Transcripts For FOXNEWSW Special Report With Bret Baier 20180917

Says she is willing to testify to the Senate Judiciary committee about what happened in high school. Judge Brett Kavanaugh says he is, too. The president says he wants everything done perfectly. All of this comes just a handful of days before the committee is scheduled to vote on kavanaughs nomination. Chief White House Correspondent john roberts starts us off tonight on the north lawn with an explosive story here in washington. Good evening, john. Bret, a lot happening in just the last few minutes. First of all, judge kavanaugh current solid on a Conference Call with republican members of the Senate Judiciary committee to answer questions about the allegations leveled at him. No democrats wanted to participate in that call. Raj shaw, who is his spokesman for the confirmation process here at the white house, just releasing a statement under judge kavanaughs name saying judge kavanaugh looks forward to a hearing where he can clear his name of this false allegation. He stands ready to testify tomorrow if the senate is ready to hear him. Now, we dont yet know the timing but upon exit ago meeting he had with the Senate Leader mitch mcconnell, senator john kennedy of louisiana, who is a member of the Judiciary Committee said that the committee will hear from both judge kavanaugh and his accuser in open hearings. Judge kavanaugh is one of the finest people that i have ever known. Never had even a little blemish on his record. As the Senate Judiciary committee struggles to find a way forward, President Trump today with a big vote of confidence in judge Brett Kavanaugh. But scolding democrats for sitting on this since july. They had this information for many months. And they shouldnt have waited until literally the last days. Kavanaugh arrived at the white house around 10 00 this morning. And immediately released a statement denying the accusations. This is a completely false allegation, kavanaugh said, i have never done anything like what the accuser describes to her or to anyone. Kavanaugh also claimed he had no idea who was making the accusation because Christine Blasey ford only identified herself yesterday and said the judge, because this never happened. Making the rounds of the Television Morning shows today, fords attorney debra cats insist her client was the victim of an attempted seSexual Assault. She clearly considers this an attempted rape. She believes if it were not for the severe intoxication Brett Kavanaugh she would have been raped. Sparked debate how it should be handled. He offered to go back to the Judiciary Committee to testify under oath. White house said ford should testify too. Absolutely. She should not be ignored. On capitol hill, disagreement over how to proceed. In a statement, Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley said it should start with separate followup calls with relevant parties. In this case, that would entail phone calls with at least judge kavanaugh and dr. Ford. The Committee Cochair Dianne Feinstein wants the fbi to mount a full investigation of the allegations and has the backing of her nine democratic colleagues. Republican jeff flake said at the very least that thursday Committee Vote on kavanaughs confirmation should be delayed. Republican Susan Collins, who is still on the fence about kavanaugh, wants to hear from him in public. Obviously, if judge kavanaugh has lied about what happened, that would be disqualifying. When i had my final hour long telephone call with him on friday, he emphatically denied that the allegations were true. While President Trump was careful not to pass judgment on either party, he did indicate he believes kavanaugh will prevail. Oh, i think he is on track, yeah. I think he is very much on track. President trump repeatedly said today that he wants judge kavanaugh to go through an appropriate process so that there are no lingering issues, should he be confirmed to the Supreme Court and that if that resulted in a little bit of a delay in the scheduled confirmation vote of thursday, he was okay with that. Orrin hatch today told fox news that he spoke with kavanaugh and that kavanaugh denies even being at the father thaparty thathis accusery ford was at. Bret lets get more on the kavanaugh situation from George Washington University Law professor Jonathan Turley. Thank you for being here. Thank you. Bret quite some developments here. Where do you think its headed. I think its heading to a public hearing. Move to have some kind of closed door hearing. I think we are passed that i think the republicans are accepting they are going to have to have her testify and if she testifies, the expectation is that he have to testify. And thats not going to be a good situation for him. Because he cant finish with a tie here. You know, if he comes out and both of them are believable to some and not others, you still have a situation where he could bleed off two or three votes. Thats the margin he has. Bret speaking of that, one of those votes is senator Susan Collins of maine. One of the republicans who has obviously some concerns about the nomination, but, also, about this here is what she said a short time ago. In order for me to assess the credibility of these allegations, that i want to have both individuals come before the Senate Judiciary committee and testify under oath. So essentially we are looking at a Clarence Thomas situation. In anita hill. We are. Here is the first nominee i know of thats been accused of aeffectively attempted rape. You know with thomas it was sexual misconduct. Here you have someone who is saying that this is so this is a nominee who tried to rape me. Bret he vigorously denies that. Says he wasnt even at that party. Is he having calls with Staff Members on the Senate Judiciary committee. Clearly he is pushing back here. If democrats believe this accuser for him as a nominee, does that mean that they are going to start impeachment proceedings if he his nomination is pulled . Why would he be eligible for the Second Highest Court in the land . Right. Thats the problem. You cant stop this train halfway down the treak. If you believe he was he was someone who tried to do an attempted rape or sexuality assault an individual. Its hard to believe he could be an article 3 judge. The democrats may find themselves buying more than they are bargaining for it would seem rather incone grewest to have him remain on the d. C. Circuit if they are denying on this basis a seat on the Supreme Court court. Bret how much does the 36 years factor in. He was in high school. He again pushes back hard this never happened but just the time frame . There is a real fairness concern here. Not just because this was delayed since july. It was they waited until just before the vote for confirmation. But, they are also throwing this controversy into the mix involving witnesses that if they have any recollection at all, its over three decades old. That takes time it takes time to try to put together people, recollections, and any type of evidence that you have. He doesnt have time right now if they are going to push this vote. If they dont push the vote, then they push this process potentially past the midterm elections. Bret which becomes another political issue. You wrote a oped for the hill in which you wrote among other things, quote there i is good thing there is not a radar for hypocrisy or washington would beness midst of mandatory evacuation. What did i mean there. Curious thing to see. I testified during the impeachment hearings for that related to bill clinton. Back then there wasnt this movement you have to believe her. It wasnt just her. It was them. It was multiple women came forward. Bret paula jones. Juanita broaddrick claiming not just Sexual Assault, rape, they brought forth evidence that they claim supported them. Many of these same members did not say that they had to believe them. To the contrary, they were attacked. And the republicans back then, of course, wanted full disclosure. And so you are going to have. Bret including Brett Kavanaugh on ken starrs. He wanted not just disclosure but vivid disclosures as to what bill clinton did. Everyone is going to effectively switch sides in this which is going to be rather daunting for people to watch. But watch they have to do. Its unlikely that well be able to conclusively show that someone is lying and someone is telling the truth. You will be left to a credibility just a minute and you have to make that by what you see in that hearing. Bret so we are at the beginning, not the end of this process. Im afraid we are at the rather messy beginning and its going to be an even an mesr ending. Bret jonathan, as always, thanks. Thank you. Bret this is a fox news alert. Breaking right now, President Trump is ordering the declassification of fisa documents that the house intelligence and government oversight committees have been seeking. Also tonight, more of those infamous Text Messages between peter strzok and lisa page are being released as well u chief intelligence correspondent Catherine Herridge is here with the breaking details. Good evening, catherine. Thank you, bret. And good evening. According to the white house statement the records include the surveillance warrant 578 occasion for Trump Campaign aide carter page. Fbi interviews with bruce ohr as well as all Text Messages related to russia without redactions from former fbi director james comey, his Deputy Andrew mccabe, or, as well as former fbi agent peter strzok and former fbi lawyer lisa page. This comes as fox news confirms new details about the russia probes findings. During her closed door testimony, a transcript reviewed by fox news shows that former fbi lawyer lisa page said out fbi investigation had not yielded hard evidence of russian collusion nine months into the case. When special Counsel Robert Mueller took over. Certainly, at this point, the case had been ongoing. We didnt have an answer. Thats obvious. Page told investigators with the house judiciary and oversight committees. Republican congressman John Ratcliffe handled the questioning. Lisa pages testimony, can i say, is consists tent with a lot of other testimony to the point that neither she or peter strzok and the folks at the center of the trumprussia collusion investigation had any evidence of collusion with russians nearly a year into the investigation. This morning, the president seized on the report tweeting no evidence of collusion before mueller appointment. The case should never have been allowed to be brought. With pages revelation, three republican hill sources told fox they questioned whether the russia probe shifted last summer from russian collusion to an obstruction case against the president. May 2017 is a pivotal month. Robert mueller was named special counsel 8 days after President Trump fired fbi director james comey. Two hours after comeys ousting, then fbi agent peter strzok texted page we need to open the case we have been waiting on now while andy is acting. Andy is a reference to then Deputy Director Andrew Mccabe who temporarily took over for comey. Page replied we need to lock in redacted in a formal chargeable way soon. In his public testimony, strzok did not clarify the text. Sendinciting to a connection to muellers work. Consistent with the policys based on special counsel equities im not authorized to discuss ongoing investigation. Okay. Lawyers for the former fbi officials did not respond to requests for comment. Tonight, there is no public time line for the release of the russia records. But the white house announcement took some senior congressional sources by surprise. One cautioned that the declassification process could take some time. The white house wants it done as soon as possible, bret. Bret if it comes out tonight you will see it at fox. You will, welcome. Bret the raithe wind has did down and the rain has stopped. Affecting hundreds of thousands of people in the midatlantic region tonight. Emergency crews are delivering food and water by the truck load. Rescuers are using helicopters and boats to get residents trapped by floodwaters and survivors are mourning the dead waiting hours to get basic necessities. Senior correspondent rick lawson that you will has been riding this storm. He in august done tonight. Good evening, bret. Most hurricane related injuries and deaths occur after the storm has passed and florence is proving that true i with scenes like this one across the state. Washed out roads, flooded roads, downed trees and power lines. The governor is calling it a monumental disaster. Rescues of residents trapped by floodwaters caused by Hurricane Florence continue around the clock. In rocky point, North Carolina, the u. S. Coast guard used a jacques helicoptea jayhawk helicopterto. In new bern where more than 400 were saved saturday. Another round of flooding sparked more rescue missions today. North carolinas governor says at least 2600 people and 300 pets have been freed from danger so far. The storm has been blamed for at least 20 deaths across the carolinas. And many more people are still at risk. The crisis in North Carolina continues. Catastrophic flooding and tornadoes are still claiming lives and property. In South Carolina flash flooding fears are rising with the water. President trump making a disaster declaration in the palmetto state with fresh warnings to folks in low lying areas to evacuate. The storm dropped trillions of gallo gallons of water on the carolinas inundating places that typically dont flood forcing at least 1200 road closures. At one point, cutting off North Carolinas 8th largest city and 120,000 residents from the outside world. We have one limited route in to wilmington. And it is clear. So our dot crews supporting elements are all using that route. One example of florences force, this washout on middle sound loop road in ogden which could cause Financial Hardship for max davis who owns a home and piece of the marina right next to the cavein. When the road breached, it filled, in im thinking a foot to 3 feet of sand inside the marine, which hassed to be dredged hydraulically most likely and going to be very expensive process. Far too soon to say when this will get repaired. There are fresh concerns tonight with new Evacuations Ordered all the way to the northwest corner of state near several dams where the floodwaters continue to rise. Bret . Bret Rick Leventhal live in North Carolina tonight. Rick, thanks. Up next, china and the u. S. Prepare for another round of attacks in what could be an expanding trade war. That and more next. A city with one of the highest increases of womenowned businesses in the u. S. Its really this constant juxtaposition when youre a mom and an entrepreneur. With more businesses starting every day, how do they plan for their Financial Wellness . I am very mindful of the sacrifices that i make. So i have to manage my time wisely. Plan your Financial Life with prudential. Bring your challenges. And its also a story mail aabout people and while we make more ecommerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget. That your business is our business the United States postal service. Priority you ito take care of anyct messy situations. And put irritation in its place. And if i can get comfortable keeping this tookus safe and protected. 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Everybody wants more for their kids, but i feel like with my kids, they measurably get more than i ever got. And i get to do that. I get to provide that for them. A spat at the United Nations today between the u. S. And russia. It was over enforcement of u. S. Sanctions against north korea. Nikki haley accused moscow of cheating and accused washington of political ill intent. Haley says russia hats pressured experts to implement sanctions against north korea that she says contain evidence of multiple russia sanction violations meantime the leaders of russia and turkey announcing a deep Demilitarized Zone will be established in idlib region. Thats the last bastion of antigovernment rebels there have been fears of deficit stating offensive by government forces. Russia backs the syrian troops. Turkey has been trying to prevent such an assault. U. S. Troops on the ground as well. Amazon is investigating suspected internal leaks of confidential information by its employees in order to obtain bribes. Thats according to the wall street journal. The article says some employees are suspected of selling merchants data that can help them get an advantage over their competitors. The practice is said to be particularly pronounced in china. Stocks were off today. The dow lost 92. 5. The s p 500 fell 16. The nasdaq dropped 114 today. President trump hinting tonight that he is about to fire another voluntarily in the trade war with china. China is already threatening retaliation correspondent hitcrich headson has the latest from the state department. The Trump Administration is announcing a massive escalation in its trade fight with china with tariffs on up to 200 billion in chinese imports. Targeting billions in items American Consumers buy. Today, right after close of business, we will be announcing something and it will be a lot of money coming in to the coffers of the United States of america. A lot of money coming in. [bell] traders got the idea and the Dow Jones Industrial fell about 70 points on the news. Defending his trade policy earlier, President Trump tweeted, quote tariffs have put the u. S. In a very strong bargaining position with billions of dollars and jobs flowing into our country. And, yet, Cost Increases have thus far been almost unnoticeable. If countries will not make fair deals with us, they will be tariffed. The United States has already done so to 50 billion in chinese imports. China spawned hitting 150 billion in u. S. Imports with tariffs. Chinese officials are promising to match the latest 200 billiondollar round. China will have to take necessary Counter Measures to firmly defend its legitimate rights and interests. In july, the Trump Administration released nearly 200 pages of chinese imports it would target next like digital cameras, bicycles, fish, gloves and Christmas Tree lights. Apple sent u. S. Trade representative Robert Lighthizer a letter saying quote tariffs increase the cost of our u. S. Operations, divert our resources and disadvantage apple compared to foreign competitors more broadly tariffs will lead to higher u. S. Consumer prices lower u. S. Economic growth and other unintended economic consequences. Officials say the president has the option to increase these tariff rates from 10 to 25 . All this while the president says he has Great Respect for chinese president xi jinping. Administration officials indicate they are willing to negotiate with china though there are no talks scheduled. Bret . Bret rich edson at the state department. Rich, thanks. This is a fox news alert. We are just learning that a hearing involving the kavanaugh Sexual Assault allegation will be held by the Senate Judiciary committee one week from today. Monday of next week. Both judge kavanaugh and his accuser have indicated they their willingness to testify at some point. We are looking at a Major Development in washington and a hearing that will be much like one thinks the anita hill, Clarence Thomas hearings years and years ago. Again, judge kavanaugh and his accuser Christine Blasey ford now will take a public hearing monday, a week from today on capitol hill. Up next, well take another live look at the devastation from Hurricane Florence. First, beyond our borders tonight, the Russian Military says the missile that shot down Malaysia Airlines flight 17, killing all 298 people on boar board cae from the arsenals of Ukrainian Army not russia. It was hit by soviet missile over rebel held u. S. Ukraine in july 2014. The Ukrainian Defense minister calling the russian claim another fake report in moscows coverup. British Prime Minister theresa may is fighting back against opponents for blueprint for brexit. Parliament will have to choose her proposal and crashing out of the union. It is set to leave the eu may 29th. It remains divided how close economic relationship to seek with the eu. Public fears about sewing needles concealed inside straw enters were supermarket shelves australia and new zealand. Turning to metal detectors and as yo australia confidence. Six brands of strawberries have been recalled. Some of the other stories beyond our borders tonight. Well be right back. Geico has over 75 years of great savings and service. With such a long history, its easy to trust geico thank you todd. Its not just easy. Itsbeingamasterofhypnotism easy. Hey, i got your text sleep doug, when i snap my fingers youre going to clean my gutters. Ooh i should clean your gutters great idea. Its not just easy. Its geico easy. Todd, you will go make me a frittata. Bret as we told you earlier in the program the death and destruction from Hurricane Florence really becoming more evident tonight. There are at least 21 people dead now. One Economic Consulting team puts the financial losses at up to 22 billion. President trump says his administration will not rest until the recovery job is done. Lets check in now with correspondent Steve Harrigan live tonight in North Carolina. Good evening, steve. Good evening, bret. Hour after hour we are just watching this water rise and peoples backyards. That he was the Cape Fear River behind me. And thats where the flood is going. Its all heading towards faithvillefayetteville huge chuf debris trees its got to go somewhere. There are concerns this could cause catastrophic flooding when it winds up in fayetteville it could crest tuesday or wednesday. Look over here there are mandatory evacuation orders. Police are gone door to door to try to get people to leave. Not everyone is leaving. This family has made sandbags and they have moved their valuables upstairs to higher floors. They are going to try to ride this out. Evacuation here along the river is not easy. Any direction you try and go in, there are flooded streets, downed power lines. Downed trees. So getting anywhere often without gas, without g. P. S. , without electricity certainly many detours. Bret, back to you. Bret all right. Steve. Thanks for the update. On the other side of the world tonight, the death toll is higher. The devastation even more extreme from a massive i do fine thatyphoon that has ravaged parts of the philippines and moved into southern china. Benjamin hall shows you tonight. Digging desperately rescuers trying to reach a church obliterated when a mountain collapsed i collapsed e northern philippines. Inside 32 people sheltering with their priest. Now all are believed to be dead, buried alive under the mud. This is the work of category 5 super typhoon which tore through the far east earlier this week leaving devastation in its wake. 15th and strongest this year with wind speeds reaching 170 miles per hour. The typhoon has left at least 69 people dead in the philippines and china and its feared this number will double. Raging waters have destroyed 90 of the upcoming harvest. Meaning months of hardship ahead. The philippine president said it could have been worse. Thank god it was only this. It was not so severe as we had expected because earlier it was said to be far more powerful. On sunday it moves to hong kong where it was the most powerful tie Fox Business Network football ty. Global financial hub. Some water levels surged 12 feet. On to china request 2. 4 Million People were evacuated. As it now heads inland, it has weakened to a tropical. But rain and strong winds are expected to continue through tuesday. And only then will the true toll become clear. There is no meteorological difference between a hurricane and a typhoon. They are the same whether he phenomenon where they are different where they originate in the world either far east or north atlantic, North Pacific region. What is clear wherever in the world they form and we have seen it this week they cause untold suffering and devastation. Bret Benjamin Hall in london battle over Supreme Court nominee and sexual ahalt now a public hearing. We will discuss it with the panel when we return. Your hair is so soft did you use head and shoulders two in one . I did mom. Wanna try it . Yes. It intensely moisturizes your hair and scalp and keeps you flake free. Manolo . Look at my soft hair. I should be in the shot now too. Try head and shoulders two in one. [narrator] at athene, we think its time for the financial world to stop acting the same old way. In todays complex world, you need a partner that is driven to provide you with Better Solutions for these challenging times, one that is willing to disrupt the industry, and break free from conventional thinking. thudding we are a different kind of financial company. We are athene, and we are driven to do more. She clearly considers this an attempted rape. She believes that if it were not for this severe intoxication, Brett Kavanaugh, she would have been raped. She should not be ignored and insulted she should be heard but so should he. We want to go through a process and make sure everything is perfect. Everything is just right. I wish the democrats could have done this a lot sooner because they had this information for many months and they shouldnt have waited until literally the last days. They have you had have done it a lot sooner. Bret well, this is moving forward to a public hearing. Just receiving word within the hour senator grassley. Anyone who comes forward as dr. Ford has done deserves to be heard. My staff has reached out to dr. Ford they held a follow up call with dr. Ford to to provide ample transparency we will hold a public hearing monday to give these recent allegation as full airing. Dr. Ford, that he references res is Christine Blasey ford. She is the accuser who has come out. She is a college professor. And she is saying that she will tell her story publicly up on capitol hill judge kavanaugh has pushed back again saying its not not true. Lets bring in our panel brit hume a. B. Stoddard associate editor at real clear politics. Molly hemmingway Senior Editor at the politics and Chris Stirewalt author of the new book every man a king short colorful hearing of american populist. Its a great read. Thank you, sir. Bret thoughts. Its going to be a real ugly, contentious fraught space and the democrats have to be cognizant of overreaching but the republicans have to be very cognizant about not turning off offending people like Susan Collins people like Lisa Murkowski those votes could be affected here if they are not seen being fair and even handed with this accuser it will go very poorly. Bret context of election looming in a matter of weeks. Right. I have no idea who to believe and without getting into any of that democrats obviously questions about senator feinstein bringing it you up before this woman came forward and why is that acceptable . And then the democrats, there was a hearing today that Brett Kavanaugh was going to meet with judiciary members or top staff. Top democrats said they didnt want to go. Why not . White house i thought responded very well today in the president. Very smart to have open hearings. Three hours ago we thought the Senate Majority leader was resisting this idea and that would have been a huge mistake. That said, there is still time for the republicans, on that committee or in leadership to mess this up. And if they do not handle im going to echo what chris said, if they do not handle this well and give this woman her due, they will face a stampede on november 6th and possibly a democratic senate. Its a mistake they dont want to make. Bret brit . It looks to me from what we know now as if somebody is going to have to corroborate their own version of events somehow or we will end up with he said, she said and no one will be able to say the other is lying or telling the truth. Bret obviously two he saids here there is another person. That is true. Mark judge would have alleged to have been in the room he says he doesnt remember anything like that happening. That would be two against one. Of course he is being attacked because he had alcohol issues through the years so you can imagine how ugly that will get if it comes down to that where it cant be proven or disproven last time that happened was anita hill and Clarence Thomas. It was never successfully established that she was telling the truth or he was in denying her allegations of impoor sexual advances to her. And he got confirmed and he got confirmed by a senate 6644 democrat as opposed to this one narrowly republican. Back in those days as im sure you know bret centrist democrats. Arent there arent any of those anymore. Bret Brett Kavanaugh has put out a couple really vigorous defense and denials here he said this is a completely false allegation. I have never done anything like what the accuser describes. To her or to anyone. Because this never happened i had no idea who was making this accusation until she identified herself yesterday. Im willing to talk to the Senate Judiciary committee in any way the committee deems appropriate to refute this allegation from 36 years ago and defend my integrity. He says he wasnt even at that party. Right. This is why, in addition to the political implications i think this is a really interesting question of whether we want to be type of societies handles disputes this way. Its at odds what a gazillion people said about Brett Kavanaugh including people he dated at the same time this was alleged to have happened and in college the way it went down as ab very curious. Dianne feinstein chose not to bring it up any of the times she could have done it behind closed doors talking to him privately only orchestrating a big public leak making it less interested in justice. Democrats began this process saying they would do whatever it took to stop this nomination. I think there is an additional question about whether we think its appropriate that an allegation that can be neither proven nor disproven should be the basis for determining who goes on the Supreme Court or whether we should have a much higher standard for rule of law and how we handle important things like Supreme Court nominations. Bret here is the Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer on this womans credibility. I believe she is credible. A lot of my republican friends dont. What are they afraid of . Are they afraid she might be very persuasive . Well, if she is, its a whole different ballgame, isnt it . Bret chris, i mentioned with Jonathan Turley earlier if it goes down this road and the nomination is pulled, will democrats start impeachment on judge kavanaugh because if he is not eligible as a as they believe a Sexual Assault perpetrator for the Supreme Court how is he eligible for the Second Highest Court in the land. Im sure they would there is a serious consideration for democrats here that i dont think they have wrapped their brains and depletely. If they did succeed in getting the kavanaugh down and there is a vacancy on election day and joe marchen and Clair Mccaskill will say come on, schumer, you are not helping us here. Nobody more than those red state democrats wants this nomination complete, done and moved on if this linger overs it has political consequences for them. Bret does this open up the possibility that they now have a free vote to vote against kavanaugh and maybe they were going to vote yes but now they dont. I believe democrats no republicans vote i think thats a distinct possibility if all the republicans Stay Together and nominee is therefore guaranteed to be confirmed im sure schumer will say to the wavering democrats in tough democrats you could and cast the vote you need to take for purpose of your reelection. But, if a republican or two cracks, i dont think this nomination is going to be saved by democrats. I dont think there is the lightest chancslightest chance. Bret quick timeout. Talk more about the politics, timing and public hearing what that will look like after this. Waze integration seamlessly connecting the world inside. With the world outside. Making life a little. Easier. Introducing the wellconnected lincoln mkc. A town where almost half the population is selfemployed. This is stonington, maine, lobster fisherman is the lifeblood of this town. By 2030, half of america may take after stonington, selfemployed and without employer benefits. We havent had any sort of benefit plans and were trying to figure that out now. If i had had a little advice back then, id be in a different boat today, for sure. Plan your Financial Life with prudential. Bring your challenges. woman learned ao play second language. Applied to college. Applied for a loan. Started a business. Started a blog. Shared a picture. Shared a moment. Turn your wish list into a checklist. Learn more. Do more. Share more. At home, with internet essentials. No one in their right behind mind regardless of their motive would want to inject themselves into this process and face the kind of violation that she will be subjected to by those who want this nominee to go through. This is not a politically motivated action. In fact, she was quite reluctant to come forward and she was, in fact, outed after she had made the decision not to come forward. Bret Christine Blasey fords attorney talking this morning. A number have looked into her political past. She is a registered democrat donated to political causes according to the act blue progressive candidates. Signed on to physicians for human rights letter decrying for separation of children from their parents at the border. A. B. , this is not dispositive of saying this is motivated by politics. Her attorney dealt with that its one thing the accusations are one thing and how it was dealt with is another, i suppose. The idea that some left wing grassroots some motivated person would ruin their life over this to try to take the kavanaugh nomination down is crazy. That said, this is not like anita hill and Clarence Thomas. These were not workplace, some kind of harassment as adults. These are long time ago against a man who has, as mollie points out, he has had unquestioned integrity and character witnesses galore throughout his entire career. Has been vetted by the fbi six times and this has come up suddenly. It is true the reporting backs up what her lawyer said that she didnt intend to come forward. And was outed. But, i would still question why her story was brought forward before she decided to come forward and with the motivation thats behind that we dont know what these hearings are going to be like. We dont know what their stories are going to be like. As chris said, its going to be very brutal i think democrats and republicans on both sides need to conduct themselves in the most statesman like way possible because, as brit said, i do think, it might come dawn to we dont know who to believe. Bret subjective what you think about the testimony in this public hearing. The character witnesses that have spoken about Brett Kavanaugh and the fact that he has so far as we know completely unblemished record as far as his behavior toward women through time is concerned would be a great help to him. So i think that that will help him. The thing he has to worry about is that if the senators come to believe that something happened something has happened. He made such an emphatic uncategorical denial. Not the question so much whether he is really a sexual abuser. We are into the question whether is he credible. Thats huge. That is problematic. The problem is if he is so emphatic in his denials and people say maybe he was wine drunk and didnt remember. He was a kid. Basically thats a republican saying look, he is lying. What is he did wasnt so bad. If they Start Talking like that. Its going to explode on that. Bret on. Bret listen, mollie if he says he wasnt at the party it didnt happen. There is a recollection from 36 years ago, thats a problem for him. Moments ago senator flake said to our correspondent up there i would have voted know if next weeks hearing with kavanaugh and ford was not agreed. To saying he was going to. Collins came out and said the same thing had to have an opening hearing. I question whether there is the proper way to litigate allegations of this nature. There is no way if you take these things seriously if you take Sexual Assault seriously that you think having a hearing in front of a bunch of sneargts is a way to determine what justice is i there should be a conversation about whether we as a people think it is okay to make an allegation of this nature where have you not a lot of grasp of detail. You dont remember when or where it was you have some conflicting details about who was there and whatnot. Is this really appropriate . Is this really something that we think is a good way to handle important disputes . And we all know the real dispute is who is the next Supreme Court justice. Bret here is the question on the timing. Here is the majority leader today and the minority leader. We have reviewed the 300 plus opinions he has authored while serving on the d. C. Circuit. More pages of documents than have ever been produced on a Supreme Court nomination. We have heard testimony or received open letters from literally hundreds men and women who know judge Brett Kavanaugh. Now, at the 11th hour with Committee Votes on schedule after democrats have spent weeks and weeks scerching for any possible reason that the nomination should be delayed, now, now they choose to introduce this allegation. Senator feinstein did the right thing because when a woman is abused, it is her prerogative as to how, when, why, when if at all it should come out. Bret how much does that factor in to the calculation here . Look, its totally unbelievable wreaks to high heaven what democrats did with Clarence Thomas wait until the matter has concluded. Dianne feinstein was already in the senate by then. Wait until the matter is substantially concluded and then introduce the poison pill at the end. Whats different this time though and republicans have to bear this in miami mind, Clarence Thomas was very popular. His nomination was very popular. It had support of almost two thirds of americans. He was the first africanamerican nominee. They had the hearings gallup fortunately for us was polling, polling, polling throughout. After she testified, after anita hill testified, they didnt believe her. Voters by and large didnt believe her and thomas support was still strong. That gave republican senators and some democrats the chance to say hey, look, the people have heard. We have aired this out. They have done it they dont believe the allegations. Go ahead. I dont think thats what you are going to see this time. What you were saying there is quite remarkable in that she is the one who gets to choose how and when to bring this up. In fact, she never quite did choose to do that did she . Somebody knew about it and leaked it. And forced her hand which goes flies right in the face of what senator schumer is claiming thousand ought to be and how is he claiming it is. Make no mistake about it the 307 or however many are opinions judge kavanaugh wrote about which there were precious few questions during the hearings, they are really what the resistance of this nominee is because they portray him as a judicial, not necessarily a political but a judicial conservative what these Democratic Senators and allies and base want is a judicial conservative kept off the Supreme Court and all the rest of this stuff is secondary. Bret all right, panel, thank you, Martha Maccallum will be there special coverage of those hearings. When we come back, something very special happened 231 years ago today. Around him. For helen, just one visit to her local miracleear is all it took to learn how she can share more moments with her daughter. Just one free hearing test could help you hear more. Laughter. Music. Life. Call now for your free hearing test from an Industry Leader miracleear. If youre waiting patiently for a liver transplant, it could cost you your life. Its time to get out of line with upmc. At upmc, livingdonor transplants put you first. So you dont die waiting. Upmc does more livingdonor liver transplants than any other center in the nation. Find out more and get out of line today. And its also a story mail aabout people and while we make more ecommerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget. That your business is our business the United States postal service. Priority you bret finally tonight an ode to the u. S. Constitution schoolhouse rock. In 1787 im told our Founding Fathers did agree to write a list of principles for keeping people free bret still good 231 years ago today the United States constitution signed in philadelphia september 17th, 1787. Happy constitution day. Thats it for this special report, fair, balanced and unafraid. Here is martha. Martha i still refer to those songs in my head when i have to remember some parts of those. Thank you, bret, good to see you as always. A story exclusive tonight. You are about to hear from two women who knew and dated judge kavanaugh 30 years ago they want to speak out and they want to be heard to you this evening. They dual that moments away. Good evening, everybody. Im Martha Maccallum. We now know tonight there will be a public hearing. Judge kavanaugh and his accuser Christine Ford both say they are willing to testify before congress to tell their sides of the story. This is a road that we havent been down in some time it will be starkly reminiscent of this famous hearing which pretty much stopped the whole country in its tracks