mcconnell: i move to consider calendar 640. the presiding officer: the question is on the amendment. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, department of justice, jeffrey bossert clark of virginia to be an assistant attorney. mr. mcconnell: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: cloture motion. we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22, do hereby bring to a close debate on the nomination of jeffrey bossert clark, of virginia, to be an assistant attorney general, signed by 17 senators. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all in favor say aye. all opposed, say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. mcconnell: i move t

senator mcconnell: of course. reporter: will you try to encourage more female republican women on the judiciary committee after all of this? senator mcconnell: that's a good question. we have encouraged several women senators to go on the committee. i intend to do that. their particular priorities, there has been no effort to avoid it. i've encourage them to do it, obviously without success, and we would love to have worn of one of our wonderful senators on judiciary. hopefully that will be the case next year. thanks a lot. >> shortly after the senate confirmed him, brett kavanaugh and his family traveled to the supreme court building, where he took the constitutional oath from supreme court chief justice john roberts, and the oath which was administered by retired justice anthony kennedy. this photo of the private ceremony is from the collection of the supreme court of the united states. president trump will host the ceremonial swearing-in for supreme court justice brett kavanaugh monday in the east room of the w

senator mcconnell: of course. reporter: you tried to encourage more female republican women on the judiciary committee after all of this? senator mcconnell: that's a good question. we have encouraged several women senators to go on the committee. i intend to do that again ta the -- at the beginning of the next session. there has been no effort to avoid it. i've encourage them to do it, obviously without success, and we would love to have worn of our wonderful centers on -- one of our wonderful senators on judiciary. hopefully, that will be the case next year. thanks a lot. >> this week, "newsmakers" brian walsh. >> one of the things i have is that it will not go down ballot. we are anecdotally and in data, we are seeing it all over the country. it is why you see the president on the stop at these rallies. he's telling people that you have to get out and vote. there will be a blue wave. there will be a red wave. but it -- the red wave is you. you have to god and vote. the transactional nature of i love him and ther

reporter: senator mcconnell? cheryl: senator mitch mcconnell making more comments. that q&a had been ongoing. get back to the markets. a couple things here, here is what he said, here is what we know at this point, he reiterate ed. each senator would get a copy of fbi report. timing not specific. there will be 24 hours, each senator getting 24 hours to review that. senator schumer said he wants the full report to senators. senator mitch mcconnell is pushing back, you will get the new fbi report, the new investigation, the seventh investigation of the fbi into judge kavanaugh, then we will have a vote. senator mcconnell pressing ahead and saying this is stressful and time for brett kavanaugh, obviously for his accuser as well, everyone involved in what has been a very long and very troubling process as the nation has been watching all of this unfold over the last week 1/2. >>> well, we again are waiting on now president trump. president trump is just moments away, we understand from addressing workers in philadelphia. you're looking at a live picture here. he is expe

mitch mcconnell and i've never seen mitch mcconnell so happy than in the last couple days. he told me he saw polling showing how unifying the issue was for the republican party. >> just on the democratic side, they've been hard to find after this loss. we tried to reach out to a number of them. will somebody be able to make use of this to get their own voters? >> even democrats will acknowledge when you talk to them they're already saying out on the stump when they go home for the weekends the republican base is more fired up than it was just a few weeks ago. so they acknowledge this say real thing. it's not just a blip. they're encountering it and their base has been fired up for a long time so they've sustained this level of energy. is the republican energy a blip and now that they got the supreme court justice they want, do they go back to being content or is that energy that is going to last another month? >> one way in which it may last, john, is related to something that was written about in the new york times. he's been a vocal trump critic. he said in this case he w

we know this fbi report, mitch mcconnell said it is coming to the senate tonight. we know there are some top senate leaders are supposed to be here at 8 am eastern but just a reminder there's still a lot of back and forth going on between senator grassley, the chair of the committee and ford's legal team, just to remind begun once therapist notes because somewhere shared with the washington post, polygraph recordings of doctor ford taking the test. this is what her attorneys say, doctor ford is providing those documents to the fbi when she interviews which we've not yet heard about scheduling an interview with her. >> the senate is doing its investigation. democrats call the investigation, not sure why doctor ford's attorneys won't give the senators job is to do the investigation with the records they are asking for. >> this is what grassley says in response. the constitution past the senate, not the media, providing advice and consent for supreme court nominees, disappointing the doctor ford's attorneys were willing to share evidence with washington post any weeks

house, kevine cirilli on his interview with mitch mcconnell. pompeo's goaltary in going to saudi arabia? did he achieve it? bill: we are still waiting for a readout. he was there to get a full explanation on the missing journalist. what are the saudis doing and how credible is investigation? and to convey some of the rising concern in the unit it's about how this could damage the -- couldn about how this damage the u.s.-saudi relationship. we will hopefully get a sense of what some of the intelligence is that the turkish authorities say they have on the disappearance and killing. david: now we go to roman talk budget.e italian they submitted they budget and went. past the 2% limit. the italian bond did not really get hurt. greg: it's been very well signaled. what the is 3% for eurozone countries are allowed to spend on the deficit. italy has always held a fairly harder stance because it has such a large that. the eu commission has always set harder standards for italy. they went over what the eu wanted to spend. the previous garment -- governme

my name is gary gregg and i'm director of the mcconnell center. it's been my privilege to direct this center for the last 18 years, and i see a lot of familiar faces. i thank you all for coming out today. madam provost, board of trustees members, mcconnell senator board, lots of people in the audience today deserve some recognition. i'm just going to call out one small group that we have with us today, because they are the future in some ways, and particularly future of the united states army. it's my privilege to be able to help host today here with us the cadre of the u of l rotc and a group of their cadets. folks, would you stand and be recognized, please. [ applause ] thank you. this is the 52nd major speaker to visit the mcconnell center in our history. i think i've introduced 40-some of them over the years. we have had colin powell's first major policy address as secretary of state. we had secretary of state clinton. immediately after important negotiations on russian armaments. we had clarence thomas and vice president biden and neil gorsuc

this is the 52nd major speaker to visit the mcconnell center in our history. i think i've introduced 40 some of them over the years. we have had colin powell's first major policy address as secretary of state. we had secretary of state clinton. immediately after important negotiations on russian armaments. we had clarence thomas and vice president biden and neil gorsuch, and you name them. but i'm particularly excited today because i get to introduce for the very first time a woman that has come here just a few months ago and has shaken up the university of louisville and provided excitement. please welcome dr. capilouto, scott jennings, cia director haspel, and your senior senator mitch mcconnell. [ applause ] >> good morning everybody. >> good morning. >> thank you. you get an a plus from this professor. it's an honor truly to host such distinguished guests today. and it's deeply rewarding to know their careers began right here. students, they were on the university of louisville campus just as you are here today. many heard me say higher education transform

now i do think mitch mcconnell e been very critical and i know you have too of mitch mcconnell, but i think he is the one push pushing to say we're going to vote and we're going to vote soon. enough of the charade. lou: he had stood up admirably in defense of judge kavanaugh on the floor of the u.s. senate. he's making it very clear there will be a vote this week between the majority leader and the judiciary chairman chuck grassily. they're making it very clear. there will be no delay inspired by the left that is suddenly realizing that the american public is aware. they have nothing. this is a great juris and a person of judge kavanaugh and he deserves to be on the court adds appointed by president trump. >> if you sit back and look at it, they're not judging this person based on the merits. they're not arguing about a position. it's the politics of personal destruction. it's the scorched earth philosophy and then it radiates out and that's why you have these verbal attacks on the majority leader. you have other things happen. there's consequences to what the democrats are doing and

>> the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell initiated a four-day process. he's repeatedly said he wants to have the confirmation vote this week. so we had to initiate this process tonight before midnight and what he did here on capitol hill is filing an effort to limit debate. he filed that tonight buried by senate rule, that needs a day to lay over so tomorrow it lays dormant and that it ripens like a fruit on friday. that means it's available for a vote. that's the procedural vote to cut off debate. in these 51. in the old days, laster, 2017 when they were dealing with neil gorsuch mitch mcconnell lowered the bar to end filibusters. it used to be 60, it's now down to 51 so if you have invoked it on day three, friday, voted to cut off debate, then a 30 hour clock begins to run. that's all the time that the minority -- that opponents of the nomination can consume until it culminates in a confirmation vote probably on saturday, 30 hours thereafter. the senate rule says you vote on it one after you come in so it's possible they could have come in friday morni

but mitch mcconnell really made that happen.y and with the process and understanding the rules and agreeing to this investigation as part of the fbi, keeping wayward members happy. not enough has been said about the republican leader and how instrumental he was in not only of this nomination but the prior one. it helps to have a president of the united states that put forth the names he did. mitch mcconnell had to make it happen and this was as dicey as it came. through clear grit and savviness to make it happened. looks like it will come to pass and it was mitch mcconnell that cleared the roadway here to make sure it did. from the white house, blake burman on their reaction. >> at the 35 minute mark, i reached out to the white house official who has been very instrumental to get reaction on the speech. this person responded to me the following saying this speech is outstanding. a very big relief at the white house today. sarah sanders echoed on twitter, thank you senator collins for standing by your convictions and doing the ri

so mitch mcconnell stopped merritt garland. mitch mcconnell pushed through justice kavanaugh.ill now for republicans? >> when you're at the capitol talking to senators in both parties you hear about the kavanaugh nomination being the searing national crucible that's changing our culture in so many ways. the senators trace it back to the garland nomination. when senators like flake were telling me over the weekend this is rock bottom for this institution they are referring to the atmosphere that goes back to garland, that led to kavanaugh with both leader schumer and leader mcconnell in their own separate camps. this is an institution when you see it up close where both sides are very rarely speaking to each other, the tensions are palpable and it comes down future of the courts in a way they are both dug in. leader mcconnell is about power. the courts are his concentration day in, day out. wants to overhaul the federal judiciary. it comes with a cost. he can talk about the historical, the lineups of the senate when other parties are in powerer and all those details. haven't fa

at a certain point it will be up to mcconnell, senator mcconnell, the leader in the senate to say oura discriminating appraisal of the candidate so we can exercise the constitution's advice and consent function. we have enough information since we now have more information about this nominee than any in the history of the united states. six investigations now seven. demands by anti-kavanaugh democrats are unfair and run afoul of legal and practical realities of f.b.i. conducted background investigations. if countenances they would politicize the f.b.i. and destroy the judicial confirmation process. keep that in mind. hatch's tweet. dr. ford deserves a hearing, republicans, let's have a hearing, democrats, bully, this hearing is a sham. democrats, we need an f.b.i. investigation. republicans, okay, we'll have an f.b.i. investigation. democrats, this investigation is a farce. the goalpost moving never stops. last reaction on that. >> the goalpost moving never stops but the objective is always the same, delay. >> bill: that's what we're seeing. so do they vote this week? >> mcconnell say

mitch mcconnell saying, hey, this vote is happening this week. he could not have been more clear about it. i understand you spoke to another key senator in all of this, west virginia democrat, joe manchin. >> reporter: that's right. we heard schumer, the democrats are not intending to move the goalpost any further, this is about this fbi investigation. they stand by that. setting this conversation aside, one week is one week. schumer believes the fbi can do their job. >> just to be clear -- nobody is arguing this should go past friday, it sounds like, republicans nor democrats are saying they want to extend this. everybody seems fine with the friday deadline. >> reporter: as long as the fbi is not straight jacketed as a democrat described it. as long as the fbi is able to do the work they deem necessary, yes. everyone seems to be fine with the concept of the week. schumer pushed back aggressively on republican hypocrisy on democrats overpoliticizing placing someone on the court, pointing out the months, months and months that republicans refused

mcconnell: so, mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 9:30 a.m. friday, october 5. further, that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired. the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders for their use later in the day and morning business be closed. finally, following leader remarks, the senate proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the kavanaugh nomination. the presiding officer: is there objection? with

mitch mcconnell is at the center of it. when senator flake said what he said in the judiciary committee, the first thing that came to mind, none of this matters. it all depends on what mcconnell wants. mcconnell wants more than anything judge kavanaugh to be -- >> it does matter because they're hungry for a moment though. like what happened with chris coons, jeff flake and senator amy klobuchar. americans want to see compromise. they want to see senators on both sides coming together to look at the facts, and then you see what political leadership does to absolutely try to screw it up. >> americans want to live better lives more than they care about politics. i got to ask about julie and her allegations because they're massive. this woman alleges that kavanaugh was at a party where women were gang raped. i mean, that is a term, that's an allegation that you cannot walk away from. nbc news has not been able to independently corroborate any of these claims and when we asked her attorney michael avenatti for any witnesses, any

mcconnell was trying to justify his decision to block judge garland. he never mentioned it. here is mcconnell, by the way, back in 2016. >> the american people may well elect a president who decides to nominate judge garland for senate consideration. the next president may also nominate somebody very different. either way, our view is this. give the people a voice in filling this vacancy. >> unless you've got a republican senate and a republican president, in which case he will not deny the chance to put that by or woman into the supreme court. he openly admitted it. >> it's important to think ahead, though. this map is very bad for democrats this cycle. in 2020 it's just as bad for republicans. >> the next two years, if the republicans hold the senate, which they're likely to do. >> yes. >> that means they get another shot at ruth bader ginsburg or somebody else if they retire. >> my only point is in 2020 there is a lot of moderate republicans who might have problems with, that might, might. >> john? two faced, he speaks with a forked tongue. >> of course he is going to ram

so has mcconnell, so has graham.orward. rachel: it was a great column. griff: you mentioned susan collins so talk about men standing up to women. senator chris murphy, on another channel just took susan collins to task and judge kavanaugh listen to what he had to say. >> i have a great amount of respect for senator collins, but i just think she is going to be sorely disappointed when a year from now brett kavanaugh writes the decision overturning roe v. wade but it's going to be pretty embarrassing when brett kavanaugh is the deciding vote to criminalize abortion in this country. griff: candice? >> well i'm from connecticut so if you want to talk about embarrassing talk about his leadership as a whole. he's got way bigger fish to fry, than susan collins. connecticut is a sinking ship. our economy is could espionage laking because it's being led by weak men like him. let me tell you she dismantled every argument like that last night and left it on the floor, everything that kavanaugh was going to be some kind of nucle

the senate will vote on judge kavana >> can leader mitch mcconnell to make a friday vote happen, he would need to file cloture connel timeline is listen to chuck schumer. we are he because louisa murkow susan collins and >> who caused that? who caused this delay, i would not the democrats. we don't have the ability to do it. it was three members on his side who sincerely were seeking >> it is true that a republican line by week's end or at all for that matter. last week's agreement was simple the fbi investigation runs its can file the motions to proceed. the fbi is done interviewin they said their client has not anothe question, who does said the witness list should withou their consent. that seems to be the big questi how lo will it take, who will >> no question about it. will they be satisfied with the invest will go to the depths they what we are hearing from the key senato is the white house colleg earlie moments ago, we caught questi the fbi look commit here's how she responded. >> should they look into whethe colleg >> i think the fbi is doing what we tasked the fbi to do. that's a

these fellow republicans of mitch mcconnell make all the difference. >> and to be clear, mitch mcconnellidn't decide to ask the white house for the fbi to reopen its background investigation out of the goodness of its heart. >> he was forced. >> he did so because, to dana's point, the three senators we have been talking about said we won't vote for him. which means he would fail. mitch mcconnell doesn't think this is any better an idea today than he did a week ago when he said this is ridiculous. so we shouldn't be surprised by what he said. but in a way, dana is right, the democrats don't make a big difference. in a way, everybody not named collins, murkowski and flake, and that includes mitch mcconnell, don't make a huge difference here. because what they decide, particularly if they decide in unison, is all that matters. >> yeah. i would add, joe manchin, maybe to that equation, as well. everyone stand by. i want to ask about a new poll and whether it has an impact on whether voters want judge kavanaugh confirmed. >>> and president trump goes out of his way to praise the north korean

this is mitch mcconnell's thing.nts to populate trt c this is now the second trump nominee that he'll be able to say that put on the court. and it's interesting about don mcgahn. you have to remember, brett kavanaugh wasn't on's tru original list of nomination. there weree s machinations to get him on to that list, because he's a creature of washington d and trump wasn't maybe going to look that favorably on this. this is a great victorytc for mcconnell. he was certainly relieved after susan collins' speech. he gave her the shout-out, said this was an inspirational speech, one of best i've seen in the history of the senate, cause it saved him. because the conservative community, as you kw, is still a little suspicious of mitch mcconnell. >> let's talk about that suspicion, because the conservative community in the senate, on the outsi all watching kavanaugh, a little rattled by what happened with hisesmony. before senator collins defended judge kavanaugh's credentials on the senate floor today, the judge, as abby sai

that's because mitch mcconnell changed the calendar to keep the senatein. it harder for republicans to try to win re-election with the judges that elected donald trump in 2016. just a few minutes from now, we are expected to see rosendale in bozeman with vice president mike pence. >> dana: up there in god's country, have a good time. we are awaiting remarks from president trump. he's in philadelphia, as the white house touts the strong economy and its new trade agreement. >> dana: as the fbi digs into christine blasey ford's sexual assault allegations against judge brett kavanaugh, accusations of two other women still linger. although it remains uncertain whether investigators consider these claims credible or think they will pose any real challenge to his confirmation. joining me now is former policy director for the mitt romney campaign. good to have you here in studio, of course. take a listen to diane feinstein talking about this friday, three days from now, four days, being too soon to vote. watc watch. >> would a vote on friday on the floor be too soo

you are misconstruing what happened. >> mcconnell is right on the history. eisenhower gave a recess appointment in 1956. the formal nomination and consideration by the senate didn't happen until after the presidential election year. mcconnell is right on the details. there was a justice seated during a presidential election year. dwight eisenhower in a democratic senate. just to the audacity of that, he is saying yeah, i did this to a democratic president in 2016 and let's see what happened in 2020. if we control the senate and donald trump gets a vacancy, he didn't say i wouldn't do that. he said hold your fire. >> let me put an end to the murkiness. if there is an opening, he will confirm a supreme court nominee. first off, the biden rule or schumer rule or anything, that's all ridiculous. i'm sorry. i know they cite that, but it's not precedent. it's their grounds for what they decided to do in 2016. that's fine. this has always been about confirming the person they want. it's an election issue and an enormous victory for what mitch mcconnell made his car

do you think he has the votes, though, mitch mcconnell? >> i think he does. and, look, it's not just president trump that campaigned on scalia-like justices or more conservatives on the supreme court. a lot of senators campaigned on that issue and supporting president trump and throwing their support behind him for that reason, and many social conservatives put their support and their entire groups of followers behind president trump for this very reason. so the president and many others are relying on this to move forward. and, look, people are saying they're rushing this through. this was set for markup and vote last week. and based on the request from the democrats, we pushed that back. we had more time for testimony. we brought the fbi investigation, and as expected, the fbi's parameter was limited to credible and current testimony that had come up in the senate judiciary committee. i was confident they would get it done well before friday, and they did. and the senators will have plenty of time to read over this and have the vote and vote as many of them

we know she just had lunch with senator mcconnell. apparently mcconnell expressing confidence. does that mean you could probably put her in the yes column? >> she doesn't need to be. that's what makes it interesting. because if joe manchin stays, manchin is the only democrat to cross over to move on to the final vote. if manchin -- the real question, the man of the hour, the man of the day really is joe manchin. if manchin holds the line and stays as a yes vote, collins, having voted to advance the measure, she's free to go because mike pence can come in and cast the deciding vote. there is leeway there. they don't want to have the vice president cast the deciding vote on a matter like this. manchin holds a ton of cards here. he's got a lot of consideration he has to make. >> dana: what do you think about lisa murkowski? of the four, she was the one to vote no for advancing the vote. she voted against cloture. she said she does not think he's the right man for the job, but still said she's undecided about tomorrow's vote. what are your thoughts on that? >> that is as confusing

mitch mcconnell wants to rule from decades ago. but he is imposing order as you sees it on the majority of americans. i have a feeling that the outrage over that will last longer than the sugar high of having gotten their man. >> and as we know in the constitution, the senate is not basically elected based on majority rule by the country. certainly not popular rule. states like montana, north dakota, they can collect a very conservative senator forever and not have to deal with the national passions at all. >> and i think that speaking of the so-called kavanaugh bump that strategists i've been speaking with are excited about, where you are really going to see impact are in these red states where you have democratic candidates who were in tight races with republicans, specifically look at the example of tennessee and how former governor's numbers have suffered since the start of this confirmation process. so in the suburban districts that are -- the house races that are under tough contests, you might not necessarily see any movemen

mitch mcconnell joins us live in just a minute. chris: first, mike emmanuel kicks off our special coverage. what's the latest on the hill? >> reporter: the emphasis from republican leaders is this confirmation of judge brett kavanaugh will be good for the country. they maintain judge kavanaugh is highly qualified and has been treated by some unfairly. >> due process should apply as much to the senate, advice and consent responsibility as it should in a court of law. if we lose this basic concept of fairness, then we risk doing i reparable damage to the foundation of our democracy and core conceptions of american justice and even liberty. >> reporter: three of the key swing senators we were watching announced in the past 24 hours, they were yes on judge kavanaugh. the only democrat expected to vote yes, joe manchin. the fourth moderate explained why she is a no. >> in my conscience, that's how i have to vote, the end of the day, with my conscience, i could not conclude that he is the . some democrats are complaining about the confir

senator mcconnell, when did you know you had the votes? >> when the roll was called. >> laura: really? >> yeah, they were all very guarded about making an announcement. so this is one of those rare situations when you go into a vote not really knowing for sure. you had them. >> laura: you usually call cloture, unless you know you have the votes. >> we had to move on this, this was not going to get better. if we didn't vote. i decided a week ago we were going to vote on friday. because we watched what was happening. they were trying to destroy this good man with all of these rumors and all of the rest of the stuff. we need to have the vote in order to bring to it a conclusion. >> laura: why didn't senator murkowski go along? you have flake and collins with the long speech today, and she impressed a lot of people with her passion and dedication and advise and consent. what happened to murkowski? >> i'd rather celebrate the victory. and i think there's plenty of credit to go around. president trump for making great choices. chairman grassley

of course this republican leader mitch mcconnell knows how do this. he has corralled his entire caucus except for murkowski who has her own state politics to deal with and he has himself a victory here. >> and as i'm watching this, a couple things jumped out at me. one of which is mike pence calling for the restoring of order. you look at that tableau. this is a country that was founded to be blunt on the idea that being a free white land male gave you super citizenship, that you were more acitizen than anyone else. mitch mcconnell believes in rule. democrats tend to believe in governing. republicans believe in rule. this is mitch mcconnell's rule. he is restoring order as he and people like him understand it. and they will impose it on the people like those people who are protesting. women who are streaking out in agony saying you cannot impose this on us, you can't accepted us back to the 50s. but mitch mcconnell says yes i can, i can impose order on -- >> shh. you know what the parallel will be. the recount in 2000. republicans like the rule, the t

your thoughts first about mitch mcconnell. >> mitch mcconnell was a stalwart throughout all this. he kept it going forward. he never lost faith. when everybody else was having some serious doubts about it, he had no doubts. he kept saying i have the votes. he kept assuring the white house he had the votes, and he kept his members in line, and i think it was an extraordinary effort and going to be one of his great legacies, these two last court pi -- court appointments. lou: mitch mcconnell has not been always a supporter, a friend of president trump. he has pretended to be i think it's perhaps some would say unfair of me to suggest a friend, but not stepping out for trump economics, for his foreign policy, for the man himself. this is a difference maker, it seems to me, because this president chose in judge kavanaugh, justice kavanaugh now, a man who was supported by the establishment republican party as well as all of the trump supporters, the conservatives in the country. he chose strategically very well, even as he chose a man who is absolutely perfect for the job. >> that cour

it's part of mitch mcconnell's plan with don mcgahn to completely reshape the judiciary, something they have done in speights over the last year and a half or so. i was struck not just by the protesters, which again we see quite often, but by the final two speech that is we heard before the vote, by senator schumer and senator mcconnell schumer going down a litany of the reasons why he didn't believe that calf maw, and a point-by-point request, for people if you don't like this aspect or that aspect of what happened, he said, vote. basically calling on people to vote if they had a problem with this. and mitch mcconnell, while he once again as he's done weeks on end went through why they you see believe judge calf gnaws was probably one of the best ever nominated, he made the point of voting yes or getting through this process could lead on a brighter day later. he 'talked about what happened over the last three weeks, as one of the darkest periods of the senate. he's referred to the mccarthy era and tried to make parallels to that. you see how diametrically opposed they are on the conve

mcconnell: that's a good question. we've encouraged our women senators to go on the committee, and i intended to do that again at the beginning of the next session. their particular priorities have not -- there's been no effort to avoid it. i've tried to encourage them to do it. obviously without success and we'd love to have one of women senators on judiciary, hopefully that will be the case next year. thanks a lot. >> that was the majority leader from earlier today after all of the republicans except for two voted for judge brett kavanaugh the two that didn't vote for him, one was senator lisa murkowski of alaska who who opposed the nomination voted president, and then steve danes who was in montana for his daughters wedding. this is what senator steve daines tweeted out earlier today. does this count? >> mr. deigns, aye, mr. deigns, aye, mr. donnelly. >> so senator danes there in montana at his daughters wedding. standing before the tv, and watching the vote take place. he voted yes. he wasn't there, senator lisa mu

does mcconnell have a point on democrats moving the goalposts? >> certainly, they have, you know, gone to successive sort of points to say, you know, we don't have enough, we don't have enough information. but i think the key point is what chris said, which is that, you know, the audience here, it's not for democrats. most democrats have already said, almost all of them have already said that they oppose brett kavanaugh with the exception of a few red-state democrats who were still watching to see what they'll do. the important audience here is jeff flake, lisa murkowski, and susan collins and what they're deg to think is relevant here. and it is true in terms of moving the goalposts, they made it very clear that they wanted to see this fbi investigation into credible allegations raised by dr. ford, and we know that they were also going to look into the allegations raised by debbie ramirez. the point at asha made is right, that the stories thereat have come out in the interim do speak to a pattern of behavior, potentially, but because the fbi is

mcconnell lost one, too. and speaking of joe manchin, people were asking if he needs to pick one political party and if he's okay be with the fact after he gave trump his vote on kavanaugh he was then trolled and bullied by connie injury on twitter. i bet he had another press release to go if collins want the other day. don junior says to vote for manchin's opponent. tonight there is much discussion on the left that mirrors the headline we saw in the "washington post." did michael avenatti help doom the case against brett cavanaugh. about the only humor to break the tension came when our friends at the oven be mitch mcconnell inflates throw the pouch in show of dominance. there was in this week from the l. a. times, it feels like only a few years ago that the new york sometimes accused the president of tax fraud. that's it for tonight. good night from nbc headquarters here in new york. >>> tonight on "all in." >> don't put a liar on the court. >> republicans have the votes to confirm brett kavanaugh. >> we're

senate majority leader, mitch mcconnell.irst, let's bring in fox news contributor with the latest. >> the nomination of brett kavanaugh to the associate justice of the supreme court of the united states is confirmed. >> with the wrap of the gavel, history. justice brett kavanaugh's road to the supreme court was more than the culmination of years of hard work and months of political mass summations. it spawned resistance movements on both ends of the political spectrum. resist trump and resist mob rule. from the halls of congress to the steps of the capital. >> in the shadow of the high court itself. >>reporter: protests reverberated across washington. in the end, it was success for the man who will replace his mentor on the court and for president, sweet victory. after a long, bitter battle. >> i want to thank our incredible republican senators for refusing to back down in the face of the democrats shameless campaign of political and personal disruption. >>reporter: a divided america. and the promise of more battles to come.

is mcconnell going to take the investigation that's, you know, 11:00 a.m.d have a vote at 3:00 p.m. on friday. i think that makes a big difference. i think people are ambivalent. but if it could help democrats if republicans seem to be jamming something through without genuine -- >> mitch mcconnell today on the floor had that -- we're voting friday without knowing what this -- >> we've seen this before, i mean, it's just weird. if you were running an investigation. we're deciding at friday no matter what we learn. if we learn certain things or if we want to go for a couple more days. this is a funny stance to take. it's a little hard to defend lonnelicall logically. unless you assume it's a smear. we have to go through the form of looking into it. we know the truth. i think a lot of people in the middle -- >> some people are focusing -- you know, you wrote today the counterargument from the perspective of white men, whether they're being motivated. a lot of people focusing on our friend and colleague. cecilia vega from abc and the way the president responde

>> i think it's clear mitch mcconnell always wan this had vote to happen.id time and time again through hell or high water the senate is going to vote on brett kavanaugh. they can vote it up or down but there is going to be a vote. i'm so surprised that even after folks pushed forever an fbi investigation, that the fbi investigation didn't even bother to interview dr. ford. so i understand why not only dr. ford's attorney but many senate democrats and folks outside of the senate are saying this cannot be a credible investigation. >> why have an investigation and not interview the principals. >> look, you've had people on the show segments before us who gave all sorts of texture what they could be doing and what could have happened. we don't know what the investigation says. we have no idea what the report says. i don't want to say there's no way it's credible. >> i was surprised they put out a statement. unless they have some idea meaning christine blasey ford's attorneys unless they have ideas what it said. >> the senate just got it tonight. >> why? becaus

bill: mitch mcconnell with laura ingraham last night. grassley, sir, thank you for your time and good afternoon to you. i don't know what you're feeling right now but go ahead and let's start there. >> well, i feel it's a great day for us going through a fair and thorough process that i said i was going to hold throughout the committee process, a lot of times i didn't know whether we'd ever get to this point but i'm very glad we do. i think the most important thing is to think about what it says about the background of judge kavanaugh, a person who has been very well educated, very well devote today public service, but more importantly, 12 years on the second most important court in our land and having 307 opinions, if anybody reads them, you'd know that he's going to serve as a justice as anybody that's -- a judge should do. he will look at the law and the facts of the case, he will lose his own personal views out of it and he's going to not do what some judges do be super legislator trying to fill in holes or modernize the constitution

hats off to mitch mcconnell.could have walked away from kavanaugh and taken the easy way out but he didn't. he has a backbone. hats off to senator lindsey graham, he jumped in impassioned defense of the judge and called the democrats behavior what it is, shameful. tell it how it is, mr. senator. the second hour of "varney & company" is about to begin. ♪ okay, now this is a big deal. the latest read on mortgage rates, the number. ashley: actually down a hair from last week. still 4.71%. it was 4.72% last thursday. listen, there is a huge up side risk to mortgage rates because the economy is so robust and we know, given what we've seen on the 10-year yield, rates are edging higher. we expect mortgage rates moving higher. full effect is not felt yet. stuart: we were at 3.19% on 10-year treasury. that is the base mark for mortgage rates. ashley: correct. stuart: it has gone up very sharply last couple days. ashley: seven-year high. stuart: seven-year high. this is my opinion, only a matter of time before we get to 5%

we saw mitch mcconnell on bloomberg earlier.hat seems to have changed. >> what you are seeing is this administration reluctant to call out the saudi's with the full force of their perspective on what happened with jamal khashoggi. what we have been hearing and said administration is they believe the denials are untenable and they will be taken out of action either in congress the state department and the white house at some point against the saudi's. mike pompeo is in the region. they described his conversations with officials as very tough and straightforward. he has been plainspoken but what we can consider just consistently see over the course of the more than a week since jamal khashoggi disappeared is a forceful condemnation of saudi arabia based on the facts. you heard mitch mcconnell save as well. we have to make sure the facts come out. there are people outside the ministration but also mounting voices the administration who pasthe time has gone well for a much stronger statement against saudi arabia. all day long, you h

mvp mcconnell said i was never a being fan of landslides anyway, i thought it was boring, but then he moved to the importance for the republicans and the president in what a victory, how it skills the court's ideological vent. he called it an important day for america and for the senate, but i asked him point-blank giersch how divisive this was, how do people recover from this? he said plainly the senate and the country will get through this. i think there might be democrats who have a bone to wick with that. democrats who i'm speaking to were reading letters from sexual assault survivors, continuing to voice their objections not just with bred kavanaugh, but also with the process, with what was done in the wake of the allegations. they are angry, willing to fight back and what chuck schumer said on the floor just before the vote was, "vote." he said repeatedly if you've had problems, the answer is to vote to go to the ballot box. we'll see if that happens. we're keenly aware there's a midterm coming, and this is firing up both bases at this point with the long-term ramifications. >>