itself, today attorneys for christine blasey ford s whose allegation of sexual assault against kavanaugh sparked the entire background probe told nbc news the fbi has not contacted her. dr. ford has not even heard from the fbi. the fbi has completed its interview on mark judge, kavanaugh s friend who ford identified as being in the room when she was allegedly assaulted. an attorney for deborah ramirez who alleged kavanaugh exposed himself to her at a dorm party at yale said she spoke to the fbi for over two hours. at the end of the interview her lawyers provided the fbi with names and known contact information of additional witnesses totaling more than 20 people. we are not aware of the fbi affirmatively reaching out to those witnesses. they are not interviewing ford, kavanaugh and leads that they get. kavanaugh has denied both
the white house still expects a report delivered by the end of the week. i mention this is the seventh background probe for judge kavanaugh. the president wants the bureau to do the job thoroughly as long as they do it quickly. president trump: i want them to do a very comprehensive investigation. whatever that means according to the senators and the republicans and the republican majority. not a bad thing. i think it s a good thing. with that being said i would like it to go quickly. the f.b.i. should interview anybody that they want within reason. but you have to say within reason. they should interview but they should also be guided i m being guided, by what the senators are looking for. we re all familiar with the three people who have been named as those who have made allegations against brett kavanaugh. you see dr. kristin ford there yet to be contacted.
corroborate what she was saying. it s a very scary situation where you re guilty until proven innocent. reporter: so president trump is really filling the role of spectator in all of this. the senate holds all of the cards. the center of political gravity has really shifted to lisa murkowski, susan collins, jeff flake, three senators who i think it s fair to say don t have donald trump on their christmas card list, so he s sitting back and watching all of this unfold as are all of us. geoff, thanks for your reporting. while the fbi works against the clock to complete the background probe, nbc news reviewed portions of new text messages from a fellow yale classmate suggesting that kavanaugh and his team wanted to refute the story from his second accuser, deborah ramirez, before her story was published in the new yorker. ramirez was a classmate of kavanaugh s at yale. she claims he put his genitals in her face and he denies the
civility back to the white house. i m voting because i feel as though we need a real change and to make america really great again. well, will you be voting for the first time in november? post a video to instagram telling us what is motivating you to vote for the first time. use the #whyivotecnn for a chance to be featured on the show as well as cnn s instagram. very good tuesday morning to you. i m jim sciutto. i m poppy harlow. we re so glad you re with us. it s the top of the hour and we re on the top stories. so many witnesses, so little time. the finish line is in sight for the newly reopened background probe of judge kavanaugh, the top senate republican who is also kavanaugh s top booster said floor votes will get under way this week, regardless of where this probe goes. it s going to happen this week. in the meantime, agents from the fbi security division have virtual carte blanche from the white house to do interviews,
that s an interesting story. come see steve and i tonight. i will see you. i tweeted out that steve really understands politics and the divide in this nation. this new book the red and the blue is fantastic. good afternoon, i m ali velshi. it is a very scary situation. that is what president trump said about the current situation for his supreme court nominee, brett kavanaugh, has the fbi continues its reopened background investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct. whole the senate majority leader, mitch mcconnell, pushes for a vote this week to confirm judge brett kavanaugh, nbc news has received portions of text messages that show kavanaugh was working to refute his second accuser s allegations before they even became public. the fbi is racing to finish its background probe during the week. interviewing the four witnesses on the list before a senior official confirmed the white house was authorizing the fbi to