we say brett kavanaugh yet so that is going to be watched very closely now the thing is mcconnell mitch mcconnell who is the majority leader of the senate could just move this to a vote because it's out of committee right now there is absolutely no obligation to them to actually go through with this f.b.i. investigation some sources saying they could even move to a vote as early this afternoon although that would be rather ambitious and this is again rather unprecedented for a supreme court nomination process this this ping-pong around of whether or not there should be an f.b.i. investigation a lot of unprecedented things happening there and i just want to turn to one of them because we know jeff flake now pushing for this investigation it came after he first announced to though that he would support kavanaugh then we have to mention today he was confronted by sexual assault victims in the halls of congress here's what's happened and i want to get your reaction there after my. mark you take responsibility for it and then you prepare your fellow someone for it i'm willing to take responsibility fo

trump said if this really happened thirty six years ago that she would have reported it mcconnell mitch mcconnell the top republican in the senate said that cavanaugh will be the next supreme court justice so people are lining up behind him on the republican side nevertheless this is been set up as a kind of he said she said hearing it a little like the anita hill hearings when clarence thomas was up for the u.s. supreme court and she had accused him of sexual harassment but in that case there was an f.b.i. investigation looking into the facts there were other witnesses none of that will happen here this witness will speak cavanaugh will speak and then if the committee has its way it will move on to a vote but there has been a little bit of embarrassment on the republican side and that is that a spokesman for.

trump said if this really happened thirty six years ago that she would have reported it mcconnell mitch mcconnell the top republican in the senate said that cavanaugh will be the next supreme court justice so people are lining up behind him on the republican side nevertheless this is been set up as a kind of he said she said hearing it a little like the anita hill hearings when clarence thomas was up for the u.s. supreme court and she had accused him of sexual harassment but in that case there was an f.b.i. investigation looking into the facts there were other witnesses none of that will happen here this witness will speak cavanaugh will speak and then if the committee has its way it will move on to a vote but there has been a little bit of embarrassment on the republican side and that is that a spokesman for the republicans on that committee has resigned that is after it was discovered that he had been fired from a previous job for sexual harassment himself he's denied those allegations but he is that he is stepping down in order not to be a distraction in that case and then of course we've got

mcconnell and house speaker paul ryan privately told aides, president trump needs to sound the alarm about a potential huge "blue wave" hitting capitol hill.c-n-n's joe johns reports. the message from senate majority leader mitch mcconnell today.sen. mitch mcconnell:"keep the faith. don't get rattled by all of this."his bottom line ... forget the supreme court controversy and vote republican.sen. mitch mcconnell:"we can hold onto the senate majority for two more years. we're going to transform the federal judiciary."the president, who's predicted a red wave in november, modifying his message on the stump thursday night in las vegas,where he was joined by endangered g-o-p senator dean heller.president trump:"promise me! you gotta get out for the mid .... don't be complacent. you gotta get out for the midterms."though democrats hold a narrow path to the senate majority, the president is not holding back, calling out heller's opponent, jackie rosen, by name, sort of. president trump:"a vote for wacky jackie is a vote for the extreme agenda of those people."next, president trump heads to missouri as part of his ramped up campaign schedule ahead of the election. president trump:"it's like this. it's like this. if somebody has a cold, we don't have a m

mcconnell. mitch mcconnell knows he has the vote. he was brett kavanaugh's sherpa.ing guide the nomination so we know where he'll come out. this comes down to susan kosan s and lisa murkowski who have said i respect judge kavanaugh, i've had good meetings with judge kavanaugh, on the issue of roe v. wade he says stare decisis. if the democrats can not swing those senators, brett kavanaugh will be the next supreme court justice. >> there's also a couple democrats who are also in a very difficult situation to vote against. >> i think there are three or four red state democrats up for reelection this year. they're going to wait. those democrats will hold back hoping that either collins or murkowski cracks but if they don't i believe you'll see -- >> it used to be only one. >> if they stay sand say they'll vote yes i suspect you'll see two or three of those democrats say i'll vote yes, too. >> we see senators there beginning to arrive within minutes the questioning of judge kavanaugh will begin and general saki uc -- jen psaki used to work for president obama. elections

but, in the end, mitch mcconnell and it really isn't mitch mcconnell and schumer. it's mitch mcconnell as the majority leader who sets the schedule on the senate floor. >> harris: senator graham mentioned them both. >> no, no. i'm just saying mitch mcconnell is going to make this decision and he is going to look at the votes. flake sounds like, he didn't say it, but it sounds like he would not vote for the nomination unless there were an fbi investigation. now, you go to the two other republicans out there that you have mentioned murkowski and collins. if they say yeah, we would vote for it anyway. we don't need that then we will go ahead and vote on tuesday, on the other hangsd if f. they join with flake we agree there should be a week's pause. fbi investigation and no vote until, then suddenly, mitch mcconnell does not have the votes to pass this nomination and is he going to have to agree to this and democrats, you know, are going to just count their lucky stars and say who knows, given the events of the last two weeks, who knows what could come up about brett ka

mcconnell. mitch mcconnell wants to blame harry reid.oken. >> yeah, and senators actually admit that it's broken too. they're concerned about the polarization of the court, and some do say that they regret getting rid of the 60-vote threshold. >> does anybody here believe we'd be in this kind of situation with a 60-vote threshold? george? >> no. >> no. >> so it would be probably fifth on the story list of the day. >> i think the challenge right now is that the parties are so much more polarized. when i first came to this town, i can remember people still working together, and they actually wanted to. it was actually seen as a sign. we only need to look at the funeral of john mccain where folks from both sides of the parties, they really loved him. they really cared for him. and we have lost that sort of connective tissue. the most important thing should be institutions and representing the people of this country. >> george, you had a 26-year veteran senator in dianne feinstein, a 38-year veteran senator in chuck grassrley and they're not

mitch mcconnell. and mitch mcconnell, this is his mission as majority leader. the courts generally and the supreme court in particular. this is the most important thing he will do in his entire career, which is shift the supreme court to a 5-4 heavy-duty conservative majority. this is what he has dedicated his life to. he is going to put pressure on susan collins, on lisa murkowski to the extent he can. and it's not -- his power is not complete. but he is going to do absolutely everything he can, not least because the election is coming up and the republicans may lose the majority, in which case they'll get no one. the stakes for mitch mcconnell could not be higher. >> jeff toobin, maggie haberman, ken cuccinelli. thanks very much. up next one of the lawyers for debra ramirez joins us to react in part to the president's characterization of his client. later bill cosby's journey from america's dad to convicted sex offender and what his sentencing today says about fame, justice and the pain that so many women say he inflicted on them. they work togetherf doing imp

it is not up to mitch mcconnell whether or not up to mitch mcconnell whether or not the fbi carry oution. yes, that is also true. it is up to thejustice department, but of course that is overseen by the man who who has threatened to fire the head of the justice department, that is donald trump. we will have to see his twitter feed and see how he reacts. he won't not be happy. even if mitch mcconnell says we accept the fbi and we have to delay this, donald trump could upset everything. farfrom clarifying matters tonight, sorry, folks, we've really introduce more pieces in what is wearing to be a moving puzzle for several days. briefly. what do you think now are the chances that brett kavanaugh ever taking up his seat on the supreme court? absolutely up in the air because you are talking about a senate which is almost evenly split with a handful of senators, probably three republicans and two democrats are the key to his future. beyond that, we have got a country as you have been discussing, is not only split, but people are gambling on display. donald trump are gambling that they can p

mitch mcconnell feared. this is what mitch mcconnell was telling the white house. trouble up here in his first runs at confirmation hearings for the judgeship he has now, and mitch mcconnell saw this coming. >> and it makes me wonder why the white house went ahead with kavanaugh in the first place. i touched on this in my "daily beast" column today. there are plenty of people out there who are just about every bit as conservative as brett kavanaugh who didn't have this kind of paper trail, who didn't spend all those years working in the bush white house, who didn't have these problematic confirmation hearings before in 2004 and 2006. i'm a little mystified by why the white house chose him, but the only theory i have is they did it because they could, just like the republicans did what they did to merrick garland in 2016, because they could. it looks like they'll probably get away with this one, too, although we'll see over the next few days how much pressure can be built in maine and in alaska on susan collins and lisa murkowski, because they are the key and they'r

mitch mcconnell has 51 republicans. if you subtract them, there's only 49 senators left. this is a major blow for senator mitch mcconnell who were trying force this through. we were expecting to have a full vote as soon as noon tomorrow. again, we don't have an update from senator mitch mcconnell. lindsey graham went to talk to him. senator lisa murkowski says she supports jeff flake in his call for a one week delay and one week fbi investigation which means they have the leverage to delay this vote. >> this is important news now because one thing that kasie said is the president needs to open up the fbi investigation but mitch mcconnell and chuck schumer have to delay on the vote. he's asking for something over which he doesn't have control over which chuck grassley doesn't have control. let's go back to ken on this. chris coons said he talked to jeff flake about an investigation by the fbi limited in scope. assuming the president will open this up and we don't want to make that assumption, who determines the scope. >> it's clear that the president doesn't get his supreme court justice now unless he agrees to re-open t

it started thanks to mitch mcconnell's and i assume, mitch mcconnell never does anything haphazardly.this quote out there. we know this will be a challenging election. arizona, nevada, tennessee, north dakota, tennessee and florida off the top of his head. all of them too close to calm, every one is a knife fight in an alley, it's a brawl if every one of those places. let me ask you this, if it's knife fights and it's september, isn't this a part of the wave? >> it is a part of the wave and a number of us have been talking about this for close to eight or nine months now the senate could potentially be in play for a lot of reasons. you know, when everybody was counting out west virginia and places leak that oh, democrats are going to lose those seats, no, they're not. and i think what's caught up now is that reality, the internal numbers are showing these races that should not be close are close. and the races that we should pick up we're not. i think that's what mcconnell is basically, i love mitch, what he does is, he's like, let me all let you know what i know so you can all go pre

mcconnell are you -- >> dana: mitch mcconnell finishing up media availability after weekly policy lunch he has had with his team. let's bring in mary anne marsh advisor to john kerry and coshocton holt. as mitch mcconnelling there he said he is not concerned about tanking the nomination. that was the question that was asked by a reporter. the question being is the nomination in trouble and especially when they have a 51-49 split in the senate. he also said she is being asked -- she has asked for an opportunity to be heard. she something granted that opportunity on monday. and it could be an open or closed setting. if she does not come, josh, what do you think mcconnell will do? >> well, look. i mean, her attorney yesterday, just as a matter of fact pattern here went out on virtually every morning show to discuss her client's allegation. and, in doing so, indicated that her client would also like to speak and would like to be heard before the senate judiciary committee and so now they have provided that option either in public or in private, whatever her preference might be. you would think that having represented that she wanted to make her voice known that she would take advantage of that i think eith

mcconnell. >> mitch mcconnell wouldn't even talk to them.o politico, mcconnell effectively expanded a little known rule that prohibits the confirmation of lifetime judicial appointments during an election by two years. it blocked dozens of obama's lower court picks, leaving hundreds of vacancies throughout federal court system. and supreme court nominee merritt garland was denied a hearing, a move that mcconnell called a career-high light in 2016. >> one of my proudest moments when i looked at barack obama in the eye and i said mr. president, you will not fill the supreme court vacancy. >> so proud of himself. >> that's something that anybody that's been in washington more than 15 minutes knows, that will come back, of course, to haunt republicans. steve, one of the things since first going to that town in 1994 that has shocked me, and so few things shock me any more is just how stupid people in that town are. they believe that the last election that put them in power will be the final election ever held. there's always another avengers movi

one bill mitch mcconnell managed to particular off conservatives all over this country by spending and leaving out founding for one of our biggest priorities. in one fell swoop mitch mcconnellfor coming in. pete: mitch and the boys. ed: wait for this one, hillary clinton now calling for an fbi investigation for brett kavanaugh's accuser? seriously? fbi investigation, hillary? >> it would be very easy for the fbi to go back and finish the background investigation. i think that's what is a fair request for due process. ed: alan dershowitz is here to react live next. pete: i'm not going to say anything. ♪ take us downtown, waze. waze integration- seamlessly connecting the world inside... with the world outside... making life a little... easier. introducing the well-connected lincoln mkc. you always get the lowest price on our rooms, guaranteed?m let's get someone to say it with a really low voice. carl? lowest price guaranteed. what about the world's lowest limbo stick? how low can you go? nice one, carl. hey i've got an idea. just say, badda book. badda boom. badda book. badda boom. nice. always the lowest price, guaranteed. book now at choicehotels.com ed: people are wonderi

> you know all of the players what do you think chuck schumacher and mitch mcconnell are thinking right now. >> well, mitch mcconnellnot happy as you might think. he wanted to get this through. he had a procedural vote on friday night on this that once the report is done bingo they can just approve it on the senate floor. all goes well with kavanaugh. he just wants to get this done. so he wasn't happy but he understood, he counts votes better than anybody. he just didn't have the votes and i think chuck schumacher chuck schumer feels the democrats are going to get their investigation which they wanted. >> thanks gloria. >> sure. get some rest we need you. >> you too. >> thanks. next up how the battle is dividing and already polarized elector ale ate leader rod rosenstein, remember him, he's still not in the clear and trump can to decide his fate next week. your society was dearled by a woman, who governed thousands... commanded armies... yielded to no one. when i found you in my dna, i learned where my strength comes from. my name is courtney mckinney, and this is my ancestrydna story. now with 2 times more geograph

chattanooga all right chris what was your reaction to mitch mcconnell's tom and so about of concern of the g.o.p. drole well i think mitch mcconnell is doing his job is job is to be the chief fundraiser to make sure that republicans have enough money to be able to defend their seats but if you look at these seats one by one as you mentioned i worked for senator cruz in the sixteen campaign working for his in his eighteen real act there are four seats on the democrat side there are more likely to go republican until you get to the first republican seat likely to get go democrat and those are in north dakota heidi heitkamp is likely to lose to kevin kramer in montana jon tester is likely to you lose to matt rosendale in indiana joe donnelly is likely to you lose to micron and in missouri you have claire mccaskill likely you'd lose to josh ali and so you get through those four before you get to the first republican competitive seat which is in nevada so i got to say i really like where we republicans sit right now far more than i would like it if i were democrats and to be clear that's not usually the case it just so happened because

senate majoritier mitch mcconnell needs every republican vote to confirm kavanaugh to the court. >> mitch mcconnell is an incredibly powerful guy but he's only as powerful as the votes. the fact is that he did not control the votes here. if he does not have 50 senators ready to support brett kavanaugh on the floor on a vote, he doesn't have any power at all. >> reporter: shortly after the senate judiciary committee formally requested that president trump order the fbi to conduct a limited investigation into the allegations defense kavanaugh, to be completed within one week. a request president trump granted. >> i just want it to work out well for the country. if that happens, i'm happy. >> reporter: they want this vote to happen immediately. but they were back the into a corner on this one. they had to order the fbi to investigate. as for a possible replacement pick, president trump says it's not happening, he is not even thinking about one. after the day's dust settled, senator flake commented on his surprising move. >> try to bring people together a little, do something that republicans and some

chattanooga all right chris what was your reaction to mitch mcconnell's tom and so about of concern of the g.o.p. drole well i think mitch mcconnell is doing his job is job is to be the chief fundraiser to make sure that republicans have enough money to be able to defend their seats but if you look at these seats one by one as you mentioned i worked for senator cruz in the sixteen campaign working for his in his eighteen real act there are four seats on the democrat side there are more likely to go republican until you get to the first republican seat likely to get go democrat and those are in north dakota heidi heitkamp is likely to lose to kevin kramer in montana jon tester is likely to you lose to matt rosendale in indiana joe donnelly is likely to you lose to micron and in missouri you have claire mccaskill likely you'd lose to josh ali and so you get through those four before you get to the first republican competitive seat which is in nevada so i got to say i really like where we republicans said right now far more than i would like it if i were democrats and to be clear that's not usually the case it just so happened becaus

mitch mcconnell less than an hour ago. this is a nominee who will be put up on a vote on the full floor of the senate. the president backs him, mitch mcconnell him. i have no doubt mitch mcconnell will follow through with the pledge to have up-or-down vote on the floor of the u.s. senate. melissa: breaking news is killing us, kayleigh. you get another one next time. >> no worry, guys. david: we have an interview from fox news. melissa: right. david: martha maccallum had an interview with bred kavanaugh. we have clips from that. we don't have the whole interview. that will be on fox news at 7:00 tonight. we'll present little clips from that coming up this hour. >>> could president trump and kim jong-un be headed back to the negotiating table? details from the u.n. coming next. ♪ when you rent from national... it's kind of like playing your own version of best ball. because here, you can choose any car in the aisle, even if it's a better car class than the one you reserved. so no matter what, you're guaranteed to have a perfect drive. [laughter] (vo) go national. go like a pro. see what i did there? ♪ as moms, we send our kids out into the wor

mitch mcconnell do? >> we know what mitch mcconnell did but it is because he had the power. me the first answer is we need a check and balance on this white house and we need to win elections. >> some folks are suggesting you guys should just walk out of the hearing. you've heard that. >> you have kamala harris, dig bloom enthat will, diane, you name it, chris koonts. i think it is powerful for us to go in and ask the questions. we need that opportunity to ask the questions. if we walked out it would be one side asking the questions. so i don't think that's the way you examine a nominee and get the facts out. >> you would probably have the ability to get all of these papers public if there was a threat they needed 60 votes, right? if democrats get control of the senate back, should the principle be that the filibuster should come back for supreme court nominees? >> well, first of all, we would have not supported changing this. >> i understand that. but if you get the power -- >> when the democrats were in power we said -- >> would you support bringing the filibuster back if

you could say, well, mitch mcconnell was unethical in the way he played the game. mitch mcconnell doesn't want to go to your house for dinner. he played the game artfully and he's winning. could mitch mcconnell say that with a straight face and you know he's straight up lying? sure. but is it doesn't matter. at the end of the day, democrats can huff and puff and say it's unethical. and if you look at a guy like cavanaukavanaug kavanaugh, it's the koch brothers' dream. they've been pouring money these races for years. if you look at the amount of judges that have been put in place since president trump is in office, 90% are white. so they'll be waiting for a long, long time. >> stephanie ruhle will stay with us. we'll take our first break. when we come back, we'll talk about all things legal and what we're going to be witnessing as soon as those both sides sit down. the cameras are laid down and we'll get under way here in the u.s. senate. u.s. senate. i don't keep track of regrets. and i don't add up the years. but what i do count on is boost®. delicious boost® high protein nuriti

mitch mcconnell do? >> well, we snow what mitch mcconnell did, but that was because he had the power. so to me, the first answer is that we need a check and balance on this white house. >> some folks are suggesting that you guys should walk out of the hearing. >> okay. >> you have heard that. >> that's interesting. you have cory booker and kamala harris and dick blumenthal, and diane, you name it, chris countries. we need the opportunity to ask the questions. if we walk out it's one side asking the questions. that's not the way you examine the nominee and gets the facts out. >> you'd have the ability to get all of the papers public if there was a threat they needed 60 votes. if democrats get control of the senate back, should the principle be that the filibuster should come back for supreme court nominees? >> well, first of all, we would have not supported changing that. >> i understand that. but if you get the power, would you support bringing -- would you support bringing the filibuster back if you get power in november? >> i think we should have had the filibuster in place and by th

mitch mcconnell put through. you could love or hate mitch mcconnell, but he's a strategic beast and when he wants to get something done, he gets it done. clearly, they're in a bit of a pickle here. >> it's a big deal. it would very much upset the base. it depends on who they replace him with. >> mitch mcconnell didn't pick kavanaugh. >> why didn't he? >> because he was not the president of the united states and the president picks him. >> but hold on. but president trump didn't think of neil gorsuch, mitch mcconnell put him forward. >> i know he was nominated. there are those who would fit the base and excite people like me who are not big fans of donald trump. i actually sync up with democrat democrat most on judicial appointments. that's why it's painful. i am starting to believe, more and more, the more i think about it. i think the important thing is there's a political risk for republicans. if we try and fast track this and move through this as fast as possible and put kavanaugh in the court, not only are we going to have a decent size of the population, questioning the legitimacy of the rulings of the supre

mitch mcconnell doesn't give two hoots he has a cloud hanging over him. for him that's a win. they just want the seats. >> mitch mcconnell is about exercising the raw brute force of the majority. i gave mitch mcconnell the benefit of the doubt a few months back when he said i believe the women. he's not believing this woman. everything that's come out of every republican's mouth other than say senator susan collins and the guys resigning flake and corker, has been to dismiss christine ford and to elevate brett kavanaugh. every single word. this idea that by asking for a couple more days, she's asking for a huge privilege after, as they would have it, they've given her so much already. how dare she ask for this. >> we have to remind our audience when you mention susan collins, it was susan kol lcoll and lisa murkokski to step down and he didn't get due process. what happens if ford decides she doesn't want to appear. this vote will go on any way. >> they could decide to do that. the important principle to uphold here is the public trust. we're talking about the public trust in people who hold some of the most powerful pos

mitch mcconnell. i think to all of that, mitch mcconnell would just say, yes, john avlon, yes. >> he played the game.to headline a major festival but then he was disinvited. the celebrity backlash to let him being pulled from a new yorker event. we'll talk about that next. my mom washes the dishes... ...before she puts them in the dishwasher. so what does the dishwasher do? new cascade platinum does the work for you, prewashing and removing stuck-on foods, the first time. wow, that's clean! new cascade platinum. when we switched our auto and home insurance. with liberty, we could afford a real babysitter instead of your brother. hey! oh, that's my robe. is it? when you switch to liberty mutual, you could save $782 on auto and home insurance. and still get great coverage for you and your family. call for a free quote today. you could save $782. liberty mutual insurance. liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ >>> something unusual happened yesterday. i suppose i could start every segment saying that. but this one is specific. president trump abruptly canceled what was supposed to be a golf outing after

mitch mcconnell who have been in this game for 30 and 40 years. so this whole mess, if the president had listened to mitch mcconnell, could have been avoided. i'm not saying -- i'm not intimating mitch mcconnell knew about this. i'm saying he didn't want brett kavanaugh for a number of reasons. he had a long record that could be picked apart quite easily. just because if brett kavanaugh gets through, it is not going to save donald trump. i mean donald trump is the person who selected brett kavanaugh against the wishes of others. >> yeah. jill, let's talk about the similarities between today and 1991. what was going on with anita hill and clarence thomas. three of the same republican lawmakers -- i'm sorry, lawmakers that were on the committee back then are on the judicial committee again. senator patrick leahy, who did not vote for -- vote to confirm clarence thomas, but then oren hatch and chuck grassley, who did. i want to play for you -- just go back in time for a moment and listen to the way oren hatch was talking about anita hill while she was alleging inappropriate conduct by clarence thomas and what he is now saying about brett kavana

mitch mcconnell. and senator mcconnell has essentially said, you know, we're moving forward on this, damn the torpedos to see political repercussions play out in this, but if you're not looking -- if you're watching, if you're not watching mitch mcconnell carefully, you'll miss the fact that he is, you know, he's unresponsive to external pressures right now. he's going to get this nomination through. i predict, you know, at whatever political cost comes down the line for it because he is a very determined figure. and people underestimate him at their peril. >> when it comes to the republics. we heard from chuck grassley, also senator lindsey graham, who just released a statement saying if mrs. ford wishes to provide information to the committee, i would gladly listen to what she has to say and compare that against all other information we have received about judge kavanaugh. so what is the likelihood of her testifying and how may that impact the nomination process? katie? >> well, this is real shades of anita hill and clarence thomas now. i think the testimony would be electrifying. i think it would g

. >> mitch mcconnell says we -- we only have 30 seconds. mitch mcconnellhis is a smear campaign by the democrats because you couldn't stop brett kavanaugh. >> i disagree, and i disagree fervently. i think what we have here is an opportunity for the judiciary committee to show that we can give a respectful hearing to the allegations of victims of sexual abuse. >> what do you make of the fact that brett kavanaugh and his wife are giving an interview to fox news? >> well, they're welcome to give interviews to any outlet they wish. what matters is what they're going to say in front of the judiciary committee. i wish he would also submit to a lie detector test, which dr. ford did. or submit to further fbi background questioning. you know, if judge kavanaugh wants to set this record straight, there are easy ways for him to come forward. an interview on fox news doesn't quite rise to that standard. >> a lie detector test. senator? lie detector tests aren't even admissible in court. you know that. >> yet they are widely used by the federal government in order to c

senate majority leader mitch mcconnell told republicans accusations won't derail the nomination. sen. mitch mcconnell / -r- majority leader: "you've watched the fight; you've watched the tactics, but here's what i want to tell you, in the very near future judge kavaug lawremce karnow: it was another warm to hot day today with highs soaring into the 90s inland, with 70s and 80s around the bay and 60s at the coast. after a sunny start the fog returned to the coast. if you're going out tonight it will be cooler inside the bay and coast with increasing clouds and breezy conditions. on the satellite you can see a storm in the gulf of alaska. it will bring more rain to the pacific northwest and help to cool temperatures in the california. highs tomorrow will be cooler with 80s inland and 50s and 60s at the coast, and 70s and 80s around the bay. it will cool a little more on sunday before warming again on monday with windy weather. it will be cooler toward the end of next week. (ryan) a mysterious disappearance in the north bay... police are still looking for a man who suddenly áávanished without a trace ba

mitch mcconnell. kavanaugh was not mcconnell's first choice for trump's pick, but trump went ahead and nominated kavanaugh, anyhow. mcconnell got behind the nomination and has been pushing it through. b i think if this nomination were to fail, mcconnell would seize n an opportunity to step in and say let me take control of this process, this is all about nt senate votes.oc it's about can you get the 50 plus 1 majority in the united states senate to back a nominee? and mcconnell knows his members much better than the white house does.ch he's good evening to know who senator collins, senator murkowski, senator flake, who they're going to support.i, and i think mcconnell is going to try to make the power play to help drive this process. in terms of the timing, the midterms are coming up. it's very difficult to see how they'd be able to get through an entire vetting and nomination h process to vote before the midterm elections and then that raises the question of whether they would do this all in the lame duck session which would be in late november and in december before the new senate is sworn in january. >

mitch mcconnell? >> that remains to be seen at this point. mitch mcconnell wants to hold a vote tomorrow, but kavanagh out of committee and stay through the weekend to make sure they have the votes and confirm kavanagh early next week. but this all depends and whether or not they have the votes. keep a close eye senator jeff flake. he gave a speech yesterday lamenting the process around this, saying both ford and kavanagh deserve to be treated with respect. but they are key swing votes in the senate. republicans can only afford to lose one. if they lose senator murkowski or collins, the first two dominoes that would likely fall if they start bleeding boats, kavanagh's nomination is toast. those two, andn another senator who has been floated as potentially uncertain is senator bob corker, a trump critic who is also retiring. this will have a major impact on their votes. cavanagh will testify later. they will have to decide who to believe. >> -- and the involvement of her in this process. is there a sense that this is making it harder to get to what actually h

we do want to take you to capitol hill, where mitch mcconnell, this is the senate floor, the senate leader mitch mcconnell is speaking about the candidate for the supreme court, brett kavanaugh. there is all kinds of drama swirling around this candidacy. stay tuned. let's listen in. >> committee staff would have followed their standard practice for investigating background information. senators could have questioned judge kavanaugh in their meetings or in closed session while respecting dr. ford's request for confidentiality. a democrat didn't do any of that. they sat on dr. ford's letter for seven weeks. seven weeks. kept it secret. they did nothing. bide their time, then threw professor ford's wishes overboard and leaked it, leaked it to the press. our colleague from delaware has himself indicated that either the ranking member's office or democratic committee staff likely leaked the document. as i have noted, we know the chain of custody of the letter went through the democratic side of the judiciary committee. so mr. president, does this sound like democratic senators take their responsibility serious

democrats decided to go after neil gorsuch and force mitch mcconnell, some would say it wasn't a forcing, but mcconnell decided to change the rules for supreme court nominees. that's how gorsuch got through. democrats should have waited to try to trigger mitch mcconnell to change the rules right before election. they fired their bullet they had too early. >> it's a tangled web in terms of busting the filibuster on this. it started with--you have democrats who did it. but it comes to just judicial nominations. then it came to supreme court nominations. yet again on capitol hill, a tangled web. finally, what is the biggest issue as we head into the confirmation this week? is it the scope of presidential powers? is it women's reproductive right s rights? >> well, there's going to be a lot. we have talked about the documents. look at the issue of abortion. it's once again going to play a central role in these confirmation hearings. it's over 40 years old. brett kavanaugh, he has never ruled squarely on it. he did have that opinion on his bench where he disagreed with his colleagues when they ruled in favo

go back to what mitch mcconnell said you traveled the country in 2016 trying to help republicans win election. when mitch mcconnells there is going to be a vote, who do you think is listening. >> for many people back in 2016, conservatives in particular number one issue was the supreme court. they can get by on a lot of the drama but donald trump but the idea that he was going to elect or put somebody on the supreme court was conservative i think one of the most savvy thing did was put out that list in advance. they want to see this happen. mitch mcconnell has actually been very good at driving. this i don't think he lies these delays from what i hear from people i talked to on capitol hill, he doesn't like this delay at all. i do think senator grassley, the chairman of the senate judiciary committee has been masterful, his balance, his tone, the options. i think he has done a very good job so far. >> dana: speaking of mitch mcconnell he was strategic and patient and took a lot of criticism and risk by delaying or denying merrick garland a hearing. >> he did. he took a tough, tough line. i come from the camp that

now, you have mitch mcconnell this week saying he has confidence in jeff sessions. mitch mcconnell is way more important factor in whether or not jeff sessions could get a replacement or a replacement could be confirmed and lindsey graham saying, of course this relationship is, has a problem. it probably cannot be fixed and i think that's pretty obvious because president trump is very angry and wants to fire jeff sessions but can't right now. >> as we go on air tonight, tomorrow is the funeral for john mccain, capping a week of commemorations of his life. the president himself a part of that story, the political and personal tension between them. the president's reluctance to say much about him, at least initially this week. and now we land at a place where the president grudgingly came around to offering some public words. it seemed he will not be at his funeral tomorrow. he was not part of the service at the capital today. inside the white house when it comes to this issue of mccain, what has been going on this week? >> there's just been a lot of hemming and hawing. we started th

mitch mcconnell's office. >> there is a huddle going on right now in mitch mcconnell's office over on the senate side of the capitol. i just came from there. there is a flurry of activities, republican senators racing in and out. and i spoke with senator lisa murkowski as she was going into the majority leader's office and headed into this huddle with other top republicans and asked her about the specific proposal from jeff flake for this one-week delay for an investigation to happen. she said she supports it. she notably says i support the fbi having an opportunity to have some closure on this. she importantly did say it has to be limited in scope. as we're seeing republicans and some democrats like joe manchin add his support to the delay. i talked to a top republican, senator cornyn, on the way in. he said they are certainly exploring jeff flake's proposal. he is not in support of it but he gave an assurance that he would look into this. he emphasized the promise made to senator flake was to look at specifically the fbi reopening the allegations based around dr. ford. so that seems to indicate that republ

mitch mcconnell went on a game of chicken of how to do judicial nominations. we would not be here if not for the filibuster. i believe that. it takes two to tango. >> mitch mcconnell stood up and said, you will rue the day you did this because the democrats will not always be in charge. >> in terms, the filibuster needed 60 votes to move the judicial nomination instead of 50. >> it was set at 50. harry reid said the supreme court justice, he was frustrated because he thought mitch mcconnell was holding up obama judges and when mcconnell came in, he said, fine. i'll get rid of the filibuster too and everybody decided to partisanize judicial nominations into this 51-49 world we live in and i think we're finding out how this is a way to break the judiciary if you're not. >> and to break congress and that's going to be the reaction very likely of the public. >> and if somehow this confirmation, this nomination fails, we're back here again, the rules are the same. almost a higher standard against the next nominee. >> yes, and no. you remember, after a high profile fight, sometimes everyone wants to pull back. >> take a deep breath. >> i don't think that's the democrat'

mitch mcconnell. i think that quietly mcconnell is expressing to president trump that you need to hold your fire on thisorder for us to get the supreme court pick through. >> how much are the midterms having an i pact on all of this do you think? the president lowering the rhetoric, keeping the cool. we saw today the way he was sort of, you know, siding with kavanaugh and not remembering christine blasey ford's name and blaming dianne feinstein for this. you felt the old trump creeping back into all of this. >> remember with mitch mcconnell, he was from all the reporting not advocating for brett kavanaugh to be the number one pick for different reasons not related to the latest accusation. as we know with the president, it's a fair assumption to say he'll back you until it's not serving his best interest but in the broader scheme of things, look, this is a lose-lose for everybody. that's no winner in this circumstance and whatever people think if this hearing does take place on monday, whatever people think may come out of it, i'm not sure what will come out of it. we don't get a definitive answer i can

allegations are part of a despicable smear job, leader mcconnell, why don't you call for an fbi investigation? >> reporter: what senator mitch mcconnell is calling for is a full senate vote on the kavanaugh nomination. it's not clear when that would actually take place. back to you. >> doug luzader live in washington, thank you. >>> uc berkeley students and community members show support for the women accusing kavanaugh of sexual assault. [ crowd chanting ] there was a small rally yesterday on the campus of uc berkeley and demonstrators called on the public to stand in unity until, quote, kavanaugh is defeated. >> women need to come forward and tell the truth. we know they are doing this to stop a sexual predator from becoming the next supreme court justice. >> this was one of the number of events across the country yesterday. activists took to the steps of the u.s. supreme court and there was a sit in at yale university and classes were canceled there. >>> deputy attorney general rod rosenstein will meet with president donald trump on thursday after speculation he was going to resign. they will discuss a report in the new york times