Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh. The president fiercely defending judge kavanaugh, but insisting he is open to, you know, this fbi investigation, trying to shut down reports that his white house is working to try to narrow the scope of this investigation. He says hes fine if the fbi interviews all three accusers and judge kavanaugh himself. He also weighed in on kavanaughs drinking habits. I was surprised at how vocal he was about the fact that he likes beer. And hes had a little bit of difficulty. I mean, he talked about things that happened when he drank. I mean, this is not a man that said that alcohol was absolutely that he was perfect with respect to alcohol. So if he did lie about his drinking, does that mean youll pull his i dont think he did look, heres what. Im just saying, im not a drinker. I can honestly say i never had a beer in my life, okay . Right. Its one of my only good traits. I dont drink. Wherever theyre looking for something good, i say, ive never had a glass of alcohol. Ive never had alcohol, just, you know, for whatever reason. Can you imagine if i had, what a mess id be. I would be the worlds worst. But ive never drank, okay . But i can tell you, i watched that hearing and i watched a man saying he did have difficulty as a young man with drink. The one question i didnt ask is how about the last 20 years . Have you had difficulty in the last 20 years . Because nobody said anything bad about him in many, many years. They go back to high school. The president didnt stop there. At times, he was entirely disrespectful to specifically female reporters. He was trying to hold off kavanaugh questions for as long as possible. Lets go straight to, im told, senator jeff flake is speaking. Lets listen. And im that 11th republican. I had leverage there. And i felt that my friend chris coons on the other side of the aisle had just made an impassioned plea to have a short, limited time duration fbi investigation. And i thought, theres no reason we shouldnt accept that. We dont do bipartisan things in the senate very often anymore. But i felt it was important to do this. And so i pulled chris out of the hearing, we talked about it, we brought some others in. And we were able to make that arrangement. And right now, the fbi is investigating. And thats a good thing. We ought to have more information, not less. [ applause ] can we shoot through one more photo . Thats a tough day. And one more photo after that. This, of course, being one of the more most viral things yes how much incredible, incredible moment. How much did those two women affect you . Well, it was that experience, as well as a lot of others. I got calls and emails and texts from women who i never thought id hear from in this regard saying, heres what happened to me when i was young. Heres what happened to me 30 years ago. It just its an experience that ive had. I know chris coons has shared that hes had that experience. And i can tell you, a lot of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle have had the same experience. What dr. Ford said really emboldened a lot of women to come forward. And that experience was im not sure any of my colleagues had one quite like that, but all of us have had experiences like this in the last week. So you obviously found, you know, he saw your comments after you found dr. Ford credible. So how could you at least tentatively vote to confirm judge kavanaugh knowing that you found dr. Ford credible . Well, those who heard dr. Ford, everybody, i think, on my side of the aisle and the other side of the aisle said that she offered compelling, credible testimony. And then Brett Kavanaugh came on and made an impassioned, very raw defense and rebuttal to what was going on. And so and that was, that was seen as very effective, as well. And ive said before, you know, it some people were turned off by the rawness of it, the anger, but i said at the time, had i been, what i felt was unjustly accused, thats probably how i would have responded, as well, so i dont know how and i had said the day before on the floor of the senate, we may not have anymore certainty after the hearing. And thats how i felt. Theres a lot of doubt still. Thats why it was important to have the fbi do more investigating and have more information, not less. So lets talk about the fbi investigation. The New York Times has reported that there might be limits in terms of how many people were interviewed. The new yorker just published a story last night, cowritten by ronan farrow whos an honoree about how some people want to speak to the fbi cant figure out how to do it. Does that concern you . We certainly want the fbi to do a real investigation and we are working to make sure that that happens. Ive had discussions many yesterday with my colleagues, with the White House Councils office, my staff is following up, as well. I had one of those conversations just five minutes ago, to make sure that the that any current, credible allegation that has been made is fully investigated. And will you consider to will you continue to say youll vote no if the fbi investigation is not to your liking . Well, well certainly, in the next couple of days, be having dialogue with the white house counsels office, making sure that it is up to standard. And it does no good to have an investigation that just gives us more cover, for example. We actually need to find out what we can find out. And we have to realize that we may not be able to find out everything that happened. This is something that was a while ago. Some witnesses or potential witnesses may not want to cooperate. But for those that can and those that we can compel to cooperate, weve got to do a fulsome investigation. Did, um obviously, judge kavanaugh was very, you know, quite angry during his testimony or impassioned, depending which side of the aisle youre on. Did you find it too partisan . Mentioning the clintons, and there were some democrats saying, could we even get a fair shake if he was a Supreme Court justice, with as someone who forges compromise, did that bother you . I didnt like some of the more partisan references and the tone, particularly the interaction with some of my colleagues, with amy klobuchar, that he came back and apologized after a break. I dont like to see that. You feel that maybe you give him a little more leeway, i think i did, because of what he was being accused of. And as i said, if i felt that i was unjustly accused, i cant imagine that i would act differently than that. So, yeah, im not i dont want to politicize the court. The Supreme Court is one of the last bastions of trust of an institution with which americans have trust. And the senate, as an institution, is having issues, as well. And thats why chris coons and i felt that it was important to hit the brakes here and to make sure that we can give, one, our colleagues more confidence, that weve done all of the investigating. Two, the country needed to see this, as well. That we had taken this very seriously. The move with senator coons, the compromise, which, again, led to the fbi investigation, why havent you used that more . When the senate is so split, and before the passing of john mccain, it literally was a onevote swing, why havent you used that leverage more . You know, its its tough. Theres just no incentive right now, politically, to reach across the aisle. When you do, it ends up in your opponents campaign ads. And the its a shame. It really is. Because the institution of the senate, which really the rules are set to foster compromise. The filibuster rule, requiring 60 votes, that means youve got to reach across the aisle, because its very rare, its only been once in a long, long time that one party has had 60 votes. So you have to reach across the aisle. And we just havent done it. I felt so strongly a few years ago about it that we needed to prove the republicans and democrats can get along that im literally marooned myself on a Deserted Island in the middle of the pacific with Martin Heinrich, a democrat senator from new mexico. And we, with no food, no water, just survived for a week. We managed to do so, we got back here, went around to talk about bipartisanship and how its needed, why its needed. This was in 2014. And Stephen Colbert ran a clip on his show of us trying to spear fish and starving, he said, jeff flake and Martin Heinrich proved once and for all, republicans and democrats can get along if death is the only option. So for what its worth, weve empirically shown that compromise and working together can work, theres just far too little of it in the senate. Now, very publicly, you did not support President Trump, you did not vote for him. What does it feel like right now to be somebody, you know, the republicans arent happy with you, a lot of democrats arent happy with you. What does it feel like to be kind of a man without a country . Thats what it feels like. It does. No, i could never warm to the president. Long before he ran, he talked about president obama not being a citizen. I thought that, itself, is disqualifying. You cannot do that. And then talked about john mccain in a derogatory way. And then talked about mexicans in a derogatory way. And i just think that weve got to do better than that. We cant refer to of our opponents, political opponents on the other side of the aisle as losers and clowns. We have too big of issues to solve in this country than to just be partisan all the time. Well, i dont think again, i dont think anybody would disagree with you. So the question is, were looking at an audience, people who are under 30. They have seen nothing but government dysfunction in most branchs of government. Looking at them, what can you tell them about why they should have any faith right now in u. S. Government . Well, i think that young people have to engage when you look at some of the big things, issues weve got to solve, Social Security, health care, these are things that young people need to be concerned, because Social Security may be around for me, but it certainly wont be around for you if we dont solve it. So it behooves all of you to be involved, all that you can. As a republican, i look out and see weve got to broaden our appeal. In 2012, after mitt romney lost the president ial election, we did what we called an autopsy of our party and its policy and determined that we had to appeal to a broader electorate and not just drill down on the base. And unfortunately, got thrown in the garnbag. Yeah, weve been driving down and drilling down on the base and that only takes you so far. There are a lot of nevertrump republicans who are actually rooting for the democrats to take control of congress, theyre trying to break the fever of the gop. Whats your take on that . Well, i think that that is the case. There is a big concern among a lot of republicans, traditional republicans, who believe that limited government, economic freedom, free trade, strong america, american leadership, and they see the policies that come out of the white house and say, you know, wheres our party . This isnt us. And theyre looking, yearning for a more decent politics. For people to get along and to compromise where needed. Stand for your principles, yes. But understand that compromise is not a dirty word. So whats the future for the Republican Party . Whats the path forward . I think the path forward is to return to that model. We saw a lot of it and were reminded of it in the past couple of weeks, with john mccains funeral. And to hear about how he and john kerry, they just talked about it, worked on vietnam, in my time, ive worked with democrats to engage with cuba, thinking that, hey, if we want to bring them closer to democracy, we ought to engage with them and show American Values there, instead of shun them. So on a number of issues, but on the real big issues we need to solve, that cannot be solved just with one party, not even a party with 60 votes. Youve got to have both parties. Im reading your book, conscience of a conservative, and its quite all right, the man of the hour here, this is senator jeff flake, republican of arizona. Not running for reelection. Speaking at this forbes 30 under 30 summit there in boston and we just had to eavesdrop, because this is the reason why hes one of the members of the Senate Judiciary committee who stood up, as we all watched on friday, after that initial vote and raised his hand and essentially after speaking with his democratic colleague and friend, chris coons, said, hey, we need to we need to satisfy folks on the other side of the aisle, and really a lot of people overall, and get this thing investigated. Thus the fbi investigation now into ford and kavanaugh. So i have with me, dana bash and david chalian. And dana, you know, i just think its fascinating, jeff flakes role in all of this. And is this, just listening to him and his, you know, measured responses, is this a guy auditioning to run for president . Oh, boy, maybe. That certainly has been the thinking since he said that he was going to leave the senate. We should add, leave the senate because he saw the numbers and it was clear he was not going to win his own republican primary, for the reasons he was just discussing there. That he hasnt been tribal, that hes never been a fan of President Trump, and he President Trump is very popular among republicans in jeff flakes home state of arizona. So, you know, well see. But in the shortterm, he is probably one of the most powerful men in washington, president or not. And understands that and the understanding of that power became Crystal Clear to him, as he was just describing, when, as the 11th member of the Judiciary Committee, he stood up, went to talk to chris coons, and made this plan to have this investigation going forward. About the investigation, the fact that flake just said, br k brooke, that he does want the investigation to kind of go for them to follow the leads that they get, is noteworthy. However, i was also told a short while ago, that as part of the conversations that launched this investigation on friday, flake was one of those participants, of course, that Mitch Mcconnell told the white house that what those key republican senators wanted to be investigated were these credible claims, but specifically, to interview four people. To interview mark judge, leland k keyser, p. J. Smyth, and debora ramirez, another woman who says that she at yale college university, sorry, says that she has another allegation against him. And thats it. So the question is, how quickly are those conversations going to go . And whether or not those interviews are going to lead the fbi to wanting to follow up with other interviews and other people . Yeah, no, i want to dig a little deeper. Thats your reporting on the republican side and were also hearing from the Senate Judiciary democrats and all the people they want interviewed for this fbi probe. But staying on jeff flake, if i can, david, just for a moment. I thought it was noteworthy that senator flake said he wants a more thorough investigation, his phrase, we ought to have more information, not less. And he said, not an investigation to just, quote, give us cover. What did you think of that . Yeah, and so, and that comports with danas reporting here of where the tension exists, right . That the and you heard the president in the rose garden, very clearly, on the scope of this investigation, wanting to sort of hand it off to the senate. But now the president was sounding somewhat expansive in the rose garden. That he would like to see Brett Kavanaugh interviewed. That he thinks, you know, maybe all three women who have come forward should and could be interviewed, if the senate deemed it credible and if the senate deemed it necessary to get the information they needed. So theres this little distance thats going on right now, where jeff flake launched this process, where the Senate Republican majority trying to constrict it and limit it to just what they think can get done in this week, to give those three critical senators the information that they need to move forward, and yet, we have this other into pennsylvania avenue coming in, to not want to look like they are putting their hand on the fbi investigation too much. So i dont think were done fully understanding just where the scope of this investigation will be when we get to the end of it, brooke. To answer your question about jeff flakes president ial ambitions, i want to note, this was in boston, this event. This evening hell be in new hampshire, the first of the nation primary state. David and dana, stand by. Were going to get a quick commercial break in. I have more questions for the two of you. Were getting new information. Dana is reporting out great stuff, too, on the fbi investigation into kavanaugh, what shes hearing from republicans, we also have what were getting from democrats. And also ahead, the president s surreal, surreal News Conference earlier today about drinking, the accusers, and this mysterious threat against a democratic senator. Who the heck was he talking about . Were back in just a second. Welcome to the place. Where people go to learn about their Medicare Options before theyre on medicare. Come on in. Youre turning 65 soon . Yep. And youre retiring at 67 . Thats the plan its also a great time to learn about an aarp Medicare SupplementInsurance Plan, insured by Unitedhealthcare Insurance Company. Heres why. Medicare part b doesnt pay for everything. This part is up to you. A Medicare Supplement plan helps pay for some of what medicare doesnt. Call Unitedhealthcare Insurance Company today to request this free decision guide. And learn about the only Medicare Supplement plans endorsed by aarp. Selected for meeting their high standards of quality and service. This type of plan lets you say yes to any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. Do you accept medicare patients . I sure do so call unitedhealthcare today and ask for your free decision guide. Oh, and happy birthday. Or re