Transcripts For MSNBCW The Last Word With Lawrence ODonnell 20181005

For now the schedule is procedural vote until tomorrow morning. If they do get 50 final vote by late saturday. Its hard to imagine republican senators relish holding this open any longer than they absolutely have to. But every day something new comes up, and whatever happens well all be here covering it tonight. Now its time for last word with lawrence odonnell. Good evening, rachel. And theres this thing weve seen many times in the senate where some people will stand up there and say im voting for closure, meaning i am voting to end the debate, but it does not mean i am going to vote positively at the next stage. That pretty much never happens in confirmations, but weve seen a lot of firsts in this one so far. Could you imagine any senators im trying to imagine the argument that would lead a senator to do that. The argument is the belief that the nominee or the bill in some cases deserves an actual up and down vote. And i am willing to proceed it to a nonvote. In fact, a lot of senators used to do this a lot of the time in the past. Its a very common thing. You never took the closure vote to mean the guarantee on what the next vote would be. It was simply senators saying, well, of course, this should go to a final vote. And so thats also a possibility here. And it does feel like every day this story takes another twist, this nomination takes another twist. There is a new either external or intrinsic nafactor that we werent factoring in, and so this is real news time. And youre right, Mitch Mcconnell is really worried about a welding in montana this weekend. Once again tonight Brett Kavanaugh has broken sharply with the tradition of Supreme Court nominees and has decided to make another Public Statement outside the Judiciary Committee hearing room, which is usually the only place we ever hear from a Supreme Court nominee. His first break from tradition was to go on and defend himself against dr. Christine blasey fords allegation. It was a strange performance on fox news that raised more questions than it answered and was the first time that Brett Kavanaugh lied about the drinking age in maryland being 18 when he was an 18yearold senior in high school. Tonight Brett Kavanaugh has taken to the oped page the rupert mer dock wall street journal to own an explanation for his tone in last weeks Judiciary Committee hearing which was criticized today in unprecedented remarks by john paul stevens, one of americas four retired justices of the Supreme Court who are still with us. Justice stevens comments about Brett Kavanaughs complete collapse of judicial temperament in that hearing might have been the final trigger that forced the white house strategists to deliver Brett Kavanaughs oped piece to the wall street journal tonight. Lets listen to what retired Justice Stevens said today in florida about what he saw in the hearing room last week. And this came today when Justice Stevens was speaking it came right after extended praise that he offered for Brett Kavanaughs years as a federal Appeals Court judge. In fact, Justice Stevens was especially pleased that Justice Kavanaugh approvingly cited Justice Stevens dissent in a deciding case that Justice Stevens fully supports. So in saying hes a fine, federal judge, those were his words, a fine federal judge, Justice Stevens then said this but i think that his performance during the hearings caused me to change my mind. I think theres several commentators, larry tribe among them was a constitutional professor at harvard, have written pieces in which they suggest that he has alienated he has demonstrated a potential bias and enough potential lit gaens he would not be able to perform his full responsibilities. And i think his merit in that criticism and senators should really Pay Attention to it. For the good of the court its not healthy to get a new justice that can only do a parttime job. John paul stevens was a lifetime republican when he was appointed to the Supreme Court by republican president gerald ford. Republican senator jeff flake was also bothered by Brett Kavanaughs historyonics at the hearing. I was very troubled by the tone of the remarks. It went on and the interaction with the members was sharp and partisan, and that concerns me. And i tell myself you give a little leeway because of what hes been through, but on the other hand, we cant have this on the court. We simply cant. And tonight Brett Kavanaugh is promising that we wont have this on the court. Writing in tthe wall street journal, he is saying that the person we saw in the Judiciary Committee last week will not be the person we see on the court. Brett kavanaugh wrote Going Forward you can count on me to be the same kind of judge and person i have been for my entire 28year legal career. Hardworking, even keeled, open minded, independent and dedicated to the constitution and the public good. Brett kavanaughs piece arrived at the end of day in which hida height camp announced she was voting against Brett Kavanaugh for two reasons. First she believes Christine Blasey ford, and second she believes kavanaughs tone and behavior in the hearing last week demonstrated he is not fit for the United States Supreme Court. We will have more about senator heitkamps decision later in this hour. Brett kavanaugh did not apologize for his conduct in the hearing room last week. Instead he offered words of explanation without an apology. Saying, i was very emotional last thursday, more so than i have ever been. I might have been too emotional at times. I know that my tone was sharp and i said a few things i should not have said. I hope everyone can understand i was there as a son, husband and dad. Which leaves open the question, what are the things that you should not have said . One of the most alarming things that Brett Kavanaugh did say was actually in his written Opening Statement. It was premeditated, and it was when he plunged into a rightwing Rush Limbaugh conspiracy theory. This whole twoweek effort has been a calculated and orchestrated political hit fueled with apparent pentup anger about President Trump and the 2016 election, fear that has been unfairly stoked about my judicial record, revenge on behalf of the clintons, and millions of dollars in money from outside leftwing opposition groups. This is a circus. And as we all know in the United States political system of the early 2000s, what goes around, comes around. And the man who wrote that, the man who announced very proudly that he personally wrote that statement himself word for word tonight has a piece allegedly written by him in the wall street journal that says, at times my testimony both in my opening entertainment and in response to questions reflected my overwhelming frustration at being wrongly accused. My statement and answers also reflected my deep distress at the unfairness of how this allegation has been handled. And so the Trump White House authorized a desperate last minute explanation for the conduct that Justice Stevens today found disqualifying for the Supreme Court, a court that he served on for 34 years. Conduct that jeff flake objected to. But because this is the donald Trump White House, of course, there is no apology in the oped piece. Donald trump would not allow an apology. And so is this what jeff flake needs . Will this work for republican senators Susan Collins or Lisa Murkowski . A promise by Brett Kavanaugh of who he will be, as he put it, Going Forward . Were supposed to see that in a confirmation hearing. Who this person will be Going Forward. Thats what the hearing is for. Retired Justice John Paul stevens who is 98 years old and theres only two people in the history of the court who have served longer on the court than john paul stevens. John paul stevens has been able to see every televised Supreme Court confirmation hearing in history. And he has seen enough of Brett Kavanaugh. A judge who he once admired. And after seeing Brett Kavanaugh in that hearing room last week Justice Stevens decided today to take his place in history as the first former Supreme Court justice to ever publicly oppose the confirmation of a nominated Supreme Court justice. And Justice Stevens said that he was offering his opinion today, quote, for the good of the court. Leading off our discussion now lisa graves, former chief counsel for nominations for the democrats on the senate Judiciary Committee and a former Deputy Assistant attorney general. Also mimi roca, an msnbc legal contributor, and ambassador wendy sherman, global contributinger. And she helped anita hill make her way through the senate process during the Clarence Thomas confirmation. Author of the new book not for the faint of heart, lessons in power, courage and persistence. I am not aware of any former Supreme Court justice taking a public position in opposition to the nomination of a Supreme Court justice. If it happened it happened somewhere in a distant history im not aware of it. Im not aware of it either. And i think Justice Stevens has talked about in his writings as a judge and beyond about the really crucial role of the Supreme Court as an impartial tribunal for the rule of law in this country. And for him to call out judge kavanaugh is really significant. And as you point out, lawrence, the fact is these were his prepared remarks. These were premedicated. These were baseless, really baseless charges of partisanship that were intended to erase the testimony of dr. Ford. And to suggest that his anger was somehow evidence of his innocence, and he also has made this sort of crocodile tears claim that he was constrained to not speak. Clearly he can speak whenever he wishes and he speaks almost entirely through rightwing Media Outlets whether its fox news or the wall street journal, thats how he chooses to speaks. And 16 of those years were as a rightwing political operative before he became a judge. What we saw was a mass falling and revealing who he is and who he will be on the court, and thats a stain on the court if hes confirmed. You know that demeanor is a huge component of what youre doing in that room. People have to know that theyre going to feel confident in trusting you in a role like under secretary of state where youre going to be and were in the negotiations with iran over their nuclear program, youre going to have to be trusted with secrets, all sorts of things. And yes, competence, knowledge but demeanor is everything. Demeanor is everything. I mean, how do you lose sight of that . How can a moment come in a confirmation hearing where you lose your grip on what you know they want to see . Indeed, i think that kavanaugh thinks that his righteous indignation shows that he is innocent, and i think his righteous int righteous indignation is hes trying to divide us and them to say that Christine Blasey ford is Something Else than a real human being and hes the person who has standing. It is quite frankly often a very male approach to power, that righteous indignation. And the president has tried to use that to completely push us apart. We arent apart. We all care about our sons, we all care about our daughters. But what is so critical and was in the time of anita hill and hasnt been heard this time either, im sorry to say, is the pain, the suffering and the humiliation that Christine Blasey ford has had to live with all of her life. Justice stevens made a distinction between Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh today. Lets listen to that. Theres nothing that clarence did in the hearings that disqualified him from sitting in cases after he came on the court. Hes a very, very decent and likable person. And you cannot help but like Clarence Thomas, which i dont think necessarily would be true of this particular nominee. We all remember Clarence Thomas in the hearing. We all knew that he was angry and we also knew that he was containing his anger to some degree. And if he felt falsely accused the anger of course is understandable. But what he never did do was raise any kind of political reference to to anything that the democrats were doing in that hearing. Right, and thats the difference that Justice Stevens is talking about. And he referenced i think professor tribes article that he had written about why he believes Brett Kavanaugh is sort of disqualified, cannot sit properly on the court now. And its because he was so partisan that how can there are so many cases that will be before him that have as their parties in the case a political nature or a political affiliation. How could anyone who is is not affiliated now with a conservative bend or Republican Party think theyre going to get a fair shot in front of him . And the very definition of a judge of justice is people actually having a fair shot and actually believing that, right . We need people to have faith in our judicial institutions, and the only way to do that is if people think that the judge is going to be objective and look at the facts and not rule from emotion. And thats what Brett Kavanaugh showed himself really incapable of doing. Hes all emotion. And justified or not, you cant do that as a judge. And lisa, it seems that the oped piece tonight is almost a rushed answer to Justice Stevens today. Certainly they none of us saw this coming from Justice Stevens. This was actually a long scheduled minor event in florida where he was scheduled to speak because a friend invited him to. But the person interviewing him said it felt very deliberate that Justice Stevens wanted right off the bat in that interview, which i watched in its entirety, wanted to get out there and make this statement. And it seemed the white house realized theres got it be a response to this. It certainly does seem like a scramble to get this out and use the wall street journal as a vehicle to do it. And also its the case that judge kavanaugh is facing virtually unprecedented opposition by law professors from all backgrounds, right, left and middle because of his temperament, because of his behavior at the hearing last week or a week ago. And i think that what you see now is a nominee who has in essence besmirched himself through his actions. And thats even setting aside the record of him lying under oath in his previous hearings about other serious matters. And so by any objective measure this nomination would be in serious trouble. Unfortunately, were in this time of tremendous partisanship where people arent being heard and even witnesses arent being interviewed by the fbi as part of what should have been a really thorough investigation. And wendy, Heidi Heitkamp today, senator height kachl actually cited Brett Kavanaugh in the hearing, and she said she believed dr. Ford and dr. Fords testimony in her view was enhanced. This must be why theyve decided we really do have to respond to it. Yes, its really quite extraordinary. The wall street journal article, this being raised by other opinion leaders, mcconnell coming out as hard as he possibly can in support of kavanaugh, really trying to say but, you know, lawrence, the very fact they did this wall street journal article means theyre nervous, that theyre not sure theyve got the votes. So well see what tomorrow brings. Thank you for starting our discussion tonight. Todays profile in courage in the United States senate. A look at senator Heidi Heitkamps decision to cast a vote against Brett Kavanaugh, which could end her senate career. Thats how chancy that vote is. And well take a closer look at the fbi investigation that wasnt really an investigation. It was literally the least the fbi could do. Least the i fbcould do ngs were made for Better Things than Rheumatoid Arthritis. 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Don woman nother 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. We dont know tonight whats in the 46 new pages that the fbi gave to the United States senate today after its reopened Background Investigation of Brett Kavanaugh. But we do know the fbi did not make a serious attempt to investigate the reported attempted rape described by dr. Christine blasey ford because the fbi interviewed only nine people, and we only know who six of those people actually are, but most importantly we do know that the fbi did not interview dr. Ford or Brett Kavanaugh, the two most important witnesses in that investigation. No republican senator has expressed any dissatisfaction yet with the fbi investigation. Many democrats have objected to it. Dr. Fords lawyers sent a letter to fbi director Christopher Wray today saying the investigation conducted over the past five days is a stain on the process on the fbi and on our american ideal of justice. Joining our discussion now john heilemann, National Affairs analyst for nbc news and msnbc. Cohost and executive producer of show times the circus. And mimi roca is still with us. Are you picking up any dissatisfaction with the fbi investigation at all . Not really. I think if you got some people in some very private moments everyone would kind of have acknowledged this was not a Serious Investigation of the kind you were going to do if you were really trying to find the truth. This point has been made by some fbi people and some exfbi people and currently over the past week. And i dont believe those who pushed for this investigation ever intended it to be an investigation that would be full and amply enforced and ambitious in its tactics. I think on the republican side at least for most of them they were looking for cover. And that is what they think, at least they think theyve got the cover they need to vote yes. And mimi roca, former federal prosecutor, youve worked with the fbi on real investigations. What should they have done even within the realm of Background Investigations . Lets acknowledge its different from a criminal investigation that youre directing that could take years or months with a criminal investigation the fbi is running usually. Right. And the main difference between the criminal investigation and a Background Investigation is that a criminal investigation the fbi really would have free rein to follow leads and do what it does best. Here they were literally turning away witnesses that showed up at the offices. The fbi does not normally do that. What would normally happen . Because all these yale roommates and yale friends of Brett Kavanaugh were struggling all around the country actually to try to get their stories to the fbi. And they had sworn statements that some of them tried to physically bring to the fbi. What would the normal resetativity of that be at an fbi office . From nigh experience is the fbi is looking into something and the public knows the fbi is looking into it, first of all they put up tip lines. Second of all if someone shows up at the office or calls they may listen to them. They may find its not credible and never do any followup, but from my experience they will hear them out and see if theres anything to followup. The reason so many of these people are coming forward and writing articles and speaking to the press, the oped today with his ram mates, kavanaughs roommates or drinking buddies saying, you know, he cant say he didnt drink to the point of not remembering because we saw him. Why are they doing that in an oped or in an opinion piece because the fbi didnt hear them out. And that is just strange to me. That relates to ramirez claim. But that is pure but that is something that should have been followed up on if youre going to do a thorough investigation. And why didnt they tuque the therapist on fords claim. I would have talked to every person she had previously told back before all of this began. Those are called prior consistent statements and they actually carry a lot of weight in the law and in evidence. This isnt a criminal trial, but if they carry weight in criminal law, they should certainly carry weight in establishing someones credibility in a Background Investigation. The bottom line is there are so many ways to get more at was she telling the truth, which by the way a lot of people thought she was after they heard her, and thats gotten erased. And most importantly they really needed to do a probing questioning of kavanaugh. He has not had that. That hearing was not a questioning. It was essentially him giving a written statement but orally. I didnt do it, i never did it but thats it. He was not pres said on it. He was not tested with facts about the drinking, which is relevant to the central issue of because if he admits that he drank too much, he cant say for certain that he didnt commit this assault. So its all tied together. Yeah. And john, that point mimi just made about Brett Kavanaughs minimizing of his drinking is crucial to his defense because he cant admit he has any memory lapses because that opens up a theoretical window to does he have a memory lapse about dr. Ford. And so we have his friends from yale going to a point of having to get together, write an oped piece they say we each asserted that brett lied to the senate by stating under oath he never drank to the point of forgetting what he was doing. They all drank with him in college, they all saw him get to that point and beyond. And given the number of people that have now come forward, the number of people publicly taking to forums like you just described and others, television, magazine reporters, newspaper reporters, other people to try to get their stories out is that it does point to one of the calculations that Mitch Mcconnell and his friends on the republican side of the senate have made i think maybe in error, can is they believe and they have a lot of reasons to believe this over time. That getting judge kavanaugh into the court will bring this to an end. In the end that all that matters is winning. If they get to 50 and get mike pence, and get him on the court, this will all go away. I think as a political matter that may not be true. And what may happen in the weeks ahead putting aside the larger questions is judge kavanaugh potentially impeached by a Democratic House if democrats take back the house, which could happen just between the story and midterms, this will not go away. We may have more news and television segments done on it, so the political damage could continue well beyond even if they do successfully get him on the court on saturday. But one of the things Mitch Mcconnell has preceded on forever is he never pays a political price for process violations. And so this fbi investigation, the way in which this whole thing has been handled that is an internalized belief of his. So well see whether or not that turns out to be true. But he has a lot of history behind him that tells him that do whatever you need to do in terms of process, take all those complaints and get the w on the board. I want to close this segment by giving the last word on Brett Kavanaughs drinking to his yale roommate. Lets listen to what he had to say. It surprised me a lot to hear him say that he never blacked out because i would be in that room and he would come down and he was slurring and yelling and making loud noises. And, you know, yeah, very drunk. John heilemann, mimi roca, thank you for joining our discussion. Were going to take a quick break here. Judge kavanaugh has opened a new gulf between republicans and the truth. He thought it couldnt get any bigger. Truth. He thought it couldnt get any bigger and muscle pain. Only aleve targets tough pain for up to 12 hours with just one pill. Aleve back muscle. All day strong. All day long. With tough food, your dentures may slip and fall. New fixodent ultramax hold gives you the strongest hold ever to lock your dentures. So now you can eat tough food without worry. Fixodent and forget it. Its a revolution in sleep. The new sleep number 360 smart bed is on sale now, from 899, during sleep numbers fall sale. It senses your movement, and automatically adjusts to keep you both comfortable. It even helps with this. So you wake up ready to put your pedal to the metal. And now, during our fall sale weekend special, the queen sleep number 360 c2 smart bed is only 899. 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Police dont get called for arguments that happen in bars. Police get called for fights that happen in bars. Theres a big difference. But what Mitch Mcconnell obviously believes is that any accurate description of what we know about Brett Kavanaughs proven out of control drunken behavior in high school or college hurts kavanaughs chances for confirmation. So Mitch Mcconnell cant bring himself to say one honest word about that. Joining our discussion now ron klain, and he was also a former chief of staff to vice prests joe biden and al gore. And lisa graves, also former Senate Staffer of the Judicial Committee is back with us. And Mitch Mcconnell cannot handle the truth on this one, so he has to take everything and mischaracterize it, minimize and describe it as something it wasnt. This is the contagion of the trump era. The president lies and makes other republicans lie. The president s lies led to judge kavanaughs toxic performance before the Judiciary Committee last week where he was really trying to appeal to trump not to pull his nomination. And today you see Susan Collins and jeff flake saying that that fbi investigation was quoteunquote very thorough. Well, it was a lot of things but theres really no human being who believes it was very thorough. We just got a contagion of lying spreading through the Republican Party launched by donald trump, and others are just following along in his example. Lisa graves, im wondering since jeff flake was the one who stopped the train and really forced this investigation, im wondering if jeff flake sees this investigation and an insult to him. Because this really is Mitch Mcconnell making sure that the investigation was literally the least that the fbi could do. Its hard for me to imagine that a senator who had a serious demand would accept a result like this in response to his demand. Well, it really makes you wonder because last week i and others were applauding him for saying we needed to have this followup investigation and yet his remarks today indicate that he found this investigation to be thorough even though it plainly is not. I would be surprised if jeff flake is willing to go along with approving Brett Kavanaugh and letting there be basically an asterisk of ilegitimacy. And ron, the wall street journal oped tonight under Brett Kavanaughs name is going straight at the temperament issue. Thats what the whole oped is about. Theres a lot of blather in there thats irrelevant. But it all comes down to those lines that about this, saying this is who im going to be from this point forward. And that is aimed at jeff flake, who is one of the republicans who voiced a real problem with the behavior that he saw from Brett Kavanaugh in the hearing room last week. Well, thats right, lawrence. But i think as your guest said earlier tonight the problem isnt that that appearance before the Judiciary Committee was not who Brett Kavanaugh was. The problem was it is exactly who Brett Kavanaugh is. And he let his partisanship show. I dont mind him being angry. I understand why he was upset by the circumstance he was in. But in a premeditated statement he attacked the democrat, leftwing groups, he attacked the clintons. Theres no way that people can get fair justice for had Supreme Court if Brett Kavanaugh is the swing vote on that court. We just saw Brett Kavanaughs yale roommate on video, on television saying that, yes, of course there were times when he was blacked out drunk. Lets go back to the hearing room to see the way Brett Kavanaugh handled that question and his demeanor in the face of that question. So youre saying theres never been a case where you drank so much that you didnt remember what happened the night before or part of what happened . Youre asking about blackout. I dont know. Have you . Could you answer the question, judge . Just to you, thats not happened . Is that your answer . Yeah, and im curious if you have. I have no drinking problem, judge. Lisa, its hard to think of a worse answer. I dont think youd actually script a worse answer for him. And i think that thats precisely why hes doing this late mea culpa. If he was really sorry he would have apologized last saturday or last week. Hes doing it on the brink of this vote because theres so much unjustified we all noticed when he came back from a break he did apologize to senator klobuchar on that particular exchange. He was advised it needed to be fixed as best it could be actually in that hearing room that day. Thats right. That is the difference. We all say things we regret and in that case judge kavanaugh apologized. What he said at the confirmation hearing, his Opening Statement wasnt something he regretted. Its something he did on purpose to rally republican voters, to rally donald trump. And now on the eve of the vote he may need an extra vote or two, hes willing to write an oped to get that vote back. Thats trying to have it both ways in being a partisan in that hearing and just trying to get over the finish line. Ron klain and lisa graves who have more experience in hearings of Supreme Court justice. And coming up, one of those rare moments in the United States senate today. A profile in courage. E today. A profile in courage youre headed down the highway when the guy in front slams on his brakes out of nowhere. You do, too, but not in time. Hey, no big deal. Youve got a good record and Liberty Mutual wont hold a grudge by raising your rates over one mistake. You hear that, karen . Liberty mutual doesnt hold grudges. How mature of them. For drivers with accident forgiveness Liberty Mutual wont raise their rates because of their first accident. Liberty mutual insurance. Liberty. 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The liberal mob and their media allies tried to ruin a good man with smears. You have replaced advice and consent with search and destroy. Judge kavanaugh fought back clearing his name, defending his honor. Now senator heitkamp has a choice. Stand with President Trump, judge kavanaugh and all who thought this was a National Disgrace or stand with them. Tell Heidi Heitkamp youll never forget how she votes. Polls show Heidi Heitkamp trailing in her Reelection Campaign to her republican challenger. But she said she kept politics out of her decision. , you know, the easiest thing in the world for me would have been take a yes vote, get this over with. That would would presumably be make my path to reelection easier. I didnt come here to do the easy thing. I came here to do the right thing. Senator heitkamp offered two reasons she is voting against Brett Kavanaugh. The first is that she believes dr. Christine blasey ford. I believe dr. Ford. I believe her story. I found her testimony to be incredibly credible. And i found his presentation to lack the impartiality and the judicial temperament that i have come to expect from a Supreme Court justice. Politically brave votes are rare in the United States senate. Sometimes years pass without seeing one from either party. Today senator heitkamp had another senators words in mind when she made her decisions. When you make decisions about what youre going to do in your life, history will judge you but more importantly youll judge yourself. Here is the full text of that passage of a 1966 speech by senator Robert Kennedy that senator heitkamp quoted today. History will judge you, and as the years pass you will ultimately judge yourself. On the extent to which youve used your gifts to lighten and enrich the lives of your fellow man. In your hands is the future of your world and the fulfillment of the best qualities of your own spirit. Heidi heitkamp might lose her senate seat because of her vote on this nomination. She knows that. She is prepared for that defeat. But for the strong defeat is never the end of hope. And there is no better example of that than the one given by Robert Kennedy in the one speech that he ever delivered in north dakota in 1963 when he was the attorney general of the United States. Bobby kennedy traveled to bismarck to deliver a speech to the National Congress of american indians, and he ended that speech with a quote from chief joseph of the nez tribe. It was a speech chief joseph gave at the most difficult time in his life in 1877 when he surrendered to the United States army. In that darkest moment chief joseph chose optimism. He described what america could be if he and his people were allowed to be free in their own land. 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But now i book at hilton. Com, and i get all these great perks. I got to select my room from the floor plan. Very nice. I know, im good at picking stuff. Free wifi. Laptop by the pool is a bold choice. And the price match guarantee. How do you know all this . Are you like some magical hilton fairy . Its just here on the hilton app. Just available to the public, so. Book at hilton. Com and get the hilton price match guarantee. If you find a lower rate, we match it and give you 25 off that stay. In my experience, for most politicians, this is a trick question. What would you not do to win an election . They dont really have an answer, most of them. Today we discovered the answer to that question from heidi hide camp. She will not cast the easy political vote for a north dakota senator. Instead, shes going to vote against the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh. Wendy sherman is back with us, and wendy, when i see votes like this, it really stops me because it is so rare and in this case so important. You know, weve all talked about who is going to be the next john mccain. Who is going to be the person who have an independent mind. And i certainly didnt agree with senator mccain on many, many issues. But when he put that thumbs down on the health care vote, that was courageous. He was courageous obviously in many ways in his life. What heidi high camp did today was courageous. Whats really sweet is her brother, in talking about it said, when she brushes her teeth in the morning very north dakota. When she brushes her teeth in the morning she wants to be able to look in the mirror and know that its her and who she is. And i give her enormous credit. There are going to be lots of pundits who said she did this for political reasons. Theyre going to say she knew she was going to lose so she threw caution to the wind. I dont believe that at all. I believe she did it because she has heard from so many Sexual Assault victims for all the reasons she said in her comments, and my understanding is that her website tonight is exploding, that her fundraising has gone through the roof, and none of that i think that will be great and id love her to be back in the senate obviously. But shes got to feel tonight authentically herself. And you cant be more powerful than that. And the back room truth that the public doesnt really know about this is that within the party, the democratic leader of the senate or republican leader of the senate for that matter, always wants the senator to cast the vote that will get her reelected. The most important thing is having that democratic seat. Thats more important to the democratic leader of the senate than the outcome of any particular vote including this one. And so they definitely are freon these votes. They can go in whatever direction they want. Yeah, totally matters to the leader what people are going to do. What i think is so tragic about this whole thing besides the personal cost to dr. Blasey ford and all the victims out there, and i feel for Brett Kavanaughs kids and his wife this is tough going, this is tough going. But what really matters here is where were headed and who we are and what were about. The quote that you used from the chief, were all part of one country, were all part of one family. This is what i think heidi height camp had in mind, a larger cause bigger than herself, whats real and important. Wendy sherman, thank you for joining us for this important discussion tonight. Tonights last word is next. What do you look for when you trade . I want free access to research. Yep, td ameritrades got that. Free access to every platform. Yeah, that too. I dont want any trade minimums. Yeah, i totally agree, they dont have any of those. I want to know what im paying upfront. Yes, absolutely. 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We have seen celebrities come to the senate to testify, but we have not seen celebrities get detained or arrested by for protesting at the senate, and today that happened to amy schumer, who happens to be the cousin of the minority leader of the United States senate chuck schumer. And we have never seen that happen before, that the cousin of the minority leader is detained and arrested in the senate by the Capital Police while protesting the actions of the United States senate. That is tonights last word. The 11th hour with Brian Williams starts now. Tonight, just hours away now from the first critical vote on Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court, he shows up in the wall street journal tonight where he admits he might have been too emotional at times, while over 2400 law professors have now signed a letter saying he has no place on the court and a former Supreme Court justice agrees