the past. susan will do what she thinks is the right thing. all the bullying and protesters outside her office is with supposed to meet with her today and she said i don t want you to go through this, rick. we ll meet next week. i m sure she s feeling besieged. and i m not sure that s a good strategy for them. i know you said we re being unfair because we re putting all the pressure on collins and murkowski and flake. but it s because they re undecided and they support abortion rights and both have cast themselves as not just partisan republicans. i want you to take a listen to some people in her office in portland, maine. cnn was there today. her staffers say they ve been flooded with calls and visitors who want to pressure her one way or another. i always thought of her as a moderate. i don t really believe that anymore, based on some of the things that she s been, you know, doing lately. i was appreciating her vote for
the survivor. dramatic moment where the protests are, in large part, colored his whole consideration up here on capitol hill. that aside, this story will end in the math. that is where republicans up here on capitol hill feel very confident tonight. their mood is very upbeat, especially after those comments by senator collins, senator flake. republicans very happy with the tone, saying it gives us a key window into their mind-set likely one day before this vote. the whole thing is a sham. reporter: with tensions on capitol hill boiling over as brett kavanaugh s fate hangs in the office. why don t we dunk in the water and see if he floats. reporter: significant reactions coming from two key senators after viewing that fbi report today? senator susan collins telling cnn it appears to be a very thorough investigation, adding, i ve not yet finished going through all the materials. senator jeff flake saying the
as the white households its breath into sexual assault allegations against supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh. raj shah confident the report doesn t back up claims made against kavanaugh. we believe all the senate s questions have been addressed. and the white house pushing back on chrisicism they limited the investigation. we allowed the fbi to do exactly what they do best. we haven t micromanaged this process. reporter: officials fully aware it will come down to crucial vote zpls we are fully confident after reviewing this information, senators will be comfortable voting yes. reporter: president trump started the week furious and frustrated by the delays in kavanaugh s confirmation. my family has been destroyed by this. reporter: now he believes that kavanaugh could be a rallying cry, helping republicans shore up much-needed support in the mid term elections, just weeks away. the president has hit the road
three times this week, with a fourth trip on his schedule to stump for vulnerable republicans. but the candidate he s campaigned the most for is his embattled extreme court nominee. in tennessee he said democrats are trying to bring his nominee down. he cast doubt on christine blasey-ford s credibility. how did you get there? i don t remember. how did you get home? i don t remember. where is the place? i don t remember. reporter: after claiming on twitter today that the av gnaw drama is having incredible upward impact on voters. so, jake, president trump predicting this will have a big impact on voters. of course, the vote is still up to those key senators. swrak? kaitlyn collins with the president in minnesota.
let s bring back congressional reporter for politico. clarence page columnist for the chicago tribune. one vote does make a difference, one guy, one person. it also really shows the power of this block of swing votes in this senate, in a 51-49 chamber, jeff flake was able to get together, and we have an indication they were talking about this last night to get this. about the fbi report. what was the smarts about him saying i ll vote the out of committee. he didn t become a nay vote. he became an affirmative demand vote. clarence. whenever you ve got a close vote congress like this one, it empowers the middle, and he s taking advantage of that now, and it also shows you what a senator can do who s not planning to run again. and he s taking advantage of that. he s not worried about the nine out of ten republican voters who backed trump on every single thing. that s why the other ones are hog tied. it is a big relief, but i was struck by, you know, a profile