jeff white will then discuss the developers' development proposal for block 4. and then we have discuss how the developer proposal fits into the trance bay affordable housing program. lastly, we'll go over the next steps. >> this slide shows you the location of block 4. we also have been there, the location of parcel f. as you will see, parcel f and block 4 are related in this transaction. this is ann an an me an ameniti. it shows you the parks and retail. some background on block 4, the current zoning is for a 450-foot residential tower, 65 and 80-foot high podium and 50-foot high townhomes. the transbay redevelopment plan requires that 35% of all new residential units in the redevelopment plan area be affordable. many projects that are planned and under construction in transbay, contain less than the 35%. so block four is always planned at the balancing parcel. under the existing zoning, 56% of the block units would be affordable to meet the 35% affordability obligations. this is a map that shows the existing block four zoning. it shows the location of the bui

is wrong, whoever this person is, they need to go, and saying thiis a betrayal of this white house. >> woodruff: jeffon, thicos s on the day after the bob woodward book has me out, a book he spent months and months talking to people inside the white house. it paints aamning portrait of a white house in chaos wit people working, in essence, to do some of what youe se in this anonymous op-ed to se the administration, to save the country from some of theen press decisions. what reactions are you picking up? >> well, that's exactly right, judy, and the timing seems lik's ot coincidental, at a time when the president and others in the white house are trying to discredit bob woodward and comprehend issues that are critical for the natiocus ty and for the world. >> yamiche, you've also been lking to some folks who used to work in the trump adminiration, in the trump white house. what are they saying about this? >> i just want to remind viewers about your interview with omarosa manigault-newman who one to havetim the most senior african-american women at the white house, or the most seep your african-america

during party at a maryland home back in the early 1980s kavanaugh denies the allegation, jeff bennett is at the white house this afternoon, case hunt is on capitol hill. let me start with you there, jeff. we just heard from president trump saying among other things the fbi doesn't want to be a part of this thing. >> reporter: that's right, craig. let me put the president's comments in context. what you see here is the white house trying to execute what is a political tricky strategy when it comes to kavanaugh. it's a strategy that serves two goals, really, they're trying to sabotage his defenders without alienating those republicans, senate republicans whose votes they need who also say that christine blasi ford deserves a public hearing. so that is what accounts for the president's uncharacteristic non-combative approach as it relates to the accuser for it. what you hear him doing instead is attacking the process, democrats, attacking senator dianne feinstein he says for sitting on the allegation for so long. as for this piece about the fbi, people close to the process say kavanaugh's background inv

jeff zeleny, cnn, the white house. >>> and joining me now from switzerland, james davis, dean of the school of economics and political science at the university of senegalen. thank you for being with us. >> good morning, rosemary. >> so, president trump is making it clear, he is standing by his supreme court pick, brett kavanaugh. but christine blasey ford now says she won't testify monday, unless there's an fbi investigation. and that doesn't look like it's going to happen. where does that leave kavanaugh's confirmation hearing, if it goes ahead, continues, without delay, leaving questions unanswered about the sexual assault allegations? >> when i think about this situation, it's a sad commentary on the state of american politics and also the legacy of misogyny in the united states. there's no way we can get to the bottom of allegations that are

jeff zeleny at the white house. have some new reporting on the attorney general jeff sessions. i want to bring in white house correspondent kaitlan collins. where does the attorney general -- what does he think right now? where does he think he stands as far as the president is concerned? >> reporter: well, wolf, he is really come to terms with the fact that the relationship with president trump won't end well one way or another and the request to investigate who it is that wrote that critical op-ed of him isn't going to help. wolf, over the last year and a half now that the president has been attacking jeff sessions at the beginning he said he was going to keep his head down, keep doing his job at the justice department and then as those attacks increased we saw him push back on the president more and more and now even in recent weeks he's acknowledged that that relationship with president trump has only gotten worse. wolf, some days he treats this with humor joking with people looking at the president's twiter fee

and now let's turn to jeff bennett at the white house who's been reporting today on the explosive report that rod rosenstein discussed involving the 25th amendment to remove president trump from office last spring. rosenstein says the report is absolutely false. but it's consequences could be significant as he's the man overseeing the special council's russia investigation. right, jeff? >> reporter: that's right. the new york times report could provide the president with a pretext to potentially fire rosenstein and provoke a showdown over the mueller investigation. democrats fear the president would pick a replacement who could derail the russia investigation which the president blasts as a witch hunt. today some of the president's key conservative allies appear to take a cautious approach. the two republican lawmakers who once led a charge to impeach rosenstein this summer, they're now stopping short of calling for the deputy a.g. be fired. they're instead demanding he testify under oath about what he might have said about secretly recording the pr there's growing concern that firing ro

white house pushing back on this. press secretary sarah sanders says the person is a coward and should resign. dave and alison. >>> jeff zeleny, nice work. a sources close to the white house aides are following leads to find the author based on the way the op-ed is written. just hours before the opinion piece published, the president asked for aides to help him cooperate with other portrayal of bob woodward's new book. he has expressed similar beliefs about gary cohn. one official says it is unlikely anyone will be fired because that adds credence to the book the president is trying to discredit. >> we are told that the president evaluates aides of being unloyal by how strongly they push back. two officials tell cnn mr. trump is pleased with chief of staff john kelly and james mattis. josh rogin reports that white house officials are actively discussing who will replace mattis at the pentagon when he steps down. on wednesday, the president declared mattis will stay in his job. josh will join us next hour. >>> no shortage of fireworks on day two of the brett kavanaugh hearings. kavanaugh declaring no one is above the la

jon: jeff mason from reuters, the white house correspondent there, thanks, jeff. >> sure thing. jon: what are the legal options in the senate hearing next week? much more on this story coming up when former federal prosecutor doug burns joins us. >>> also, experts say hurricane florence caused as much as 44 billion dollars in damages putting the storm among the top ten costliest hurricanes ever to hit this country. another round of flooding is just beginning as more inland floodwaters flow into the carolinas. jonathan serrie is live in lumberton, north carolina, now. jonathan? >> good evening, jon, lumberton is about 60 miles from the coast, but it's all that inland rains that has been causing this flooding. ordinarily this is a small creek that runs by a residential area. you can see that creek is so swollen that these raging floodwaters are surrounding many of the homes here. lumberton city officials say more than 800 people are in shelters and supplies are running low. >> citizens are devastated. they are hurting. we need supplies. we need water, cleaning supplies, sheetrock,

let's start with our white house correspondent jeff bennett. york city traveling with president trump who is here for the u.n. meetings. nbc white house correspondent kristen welker is at the white hous house. any indication as to what's going on at 1600 pennsylvania? >> well, it's our sense that the deputy attorney general will be arriving here, so we have our cameras positioned to try to get a shot of him. what happens next? that remains to be seen. of course, there is this report swirling that the deputy attorney general, his job could be in jeopardy. not a surprise in the wake of the bomb shell report by "the new york times" at the end of

more from cnn's jeff zeleny at the white house. >> reporter: christine and dave, president trump has routinely gone after his attorney general jeff sessions. doing so in an entirely different way. by directly questioning the justice department's role in the ongoing criminal investigation. look at the tweet from monday when the president wrote this. he said two easy wins in doubt because there is not enough time. good job, jeff. president referring to the indictments of two sitting republican congress members. chris collins and duncan hunter. both key early supporters of the president. indicted on unrelated financial matters. the president for the first time really saying the attorney general and justice department should take political considerations in mind when they make their cases. the president also making clear he is worried about republicans holding on to their majority control of congress, particularly the house. now not many republicans at least initially were weighing in over labor day holiday. speaker ryan saying justices decisions should be political. ben sasse of nebraska

jeff bennett at the white house. thank you, jeff. >> sure. >>> i want to move now to the turn in a legal debacle of president trump's former campaign chairman paul manafort. he has done what he repeatedly sco would not do. the former campaign chair pleaded to two charges filed in washington, d.c., and admitted his guilt to ten charges charge. >> tough day for manafort but he accepted responsibility and he wanted to make sure that his family was able to remain safe and live a good life. and accept responsibility. and this is for conduct that dates back many years and everybody should remember that. >> the white house in a statement says this had absolutely nothing to do with the president or his victorious presidential campaign. it is totally unrelated. we want to bring in federal prosecutor glenn cursener and staff writer for "atlantic" and natasha and editor and columnist for "real clear politics" amy stoddard. to all of you, welcome. natasha, starting with you, of course, we have the president, we know, has not resp

bennett is there at the white house for us. jeff, the president didn't mention the op-ed or the department of justice in his speech today. but he had plenty to say about donald trump. let's just stick on the op-ed. what's the white house saying? >> the president called it a disgrace. he said he was considering taking action against "the new york times" and as you heard, he suggested he was going to have his attorney general and department of justice investigate. as soon as he said that, peter alexander raced back to upper press, where sarah sanders sits and she told him the president was merely opining. he wasn't actually directing jeff sessions to launch an investigation. kind of like what happened earlier this month where the president on twitter suggested actually he ordered, jeff sessions to shut down the russia investigation. the president said right now. the white house then walked that back and said the president was merely making the suggestion that he wanted jeff sessions to take a greater role in this. but today just like

we get more from jeff zeleny at the white house. >> reporter: christine, press secretary sarah sanders was asked so many questions about the two anonymous accounts that really have been shaking the white house offering deep portraits of dysfunction inside the west wing. bob woodward's book released today and the op-ed in "the new york times." sanders is not focused on finding the author, but focused on the matter at hand and change the subject and move on. the president hasn't gotten that memo. he has been focused, we are told, in finding out who this pe person is here. extraordinary comment from the vice president. saying he would submit to the lie detector test. i asked sarah sanders this question. >> from the top advisers or does he believe it is someone from within? does he believe that lie detector test should be issued as the vice president volunteered to do? >> no lie detecters are used for talked about or looked at as a possibility. frankly, the white house and the staff here are focused on doing our jobs. not deal with cowards that refuse to put their names on an anonymous let

more from cnn's jeff zeleny at the white house. >> reporter: dave and christine, president trump waking up feeling better about his supreme court nominee. he is urging the committee to vote. the vote could come as early as today. democrats are rejecting that, of course. take a look at what the president sent out after the hearing ended. judge kavanaugh showed america why i nominated him. his testimony was powerful, honest and riveting. this process has been a total sham. an effort to delay, obstruct and resist. the senate must vote. no mention in the statement about christine blasey ford. that was someone the president was watching testify intently. he called her testimony, i'm told, compelling. he found her believable. he clearly wanted to hear from judge kavanaugh. he wanted to hear anger and push back from judge kavanaugh. that is what judge kavanaugh ga gave him h. i'm told he turned that audience around. the president did not want him to lose faith in his nomination. that, in turn, rallied the conservative base. this is not a done deal at all. as this weekends at the white house, p

cnn's jeff zeleny is at the white house. jeff, it has been some time since we have seen president obama in such a political setting. what do we expect, and how direct do we look for here in the confrontations with the current president? >> reporter: john, it has been some time. of course we saw president obama delivering one of the eulogies at senator john mccain's funeral over the weekend, last weekend. there were political undertones to that, no doubt. but this is an entirely different moment. this has been in the works for a while. this is his 2018 midterm kickoff. no, he's not going to mention president trump by name. he's not going to do that, i'm told, by advisers. that's not surprising at all. but there will be no mistaking the fact that he is, indeed, talking about this moment in our time. he's talking about a backlash to a progress, in the words of one aide, and essentially that this administration, this white house has been trying to undo everything that he did during his eight years in office. so it is a bit unusua

of the informal search at the white house to uncover the identity of the senior administration official, telling reporters yesterday that he believes the attorney general jeff sessions should launch an investigation from department of justice to uncover this person's identity. that would be a serious escalation of the situation, and so far neither the president nor anybody at the white house has indicated that any crime has been committed, something that's typically required when the justice department gets involved. the "new york times" says in a statement we're confident department of justice understands the first amendment protects all american citizens and that it would not participate in a blatant abuse of government power. fredricka? >> all right, jeremy diamond at the white house, thanks so much. we'll check back with you. the search for the writer has been consuming the white house for days in fact now. senator lindsey graham summed up the president's frustration this way. >> i talked to him a bunch, yeah, yes, absolutely. he's pissed off. he feels betrayed and i don't blame him. >> cnn's senior white house correspondent jeff zeleny has more on the

the message loud and clear. >> geoff bennett for us at the white house thank you. >>> i bring in eugene scott for "the washington post" and jeff mason white house correspondent for reuters. let's pull the lens back here and look at this. you have the national cathedral, rows and rows of pretty much everyone and anyone who is anything in d.c. and then as geoff just described, you have the president along with his white house chief of staff jon kelley at the memorial. president trump was the one left out, leaving those tweets for all of us to see. any insight on what's going through the president's mind? >> it was a message both to president trump and to the country about his desire for more bipartisanship and civility in washington, those were values that senator mccain pushed for really his entire political career, and he's been very frustrated and obviously there's been a fairly significant feud between him and the president since the president started running for office, and since he's been in office, and that was on display yesterday at that very, very lovely cathedral service, in which he asked two of his former political

jeff, the white house broke almost three weeks of silence, dusted off the podium inside the briefing room today. what did they tell us today, jeff? >> reporter: good evening, jim. quite literally they dusted it off before sarah sanders entered the briefing room. she blasted bob woodward and the writer of the anonymous "new york times" op-ed. but she did say this. she said, people here at the white house are focused on things that actually matter. wi but the president may not have gotten that memo. he's been fuming about all of it for days. the white house tonight trying to move beyond a war within its own walls. >> it's frankly i think sad and pathetic that a gutless, anonymous source could receive so much attention. >> reporter: it's been 19 days since white house press secretary sarah sanders had appeared at the podium. aides had been cleaning it before she took questions in the briefing room for the first time since august 22. she wasted little time, blasting bob woodward and his new book. "fear" that chronicles deep dysfunction inside the west wing. >> to not even take the time to

nbc white house correspondent jeff bennett explains how it could impact the price you pay. >> how are the canadians? >> reporter: no deal, at least not yet, as the trump administration renegotiates nafta. the catch? canada. >> we will only sign a deal if it is a good deal for canada. again, no deal is better than a bad deal. >> reporter: u.s. and canadian officials hitting an impasse, failing to meet a friday deadline set by the white house. president trump now signaling he might leave canada out in the cold. tweeting today, i love canada, but they've taken advantage of our country for many years. the president demanding concessions. >> if we don't make a deal with canada, that's just fine, but we'll see how it all works out. >> reporter: u.s. officials are set to continue trade talks with their canadian counterparts this week, having already reached a tentative deal with mexico. the u.s.-mexico agreement calls for auto companies that build their cars in mexico to use more american-made parts to avoid tariffs. good news for u.s. factory workers, but could also raise car prices. trade

white house is not micro managing this process. this is the senate is dictating the terms. >> for more, let's bring in nbc's jeff bennett at the white house. jeff, okay. so it's been ever moving here. question being who's on the list that we know about? and who is not on the list? >> great to see you, richard. there are reports that the fbi spoke with deborah ramirez today in the investigation into supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh. nbc has not yet independently confirmed that. but we have confirmed that the fbi has not yet contacted dr. christine blasey ford. it doesn't mean that they won't. but they haven't yet. meanwhile, president trump and senior white house officials are pushing back against our reporting that the white house has laid down ground rules for this new fbi background investigation into the sexual assault and misconduct allegations leveled against brett kavanaugh. democrats have said a limited investigation could taint kavanaugh and the confirmation process, criticism about which president trump is saying in a tweet, wow, just starting to hear the democrats who are only thinking of obstruct and delay are starti

white house correspondent jeff bennett and justice correspondent pete williams. pete, i want to start with you. as you look to this hearing, do you think there is any chance that a democrat lands a real blow in an opening statement? i mean, we have seen in the past ted kennedy, for example, with robert bork, simple statements that make an impact. >> yeah. i don't think that's going to happen this time. things have moved so beyond where that was during the bork confirmation hearing. everything seems to be so sort of predone and preset that i don't think you will see that. besides, brett kavanaugh's judicial record is well known. if there is one place where the democrats probably will focus their attention it's on his previous work before he became a judge for ken starr, for george bush. that's what the fight about the documents is about. in terms of his judicial decisions, his time as a judge, i don't know whether you will see democrats land a really strong opening statement against them. he is certainly, he gives them reason to think that he may not be as support

let's go to jeff bennett at the white house for us. jeff, kavanaugh at the white house and as i understand it still inside. >> reporter: that appears to be the case, chris. white house official said that kavanaugh has been here since about 10:00 a.m. eastern. this official tells me that he wasn't meeting directly with president trump but the same official wouldn't rule out meetings with white house counsel don mcbegan. he is overseeing the entire supreme court nomination and confirmation process and the thing to know is that the white house is standing by their man, defending brett kavanaugh and denial. the white house put out another statement that he issued on friday. on friday, judge kavanaugh categorically and unequivocally denied this allegation. but the white house, chris, in a bit of a twist is saying this allegation is worthy of a closer look and scrutiny. here's what kellyanne conway said earlier today. >> she should not be ignored or insulted but heard. but i talked to senator graham and he said that that could be done tomorro

jeff zeleny at the white house, we'll get back to you. the op-ed article says members of the cabinet whispered about the 25th amendment to the u.s. constitution. here's what the constitution says about that. whenever the vice president and the majority of either the principal officers of the executive department transmit to the president of the senate and the speaker of the house their written declaration that the president is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the vice president shall assume the powers and duties as acting president. here's what that means. if the vice president and majority of the cabinet think the president can't do the job, then congress can vote to remove the president. this is different than an impeachment process. the 25th amendment would be a last resort, only used in the event of a true constitutional crisis. something former senator and secretary of state john kerry believes is the case right now. >> this is unbelievable. this is a presidency, this is a genuine constitutional crisis. the cr

cnn's jeff zeleny at the white house for us. jeff, president trump still not attacking the accuser, christine blasi ford directly and he made it clear he doesn't believe the accusation. >> reporter: he did. the president inched closer and closer to diminishing the allegations saying they should have brought them forward a long time ago and said it seems to be a pattern of democratic resistance and added a campaign against me. but the president also said the accuser should tell her story in a public hearing. the question now is whether she will. >> i feel so badly for him that he's going through this, to be honest with you. i feel so badly for him. this is not a man that deserves this. >> reporter: with the supreme court confirmation of kavanaugh hanging in the balance, president trump expressing empathy for kavanaugh and silence toward his accuser. the president forcefully defending his nominee amid new uncertainty of a senate hearing. even as the president's pointing a finger at democrats. >> that's the name of their campaign ag

let me bring in jeff bennett at the white house for us. jeff, what do we know about how the sides are preparing? >> a white house official told us brett kavanaugh has done at least a half dozen prep sessions including mock sessions with interruptions. kavanaugh's been preparing for this since prep school. he was born in washington. he spent the vast majority of his career here working in the bush administration and now as an appeals court judge. the gop, the rnc in coordination with the white house, capitol hill, outside gop groups spending millions. going all in on kavanaugh. as for democrats we've been getting a preview of issues they hope to use to derail his confirmation. abortion rights, presidential power, hillary clinton is adding her voice in a tweet she sent out today. she says this. happy labor day. there's no better time to talk about why workers' rights would suffer if brett kavanaugh who has hearings to a lifetime appointment to the supreme court hearing is tomorrow. it brings up anti-worker agenda to the court if confirmed, an

jeff zeleny, cnn, the white house. >> jeff, thank you. .a, where government troops appear poised on an attack on idlib and idlib province, last remaining strong hold of rebels and terrorist fighters. there is great concern about the millions of innocent people who could be caught up in the cross fire here. u.s. officials say they are ready for a military strike, this if syria uses chemical weapons, they tell cnn a list of targets has been prepared. syria's allie russia appears to be getting ready as well the kremlin announced large scale naval drills in the m mediterrane mediterranean. at least one official says the trips could use radar to track and intercept u.s. missiles. a key physical in the you kra indian conflict is reportedly dead, russia state media report was killed in an explosion at a cafe in donetsk. he was a leader of the russian backed donetsk people's republic. russian president vladimir putin calls eight vial murder meant to destabilize the region. >>> palestinian refugees are facing a few crisis. the trump administration h

dan, let me start with you and what jeff was talking about there. the white house has been described as the client. watching this unfold over the last 72 hours, there was uncertainty from the get-go. not everyone was clear what senator jeff flake was proposing. the confusion persists. who's in large of it, who's leading it? >> flstordinarily the fbi likes independence. likes to follow leads where ever they go. that's what they do in criminal investigatio investigations. their instinct is to find out what happened and canvas the country and find witnesses. it seems like there's some sense from the white house, perhaps not the the president that they want to limit this a little bit. it's a political process. not a criminal one. the usual rules don't apply. >> dan's describing the appetite to follow the path where ever it leads. i want to get your perspective as somebody who worked at fbi for 16 years, how they process. who is driving this investigation? >> this investigation will be lead from fbi headquarters which fields that pressure from the white house and

i want to go over now to jeff bennett, my colleague at the white house. jeff, the backdrop to all of this, of course, the politics and president trump. and his tone which you and i have been frankly been talking about all week long and analyzing all week long. this morning was remarkable because you were out interviewing kellyanne conway saying that there is no reason to attack dr. ford and then we got this striking tweet from president trump just moments later taking direct aim at her. tell us about it. >> reporter: you're right. it appears the president is breaking free from what had been an intentional strategy to deal with all of this and i think the strategy was best telegraphed by kellyanne con way who wanted to make clear that the president trying to defend or had been trying to defend kavanaugh without alienating senate republicans or independent and women voter who is the party is going to need to vote for them come november. so that is what really has accounted for the days of restraint we saw from the president. this morning i asked kellyanne co

i want to bring in our senior white house correspondent jeff zeleny. the president is not letting up at all on this article in the "new york times." >> wolf, he's not. the president is away from the white house today. when he was flying from billings, montana, to fargo, north dakota, where he's doing a republican fundraiser, he talked to reporters aboard air force one and said in the most explicit terms yet he's calling on his attorney general to investigate and look further into the author of the essay in the "new york times" that really has shaken and rocked this white house. he's saying specifically on the grounds of national security reasons. he says this, i think so because it's national security. i said that jeff should be investigating who the author of this piece is because i really believe it's about national security. now, reporters on air force one pressed him on that. what he means by national security isn't just someone who's just essentially assailing his presidency, critiquing his presidency. he says this. if i have someone who's at a hig

they're watching very closely at the white house. jeff information on the reaction of the president and top aides? >> we are. he was here in the residence of the white house, watching all of the testimony unfold in front of him. he is a student of television. he knows how things play out in the country. the white house is not operating in a vacuum here. they acknowledge this hearing this morning was not a good development for brett kavanaugh. a few words were that christine blasey ford was very credible. one official said she was very compelling. i am being told by an official that the president has not expressed any outward signs of anger at this point. he wants to hear from judge kavanaugh. one official told me he said, yes, he still supports brett and he feels terrible about what he's been through but he wants to hear from him this afternoon. the blame game you can already feel starting here at the white house and all around washington. was it a good idea to have an outside prosecutor to be asking questions. was it a good idea for chai

let's discuss it with white house correspondent jeff mason and white house correspondent.oth for coming in tonight. i want to play little bit, the president was asked today about the allegations swirling around brett kavanaugh and what he thinks his chances are. here's what he said. >> he is somebody very special, at the same time we want to go through a process. we want to make sure everything is perfect and everything is just right. i have great confidence in the u.s. senate and in their procedures and what they are doing and i think that's probably what they are going to do. they'll go through a process and hear everybody out. i think it's important. >> shannon: staying on message. >> he stayed on message. that is not something that the president always does. please don't tweet about there. he didn't tweet.it. he followed a tone that kellyanne conway said. >> shannon: we heard same thing from number of gop senators. it's important for her to come forward when someone has an accusation to be recognized and vetted. it sound like they're all reading from the same book. >>

senior white house correspondent jeff zeleny with the latest. >> reporter: christine and dave, president trump waking up in new york for the second day of the general assembly. it is trouble and controversy back in the white house which is overshadowing his entire meeting here. the with questiquestion, of cou going to fire deputy attorney general rod rosenstein. rod rosenstein went to the white house yesterday expecting to be fired or prepared to resign. neither happened. the president said he wants to meet with him on thursday when he gets back to washington. >> you know, i'm meeting with rod rosenstein on thursday when i get back from all of these meetings. we'll be meeting at the white house. we'll be determining what's going on and we want to have transparency. we want to have openness. i look forward to meeting with rod at that time. >> reporter: the president talking about transparency and talking about openness. what does that mean? we are not certain. is he going to fire rod rosenstein? we don't know. is he going to resign? we don't know that either. the president is furious abou

jeff bennett as well. he had to run. reporting for the white house. we have been told the son and daughter sew dish -- the questiw is is there going to be a delay. the big dynamic in the senate, democrats have 49. republicans 51. if republicans want to get this thing, thaw can have one defection. knocks them down to 50. you have mike pence there, the vice president could break the tie. you go south of that, you start having to rely on democrats to get this through. the reality heading into this nomination before this latest development was there weren't that many democrats republicaning were looking at. they did have three.sing were l. they did have three.ng were loo. they did have three.republicansg were looking at. they did have three. were looking at. they did have three. republicans worried about keepikeep ing collins in line. susan collins saying she wants hearings. she wants that kind of thing. the white house doesn't want. a full public airing. you have joe donnely saiding hold off that thursdays vote until you have a chance to hear. you have j

we begin with our breaking news and cnn senior white house correspondent jeff zeleny. jeff, a stunning attack by the president and attorney general, he, of course, appointed and saying here in effect the prosecutions have no merit because of the politics. >> reporter: jim, it was stunning attack because of the substance of aural of this. of course, he's gone after jeff sessions routinely now. you know, for more than a year. but he's never before suggested they should use politics to overlook actual criminal allegations. that's what he did today, jim. another sign the president at war with his own justice department. summer might be over at the white house but did same storm clouds gather as president trump heads into the fall. tonight, the president lashing out again at attorney general jeff sessions and this time over the justice department's recent indictments of two republican congressmen. two easy wins now in doubt because there's not enough time. good job, jeff. the president said on twitter. he's referring to chris collins of new york indicted on insider trading

cnn's jeff zeleny is at the white house. d jeff, the president was specifically asked what lessons the government had learned from the last hurricane season. he replied that the response to puerto rico was incredibly successful. is he not aware that the death toll in puerto rico has been updated to almost 3,000 innocent victims? >> reporter: well, jake, it's a good question. certainly, you would think he would have to be aware. but has never publicly acknowledged that. really for the last year or so, ever since hurricane maria struck on september 20th of 2017. there certainly has been a sense from this white house that everything that they were doing was done well. the president, of course, we'll remember, was visiting puerto rico at the time. he gave himself an a-plus. he has continued to say that again and again. you'll remember the government of puerto rico only until a few weeks ago was just saying some 60 or so actual fatalities were reported. then the government increased it to over 1,000. then that study from george wa

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as we told you earlier, that now includes republican jeff flake. whiteouse reporter for the associated press catherine lucy is going to join our conversation here. i want to talk about flake for a second here because this is actually a huge problem for republicans because, you know, they have been barreling full speed ahead. mitch mcconnell has been forcing this through and essentially no real way for democrats to stop them, but republicans can. and flake is potentially a first line of defense. it's not clear what they'll do if, by thursday, he's not ready to say, yeah, i'll vote yes on this. >> having one republican out there showing concern opens the door for other republicans to show concern. he's retiring. so he can be the first guy out. >> he's sort of a pariah in the republican party as well. >> but there say possibility that other people who may not have wanted to jump first, you know, like, say, collins or murkowski. i don't know what they'll do, but this makes it easier for other republicans to say, wait a second. of course, there's a really tig

jeff is outside the white house. his president is known for say figure we are under attack, fight back, has decided to take a more measured and cautious approach. >> no question about it. i was the reporter in there asking those questions. i was not sure how he was going to answer it today. he didn't ratchet up criticism of the democrats, calling them obstructionists and singling out senator fine stip. he did not go there. at the end when the aides were hollering, i asked if he believes this is all politics and he paused a moment and said i'm not going to go there. ask me in a couple of days. we know inside this building is president is frustrated by this and believes the way to handle this is to keep his powder dry and not to inflame any of this. interestingly, i asked him if he spoke to judge kavanaugh. he was in the west wing for nine hours yesterday and the president said he has not spoken to him and one of the reasons he has not is he asked that question. he knows that he has support there. we will see how long t

i'm joined by jeff bennett, white house correspondent for nbc news. the former congressman dave jolly also joining us from florida. jeff, what do you make of this back and forth, this latest dealings? they're saying, the republicans, if they don't respond by 10:00 tonight. >> yeah. >> they're going to vote on monday basically. >> it's a take it or leave it offer. look, we've already blown past one deadline which is 5:00 p.m. eastern. and the republican counteroffer at this point is to have this hearing on wednesday. to bring in outside counsel we understand that would question dr. ford alongside some of the other republican senators. but you saw there they agreed to meet her demands for security and things like that. but people close to dr. ford make the point that this is really a job interview for brett kavanaugh. it's not an interrogation or trial for dr. ford. they're really trying to limit that aspect of it. >> how about the gaming from the other side, from dr. ford? there is a lot of gamesmanship. she said she wants to have him speaking first and

zeleny joins us now from the white house. so, jeffwe heard what the president had to say a little earlier, what more do we know about the white house's reaction first of all to the op-ed? >> anderson, we're seeing in realtime the president really taking the reins of the strategy for how to respond to this extraordinary op-ed in "the new york times." earlier this evening, he was talking to a group of she was, and he was essentially going after the substance of the editorial, calling it gutless. but then just a few moments ago, as you were saying, he is now sort of pivoting somewhat and going after a favorite target of his, "the new york times." he is talking about the so-called source, talking about, you know, did they sort of make this up. but that is not at all what white house press secretary sarah sanders was saying in an earlier official statement from the white house when she was going directly after this individual who wrote the op-ed. taki take a look at what she said a short time ago this evening. she said the individual behin

jeff zeleny at the white house.ront" now, megan mckcaleb,a high school friend of brett kavanaugh. thank you for being here. >> thanks for having me. >> how long did you know kavanaugh, and how well, and what is your reaction in light of that relationship to what krsk ford is alleging here. >> i met him in high school, was a good friend all through high school, college and beyond. i know that chrissy alleges that this happened, but it is wildly unlike anything brett kavanaugh would do -- the brett kavanaugh i know. >> to be clear, you attended a nearby high school, you were social friends. >> correct. >> you were not at this party that ford alleged to have happened, so you don't have personal knowledge or experience of this particular incident she's describing here? >> i do not, because i don't remember ever being at a party with her. but she also didn't say where the party was, who was there, what the day was, and it was 38 years ago, so i would have no idea. >> you also know ford, is that right? >> i don't -- no, i