here's a photo of senator stevens with senator ted kennedy. they are in pilot station, alaska. , phoneas no email service was spotty as word telegram. archivist was able to track down the daughter of the postmaster in the photo and ask of the story behind this photograph. the daughter related at that time, they had an idea somebody was coming and they saw 2 big military aircraft approaching. everybody thought the soviets were attacking them until the plane landed and senator stevens and senator kennedy got off. thing we do is to try to track down the stories behind the photos to give them a more complete view of alaska's history. the hearte is where is. homes. is so, i have 2 one is in the chamber and the other is my beloved state of alaska. i must leave a one to return to the other. >> senator stevens left of the senate in january 2009. we lost him in a plane crash on august ninth, 2010. the time wasat disbelief. senator stevens had been a larger-than-life figure. he was the alaskan of the century. people refer to him as uncle ted. he was so

next, a visit to the foundation created by the states long time republican senator, ted stevens. >> alaska was not source

they did it to ted stevens. they have done it to pennsylvania congressman. lou: here we are. two years of this, congressman. no one has been more outspoken than you. the reality is we are all very frustrated because we are covering old ground right now. we are sitting here talking about the issues that should have been resolved months and months if not a year ago. in turn next to a president that every quarter release they tried to. >> keeps going like the energizer bunny. lou: he's a stalwart, a warrior and no one months could possibly withstood the pressure that he's been under from the moment he stepped into that office. i do want to ask about what your leader, speaker ryan and mitch mcconnell, majority leader of the senate or doing because it looks like they have ordered up a hot mass and they are trying to serve it up as an extraordinary delicacy and a clever strategy. three spending bills. i mean, come on. at what point -- wait, wait, what point is the republican party in the conference going to wake up and say get the a out of here, ryan. he's retired in place. he's be

just like senator ted stevens said in the committee, he said, "i don't care if he raped her, got up andre not going to get the vote." that was in the shipper's book that especially if out. >> martha: you talk about the allegation and when it was. it's only four year different than the allegation against brett kavanaugh now. >> exactly. >> martha: you tweeted out if the want f.b.i. to go back that far, basically let's investigate my situation as well. right? >> exactly. why not? everybody says it was litigated and adjudicated. my case was never litigated. it was never adjudicated. it never went to court. i was never discredited at all. >> martha: when you hear the parameters set, they want to the this vote next week. what do you think about this woman, the accuser? does she deserve more than she is getting right now from the senators in seeking her mind or what they have offered her appropriate in your mind? >> i feel like it's very appropriate. i feel like she could come monday or let them come to her and let her tell her story. if they feel like there is more investigation that needs t

jonathan: what does that say to you, steven, about the politics, that the mcconnell group might come to the rescue of ted cruz in 2018? steven: we protect no matter what. i think senator cruz has become more of a partner in the senate than in the past, less the gadfly. that has helped him politically in his state and in the caucus. alexi: when we were discussing the errors in a primary, you talked about the challenge of bringing together the republican coalition. it seems increasingly difficult for republicans, and we have seen many republican candidates mimic president trump. did you anticipate that would happen in the cycle? steven: i think it is important for republican candidates to be successful, particularly winning primaries, to be in line with the president overall ideologically. i do not know if necessarily stylistically republican candidates have to do that. if you look at most of the republican candidates who are running, most may be outlined ideologically, but they are different. mike braun is a different persona, so is kevin cramer. mcsally is too. to be out of step in critical with the pres

but i remember when ted stevens got indicted shortly before his election and wound up losing and eventually was cleared, all i can say is that there's been a long-standing policy when it comes to prosecuting public officials, don't try to interfere with the election. i think that's what the president's main point -- but it's not appropriate to suggest that, you know, you can't be prosecuted because you're a republican. >> i'm just curious, what did you mean by "performance issues"? zero tolerance. >> i have found, quite frankly, that there have been times at the department of justice where i thought this whole family separation policy -- >> with the children being separated from their mothers? >> yeah. think this thing through, you know? >> but who do you -- who do you blame -- i mean, it sounds like the president of the united states supported that policy, spoke about that policy. >> the president of the united states changed that policy. >> yeah. >> so i like jeff sessions. my view is that this is deeper than just one thing and it's not whether or not i like him, it's whether or not this

survived the 2010 plane crash in alaska that claimed five lives, including our late friend, senator ted stevens. the impact of the crash temporarily crashed -- trapped him in his seat. but this leadership for themselves into him and the survivors. jim took more than a commitment , if youy and security can imagine, away from that tragedy. he explained that his reckless -- ival as he explained in a speech at his alma mater a few years ago, you need to maximize our time here helping others. in short, jim is a passionate public servant who possesses precisely the unique combination of skills this position requires , specific expertise in what nasa does, demonstrated excellence in managing complicated government organizations, and a passion for ensuring that and met -- that america leads in space exploration. so mr. chairman, senator nelson, thank you for the opportunity to come back and say some words on behalf of this really good man. i hope he enjoys the support of the committee. compellingu for that testimonial. many of us know him here on capitol hill. i want to recognize secretary ray lahood w

survived the 2010 plane crash in alaska that claimed five lives and including our late friend senator ted stevens. the impact of the crash temporarily trapped jim in his seat but he supported those around him and encouraging fellow survivors and leading them in prayer. i understand jim took more than a commitment to safety and security as you can imagine away from that tragedy. he's explained that his miraculous survival drove a -- a renew professional purpose alike and as he explained in his speech at his alma mater a few years ago, we need to maximize our time here helping others and in short jim is a passionate public servant and who possesses the precisely unique combination of skills this position requires, specific expertise in what nasa does, demonstrated payment of government organizations and a passion for ensuring that america leads in space exploration. so mr. chairman, senator nelson, thank you for the opportunity to come by and say some words on behalf of this really good man and i hope he enjoys the support of the committee. >> thank you, leader mcconnell. thank you very much for th

stevens. this is on ted cruz. quote. he is like a serpent covered in vast lien.treats the american people like two-bit suckers in 10-gallon hats. because he sucks up to the guy who insulted his wife by retweet, no less. because of his phoney piety and even phoneyer principles. because i see him as the spiritual love child of the 1980s tele-evangelist jimmy swaggart and jack nicholson's character in "the shining," because he makes donald trump look like a human being by comparison. because new york values. because his fellow politicians detest him, and that's just among republicans. because he never got over being the smartest kid in eighth grade. because he's conniving enough to try to put one over you, but not perceptive enough to realize that you can see right through him. because he's the type of man who would sell his family into slavery if that's what it took to get elected. and that he would use said slavery as a sob story to get himself re-elected. otherwise you might say i'm his number one fan. again, that was brett stevens on ted cruz. this has been a ba

again, that was brett stevens on ted cruz. this has been a bad time to be ted cruz. he's in the race of his life with the very human seeming democratic congressman beto o'rourke. cruz is on the judicial committee which is why he's targeted by protesters and why this happened on a restaurant in washington last night. >> we believe in survivors. >> we believe survivors. >> god bless you. >> excuse me, let me wife through. >> we believe survivors. we believe survivors. >> we believe in survivors. >> because these tactics work both ways and because the secretary of homeland security was also heckled out of a restaurant, there was a roundly negative reaction to that video today, mostly among people who can't imagine getting shouted out of a restaurant during dinner for two. there is a time and a place. for his part, o'rourke says it was not right what happened in that restaurant. he says the cruz family deserves to be treated with respect. that's our broadcast tonight, thank you so very much for being here with us, good night from nbc news headquarters here in new york. a

and stevens had worked really, really hard to get their service counted as military service and to grant them veterans status. and not unlike the way ted did things, he took care of it in the appropriations process. so it was an earmark. and over the christmas holiday, the pentagon kind of worked to reinterpret that earmark. needless to say, ted is gone. this is an important issue again to these 24 elderly veterans. so i moved an amendment on the defense appropriations bill to reverse it. i talked to john. he was pretty skeptical at first because he says it's an earmark. but then he asked. he asked whether or not these native guardsmen, these eskimo scouts had actually seen war. and i was able to share with him the story of those who had stood lookout on the homeland in the alucia islands, the reminder that in alaska, we were the only american soil okay piped by the japanese in world war ii and it was these native warriors who were standing guard, standing lookout. so long story short, john knew that supporting these elderly veterans was the right thing to do. so many things that we can share about john, but really when i think about -