jeff flake or not. and that's just the reality, the political reality for the republicans who i know we just had an election. but the republicans -- the landscape for republicans in the next election, in 2020 -- never mind the presidency, in the senate, is much less positive for the gop. and they have to start looking. >> remember -- but remember, the republican caucus is now more pro trump than it used to be. >> true. >> jeff flake is leaving. bob corker is leaving. you know, john mccain, of course, is gone. the people who remain are the real hard core trump loyalists. so the idea that mitch mcconnell is going to feel pressure to protect robert mueller seems remote. >> mitt romney is in the senate. remember that. >> we'll see what mitt romney, the incoming senator from utah, has to say. everybody stand by. much more on the breaking news right after this. er the mess, irobot has your everyday solution. roomba vacuums up dry debris and pet hair throughout your home. and for wet messes, say hello to the b

we'll do that with or without jeff flake. this seems to be his go-to play right now threatening judges. he did it this past summer on tariffs and trade. now he is doing it in terms of the issue of special counsel. there is no threat to the special counsel. we are going to get these judges confirmed. >> sandra: here is jeff flake in his own words. >> with the firing of the

the jeff flake and the democrats want to pass. i think poisoning the waters, this bill was never going to pass in the first place. you can't sign this bill because trump declared mueller as my enemy. this is the smart politics in a certain way. >> they got the efforts to discredit mueller so confusion have worked. they feel good about the strategy. >> this is straight from the greatest hits album. he tweeted about them so many times. this was like tweets from three months ago. it's back. >> the greatest hits tour. i like that. >> you see the president and the first lady. if anyone had questions about her willingness to exert her influence, they got the answer. we have seen that in recent days. up next, the recount deadline hour away, the president pushing experience theories about what he sees as fraud. >> today questions of time and votes in florida. the deadline to stop the machine recount just hours away. palm beach county looks certain to miss it. also this morning, more signs of what you might call counting creep. they have u

republican senator jeff flake. senator flake is a fifth generation arizonan and was selected to the united states senate in 2012. after serving 12 years in the u.s. house of representatives. representing arizona's east valley. as a member of the united states senate, senator flake serves on the energy and natural resources , foreign relations, on the judiciary committees. he's also the author of a conscience of a conservative, a rejection of destructive politics, and a return to principle. please join me in welcoming rizona senator jeff flake. mr. flake: congratulations to all of the award winners tonight. i have so much -- i so much appreciate the invitation to speak here tonight. if i'm a bit winded, it's because i've been taking the stairs all day. i've developed an aversion to elevators. [laughter] i saw the cnn camera next to an elevator in the russell building this morning and got nervous. this morning chris even suggested, there's surely got to be room for a television show that goes along the lines of jerry

jeff flake, senator jeff flake pointed out today that in his state of arizona the troops are stationeds north of the actual border, and he labeled it just a pure stunt. to get back to the fires, kevin mccarthy, now the republican leader of the house of representatives, minority leader, had to tell the president, ask the president, beg the president presumably to stop tweeting on the side of the fire against californians. >> and lawrence, kevin mccarthy is the minority leader because he just saw a whiepoipeout in california because on so many issues, on immigration, on the fires, on health care he saw his california republican colleagues have failed to stand up to the president and instead heard the people of california. that's why they will lose six seats and there are four more seats that we came within ten or fewer points in that we're going to be competitive in in just two years. >> talk about what california now needs in the aftermath of these fires. >> right now as the president sends these tweets or threatens to withdraw funding thankfully californians and people from all over th

next, senator jeff flake and jim une talk about their plan to prevent interference in the election. senator flake: bring the special counsel act to the floor. this vote, april 26 in a 14-7 it's rare there's such bipartisan legislation in the committee but it passed. it's languished here ever since. in the intervening time, we have , district inations and circuit court judges to the senate familiar for a -- floor for a vote. 50 have received a vote. it's not that everything from the judiciary committee has been waiting here for action. we've done a lot. these have been good votes. we've needed to move these judges through. but -- this is priority now. the justification given in april for not bringing it to a floor vote was that nobody was being fired, nothing to see here. special counsel mueller was not in any danger that clearly is not the case now. the attorney general has been fired. and the authority and the oversight for the investigation was taken away from rod rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, and given to someone who has not been senate-confirmed, who has expressed open

please join me in welcoming arizona senator, jeff flake. [applause] senator flake: congratulations to the award winners tonight. i have so much appreciate the invitation to speak tonight. if i'm a bit winded i have developed an aversion to elevators. [laughter] senator flake: i saw susan and to an camera next elevator this morning. chris coons suggested there surely has got to be room for a television show that goes along seinfeld's jerry getting coffee. senators in elevators with advocates. there is an old joke that says when you are serving in the house of representatives, you run toward the press at every opportunity. when you are in the senate, you run away from the press as fast as you can. my experience has been that's not a joke but an ax inch om. let me get serious for a couple of minutes here. i would like to say a few words tonight about the search for truth, which is what all of you here tonight are all about, it's what defines your profession. near the beginning of the documents that made us free, our declaration of independence,

>> jeff flake, thank you! why did it take so long? >> listen -- >> i heard -- maybe simone wants to work on his campaign. >> there you go. maybe i will. >> i saw on the senate floor, the beginning of his senate primary campaign against -- on the floor of the senate, you saw the beginning of his presidential run there. >> ryan, the issue that jeff flake is saying is like, they reported this out months ago from committee, this protect the special counsel bill. >> yeah. >> and mcconnell said you don't need to do it, he's fine. and then this happened with president trump, firing sessions and putting in matthew whitaker, who is very critical as acting attorney general. so they really feel like they need to protect him. >> and this shows who was serious about protecting the mueller investigation, and who wasn't, right? the truth is, a lot of republicans up on the hill warned president trump from taking any rash action. they warned him against firing sessions, they certainly warned him against firing mueller. and lo and behold, he takes an a

they are trying to convince jeff flake as well. are you convinced? >> i'm not.the very easy solution is for mitch mcconnell to bring jeff flake's bill to the floor in the lower clean vote on a bill to protect the investigation. i have yet to hear a compelling persuasive argument why on earth republicans and democrats wouldn't want to do that. it is safe to say most members of congress in the house and senate understand the importance of allowing the special counsel investigation to conclude unfettered. i just don't understand why mitch mcconnell continues to run defense for the white house and refused to allow this bill, just a clean vote up or down and let members vote on it. i don't understand why they are refusing to do that. shannon: he says he's convinced the president will not get rid of mueller and he is safe so he's not bringing it to the floor. politico has a headline preparing for the worst, mueller indicted half a dozen people in contact with the white house and other trump officials, a deep anxiety has started to set in that mueller is about to pounc

between lindsey graham and jeff flake, that's not their job to do that. they are not over the executive branch prayed for them to hold up judicial appointments, to say "let's protect bob mueller," you don't run that branch of government. if the president decides to fire him, and they believe it's because of some type of corruption, then you can impeach the guide. we don't just get to say "let me get involved with your executive branch." you could provide oversight, but your job is not to decide who is protected or not. that's the president's authority. agree with it or not. >> harris: jessica? >> jessica: i don't see with the big deal is. there's a lot of legislation that makes people feel good, that gets passed all the time. usually it's bipartisan. what does that hurt the president or the members of congress or the senate were not interested in protecting bob mueller to just sign the thing, if there's no wearing that the president is going to be firing bob mueller? also, bobby bob mueller was cod by the senate. because it has an oddly spelled expletive

join the program when it continues we'll see an award presentation in here from arizona senator jeff flake the featured speaker today he offered a motion on the senate floor to consider a bill that would prevent special counsel robert mueller from being fired from the investigation into russian interference in the 2016 election. the majority voted objected and blocked the motion senator flake and senator kuhns a cosponsor spoke to reporters shortly after we will look at that now as we wait for the dinner to continue shortly after we will look at that now as we wait for the dinner to continue thank you for being here we are just asking unanimous consent to bring the special counsel independent integrity act to the floor and pass the judiciary committee april 26 it is rare there is such bipartisan legislation in the committee it is languished here ever since. in the intervening time we have sent 49 nominations district and circuit court judges to the senate floor for a vote 50 have received a vote there is one in thank you it isn't that everything has been waiting for action. we have done a

jeff flake has been clear.on my bill, i won't help advance judicial nominees through the senate. there was a procedural vote a few minutes later on thomas farr of north carolina trying to break a filibuster. the senate math right now is 51 to 49 in favor of the republicans. guess what? jeff flake voted no. that made it 50/50. so mike pence, the vice president had to hustle up to capitol hill to break the tie, 51 to 50. thomas farr now may get confirmed in the next couple days, but we don't know. right now this is the issue in the senate. jeff flake is going to oppose these nominees. if they don't get this worked out, a lot of these nominees have to be renominated next year. guess who won't be here? jeff flake. >> thanks, chad. president trump's daughter, ivanka, defending her use of a private e-mail account for government business while she was transitioning to a white house adviser job. she told abc news there is no comparison between that and the former secretary of state hillary clinton's private e-mail serv

need to be used. >> ambassador robert jordan, thanks very much. >> all right, so arizona senator jeff flake a warning to his fellow republican senator mitch mcconnell. vote on prosecutor for special counsel bob mueller or flake says he won't vote on the president's nominees for federal judgeships. that is a vote that the republicans cannot afford to lose. at t-mobile, forty bucks gets you an unlimited plan and a new samsung galaxy s9 included for every line. this is what you get with your $40 plan at verizon. recap! with t-mobile, you get this: four lines four phones for forty bucks. with verizon, you get this... the choice just got a whole lot more obvious. get more because you deserve it. only at t-mobile. hey. i'm sue. and my first call is crunch. ♪ delicious 100% real chocolate embracing the lightness of crispy rice. crunch. the chocolate bar all americans love. my dbut now, i take used tometamucil every day.sh it traps and removes the waste that weighs me down, so i feel lighter. try metamucil, and begin to feel what lighter feels like. tap one little bumper and up go your rates. what

. >> jeff flake and steve king go back quite a while.e house together and were on the opposite sides of the immigration issue then. so it doesn't really surprise me. also, it is not like the biggest profile in courage right now to not stand behind steve king and the republican party. jeff flake obviously is not running again, but -- so this particular move by him isn't terribly surprising. >> kate bennet is with us. go ahead and make your point. >> when jeff flake leaves, you know, the all-talk-no-action caucus is really going to miss him i think. >> that's a zinger, exactly. >> a little unfair. this is actually an instance where he is supporting a democrat over a republican with some really toxic views that no other republicans in congress have stood up and denounced and supported the opponent. so give the guy a little bit of credit for this one. >> ryan, here is the thing. where was he last year? where was he the year before that? steve king has been in congress a really long time. now the fact that he is vulnerable you are seeing peop

please join me in welcoming arizona senator jeff flake. pplause] flake: congratulations to all of the award winners tonight . i have -- i so much appreciate the invitation to speak tonight. if i'm a bit winded, it is because i have been taking the stairs all day. i have developed an aversion to elevators. [laughter] suzanne in theaw cnn camera and i got nervous. coons eveng, chris suggested there surely has to be room for a television show that goes along the line of jerry seinfeld's comedians and cars getting coffee. a decaffeinated version like senators in elevators with advocates. wait for that one. there is an old joke that says when you are serving in the house of representatives, you run towards the press at every opportunity. when you are in the senate, you run away from the press as fast as you can. my experience has been that is not a joke, that is an axiom. let me get serious for a couple of minutes here. i'd like to say a few words tonight about the search for truth. which is what all of you here tonight are all about. it's what

we will hear from jeff flake. this runs one hour, 20 minutes. >> ♪ o say can you see, by the dawn's early light, what so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming, whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight, o'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming? and the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there; o say does that star-spangled banner yet wave o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? ♪ [applause] announcer: ladies and gentlemen, the 2018 correspondents dinner chairman, craig caplan. [applause] craig: good evening everyone. please join me in thanking her for that performance again. [applause] welcome to the 74th annual rtca dinner. we have a great evening planned for you here at the anthem, our new home for this year's dinner. tonight, we will hear from our dinner host, and our keynote speaker, arizona senator jeff flake. [applause] we will honor radio and television journalists among us tonigh

senator jeff flake of arizona and his wife cheryl flake.l orgel from c-span, vice chair of the executive committee and the 2019 chair of the association. abigail robertson, capitol hill correspondent for christian broadcasting network. capital hill journalist sinclair broadcasting group. and mike, director of the senate radio and television correspondents gallery. [applause] all for being here tonight and for your support. olga and mikeave at the head table, but it is their staff that deserves to be recognized tonight. , joining themside of the following. [applause] the house staff joining them. thank you. thanks for everything you do advocating for coverage on capitol hill. we appreciate your hard work. also, thank you to bruce collins, c-span's vice president and general counsel, who is also joining us here tonight. for all your legal counsel and advice, to the rtca over the years, and especially with credentialing and its rules during my time as the association's chairman. i would also like to thank our incredible event planners, especia

will they call jeff flake 'us bluff?s a third block and they move forward, is he really not going to participate with the republicans on judges? or will he backed down? was it all a bluff? or will they get this bill to the floor? we are watching it happen live on the left side of your stream. we will to continue the discussion and go back as the news is made. melissa? >> melissa: getting back to the portable for second, would it make sense for the presented to chuck schumer up on his offer and take whatever money there isn't just declare victory? what would democrats do at that point, if he said "great, i'll take it, and i building my wall? "we all know it's a wall system. done. i democrats given. >> leslie: i wish democrats hadn't given it. i'm with my party and party leadership. >> melissa: so he would win if you did that? >> leslie: wouldn't be the political win that shawna's talk about. thank you for admitting it's applicable in overcoming here. the money he's proposing, $5 billion, that's just for the wall. it's not

jeff flake fried to get unanimous consent for his mueller protection bill. he didn't get it.ve read a new york times op-ed that complained about his book. listen to how he responded. take a listen. >> one further note on this consent request that has just failed today. senator coons and i are prepared to make it again and again until there's a vote on this vital bipartisan legislation on the senate floor. i have informed the majority leader that i will not vote to advance any of the 21 judicial nominees or vote to confirm the 32 judges await confirmation on the senate floor until s2644 is brought to the full senate for a vote. >> ruth marcus, do you know how many liberals have been calling for jeff flake to do that. wondering if he's got complaints, use his power. >> the endless question. it's all on my twitter feed. threatening to vote against the nominees already at the floor, very nice. might make twitter happier. won't have a big impact assuming he doesn't get any colleagues to go along with him. this is going after the majority leader where it hurts him on one of the thi

we'll do that with or without jeff flake.his seems to be his go-to play right now threatening judges. he did it this past summer on tariffs and trade. now he is doing it in terms of the issue of special counsel. there is no threat to the special counsel. we are going to get these judges confirmed. >> sandra: here is jeff flake in his own words. >> with the firing of the attorney general and in my view the improper installation of an acting attorney general who has not been subject to confirmation by this body, the president now has this investigation in his sights and we all know it. >> sandra: contrast that with the words of president trump today in a series of tweets writing the inner workings of the mueller investigation are a mess. no collusion and have gone nuts. they're screaming and shouting at people and horribly threatening people. a disgrace to our nation and don't care how many lives they ruin. they're angry people including bob mueller who worked for obama for eight years. they won't even look at all the bad acts

obviously they are trying to convince jeff flake as well. are you convinced? >> no, i'm not. a very easy solution here is for leader mcconnell to bring senator flake's bill to the floor and allow a clean vote in the united states senate on a bill to protect the investigation. i actually, i have yet to hear a compelling persuasive argument why on earth republicans and democrats wouldn't want to do that. i think it's probably safe to say that most members of congress in the house and senate understand the importance at this point of allowing the special counsel's investigation to conclude and continue and conclude ultimately unfettered. i don't understand why mitch mcconnell continues to run defense for the white house and refused to allow this bill, just a clean vote up or down. let the members vote. i don't understand why they are refusing. >> shannon: he says he's convinced the president is not going to get rid of mueller any face so he's not bringing it to the floor. politico says preparing for the worst. mueller anxiety pervades trump world. have a dozen people in contact w

liberty. ♪ >>> is this jeff flake's last stand.ona republican senator, he's on the judiciary committee, so it carries weight, and mitch mcconnell blocked a bipartisan effort to run legislation. >> i am prepared and i know the senator from delaware is as well, to bring this up again. we will bring it up again until we can get a vote on the senate floor. bring it to a vote. bring it to a vote. until we do, the 21 nominations that are in the skwracommittee, will not give my vote. >> jeff flake has some sway because if he votes on all the nominees, it could gum things up. you heard him mention the senator from delaware, he joins us now. thank you for being with us. the majority leader says he talks to the president all the time and the president says he will not fire mueller based on what he sees so we have no need for the legislation. >> yeah, let's go back and look at why there's a mueller investigation in the first place. president trump in a fit of peak fired james comey and then went on television to say he did it because of this

. >> outgoing republican senator jeff flake says he'll oppose the president's judicial nominees, the senator's threat obligates republican efforts to move the nominees forward by the end of the year, bret. >> bret: the u.s. postal service lost almost $4 billion in the fiscal year, ending in september. the red incomes despite a rise in package deliveries. a head of a review ordered by the president who contends the service is losing a fortune because it's not charging higher shipping prices to online retailers such as amazon. stocks were down today. the dow lost 206, the s&p 500 fell 21, the nasdaq chopsticks dropped 64.5. this is another fox news alert. the desperate search for survivors goes on today. six more deaths have pushed the vitality count to near 50 50. scores more are still missing. will get the latest from correspondent claudia cowan tonight. good evening, claudia. >> good evening to you, bret. the question is how many more victims will be found as more help comes in from the highest levels of government. >> this is one of the worst disasters i've ever seen in my career.

join the program when it continues we'll see an award presentation in here from arizona senator jeff flake the featured speaker today he offered a motion on the senate floor to consider a bill that would prevent special counsel robert mueller from being fired from the investigation into russian interference in the 2016 election. the majority voted objected and blocked the motion senator flake and senator kuhns a cosponsor spoke to reporters

now republican senator jeff flake is threatening a boycott. >>> plus matthew whittaker, the man presidenteplace attorney general jeff sessions, weighs in on his new appointment. ns, weighs in on hiw appointment. if you're waiting patiently for a liver transplant, it could cost you your life. it's time to get out of line with upmc. at upmc, living-donor transplants put you first. so you don't die waiting. upmc does more living-donor liver transplants than any other center in the nation. find out more and get out of line today. the united states postal service makes more holiday deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country. ♪ with one notable exception. ♪ but prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient originally discovered... in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve short-term memory. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. mitzi: psoriatic arthritis tries to get in my way? watch me. ( ♪ ) mike: i've tried lots of things for my joint pain. now? watch me. ( ♪ ) joni: think i'd give up showing these guys how it's done? please. real people with active psori

looking at it. >> harris: do you have the same legal concern others are expressing like senator jeff flaketh the recent move to the president has made, to ask for the resignation of jeff sessions, the person he appointed into the temporary position, matthew whitaker. do you have the same concern that were going down a certain road? critics of the president, that's what they're saying, like they can forecast what's going to happen next. >> our perception of how people are dealing with us is predicated on how they know they will deal with us. for democrats to say they are worried about what the president is going to do, i know that's what they would do to protect themselves. in this case i expect the acting attorney general to follow doj guidelines which say that the special investigation cannot be disbanded without good cause. that's the law and i expect him and the president of the united states to deal with it and i have no reason to believe they won't. >> harris: former federal prosecutor, thank you for your time today. >> thank you very much for having me. >> harris: hundreds of members

taking heat in the morning presidential tweet storm, senator jeff flake said he

arizona senator jeff flake will be the keynote speaker tonight. and as we wait for that dinner to begin, we'll hear now from senate majority leader mitch mcconnell. he talked to his republican leadership about the election of the republican leaders following the 2018 midterm election. [inaudible conversation] >> well, hello everyone. we just had our leadership elections and i have behind me our new leadership team for next congress. and we're excited about maintaining our majority and growing our majority. we're confident we're going to have 53 republican senators to set the agenda next year, to continue obviously with our top priority, which is the confirmation of lifetime appointments to the judiciary, and, you know, we have divided government often in this country. we've had divided government more often than not, since world war ii. so i will be talking to speaker pelosi and house democrats about what we can do together. there are a lot of things that we do together already that i know are not terribly newsworthy to most of you, but we think i

he says "jeff flake doesn't want -- or flakey, it says. he doesn't want to protect the council.s a protect future after being on-electable in arizona for the crime of doing a terrible job. a weak and ineffective guy." that is the president on jeff flake. >> melissa: it so hard to tell if you like some of their doesn't like them. i wish they would wrap up this probe so we could stop talking about it. i don't want anyone to get near it who could potentially be seen as compromising it, because i happen to think that nothing is going to come out of it, since i feel like we would have heard of it if something was going to. i don't want to give -- i don't think it's wise to give to those who think there is something involved more ammunition later to look back and say "well, if only matt whitaker hadn't got near it." >> chris: would you think jeff flake's next job will be? trying not to cry while reading poems at the local library customer he's not cut out for this. >> dagen: let's talk about the conflict of interest that a been there. that's rod rosenstein. while this people not it's

there was drama about jeff flake going into the caucus room and kuhn was working on him. closely together. on kavanaugh, yes, for kavanaugh. relates to judicial nominees, listen, flake's main argument, i'm a true conservative and president trump is not. that is why he's probably going to run against him in the primary in 2020. good luck with that f. that is your argument, you are the true conservative, for me, it defys logic you would holdup the justices, that is a tactic i would see someone from the far left, who doesn't want the justices confirmed. less than two months before the end of the year, we have a new congress, this is his last stand. this is not something it is easy, i think at times to roll our eyes at flake. he made a big deal of being the moral compass of the party, yet wasn't able to man up and run for office, he just quit. it is easy on one hand to roll your eyes at him. i have a big problem with this because from the perspective of holding up judicial nominees, even if you disagree with president trump, this is one place where you're with him. >> that is

jeff flake et al. about the protection of mueller. >> brian, they're legitimately concerned that the president could at some point act to try to restrain or get rid of mueller as the special counsel. and that's why they're putting forward this legislation. flake and a number of democrats, you know, want legislation that would create protections for the special counsel. that has been shot down by the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell today. and a number of republicans who are loyal to the president say it's not necessary because they take the president at his word. but as you saw flake say in his speech on the senate floor today, it's not enough to take this president on his word. he has removed the attorney general, jeff sessions, after more than a year of publicly complaining that the attorney general was not loyal enough to him personally to protect him and insulate him from the russia investigation. so he's clearly shown a willingness to act on personnel matters based on his sort of personal pr

on capitol hill jeff flake wants to protect the mueller and force the republican leadership to bring a vote on their he will block the cornerstone of the trump presidency which is confirmation of conservative judges. >> republican arizona senator jeff flake wants his colleagues to an ocular donald trump's interference. flight committed the blessing of 100 senators to consider his bill to protect mueller, the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell blocked flake. >> flake says he will try the same tactic again on wednesday. better luck this time? >> i don't know. we will see. >> mcconnell isn't concerned about mueller's future, he doubts the president would fire the special counsel. >> this is a solution in search of a problem. >> the assessment on the floor tomorrow. >> i probably would. >> flake won't back donald trump's judicial nominees unless his multiple gets a bill. the republicans gained senate seat in january but now barely 51 senate republicans, one defection by flake makes it harder to get nominees out of committee and confirm them on the floor. a key vote for flake comes as

. >> outgoing arizona republican senator jeff flake is speaking out gain president trump, again. but this time, president whiniest is calling for a member of his party to challenge. >> run on republican side, if nothing else remind republicans what it means to be conservative. what being a conservative really means, and what it means to be decent as well, i think that the future of the party is with people with an optimistic vision moving ahead. i don't think that will be me, i think there are better candidates out there. but somebody needs to run. kennedy: all right, could another republican possibly beat the president? a primary? or would they be doomed to face another embarrassing loss? the panel is here, editor, town hall.com, fox news fri contribu, katy. and lawrence jones. and jimmy welcome to you, katy, i'll start with you, you know jeff flake, you are from arizona, he tucked his tail, and ran off of the political stage, is he best person to analyze the 2020 presidential race? >> jeff flake could not win a primary in arizona, idea he thinks he or someone else in party coul

jeff flake announces a plan to vote on legislation to protect robert mueller.ur power panel is here to weigh in on that and more. the search is on for a motive in deadly mass shooting at a california dance club. we will take you to the scene. you will hear from an eyewitness and we will remember a sweeney row. we will hear from senator tom tell us on the changing vote totals in the races in arizona and florida but team coverage marriage the development around the mueller investigation but first we go to be event with latebreaking development on the key undecided midterm races and changing numbers. >> these numbers are updating almost every hour. 8:00 pm out there and still nearly half 1 million ballots to be counted. the league keeps shifting between martha mcsorley and kristin nema, she is up by 9000 votes. this is long from over. q the lawyers or the guys with magnifying glasses. more on that in a mallet. woke up this morning dreading along and painful process. i have been here before and now i'm here again. in case you can't tell she's in the dentist's chair

retiring senator jeff flake taking a last stand on capitol hill refusing to vote for any of donald trump'sial nominees until the senate votes on a bill to protect the mueller pro. mitchell, walked a vote on that the wednesday. the decision coming after the judiciary committee moves forward with five of the president's nominees. the senate helps to confirm 40 more before the new congress starts in january. and advisor to the president is out after an ongoing dispute with the first lady. the white house as deputy national security aide will move to a new role within the administration but did not specify what she will be doing. the first lady milania trump, her office called for her firing or removal after the two clashed over travel issues. the cma awards rocking the stage at nashville or in nashville overnight, they were praised for leaving politics out of the joke filled show. >> just started snoring in the front row. >> quit recording. >> chris stapleton was not sleeping, he was too be busy accepting the vocalist of the year award, casey musgrave beating out stapleton for album of the ye

in 7 weeks jeff f flake will not longer be a senator.he will try to get his 5 more minutes of fame. >> he will not vote for a judicial appointment. >> he is grandstand, he has committed himself to conservative principles and justice and he will gum up the works. kennedy: he has great ideas but not a good politician, mark lawsuiter thanlauder ti. >> topical storm is next stay here. comcast business built the nation's largest gig-speed network. then went beyond. beyond chasing down network problems. to knowing when and where there's an issue. beyond network complexity. to a zero-touch, one-box world. optimizing performance and budget. beyond having questions. to getting answers. "activecore, how's my network?" "all sites are green." all of which helps you do more than your customers thought possible. comcast business. beyond fast. kennedy: big news from entertainment world, producers of game of thrown announce final seen the air april 2019. >> topical storm. thailand, a pet shelter is having an adoption drive, ritchie the cat has been vira

. >> is there any substance or any teeth behind this effort now by jeff flake, this threat in effect to stand in the way of judge -- votes on new judge nominations by this president. he would need other senators to come on board. i understand lisa murkowski has reached out to discuss more. what are you hearing from the hill as to whether there were enough republican votes to give that threat teal, in effect. >> there is bipartisan support for legislation to protect robert mueller. the question is how many republicans are willing to go as far as senator jeff flake and actually threaten to withhold their votes on these judicial nominations, which would be more of a dramatic escalation in taking on the president directly. now, senate majority leader mcmitch konl has maintained he did not believe that it is warranted to protect mueller, even though it is true that with matt whitaker at the helm of the justice department it's not entirely clear whether he will try and reign in the special council. he has been outwardly critical of mueller and the investigation, and he's someone who hasn't

senator jeff flake of arizona and his wife cheryl flake.l orgel from c-span, vice chair of the executive committee and the 2019 chair of the association. capitol hill correspondent for christian broadcasting network. capitol hill journalist sinclair broadcasting group. and director of the senate radio and television correspondents gallery. thank you all for being here tonight and for your support. each year we have olga and mike at the head table, buts the -- but it is also their staff that deserves to be recognized tonight. on the senate side, joining them. [applause] >> and the house staff joining olga. [applause] >> thank you. thanks for everything you do in advocating for our coverage on capitol hill. we really appreciate your hard work. also, thank you to bruce collins, c-span's vice president and general counsel who is also joining us here tonight. for all your legal counsel and advice, to the rtca over the years, and especially with credentialing and its rules during my time as the association's chairman. i would also like to thank o

. >> well, there's jeff flake. >> i mean -- >> i was just going to say this. there is one, there is jeff flake. >> who was that ironic last name. he had to know. we're on tv. he watches tv more than we do, trump does. so he knows everything that matt whitaker said. you have children. you do too. you need help with your homework? no, i want to do it myself. that's him on the questions. who does that? if i were his lawyers, i would be having a stroke right now. how on earth can he answer written questions? i can do it by myself. it's me, it's me. so he's making it, probably, worse for himself. >> the reason he's answering in written form is the possibility of trump not lying in an oral interview is the chances of tweety bird not tweeting. >> very important point. more of what the president said about whitaker and the mueller investigation. >> whitaker decides to limit or curtail the mueller investigation. are you okay with that? >> it's going to be up to him. i think he's very well aware politically. he's a very smart person. i really believe he's going to do wh

there was a small group, store cory booker, chris coons and jeff flake, they went to the floor trying to protect this from being blocked. they're trying to do this through unanimous consent. the rules say that one senator can block it so it does not go forward. it will not have a vote on the senate floor. republican leadership here in the senate has been essentially against this bill. mitch mcconnell as recently as yesterday said he doesn't think it's necessary, he said he doesn't see any indication that president trump is moving towards or inching towards firing robert mueller. this is a point that republican senator jeff flake when he was giving his floor speech proposing them to move to this bill, he argued against it. he said president trump's tweets just in the last few days, here's what he said. >> somehow it warranted a tweet from the president earlier this week, one of several, calling special counsel mueller a, quote, conflicted prosecutor gone rogue and claiming that the, quote, $30 million witch hunt is doing nothing but ruin lives. to be clear, this is the same investigati

please join me in welcoming the arizona senator jeff flake.ause] congratulations to all of the award winners tonight. if i sound winde winded it's bee i've been taking the stairs all day. i've developed an aversion to elevators. [laughter] i saw susanne and the cnn camera next to the elevator this morning and i got nervous. this morning chris even suggested there's got to be room for a television show that goes along the lines of the comedians in cars getting coffee. some version like senators and elevators. so wait for that one. you run for the press at every opportunity. when you are in the senate you run away as fast as you can. i would like to say a few words tonight about the search for truth which is what all of you here tonight are all about. it's what defines your profession. near the beginning of the document that made us free our declaration of independence, thomas jefferson wrote we hold these truths to be self-evident so from the beginning of freedom has been predicated on truth. the founders were visionary in this regard, understa

president and his picked up head up the justice department as outspoken critic of the president jeff flake says he will shut down the senate for a vote on the judicial nominee until the senate votes on his bill to protect special counsel robert mueller. john barrasso gives us his take but fully start with katherine herridge. >> reporter: outgoing republican senator jeff flake opposing the judicial nominees, legislation protecting the probe for a full senate for the vote. this complicates republican efforts with with the president's nominees forward by the end of the year. >> the improper installation of an acting attorney general who has not been subject to confirmation by this body, the president has this investigation in his sites and we all know it. >> reporter: the justice department released a 20 page legal opinion backing donald trump's appointment of matt whitaker as attorney general. a key issue goes to senate confirmation. that the permit of legal counsel which provides legal guidance to the federal government found senate confirmation is not required if the appointment is tempora

they had to scrape tomorrow because of jeff flake's position. they may have to give him a vote on the floor if they want to get a number of these nominees confirmed. that still has very little chance of passing the senate much less getting signed into law. >> a lot happening during this lame duck session. let's get more on the breaking news. what do you make of this statement by the president. he's keeping it on the table, a possible pardon to paul manafort? >> he seems to be dangling that idea of a pardon. manafort seems to be angling for it. we have here sharing of information by manafort with the president's lawyers. we have the president talking openly about a pardon and the president seeking to discredit and lay the ground work for suffocating or strangling the special prosecutor's resources and authority which makes all the more necessary the bill that was stopped on the floor today which i've supported for months and work to past. we need a vote on that. >> do you see this as possible obstruction of justice? >> a pardon could well be obst