Administration and president a graduate of yale college and yale law school, judge kavanaugh currently teaches at harvard, yale, and georgetown. Throughout legal circles, he is considered a judges judge. A true leader among his peers. Hes a brilliant jurist with a clear and effective writing style universally regarded as one of the finest and sharpest legal minds of our time. Some background now on judge kavanaugh in addition to what you just heard the president said. In addition to being a graduate of yale, yale law school. Hes a former clerk to Anthony Kennedy and that is critical. He served as an associate counsel to ken starr during white water. He was staff secretary to president george w. Bush and served on the d. C. Circuit of the federal bench since 06. He married the personal secretary to president bush 43. Together they have two daughters. Hes a catholic who would maintain a twothirds catholic majority on the Supreme Court. Kavanaugh is 53. Hes a product of d. C. And maryland suburbs. And only child the son of two lawyers, his mother also taught Public School and at the white house tonight with his parents in the audience, he talked about his life and upbringing. My mom was a teacher in the 1960s and 1970s. She taught history at two largely africanAmerican Public high schools in washington, d. C. Mckinley tech and h. D. Woodson. Her example taught me the importance of equality for all americans. My mom was a trailblazer. When i was 10, she went to law school and became a prosecutor. My introduction to law came at our dinner table when she practiced her closing arguments. Her trade mark line was use your common sense. What rings true, what rings false . Thats good advice for a juror and a son. My dad went to school at night while working full time. He has an unparalleled work ethic and has passed down to me his passion for playing and watching sports. Some big names in this process are already weighing in tonight. The Senate Judiciary chairman Chuck Grassley republican of iowa released a statement that read in part, judge kavanaugh is one of the most qualified Supreme Court nominees to come before the senate. He is a superb mainstream candidate worthy of the senates consideration. The lead republican Mitch Mcconnell called kavanaugh a superb choice. Democrats among them senators harris and cory booker of california and new jersey respectively have already come out in opposition to the pick. We could see judge kavanaugh on capitol hill as early as tomorrow to start meeting with senators former Republican Arizona senator john kyl has agreed to be kavanaughs sherpa, helping him navigate the halls of congress. Long time member of the judiciary and meanwhile, these four red state democrats were invited to attend the event at the white house tonight, but declined. We also know that Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski declined invitations. All six of the folks considered critical votes that republicans in their case need to protect and the democrats need to keep on their side. Importantly, they both voted the two republican women did for kavanaughs confirmation to the d. C. Circuit court in 06. Now earlier tonight, senator collins of maine released a statement that highlighted judge kavanaughs extensive experience and read, i will conduct a careful, thorough vetting of the president s nominee to the Supreme Court, as i have done with the five previous Supreme Court justices whom i have considered. I look forward to judge kavanaughs public hearing and to questioning him in a meeting in my office. With all that, lets bring in our leadoff panel for a monday night, National Political reporter for the washington post. Moderator of Washington Week on pbs, chief washington reporter for the Boston Herald and tom goldsteen also back us with, veteran d. C. Attorney who has personally argued 41 cases before the Supreme Court as we like to remind our viewers, there are only three people in the modern era who have argued more cases before the Supreme Court. In his spare time, he is publisher of a blog about the court. He taught at harvard and stanford law schools and in that book that allows him to go first tonight. Tom, what do you make of the pick and what do you think the folks at home should make of the pick . Give them a viewers guide to what well see play out here . You got a pick who would have expected to see any republican president going into any republican controlled senate. There is nothing remarkably extreme about him and nothing really the democrats can grab hold of along the lines of abortion that would give them a really good chance of peeling off the one or two votes they need in order to stop him. You did see a rush of republican senators to endorse him and Democratic Senators to oppose him. But in general, i think what the president did is picked someone who is a really well known person, has a lot of very strong credentials, a lot of experience and probably going to sail through this process as much as anyone can in this kind of fraught political environment. Tom, what you just said was important to me because the president did have some pressure on him to pick, i dont mean this as a pejorative, but some rookies on the federal bench because they didnt have much of a paper trail. In making this choice, the president knows there are 300someodd opinions out there that can be poured over. Thats right. But what is really important is that they studied all the words that involved abortion, affirmative action and gay rights and came to the conclusion that he hadnt written anything that would create a real opportunity to block him. Now he has conservative decisions in a lot of the areas. And also in gun rights. But nothing so extreme that someone could say to americans, look, this would be a vote to overturn roe versus wade, therefore, you have to stop him. Instead, what you have is a very, very solid conservative jurist. So robert, talk about what you know about the lobbying for and against this choice. There was actually an outcry on parts of the Republican Party inside parts of the Republican Party about as we were just discussing, his rulings on Certain Health care cases, abortion cases he was not conservative enough in the way he wrote up his opinions on those cases. As the president thought through his options, that conservative frustration with judge kavanaugh actually seemed to work in his favor inside of the white house because he wasnt seen as someone who would be too far out on the right that couldnt bring along a senator Susan Collins or the senator lisa mukowski. To pick up on bobs point, do you think this will be enough to satisfy the right . Even the never trumpers that is court selections from this president. This is one area where republicans tend to be unified and while bob is right, there are some very conservative members of the senate who may have raised questions about whether kavanaugh is conservative enough whether he went far enough, for example, in his opinion that went against the federal Health Care Act but not on the merits. Whether he really went far enough on a case involving a teenager who was seeking to be released from immigration custody in order to have an abortion. He went against that decision. But not far enough. There is going to be a lot of questions like that. A lot of parsing by democrats and republicans. But at the end of the day, he is a middle of the road sort of right of Center Justice that is probably going to have the best chance right now with just a one senate one senator majority in the senate to get through. Tom, what has he said about the presidency and president ial power and distracting a president . And here, of course, i see you nodding is why i ask. This appointment does not come in the clear. This appointment comes while a case is being litigated on a rolling basis against the president appointing him. It is not in the field of wild speculation that should he make it, the day he is sworn in, a case arrives on the doorstep of the Supreme Court involving this president who just appointed him. Thats exactly right. And that may well have played a tie breaking role. So Brett Kavanaugh worked for ken starr who people will remember from the clinton investigations and there was involved in pursuing an investigation of the president. But after that, he wrote a law review article in which he talked about how it is that he thought that those were investigations were too much of a distraction on the president , that the president needed to have his attention focused on his job. And in addition, his rulings on the d. C. Circuit have really favorite president ial powers. I think all that pointed in the direction of President Trump if he was concerned about a nominee who would really take his side in those cases. Not out of bias, but out of kind of his view of the jurisprudence. He did really well with Brett Kavanaugh. Since, tom, thanks to attorney general sessions, everyone who watches Television News can now recite the definition of the word recusal. Wouldnt there be grounds for him to recuse himself from a case having to do with the president who just appointed him to the court . No. There will be a lot of people would would think that and be concerned about the appearance of bias. But the rules about recusal in the Supreme Court are very, very, very tough because you cant replace a justice once they step out. So it is actually quite rare for a justice to take themselves out of a case. Its only when theyve been personally involved. So, for example, if he had heard a case on the d. C. Circuit he would be recused in the Supreme Court. But the fact that President Trump nominated him would not lead him to take himself out of any case. Robert costa, join us in watching and listening to senator durbin, democrat of illinois. Well talk about this on the other side. I cant predict how all of my 49 or 48 colleagues in the senate on the democratic side will vote. I will tell you simple math tells if you john mccain is absent, its a 5049 senate, one republican senator can decide the fate of any Supreme Court nominee. So importantly, thats from meet the press yesterday morning before we had the name in hand of judge kavanaugh as the president s nominee. Robert, talk about where you see the math that building behind you right now tonight. Its complicated for the democrats especially those running in states won by President Trump, if youre joe donnelly or bill nelson, democrat in florida, tough choices ahead. You realize youre running in states with a rough path to reelection. This nominee is not someone whos going to immediately revive the culture wars in the same way judge Amy Coney Barrett may have done if she was nominated. So youre going to see leader schumer in the senate really try to get the Democratic Base engaged in this fight. Kim, we all have favorites. Members of the senate were going to be watching, who are yours . We are going to be watching, of course, Susan Collins and also Lisa Murkowski who are the only moderates on the republican side who will definitely have questions about particularly abortion rights. And the senators that bob just mentioned on the democratic side, senators from red states who are probably safe as long as murkowski and collins say within the yes votes. If they vote against, that will put some pressure on those red state democrats. But i dont see anything so far that really seems that this is going to be a big, big push. I think republicans go into this with the advantage. President trump goes into this with the advantage with his nominee, as he would with just about anybody on this list made up by the Federalist Society and the heritage foundation, very conservative groups. I think unless there was some big thing that comes out, i think that republicans can probably hold on and get him through. Tom, you had the first word. I want to give you the last. Isnt one of the leading reasons to choose a federal judge for the Supreme Court that they have already been confirmed by the u. S. Senate . Thats right. And there are people who voted for him. Now hes been on the court for a long time, more than a decade. So its not like you have Amy Comey Barrett who had just been confirmed by the senate. But it really is the case that it would be shocking to see any republican defect and vote against Brett Kavanaugh unless something came up in a background investigation. I think its right that theyre going to hold this vote closer and closer to the midterm elections, maybe three or four weeks before to put a huge amount of pressure on red state democrats and also to get the conservative base to the polls and really show them that this is why they voted for donald trump, which many of them did, despite holding their noses about him as a person. Cant thank you enough. There is still breaking news story just hours old tonight. Robert costa, Tom Goldstein and kimberly atkins, appreciate you coming on. New signals in the russia investigation over truth and testimony. Well talk about both. And later, more on what this president s Supreme Court nomination could mean for this president s legacy in office. Were just Getting Started on a monday night. Ahh. Summer is coming. And its time to get outside. Pack in even more adventure with audible. With the Largest Selection of audiobooks. Audible lets you follow plot twists off the beaten track. Or discover magic when you hit the open road. With the free audible app, your stories go wherever you do. And for just 14. 95 a month you get a credit, good for any audiobook. If you dont like it exchange it any time. No questions asked. You can also roll your credits to the next month if you dont use them. So take audible with you this summer. On the road. On the trail. Or to the beach. Start a 30day trial and your first audiobook is free. Cancel anytime, and your books are yours to keep forever. No matter where you go this summer make it better with audible. Text summer17 to 500500 to start listening today. We would not recommend an interview with the president unless they can satisfy us that there is some basis for this investigation. What were asking him for is there the witch hunt that a lot of people think it is or is there a factual basis for this . George, he wants to testify. Thats hard to believe that anymore mr. Mayor. It is hard to believe given all the things that show how tainted this investigation is. This is the most corrupt investigation i have ever seen. You think Robert Mueller is a biassed man . , no but i think he is surrounded by biassed people. Rudy giuliani reemerged. Tonight he was at the white house as trump announced the nomination of judge kavanaugh to fill the Supreme Court vacancy. After going dark for a time, rudy suddenly reappeared on three tv networks over the weekend. Laying out the latest requirements for a trumpmueller interview as you heard. He was also speaking about his clients former personal Attorney Michael Cohen who is currently under federal investigation. You are concerned that Michael Cohen is going to start cooperating with the feds . No. In fact, you know, if he wants to cooperate, i think its great. It will lead to nothing. Look, mueller gave it away. If this had any chance of leading to President Trump, dont you think mueller would have kept this . So you have no concerns at all about anything that Michael Cohen might tell the prosecutors . As long as he tells the truth, were home free. I dont know what he has to flip over. What i do know is there is no evidence of wrongdoing with President Trump. I think hell tell the truth as best he can given his recollection. The newest lawyer former clinton aide lanny davis fired back at giuliani on twitter writing, did Rudy Giuliani really say on the sunday shows that Michael Cohen should cooperate with the prosecutors and tell the truth. Seriously . Is that trump and giuliani definition of truth . Stay tuned. Truth matters. It would all seem to indicate mr. Cohen would like to cooperate with the feds. As for rumored possible pardon for mr. Cohen from President Trump, giuliani, no surprise, says thats off the table, at least for now. Ive advised the president which he understands no discussion of pardons. You cant abridge your power to do it. That is something you can decide down the road. And honestly, it would confuse everything. With us now to talk about it, mima roca for district of the Southern District of new york and from the Pace University school of law. And Michael Schmitt back with us as well, pu rud