harris: so, it s happening. the president meeting with senate republicans on capitol hill and, as the g.o.p. policy lunches going on, there is a new reaction to his primetime speech last night. he made his case for the border wall. the president did not declare a state of emergency, but did say today that he has the absolute power to do so. then, would act without congress by executive fiat. democrats are accusing the president of fearmongering. i think the president did a terrific job at laying out both what the nature of the crisis, but humanity humanitarian natil secured crisis you saw chuck schumer nancy pelosi and ross and i try to see in what s happening here. this could be resolved in a 45-minute meeting. i think the american people want it resolved. i think he made a speech
there s the right to the lbgq community. at the top of the list is healthcare. healthcare. this nominee will make the ability of americans to afford decent healthcare so much the worse. senator? thank you. dana: senator schumer talking about the supreme court nomination of brett kavanaugh. i want to go to chad pergram. you were listening to the senator. now we have heard from mcconnell and schumer coming out of the policy lunches. what do you think is happening on the hill, as this nomination gets under way? well, democrats are concerned about this, because you re looking at going from a 5-4 court to maybe 6-3 court. you look at some of the things that chuck schumer was referring to there, concerned about gay rights, concerned about healthcare issues, labor issues. that s a big worry for democrats. so far most republicans are onboard.
who s going to change precedent, it could be a career-ending move. senator cardin, do you agree with that assessment? if you re a democrat and vote no, do you risk ending your career in the democratic party? i think senator cantwell is absolutely right as to the consequences of this nomination. the president is looking at a list prepared by outside groups with the intention of changing the precedent of the court particularly as it pertains to women s rights and ro roe v. wa. this is an extremely important vote for every united states senator. we need to understand that we re talking about changing the direction of the supreme court for the next generation. so yes, i am concerned that the list the president is working on has been prepared by an outside group with an intended result. senator, can you take us behind the scenes of the democratic policy lunches. this has clearly been a difficult issue to grapple with, how to fight this nomination.
significant risk he is going to fire mueller. mcconnell s posture is interesting and not letting it go to the floor and contrast with how he let the senate intel committee proceed with their investigation. it is contradictory to where his conference is. that is one of the interesting dynamics to play out. you come out, they have policy lunches every tuesday. these republicans come out and you hear there is a significant amount of angst about this. primary season is about to be over and they re about to run a lot of republicans. only eight, but, still, they have to defend their seats and they re going to have to run as general election candidates. so, you look at where the tide of the country is and i think mcconnell is frankly out of step with where the electorate is. at some point, at some day, this is going to end. this is going to be over. this investigation is going to be over and there is going to be a conclusion. really? at some point. some day. some day it will happen.
seeing a difference behind the scenes with republicans? i think there is a growing concern and sense of alarm on capitol hill, i think you saw that yesterday in how they talked about putin s congratulatory call. bob costa, i know you did reporting on the meeting the policy lunches had on tuesday where they talked about bob mueller and the president s threats to fire bob mueller or apparent threats to fire bob mueller that generated remarkable concern. mitch mcconnell was stronger than i expected him to be to the point where chuck schumer said that was an act of statementsmanship when mcdonnell said mueller needs to do his job. that points to an increasing sense of alarm. the challenge now, nobody knows what to do about it. they have this bill that the democrats would like more than the republicans. willie? well, the president has the one issue that doesn t get into one issue, president trump s tweeted defense of his call with putin comes as more top