to keep all of his democrats in lock step in opposition to this nominee. >> on the right-hand side of your screen, live pictures. the president has flown from fargo to milwaukee where air force one has just landed. let's speak a little english here. is it fair to say the white house contracted out this list of potential justices to the federal society in washington? that that basically is the vetting arm, at least the first wave of vetting for these names? >> yeah. it does seem that most of those names do have that in common, that they are judges who have been sort of groomed by the federalist society, which, of co

questions that will be asked by people like heidi heitkamp, jeff flake, susan collins. president trump talked about the political piece of it when he was in heitkamp's home territory overnight. watch. >> heidi will vote no to any pick we make for the supreme court. she will be told to do so. now, maybe because of this she'll be forced to vote yes. who knows. >> to be clear, phil rucker, heitkamp did vote for neil gorsuch. but the president is going out here targeting these. on the republican side, jeff flake, susan collins as well as lisa murkowski on the democratic side. we just showed them there. red state democrats. what does the president do? what does the white house do? it's my reporting they haven't done a ton on the actual pick side. >> yeah, well, they can't do much outreach to convince senators to vote for this pick until they have a pick. so they're going to want to vet these potential nominees. and trump's going to want to meet with them. i think one important factor and you know this based on all the appointments to nominations trump has made before, he valu

he said that it's time that he moved up replace heidi heitkamp is one of the two senators.essman is coming to us from the capital. thank you for your time. representative raymer: thank you. david: as we see this around the world, harley davidson overseas, canada saying they are imposing new tariffs. worry thatnt do you your party will be blamed for these ramifications, including in north dakota, for your constituents may not be so pleasant. one, i'm concerned about it now. i've been concerned about is the beginning. i joined speaker ryan and my concern about tariffs as an economic tool for manipulation. that said, this president has inherited a whole bunch of trade deals where concessions were made to other countries, more to their benefit than to ours and he has limited tools to work with. what i would prefer to see, frankly, is more public officials giving the president the room that he has asked for to negotiate these trade deals. every time we criticize him, we undercut his authority. one thing about more socialist countries, china in particular, they don't suffer from

west virginia's joe manchin, indiana's joe donnelly and heidi heitkamp all facing tough re-electionsyear. >> their states went overwhelmingly for trump and a vote against his supreme court nominee could cost them crucial votes. the president also met with judiciary chairman chuck grassley, lisa murkowski and lisa collins who are being watched closely as the white house vets supreme court nominees. >> the white house claims it cannot keep the country safe unless a federal judge reverses its order requiring the government to quickly reunify families separated at the border. the ruling endangers national security. the administration's hard-line immigration policy is not deterring everyone. cnn's nick valencia was on a ride along with customs as they caught a group of immigrants crossing the rio grande. >> after meet with the leaders of honduras, guatemala and el salvador, pence delivered a clear message. >> among this flood of illegal migrants are human traffickers and violent gang members like ms-13. but most are making the journey seeking economic opportunity. driven by the misguided

heidi heitkamp is going to be in a very tight race there. we will be watching closely as the president arrives and we will bring you their lives. have a great night everybody and we will see you in florida. >> tucker: and president trump is about to speak in fargo, north dakota and we will go to that event as soon as it begins. good evening and welcome to "tucker carlson tonight." it was a drama packed newsday today thanks to the supreme court kennedy. he announced his retirement this afternoon which gives the president at the chance to appoint a second justice which could result in a big change to the court's ideological makeup as well as quite any ideological battle. kennedy was routinely the swing vote in the most contentious cases before the court. our judiciary correspondent and accomplished attorney, joins us tonight with an overview. >> justice kennedy gave us the ultimate head fake this morning. they had gaveled the term done and said we will see you back on the bench in october. we let our guard down just a little bit and suddenly b

and then what do we expect from joe manchin on the other side, and heidi heitkamp and senator donly from indiana. are they going to, because they want to get re-elected, are they going to blindly follow wherever trump's nominee takes them? >> well that is where all of the focus is going to be, joe. if you look at the democratic messaging that came out last night, they made it very clear the two things that they're going to focus on with any nominee are the two things that trump quite frankly said would be litmus tests which are the overturning of roe and also the aca. he's actually said that. he would choose, he said that in the past he would choose justice who is support these things. in the confirmation hearings, they will nail whoever the nominee is, on these points. now the two women republicans, yes, there's going to be a lot of focus on them. a lot of focus on the democrats. but i think lisa murkowsky and susan collins are going to come under so much pressure by women's health advocates and they have shown in the past, now i know you know, john mccain got all of the attention for t

he's wrong, because heidi heitkamp, two others voted for his last pick, neal gorsuch, so how be red stateote this time around, do you think. >> that's a great question. if your up for re-election in a red state you kind of will get a free vote on this, right. it's obvious, trump's nominee -- assuming a lot here -- it's obvious to these three senators that the nominees are going to pass anyway because they have 5100 votes. the nominees are not someone far outside of the mainstream, someone like heidi will vote as she did for gorsuch in a tough race. the only time where they will have a very very difficult decision is if in the unusual circumstance where you have two republicans, and everyone's talking borrow control collins going wobbly, and there's enormous pressure on the 47 democrats and two independents to sticking to, right, that's the pressure situation. and that's a fairly unlikely scenario. this entire -- if you think about kennedy, a lot of people have said he's pretty conservative, there wasn't that many swing votes at the end of the day. the issue where he was the swing vote, wh

and heidi heitkamp said she would be open to a meeting and chuck schumer faced the difficulty before with the senators. we need the seats. >> dagen: speaking of another woman really quickly. amy barrett. >> bill: yes. >> dagen: put on the court by trump. and joe doablely of indiana, tim kaine and joe manchin, she won support of those. >> melissa: can you respond to that? what do you think of those who were mentioned? does it make sense for him to pick particularly a woman? >> bill: it would help on that score specifically when you talk about heidi heitkamp and others running. it makes it harder for them to vote. and susan collins as was mentioned. it's really hard to compare credential of the two women for example. they are both excellent. look, i'm playing favorites here because this lady wrote my speech about western civilization at stanford. i defended western civilization and stanford wasn't sure. >> melissa: right! [laughter] >> bill: maybe yes, maybe no. i'll forever be grateful to allison. yeah. anyway. >> lisa: picking a woman mitigates -- we are already seeing attacks on the

course the key question, what about the red state democrats like here in north dakota, senator heidi heitkamp and that is pivotal and now central to the midterm campaign. >> jeff zeleny. thank you very much. >>> and more on the breaking news. joining us our chief legal analyst jeffrey toobin and supreme court reporterary anna devogue. so what does this mean? you've served on the supreme court for a long time. what does it mean -- >> we talk about the terms of abstractions an this is very concrete significance. let's talk about abortion rights. anthony kennedy was the fifth vote and the final vote to defend roe v. wade. it is going to disappear. it derived in 1973 and it will die shortly. what that means is that in a significant part of the country, whether it is ten states, maybe it is 20 states, abortion will soon be absolutely illegal because there is nothing more important to the conservative movement than getting a pro-life, anti-roe v. wade justice on this court and they got one in neil gorsuch. >> didn't chief justice say it was settled law. >> every time he's had the opportunity to vot

than even getting susan collins, i think it's more important for joe manchin, claire mccaskill, heidi heitkamp because what it does is it helps mitigate republicans and nominees from the attack from democrats who were already saying they're going to get rid of roe vs. wade et cetera, et cetera so what you do is you say exley this is a bipartisan effort and we have people on both sides of the aisle that support those nominees so i think that's the smartest thing for the white house to be doing and they should absolutely be doing that right now. >> harris: you think it's important to do it now or do you think that divide between the publicans and democrats will only grow greater over the summer or can there be a cooling-off period when they get home to their constituents? >> trish: i don't think there's going to be any kind of cooling off any time. you ain't seen nothing yet. this is going to be a display that i don't think any of us are really going to like to see. but it's going to be intensified in the coming weeks, coming days, coming months. in this partisan divide is going to go stronger a

chuck grassley, susan collins, lisa murkowski as well as democrats joe manchin, joe donnelly, heidi heitkamp so what does the path and the math look like? democratic activists are up in arms, they want to fight this. they want to stop this. republicans, at least their leaders, they say they want to get this through before the midterm election. what does the math look like? on paper 51-49 for the republicans. it may be less, john mccain has been sidelines so if john mccain were to remain sidelined as this process plays out, that's 50 republican votes. that's the bare minimum. that's no margin for error. that's if you lose one as a republican. you lose this battle on a partisan vote. let's say there are 50 votes for republicans, what do they have to worry about when it comes to potential for defection? these are five republicans to watch. jeff flake is retiring. he's been blocking some judicial picks. he seemed to throw cold water on the idea he would do that with a court pick. the two who folks are talking about is collins, murkowski, susan collins, lisa murkowski, both pro-choice, both sendi

, as abby mentioned, to the white house yesterday, particularly joe manchin, joe donnelly and heidi heitkamp, these democrats that are up in trump, states that trump carried last election, and they all voted for neil gorsuch last time. >> exactly. >> so, he's doing a lobbying campaign with them right now and trying to push this as quick as he can. >> and margaret, some could argue that the fact that those three democrats confirmed gorsuch was slightly different because kennedy was tistill on e court, so you had a key swing vote, this was still the kennedy court. whatever pick is made will tilt the court decidedly one way or another. so, you have some interesting political reporting this morning that i'm sure you've seen that said democrats are thinking about and looking at changing their strategy. stop talking about it's not fair, you should wait until after the midterms. start talking about the real-world impact on key decisions having to do with abortion, having to do with gay rights, having to do with affirmative action. how critical is it that democrats get those talking points right and

sherrod brown in ohio, heidi heitkamp and north dakota.hered to washington, d.c., they can't go back to campaign. that is where bill nelson, democrat come on mike from florida, against rick scott, republican governor. they say it's boldfaced politics by mitch mcconnell go. chuck schumer turned it around, said, we are happy to stay here, talk about health care all month long, health care is an issue that is good for the democrats right now, and we need the president to make sure he stays in washington, d.c., too, not run off to golf, not go down to mar-a-lago, work hand in glove with us on these issues, facing the country. >> shannon: we are continuing to hear from the two men who appeared to be the top two finishers in california for the gorn race, one democrat, one republican. we'll stay tuned and take you the for a few comments from them tonight as we hear from them. in the meantime, chris stirewalt, i would like to play a little bit of a bite, a sound bite, from senator kennedy, republican out of louisiana. here's how he feels about the

the president already drumming up support sometimes using pressure this week going after heidi heitkamp in north dakota. >> heidi will vote no to any pick we make for the supreme court. >> reporter: trump is also using a soft cell, a cozy white house dinner. guests including heidi and two other democrats up for re-electi re-election. all three voted for the president's first supreme court pick, neil gorsuch. also at that dinner two pro-choice republican women. >> roe v. wade is an important precedent. >> reporter: they will be under pressure. >> no question about that. president trump is in new jersey this weekend. he says he might be interviewing potential supreme court nominees. >> that's right david. he said he might even add a couple naminenames. he's been through this process before. he wants to make that personal assessment. he's looking not just for intellect, but toughness. >> terry, a comedian claiming he called the white house posing as a senator and said he convinced them to get the president to call him back from air force one. >> that's right. the white house is not confirm

not doing very well, but the national environment is not on his side, the same way it's not on heidi heitkamp's side in north dakota or on manchin's side in west virginia. there is just a lot of -- in order for these democratic incumbents to get re-elected, they need to have trump supporters vote for a democrat on their 2018 ballot, and that's something that's hard to do. that said, a lot of these cuens have done this before. they've outperformed barack obama in previous elections, and so, they have to basically tell voters, hey, i'm the same person i was 6, 12 years ago, even though the national environment has changed. >> tell us about matt rosendale. >> he is the state auditor who actually lost the primary for the open seat in montana a couple cycles back. he's going to kind of stake his ground as the conservative in the race. he'll probably bring in some pretty high-profile figures -- rand paul, ted cruz. he'll have funding from club for growth, so you can imagine if you litanain for a lot of candidates, but especially rosendale. >> will he have support directly from president trump or one

now the senate seat held by heidi heitkamp, democrat, north dakota, that is one of the most vulnerable is solid trump country and heitkamp is democrat. what is your read on the election. >> senator heitkamp and i were elected very same day six years ago, by the very shame people. i serve the entire state of north dakota as she does. we served in exact same congress, same number of days. we had opportunity to vote on many of the same bills. so we get to have a campaign based on records. i am going to run on mine. she is running from hers. i'm more aligned with president trump. i think lowering back regulations, lowering taxes, strength inching borders, rebuilding military good ideas. she votes against the same things. it is about senator heitkamp and my voting record. stuart: seems to be a trend recently that democrats are running away from association with nancy pelosi but republican candidates are moving towards president trump, and an association with him. are you fully, 100% in the trump camp? >> well, first of all, stuart, it should be known by your viewers that i was one of the ve

confirm neil gorsuch, but that didn't stop the president from attacking one of them, north dakota's heidi heitkamp, in her own backyard last night. >> heidi will vote no to any pick we make for the supreme court. >> so, let's bring back in terry moran from the white house. and terry, with the president's second nomination to the court now, less than two years into his presidency, this court will likely soon lean solidly conservative, and the president's potential picks, they're all relatively young. >> reporter: that's right, david. that long list of 25, the average age is somewhere just over 50 years old. when the president says his choice will have an impact on america lasting for decades, he's absolutely right. and that sharp shift to the right that this nomination will represent, if confirmed, that will operate as a kind of invitation to conservative lawmakers and activists around the country who will bring cases that target roe versus wade and affirmative action and other conservative causes. in a way, this court, later this year, will be open for business for conservatives. david? >> terry m

the president already drumming up support, sometimes using pressure this week going after heidi heitkamp in north dakota. she's fighting for re-election. >> heidi will vote no to any pick we make for the supreme court. >> reporter: trump is also using a soft sell, a cozy white house dinner. guests included heitkamp herself and two other democrats up for re-election in states trump won. joe donnelly and joe manchin. all three voted for the president's first supreme court pick, neil gorsuch. also at that dinner two pro-choice republican women. senators lisa murkowski and susan collins of maine. >> roe v. wade is an important precedent. it is settled law. >> reporter: they will be under pressure. >> no question about that. terry moran live from the white house. president trump is in new jersey this weekend. he says he might be interviewing potential supreme court nominees. >> that's right, david, in new jersey and in washington next week. he said he might even add a couple names. he's been through this process before with neil gorsuch. it's clear he like other presidents wants to make that

. >> reporter: on the democratic side, heidi heitkamp, joe donnelley and joe manchin are up for re-election. >> i think they want me to do my job, i would hope, kasie. my host is the best person with the best quaffifications gets that position. >> there is it next to nothing that democrats can do to stop this. don mcgahn has called knowuse to this knock-down-drag-out fight. lester? >> now to some explosive moments also on capitol hill as house republicans grilled fbi director christopher wray and deputy attorney general rod rosenstein. republicans urging rosenstein to wrap up the russia investigation, which he's overseeing. democrats firing back. our chief white house correspondent hallie jackson has fore for us tonight. >> reporter: inside a house hearing room, a political production. >> i'm read what the press said. >> i would suggest you not rely on what the press says. >> who are we supposed to believe. >> thank you for making clear it's not personal, mr. jordan. >> reporter: the hearing ostensibly focused on fbi actions during the hillary clinton e-mail investigation in 2016. and that

you know that there are democratic senators, heidi heitkamp, as well as manchin. they are in red states. they are democrats. what happens to them if they vote for a conservative nominee in a state that is overwhelmingly red? >> what happens among their voters? >> jeanine: yes. >> in congress? >> jeanine: do they get elected? >> you know, i don't know. you are quite right. they are in tough races. you know, i would be remiss not to remind everyone that the democrats were in office and they had the longest filibuster and held up the proposed justice merrick garland. so you can see why the democrats are feeling like this was a power play that was not justified. i think that the democrats in red states that are in tough races, it's going to matter a lot to them who gets nominated as a candidate. >> jeanine: it will be a conservative. we all know that. >> is it someone reasonable or does it seem extreme? >> jeanine: it will be a conservative. they are not happy. if they are not happy, people going in restaurants you can be sure they won't be happy with the president's

interesting because is there enough incentive on centrist democrats like senators joe mitch and heidi heitkamp up for re-election to get on board and clear the way for there to be another supreme court justice republican. >> and you're calling saying this might end up being the most expensive effort in recent history. with all the speculation about how conservative democrats will vote, let me play for you what senator joe manchon told a radio host in west virginia last night about a face-to-face conversation he had with president trump at the white house this week. let's listen. >> you give me a institutionalist that believes in the rule of law and is centrist and moderate. i think it's somebody that will go a long way and be received well. i'm pro life, but i know how that divides our country immediately and divides everyone. they're split right down the middle on that. if he picks somebody that's hard core on roe v. wade or that's hard core on repealing health care, that's a bigger list. that's a harder person, is going to be a harder person on either side. >> besides these conservative demo

and we need kevin cramer to replace liberal democrat heidi heitkamp. ffice she promised to be an independent vote for the people of north dakota. instead she went to washington and immediately joined chuck -- you know who chuck is -- and nancy. and now they have a new leader. who is the new leader? maxine waters is their new leader. maxine waters. taking over. they say trump -- i never believed i was take over the republican party. they say that to cause problems. but maxine waters is taking over the democrat party. heidi voted no on the obamacare repeal. by the way, it was done. it was done. unfortunately she wouldn't vote. and another person didn't votes. we had it done. another person campaigned for 8 years, wee repeal and replace. and we were surprised when the thumb went down. but we are doing well. you see what's happening. we are coming up with incredible plans. we have gotten rid of the individual mandate which is terrible. it's been gutted. but remember this. individual mandate, where you have the privilege of paying a lot of money for the seco

and we need kevin cramer to replace liberal democrat heidi heitkamp. ffice she promised to be an independent vote for the people of north dakota. instead she went to washington and immediately joined chuck -- you know who chuck is -- and nancy. and now they have a new leader. who is the new leader? maxine waters is their new leader. maxine waters. taking over. they say trump -- i never believed i was take over the republican party. they say that to cause problems. but maxine waters is taking over the democrat party. heidi voted no on the obamacare repeal. by the way, it was done. it was done. unfortunately she wouldn't vote. and another person didn't votes. we had it done. another person campaigned for 8 years, wee repeal and replace. and we were surprised when the thumb went down. but we are doing well. you see what's happening. we are coming up with incredible plans. we have gotten rid of the individual mandate which is terrible. it's been gutted. but remember this. individual mandate, where you have the privilege of paying a lot of money for the seco

and we need to kevin kramer to replace liberal democrat heidi heitkamp. e, and she promised to be in independent vote for the people of north dakota. instead she went to washington and immediately joined chuck. you know who chuck is? and nancy. and now they have a new leader. who is the new leader? maxine waters is their new leader. maxine waters, i think she's taking over. she said, trump, i never thought i was taking over the republican party, they only say that to cause problems. but maxine waters is taking over the democratic party. heidi voted no on the obamacare repeal, and unfortunately she wouldn't vote. and another person didn't vote. we had it done. another person campaigned for eight years, to repeal and replace, and we were a little surprised when the sun went down. but you see what happened. we have come up with an incredible plan. we have gotten rid of the individual mandate, which is terrible. it has been gutted. but remember this, individual mandate where we have the privilege of paying a lot of money for the second privilege of not having

this week, going around democratic senator heidi heitkamp in north dakota where she's fighting for re-election>> heidi will vote no to any pick we make for the supreme court. >> but trump's using a soft sell, a cozy white house dinner last night. guests including heitkamp herself up for also at that dinner, lisa murkowski of alaska and susan collins of maine. >> roev. wade is an important precedent and it is settled law. >> day two will be under tremendous pressure. >> terry moran, abc >>> in lake county, firefighters are being flown into some of the remote areas to help make containment lines. full contain many is expected next tuesday. 22 structures, some of them home,s, have been destroyed. this map shows you where the fire has burned in an area near clear lake oaks. the fire started last saturday. >>> a 9-year-old napa boy is in stable condition at the uc davis berkeley science camp. it happened on thursday. thou there are a lot of questions about why it happened. cornette bernard has the story. >> all of us are completely horrified. >> this is the napa classroom where a week long chemistr

. >> we need kevin kramer to replace liberal democrat heidi heitkamp. going to happen. , she promised to be an independent vote for the people of north dakota. instead, she went to washington and immediately, joined chuck. you know who chuck is. aunt nancy. so it a vote for any democrat november is a vote for schumer. pelosi and -- >> of the present going up the democrat heidi heitkamp in north dakota this week. he is targeting red state democrats ahead of the midterms. pete nelson is a washington examiner white house reporter. welcome. >> thanks for having me. >> i feel chuck and nancy first of all, it might be a refrain we hear a few times. what do you think? >> we hear more and more about maxine waters allegedly being in charge of the democratic party as well. president trump of course, wants there to be a republican election sweep. he tweeted a cartoon this week. surfing on a surfboard a republican red wave in the midterm elections. he is trying to do what he can to make it happen. >> a star with heitkamp. he is going after her at the rally but the very next day, to

also, even though the president is talking to red state democrats, it is possible somebody like heidi heitkamp who is nominated could support the nominee. she is up for a very, very, very tough re-election fight in november in the state where the president won by 34 percentage points. so it wouldn't be out of the ordinary for someone like that to support the presidential pick, especially since it wasn't that long ago that supreme court nominations ended up for most part with really big bipartisan votes. >> they did. i mean, it was almost a unanimous -- almost unanimous support for justice ginsburg and since then it has changed though in recent years. heitkamp told -- talking about this meeting with the president, came out of it and said, look, the president has a chance here to unite the country by picking a truly nonideological jurist. but then the president told the crowd last night, we'll be picking somebody and we'll be hopefully making you very proud. is it possible for the president to really pick a nonideological jurist and also please his base? >> yes and no. i mean, it is sort of -- i

the president taking on democrat heidi heitkamp in the fall.ast heitkamp as a democrat who plans to block his agenda. >> heidi will vote no to any pick we make for the supreme court. she will be told to do so. maybe because of this, she will be forced to vote yes. who knows? i will tell you, she will vote no the day after the election. >> the president failed to mention she was one of three democrats who broke ranks and voted to confirm gorsuch. heitkamp is willing to work with the president if he is willing to work with north dakota. there are nine others up for democrats. >> she is trying to be diplomatic. >> let's bring in tal kopan in washington. let's start with the supreme court pick. an exit may echo for generations is how "the new york times" states it. how strong is the fight for the democrats for the timing and the pick? >> i expect the fight to be strong. the question is will it be fruitful. >> fruitless? >> in the sense they can do anything. you will hear vorciforious opposition. some from one who is a staunch conservative and someo

he is running against heidi heitkamp.he president cast her as a liberal democrat who plans to block his agenda. >> heidi will vote no to any pick we make for the supreme court. she will be told to do so. now maybe because of this. she will be forced to vote yes. who knows? i will tell you she will vote no the day after the election. >> the president failed to mention heitkamp was one of three democrats who broke the ranks to nominate gorsuch. she said she is always willing to work with the president if he is willing to help north dakota. >> she also caught a ride on air force one the last time the president went there. >>> the president is touting his poll numbers in north dakota although he is not sure if they are real. >> they said i'm an interloper. now a thing comes out, a poll, that says he is the most powerful and popular republican in the history of the party. a little while ago i was an interloper. >> according to recent polls, the approval rating is at or near 90%. >>> rod rosenstein testified before the house co

the ceo of booking holdings on the travel economy, plus at 8:00 eastern, south dakota senator heidi heitkamp>> that she's coming on? >> what's here >> oh, yeah, yeah. you betcha she'll be here. she's good. >> thank you od real go. >> stay tuned. you're watching "squawk box" right here on cnbc without starting from scratch. it brings your business up to speed, doing more with systems you have in place. it can bring all your apps to life and run them within your data center. it is... the ibm cloud private. the cloud that's built for all your apps. ai ready. secure to the core. the ibm cloud is the cloud for smarter business. >>> welcome back, everybody. primary season is under way and cyber vulnerabilities are top of mind for many voters joining us with more on securing the u.s. infrastructure is christopher krebbs, department of homeland security, seen year cyber security official and great to see you today, christopher. thank you for being here. >> good morning. >> let me ask you first, before we get into the election, just digging back through, thinking about the power grids, thinking about

joe donnelly of indiana, heidi heitkamp of north dakota, and joe manchin of west virginia. mr.anton said thursday that he was keeping an open mind about the nomination. a current senior democratic senate aide says the party sees a public pressure campaign around abortion rights its best about voting for mr. trump's nominee as unpalatable as possible. people with insight into the white house's decision-making process having knowledge concerns about ms. collins and -- presti -- mr. perkowski mr. murkowski, as well as potential defections by senators such as jeff flake of arizona and rand paul of kentucky. and the president yesterday met at the white house yesterday senators for filling this vacancy to discuss it. they were senator chuck grassley, who chairs the judiciary committee, susan collins of maine, lisa murkowski of alaska, who will be the pivotal vote for the republicans, senators joe manchin, donnelly, and high camp, all of -- heidi heitkamp, all up for reelection. delma in ohio, democrat. caller: hi, how are you? host: hi, how are you? caller: good morning, i am fine. m

collins and lisa murkowski or convince red state democrats like joe mansion, joe donnelly and heidi heitkamp to jump on board. they met with donald trump last night to discuss the supreme court vacancy. on donald trump's short list are two female candidates come two highly qualified individuals but also no doubt that a female nominee could go a long way to swear senators that may be on the fence. >> thank you very much. the president said he will announce the pick to replace justice kennedy july 9th. the battle lines have already been drawn, they will try to derail the confirmation process until after the november midterm elections. one washington post columnist tell democrats they know they should be blaming thing democrats nuclear action gambles are coming up snake eyes. the cohost of the 5, juan williams and guy benson invented talk radio, the hit show. let me play what sen. cory booker is saying about this as we move forward. >> we have a president with a criminal investigation, donald trump is two or three years left but we should put a pause on this and avoid a conflict of interest and

heidi heitkamp, the president mentioned the biggest news, the repenting retirement of justice anthony kennedy after 30 years on the bench. >> justice anthony kennedy, a very special guy just announced a little while ago his retirement from the united states supreme court. great man. and i am very honored that he chose to do it during my term in office because he felt confident in me to make the right choice and carry on his great legacy. >> this all happened on a night the president through plenty of political punches that may be he saved his hardest hit for new york congressman joe crowley who you probably heard was upset last night in his primary by democrat socialist alexandria cortez. >> one of my biggest critics, joe crowley, got his ass kicked. by a young woman who had a lot of energy. >> a lot of energy and folks excited about that. no surprise he also mentioned maxine waters, had a lot to say about her, called her the new face of the democratic party and mentioned very briefly that it would still be very good for the usa to get along with resident talked -- we are waiting an o

jon tester, heidi heitkamp, joe donnelly, how does anybody -- >> meanwhile i have kamal kamala harrise to wriggle their way out of it politically in the short term we will see where it ends up in november. >> bret: what about, mara, you heard the hhs secretary talking about the conditions and how these kids are treated in the difference between how is being described by hhs and dhs on the democrats going to these facilities. >> i don't know if the administration can win the battle over how these kids are treated. i think as long as they are separated from their parents and they are little and they are crying, that's bad. that's why the president signed the executive order today. don't forget on friday he said to "fox & friends" when directly asked, why can't you sign an executive order, he said no, i can't do that. he has decided the objects were bad, not worth it, politics were not working and he wants to get the issue off the table. >> bret: here is the senate majority leader and the minority leader about legislation to deal with this. >> the president says we need to act. democrats

he really believes this stuff because this is hurting -- acreblican-led farmes ed in northtaet heidi heitkamp i the way you're going to do it. >> can t p make this argument that all of this is to protect the american worke i think i saw reinceebus say the other day if the republican party can keep t american workers supporting them, they'll win forever. >> only if voters --ow information voters uneducated, if you will, i think what brett articulated is clear. these are red states. this is their support. unfortunately, we've seen cases where he has hur the he's spo tbe helping. and they still support him and vote for him. the fact, frankly, that he's rgetinpork farmers, that might mean like he said about obama, maybes secret >> brendan, what do wnk congressional republicans are going to do hrdpushback against the trade policy, what levers do they have. >> well, stephanie, we've been talking about the american worker. we talk about agriculture. in america, that's a high-productivity product. it doesn't take lot of workers to r gs or grow soybeans. machining is anndusy tha w chill actually expor

heidi heitkamp, a freshman that won the favor of president trump.she's a democrat but he obviously likes her. sharing the hand, tells her she's doing a good job. she's been sympathetic to him. this is frustrating for cramer that wants a more clear red versus blue line here but trump has muddied it for him. >> sandra: tell me about virginia. they voted in 2017 in the gubernatorial election. the democrats had tremendous turnout. can they pull that off again in 2018? will you have any indication of that tonight? >> we'll see some signs. in you have two or three house races where it's competitive in virginia. the senate race is not competitive. they don't have a gubernatorial contest this year. so we're going to be looking at the house districts. how do the democrats sort themselves out and remember part of the secret nor democrats in virginia, their great performance was the fact that liberal votersed up behind moderates like governor ralph northun. will we very division, agreement? it's nust how robust they are. it's how much in agreement they are. >>

democrats in red states like heidi heitkamp, joe manchin, claire mccaskill.ouldn't it ensure that republicans turn out to beat them? >> juan: i don't think so. could be republicans would turn out if they felt the senate was at stake. >> dana: i think that's true here. a supreme court nomination generate so much enthusiasm and a republican base. >> juan: i think republicans sold their souls on trump, the legitimacy, justification was that we can have a supreme court appointment. the guy who deserves the credit for that is mitch mcconnell, senate majority leader, who denied a hearing for just about a year to merrick garland, a democrat. so much for stability and rules of order. he just took it, now you understand what is at stake. thing about justice kennedy was justice kennedy, even though i certainly disagree with him on things like voting rights, guess what. he was seen as an open-minded person. who could go either way. what we have now is the potential for a trump nominee who is basically -- locks us into the partisan paralysis we see in congress on the sup

he's working with pat toomey of pennsylvania, among others, including democrats like heidi heitkamp of north dakota, to minimize the tariffs on steel and aluminum. the tariffs have invited retaliation from canada, mexico, and the eu on everything from motorcycles to chocolate. mr. trump may be willful enough to escalate. the corker bill would amend the trade expansion act of 1962, which under section 232 allows the president to impose tariffs or restrictions in the name of national security. this is the justification the trump administration has invoked to -- the corker legislation would require the president to submit 232 restrictions to congress for approval under an expedited process. the white house is now trying to block even a vote on mr. corker's bill, which he wants to move on an amendment to the national defense authorization act. this annual bill tends to pass with generous bipartisan support, and the white house is arguing the corker position would hurt mr. trump's ability to work on trade deals. majority leader mitch mcconnell is saying the corker bill would be an exercise

north dakota democrat heidi heitkamp will go up against kevin kramer. in nevada,epublican dean heller will face congresswoman jacky rosen. and a south carolina congress candidate who admitted abusing his ex-wife 45 years ago won his primary anyway after coming clean. archie parnell l all support fr national and state democrats. >>> ahead, elon musk wants tesla to be profitable, so he's laying off several thousand workers. what does that mean for its first mass-market car? cnn "money's" next. your hair is so soft! did you use head and shoulders two in one? i did mom. wanna try it? yes. it intensely moisturizes your ir and scalp and keeps you flake free. manolo? look at my soft hair. i should be in the shot now too. try head and shoulders two in one. they have businesses to run they have passions to pursue how do they avoid trips to the post office? stamps.com mail letters ship packages all the amazing services of the post office right on your computer week trial plus $100 in extras including postage and a digital scale go to stamps.com/tv and never go to

heidi heitkamp and joe donnelly, they'll have to answer questions about maxine waters. >> you just heardck schumer, he does not want the democratic party to be the left wing mirror image of the things they don't like about donald trump. and that is the challenge. first of all, it's wrong because they didn't like it when donald trump did it. second of all it's tactically stupid because it will backfire and you already saw the president using it to say that his supporters are the victims of the left wing mob. so it's not going t lead to anything good for democrats and that's why you saw her called out and hopefully they will be able to restrain that because they have to make an argument on the merits. >> it's encouraging that some people have challenged what they have said, and david axelrod tweeted that he is kind of amazed and appalled by the number of folks on the left to applaud the expulsion of sarah huckabee sanders from the restaurant and then went on to say exactly what he said, he doesn't want to see the left mimic what they criticize and donald trump. there is no long-term upside

had key senators over to the white house on thursday, including joe manchon, joe donnelly and heidi heitkamp fights this year. >> the states overwhelmingly for trump and a vote against his supreme court nominee could cost them crucial votes. the president met with chuck grassley and gop senator lisa murkowski and susan collins, they're also being watched closely as the white house vets supreme court nominees. >>> the white house criticizing a federal judge ruling requiring quick reunification of the families separated at the border. a spokesperson telling reporters on air force one the ruling endangers national security. the administration's hard-line immigration policies not deterring everyone. you could see nick valencia was on a ride-along with a group of customs as they caught a group of migrants crossing the rio grande. >>> mike pence visiting center ral america, home to many of the pleaing migrants after meeting with the leaders of honduras, guatemala and el salvador delivering this message. >> among this flood of migrants are human traffickers and gang members like ms-13, but most are

. >> i think i'd go to the other side of the partisan divide and look at heidi heitkamp and tester an so it will be harder for them to vote against the president's nominee because they have to get the voters that voted for trump to now come and back them, too. so they are in really tough places right now. while having to appeal to trump voters, they need their own base to be super energized and to come out and vote. this vote could risk deflating their base. so really tough place. >> shepard: so that could give the president an opportunity to nominate someone that is more conservative particularly while putting pressure on them to vote to hold their bases? >> exactly. i think the president will be under a lot of pressure to go -- to choose a hard-liner so he can solidify the conservative block on the court. the evangelicals and the other socially conservative folks that have weathered one scandal after another with this president have done so largely for this very moment. from their perspective, he owes them and they're going to demand the hardest line conservative they can possibly g