we contacted david vitter's very fancy lobbying firm today. they dop not dispute that david vitter is the one who gave mcconnell that heads-up about rusal putting the plant in kentucky after mitch mcconnell did what he did for rusal and oleg deripaska. when we asked david vitter tonight whether there was any connection between that and his wife's subsequent surprise confirmation to a lifetime federal judgeship, he told us through a spokesman, "absolutely not." we put the same question to mitch mcconnell's office tonight but we got no answer. mcconnell's office says lifting the sanctions of course had nothing to do with the investment in kentucky by the firm that he lifted the sanctions on. but as for the lobbyist's wife who's now a federal judge, no response from mcconnell. i will tell you we are not the only ones asking questions about this sequence of events. hold that thought. the russells travel to swim meets every saturday. but now... it's thursday. good thing they discovered gain flings. the only detergent with concentrated gain, oxi boo

her name is wendy vitter. her name may sound familiar to you because she's famous for a lot of things besides being a brand-new judge. yes, she was married to a sex scandal ridden republican senator named david vitter but that's not what i mean. in her own life she is famous for her radical, hardline and somewhat conspiratorial views on abortion rights. wendy vitter, abortion foe, trump judge who endorsed theory that abortion causes cancer, confirmed by senate. wendy vitter really did endorse the idea that abortion causes cancer. abortion does not cause cancer. but she endorsed that idea at a conference that she hosted called abortion hurts women's health. abortion does not hurt women's health. neither does birth control. which claims that birth control causes cancer and hiv and suicide and violent death. birth control does not actually do any of those things, but according to louisiana's newest lifetime appointed federal judge, it's not just birth control causing violent death, it's all planned parenthood. ac

we contacted david vitter's fancy lobbying firm today. dispute mitch mcconnell mcconnell the one -- when we asked david vitter tonight whether there was any connection between that and his wife''s subsequent surprise confirmation he said, quote, absolutely not. we put the same question to mitch mcconnell's office tonight but we got no answer. mcconnell's office says lifting sanctions had nothing to do with the investment in kentucky by the firm that he lifted the sanctions on. but as for the lobbyist's wife who's now a federal judge, no response from mcconnell. i will tell you we are not the only ones asking questions about this sequence of events. hold that thought. e of events. hold that thought. of all time. lease the 2019 rx 350 for $399 a month for 36 months. experience amazing at your lexus dealer. this is a commercial and i know you're thinking. i don't want to hear about insurance. 'cause let's be honest... nobody likes dealing with insurance. right? see, esurance knows it's expensive. i feel like i'm giving my money away. so they

first of all, michael truncale and then kenneth lee and wendy vitter. i believe in all three cases all are not mainstream conservatives. their backgrounds and records are very political and they have long records of advocating for certain positions on issues that may come before them as either a united states district court judge or an appellate judge. first of all, mr. truncale has advocated strongly for the repeal of the affordable care act, which provided health care coverage and critical patient protections for 20 million people in terms of coverage and tens of millions more in terms of protection. he said that the affordable care act, quote, would lead to the rationing of health care, unquote. he has personally advocated for abolishing the department of education and used false claims of voter fraud to support voter i.d. laws that disproportionately affect lower-income voters and communities of color. second, kenneth lee was confirmed over the objections of both california senators, senator harris and senator feinstein, senator feinstein in this ca

he has continued asking the question because of what wendy vitter -- how wendy vitter responded. how andrew who you also showed in the clip. this is not an accident. this is orchestrated. what is critical for viewers to know is this is not the norm. this is not a conservative/liberal thing. conservative justices have been asked this question in the past, particularly justices nominated to the united states supreme court, and they have answered the question. they have chosen not to answer, for example, questions about roe v. wade, but they've always answered questions about brown. chief justice roberts talked extensively about brown at his confirmation hearing. justice alito described brown as vindicating the true meaning of equal protection under the 14th amendment and the guarantee of quality for all races. justice kavanaugh last year at his confirmation hearing described it as the most important case in the history of the supreme court. so it's not as though this has been some line in the sand of conservative ideology. something new has happened, and what we are seeing from the

vitter, do you believe brown v. board of education was correctly decided?> senator, i don't mean to be coy, but i get into a difficult -- a difficult area when i start commenting on supreme court decisions which are correctly decided and which i may disagree with. again, my personal, political, or religious views i would set aside. that is supreme court precedent. it is binding. if i were honored to be confirmed, i would be bound by it, and, of course, i would uphold it. >> so you believe it was correctly decided? >> yes, senator. as a judicial nominee, it's not appropriate for me to comment on the correctness of the particular precedence. i would follow it. >> was brown v. board of education correctly decided? >> senator, i don't think that it would be a productive exercise for me to go through the most -- thousands of supreme court opinions and say which ones are right and which ones are wrong. >> senate judiciary democrat richard blumenthal made a point of asking trump's educational and justice department nominees to answer a question that should be a no

vitter has also falsely linked abortions to breast cancer. in new york city, newly revealed text messages show a police commander shrugged off news about the death of african-american staten island resident eric garner in 2014 at the hands of a fellow officer as "not a big deal." the revelation thursday came during an nypd disciplinary hearing for officer daniel pantaleo, who killed garner by putting him in a chokehold and refusing to let go even as garner gasped "i can't breathe" 11 times. a text message exchange between officers just after garner's death showed police lieutenant christopher bannon was warned garner had no pulse and was most likely doa, or dead on arrival. the commander responded, "not a big deal" and "we were effecting a a lawfulrrrrest." officer daniel pantaleo never faced criminal prosecution but has remained on the police force. he could lose his job if found guilty of violating nypd procedures, which ban the use of chokeholds. the father of u.s. treasury secretary steven mnuchin has completed the most expensive purchase

and then consider this action in the senate today. 52 senators voting to confirm trump pick wendy vitterjudge. she says abortions cause cancer. she also joins over two dozen trump picks who refuse to say whether the brown versus board of education decision was correct. >> do you believe brown versus board of education was correctly deed? >> i think i get into a difficult, a different, a difficult area when i start commenting on supreme court decisions, which are correctly decided and which i may disagree with. >> now, it can be difficult for judicial nominees to discuss certain new issues they might have to rule on or every specific case under the sun. but civil rights leaders stress the unanimous decision against apartheid is not a difficult case to say you support. and support, in a 65th anniversary of that ruling. so we turn now to one of the nation's leading civil rights advocates. legal defense fund president, she sherrilyn ifill. good to have you here. what do you say about this? >> it's actually quite significant. and i think it is important to, for us to see the wake-up call. the

just last week we had a judge vitter in louisiana. she is a person who has blamed planted parenthood for -- planned parenthood for deaths and has said at one point that she believed that contraception, the pill, was dangerous to women, her conclusion without scientific evidence to back it. she just got a lifetime appointment to the federal bench. that's the kind of nominees that are brought to us by this administration. so is it any wonder that the alabama legislatures were encouraged to think if we can pass this law and get it to the right federal judge, somebody under the trump administration, we're going to overturn roe v. wade? i think that would be a serious mistake if it happened and the overwhelming majority of americans support roe v. wade. but some would directly and virtually reverse roe v. wade. what we are facing is is not a few far-right politicians making a statement out of the mainstream. this is a systematic effort by republicans to restrict women's reproductive rights and ultimately overturn roe v. wade. what else do

supported in the must the masses so they're dancing the parise issue is not the issue here is how it came vitter to extremist religious groups who have in the past where you seem like a blasphemy of or other individual cases to establish. in the opposition generally to establish their incomes and control over us do you concede. actually demonstrate that they can if the state or. to the extent that. justice to certain and innocent people and then that doesn't really or was up these years and to me and was able to give it a reasoned judgment and getting. innocent despite these militant groups that are. you know have their show on the streets far more more. justified than me because i want to control them and can't control them and just a little bit of control but there are. actually the cost of showing legal fees people he's getting late the state who just the state by any of your british and against and right at this point was. going in secrecy right we have to leave it there he now jilani a human rights activists and an advocate of the supreme court in pakistan thank you very much for your asses

. >> leland vitter live from washington, thank you. >>> president trump is down playing north korea's recent launch of short range ballistic missiles. the president says he and kim jong-un continue to have a strong relationship as nuclear talks stall months after their failed second summit in hanoi. kitty logan is in london with more. >> hi, jon. president trump has been speaking about the latest short range missile tests from north korea. he says he doesn't believe them to be a breach of trust. president trump said the two short range missiles fired from north korea last thursday were, quote, standard stuff. the missiles flew around 180 miles and landed in the sea. it was the second round of tests in a week. they were overseen by north korean leader kim jong-un himself. state media says the country wants to boost its capability to strike. it's unclear how this leaves negotiations with the u.s., which have stalled since the last summit between president trump and the north korean leader broke down without agreement. but the president says the relationship between the two leaders is st

i believe vitter's wife played a role in this or got something, as well.ook at what's happening on capitol hill and how money is moved around, and dirty russian money. can i call russian money dirty? we don't want it at this point. >> what is key, one of the people with a controlling interest in the company is someone tied to vladimir putin. the democrats are saying, look, we know this is a country that meddled in our elections. the mueller report, the first line i think spoke to the issues that the american public should be looking at, which is that russia mettled in the election in a sweeping and systematic fashion. what you have is, i think, democrats wanting to sound the alarm. on the republican side, they're saying they didn't know about this. on the ground, you have people saying, really, this is going to bring jobs to the area. people want to be able to feel like they're making a living. in some ways, people on the ground are probably wondering, is this going to be in the best interest for us, even if it is a foreign country? it is definitely someth

it depends upon vitter actually all federal crimes there are some that are longer that are not relevantking to in the green room. judge: what a great human being. great pitcher for the yankees and mets david combs. brian: mets then the yankees. judge: i said it in the wrong order. that's why you are here to correct me. even though i'm a lawyer you are correcting me. brian: cy young award winner now david cone has the challenge of his year. can he survive an interview on "fox & friends" talking about his life and his book. ainsley: going to be tough. ains. brian: his life. there he is. you wouldn't accept an incomplete job from any one else. why accept it from your allergy pills? flonase relieves your worst symptoms including nasal congestion, which most pills don't. flonase helps block 6 key inflammatory substances. most pills only block one. flonase. ♪ brian: household name to baseball fans everywhere and one of the greatest pitchers of his era from the kansas city royals where he grew up actually in kansas city to the new york yankees to the new york mets the boston red sox. he played

the question is, is it is it the sense of the senate that debate on the nomination of wendy vitter of louisiana to be united states district judge for the eastern district of louisiana shall be brought to a close. the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: vote: the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote? if not, the yeas are 51, the nays are 45, and the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22, do hereby bring to a close debate on the nomination of brian j. bulatao, of texas, to be an under secretary of state, sign by 17 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is, is it the sense of the senate that debate on the nomination of brian j. bulatao, of texas, to be under secretary of state shall be brought to a close? the yeas and nays rb mandatory under the -- are mandatory under the rul

ask that following disposition of the lee nomination, senate vote on the cloture motions for the vitter, bulatao and rosen nominations. finally, if cloture is invoked on those nominations, the cloture votes on the vitter and bulatao nominations be occur at noon on thursday and the rosen vote on cloture occur at 11:45 on may 16. and if confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, and the president be immediately notified of the senate's action. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cornyn: mr. president, i have ten requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted. mr. cornyn: mr. president, i came to the floor to talk about police week and some legislation that we've introduced to honor and support our men and women in blue called -- not surprisingly -- back the blue. but i just would note from the comments of my friend from illinois, he was bemoaning the fact that there didn't seem to be bipartisan legislation that could come to t

we will vote on kenneth lee's nomination to the ninth circuit court of appeals and wendy vitter's nomination to serve as the eastern judge for the eastern district of louisiana. and then we will consider brian bulatao. he will be responsible for such critical things as embassy security. his nomination was submitted to the senate in june of 2018. nearly a year ago. and following those four individuals, the senate will also consider this week the nomination of jeffrey rosen to serve as our next deputy attorney general. mr. rosen is a graduate of northwestern university and the harvard law school. he built a strong record in private practice as a litigators before entering public service in 2003. prior to his current position he served as general counsel at the department of transportation and the office of management and budget and as adjutant professor at georgetown university law center. the american people deserve that their department of justice be fully staffed, fully operational, and fully committed to upholding our nation's laws. i hope that each mf my colleagues who review this impress