senator patrick leahy: yeah. i would allow the people to do the background checks, let them look at it and let them make the decision. i was a prosecutor for years. a lot of people said, this one is guilty or that when is guilty. let's get the evidence and make up our minds based on that. i have found that people do the background checks, whether they are republican or a democrat nominee, are very professional and very thorough if given the time to do it. kellie: i wonder, at what point these kavanaugh issues bump into the senate schedule. do you think there could be floor antics that result from this? senator patrick leahy: i don't know. my work in the senate has been very concentrated on the appropriations bills. we have gone decades sometimes decades without getting them through. when i became vice-chairman, i started working at cochran and i came back to doing our work, doing what we are paid to do. when dick shelby became chairman, he and his wife are very close friends of mine and marcel's, we are poles apa

senator patrick leahy: i don't know. my work in the senate has been very concentrated on the appropriations bills. we have gone sometimes decades without getting them through. when i became vice-chairman, i and id working at cochran color doing our work. doing what we are paid to do. and he became chairman, he his wife are very close friends , we areand marcel's poles apart politically, but we believe in the senate and we want to make it work. one of three committees and the senate who has a vice-chairman. we started working earlier this year, the two of us, we talked about it at great lengths and traveled together. we said, let's make it a place to grandstand the right or left. things that we individually might like to have seen past, but no kill the process. on both sides. as a result, look where we are. the senate has moved our past it , farther past it and has in years or decades. we will continue to move. the appropriations bills will continue. i am looking at my notes. that is a trillion dollars. >> nearly. >> 999.

program you are about to see with senator patrick leahy was recorded friday and includes allegations that spring or nominee brett kavanaugh actually assaulted a woman more than 30 years ago when they were both in high school and today, the "washington post" has announced that the woman has agreed to be named, she is a 51-year-old psychologist living in california. judge kavanaugh has denied the allegation and has no further comment on the matter. greta: this week on "newsmakers," vermont senator democrat patrick leahy is with us for this week's "newsmakers." we also have kate irby, mcclatchy newspaper congressional reporter, and kellie mejdrich, appropriations budget reporter with cq roll call. senator, kate irby is going to kick off with the conversation about judge brett kavanaugh. kate: the "new yorker" came out this morning detailing an alleged attempted sexual abuse by kavanaugh in high school, a woman is alleging that he held her down when he was 17 and attempted to sexually abuse her. i am wondering what your take is on this. do you think this confirmation process of judge kav

scarlet: you mentioned patrick leahy earlier, but did brett kavanaugh give us anything to work with with a regard to presidential pardon -- so pardon? greg: he did not -- self pardon? greg: he did not go there or whether the president would have to obey a subpoena issued by robert mueller. he is trying to stay away from those questions. he did make some comments where he said he had not -- he said some things about that but he said in terms of the law, how that applies to the situations, he said i've not said anything and will not say anything. caroline: greg, thank you for breaking down day two of the hearing for the nomination of brett kavanaugh. coming up, betting on the bitcoin boom. how much the canadian pound is onlineto revive the currency.

rest of n watch the that interview with vermont senator patrick leahy tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. eastern here on c-span. thursday morning, watch the nomination of brett kavanaugh to court.preme >> if this man is successfully the ated he could become deciding vote on major legal ssues that americans care deeply about. >> i now move to report from the committee the nomination of to be associate justice of the supreme court. >> follow the process live thursday morning. starting at 9:30 eastern on cspan.org or listen app. the free c-span radio >> the human rights campaign and lgbt advocacy group hosted its weekend in r this washington, d.c. with former vice president joe biden and his wife jill among featured speakers. they were introduced by hrc griffin.t chad this is 45 minutes. >> now, i have the pleasure of grandest g two of the allies our movement has ever known. throughout their yea

amy: senator patrick leahy questioning judge kavanaugh during the hearing. i also want to say thatleahy tweeted yesterday between 2001 and 2003, republican staffers hacked into install 4670 files inin conontroversial bush judicl nominees from six democrats, including me." he went on -- so there are two different issues. one is the surveillance. if you could respond to that? >> absolutely. with remember after 9/11, as judge kavanaugh said, there was a massive surveillance program that began in the united states. the aclu and others had litigated and continue to litigate in various ways some of those cases. what we're looking at is the question here is whether -- what his involvement was in that massive surveillance program. i think what is deeply troubling is then as now, we have not clear on the record answers about high level or even low-level officials' participation in these programs. they are always pushing the question aside. i think this is s a key issue because now we have a supreme court nominee who arguably played a role in facilitating and thinking

and make a we speak with former top aide to senator patrick leahy. her new piece is headlined "i wrote some of the stolen memos that brett kavanaugh lied to the senate about. she is now calling for kavanaugh's impeachment as a federal judge. all of that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report, i'm amy goodman. active is held hundreds of protest saturday in more than 90 countries as part of a worldwide day of action demanding urgent action to address climate change. in france, thousands of people joined climate marches across the country. the northern india from about 10,000 students and teachers tied red ribbons to trees in an action to end deforestation in the philippines, nearly 1000 peop marched in manila to prott the coury's liance on coal. in n york city,0 activists were arrested protesting in front of governor andrew cuomo's office to dend transitioto 100% renable energ in thailand's capital bangkok, about 200 people prested outsidthe u.n. rional hequarters inclung fishmen and lorers whose live

>> senator patrick leahy of vermont. sir, i really appreciate your time tonight. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> we've got much more ahead tonight. stay with us. it's america's most popular street name. but allstate agents know that's where the similarity stops. if you're on park street in reno, nevada, the high winds of the washoe zephyr could damage your siding. and that's very different than living on park ave in sheboygan, wisconsin, where ice dams could cause water damage. but no matter what park you live on, one of 10,000 local allstate agents knows yours. now that you know the truth, are you in good hands? with pg&e in the sierras. and i'm an arborist since the onset of the drought, more than 129 million trees have died in california. pg&e prunes and removes over a million trees every year to ensure that hazardous trees can't impact power lines. and since the onset of the drought we've doubled our efforts. i grew up in the forests out in this area and honestly it's heartbreaking to see all these trees

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our guest is senator patrick leahy.ur guess is steven pearlstein, washington post columnist, out with his latest book this month, can american capitalism survive? thankorning good guest: you. host: you predicted the collapse on wall street. what did you see and when? inst: i wrote the columns 2007. the crisis began in the fall of 2008. by 2007, you were already beginning to see cracks in the mortgage market. you were beginning to see companies that were involved in packaging mortgages and selling them to investors on wall street going under. i said, that is sort of interesting. what were they doing? it did not take very much to lift up the rock and say they were writing mortgages where you do not have to put any money down. they were writing mortgages where they did not check your credit score. i don't know about you, but i bought a house, and they were rather thorough in looking at my credit and other things. i could see that people on wall street were making a lot of money doing these things. that is a pretty good sig

senator patrick leahy >> woodruff: senator patrick leahy of vermont is one of the ten democrats on theiary committee calling for chairman chuck grassley to postpone this week's committee vote on brett kavanaugh's nomination. i spoke with him a short timeo d began by asking him if he's more inclined to believe judge kavanaugh or dr. ford. >> i think it's very courageous when somebody comes forward like this, we know she talked to a therapist about this years agoi, shilling to come forward publicly. i was a prosecutor. i saw a lot of peoe would have been assaulted as young women and held it inside for years before thecomerward. that's not unusual. but let's fiend out, both for judge kavanaugh's sake and s dr. fordke, let's find out what happened. right now, they're trying to rush it behind closed doorss not there to the process, not there to the senate, but mostly not fair to the american people. >> woodruff: we heard senator ixrin hatch that he believes professor ford is up, suggesting that maybe she has the wrong person. you think that the possible? >> he said that without even talking

senator patrick leahy >> woodruff: senator patrick leahy of vermont is one of thede tecrats on the judiciaryee calling for chairman chuck grassley to postpone this week's committee vote on brett kavanaugh's nomination. i spoke with him a short time a ago and began ing him if he's more inclined to believe judge kavanaugh or dr. ford.hi >> i it's very courageous when somebody comes forward likh , we know she talked to a herapist about this years ago, she is willing tme forward publicly. i was a prosecutor. i saw aot of people would have beenssaulted as younger women and held it inside for years before they come forward. that's not unusual. but let's fiend out, bth for judge kavanaugh's sake and dr. ford's sake, let's find out what happened. right now, they're trying to rush it behind closed doors is not there toheocess, not there to the senate, but stly not fair to the american people. >> woodruff: we heard senator orrin hatch that he believes profesr ford is mixed up, suggesting that maybe she has the wrong person. do you think at theossible? >> he said that without even talking with her, wit

here is some of the hearing with senator patrick leahy when the president could pardon himself. this hearing is about ten minutes. >> i am concerned because there is evidence that miranda provided you with the tariffs that was stolen from me and that would contradict your prior testimony. the calls are clear from public e-mails and i'm afraid we're now going into nonpublic ones that you believed that materials were obtained inappropriately at the time. now, mr. chairman, there are at least six documents that you consider committee confidential that are directly related to this, just like the three documents i shared that are already public. these other six contain no personal information, no presidential records, restricted material. there is simply no reason they can't be made public. i hope they will be before this next round. you know, it is difficult when to ask a question, i have to ask the republicans will you allow me to ask the question? i certainly never did that when i was chairman. now, i'd ask you in 2006 whether you'd seen any documents relating to president bush a

this began the process for kennedy, joe biden, dick durbin, patrick leahy and others. many of whom are still around, serving in the senate, unleashed this unprecedented historically unprecedented attack on a nominee, and they weren't done. a few years later, after the hearings were done in the clarence thomas case, they struck again with anita hill and here's what clarence thomas had to say about that at the time, go. >> unequivocally, uncategorically, i deny each and every single allegation against me today that suggested in any way that i had conversations of a sexual nature or about pornographic material with anita hill. they ever attempted to date her, that i ever had any personal, sexual interest in her, or that i in any way ever harassed her. mark: let's stop right there. notice, america, the democrats today keep talking about old white men who dared to raise questions, that is republicans on the senate judiciary committee, about the latest accuser. well, there's clarence thomas, he's no old white man. young african-american, 1991 during his confirmation, questio

yes, i've just spoken to patrick lea hy, yes, i've just spoken to patrick leahy, a yes, i've just spokenick lea hy, a democrat yes, i've just spoken to patrick leahy, a democrat on the committee, and spoke that chuck grassley, the republican chair will ask the fbi to do that now. it can only take up to a week, and will probably involve the fbi, at least if they do it, going to speak to that key witness that alleged witness, christine blase ford said she was —— he was in the room at the time. markjudge has given statements to the committee, but he has not appeared or been subpoenaed. he does not have to talk about it, incidentally, and when they have gathered this evidence and information, they do not come to a view or say that this did or didn't happen, or this is worth prosecuting oi’ happen, or this is worth prosecuting or not, they just happen, or this is worth prosecuting or not, theyjust present their evidence back to the senate and have a thing about all over again. so there is an enormous time pressure on the fbi to do this work in the next 7—10 days, and then there will bea next

. >> on newsmakers, the guest is vermont senator patrick leahy, the top democrat on the appropriations committee. he talks about the push to pass spending bills to fund the government beyond september 30. he has asked about the nomination of judge brett kavanaugh, which the judiciary committee is expected to vote on next week. you can watch the interview sunday at 10:00 a.m. and six at 1 p.m. eastern here on c-span. washington post reporter bob woodward is our guest talking about his new book "fear: trump in the white house." on tuesday, ken starr discusses watch nextontempt." week on "washington journal." >> what does it mean to be american? that is this year's student cam competition. we are asking middle and high school students to answer it by producing a short documentary. defines theit american experience. we are awarding $100,000 in total cash prizes, including a grand prize of $5,000. is january deadline 20, 2019. for more information, go to our

the democratic address is by vermont senator patrick leahy. there ains why he thinks is a lack of transparency in the supreme court confirmation of judge brett kavanaugh. the american people just witnessed an unprecedented week for preme court hearings president trump's nominee, judge brett kavanaugh. in the senate for 44 years. 19 's a time that includes nominations to the supreme co

caps on: mob rule is how senator patrick leahy would describe capitol hill.s is, of course, as democrats have taken issue with the release of 42,000 documents just hours before this hearing was underway. they had been calling on chuck grassley, republican from iowa, to adjourn this hearing to give more time to review the documents. >> what are we trying to hide? why are we rushing? >> this committee has more materials for judge kavanaugh's nomination than we have had on any supreme court nominee in history. greg: it's remarkable how little of this discussion is about brett kavanaugh. democrats are complaining about the process. they're complaining there are millions of documents that could be relevant to his nomination they haven't seen yet, and there's a relatively small amount of talk about brett kavanaugh and his qualifications to bring to the court. caroline: silicon valley taking center stage on capitol hill. facebook c.e.o. sheryl sandberg and twitter c.e.o. jack dorsey and a third chair left empty for google, faced questions from the senate intelligenc

. >> mob rule is how senator patrick leahy described the setting here on capitol hill. julie: amazon's market cap touches a trillion. citigroup restructures its investment bank. the carney era may run longer at the bank of england. the jobs report gives more fodder for september. >> this suggests the fed's on the right course in terms of tightening. >> the data is unmistakable. we are growing, boom-like, across the board. julie: plus, an exclusive conversation with jack ma about what comes after alibaba. jack: i think some day, and very soon, i will go back to teach. julie: it is all straight ahead on "bloomberg best." ♪ julie: hello and welcome. i'm julie hyman. this is "bloomberg's best," your weekly review of the most important business news, analysis, and interviews from bloomberg television around the world. let's start with a day-by-day look at the top headlines. markets were closed in the u.s. on monday, but meanwhile, troubles in emerging markets showed signs of becoming a full-blown crisis. >> argentina took action today amid its fiscal crisis. president mauric

patrick leahy on the democratic side, chuck grassley and orrin hatch on the republican side. let's listen to what orrin hatch said about today's hearing and the thomas hearing. >> i hate to say this, but this is worse than robert bork and i didn't think it could get any worse than that. this was worse than clarence thomas. i didn't think it could get any worse than that. this is a national disgrace. >> andrea, that became basically the chorus on the republican side. >> absolutely. and to john's point also about not bringing in mark judge, a witness in the room, when he came in today and in a statement he says he wrote himself said, when this allegation first arose, i welcomed any kind of investigation, senate, fbi or otherwise. opening himself up to questions and he got at least nine that we counted. why won't you welcome an fbi investigation? and i think he disingenuously said that's up to the committee. he said, i welcome that. so that puts it on him if he really does welcome an fbi investigation to resolve doubts about at least whether there are witnesses who could be foun

one of the democratic senators joining me now, senator from vermont, patrick leahy, senior most member of the senate judiciary committee, also a member when anita hill testified in 1991, and he was a state attorney in vermont back in the day. senator, good to see you. >> thank you. >> tell me what you're trying to get at. the senate judiciary committee cannot ask the fbi to reopen the investigation, the president has said the fbi doesn't want to, and it is not what they do, but in fact the background investigation if the white house asks them to open it up, they can. >> of course they can do it, and of course the chairman of the senate judiciary committee could ask them to. anita hill, republican president, republican chief counsel, they said wait a minute, those allegations came up, step back, and they interviewed a large number of people. i was one of those who believed anita hill, but at least you had all of the evidence before you. here they're rushing to judgment, almost like they're trying to hide something, step back, take a deep breath, let the professionals with no partisan in

we'll talk about that and more this hour with senator patrick leahy. he's a senior democrat on the judiciary committee. our correspondents, specialists, and analysts,a also standing by. first to our chief white house correspondent, jim acosta. the president is said to be privately angry about all of this, but his remarks just a little while ago were relatively subdued. >> reporter: that's right. pretty tempered. the white house showing no signs of abandoning brett kavanaugh for the supreme court. president trump dismissed the notion kavanaugh would step aside. i'm told aides are stressing kavanaugh's denials to its surrogates, but the allegations against kavanaugh are so explosive, to the president himself, they are choosing their words carefully tonight. >> thank you, everybody. [ all talking at once ] >> reporter: president trump is sticking with the supreme court pick, brett kavanaugh, brushing off the notion the embattled judge would withdraw from consideration. >> did he offer to withdrawal? >> next question. what a ridiculous question. >> reporte

. >> reporter: even democrat patrick leahy. >> i do not intend at any point to continue what i have to say with such interruptions. i don't care whose side they are on. >> reporter: the hearing continues tomorrow and we can expect more attention because senators will be grilling brett kavanaugh about where he stands on abortion. >> the system is so interesting. it is different every time. so he finally gets a chance to talk but does not talk very long. >> reporter: he just had a few minutes. he was listening to everyone talking about him. you really can't say anything. he did say that he hopes it will not be a partisan issue back he will serve as a justice in a nonpartisan manner. he said that he does believe that he is looking forward to tomorrow's hearing. we will be back at 6:30 with the former mayor who will tell us more about what he thinks about the democratic strategy. >>> the confirmation hearing continues throughout the week with senators questioning brett kavanaugh. the committee is expected to vote on the nomination as soon as september 13th. republicans are hoping for a vot

. >> mob rule is how senator patrick leahy described the setting here on capitol hill.amazon's market cap touches a trillion. citigroup restructurs

featuring all your favorite committee members: patrick "the hatchet" leahy. ted "the ooze " cruz. >> on thursday we're going to have three panels of six each, evenly divided. >> oh, yeah. and, as always, senator megad saurus. live at the u.s. capitol taco bell arena, kids under five get a free cory booker bobblehead. >> it's "the late show with stephen colbert." tonight, stephen welcomes john krasinski and vonne orji. featuring jon batiste and stay human. and now, live on tape from the ed sullivan theater in new york city, it's stephen colbert! ( cheers and applause ) >> stephen: hello! hey, everybody! ( cheers and applause ) welcome, welcome, one and all to "the late show." i'm your host, stephen colbert's beard. i grew this over our break. it surprised me. it came in all white. evidently, talking about donald trump for two years has made my mouth old. ( laughter ) >> jon: yeah, yeah, that's right. >> stephen: i'd like to take a moment right now to apologize to wolf blitzer's beard for copyright infringement. ( laughter ) i'll see you in beard court. so much

. ♪ [inaudible] announcer: on newsmakers this weekend, vermont senator patrick leahy, the top democratthe appropriations committee, talks about the bills to fund the federal government the on septembe30. he is also asked about funding for disaster relief. i think i saw a figure that says we have $26 billion in that account. are we pretty confident that will cover this hurricane season and the rest of this year? >> i don't know what is happening this weekend. you watch the news and you see some of the pictures. this is something i have never seen before. we are the united states of america. i remember when hurricane irene hit vermont. it was devastating. it was like what my parents told me about when they were youngsters. and huge distraction. the day after, i started getting emails and calls her mother ,enators -- from other senators when we have the earthquake, the tornado, we will stand with you. we are the united states of volcano whether it is a in hawaii or it is an earthquake in california, flooding in the carolinas, or puerto rico. we are all part of the country. that is why the

that is followed by newsmakers with democratic senator patrick leahy from vermont. and later, national security adviser john bolton talks about the legitimacy of the international criminal court based in the netherlands to hear cases on genocide and other crimes against humanity. >> coming up on today's "washington journal" washington post columnist steven perlstein talks about the 10th anniversary of the 2008 financial crisis. then louis jacobson from governing magazine joins us to discuss key governor races to watch in the upcoming midterm elections. ♪ on a cloudy sunday here in washington, these eight, the house is in recess for the week while the senate returns tomorrow afternoon. look for a number of votes on additional funding in the alarming rise of the opioid epidemic across the country. the senate taking up a bill calling for more transparency when it comes to drug prices. sunday, september 16, we welcome you to the washington journal and much of the focus today is likely to focus on judge brett kavanaugh. replacing anthony kennedy with democrats releasing

withspan newsmakers democratic senator patrick leahy of vermont. followed by communicators with the u.s. telecom president and ceo talking about 5g development and broadband expansion. then a conversation with clarence thomas about law and the judicial confirmation process. later, supreme court justice ruth bader ginsburg talks about her career and creating diversity within the legal profession. this week on newsmakers, vermont senator democrat patrick leahy is with us for this week's newsmakers. we have a newspaper congressional reporter and an appropriations budget reporter. ser,

. >> we will hear from patrick leahy democrat from minnesota. >> two other women have come forth, you've got the key witness who was there. why haven't they asked the fbi to go out and investigate this? instead they're trying to rush it through and when you rush something like that, what are you trying to hide? >> what do you make of the questioning from the republicans' prosecutor? what do you think of the tone and things like that? >> she's very professional. you have to ask the question, why don't they ask their own questions. >> yeah. i think that they look muted, they're sitting there, they look like they want to respond, but they have made a decision to not really do their constitutional duty and participate in this hearing. that's their choice, but i think the big lesson that came out of this, is that this woman is extraordinary, she's calm, and she's honest. and i think that's what our colleagues on the other side of the aisle are seeing today. >> she's doing the job they asked her to do. >> what do you think about judge kavanagh? >> we can't wait. >> two members of the senate ju

. >> mob rule is how patrick leahy described the setting on capitol hill. this, as democrats have taken issue with the release of 42,000 documents released hours before this hearing was underway. they had been calling on the senate judiciary committee chairmen to give more time to review those documents. >> what are we trying to hide? why are we rushing? >> this committee has more materials for judge kavanaugh's nomination than we have had on any supreme court nominee in history. how littlemarkable of this discussion is about brett kavanaugh. democrats are complaining about the process, there are millions of documents that could be relevant but they haven't seen yet and only a small amount of discussion on brett kavanaugh and his qualifications and what he would bring to the court. silicon valley taking center stage. sheryl sandberg and jack dorsey, and a third chair left empty for google faced questions from the senate intelligence committee. jack dorsey has said, i understand these problems are large and i haven't done enough and i am willing to fundament

senator patrick leahy from the thisiary committee is on week's newsmakers. here is his response when he was senator feinstein bringing up allegations against brett kavanaugh this late in the proceedings. >> it would be inappropriate if she did not ask someone to look into it. >> she has had it since july. >> i will let her speak to that. she is usually very careful and with excellent integrity. i think about what would happen if there was some kind of aftertion and confirmation, someone said, we have to ask about this. this is the problem that happens when you rush something. you can watch the full interview with senator practically on this week's -- patrick leahy on this week's newsmakers. we're talking about the paul manafort guilty plea. let's go to jeremiah on the independent line. caller: yes, the mueller investigation. the republicans have turned a blind eye. the full report has not come out. we don't know what mueller has told the investigating committee. what he is going to say. me, theylicans, to have just turned a blind eye. if anybody else had bee

[applause] this week new makers and for -- newsmakers interviewed patrick leahy. >> is it appropriate that senators feinstein, now, the week before the senate judiciary committee is going to vote, makes public this letter and asked the fbi to investigate? >> whatever it was, it would be inappropriate if she had an allegation center her and did not have somebody look into it. >> she didn't refer to it as far as we know until the report. careful. is very happen about what would if there was some kind of but he saidnd some by the way we ought to ask about this. this is a problem that happens when you rush of something. i had things i wanted to ask judge kavanaugh about in the especially some things in committee confidential. about 3:00 in the morning you can use it. >> if senator feinstein had never share this document, you think that would have been up -- that would have been inappropriate. >> i would allow the people that do the background checks, let them make the decision. i was a prosecutor for eight years. let's make up our mind based on that. i found the people who do the backgrou

. >> patrick leahy describes the setting here on capitol hill -- citigroup restructures its investment bank, the carney era of may run longer -- era may run longer in england. >> the data is unmistakable. boomlike across the board. plus, an exclusive conversation with jack ma about what comes after alibaba. all coming up next on bloomberg best. julie: hello and welcome, i'm julie hyman, this is bloomberg's best, your weekly review of the most important business news, interviews, and television from around the world. markets were closed in the u.s. on monday, that meanwhile, troubles in emerging markets showed signs of becoming a full-blown crisis. >> argentina took action amid its fiscal crisis. the president said he would impose taxes on exporters after the peso -- >> the key thing here is that took tont officials making a more concerted effort toward what would be their efforts to increase the fiscal deficit. they said today that they would primarybring their fiscal deficit to zero in 2019, 1 year earlier from what was previously agreed with the imf in 2020. that is supposed to bring

patrick leahy, senior democrat on the committee.th chucky orn hatch the hill testified. >>> most republicans have made up their minds. lot of eyes on one senator. >> on jeff flake, one of those critical swing votes here in senate and will be on the committee today asking questions. he's made clear that he's on the fence. he's urging his colleagues to go into this with an open mind, not to prejudge here. yesterday on the senate floor he delivered blistering remarks about the politics in the days leading up to this hearing. we'll be watching closely two of those other key votes, lisa m e murkowski and susan collins. so much of this comes down to how these senators will determine who's credible. who's telling the truth. and so much of the senators i have been talking to on this mitt tee and on the outside comes down to a gut feeling. >> a gut feeling for them and for the entire country. team here in studio. cokie roberts. you remember well, 1991, anita hill, clarence thomas, the last time we saw something like this. >> it was incredibl

we are back with patrick leahy. i know you have serious thoughts on the kavanagh hearings.s get to the anonymous op-ed from a senior trump administration official. based on your reading of this op-ed as well as details emerging from the new bob woodward book do you believe the president of the united states is unfit for office? >> wolf, i believe that this is a flashing red light. i have been here with aid administrations, republicans and democrats. we have never seen anything like this. we have never seen this kind of concern. you know and i know that many in his administration will tell you how concerned they are. the president will change positions on everything from nuclear disarmorment to n.a.t.o. to the economy and take the position on early morning and have a change by mid morning. it also points out something else that congress is not doing its job of oversight. with the other presidents, no matter who was in charge of the congress, we did oversight. the republicans will tell you privately they know that there are serious problems in the white house. they won't call

from capitol hill as patrick leahy is the senior democrat meaning he has been on the committee for the longest amount of time and one of three member there is during the clarence thomas hearing 27 years ago. thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you very much. good to be with you, wolf. >> if defense ford doesn't testify, does that guarantee that judge kavanaugh will in fact be confirmed? >> i think one of the reasons the republicans have rushed this through in really an unseenly fashion like anything we have seen before, this is the same republican leadership that stalled pop's nominee for over a year to the supreme court so they wouldn't have to have a hearing and now they say they have to go immediately within two or three or five days, it doesn't pass the giggle test. why the hurry? take the time to do it right. a witness deserved real professionals and are used to dealing with sexual abuse cases. say she doesn't appear on monday and the chairman said there will be a vote on wednesday in the committee and in the days that follow. i'm sure mitch mcconnell will call for a vote assu

specifics of the case, the sequence of events there was a powerful moment when democratic senator patrick leahy asked christine ford what her most enduring memory of the alleged attack was she said it was the laughter of the boys at her expense. back over to you >> ylan, thank you we'll continue to monitor this. >>> long time wall street executive and former cfo of north korea stock exchange parent company, richard spencer became the secretary of the navy a year ago when they passed a defense budget, tensions with china and iran heightened, i sat down with secretary spencer in a cnbc exclusive. we began with the state of the u.s. china defense relationship. take a listen. >> the relationship, morgan, is evolving shall we say. we are switching from strategies here we rolled out the national defense strategy last year, secretary mattis did it's definitely a maritime strategy facing to the pacific as majority of the weighting of strategy we have gone from fighting violent extremists to the power competition, we see china and russia back in the mix, and it is changing the way we put our forward for

patrick leahy (d) vermont> "it feels like alice in wonderland around here." 11th hour maneuverings have sent brett kavanaugh's nomination into uncharted territory.even members of the judiciary committee seemed confused "we had to get this done by 2 o'clock." "well is it done? is flake's thing gonna happen?"arizona republican jeff flake looked deeply shaken after his confrontation with a sex crime victim. don't look away from me! look at me and tell me that it doesn't matter what happened to me! look at me when i'm talking to you! you're telling me that my assault doesn't matter!he voted to send the nomination to the full senate ... on one condition. "i think it would be proper to delay the floor vote for up to but not more than one week in order to let the fbi continue to do an investigation.with only a slim republican majority, flake's vote on the senate floor is crucial ... along with susan collins and lisa murkowski, swing voters... also under pressure.we will remember! in november

. >> patrick leahy describes the setting here on capitol hill -- julie: citigroup restruc

patrick leahy. we need that opportunity to ask the questions. if we just walked out it would simply be one side asking the questions. i don't think that's the way you skchl e get the facts out. >> does she have a point? >> tomorrow tuesday is the first day of the hearings. there's not going to be any questions asked tomorrow. it's every senator on the committee droning on with ten-minute opening statements and at the end of the day we will hear from brett kavanaugh and then they will adjourn. how about talking out on tuesday? i think the larger point -- >> walk out on tuesday and show up to ask questions on wednesday? >> sure. the larger point is this. a fox news poll -- i don't usually cite fox news polls. it showed the majority of the public, a plurality of the public wants to see democrats do everything they can to block this nominee. senate democrats need to show this is not business as usual. >> fox news polls, like a cnn poll, they are -- you can believe them as -- >> i just cited one. >> despite what you might say. real quick one final qu

judicial nomination process which were then passed on to kavanaugh, and if you were watching, patrick leahy asked the judge to defend his objections. >> this is not unlike the russians did in hacking the dnc. during this, you worked hand in hand in the white house with ben miranda where he was stealing material. >> i don't really have a specific recollection of any of this, senator, but it would not have been at all unusual for -- and this happens all the time, i think, which is the leahy people are looking into this and the hatch people are looking into that. i think. >> now, over the weekend, the liberal superpac called the democratic coalition filed an official complaint with the department of justice. according to that complaint the group is seeking, quote, an impartial investigation by the doa and ultimately an indictment. with us to talk about it and returning to our broadcast to do so is sue mun kim. she's an editor for the "washington post." the reason we wanted you on was perjury. the p word is a lot to say and accuse someone of, yet i'm guessing a lot of our audience saw it mentio

dr ford was asked by democratic senator patrick leahy about what part of the assault she remembered most is the strongest memory you have, the strongest memory of the incident? something that you cannot forget. take whatever time you need. indelible in the hippocampus was their laughter. their hysterical laughter between the two. and then having fun at my expense. you never forgot that laughter. never forgot them laughing at you? they were laughing with each other. and you were the object of the laughter? i was underneath one of them while the two laughed. two friends having a really good time with one another. well, in his opening statement, brett kavanaugh strongly denied the allegations against him. here's some of what he had to say. iam not i am not questioning that doctor ford may have been sexually assaulted by some person in someplace, at some time. but i have never done this. to her, or to anyone. that's not who i am, it is not who i was. i am innocent of this charge. i intend no ill will to doctor ford and her family. the other night, ashley and my daughter eli is said their pra

patrick leahy questioned kavanaugh for a second day in a row yesterday over his role in the so-callednator presented newly-produced e-mails showing exchanges with an aide that stole and spread thousands of documents from the democrats between the years 2001 and 2003. he claims six e-mails from kavanaugh during that period for which he was serving in president george w. bush's administration directly contradict sworn testimony kavanaugh gave at his confirmation hearing for his federal judgeships in 2004 and 2006. kavanaugh argued he had no reason to suspect the information miranda sent him was obtained illegally, saying democrats and republicans frequently exchange information. coming up on "morning joe", more on the kavanaugh hearings. senate finance committee members will join the conversation to give their take on what they've heard from the judge. >>> joining us from washington, d.c. once again we have senior writer at "roll call" nie niels lesnewski. let's talk about memo gate for a moment. could memo gate be the moment democrats is been waiting for that somehow up ends kavanaugh'

judiciary committee, he ranks second in senate seniority only to his fellow committee member of patrick leahy of vermont. orrin hatch is not in favor of an fbi investigation in this case. this story is still on the move, we'll see where it is at this time tomorrow night. for now that is our broadcast on this wednesday night. thank you so much for being with us. good night from nbc headquarters in new york from msnbc. >> very hard for me to imagine that anything happened. >> tonight, the stone walling continues. >> well, it would seem that the fbi really doesn't do that. >> at the calls to slow down grow. >> my advice is to push the pause button on this hearing. >> plus, my interview with the high school friend defending dr. blasey ford. >> when you have someone's hand over your mouth and you think that you might die by accident, you know who you're dealing with. >> as the attacks on kavanaugh's accuser continue. >> whoever she is is mixed up. >> just how credible is the supreme court nominee? >> are you certain you've not had a conversation with anyone at that law firm? "all in" starts right

he's still on the judiciary committee, he ranks second only to his fellow committee member of patrick leahy in favor of an fbi investigation in this case. this story is still on the move, we'll see where it is at this time tomorrow nielght. for now, it is our broadcast on this wednesday night. thank you very much for being with us, good night from nbc headquarters in new york from msnbc. >>> thanks for joining us at this hour. happy to have you with us. ronald reagan, the very end of his presidency, he lost one. everybody had thought he was going to put anthony kennedy on his court and he believed himself he was picked for the court. the last minute conservatives staff staffers in the reagan's white house intervened. no, we have a different guy and better choice and somebody we like more. so this man you see here with reagan, this man douglas jumped to the front of the line and he got the nomination. reagan did not get him o