Good morning. It is tuesday, september 18th. Im ayman mohyeldin. Republicans called for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey ford, the woman accusing him of Sexual Assault, to testify publicly next week at a hearing that could potentially determine the fate of his nomination. Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley announced the hearing will be next monday after fellow republicans called for an open examination of the allegations. Grassley said his staff tried reaching out the ford, but democrats refused to participate in that process. Gop leaders had initially signalled their preference for telephone interviews with kavanaugh and ford, but Senate Democrats rejected that plan, saying the seriousness of the charges merited a full fbi investigation. Republican susan collins, a key swing vote in the senate, pushed for both to testify under oath telling reporters that the truthfulness of kavanaughs testimony could put his nomination in jeopardy. If judge kavanaugh has lied about what happened, that would be disqualifying. Thats why its so important that we have testimony under oath with a lot of questions asked of both of them. Mondays hearing will delay the Judiciary Committees planned vote on kavanaughs nominati nomination. Meanwhile a white house official tells nbc news that kavanaugh and his team are calling key members of congress, including members of the senate Judiciary Committee, to do damage control after the Washington Post revealed fords allegations. Senator hatch told reporters this about their conversation. When you spoke with judge kavanaugh, he denied being at that party in question when you spoke with him . I believe he did, yeah. What did he say exactly . Well, if i recall it correctly, he wasnt even there. So what do you make of that . Well, i believe him. A white house official confirmed to nbc news that kavanaugh says he was not at the party in question. Kavanaughs attendance has not been corroborated. He has firmly denied the allegation of Sexual Assault since it emerged last week. President trump weighed in on the controversy. While trump maintained his support for kavanaugh and criticized Senate Democrats, he said he remains confident in the senate process. I wish the democrats couldve done this this a lot sooner because they had this information for many months and they shouldnt have waited until literally the last days. They should have done it a lot sooner. But with all of that being said, we want to go through the process. One thing i will say is that, as i understand it, judge kavanaugh spent quite a bit of time with senator feinstein and it wasnt even brought up at that meeting and she had this information. So you would have thought certainly that she would have brought it up at the meeting, not wait until everything is finished and then have to start a process all of again. With all of that being said, we want to go through a full process. I have great confidence in the u. S. Senate and their procedures and what theyre doing and i think thats probably what theyre going to do. Theyll go through a process and hear everybody out. I think its important. I believe they think its important. I want him to go in at the absolute highest level. I think to do that you have to go through this. If it takes a little delay, it will take a little delay. It shouldnt certainly be very much. Trump also shut down speculation that kavanaughs nomination was in trouble or that he had offered to withdraw. Do you know if hes offered to withdraw from the process . Next question. What a ridiculous question that is. [ inaudible question ] do you think his confirmation is on trial . I think hes on track, yeah. I think hes very much on track. If they delay it a little bit just to make sure everybodys happy they want to be happy. I can tell you, the republican senators want to be 100 happy themselves. In an unprecedented move, presumptive nominee is using the power of his office to order the director of National Intelligence and the Justice Department to immediately declassify materials into the Ongoing Investigation into russian interference in the 2016 election. The move relates to 20 pages part of a secret court order and demands the release of interviews with bruce orr. President trump also ordered the release of unredacted Text Messages of former doj and fbi officials whom he regularly criticizes on twitter including james comey, andrew mccabe, peter strzok, lisa page as well as orr. The white house said the order was made at the request of a number of committees of congress and for reasons of transparency. The Justice Department said that it has begun the declassification review process to ensure the safety of National Security interests. A u. S. Official told nbc news that the agencies would not be able to conduct a Damage Assessment on the Text Messages because there are too many of them. Lets talk a little bit about mitch mcconnell. Hes in a very crucial position right now. His role in the whole judge kavanaugh confirmation hangs in limbo because of these assault allegations. Tell us a hibt more abolittle b. For mcconnell, he sort of had to take the temperature within his own conference as well as particularly the republican members of the Judiciary Committee to figure out what the Judiciary Committee should be doing and what the senate needs to do Going Forward in dealing with the kavanaugh nomination. Had this vote gone forward on thursday as was expected at the Judiciary Committee, i think the reality is that that vote was not going to be successful. Once you have senators like ted cruz were not talking about moderates here necessarily. But once you have a senator like ted cruz who is saying, look, i believe that these accusations whether or not theyre credible, we need to find that out. And certainly thats sort of the position that mccome wnnell was. If youve got even the more conservative senators asking questions, you really cant push forward be the vote. Let me ask you about the president being uncharacteristically subdued about this saying he wa do yo think that masks a bit of concern over the future of Brett Kavanaughs confirmation . Its a long time between now and next monday when these hearings are supposed to be taking place. So it may well be that there is actually more concern about what might occur between now and then. But the other thing, of course, too is that this was sort of a more reserved venue for President Trump to make those comments. I think we that we all need to also be looking out for what he says. Thursday he has one of his Campaign Style rallies in las vegas. Whether or not the message is a little different to the trump faithful. Thats a very good point. Thank you. In the carolinas, the flooding disaster continues in the wake of what is now tropical depression florence. Many rivers are on the rise following the storm surge and record breaking rainfall. The death toll from the storm has now reached 31. 25 of those were in North Carolina, five in South Carolina and one person in virginia was killed yesterday when a building collapsed during a tornado caused by the remnants of florence. The storm has washed out roadways and shut down highways, giving residents in some cities like wilmington, North Carolina, no way in or out. Rescue crews continue to search for and save those who have been trapped by the water. This morning more than 300,000 are still without power in North Carolina. Meteorologist bill karins will have much more on the forecast coming up in just a little while. President trump is escalating americas trade war with china, announcing after markets close new tariffs on billions of dollars worth of chinese goods. Specifically the administration imposed 10 tariffs on 200 billion worth of chinese imports which are effective starting september 24th, with the rate going up to 25 at the end of the year. That is in in addition to the 50 billion worth of tariffs already in effect, meaning that roughly half of of the good china exports to the United States are subject to duty taxes of some sort. Beijing is responding by imposing its own new tariffs on 60 billion worth of america exports and its considering restricting the sales of materials and equipment vital to u. S. Manufacture supply chains in this continue. All of the products china sends to the United States per year could be subject to additional tariffs. The president addressed the situation yesterday before the announcement while making several false statements about americas farming and soybean industry. I have a great xi. I was over there for two days with him. I have a lot of respect for china. Last year we lost 375 billion in deficits. So chinas not paying us billions of dollars in tariffs. Hopefully well be able to work something out. Has to take care of our workers. We cant have them pinpointing our farmers because they think that weakens me a little bit. Farmers are incredible patriots. They understand whats happening. The markets were closed to them. Vast markets were closed to them and the farmers have been hurting for 15 years. If you look at soybeans pricing before the election, for five years it was cut in half. Were just going to have to charge them when they sell their products to us. And our treasury will take in tremendous amounts of money, which is great for our country. Its jobs, a lot of other things, a lot of taxes coming to us. Now to one of the only bipartisan victories on capitol hill earlier this year. A sweeping bill to fight the Opioid Epidemic passed the senate yesterday. The 8. 4 billion legislation is made up of 70 bills in a single package. The bill requires the fda to prescribe drugs in smaller quantities and incentivizes the National Institutes of health to prioritize nonaddictive painkillers. The house passed a similar bill back in june. The next step is for lawmakers to hammer out a compromise bill that can pass both claimers. The cdc estimates that 72,000 americans died from drug overdoses last year. New in the russia probe, special Counsel Robert Mueller has asked for a sentencing date for former National Security advisor Michael Flynn. Plus we have all the winners and losers from last nights emmy awards. [announcer] the typical vacuum head can struggle with large debris and stuckon dust, so shark invented duoclean, replacing the front wall with a rotating soft brush. While deep cleaning carpets, two brush rolls pick up large particles with ease, make quick work of stuckon dust, giving hard floors a polished look, and fearlessly devour piles. Shark duoclean technology, designed to do more on carpets and floors, available in corded and cordfree vacuums, and only available from shark. This is a story about mail on carpets and floors, available in corded and packages. And its also a story about people. People who rely on us every day to deliver their dreams theyre handing us more than mail theyre handing us their business and while we make more ecommerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget. That your business is our business the United States postal service. Priority you im ready to crush ap english. Im ready to do what no one on my block has done before. Forget that. What no one in the world has done before. All i need access, tools, connections. Highspeed connections. Is the world ready for me . Through internet essentials, comcast has connected more than sixmillion lowincome people to lowcost, highspeed internet at home. Im trying to do some homework here. So theyre ready for anything. Welcome back. Lets get a check on your weather now with nbc meteorologist bill karins. Good morning. We continue to watch the heavy rain now from florence or what was florence moving through the northeast. Overnight we had flooding on highway 79 in the Southern Tier of new york. We had a water rescue overnight because of florence in southern new york. We had a lot of heavy rain in the baltimore area. Youre still under a Flash Flood Watch and well still having areas all the way to boston and providence with 23 Million People under Flash Flood Watches. Its pouring right now around albany and schenectady and troy. These are the thunderstorms that rolled through baltimore, then they head eed through philadelphia. If youre on the i95 corridor through upstate new york, definitely bring the umbrella and be prepared for slow commutes. Heres the rainfall forecast. Some of the heaviest rain will be in the southern mountains of New Hampshire and the higher terrain. Providence possibly two inches. Other areas that we could see some airport delays, chicago and minneapolis. This is the beginning of fall air, but it is still summer from denver to oklahoma city. Dallas, 95. Even into tomorrow it stays very warm in st. Louis and throughout much of the south. No sign of any fall weather yet. Lets switch gears and go out to tinseltown. Tvs biggest stars took home top honors at the 70 th annual emmy award last night. Amazons streaming series lived up to its name. Four emmys for rachel brosnahan. The series creator won for writing and directing. My panic room is going to be so pretty. Another first year comedy, hbos barry earned best actor for bill hadar. Tonight i got to clear the table. Game of thrones won best drama and and Peter Dinklage won. And westworlds tandy new on the newton won. Im going to quit while im ahead. Because i want to call you my wife. He proposed to his girlfriend as a world wide audience watched on tvs biggest night. Some incredible moments there. What did you think . I love seeing betty white out there, 96 years old. She looks incredible. Also that marriage proposal. And how about Henry Winkler . Hard to imagine he won his first emmy after all these years. Still ahead, milwaukee brewer yellage does something nobody has ever done in major league history. And t a hotel can make or break a trip. And at expedia, we dont think you should be rushed into booking one. Thats why we created expedias addon advantage. Now after booking your flight, you unlock discounts on select hotels right until the day you leave. Addon advantage. Discounted hotel rates when you add on to your trip. Only when you book with expedia. So shark invented duo clean. While deep cleaning carpets, the added soft brush roll picks up large particles, gives floors a polished look, and fearlessly devours piles. Duo clean technology, only from shark. Until i held her. Managing my type 2 diabetes wasnt my top priority. And fearlessly devours piles. I found my tresiba® reason. Now im doing more to lower my a1c. I take tresiba® once a day. Tresiba® controls blood sugar for 24 hours for powerful a1c reduction. woman wed been counting down to his retirement. It was our tresiba® reason. He needs insulin to control his high blood sugar and, at his age, hes at greater risk for low blood sugar. Tresiba® releases slow and steady and works all day and night like the bodys insulin. vo tresiba® is a longacting insulin used to control high blood sugar in adults with diabetes. Dont use tresiba® to treat diabetic ketoacidosis, during episodes of low blood sugar, or if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. Dont share needles or insulin pens. Dont reuse needles. The most common side effect is low blood sugar, which may cause dizziness, sweating, confusion, and headache. Check your blood sugar. Low blood sugar can be serious and may be lifethreatening. Injection site reactions may occur. Tell your prescriber about all medicines you take and all your medical conditions. Taking tzds with insulins like tresiba® may cause serious side effects like heart failure. Your insulin dose shouldnt be changed without asking your prescriber. Get medical help right away if you have trouble breathing, fast heartbeat, extreme drowsiness, swelling of your face, tongue or throat, dizziness or confusion. man i found my tresiba® reason. Find yours. vo ask your Health Care Provider about tresiba®. Covered by most commercial Health Insurance and Medicare Part d plans. Welcome back. Time now for sports. To chicago more monday night football. The bears defense was reminiscent of their famed 80s sel selves. They sacked Russell Wilson five times in the first half. Still it was only a onescore game in the fourth when chicago picked off wilson and returned it 49 yards to the house for the touchdown. Seattle would add one more late score. In the end the bears were mightier and they win 2417. Cleveland browns josh dwgordon was traded yesterday to the new england patriots. The 27yearold has been plagued by Substance Abuse issues throughout his career and has been suspended multiple times by the league over the past four seasons. Lets hope he can turn it around. In a fete, Christian Yelich hit hit for the psyfor the cycl reds, becoming the first player in history