we don't know how jeff flake will go. flake traditionally votes with president trump and his party e especially on judicial nominations. >> you understand the relationships here. chuck todd spoke about the concern he is hearing from sources, casey hunt is hearing this as well, concern of the partisan view that kavanaugh seemed to espoused in that testimony last week. he has that new op-ed out in the "wall street journal" which seems to be a direct shot at saying, hey, i hear your concerns, let me put those concerns to rest. >> certainly seems to be an effort to assuage concerns. i want to quote from that op-ed. own the eve of the vote, he said i might have been too emotional another times. i know my tone was sharp and i said a few things i video not have said. then he promised to be a fair and impartial judge which he said he has been throughout his career this comes after flake questioned his tone and suggested he was a little too partisan, after heitkamp who voted for neil gorsuch, these are questions that other senators

i don't know what a jeff flake republican looks like. >> no better you think of jeff flake and his political future. if he tries to primary the president from the right as a conservative he'll get demolished. i would prefer a jeff flake to a donald trump. but that's not the reality. the left is never going to accept anything. there are middle ground folks who were saying all right, who is this mark judge guy? having the fbi on this before confirmation longer term is helpful. kennedy: i think if judge kavanaugh is confirmed, if there weren't another stage in the process, he would have a cloud hanging over his head for the rest of his career if he does have a career. but i think jeff flake could have bean little bit more honorable and instead of following bob corker to the microphone saying i am a yes. then there was a confound because jeff flake wants to be liked, and that whole thing was very clumsy. >> anybody who doesn't know politics in washington is a sewer pit isn't paying attention. the only thing we heard is that jeff flake is a coward. if he really thought stalling for fbi investigat

by not actually delivering what jeff flake wanted and place the bet that jeff flake will simply bear that humiliation. and the kavanaugh nomination will get through. >> i don't disagree with that. and i think today, though, as john has related it was a very good day in terms of showing that if there's intensive media and public scrutiny on the conduct of this very important investigation that senators like senator flake are not going to allow themselves to be played for fools, to allow this to be turned into just a farce of an investigation, and that we are not going to get permission. we're certainly not going to get perfection in a week. i doubt that my friend ron klain's suggestion of bringing judge kavanaugh back before the committee is going to be one that's eagerly snapped up by senator mcconnell or senator grassly. but we're going to get something better than what senator mcconnell and don mcgahn, the white house counsel, wanted to give to us in the first place, and that's actually a very good development today. >> and john, it's always been up to jeff flake from the start to

he said jeff flakes moved they could get along.4. he said jeff flakes moved they could get along. it's far too little of it in the senate. >> you did not support president trump. you did not vote for him. the republicans aren't happy with you. democrats aren't happy with you. what does that feel like to be kind of the man without a country? >> that's what it feels like. i could never warm to the president. long before he ran he talked about president obama not being a citizen. i thought that itself is disqualifying. you cannot do that. talked about john mccain in a derogatory way. then talked about mexicans in a derogatory way. i think we have got to do better than that. we can't refer to our political opponents on the other side of the aisle as losers and clowns. we have too big of issues to solve in this country than to just be partisan all the time. >> i don't think anybody would disagree with you. n in the audience, people under 30. they have seen nothing but government dysfunction. what can you tell them about whiwhy they should have faith in u.s. government? >> i think young

jeff flake. remember those words. an amazing hour today.h dana bash starts now. >>> welcome to inside politics. i'm dana bash. john king is off. the clock is ticking towards a monumental vote on whether brett kavanaugh will be confirmed to the supreme court. the tension here in washington is palpable. key senators pore over the new report. the report is not being released to the public. this just in as well from a key republican senator, jeff flake. the man who forced the investigation in the first place. he said we have seen no additional corroborating

the one i have a doubt about is jeff flake. i think he's -- i think -- i'm less -- i'm more convinced he votes yes today, but i wouldn't assume a yes today for him would be a yes tomorrow. today, remember, this is just breaking the filibuster. >> this is ending the debate to move on. >> it used to be 60 votes, today

we are talking about jeff flake of arizona and lisa murkowski of alaska. id they wanted to see the fbi report before making up their minds. senator flake said there was no additional corroborating investigation. senator collins said the investigation appears have been thorough. senator murkowski said she is still reviewing the report. in senator murkowski's state of alaska and collins's home state of main, what kind of pressure has lisa murkowski been getting from constituents? >> the pressure is intense. how will she vote? figuring out the answer is a popular partic popular. >> parlor game here in alaska. if anyone knows the answer, they are lying. she is very popular because she has bipartisan support. she had her own me too moment. more than 100 women from alaska are in washington, d.c. going to capitol hill. they have a scheduled meeting and have been invited to meet with her about an hour from now and it will be a significant meeting because senator murkowski is reviewing the fbi report. these women are mostly democrats and independents, but every one

also jeff flake, that other key republican said something similar. he said he agreed to there appeared to be a thorough investigation and suggested that jeff flake also said it was nothing to corroborate those allegation allegations. when we caught up with lisa murkowski of alaska she was noncommittal and said she's still revealing everything but she was not in the closed door briefing that just occurred with republicans only. only susan collins returned for the briefing among the three undecided senators so we will have to wait and see whether or not flake or murkowski or collins, when they will make their decision final. tomorrow the critical vote when republicans cannot lose more than one republican senator if democrats vote no. that's why their position is critical as susan collins is behind closed doors getting the final details of the briefing. >> what are the republicans that you're talking to saying tonight? >> the republicans are defending the scope saying this has been a thorough job. they dispute the democrats who they say are moving the g

i think when it comes to the decision that susan collins and lisa murkowski and jeff flake -- jeff flakeay he wanted to support judge kavanaugh and he plans to as long as the fbi investigation happened. so i think really what we are looking at is susan collins and losa murkowski, they have called out the president before on his comments towards women. he has every reason not to upset them at this point. i don't think they would vote for judge kavanaugh in the first place to do the president a solid. >> thanks very much. coming up, really a remarkable "new york times" investigation claiming a trump family tax scheme existed dodging taxes to the tunes of many millions of dollars. we will talk to one of the reporters who broke the story. opportunity is everywhere. like here. and here. see? opportunity. hi! cinturones por favor. gracias. ev-er-y-where. about to be parents. it's doing a lot of kicking down there. meeting the parents. it's gonna be fine. and this driver, logging out to watch his kid hit one out of the... go dani, go! opportunity is everywhere. all you have to do to find it is

what jeff flake and susan collins believe they are very satisfied with the fbi investigation. : they came out of that report saying it was thorough and hoping t. did what they were hoping it would do. flake, collins, murkowski voted for gulch. murkowski did not vote for sotomayor and kagan. murkowski as you said, brian, everybody is watching out for. ainsley: people looking at joe manchin. he was leaving the senate and confronted by a protester. watch that. >> i don't understand how you cannot look me in the eye. >> can i. >> why are you going to vote oyes on this? >> can you tell me how i'm going to vote? >> i'm not voting until tomorrow morning. >> how are you not listening to us brian: finally a little bit of security. screaming in the face getting old. let him do his job and woman do her job. joe manchin has treated that protester with respect. the screaming and shrieking i hope would stop soon. no corroboration is with both flake and collins have said. that's important. they have looked at the multipage report and they said you talked to people involved with ramirez that's

three of them are collins, joe manchin and jeff flake voted yes today. jeff flake said he will vote to confirm kavanaugh unless something big happens. susan collins hasn't said how she will vote on the actual nomination. we're watching the republican senator lisa murkowski of alaska. she voted against advancing kavanaugh's nomination. normally if you go against your own party in the motion to proceed, you'll stay the course and do it again in the motion to confirm. she also said today kavanaugh is in her view maybe not the right man for the court at this time. the truth is, the republicans don't really need her. if susan collins votes yes, that is likely the whole ball game. down this home stretch, top senators are making a final push on the senate floor. >> what left wing groups and their democratic allies have done to judge kavanaugh so nothing short of monstrous. >> judges are expected to be

jeff flake of arizona. maine senator susan collins. alaska's lisa murkowski.today collins was joining flake in pushing for that wider scope for the fbi investigation. we are so happy they are here with us in the studio to talk about us is lonnie chen. a senior adviser to the national republican senatorial committee. he is also a research fellow at hoover institution and former presidential campaign adviser to both rubio and romney. good evening. welcome. glad to have you back on the broadcast. is it possible that three can be the center of 100? >> in this senate it seems as though that is the case. the interesting thing is that they each have slightly different political pressures at play. jeff flake not running for re-election really it's a question of legacy for him. lisa murkowski and susan collins face very different pressures in their own states. but they face pressures from a similar direction, which is people from the left trying to push them toward the center. it's a very, very interesting dynamic because the three of them now find themselves in this u

jeff flake. remember those words. an amazing hour today. inside politics with dana bash starts now. >>> welcome to inside politics. i'm dana bash. john king is off. the clock is ticking towards a monumental vote on whether brett kavanaugh will be confirmed to the supreme court. the tension here in washington is palpable. key senators pore over the new report. the report is not being released to the public. this just in as well from a key republican senator, jeff flake. the man who forced the investigation in the first place. he said we have seen no additional corroborating information. republican senator bob corker who is often critical of the trump white house is supportive of brett kavanaugh. he echoed that. >> for me, again, no corroboration of any allegation that has been made. not any corroboration. very clear. >> there are many unknowns at this dramatic hour. amid all of this, the only unknown that matters in the short-term is this. how will the new fbi background check that senators are reviewing affect the decisions of five key sena

republicans jeff flake and susan collins and democrat joe manchin.

now and try to get jeff flake to eventually vote no. i mean, perhaps they can get him on board and get susan collins there as well. now, i suspect susan collins already knows how she's going to vote. she probably already has her plane ticket booked on saturday out of washington, d.c. she certainly is playing with a lot of drama here right now, but there is time, i think, for democrats to try to persuade no votes. >> i want to unpack and underscore something dana said earlier. we went in today with these four key votes, and now we're really just talking about flake and collins to see if they change. here's why. as dennis said, it's impossible to imagine lisa murkowski at this point having voted no on procedure to vote yes. that would be a very difficult thing to explain, and it would sort of defy logic. joe manchin, i think, is in a very similar situation on the democratic side, and phil brettson, who is the democratic nominee in tennessee, to understand the critical cross currents of democrats in the deep red states.

washington and again the producers are on the ground there in washington hearing from arizona senator jeff flaker flake informing the team on the ground that he is a yes vote on judge kavanaugh and vote ing to confirm brett kavanaugh to the supreme court. senator menendez, does that surprise you? >> no. i mean, i are respect senator flak flake, but look, anyone who asked for an investigation as senator flake did, and then look looks at the investigation, and the results of the investigation they did, and that is not an investigation. i won't repeat what i said yesterday, but clearly, that is not an investigation. seven witnesses that dr. ford offered to the attorneys were not interviewed and dr. ford, who is the subject along with judge kavanaugh, and the subjects of the investigation was not interviewed and a series of kavanaugh's classmates who often said that he drank to excess and belligerent which goes to the demeanor and temperament were not interview and witnesses from deborah ra ramirez was not interviewed and so how can you consider that a investigation? it is far from a investigation.

but staying on jeff flake, if i can, david, just for a moment. i thought it was noteworthy that senator flake said he wants a more thorough investigation, his phrase, we ought to have more information, not less. and he said, not an investigation to just, quote, give us cover. what did you think of that? >> yeah, and so, and that comports with dana's reporting here of where the tension exists, right? that the -- and you heard the president in the rose garden, very clearly, on the scope of this investigation, wanting to sort of hand it off to the senate. but now the president was sounding somewhat expansive in the rose garden. that he would like to see brett kavanaugh interviewed. that he thinks, you know, maybe all three women who have come forward should and could be interviewed, if the senate deemed it credible and if the senate deemed it necessary to get the information they needed. so there's this little distance that's going on right now, where jeff flake launched this process, where the senate republican majority trying to constrict it and li

let's listen to what jeff flake told me. >> can't wait for civility until an election is finished. and we can't have people talking about this being the enemy of the people and talking about, you know, how journalists can be beat up and that's okay. i mean, that just -- you've got to get away from that. >> what do political leaders do to turn the volume down now? >> we're right in the heat of midterm campaigns so that's tough when you're close. but i know it's never more needed, and we saw, for example, with john mccain during that heated presidential campaign when somebody was going after his opponent and he took the mike away. >> stephanie, that was a small example. we remember you and i talked about it when john mccain passed, that moment in the campaign against barack obama when a woman said something derogatory about barack obama at a town hall meeting and john mccain stopped it. he stopped it and said, no, ma'am, that's not the case. it was polite. a small moment. there was no talk of violence. but that's the kind of rhetoric that we crave these days. >> you know what, ali --

jeff flake has a choice of saying no on him. give me someone else. >> i know we still don't know which way this will go for sure. we're watching that very closely. i'm curious about the next few weeks and next few years. president trump last night gave us a window into what he thinks the main lesson learned from this saga has been. he was at a minnesota political rally, and he went after senator al franken, a democrat who resigned after sexual misconduct allegations against him. listen to what he criticized al franken for. >> boy, did he fold up like a wet rag, huh? man. [ applause ] >> man, he was gone so fast. he was gone so fast, i don't want to mention al franken's name, okay? so i won't mention it. he was gone -- he was gone so fast. it was like, oh, he did something. oh, i resign. i quit. >> okay. you first. you're shaking your head. >> i know. it's horrible. and unhelpful and offensive. and, you know, the reality of al franken resigning was because of the women in the senate really sort of forced that on him. you know, he

i asked susan collins what jeff flake said about all of this and he signaled where he stands. take a look. >> we certainly want the fbi to do a real investigation and we are working to make sure that that happens. i've had discussions many yesterday with my colleagues with the white house counsel's office, my staff is following up as well. i had one of those conversations just five minutes ago to make sure that the -- that any current, credible allegation that has been made is fully investigated. >> reporter: so president trump over the weekend suggested that this could all be a blessing in disguise, this one week delay, the short pause in the process as jeff flake put it, alluding to this notion expressed by some republicans that they don't expect this seventh background investigation to turn up anything that the other six didn't turn up and so the thinking was if brett kavanaugh emerges from this process, the process looking fairer then he will benefit from that but what you're hearing from democrats and republicans is that, no, no. the process can't just look fairer it actu

jeff flake not running for reelection it is a question of legacy. lisa murkowski and susan collins face different pressures in their states but from a similar direction which is people from the left trying to push them towards the center. so it's a very interesting dynamic because the three find themselves in the unique historical position of potentially being the ones to decide this. >> it combines two of easily the most interesting surnames in the senate with two of the most interesting biographies. flake is a religious mormon who did time in africa as a mormon missionary. they have bonded over their experience there. i happen to believe they share a huge basis in faith that has been one of the under pinnings of their relationship. >> their relationship, the ability to work together is a little bit of an acroinism. the notion that they can have a consistent relationship where they will not agree on a lot of things. the funny thing is this was so common. now we look at it and think it is like a unicorn. the reality is that they were able to bond on

ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming united states senator jeff flake. sen. flake: thank you. nice to be here. thank you. thank you. thank you all. dr. salvo and the executive director, thanks for having me here, the institute of politics and thanks to all of you really for being here. it's great to be in new hampshire again with i had wife cheryl. i've always heard saint anselm is a safe place, populated by calm, reasonable people. i'm counting on this today. you have no idea. i only regret that there isn't very much to talk about right now. but seriously and to be clear, when i titled this speech after the deluge, i meant that metaphorically. i hadn't counted on a actual deluge. so a teachable moment here, be careful what you title things because it makes them happen. use your words responsibly. when i first started thinking about this speech and how to frame it, i thought about calling it, what happened to ronald reagan's party? president reagans' party once was brimming with ideas, full of purpose and principle. t was coherent and inspiring and idealistic

jeff flake. the person with that obvious partisan philosophy can't possibly sit on the supreme court. >> my feeling on jeff flake is this. if we get the two women, certainly mcconnell can persuade them because there won't be anything in this document. then i don't care with jeff flake goes. we need to two women and -- lou: murkowski and collins. >> if we get them and get the 50, i think there will be a senate or two on the democratic side in tough races who may come over. if not, we have the 50. let's put him through and get it done. lou: the aclu spending $1 million on an ad against judge kavanaugh. >> outrageous. lou: this was once a liberal but bipartisan group. it is no more. the person banker american bankn has always been liberal. but now the president of the american bar association is stepping into this. i mean it is -- this is raw, this is nasty. it's unprecedented. >> this is hand grenade fights. they're doing everything they can to knock this man out. he's got great credibility and at

this is about more delay and jeff flake and others need to understand that. chris: let's be honest about this. the democrats don't want this nomination and one of the things they are trying to do is delay it. to what degree this called for an fbi investigation, all respect to congresswoman edwards, she said we need to go, a week isn't enough and try to push this past the midterms in hopes democrats take over and donald trump never gets another supreme court justice? >> i think unfortunately there are some democrats where that is true. i don't think that is where majority of democrats are. there are some democratic activists singlets the labels and find something else to delay and something else after that and they are doing the democratic party of which i'm a proud member a disservice but to the fact there are democrats who believe when there is a credible allegation like doctor ford's, for someone seeking a lifetime appointment to the supreme court, that is worth doing a real investigation. i don't believe she was treated with the respect and credibility man

jeff flake said if he's found to have lied, he will not vote for him. i guess he can still be confirmed if collins and murkowski and corker make a different calculation and if democrats care less than flake does. >> comey said there was one pungent little sentence in there where he said when you have someone testifying who lies about the small things, it's a red flag to fbi investigators. >> and that was the point of the jury instructions from blumenthal. phil rucker, right now on the white house's list of things that annoy them or make them mad, where do these things fall? do the allegations from ms. ramirez, professor ford and the other accuser, have they now descended to number two after this question of the veracity of his sworn testimony? >> well, it's all there in a bucket, and it's the big crisis facing the white house at the moment. i'll point out one other thing that has supporters of kavanaugh a little bit concerned. remember on thursday during the hearing, the emotional power of dr. ford's testimony. there was a sense of fatalism in the kavan

it is my pleasure tonight to welcome the united states senator jeff flake from arizona. senator flake was first elected to the senate in 2013 and previously served six terms in the house of representatives. as a member of the united states senate, he sits on the energy and natural resources committee, before and relations committee, and the judiciary committee. >> he worked to promote a usservative philosophy of government, more freedom and individual responsibility. senator flake is a joke graduate universityyoung where he earned his bachelor and masters. he and his wife live in mission, arizona and have five children. they're very glad that the senator can be here tonight given how busy his last two days, few hours and a few minutes have been. pleaseand gentlemen, join me in welcoming jeff flake. [applause] thank you. thank you all. thank you for having me here. thank you to all of you for being here. it is great to be in new hampshire again. i have always heard that it is a , populated by common reasonable people. i'm counting on this today. you have no idea. regret th

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ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming senator jeff flake. [applause] sen. flake: thank you. thank you all. thank you for having me here. thank you to all of you for being here. it is great to be in new hampshire again with my wife, cheryl. i have always heard that it is a safe place, populated by common -- by calm, reasonable people. i'm counting on this today. you have no idea. i only regret that there is a not much to talk about right now. seriously, to be clear, when i titled this speech "after the deluge," i meant it metaphorically. i did not count on an actual deluge. a teachable moment, be careful what you title things. it makes them happen. use your words responsibly. when i first started thinking about this speech and how to frame it, i thought about calling it what happened to ronald reagan's party. his party was once brimming with ideas, principles. it was coherent and inspiring and idealistic. so much so that it awakened the imagination of a kid from snowflake, arizona, and whole generation of other kids just like him. it made us think big thought

what i'm curious about is at that point jeff flake indicated that he was going to vote to confirm brett kavanaugh and then after that he called for this f.b.i. investigation do you believe that it was the fact that was captured on video that really change the calculus of where he stood in all of this. i do agree with that because when lawmakers see the the real i guess you can say more than anything else the attention that social media tends to give to these important decisions in a way that there was not before there is some degree of change there and what he did was call for the f.b.i. investigation and said he couldn't really move forward without that happening but look he's a political animal as well he's not running for reelection so in my in my gut i know that jeff flake knows that he doesn't he can make these tough choices and he doesn't have anything to lose but this is how our system works so what he did was essentially give him self cover to vote yes to say that there was an investigation and that this investigation brought forth pretty much nothing which is what we're hearing

listen to what jeff flake is telling us here. such an interesting figure, i'd like to hear you out on him. is this a case of an imperfect man on his way out of town, and he fully admits if he was running for reelection, there is no way he would be in this role, an imperfect man coming along at a perfect time? >> we're all imperfect men and women, brian. jeff flake is a good guy. i know him. he's principled. i think that you see what he's feeling there. he's agonizing over this. but i think he has reached the proper conclusion as i literally believe him to be meditaing out loud. you cannot put a person onto the supreme court who says things like, what goes around comes around, that this is all a conspiracy. it goes back to the clintons, it goes back who knows how far, but that partisan anger, his enraged behavior directed at the left, at the interest groups, might there be a possibility that a supreme court justice will have to decide issues that involve liberal interest groups? of course there is. and so putting someone in that p

conduct that jeff flake objected to. but because this is the donald trump white house, of course, there is no apology in the op-ed piece. donald trump would not allow an apology. and so is this what jeff flake needs? will this work for republican senators susan collins or lisa murkowski? a promise by brett kavanaugh of who he will be, as he put it, going forward? we're supposed to see that in a confirmation hearing. who this person will be going forward. that's what the hearing is for. retired justice john paul stevens who is 98 years old and there's only two people in the history of the court who have served longer on the court than john paul stevens. john paul stevens has been able to see every televised supreme court confirmation hearing in history. and he has seen enough of brett kavanaugh. a judge who he once admired. and after seeing brett kavanaugh in that hearing room last week justice stevens decided today to take his place in history as the first former supreme court justice to ever publicly oppose the confirma

and kasie, what did jeff flake say when he got into the car. >> indeed, breaking news from tracking jeff flake who says he is voting yes unless something changes, and we don't know what that would be, and so, he had announced that he was a yes on kavanaugh before we went into all of this back and forth about the fbi investigation, the one-week hold and that is last friday, and so to a certain extent, flake is being consistent here in that he believes that the fbi investigation did not show any corroborating evidence. sof that, you know, really abrupt switch from lisa murkowski and you could see the tension on the floor, and her in conversation with john cornyn who is in charge of counting the votes and then she went and w k walked out of the floor and changed her mind and voted no. that is incredible pressure, and we are outside of senator joe manchin's office and protesters on both sides of issue coming and going, and he is under incredible pressure now, but of course he is waiting on senator s susan collins, and as she goes, so will go joe manchin. i think that there is still incredibl

that's what jeff flake was talking about on "60 minutes" last night, right? that's a no-go for him.o there's a long way for this to unspool itself still and it is only monday. >> yes, this was -- this was exactly what mitch mcconnell was worried about. you give it another week, who knows what's going to happen during the course of that week. >> he's a smart man. >> everybody stand by. we're staying on top of the breaking news. much more right after this. your whole windshield. with safelite's exclusive resin, you get a strong repair that you can trust. plus, with most insurance a safelite repair is no cost to you. >> customer: really?! >> singers: safelite repair, safelite replace. you always get the lowest price on our rooms, guaranteed?m let's get someone to say it with a really low voice. carl? lowest price guaranteed. what about the world's lowest limbo stick? how low can you go? nice one, carl. hey i've got an idea. just say, badda book. badda boom. badda book. badda boom. nice. always the lowest price, guaranteed. book now at choicehotels.com your insurance rates skyrocket you

those moderates were, of course, led by arizona republican jeff flake, as you know, but flake made ark admission last night about the political reality of him being the one leading that push for a delay. here's what he told cbs "60 minutes." >> senator flake, you announced you're not running for re-election, and i wonder, could you have done this if you were running for re-election? >> no, not a chance. >> not a chance? >> no. >> those fewrevealing about the current state of politics. mitch mcconnell cast doubt on the fbi investigation ever satisfying kavanaugh's critics. >> if you listen carefully, mr. president, you can practically hear the sounds of the democrats moving the goal post. >> i'm joined now by garrett hake from capitol hill. welcome back. do we have any idea when this is going to happen, and is there anybody whose feathers are being ruffled with mitch mcconnell going out and being -- essentially brushing off this fbi investigation, calling it, or making it sound like it's not going to result in anything that would sway anybody's vote? >> well, that's the party line her

ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming united states senator, jeff flake. [applause] sen. flake: thank you. thank you all. isalvo, thank you for having me here at the institute of politics. thanks to all of you for being here. it is great to be in new hampshire again with my wife. i have always heard that saint anselm is a safe place, populated by calm, reasonable people. i'm counting on this today. [laughter] you have no idea. [laughter] i only regret there is not a lot to talk about right now. seriously, to be clear, when i titled this speech "after the deluge," i meant that metaphorically. i did not count on an actual deluge. a teachable moment, be careful what you titled things because it makes them happen. use your words responsibly. when i first started thinking about this speech and how to frame it, i thought about calling it "what happened to ?"nald reagan's party his party was idealistic benevolent and bighearted. it made us think big thoughts of our place in the world, and what it meant to be an american in america, the shining city on a hill. reag

they just pick someone, jeff flake one day, susan collins, lindsey graham.tive republicans. >> they're just politicians. it's no big difference. it's diet coke and regular coke, it's the same guy. lindsey graham, when he gave his speech, they should have just given a slow clap. it was nonsense. everything lap is indsey graham doing is what every poll signals does when a president is in office. he is also close friends with jeff sessions. >> he would take his job, i think -- >> that's what this is about. i'm fairly sure lindsey graham probably talks to jeff sessions, he says when you get fired, i'll try to take your job, you'll be the first phone call i make. all of this is kissing up to the president which is amazing to to me because if mitt romney or chris christie have shown us, kissing up to trump doesn't work, he'll still play you. >> i think the thing we have to explain, and i'd be curious how katon does this, he has changed his tune completely on donald trump. in other words, we're not talking here about somebody who was mildly critical of trump and th

we'll ask larry kudlow, jeff flake and bernie sanders. we'll break out the politics, smoke out the spin. the facts that matter this week. >> good morning, welcome to "this week." just over three weeks to the midterms. our brand new poll gives both parties hope and fear. president trump's approval rating is 41%. the second highest of his presidency. republicans hold a slight edge over democrats on handling the economy. the number of americans who say they want democrats to hold a check on trump is slipping. they are still a majority. democratic candidates for the house lead republicans by 11 points among registered voters. fueled by a democratic edge on key issues like health care and a wide lead among women voters. only 36% of women approve of president trump and they want democratic by republican candidates in the house by 22 points. our poll showing voters are engaged. 76% say they're certain to vote and here democrats have the edge. in kentucky this weekend the president previewed his closing arguments along with one of his potential c

what about jeff flake? you talk to jeff flake. as very disturbed by the partisanship. >> i talked to senator flake this week and to come back to our whip count question, i think the thing i think about judge kavanaugh now is not the things that relate to sexual misconduct although he wanted to the inbound investigation and he got what he wanted and he's satisfied he says. but the stuff you were talking about about whether judge kavanaugh given the fierce partisanship of some of the things he expressed, the conspiracy theory, those things at the hearing, i said is this not going to pose a huge institutional problem for the court if someone who is perceived to be this partisan is put on the court, will it make it hard for him to rule, will it open him up to impeachment hearings and flake looked at me with a pained look on his face and said it is really not ideal, this situation, putting that guy on the court for that reason. i said so what are you going to do? he said i'm going to have to think about it much later in the week but it'

jeff flake fro

so will jeff flake, who's said a loot of things over the last couple days, feel like he has enough information to cast a vote. now, again, mcconnell is only focused on those three people, flake, murkowski, and collins. he's not considering manchin. he's not considering heitkamp. really, the spotlight is on those three people and those three people alone. >> well, let's talk about flake. you said he's been saying a lot of things in the past few days. certainly it started last week when he threw a wrench into things and asked for a one-week extension. over the weekend, he said that lying would be disqualifying. he called the white house to expand the fbi probe or at least nominally did. who knows what his real influence was there. and then as of today, jake, he said, i was very troubled by the tone of the remarks, the initial defense that judge kavanaugh gave was something like i told my wife i hoped i wouldn't sound that indignant. then it went on. the interaction with members of sharp and partisan pip tell myself, you give a little leeway because of what he's been through, but on the other han

as they were speaking, very amiably i point out, we're getting word jeff flake will be a yes on jeff kavanaugh. by my math leaves uncertain despite back and forth comments, lisa murkowski appearing no vote, officially goes down as undecided. real attention on susan collins of maine, making a statement at 3:00 p.m. today. joe manchin of the democrat of west virginia, due to make a statement either before the floor or tweeting it out up to or by that time. we'll have more after this. with only a kite, a house key and a wet hemp string, benjamin franklin captured lightening in a bottle. over 260 years later, with a little resourcefulness, ingenuity, and grit, we're not only capturing energy from the sun and wind, we're storing it. as the nation's leader in energy storage, we're ensuring americans have the energy they need, whenever they need it. this is our era. this is america's energy era. nextera energy. we're all under one roof now. congratulations. thank you. how many kids? my two. his three. along with two dogs and jake, our new parrot. that is quite the family. quite a lot of col