right now, we go to washington for shannon pettypiece. you have a report on what the white house is expecting out of the house. shannon: the white house has all but given up on holding the house of representatives. the best case scenario would be holding it by one or two seats. staffers in the white house are preparing for what that would look like if democrats take control of the house. they're expecting a flurry of subpoenas about the white house for everything from the president's business to corruption and spending habits a cabinet members. a lot of white house aides are saying they don't see a desire in sticking around for this. many of them are burned out already from the perpetual crises with this white house and looking at the midterms as a logical exit ramp and not wanting to stick around for two years of what they would consider obstruction investigations from democrats. david: this white house has had a fair amount of turnover already. if it does go to the democrats and a lot of people leave, what will he need for the -- mean f

shannon pettypiece joins us from washington. thank you for joining us.t is the latest right now on this developing story? at the: we are here white house and we are waiting to hear from the president as he leaves for a rally in wisconsin. he should be coming out any minute. oftentimes, when he heads to these rallies, he will stop to talk to the press on the way to the helicopter that takes him to air force one. it is possible he might come out and say something. situations, the white house has struggled to set the right tone. the press secretary came out with a statement, the vice president came out with a statement that the president endorsed and retreated. then, there were remarks the president gave but he did not go into detail. we will look to ask them questions heading out to the chopper and also at the rally tonight. that will be a good chance to see whether the president takes a different tone because we are searching, maybe 12 days until the election. the president's strategy has been to really try to fire up his base and a doing that by hitting

anne guerin, shannon pettypiece, josh gerstein, thank you very much.ed press" is reporting kavanaugh has officially been sworn in in private. we'll have more on that and the protests from the supreme court when we come back. e protests from the supreme court when we come back. i'm ken jacobus, i'm the owner of good start packaging. we distribute environmentally-friendly packaging for restaurants. and we've grown substantially. so i switched to the spark cash card from capital one. i earn unlimited 2% cash back on everything i buy. and last year, i earned $36,000 in cash back. that's right, $36,000. which i used to offer health insurance to my employees. my unlimited 2% cash back is more than just a perk, it's our healthcare. can i say it? what's in your wallet? -we're in a small room. what?! -welcome. -[ gasps ] a bigger room?! -how many of you use car insurance? -oh. -well, what if i showed you this? -[ laughing ] ho-ho-ho! -wow. -it's a computer. -we compare rates to help you get the price and coverage that's right for you. -that's amazing! the only

with that, let's bring in our leadoff panel on a friday night, shannon pettypiece white house correspondent for bloomberg, jonathan allen, nbc news political reporter and our own correspondence on the hill garrett haake. welcome to you all. welcome to you all. let's see here, i would start with garret because you were next to these figures that were making history today. genuine surprise on the part of collins, not so much from the part of mansion from where you sat or was that inaccurate? >> i think that's pretty fair farks brian. collins was fascinating because she did not come out like jeff flake and say she was a yes vote and appear conflicted about it. collins came out and said he was a yes vote and made a full throated endorsement of kavanaugh in a scene that looked staged with two other female republicans behind her. that's not a normal configuration in the u.s. senate. that was done for a reason. susan collins did not just say she was voting yes for judge kavanaugh. she gave the closing argument and if you are mitch mcconnell have asked for a much better argument for a woman who sto

let's bring in shannon pettypiece a national political reporter for nbc digital, for the "daily beastit first. democrats know, i hear this from people i know, like my wife the democrats think health care is a biggy. can they go back to the real bread and butter kitchen table issues and get away from the glamorous spotlight of a court nomination in. >> yes, they k. on the other hand, why do they want to get away from this court nomination? this battle will fire up their bails the side that lost the confirmation battle will be the side angrier the next few weeks and will be the side that wants to come out to vote. republicans got their conservative vote. they will relax a little bit. democrats are wired about this i agree with what anna galen from move on said, i think turnout among women in particular, on the democratic side i think it will be through the roof. >> is it better? as awful as it is to say, when you lose one of these, it riles you up. >> i think the anger will last longer on the democratic side. this was the jolt the republicans needed in the days before the kavanaugh accu

shannon pettypiece is the bloomberg reporter. what can you tell us?ngs have been quiet on the mueller front at least as we inch toward the election. >> right, buckle up because pretty much everyone involved is expecting there to be a real flurry of activity right after the midterm elections. there is the one big issue that has been sort of simmering behind the scenes this past month. which is this interview between president trump and robert mueller. i talked to rudy giuliani yesterday. he said they have received about several dozen questions from mueller's office that trump's lawyers have been putting together answers to, written answers to. they only deal with questions around collusion. nothing around obstruction. but they expect some time after the election, as soon as they can get some sort of broader agreement with mueller, that answers questions and writing is going to be acceptable, they'll submit those questions to mueller. that's one of the big things we're watching. >> i know we've had this conversation for months, but when this thing could

shannon pettypiece and aaron blake is here as well.t me start with you and the president's point online. the harsh and unfair treatment of judge brett kavanaugh is having an incredible upward impact on voters. do you agree? >> absolutely. it's playing out across the country. republicans, who were sleepy in this election cycle, are now energized and they're energized because they believe democrats are trying to steal a supreme court seat away from them in a very unfair and unjust way. and so people like heidi heitkampf, joe mansion, claire mccaskill have a political calculus to make. >> claire has already said she's going to vote against him. >> for conservatives it's not just a confirmation -- i was on the campaign trail for a long time. >> yeah. >> court battles motivate voters, period, on the right. that is something that i have heard from every spectrum of folks i spoke to on the campaign trail. the other piece of it is anger against democrats and the media that is seeming to mobilize republicans here. >> that's right. and certainly

shannon pettypiece with her report the house -- the white house is bracing to lose the house.any. the surprisegh decision. >> that was a bombshell for everyone in berlin today as well. chancellor merkel announcing she will not run again to be the party chairman for her christian democrats. they will replace her with someone at a party conference in december. she also said she will not run for reelection as chancellor when her term expires in 2021. there is already speculation she may not last