Hurricane florence. It is a storm like no other. Mr. President , we have a long road ahead. Shepard lets get to it. Good wednesday afternoon from the fox news deck. Judge Brett Kavanaughs accuser says she wants the fbi to investigate her Sexual Assault allegations before she talks to lawmakers. Republicans say theres no reason to delay mondays hearing. Some democrats are accusing the gop to try to rush the confirmation process. Dr. Christine blasey fords attorney writes the 51yearold processer wants to cooperate but an investigation should be the first step in addressing the allegations. Her lawyer states that since dr. Ford came forward, shes gotten Death Threats and had to relocate her family. The Senate Judiciary committee chairman, Chuck Grassley of iowa, has responded with a letter of his own. Hes offering to make mondays hearing public or private and our Shannon Bream reports Committee Staffers are willing to travel to california where professor ford lives for an interview. President trump is defending his Supreme Court nominee. I think hes an extraordinary man. I think hes a man of great intellect and an unblemished record. This is a very tough thing for him and his family. We want to get it over with. At the same time, we want to give tremendous amounts of time. If she shows up, that would be wonderful. If she doesnt show up, that would be unfortunate. Shepard the accuser, professor ford, claims kavanaugh sexually assaulted her three decades ago while they were in high school. She told the Washington Post that it happened at a party when she was 15 and he was 17. She said that kavanaugh was drunk and pinned her to a bed and groped her before she escaped. She claims he covered her mouth when she tried to scream and he thought he might kill her. Judge kavanaugh calls the accusation completely false. We have Live Team Coverage this afternoon. Mike emanuel is on capitol hill. First, john roberts. John . Shep, good afternoon to you. First of all, breaking news. Sources tell fox news that judge kavanaugh did a murder board at the white house with his Confirmation Team yesterday in preparation for mondays scheduled hearing. Sources tell fox news that kavanaugh did well in that prep session, that he was solid. There was no wavering at all in his story. Now, on to whether or not there was going to be an fbi investigation. Sources tell fox news theres no impetus from the white house for this to be turned over to the fbi for further investigation. As well, the leadership of the Senate Judiciary committee has not asked the president to look into Christine Blasey fords allegations. Law enforcement says the fbi wont launch any kind of criminal probe. Theres no suggestion that a federal crime was committed and unless it constituted a felony Sexual Assault, the statute of limitations in the state of maryland has long run out. The fbi has had a role in the case, including the letter that Dianne Feinstein passed to the fbi in kavanaugh ive background file. Any request would have to come from the white house as he was leaving for the carolinas this morning, mr. President suggested that he doesnt have any appetite to do that. Listen here. Well, if fbi has been very involved with respect to justice kavanaugh. They know him very well. Theyve investigated him six times. Theyve investigated him for this hearing. Look, if she shows up and makes a credible showing, that will be very interesting and well have to make a decision. But i can only say this. Hes such an outstanding man, very hard for me to imagine that anything happened. Attorneys for Christine Blasey ford are upping the ante saying before the Senate Judiciary has a hearing, the fbi should investigate. Having her appear at a hearing monday is too soon. Listen here. She will talk with the committee. Shes not prepared to talk with them at a hearing on monday. This just came out 48 hours ago. So point blank, if theres not an investigation between now and then, she would not appear on monday in a public hearing . No investigation any legitimate investigation is going to happen between now and monday. This is going to take some time. What needs to happen is there shouldnt be a rush to a hearing. A lot of people are making comparisons to 1991 when anita hills accusations against Clarence Thomas were investigated briefly by the fbi. That investigation took place when the allegations were still confidential. They didnt go public until ten days after the fbi had returned its report and that report led the white house to believe that her allegations were unfounded. Shep . Shepard kavanaughs former boss, president george w. Bush released a statement of his own today. Yeah, hes getting support from his former boss, bush 43 saying laura and i have none and respected Brett Kavanaugh for decades and we stand by our comments the night judge kavanaugh was nominated. Hes a fine husband, friend and a man of the highest integrity and will make a suburb justice for the Supreme Court of the united states. Contrast with what Hillary Clinton said on msnbc about the need for the fbi to look further into this before the Judiciary Committee takes it up. Listen here. Give the benefit of the doubt to the court and the country and that means have an investigation that will then lead to a hearing that will then led to a vote in appropriate. Instead, they are playing the hardest of hardballs to try to pack the port with another nominee regardless of the question. Even though the fbi could not launch a criminal investigation into what allegedly happened more than 30 years ago, its possible they could reopen the background investigation. They would need to get a request from the requesting agency, and that agency is the white house. So far, shep, again, no indication that they feel any need to do that. Shep . Shepard john roberts on the north lawn. As john reported, anita hill accused justice Clarence Thomas of Sexual Harassment and testified that during his confirmation process nearly 30 years ago. People of a certain age might never forget it. Today she has advice for senators on how to handle this situation for judge kavanaugh. Push the pause button on this hearing. Get the information together. Bring in the experts and put together a hearing that is fair, that is impartial, that is not biassed by politics or by myth. And bring this information to the american public. Shepard anita hill on abcs good morning america. Chuck grassley of iowa says an outside investigation is not necessary. Team fox coverage continues now. Mike emanuel live on capitol hill. Mike . Shep, good afternoon. Main republican senator susan collins, a critical vote on the judge kavanaugh nomination tweeted this afternoon i hope that dr. Ford will reconsider and testify before the Senate Judiciary committee monday. It is my understanding that the committee has offered to hold either a public or private session, whichever would make her more comfortable. Earlier, the chairman said his focus on the the rest of the week is on trying to get her, dr. Ford, to tell her story. Weve got to have time to plan for a hearing. If its going to come off, theres a certain time we have to notify people if theres not going to be a hearing. I dont have to notify anybody about that yet. I have hoping that this person who pleaded through the Washington Post i didnt learn about anything about this until i read her name in the Washington Post. Theres a number of republicans here on capitol hill that think this professor may have a change of heart. She may want to tell her story. If not, theres a number of republicans eager to get going with a vote. Shep . Shepard what are republicans and democrats saying about dr. Fords accusations . Democrats are saying at this stage republicans should not be rushing her. Her Attorney Says that by coming forward, by being public about this, her life has been turned upsidedown. Theres been threats to her life and her family has had to move out of her home. I asked a democrat senator earlier this afternoon if its possible to get solid information on an allegation from 36 years ago when theres uncertainty about the timing and location. The fbi is pretty good. I prosecuted 38yearold cases. Theyre good about locating witnesses and finding people. Thats their job. Theyre better at it than the Senate Majority or minority staff. Thats what the fbi does. Thats what theyre trained to do. So they can at least give a shot. If they dont let her have an opportunity to do it, well never know. It sounds like the committees deadline is friday morning for dr. Ford and her team to notify the committee whether she intends to testify monday or not, shep. Shepard mike emanuel on capitol hill. Thanks. Jean cummings is here from the wall street journal. The journal and fox news share common ownership. Good thanks. Hi. Shepard where are we in the historical arc of this thing now . Can you give us an idea . Well, i do think its up in the air right now. I doubt that were going to have a hearing on monday unless judge kavanaugh is going to come himself and refute the allegations before the committee and take questions. Thats entirely possible. He certainly is prepared for that. So they could do that on monday. Then move to the floor vote. Its very clear that senator mcconnell is going is determined to try to stay on schedule or as close to it as he can and get this done before the october 1 start of the session. Shepard theres another woman that says she went to school at this time, Christina King miranda that spoke with nbc news. Shes written on facebook that it was discussed at school, she knows there was an invest. She has no first hand knowledge but all the buzz about school. If there are people that knew things and the accuser wants an investigation, what is the republicans reason for not having an investigation . Well, some of the republican senators say he has already gone through so many background checks to get on the court where he sits today, he served in prior white houses. So hes not an unknown commodity to the fbi. So if there was something really major in his background, they argue it would have been found in one of the four or five other times when the fbi did investigate his background. So that is a position of many of the republicans in that theres not a need to go and do an expanded background check. Shepard there is no suggestion that the fbi or anyone that did a background check the previous times interviewed dr. Ford or this classmate that says she has a recollection of the incident or anyone else at the school as far as we know. If not, why not do that now based on a lifetime appointment . I supposes that the democrats question. It is what their question is. And clearly what is driving this nomination are politics. Right . Shepard of course. They have to get it done before the midterms. Theres a risk that they could lose the senate and so mcconnell this is a legacy issue for him. Its a legacy issue for the white house counsel. Its very important to the president because this is one of his Major Campaign promises and hes on the verge of being able to deliver it. So those are the reasons that there isnt an investigation. In addition to the fact that when the prior fbi background checks were being done, the fbi did not know about this allegation. Its new. Shepard and given that its new, might there be increased pressure on those that are not for an investigation to have a further one now . Again, this is a lifetime appointment. It would be well, its up to the people in charge whether you do such a thing or not. You wonder how it will play out politically for both sides if they dont. Well, absolutely. This puts a lot of pressure on more more pressure on senators collins and murkowski. Theyre going to be confronted with the choice of having to vote yay or nay on a nominee with this allegation against them. They dont know if its true or not. In addition to that, judge kavanaugh will if hes confirmed will join the Supreme Court and it will be unknown whether he ever did this or not. Its never been investigated. Shepard perilous teams. Jeanne cummings, thanks so much. Coming up, President Trump on the ground now in the carolinas. In fact, we expect to see him again in just a moment. This is video from a short time ago. Hes there days after Hurricane Florence roared ashore. He was in North Carolina a short time ago. You may have seen him about two or three hours ago right here on fox news. Were expecting he will be live in just a moment in South Carolina speaking with victims and others there. Well have coverage of that live for you. Stay tuned. Metastatic Breast Cancer is relentless, but im relentless too. Mbc doesnt take a day off, and neither will i. And i treat my mbc with new everyday verzenio the only one of its kind that can be taken every day. In fact, verzenio is a cdk4 6 inhibitor for postmenopausal women with hr , her2 mbc, approved, with hormonal therapy, as an everyday treatment for a relentless disease. Verzenio an ai is proven to help women have significantly more time without disease progression, and more than half of women saw their tumors shrink vs an ai. Diarrhea is common, may be severe, and may cause dehydration or infection. 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Shepard President Trump getting a first hand look at the damage from Hurricane Florence in the carolinas. The number of deaths there continues to rise. The president describing the flooding today as epic and hard to believe. He made a stop in new bern, North Carolina where he helped volunteers pass out food at a church. More than 4,000 homes damaged or destroyed in that small town. Our Senior CorrespondentRick Leventhal is about 80 miles down the coast in wilmington, North Carolina which is surrounded and cut off by flood waters after the storm. Rick . Shepard, we believe we watched the president fly over on new bern to South Carolina in a convoy of helicopters. He went into new bern where he passed out hot meals to residents driving through the Food Distribution point at a church after he landed at the marine corps station this morning. He got a briefing from local, state and federal officials. After handing out the meals, he headed to town where he saw some heavy damage theres that you reported on. The thousands of and hundreds of homes there inundated with more than six feet of flood waters. Thousands of structures have been damaged or destroyed. 10,000 people are still in shelters. Some 3,000 rescued by air or boat along with hundreds of pets. 150,000 without power. The president offering reassurances today. The Insurance Company doesnt want to pay. Maybe well try to help you. I want the name of the Insurance Company, okay . There is some progress to report, shepard. 80 of the roads here in wilmington have been cleared. Half of the people have gotten their power back. Theres a curfew in effect and the flood waters could rise again early next week. Shepard last check, rick, officials are blaming this storm for the deaths of 37 people. Yeah. 27 of them here in North Carolina where the governor said they took a death punch. Two more deaths overnight in South Carolina. There were a couple of Mental Health detainees being transported in a sheriffs van. A couple of deputies were in the van. They drove into flood waters and got trapped. The deputies got out. They said they tried to save the two women in the van. Couldnt get them out. The deputies were plucked off the top of the van. More than 1,000 roads closed by flood waters. Officials say if you evacuated, its too soon to come back. The worst isnt over yet, shep. Shepard thanks, rick. As the president continues to visit the flooded areas in North Carolina, the governor is warning people not to go home. Well have more on the hardest hit areas in the state and the president is expected in South Carolina a short time from now. The White House Pool will have coverage that well provide for you on americas news and information on cable. This