It is set for friday morning. Thats when Brett Kavanaughs accuser, dr. Christine ford, has to decide if shes willing to abandon her request for an fbi investigation and testify about the moment she says she feared for her life as a teen. Now, her lawyers say shes again fearing for her life from Death Threats that forced her from her california home. And waiting to defend his name is judge kavanaugh. Hes had dozens of women come to his side. He says this is categorically false, and he wants an opportunity to testify and prove that its false. So lets start with cuomos court now in session. Asha rangappa and ross garber. Asha, your take on the friday deadline. My take on the friday deadline is that this is an incredibly difficult position for dr. Ford, and i dont think its particularly fair, and its not going to actually get at anything thats going to be helpful for illuminating the veracity of her allegation. And i think that her lawyer has made the right call that this should be looked into further by professional investigators. The fbi would be the obvious choice here. But in this particular case, the fbi is really waiting for a request from the consumer of the background check, which they have provided, which is the white house. And this would be the president s call. Right. Now, ross, the president says fbi doesnt want to do it. This isnt what they do. I dont see where hes getting any of that. Well, the reality is its just not going to happen unless the president wants it to happen. And it looks like the president doesnt want it to happen, so it look, its just not going to happen. The fbi is not going to get involved in this without the president wanting the fbi to get involved in it. And ashas right. You know, in some ways they are a logical, you know, force to come in. They do investigations all the time. It would make sense to have them do it. On the other hand, this really is an issue for the u. S. Senate, and the senate also does investigations all the time and does inquiries, and theyre in a position to do it as well. But they cant be trusted. Lets be honest. People dance so much about this. Look, i respect public service. I respect the senate. I respect congress, but asha, lets call it what it is. This is completely politicized. There is absolutely no unbiased look for the truth here on either side. Thats right, chris. Ive watched several hearings just in the past few months, and they the questions that are asked by these committees, whether theyre democrats or republicans, are not the same as the kind of questions that an fbi agent would ask. An fbi agent would ask openended questions. They would be just the facts. They would be taking down whatever the person said. They are not trying to obtain a particular outcome. They are simply trying to elicit as much information as they can, get it down on record, use that to create new leads, and find other people to talk to, and then submit that information to the factfinder. Thats not what the goal is here in the Senate Judiciary. Each side has a particular outcome that they want to see. And as much as they try, even if they tried their best, they would still be steering their questions in those directions. But the difficulty is, as asha knows, the fbi, even if they came in and did an investigation, they wouldnt be making credibility determinations. Right. And at the end of the day, that is what this is going to be about. But at least you show best efforts, ross, and youd have a clear record. This is what they did with anita hill. Yeah, fair enough. Look, there are lots of reasons why that would be the ideal scenario. Its just not going to happen. So now the question so who pays the price for that if it doesnt happen . It depends. It depends on what the ultimate result is. Its not good for kavanaugh. Hes going to have this hanging over his head now . Maybe. If that doesnt happen, whats going to wind up happening, i think, is there is going to be a hearing, open or closed. Judge kavanaugh is going to testify. Dr. Ford is going to testify. And people are going to make the senators are going to make a credibility determination. Asha, do you think she testifies dr. Ford and if so, should it be open or closed . I dont know, chris. Thats really going to be up to her. Sure. And whether she wants to do it. I think thats an incredibly personal decision. I think there are a lot of ramifications to that. Weve seen that from anita hill. On the other hand, if she doesnt, i think that will be something thats seized upon to move forward and to potentially discredit her account. I just want to add, you know, to what ross said. Ill push back a little bit and say what the fbi does add is potentially corroborating information that can actually tilt the scales perhaps in one direction or another. And thats because they can actually talk to other people, whether its eyewitnesses who were there, people who are ostensibly present at this party, the therapist, the husband, that fleshes out the account and potentially provide Additional Details that might, you know, actually go to the veracity of one side or the other whereas just getting these two people in front of the Senate Judiciary committee, i think well end up in an anita hill situation again. Look, heres the problem. The stakes are the problem. Not only do they compromise any sense of objectivity, but it would be different if this were an allegation that came up as a determination of whether or not judge kavanaugh should stay in his position as a Circuit Court judge. That would be one situation, all right . It would have to be one where, well, is it enough, is there not enough, is there legal sufficiency . Wrote there be a trial or is there some sort of statute of limitations . Here the political situation is much more daunting. Its if they dont give respect to the accusation, they will then in turn elevate judge kavanaugh with this hanging over his head. Ross, that covers a lot of political ground, does it not . Yeah, it certainly does. And, look, weve all been around the block. Im not ready to write off this process. I think dr. Ford was incredibly brave to come forward. 100 . And to, you know, make these allegations. I think shes now facing a maelstrom that just no one should ever have to go through. But i do think at the end of the day there is a chance that once people here from dr. Ford and once people hear from judge kavanaugh, look, we make credibility determine nations in our everyday life. We decide. We listen to people. We have opinions on whether people are telling the truth or not. I think that is whats going to wind up happening here. Its the only thing that can happen. But, asha, as you said, its up to her whether or not she does it. And i would never presume. Its obviously been difficult already. Its difficult for everybody who is in that kind of situation to come forward, let alone with this kind of klieg light set thats going to be on her. But if she doesnt come forward, what is the chance that kavanaugh doesnt just pass right through . What would be the basis to vote against him if you never even got a chance to hear her testify . Well, i think that it could, as i mentioned before, give kind of additional momentum to push it through. And i think whats important to remember here is that this is also its not just judge kavanaughs integrity. This is also the integrity of the court. Right. I mean this is one of our most revered institutions in this country. This is the institution that says what the law is. And as much as all of us disagree with the courts pronouncements at one point or another, we all respect it because we believe that the people there, you know, even if we disagree with them philosophically, you know, are there to do that job. And i think at a time when our institutions are being challenged, this really would be a huge blow to have this potentially tainted nomination. And to those republicans who believe that less is more, look at anita hill. You know, when they did the fbi investigation and that got leaked and became public and then they had the hearings. You know what . For all that came out in that testimony and all that back and forth, Clarence Thomas was higher in polls afterwards than he was before. Asha, ross, appreciate you doing this. Well be talking about this again. Thank you. Good to be here. Lets turn now to north korea. President trump is giving himself a big pat on the back today, saying kim jongun has returned to his promise to get rid of the nuclear complex there and close a missile site. But that promise comes with conditions. Dont they always . Im going to ask jim clapper is if this is really a breakthrough. He just happens to be in seoul, south korea. Next. Minimums and fees. They seem to be the very foundation of your typical bank. Capital one is anything but typical. Thats why we designed capital one cafes. You can get savings and checking accounts with no fees or minimums. And one of americas best savings rates. To top it off, you can open one from anywhere in 5 minutes. This isnt a typical bank. This is banking reimagined. Whats in your wallet . Im hoping these nature sounds will help me relax a bit. At least we dont have to worry about Homeowners Insurance. Just call geico. Geico helps with Homeowners Insurance . Good to know. Feeling better . I love you, pookie bear. [parrot 1] i love you, pookie bear. [parrot 2] i love you, pookie bear [parrots] i love you, pookie bear get to know geico and see how easy homeowners and renters insurance can be. The era of no war has started. Thats what the leader of south korea said at a summit with kim jongun where north korea agreed to dismantle a missile testing site as well as a Nuclear Facility provided the u. S. Makes concessions in return. Is this a step forward . Is this another empty promise . Regardless, the president thinks it has to do in part with his own relationship with kim. Take a listen. Remember this. Prior to my coming into office, a lot of people thought it was inevitable we were going to war in north korea. And now were the relationships, i have to tell you, at least on a personal basis, theyre very good. Its very much calmed down. To be fair, the only time it seemed that we may be looking at actually military action with north korea was when this president started the saber rattling and making those kinds of threats. Be clear about that. Lets bring in jim clapper, former director of national intelligence. He happens to be in seoul, south korea tonight. Good to have you, sir. I dont even need an expert like you to make such an obvious point about what the president just said. But his sanguine take on where things stand, do you share it . Well, i think theres certainly room for some optimism here, and a couple comments id make first having been here in seoul the last couple days and watched the wall to wall coverage of the summit. I have to salute president moon, who may be the most astute president in the history of the republic. And i think hes handled his two portfolios, the one in pyongyang as weve witnessed, and the one in washington pretty well. And he and his foreign minister, kong, are basically the best tandem that the republic has ever been blessed with. I have a little contrarian view, chris, on what has led to this relatively speaking benign behavior on the part of the North Koreans. I think it had much more to do with the North Koreans achieving whatever it is they think they needed for nuclear deterrence. And so for the first time they could approach the United States not as a supplicant, which has always been the major characteristic of our Nuclear Dialogue in the past. And so from the north korean perspective, theyve made a lot of concessions. Theyve stopped the nuclear tests. Theyve stopped the missile tests. They returned the remains from the korean war. They released hostages. And theyve cut out for now their bellicose, provocative rhetoric. So theyre kind of looking, i think, to the United States to reciprocate. What are the concessions were going to make in and simply saying to the North Koreans, okay. Obey us, and well be less coercive, i dont think is going to cut it with the North Koreans. What do they want . The issue that really bugged me about well, thats a good question, and i think the president kind of lost a great opportunity he had in singapore in june to ask kim jongun directly and get it straight from the horses mouth what is it it would take to make you feel sufficiently secure that you dont need to rely on Nuclear Weapons . And i think its very important that we determine the answer to that question. Now, in terms of assessing this, you know, the president when he was tweeting about it today was referring to fox. Can you give us some assurance from your contacts and your expertise that the president is hearing firsthand from his team whats going on over there . Hes not learning about it by watching his friends at fox, is he . Well, i hope not. I think certainly i will say going back to the campaign, when we first started briefing president , then the nominee trump, when he became the republican nominee, that he did evince a lot of interest in north korea. So i assume that he is taking whats teed up about intelligence on north korea unlike apparently, you know, hes kind of selective about intelligence on russia. It boggles my mind. You know, its one of the beautiful parts of the power of the president. He is literally a phone call away from facts. You know, he can call the people in the Intelligence Community who are actually, you know, the holders of information. Look at the fisa situation. Again, hes quoting fox folk about why hes concerned about whats in the carter page fisa applications. He could just pick up the phone and in short order get a briefing on what is in there and what isnt in there and why. Why doesnt he rely on what he can resource . Thats a great question, chris, and i dont know because and some of the commentary hes made about the whole process makes me wonder whether he understands the fisa process and the inviolate nature of fisa court proceedings. And of course his ordering that there be further declassification of the fisa requests for authorization, i think, is a very, very dangerous precedent. But as weve seen, hes not much of one to worry about precedent. Look, obviously he could have taken the time and figured out whats in there, right, and then made an assessment. He didnt, and it seems to be a political play that whatever comes out will be good for him. Do you think that there will be satisfaction that when these documents are made clear, that the American People will see that the fisa applications for carter page were really just about the dossier and that there was really nothing there, and this was just ugly politics at play at the highest level . Well, i also dont think that thats what will be demonstrated. In fact, even the earlier version of the redacted fisa authorization to me had enough information in it to indicate that the dossier was certainly not used as the primary source. Remember this was the fourth this was the fourth request on carter page going back some years. So the dossier was perhaps an input, but certainly not the exclusive one. And as far as the provenance of the dossier and whether or not it was paid for, well, that was indicated, you know, how it was originally funded, and that was indicated in the originally heavily redacted version of the dossier. I think even if and i hope theyre not. I hope the department of justice and the dni will be very careful about any further redactions because, again, this has bad implications for the future. I dont think its going to cast much light from an objective factual standpoint. But of course the president s doing this for political reasons, and hes weaponizing another tool available to him that he has authority over much like, you know, taking away clearances from people that disagree with him. Jim clapper, thank you for taking time all the way over there in south korea to give us some insight on whats happening back here and there. Be well, sir. Thanks, chris. All right. Lets get back to the main story, kavanaugh. We know what happens if Christine Ford doesnt testify, right . I mean how can they hold it up anymore . What if she does . Will she change minds in the senate . Remember the context for this. Could she cause the white house to think twice . We have some special guests here to look at the senates big test, next. Ho ho, thats a panel. Lighten up with feria extreme platinum haircolor by loreal. Lightens hair up to seven levels. Feria is ammonia free with conditioning oil. Never dull, never flat. Live in color. Live in feria extreme platinum by loreal paris. Take us downtown, waze. Waze integration seamlessly connecting the world inside. With the world outside. Making life a little. Easier. Introducing the wellconnected lincoln mkc. Thethe more you know theme, commute is worth it. For all the work you pour into this place, you sure get a lot more out of it. You and that john deere tractor. So versatile, you can keep dreaming up projects all the way home. Its a longer drive. But just like a john deere, its worth it. Nothing runs like a deere. Now you can own a 1e subcompact tractor for just 99 dollars a month. Learn more at your john deere dealer. Christine fords legal team is fighting back against Senate Judiciary republicans. They say, quote, the rush to a hearing is unnecessary and contrary to the committee discovering the truth. But the committee chairman, chuck grassley, says hes had enough, and he has set a deadline, 10 00 a. M. Eastern friday morning. He says ford must tell him whether she wants to testify or be ignored. Will ford be the x factor that changes kavanaughs fate among politicians eyeing november . David gergen, nan hayworth, charles blow. Great panel. Thanks to all and each of you for being here. David gergen, deadline. Fair, unfair . I think its fair to have it. I think they need to prepare if theyre going to have a hearing. I think its fair to ask her by then. I think the hard question is whether she should do it, but i think the even bigger issue tonight is whether its fair to proceed without an fbi investigation. You know, they keep arguing the republican side the white house keeps arguing, well, the fbi doesnt want to do it. The precedent, as you know you pointed out one the things that was important. In 1991 when anita hill brought up her charges, the george h. W. Bush white house, a republican president directed the fbi immediately to conduct a Backgrou