kelly o'donnell is reflecting on that from the white house. kelly, this is the day. question is with the reporting over the last 24 hours over the white house was euphoric -- that was the word being used -- what are we hearing so far? any official reaction? >> this is the final day, but doesn't it feel like it's going to go on for a while? what we have seen here is for president trump and senate republicans, if it goes as expected, this will be a major and lasting victory after what has been a bruising and bitter battle that has resonated around the country, bringing protesters into the capitol and many people wondering about this process. you're right. there were the sound of cheers outside west wing offices when they learned that they had by the slimmest of margins enough votes to put kavanaugh on the court. the suspense is over, but the struggle is not. through the night, senators, mostly democrats, debated the future of the supreme court. >> he's not telling the truth about what he did. >> and the fault lines over how sexual misconduct claims are heard. >> i beli

white house correspondent kelly o'donnell has more on the president's reaction. kelly? >> reporter: good evening, jose. the president said he considers it his obligation to carry on tonight with his campaign rally. a sign he says that evil people will not stops the governor of pennsylvania, the mayor of pittsburgh. says he will visit pittsburgh and will spend this evening with his supporters. on this day of horror and hate, the president considered scrapping his travel plans, but decided the campaign must go on. >> we can't let evil change our life and change our schedule. >> reporter: addressing several thousand young people at an agriculture convention in indiana. >> there must be no tolerance for anti-semitism in america or for any form of religious or racial hatred or prejudice. you know that. you know that very well. >> reporter: the president devoted nearly 20 minutes of his speech to the pittsburgh massacre, condemning it as evil. >> this was a baby naming ceremony at a sacred house of worship on the holy day of sabbath. >> reporter: the president told reporters

white house correspondent kelly o'donnell has been today from president trump. insisting he will block thousands of migrants heading north. >> i will seal off the border before they come into this country. i'll bring out our military. not our reserves, the military. >> reporter: hitting the immigration hot buttons, the president stoked fears. the dramatic flow of my grants is supported -- of migrants is supported by the democrats. >> the democrats want caravans, they like the caravans. >> reporter: president trump wrapping up his three-day western swing, ist so you got to get out. >> reporter: democrats see nevada as their best chance to flip a senate seat. today in las vegas, former vice president joe biden dealt some tolo >> i'm so tired of democrats walking around like woe is me, things are so bad, what are we going to do. i've had it up to here. >> reporter: today's s, to turn out the vote now and over the next two weeks. >> it's enough for us to show who they are, we have to tell them who we are. what do we stand for? what do we stand for? what does the dem

kelly o'donnell is at the white house where they have been watching extremely closely this vote. don mcgahn is in the senate chamber, he has been watching this procedural vote go down. >> yes. we expect the president has been watching this carefully and we're told some of the people who have been allies in the process for brett kavanaugh have been in the gallery allies for brett kavanaugh are in the upper level that's not seen by the cameras that are controlled by the senate gallery, and they are watching this in realtime. we don't believe that judge kavanaugh is there. that would not be unusual for a nominee not to be present when this is unfolding. i think part of what has to weigh in to what's happening today is typically when you have senators who voted one way for cl cloture to end a debate, often it's about legislation where there's an opportunity between votes one and two to change things. when it's a confirmation vote, it is still the same individual with the same facts and the same political atmosphere to be considered, so that weighs on this as well. as you very clearly

. >> nbc's kelly o'donnell has more from d.c. kelly, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, philip. international pressure is mounting over a missing journalist feared murdered in the saudi consulate in turkey. the leaders of saudi arabia and working group to investigate the disappearance of jamal khashoggi, and there is new scrutiny of the kingdom's close ties to president trump. the haunting image, an international mystery with a growing demand for answers. >> and if he's not alive, then it is the saudis who would know what happened. >> we cannot have an ally who murders in cold blood in their own consulate. >>ep fallout. saudi arabia's stock market tumbled. tech and media companies pulling out of a saudi investment conference. the kingdom's american embassy tweeted, "appreciation to all, including the u.s. administration, for refraining from jumping to conclusions." >> we're going to find out what happened. we're looking very hard. >> reporter: missing saudi critic jamal khashoggi, a permanent u.s. resident and "washington po

white house correspondent kelly o'donnell has more on the president's response to this tragedy. >> the president considered scrapping his travel plans but decided the campaign must go on. >> we can't let evil change our life and change our schedule. >> addressing several thousand young people at an agriculture convention in indiana. >> there must be no tolerance for anti-semitism in america or for any form of religious or racial hatred or prejudice. you know that. you know that very well. >> the president devoted nearly 20 minutes of his speech to the pittsburgh massacre. condemning it as evil. >> this was a baby naming ceremony at a sacred house of worship on the holy day of sabbath. >> the president told reporters he had spoken with daughter ivanka who converted to judaism, her husband's faith. ivanka tweeted, america is stronger than the acts of a depraved bigot and anti-semite. sympathy from world leaders. canada's justin trudeau and benjamin netanyahu. the vice president rejected any suggestion the president's rhetoric stoked the terror scene this week, including the mailed pipe b

kelly o'donnell leads us off tonight. kelly? >> reporter: good evening, lester. president trump did watch from his air force one cabin surrounded by reporters as brett kavanaugh was confirmed. the president has now put his imprint on the supreme court with two conservative justices. he will take a victory lap tonight at a rally in kansas, after what he called a horrible attack by democrats on his new justice. on this day to tally the final votes -- thousands marched on the u.s. capitol demanding to be counted. scores arrested after charging the capitol steps, trying to wield last-minute influence against the odds. >> it's never over until the votes are counted. >> this fight is not over. this is one battle, but we are goio eechn display o came from those who believe brett kavanaugh is the right choice. >> i've just had it. i just feel like i need to support my president, judge kavanaugh, and my country. >> reporter: many stood up for sexual assault victims and against judge brett kavanaugh, who fought back against decades-old sexual assault allegations. >> this i

>> kelly o'donnell at the white house, kelly, thank you. >>> another accomplishment for the presidenthis week, what some are calling nafta 2.0, but not president trump. he insists the new trade agreement signed by -- last week by the united states, mexico and canada is a huge improvement. it's still not a done deal, but how could tim pact american farmers, factory workers and businesses? nbc's dave gura breaks it down. >> reporter: scrapping nafta is something president trump has wanted to do for a while. >> nafta is the worst trade deal maybe ever signed anywhere. >> reporter: and the new deal known as the united states mexico canada agreement or usmca will change what comes across the borders. trade among the u.s., canada and mexico is three times what it was almost a quarter century ago when nafta came into effect. this is one of the biggest crossings on the u.s.-canada border. every day 1,200 vehicles carrying everything from cars and car parts to fruits and vegetables come through here. today the trade relationship is valued at $1.2 trillion, and the agreement would affect automo

>> kelly o'donnell at the white house, kelly, thank you. >>> as the miss trmd elections approach many campaigns run folding on social media in realtime. on friday a new caution about that as federal prosecutors accused a russia woman of orchestrating posts aimed at meddling in the elections so what are the major social media companies doing to stop that kind of activity? nbc's jo ling kent went inside the war room to find out. >> the drive to protect the mid-term election is in high gear at facebook. >> welcome to the war room. >> thank snow the world's biggest social network is mounting a coordinated war against false news and hacking in the final two weeks before election day. >> we want to be as quick and agile as we can here. all of these things help us really prevent problems before they can become viral. >> russia, russia, russia. >> reporter: the hope to prevent another 2016 disaster when the company allowed meddling and fake information to fred. >> we were slow in identifying the russian meddling operations in 2016. >> reporter: facebook claims the investment is paying off, sa

white house correspondent kelly o'donnell reports. >> the haunting image. an international mystery with a growing demand for answers. >> and if he's not alive, then it is the saudis who would know what happened. >> we cannot have an ally who murders in gold blood in their own consulate. >> reporter: fallout today. invtment conference. the kingdom's american embassy tweeted appreciation to all, including the u.s. administration, for refraining from jumping to conclusions. >> we're going to find out what happened. we're looking very hard. >> reporter: missing 12 days. saudi critic jamal khashoggi, a permanent u.s. resident and "washington post" columnist. turkey's government says it has evidence he was killed by saudi operatives. former cia director and nbc news analyst john brennan. >> it would be inconceivable that such an operation would be run by the saudis without the kn day-to-day decision-maker of saudi arabia. that's crowns prince mohammed bin salman. >> it's a great honor to have the crown prince with us. >> reporter: the president's close ties. >> i

an kelly o'donnell at the white house.s. >>> in england, a deadly helicopter crash last night left many in that country in mourning. it happened in eicester in central england. among those killed was popular owner of a leicester city soccer team. hundreds of supporters paid their respects at the stadium where the teamlays and a minute of silence was held fore other teams played their hotches today. in this country, aties in boston are investigating a seven-alarm fire. most of those who lived in the building were clergy students. more from nbc's kathy park. >> i want everybody out of the building >> reporter: flames engulfed a five-story apartment building in neighborhood home to many university students. >> we have people on the top floors yelling for help. >> turned pitch bck and the firefighters started coming in fr one side and people were screaming for help from the top windows. >> reporter: 100 firefighters rushed in then seven alarms rang out usingde l for rescues rescues as the fire spread quickly. >> flames and gla

nbc's kelly o'donnell as usual following developments for us from the white house. kelly, a good and busy and long saturday, it feels like already, but let's get to what's new from your vantage point. >> reporter: sure does feel like a long day ahead and it was a very long night on capitol hill. the lights never went out, but today it is expected the white house will get what is absolutely a legacy win for president trump if the vote to confirm kavanaugh goes as expected, and it comes after what has been a difficult three months of his confirmation process with a raw and personal battle over judge kavanaugh's character and his credibility, and protesters now say they will keep their fire through the midterm elections next month. the suspense is over but the struggle is fought. >> all: we're all survivors! >> reporter: senators mostly democrats debating the future of the supreme court. >> he is not telling the truth about what he did! >> reporter: and the fault lines over how sexual misconduct claims are heard. >> i believe her. i believe dr. ford. i still believe he

nbc's kelly o'donnell is at the white house.hat do we know about the kind of questions that they will be answering here ? >> reporter: we're told that it deals with the issue of russian collusion alleged with the trump campaign, not activities during the president's time in office. and that is significant because his legal team has said that any conduct while he is in office should not be something that gets swept into the mueller probe. and that is for the protection of any president. so issues like questions around a obstruction of justice, they have long argued that that would be something where they would not cooperate. and that that would be a certain degree of precedent where you would have to look at the particular powers of the president. so what could it be? it could be things that have to do with the trump tower meeting for example, that is just a suggestion, not specifically talked about. did he have any knowledge or not have any knowledge. and any other contacts with his campaign and so forth. those things through th

nbc's kelly o'donnell has the results. >> reporter: with a friday night deadline, today the president'simed to be keeping its distance. >> the white house isn't intervening. we're not micromanaging the process. >> reporter: careful to emphasize the fbi's work is not a criminal probe. >> it's not meant to be a fisching expedition. >> reporter: they say the fbi has not received new direction today that would alter the original cope of the two allegations made against kavanau kavanaugh. they say her team has not been contacted. the fbi has lr calready contact debra ramirez according to her lawyer who says she will cooperate. kavanaugh denies any misconduct. >> i am innocent. >> reporter: today democrats raise doubts about the investigation itself. >> finally we're going to get one and the question is are we going to get the kind of investigation that is thorough and fair >> right >> it was a good moment when we got that re-opened, but now it's going to be on him to make sure this is a credible investigation. >> this afternoon the president pushed back, tweeting apart, that the time and sco

. >> nbc's kelly o'donnell is at the white house. kelly, if i know anything, just as i have my suitcase loaded, as do you, this is president trump's last big push. >> reporter: it is. i would add to the spaghetti motif to say, do what you know. for president trump, immigration has been successful for him. we're seeing him hitting that in all ways, leading up to the midterm elections. and in part that is a base move to try to drive his own voters and supporters to mind certain they cast their ballots so there won't be an apathy quotient on his size when democrats have been so energized. when we look at the president's tweets, there are some factual errors and questionable elements. we've seen how the president will plow right through that regardless. there you see him talking about the caravans. they're made up of some of the tough fighters, people fought back hard and viciously against mexico. he goes on to talk about the mexican authorities being injured. we don't have evidence of that. there were photos circulating on the internet t

kelly o'donnell reports. >> the haunting image and international mystery with a growing demand for answers. >> and if he's not alive, then it is the saudis who would know what happened. >> we cannot have an own consulate. >> fallout today. saudi arabia's stock market tumbled. tech and media companies pulling out of a saudi investment congress. the american embassy tweeted, appreciation to all including the u.s. administration for refraining from jumping to conclusions. >> we're going to find out what happened. we're looking very hard. >> missing 12 days. saudi critic jamal cakhashoggi. turkey's government says they have evidence he was killed by saudi operatives. nbc news analyst. >> it will be oinconceivable tht it would be run without the knowledge of the day to day decision maker and that is the crown prince. >> it's a great honor to have the crown prince with us. >> the president ahe 's close t add pressure to the pledge to deliver severe punishment if they are responsible. treasury secretary still plans to go to that saudi conference next week. >> along with the president and the gene

i don't want to see another nuclear arms race with russia or with any other country >>> nbc's kelly o'donnell report in sports news, mercedes driver lewis hamilton will need to wait a bit longer to clinch a fifth world title after ferrari finally showed cha it was made of at the u.s. grand prix. what did you make of the final showing for hamilton >> it was a surprise to everyone considering he looked like he had some pace in practice. he looked like he had pole position he did have it sown up he's built that huge lead in the world championships. uncharacteristics bad mercedes tactics this time around they delayed hamilton's second pit stop they made sure he had to pit again to get to the end of the race he was back at some points in fifth place, then he was up in the lead again everyone is happy for raikkonen. he's now the most successful finish driver of all time which is obviously very nice the focus would have been on lewis hamilton and whether or not he was going to get a fifth world title this time around he's got to wait a little bit longer. >> it's not a shoe in at this point. 's so fa

one of his decisions was to keep campaigning. >> kelly o'donnell at the white house. thank you so much as always, kel. >>> let's bring in our panel to discuss all of this. kimberly atkins and aaron blake. kimberly, starting with you here. let's get to the sana'a goiynag shooting. what is the conventional wisdom on that? >> while it seems that you can never attribute the actions of a violent person to another person, in this case the president of the united states, he is the leader of the country and he is engaging in political rhetoric that hits on the kind of themes that seems to enflame the types of divisions, particularly cultural divisions, religious, racial divisions that we are seeing glowing this country. it is a fact that incidents of anti-semitism are on the rise in the country and has been for years. we all know -- everyone on this panel knows that anti-media sentiment is rising. we see it in our in boxes. there is an increase in incidents like last week when there was a racist attack in kentucky. this is coinciding with very negative characterizations of im

. >> let's start with the president and nbc white house correspondent kelly o'donnell. kelly o, president trump calling dr. ford credible, said the investigation was a blessing in disguise. what changed? >> reporter: it may have been the setting. the president in mississippi at a rally, and he often does sort of acting out playing voices, usually about his own election, and in this case he was sort of playing out as an actor the transcript as he recalls it of her testimony, but it is a sharp shift in the way that he has approached this initially sort of at arm's length talking about wanting to give her a forum to speak. then when her identity was better known and her story better known he called her compelling is spoke really positively about her in a few different instances. time wearing on now, and perhaps with the extended calendar of this the president maybe sensing that he needed to do more or perhaps this is a reflection of the president thinking that kavanaugh may need a boost, and he was in front of a rally crowd of very supportive fans, supporters, voters, howev

. >> nbc's kelly o'donnell is live at the white house with more on this and the remarks made just moments ago, kelly. >> reporter: frances, an extraordinarily personal display with president trump, whose administration has worked during his entire time in office on the release of americans abroad. we've seen those examples and the president certainly recounted some of that. with pastor brunson, it was also an expression of the country's faith community, where evangelical leaders and church communities had prayed because he is a pastor, a minister, who had been effectively doing missionary-type work in turkey, trying to bring his faith to a different part of the world. they were standing strong in the hope of bringing him home, this north carolina native. as you saw, there were other members of the government who were in place there. that's an unusually broad display of this accomplishment to have the secretary of state, the national security adviser and members of the north carolina congressional delegation. we heard from the senators and members of the house delegation from new york. the

that was kelly o'donnell reporting. >> the supreme court goes back to work in just a few hours with only eight justices. >>> well, a powerful and personal admission president trump's senior official kellyanne conway. today she said she understands the understand the pain of women with sexual abuse she o because she is a victim herself. >> i am a victim of sexual assault. i don't expect judge kavanaugh or jeff flake or anybody to be held responsible for that. you have to be responsible for your own conduct. >> conway did not go into details. in her interview on cnn, she went on to commend the women who have confronted jeff flake in the elevator on friday and command they become- and she unfairly bearing the weight of the me too movement. >>> california is ushering in a new era of police transparency. governor brown signed two bills today that will make it easier for people to access police records. the first one requires the department to make body camera video public within 45 days. one exception if it interferes with an investigation. the second authored by nancy skinner gives californi

for them it will never be enough. >> kelly o'donnell reporting. the supreme court goes back to work tomorrow with only eight justices. >>> it is a powerful and personal admission, president trump senior counsellor kellyanne conway today said she understands the pain of women who suffer sexual abuse because ae was once a victim herself. victim of sexual assault. i don't expect judge kavanaugh or jake tapper or jeff flake or anybody to be held responsible for that. you have to be responsible for your own conduct. >> conway did not give details of what happened to her. in her interview on cnn she went on to commend the women who confronted jeff flake in the elevator on friday and to demand that the victims be heard. she believes kavanaugh is unfairly bearing the weight of the me too movement. >>> it is a first in california. today governor jerry brown sign a new law that requires corporate board of directors to include women. nbc bay area's maryanne favro is here with the details of the new law. >> reporter: for one, companies that don't comply could

anybody white house correspondent kellie o'donnell is joining us from her post. let's get to the details. >> reporter: part of what tells us about this swing the president is making, after being in a state where there's certain a lot of immigration issues, today in nevada they also have lived with, dealt with immigration issues, but it's not the true red space that the president often campaigns in. it's more of a purple state. that would be notable in his work to try to help the republican incumbent senator there as you mentioned. the president tweeting about immigration and urging democrats to come to the negotiating table. he says that the democrats would stop being obstructionist and come together we could agree to new legislation and laws for immigration. look at the needless pain and suffering. chuck and nancy, call me. the president putting a lot of blame on democrats for the current situation with thousands of migrants moving north from central america through guatemala, trying to get through mexico. the secretary of state has also been in mexico to meet w

. >> to make sense of all these developments we have nbc's kelly o'donnell and pete williams, as well as tess is a baronson and erin dellmore. so with a good morning to all for of you we will go to you, kelly, at the white house. let's get the latest reaction there from even beyond last night in kansas. >> reporter: this is a case where the president will be feeling the confidence and riding high. no doubt about that. in fact, he waited until he got to that kansas audience rally to announce that he will be hosting a ceremonial swearing in monday night here at the white house to the cheers of his supporters. so the vote is over, the justice has now been sworn in, but the politics of this play on and president trump thinks this can help him help his party in november. in kansas. >> i stand before you today on the heels of a tremendous victory for our nation, our people and our beloved constitution. >> reporter: the president celebrated his newest justice. >> brett kavanaugh is a man of great character and intellect. >> reporter: gleeful about his reshaping the court with conservatives.

kelly o'donnell at the white house. thank you. >>> the president has seized on what he hopes will be a hot button campaign issue. thousands of migrants from central america moving north towards mexico and perhaps the united states in an attempt to escape the violence in their own country. first, they're locked in a battle with mexican authorities at the guatemala/mexico border. that's where we find nbc's gabe gutierrez. good morning. >> reporter: night after night they have slept here but pash sense waiting and going thin. this morning some central american migrants are deciding to turn around at the mexican border. they don't want to open the gate. we might as well return this man says. but many others are still desperately trying to finish the dangerous journey. some on boats. others liken never pacheco have been waiting in line for days. >> everybody is trying to go through, trying for a better life. >> reporter: the caravan from chaotic is now halted. they have been crowded here at the mexican border in the heat for

i want to go to kelly o'donnell at the white house. democrats are holding a press conference on the hill in 57 minutes. the white house is trying to frame this already, right? we're hearing from the officials and from the president, tweeting in the last 30 seconds, too. >> talking about due process and fairness being on trial and also talked about the fact that this process has made voters sort of turn out in addition because of what's been going on with judge kavanaugh. this is the moment recent tweet a couple of minutes ago. very important time in our country, says the president. due process, fairness and common sense are now on trial. there have been times where the president has taken a shot or two at due process. it's notable that he's including it now. we are told that the president was briefed on the subject matter of the fbi report and that will be true for a number of senators, too. i spoke with the senator who said that experts at the committee, there are lawyers and investigators on the staff, are sort of synthesizing everyt

. >> nbc white house correspondent kelly o'donnell joins me now with the latest. earn from that interview with the first lady? >> reporter: it is extraordinary, craig, because nearly two years into her time as first lady, and it is so rare that we hear from her responding to questions, and a limited number of public events she's done and speeches, she has really been e lilusive in interacting with reporters. while first ladies often work on a whole separate schedule, her lack of accessibility has been notable. obviously, now, she is willing to address some of these very difficult questions about the state of her personal life, and she did so, and notably much like her husband put the media in a -- sort of a barrier of responsibility talking about that as being upsetting to her. less revealing about her personal interactions with the president. she says they are fine. she did address very, it seems frankly, a question that was put to her about the fact that rudy giuliani who serves as the president's outside lawyer on some of the issues we've seen play out with the

. >> kelly o'donnell is at the white house with the latest. top trump administration officials are talking about who the president is considering and who has been ruled out. hint, hint, ivanka trump. >> reporter: exactly. the president's daughter who of course would have to go through senate confirmation which is very different than being appointed to senior adviser role. so december picture tspite the s interest in that job, which she says she hasn't, it looked like that has been ruled out. remember senate confirmation, just went through the kavanaugh hearings, any of these jobs require that. but there is another name on the list, dina powell who left the administration after having served as deputy national security adviser. she did so because her life and home and family is so because h home and family is in new york city. well, that's also where the united nations is located so that would no longer be an impediment. we heard today from kellyanne conway, senior counselor to the president here on the driveway of the north lawn with some of h

kelly o'donnell has been following the president. so kelly, with a good day, is the president really betting on this topic, it's going to be a rallying cry for voters? >> reporter: from all the information we have, alex, this is a lane where the president is comfortable, has seen it has worked for him in the 2016 election and believes it can help to energize his voters right now. both for the larger issues of wanting to protect his presidency and also citing some of the things that we're witnessing, that gabe just laid out for us. real-world events where the president has a very hard-line view on how immigration laws should be changed in the country, at a time when there are all kinds of emotional, real-world consequences to what's going on. so he thinks this will help to get his base energized and to turn out. and in certain states, he believe it plays much larger than in others. he's also trying to use it as a register against democrats, to say that it is their policies and their unwillingness to work with them, that is caught some

>> kelly o'donnell at the white house. with brett kavanaugh ready now to take his seat on the supreme court this week, how will he change it? let's bring in nbc's chief justice correspondent pete williams. r brett kavanauglaces anthony kennedy who was the long-time swing vote on the supreme court. kavanaugh obviouslyonderably more conservative than kennedy. will he be a swing vote now? >> i thi not. at least not for several years. justice kennedy wasn't the swing vote until later. the days of justices like john paultevens or suitor, they're much more thoroughly studiedth r precise reason of avoiding any surprises like that in the future. no doubt about it, brauf speaks rev very recently about anthony kennedy. kennedy swore him in yesterday, but i think kavanaugh is very unlikely to become the deciding justice in the middle. >> we've heard concerns frompr ressives, pete, about his placeson roe v. wade and on presidential power and where that might come potentially with the russia investigation. where are we most likely to f

kelly o'donnell joins us from washington with more. >> this demonstration of he isy to act, withdrawing from an historic nuclear missile >>unrtunately honored the agreement so we will pull out. >> john bolton isn message. >> we still have issues and disagreements. >> more than 30 years ago, a legacy achievement for president reagan and the soviet union's mickael gorbachev. he signed the inf that eliminated ground launched missiles that can travel about 3500 miles. under vladimir putin, something changed. nato said flatly, russia is in violation of the inf treaty. in helsinki in july, putin complained about u.s. missile launchers positioned in europe, calling it a dangerous situation. they see risk in the president's decision. >> this is one of the few channels of communication we have with russia on serious matters at a time when the overall relationship with russia is not very good. >> the chairman said russia that come into compliance. >> rand paul is worried. >> i don't want to see another nuclear arms race with russia or any other country. >> john bolton is expected to spend two day

>> kelly o'donnell, at the white house, thank you. >>> the latest on the journalist feared murdered in the saudi consulate in turkey. today is khashoggi's birthday. in an open ed -- op-ed published tonight in the "new york times." the silence of saudi arabia fills me with dread, that haunting question doesn't leave me for a single moment. is it true, have they assassinated jamal? those are the same questions president trump says he wants answered. our chief foreign correspondent richard engel has the latest from istanbul. richard? >> reporter: did jamal khashoggi solve his own murder? saudi arabia has denied killing the journalist. but it's yet to provide any evidence that he left the saudi consulate here in istanbul alive. turkey says it has graphic recordings that prove 15 saudi agents murdered journalist jamal khashoggi inside t saudi consulate in istanbul. recordings president trump addressed the first time today. >> we've all heard a lot about the audio yet, no one's seen it yet. we'll be seeing it soon. >> reporter: president trump made it clear what he doesn't want to happen, re

. >> white house correspondent kelly o'donnell here to wrap it up for us. kelly, this interview, it comes mid rally week for the president. what kind of mood was he in? >> reporter: he sounded upbeat, and he extended the interview to about 45 minutes. there were times where just knowing the tricks of the tv trade it sounded like the host of the program might have been ready to wrap it up, and the president kept extending. he seemed to be in a mood to talk. he has a busy day today. there's a lot going on. you mentioned kanye west being a part of the conversation. he's at the white house today talking about a number of issues, including criminal justice reform, also the issues of violence in chicago, and the music modernization act, which will sort of rewrite the publishing rules in the modern streaming age, especially for song writers and performers. so we'll see a number of those sort of people from the music industry here as well. and the president talked about that criminal justice piece, and he was asked by the panel this morning if his attorney general -

kelly o'donnell at the white house.ning me, pastor of christ evangelical lutheran church and analyst joe watkins who worked in the white house a long time ago and is conservative. joe, i saw a picture of you with whitney houston at the white house, it is common to bring celebrities to the white house. what are the challenges you have, a picture of you with president bush and michael jackson. it's always a challenge for conservatives in the white house to build better and stronger connections with the african-american community but there are a lot of african-american conservatives, and if the president were trying to elevate his standing amongst blacks in america, if you set up a meeting with somebody prominent like kanye west, how should the conversation have gone? what are the topics that you would like covered that would make sense? >> knowing that kanye west may have come to the meeting sleep deprived, might have been prone to give a ten minute rant, i probably wouldn't invite the press pool. the press pool did its j

garrett haake is on capitol hill with kelly o'donnell joining us from the white house. former u.s. attorney and former senior fbi official chuck rosenberg, "washington post" columnist eugene robinson is here. kimberly atkins, now the washington bureau chief for the "boston herald" and nick confisore. garrett, let's start with you. we've seen protesters on capitol hill. you've been reporting all week about how high the tensions are. where do things stand this hour? >> well, nicolle, the protest happening behind me and may make me hard to hear is by far the largest and most well-organized protest against brett kavanaugh i've seen yet this week. it's really coming at the right time from the protesters' perspective. after this announcement from heidi heitkamp of north dakota that she'd vote no on kavanaugh's confirmation. gave really a boost of energy to the opposition here. the protesters are a few floors down from me. a huge cheer and round of applause in the direction of heitkamp's office. they've been thanking her staff for her vote. in terms of the optics, this is all definitely a

we have kelly o'donnell with more on that. good morning, kelly. >> reporter: good morning, peter. the president will be in touch with the crown prince by phone now they have taken public steps acknowledging the jamal khashoggi death. now after two weeks with bad information or none at all, the president is surprised the saudis have made some progress. president trump's first reaction came late friday in arizona. >> they have arrested a large number of people and good first step. >> repr:ntaid h dismissed as just a theory the saudi government statement that washington post journalist jamal khashoggi was killed during a fist fight inside their consulate in turkey. >> saudi arabia is a great ally. what happened is unacceptable. >> reporter: meeting with defense contractors, the president said he would prefer the u.s. impose sanctions, but not cancel military sales to the kingdom. he stressed the complexity of the crisis. >> we need them as a counter balance to iran and it is not as simple. >> reporter: the white house issued a statement after khashoggi's death was confirmed. we offer

. >> nbc's kelly o'donnell has more from d.c. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, phillip. international pressure is mounting over a missing journalist feared murdered at a saudi consulate in turkey. the leaders have announced a joint working group to investigate the disappearance of jamal khashoggi. there is new scrutiny of the close ties to president trump. >> reporter: a haunting image and international mystery for growing demand of answers. >> if he is not alive saudis know what happened. >> we cannot have an ally who murdered in cold blood in their own cobb s consulate. >> reporter: fall-out, stock market and pulling out of saudi investment and tweeting appreciation to all including the administration for not jumping to conclusions. >> we will see what happened. >> reporter: missing, jamal khashoggi, a washington columnist. turkey's government says it has evidence he was killed by saudi operatives. former via director, john brennan. i would be inconceivable such an operation would be run by the saudis without the knowledge of the day-to-day decision-maker, crown prince

joining me now is white house correspondent kelly o'donnell, and michael beschloss, presidential historianhe author of the new book "presidents of war." welcome both. kel kelly, first to you, and we understand that the president is meeting now with brock long his fema director and other officials on the storm obviously, but nikki haley's rather surprising are resignation effective at the end of the year certain lu opens up a lot of oquestions about her motivation, and who is coming next. i have been told that dina powell is on the short list, and the president then confirmed that yesterday. and first of all, why now? why leaving before the election? >> well, some of the people that i have talk ted to in the republican circles have said that by announcing now, but she will depart her role by the end of the year, she is effectively have served half of the president's term, and that is a considerable a amount of time not unusually short given the larger issues of the pressures f of being a part of the trump administration, and by announcing now, it is before any verdict is rendered by the vot

and kelly o'donnell, white correspondent for nbc news. what a dayl on capi hill, kelly. >> amazing.en you listened to susan davis, was t someone who was always a swing vote and just turning at the 11th hour, or was this someone who was always trying to get to yes? >> from the time that brett kavanaugh wasceamed, her c that she expressed was, would he be reliable in the area of roe vs. wade? because she is one of the rare abortion rights advocates in the republican party. ander personal meeting made such a difference. but when the allegations came out, when i had contact with her, she was concernedbout mark judge, the high school era friend of brett kavanaugh.as and shart of the group that wanted that additional f.b.i. information. he did submit to that, mark judge. ctparently. we don't know e what was said, but everyone was saying he was unable to corroborate thet acco given by dr. christine blasey ford. and for susan davis, that appeared to end the issue. i think what was so profound is, in many ways, she made the best reasoned, calm case for brett kanaugh on the court that we have

. >> kelly o'donnell joins us from the white house. a well known and i believe admitted consumer of cable news. i am going to go out on the limb and saw the criticism of not praising the fbi in his event with young black supporters earlier this afternoon, so he crossed that off his to-do list in this appearance. anything else stand out to you. >> reporter: i was struck, there was light rain coming down and he stood there and took questions from us. i asked if he intended to call former president obama or any others who had been targeted, and his response was, i've been asked to do so but i think we will pass. i asked if there was something more he could do to change how he is engaging politically, and his answer went into the issue of more midterm politics, not really dealing with this. the first question that he seemed to catch with respect to the suspect being in the supporter group was he was asked if he had seen his own face on the van of the man taken into custody today. you heard him say, no, he had not seen it. that seems kind o

nb white house correspondent kelly o'donnell has more. >> reporter: after a week like this, some pretende at the white house. as the president and first lady host a halloween party for military families. no mention here of the terror in pittsburgh. the secretary of homeland security said dhs had actually advised the congregation, attack saturday. >> as recently as march we conducted a site visit there. >> reporter: but what role the president himself can or should personally play is under intense debate. >> you don't mind, i'm going to tone it down just a little bi >> reporter: saturday, president trump traveled a thorny path. >> we hate. >> reporter: calling for civility from inside the fray just days before the ms. >> and it doesn't mean that we can't fight hardnd be strong and say what's on our mind. but we have to always remember those elements. we have to remember the elements of love and dignity and respect. >> reporter: public officials are divided over how much a toxic campaign climate could embolden the dangerous. >> the heated rhetoric of american politics today is encouraging

nbc's kelly o'donnell has more. >> reporter: with one hand on the bible, justic brett kavanaugh's sworn oath was not an end point but instead a political orreboot energized and sometimes angry democrs. i said to the woman who are justifiably angry and determined, they should should focus like a laser beam on theio ele. >> and a recharge for the republicans. >> i want to thank the other side for the tactics that have allowed us to kind of energize and get involved our own vote sneers today the president headed for hthe golf course w senator lindsey graham, justice kavanaugh's most fiery defender >> i'm going to go throughout this country and let people in these, you know, purple states, red states where trump han, know i thought, know what i think about this process. >> reporter: the president in rally mode saturday night. >> got to involvement got to vote. >> reporter: made the bitter confirmation fight a call to act. >> on november 6th you will have the chance to stop the radical democrats, and that's what the become. >> reporter: but sticking with her party could have real consequence

nbc's kelly o'donnell is at the white house. >> reporter: good morning, sheinelle.fter a bitter battle, it all comes down to today. getting this just ice on the supreme court is a major victory. when they learned they have enough votes to have kavanaugh on the court. the suspense is over, but struggle is not. through the night, senators, mostly democrats, debated the future of the supreme court. >> he's not telling the truth. >> reporter: and the fault lines over sexual misconduct claims are heard. >> i believe her. i believe dr. ford. i still believe her. >> reporter: the lone republican to oppose kavanaugh. >> this has been agonizing. >> reporter: alaska's lisa murkowski said judge st. louis cardinals -- judge kavanaugh's behavior was too impartial. >> i could notelieve he was the privaright person for the c. >> reporter: the only democrat to back kavanaugh is joe manchin. >> shame, shame, shame. >> reporter: shouted down by protesters who believed dr. christine blasey ford's sexual misconduct allegation against kavanaugh. >> something happened to dr. ford. i don'

kelly o'donnell reports that the fund raiser was expected to take in about $250,000 to benefit the trump campaign. many noted in 2012 trump criticized president obama for a campaign event held a week after hurricane sandy hit the east coast. the president repeatedly claimed it would be unfair to cancel. >> given the gravity of the storm, do you think it's appropriate to go on a campaign trip, tonight, sir? >> well, i hear they have thousands of people lined up. we are in a little bit of a quagmire. i don't want to disappoint people. what are you going to do, tell thousands of people that have been waiting there all night we're not coming? that's not fair either. i can't te-- we have thousands people lined up. we wanted to make this stop. we had thousands of people who started coming up. >> however, at 11:00 a.m. yesterday our nbc news crew did not see a line at the arena, and our reporter on the ground could not find anyone who waited in line overnight. and the president tweeted this photo, tweeting, couldn't let these great people down, they've been lined up last night. the photo was ta

we have kelly o'donnell with more on that. reporter: good morning, peter. the president called for unity and thanked law enforcement and describe d the series of mail bombers as an attack. he also blamed the media and democrats for their responses.us ated and fired up. president trump claims he has been victimized by media coverage ofai the bomb suspect. >> we have seen an effort by the media in recent hours to use the sinceister actions of one individual to score political points against me. >> reporter: at the north carolira ies. president did not acknowledge the suspect appears to be a trump supporter. he said his politics were not an inue all. no blame. no anything. >> reporter: before friday's rest, he put quotes around the word bomb to complain that tention was off the midterms. at the rally, he brought up past politicalol ence. the baseball practice shooting carried out by a bernie sanders supporter. >> we did not use that attempt at mass murder for political gain because that would have been >> reporter: delivering a split message calling for. civil