Frid friday. One thing for sure, the senate will vote on judge kavanaugh here on this floor this week. And flying solo, the first lady taking her solo trip to the africa and trying to present a better face to a continent famously slurred by her husband. And good day, everyone. Im Andrea Mitchell in washingt washington. Fbi agents are moving to next phase of the Background Investigation into federal judge Brett Kavanaugh. After political pressure got the president to expand the probe. Now, questioning is being completed on the four people on the original witness list and three people that the dr. Christine blasey ford says that were at party where she was sexu sexually sas saulted. And Debra Ramirez is the second woman to accuse him of Sexual Misconduct. And kavanaugh has repeatedly denied any misconduct. And the instructions to the fbi from the president have not changed the message to supporters in tennessee last night about his Supreme Court nominee. He is a good man. Great student, great intellect, and never had a problem and all of the sudden, oh, lets go back to high school, and we will see how it all works out, but i will tell you that they are trying to destroy a very fine person, and we cant let it happen. We cant let it happen. And the Republican Leaders still insisting that whether the judge lied about the high school and the drinking in college should even be relevant to the confirmation. And now, joining me is National CorrespondentPeter Alexander and msnbc security analyst brett fashionl faglisi, and mimi rocha, an attorney from the Southern District of new york, and Ashley Parker from the washington post. And so, peter, kick it off and tell us where the president is right now, and we have heard from Mitch Mcconnell as well, because while expanding the fbi investigation, it is not as far a the democrats are incesting it should go. No, that is right, andrea. We hope to see the president shortly and he is traveling out of town tonight, and going to pennsylvania in a short while from now and that mean wes will have an opportunity to ask him question questions on the south lawn, and he is going to be prezed with the new detail wes are learning about Brett Kavanaugh. And right now, new details they have finish withed with the attorney representing mark judge. Mark judge is the friend of Brett Kavanaugh in high school who Christine Blasey ford says was in the room during the Sexual Assault in the 1980s, and the fbi interview which begun yesterday has been completed. She would not discuss any further details about the content of the conversation. As for dr. Ford, spoke to a member of her legal team within the last few minutes, and dr. Fords team is telling me that she has not been contacted or interviewed by the fbi, and when i pressed the president yesterday in the south lawn, and perhaps the rose garden, and i have forgotten, but whether or not the three individuals, the three accusers should be interviewed. He did not say he was as certain about julie swetnick, the woman represented by michael avenatti, but he said that the two other women should be, and it is not clear at this point if dr. Ford has been interviewed which is importa important, because beyond what the senators have asked about and the prosecutor rachel mi mitchell asked about, there are other details that she could share about other details that could help in terms of the process. And lets talk also about what jeff blake is saying. He is saying at a conference right now at the atlantic media, and he is seeming to be expanding the whole question as to whether lying about drinking should be relevant. Lets watch. The interaction with the members was sharp and partisan and that concerns me. I tell myself, you give a little leeway because of what he has been through. But on the other hand, we cant have this on the court. We simply cant. So that is to judicial character and the sharp interactions were about high school and college drinking, and the questions asked. And mimi rocha what does the fbi do now and should the character beyond the Sexual Assault questions if they cannot be corroborated and the witnesses cannot validate what dr. Ford said, should these other issues which came up in the hearings, and most importantly, the responses to the senators the way he reacted, and the belligerence in the responses to the questioning on last thursday and should that be part of what the senators decide in the voting . Andrea, 100 . His demeanor and the temperament and the reaction no the questioniquestion i reaction to the questioning, needs to be take into consideration, and puts a side the allegations of the truth or not truth or what is proven or not, and how he conducted himself. The political nature of his statement, and the political rage fran u cli is just completely unbecoming of someone who is going to be sitting on the Supreme Court. And Supreme Court justices of course they can have political views, and of course, political backgrounds, and that is going to happen, but they have to be capable, capable of being objective and fair and letting people feel and parties who are appearing before the court feel that they are going to be judged in an objective manner, and that is almost the very definition of justice. I really believe and i think that many other legal analysts, and frank people that you dont have to be a legal analyst to have seen this, that Brett Kavanaugh showed himself as someone who really seemed incapable of showing that kind of objectivity, and that is very disappointing and sad if we are going to politicize the Supreme Court in this way now. And there is another issue now which is his honesty, and this not a case of whether you could prove perjury in the testimony, but i want to show you an exchange which is becoming very controversial in the last 24 hours of his responses to orrin hatch about when he first learned about Debra Ramirez allegations in the new yorker article. When did you first hear of ms. Ramirez allegations about you . In the last period since then that the new yorker story. So, Ashley Parker, nbc news and heidi presbyla said that there were Text Messages to his college mates, and asking questions about this the before the new yorker published the allegations, and does that impugn his sbeg ri the or credibility for truthfulness . Well, it is frankly going to depend which member or senator that you are asking on the whole. Good point. And the democrats think absolutely, and the republicans on the whole think that not necessarily, but there is only three senators who matter in the three republicans senators, and that is something that leader mcconnell recognizes, and it is basically senator collins, senator flake, senator murkowski, and what the others think is not to say unimportant, but frankly unimportant, and this is one of the reasons early on talking to the white house that they have always said that time is of the essence, and even when they are trying to be sort of more conciliatory and more deferential no the concerns of the democrats have or the concerns of the handful of the republicans who hold his fate in the balance and you have is heard the president say publicly that we need to get it over quickly, and that is the sense, and the right sense that the longer it drags out, the more that may come out that is damaging to judge kavanaugh, and as you said, it is not necessarily the original accusations of the is Sexual Assault and misbehavior, but other details here or there that lead to him being too partisan or immupugning the credible, an that is what they were trying to avoid in the process. And frank paglisi, you have conduct conducted the background checks in the past, and this is not to be made public, and are people going to be satisfied the go to the white house and to the Senate Majority or the minority. It is a time that calls for absolute transparency, and no, i dont think that people are going to be satisfied, and the concerns valid. Look, andrea,ly strongly caution everyone not to think that this socalled expanded scope somehow has given the fbi free rein. This is why the transparency is needed. Even from the white house today to say that this is what we have told the fbi that they can do and cant. There is every indication, andrea, that it is still very limit limited to existing allegations of Sexual Assault and at the expanded scope has moved simply to allow logical interview leads flowing from the accusers, and thats about it. My sources, and my information is that we are not going to see drinking, abusive alcohol, perjury before congress, attempts to find the house in bethese da, a bethesda and t attempts the go back to college. And the clues to key in on with s senator murkowski is that the fbi has been told to do what is a standard background within the parameters that we have given them, and that is a clue that it is not a fullcourt press by the fbi. And so you said that yesterday before the president and the white house indicated that they were giving them expanded authority, and you said that the fbi is basically handcuffed, and that is still the case as far as you are concerned to the original allegations. The handcuffs have fp been loosened, but still on and the white house has the keys to the handcuffs handcuffs. And pete alexander, the white house is certainly not yield ing to the the pressure to go become into high school and to go back into whatever they are, the drinking issues are, and we have the yale College Teammate and friend talking about a bar episode, and police were involved. How relevant should that be . Well, it is a good question to raise, andrea. What is striking me is to pull back the curtain on the experience here at the white house, and i know that ashley spends a lot of time talking to the same individuals. In the conversations with Brett Kavanaughs allies in the recent days, i am struck by the tone. They are asking me routinely, what have you got . Any other detail and what are you working snon there is a sense that there could be more, other details and whether it is other allegations of the Sexual Misconduct or what it means. Yesterday for the first time overnight from the New York Times we learned about details of a bar brawl that took place when he was in college, and one of his friends is accused of hitting someone with a glass, and kavanaugh is accused of throwing ice which some of the allies say that he was throwing ice at a bar fight in college. And it is fitting the broader idea of a pattern and make you sort of reconsideri the way tha you view the nomination. And so the white house says that they want it done quickly and they like that he does not have the hand on the Steering Wheel here in many ways ash and in the mercy of not the Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell, but the limited number of senators including collins and jeff flake, who he is not that close with who are undecided and carry the key to his confirmation. And ashley, parker, is it credible for jeff flake after everything that they have been through, and the fbi has said it is okay, and not press hard for some of the other character issues to to be examined. Again, that is a question for senator flake. One thing that is interesting and why everyone is watching him is because he has on a number of issues often will make a lot of noise, sort of act in this kind of the mavericky way and then ultimately vote the party line. So i think that people are waiting to see here what he is going to do, but it is interest interesting the comments of him saying that he wanted the allegations of the Sexual Misconduct looked into, but lying, itself, it would be disqualifying, and that is going to add another problematic layer of of misconduct for judge kavanaugh. And not only that, but still bothered by the stolen emails back in the 2000s and what they think is fundamental to the character of this man from the democratic perspective, and it is not going to go away, but from what we heard from Mitch Mcconnell today, they are barreling ahead no the vote to friday. Thank you all. And in the mud, the republican leader coming out swinging gaiagainst the democra and we will have the reaction of a top dem grocrat account on th judicial committee. Im Andrea Mitchell, and stay with us here on msnbc. 10. 9. Guidance is internal. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. Discover. O. I like your card, but im absolutely not paying an annual fee. Discover has no annual fees. Really . Yeah. We just dont believe in them. Oh nice. You would not believe how long ive been rehearsing that. No annual fee on any card. Only from discover. Democrats mishandling of dr. Fords letter opened up the floodgates for this deluge of uncorroborated unbelievable mud. And the mudslide was cheered on and capitalized on at every turn by the far left that has been so eager to stop this nomination. Just politics, i dont think so. And Republican Senate leader Mitch Mcconnell today escalating the attacks against the d democrats as he is pushing ahead for the floor vote this week, and that means by friday on Brett Kavanaugh and even as the key are republican senators who are considered swing votes remain on the fence they say. Joining me now is Democratic Sen hi and the former chairman of the judiciary and now a key member of the judiciary, and senator, good to see you and thank you for joining us. Good to be here. I wanted your reaction to Mitch Mcconnell, because the investigation is only in the second or the third or the fourth day at most, and they have yet to interview some key players including dr. Ford. So why is he now saying that there is going to be a vote this week, friday, you nknow no mattr what else, they are going on with the votes. This is one of the moes inkrcredible selfserving commes they have heard in the senate and i have been here a long time. This is a man who held up marek garland for a year. Marek garland who was somebody who would have been confirmed with an overwhelming vote by republicans and democrats and held up for a year, and suddenly, we haswrwe have to mo forward in a week. Here is blaming democrats . And judge kavanaugh is the one who is accused of a sexual attack. Judge kavanaugh is the one who is accused of being not truthful to the committee, and judge kavanaugh is the one who is accused of letting his drinking get out of control, and then not, and then in doing things that he shouldnt. Those are not democrats, but that is senator mcconnells nominee nominee. I wanted to drill down on something, because with were just talking to frank, who is a former member of the fbi, and he says that the sources in the bureau are saying that they are pretty much handcuffed, and yes, more witnesses, and followup witnesses can be interviewed, but the issues are the initial galgations of dr. Ford of the sexual attack and not lying or drinking and not whether he was rude or showed belligerence to senators is such a adds yourss and that the parameter of this, and all that is going to be considered before you go to the vote . It is a big mistake to put handcuffs on the fbi. If you will excuse the analogy to say they cant really investigate this. They have the ability to the investigate the whole thing. It is not the matter of if he drank as a youngster, but it is a question of whether he was truthful to the committee. He was under oath. Hes seeking confirmation to a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court, and one of nine people there, and one whose appointment could affect the credibility, the actual credibility and standing of the u. S. Supreme court for years. Lets take the time to get it right. I was in vermont this past weekend, and everybody i talked with whether republicans or the democrats said why the hurry . What are they trying to hide . I was a prosecutor and when i was a pros ecutor, i wanted to get all of the fact, and if it took a extra few days, then get them, and take the extra few days. This trying to rush through and trying to limit the investigation, and you have to ask what are they trying to hide . I am trying to figure out with what the appropriate threshold should be, because when we talk about him either misstating the facts or claiming ignorance or lying to the committee, not to level of perjury, and we are not talking about a Legal Standard of proof here, but character, and honesty, and being an officer of the court at the highest level. I wanted to show you an exchange as well as the demeanor and the exchange with you last thursday. Senator, lett me take a step back and explain, ugh, high school. I was number one in the class and freshman and i thought that only the senate no, no, i want to talk about this and how about and i want to talk about my High School Record and if you r are going to sit here and mock me. I think that we were all very fair to dr. Ford, and shouldnt we be just adds fair to mr. Kavanaugh. I busted my butt in academic s. Does this reflect what you are, this yearbook . Your focus of academics and the e respect of women, and it is easy yes or no and you dont have to filibuster the answer, does it reflect your focus. I said that the yearbook in my Opening Statement is obviously wait a minute. He has asked the question, and