Can i get can i get a connection . Ohhh can i get a connection . Trying find the old me welcome to kasie d. C. Im kasie hunt. We are live every sunday from washington from 7 00 to 9 00 p. M. Eastern. Tonight, insider rumors fly as the president prepares to make a Primetime Announcement about the Supreme Court. Plus, Alan Dershowitz joins me live. Well get his top tips for summering on marthas vineyard, oh, and also talk about the president s evolving legal strategy in the mueller probe. Plus, some actual good news as divers emerge with some of the boys that stranded that soccer team alive. Well get a report on the ground as Monsoon Rains fall and Thai Navy Seals prepare to go in again. But first we are just over 24 hours away from President Trumps Primetime Announcement of his pick to replace Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court. By the way, for those of you watching at home, abc says it is prepared to break into the bachelorette to bring you that news. President says he has narrowed his short list to 4. The finalist s were reportedly Brett Kavanagh, amy and kethledge. Mitch mcconnell has been nudging the president in the direction of just two of those candidates. Senator mcconnell reportedly told the president that kethledge and hardiman present the fewest obstacles to being confirmed. The times has since reported that the president is expressing fresh interest in hardiman as the process enters its final hours. And heres what trump had to say on his way back from new jersey just this afternoon. Im very close to making a
decision. Ive not made it official yet obviously. Ive not made it final, but were very close to making a decision. Lets say its the four people. Theyre excellent, everyone. You cant go wrong. Im getting very close to making a final decision. Ill probably be decided tonight or tomorrow sometime by 12 00 and were going to all be meeting at 9 00, and we have a great country, folks. We have a great country. A great country. Id like to welcome in my panel. Chief washington reporter Boston Herald kimberly at kinz. Former Press Secretary for mike pence, mark lauder and deputy Editorial Page Editor and columnist for the Washington Post ruth marcus. Thank you all for being here on this quasiholiday sunday night. But of course headed into a busy week here in washington. Mark lauder, i want to start with you just because you have been behind the scenes at the white house as the president has made these kinds of decisions. At this point it does seem like he is getting this outside pressure from mcconnell to steer his attention towards it sounds
like two people who have less of a paper trail that might be more likely to be easily confirmed in the senate. Is that an argument that youve seen sway this president . Im not sure it sways the president , but what does sway the president . The fact a name has not come out, theyve not floated anyone other than these four people i think truly supports the idea that he is still making his decision. Hardiman doesnt surprise me as being a lastminute kind of rising to the top because he was most people say he was number two when Justice Gorsuch was selected. Hes already been up there in that consideration, so wouldnt surprise me that his name would suddenly start to emerge again. Kimberly atkins, one of the things that has struck me is Brett Kavanagh has been a favorite and the concern about him in these final hours seem to be the fact that he used to work for another republican president. Right, has close ties, very close ties. Very troubling. Yes. Thats this whole idea that he is establishment, right . Hes close to the bush family, very close to the bush administration. He also played a role in this independent counsel investigation of ken starr which could be problematic for the president if hes pushing against this idea that a special counsel, if hes trying to discredit that. There is a lot of concern inside and outside of the white house. Also the paper trail. As you say, the more decisions, the longer someone has been on the bench, the more decisions they have, the more things there are to pick through. With republicans having one slim majority, they dont want to take any chances at all on anyone who would seem to be qualified. You may not like what he rules, but if the qualifications dont seem to be at issue, everything is going to be on the table. Thats why Mitch Mcconnell is frying to take the path of least resistance when it comes to confirmation. In his case its not opinions and other documents, its all of the documents associated with his tenure in the white house. Mitch mcconnell, ruth marcus, is
essentially warning according to reporting democrats could use this to push it off for months and months. It feels like republican are remarkable at eating their own. This is i agree with you. This is a little crazy. We have four people here and they range on the ideological spectrum from very conservative to super conservative. Its a very narrow range. And the hysteria of some people on the conservative end of the spectrum about not just Brett Kavanagh, but about the two other judges, judge hardiman and judge kethledge. To suggest that theyre open border zelle oughts and crazy things like that, this is just wild. So that part is crazy. To me the Majority Leaders concern is real in the sense that he has a very narrow majority. Hes got a majority thats even narrower than it looks on paper because senator mccain is sick. So his because he understands it, any of these four is going
to be his kind of guy on the court, he wants the path of least resistance. That makes sense. But just fyi, you know what a Staff Secretary does. Staff secretary at the white house pushes a lotte of paper the president has a lot of paper trail. The notion this is what could hold up Brett Kavanagh veers over into silliness. The picture thats been circulating with carl rove youve been in this republican party, he was the genius in the republican revolution. Boy genius. This is like what i would consider a primary election. Its an electorate of one, but you have the election. The various sides jockeying. At the end of the day the party will rally behind who the president introduces. Its very much like a reality show. Its fitting they cut into the
bachelorette. Its really fitting for a former reality show host. I think it was amy walter who tweeted something to the effect of this is 2018 in a nutshell, this president backtoback breaking into the bachelorette with a Supreme Court pick. I want to read to a piece ruth marcus wrote this week about roe v. Wade. Of all the potential Supreme Court nominees the president is considering, the one who seems most inclined to undo kennedys work, is amy barrett. She has the shortest paper trail, her academic writings are the flashing neon sign, ill do it. This is already a court that has proved its willingness to overrule in convenient precedence by a single vote, adding barrett would pose a Clear And Present Danger to Abortion Rights. So, ruth, kind of explain where youre coming from here especially people who may see shes the only woman on the short list. Why is she the biggest threat to Abortion Rights . Its important for us to
understand that you can be a woman and a prochoice im sorry, you can be a woman and oppose Abortion Rights. And many women do. So and it would probably be politically easier for a Court Majority with a woman on it to overturn roe. The reason i say shes the most likely to do that has to do with two strands of her writings. One talks about the responsibility of catholic judges in Death Penalty cases. Her hostility to Abortion Rights becomes clear. The second has to do with her very interesting position about the importance of what the lawyers call starry dee isis is, sticking with precedent. She has a well expressed and developed view when a justice looks at a case and concludes especially a case based on constitutional law, the justices responsibility is to the constitution and not to the precedent. The justice, she thinks the precedent is wrong, she should
overrule it. Therefore, watch out, roe. Interesting. Kimberly atkins, one of the things interesting about the dynamics and some of the reporting last week was around this idea that perhaps a woman would be a better choice if youre trying to convince lisa murkowski, Susan Collins to vote for you. It seems the indication coming out of Republican Leaders in the senate is that actually picking Amy Coney Barrett would be a very real risk for people like collins and murkowski. I think thats right for all the reasons ruth laid out. The paper trail, and somebody who expressed hostility toward keeping roe v. Wade as the law of the land. That would be the nonstarter for her. I dont know if this quite raises to the level of hostility but it sure doesnt look good. It looks like shes headed in that direction. She would have the most trouble with Senators Murkowski and collins in this case. Thats why i think for a while it looked like it was between kethledge and kavanagh until mcconnell sort of made this last
weekend overture. Republicans like, hes from pennsylvania, used to drive a taxi, has a great story. Now hes back in the mix as somebody who the president can really get behind and so could possibly we should also mention his Secret Weapon, judge hardimans Secret Weapon which is the president s sister. On the Third Circuit court of appeals and recommended him to the president and one thing we know about President Trump is he kind of relies on family. I would point out, though, that Senators Collins and murkowski as well as senator mccain and three democrats voted for judge barrett when she was confirmed just last october. Fair enough. Mark, who do you think has the tougher job here, Mitch Mcconnell in trying to keep Senators Collins and murkowski in the fold, or Chuck Schumer, trying to hold the line with joe manchin, joe donley, Heidi High Camp . Chuck schumer has a much more difficult position. Many of those red state
democrats, if they vote for the president s nominee, whomever that nominee is, theyre going to lose their base. Theyre going to lose their donors. A lot of their activists who knock on doors, make phone calls. If they oppose it, theyre going to lose the voters they need to attract. In trump states, to winn win election. There was a good analysis on the front page of the times. They may have to be making a decision between do we hold the senate now in favor at the expense of a court for 40 years . A nominee by a republican president is not going to be fail to win approval from a Republican Senate unless republican senators peel off. So, i totally agree with mark. Mitch mcconnell has a tough hand because of his slim majority, but hes got a way better hand than Chuck Schumer does. If i were Chuck Schumer, i would want to watch and see if you can lose a republican senator, get a republican senator to peel off, then yes, put pressure on your
endangered incumbents. If its not going to be a winning battle at any event, why would you risk their seats . Thats also crazy. Were losing a lot. We have heard that a lot tonight. Mark, final question before we go. What is your sense of what conservatives want the court to look like after this particular choice has gone through . You referred to it as a primary. What are the primary voters looking for here . I think any of the four, they will be happy with. Even though they might have some, you know, leanings one way or the other in the primary process, so to speak. They want someone who is going to uphold the constitution, who believes the constitution. And is that about abortion at the end of the day . I dont think it is about abortion. I think its about being true to the constitution and the law in the way its written, not how it can be shaped into something else. Thats still code for the abortion fight. I dont know. Its not just about abortion, though. You look at the rulings from last week in the last two weeks in terms of free speech and the government cannot force you to say things that you do not believe in or force you to join a group and pay to join a group that you dont believe in. Those are basic fundamental rights issues that were decided by a conservative majority in favor of the individual, not bhat government was trying to do. All right. We have a lot more to talk about. Congressman mike quigley joins me as the president s legal strategy evolves, and he prepares to meet with Vladimir Putin. And were going to report from bill neely as divers prepare to go back inside treacherous caves in thailand to rescue the remaining boys trapped inside. And scott pruitt becomes the latest highprofile member of the Trump Administration to take a hike. As we go to break, a brief list of some of the others. I want to give special thanks to administrator scott pruitt. D. A. Secretary david shulkin. H. R. Mcmaster. I wish Rex Tillerson well. Gary cohn, the president of goldman sachs. Director comey. The greatest businessman in the world, carl icahn. Amoroso is a nice person. General mike flynn. You know sean spicer. I like mr. Bennett. Reince is really a star. Secretary price is behind me. Were really at a point where were getting close to having the cabinet and other things that i want. Olay ultra Moisture Body Wash gives skin the moisture it needs
and keeps it there longer with lockin Moisture Technology skin is petal smooth after all, a cleansers just a cleanser unless its olay. After a scratch so small rocket you could fix it with a pen. How about using that pen to sign up for new insurance instead . For drivers with accident forgiveness, Liberty Mutual wont raise their rates because of their first accident. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Extreme disgusting bias which totally corrupts the process . That was President Trumps personal attorney Rudy Giuliani giving us a preview of his legal teams new strategy for handling the mueller investigation. At least publicly. Those comments came after the New York Times reported the president s lawyers are telling muellers team they need to prove they have evidence that the president committed a crime before he will agree to sit down for an interview. Joining me now, member of the House Intelligence Committee democratic congressman mike quigley of illinois. Congressman, its good to see you. Lets start with what Rudy Giuliani has been saying this morning across these sunday shows. He is essentially alleging corruption and bias in the people around robert mueller, although he would not go so far as to tell my colleague chuck todd that mueller himself is corrupt. What is your assessment of what these fbi officials did, peter strzok, who is set to testify this week not in front of one of
your committees but up on capitol hill, who has sent these Text Messages indicating that he was had negative feelings towards the president . And that has led to this claim of bias. Yeah, look, the fbi, the cia, the Intel Community, the Justice Department the people who work there dont live in a vacuum. They have their own personal views and theyre entitled to them. But there is no indication that any of this their personal views, whether it be the Clinton Investigation or the trump investigation or any other before it, had their views impact how they did their jobs. But rudy is just fishing. Obviously what hes talking about here, some new legal theory. And i practice criminal law ten years. I cant imagine this one. That the Justice Department has to prove criminal violations of the law before the president is allowed to be subpoenaed. He could be subpoenaed at any moment. Supreme court has ruled on sefr several occasions, two pretty landmark cases involving nixon and clinton that the president is not above the law and they have to respond to, in one case, legally bound subpoenas. So, look, its the same legal team that said that he could virtually use pardons to stop a criminal investigation, that they could decide which investigations go forward, those of their friends and which ones they dont against their enemies. That the Justice Department has to give them information, discovery, before a trial date. This is all total fabrications of a legal team i think thats a legal freaked out by concerns among many about mr. Cohen flipping. I want to ask you as well abo