>> president trump is firmly standing behind his supreme court selection even as he authorizes an fbi investigation into brett kavanaugh's past. we've just learned in the last few minutes that investigation is up and running. it was, as we said, arizona republican senator jeff flake who may have changed the course of history today after huddling with democrats, he was allowed to announce the delay for the investigation. no one saw it coming. "politico" is reporting it this way, senate republican leaders were rattled by the arizona senator's move, and they say flake's maneuver dropped a political land mine in the lap of majority leader mitch mcconnell -- i'll say -- and the white house, which now must keep kavanaugh's nomination on an already narrow path to approval. let's talk about all of the aspects of it with mara gay, a member of "the new york times" editorial board and we're happy as a newly minted msnbc contributor. and jonathan allen, an nbc news