Again from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. Day 622 of the Trump Administration. As we said, the breaking news were going to begin with tonight happened just over an hour ago on the floor of the u. S. Senate. This evening the senate will receive the results of the fbi supplemental Background Investigation of judge Brett Kavanaugh. So im filing cloture on judge kavanaughs nomination this evening so the process can move forward. The Senate Stands adjourned until 11 00 a. M. Tomorrow. Thats all senate talk, of course. It means the key procedural vote on kavanaugh can begin one hour after the senate convenes friday. It means we can have a full and final senate vote by this weekend. Before that members of the Senate Judiciary committee will get their first look at the fbis new Background Investigation into Brett Kavanaugh. Nbc news has confirmed chairman grassley will be the first one allowed to review the findings at 8 00 a. M. Eastern. Then Ranking Member senator Dianne Feinstein will have a chance as head of the dems on the committee at 9 00 a. M. Senate judiciary republicans at 10 00 a. M. Then Committee Democrats at 11 00 a. M. In all, about 109 people are allowed to see the investigation results. This latest inquiry was a result of dr. Christine blasey fords accusation of Sexual Assault against kavanaugh, an allegation he denies. Right now Senate Majority leader mcconnell has no plans to make the report public. But tonight there are major questions being asked about the way this investigation was conducted and why it didnt take all the time it was allowed. Nbc news has learned it was significantly limited in scope. The Washington Post also reports tonight that the agents work was curtailed, adding the white house and the fbi have treated each other warily throughout the process, people familiar with the matter said. Both sides were mindful that their written communications might one day be subject to subpoena, particularly if democrats take control of the house of representatives in next months midterm elections. President trump has insisted publicly he was not curtailing the fbi probe, but privately the white house restricted the fbi from delving deeply into kavanaughs youthful drinking and exploring whether he had lied to congress about his alcohol use. Sources indicate the fbi has spoken to at least six people, including mark judge, Brett Kavanaughs friend, who dr. Ford identified as being in the room when she was allegedly sexually assaulted. Leland keyser, patrick smyth, who ford also said were at the house that night. Deborah ramirez who alleged in the new Yorker Kavanaugh exposed himself to her at a party at yale. Something he also denies. And two of his classmates and friends, tim gaudette and chris garrett. But sources also tell nbc news more than 40 people, more than 40 people with potential information about these allegations against kavanaugh have not been contacted by the fbi. Nor has the bureau interviewed judge kavanaugh or dr. Ford themselves. On monday the president indicated he was open to fbi interviews with his nominee and all of the accusers. Should Brett Kavanaugh be interviewed by the fbi . I think so. I think its fine if they do. Should the fbi interview all three of Brett Kavanaughs accusers . It wouldnt bother me at all. Also today the white house has been forced to confront the bipartisan backlash over the president s remarks at that rally last night about dr. Fords accusation. How many years ago was it . I dont know. I dont know. [ cheers and applause ] i dont know. Upstairs, downstairs, where was it . I dont know. But i had one beer. Thats the only thing i remember. Ford did testify the year was 1982, that she was 15 years of age, and the attack was upstairs. Today this was the Defense Strategy from the white house. The president was stating the facts. Certainly the testimony by dr. Ford was compelling. But you cant make this decision based on emotion. It has to be based on fact. Every single bit of evidence and facts that weve seen in this moment have supported judge kavanaughs case. Lets bring in our leadoff panel on a consequential wednesday night. Elizabeth beaumiller is back with us, Washington Bureau chief for the New York Times. Frank figliuzzi, former fbi assistant director for counterintelligence. Ashley parker, pulitzer prizewinning White House Reporter for the Washington Post, and eugene robinson, pulitzer prizewinning columnist for the Washington Post. Were so very thankful to have you all to start off our broadcast tonight. Good evening to you all and welcome. Elizabeth, id like to begin with you. Your newspaper has teams at work on both ends of pennsylvania avenue, the capitol and the white house. The majority leader comes to the floor tonight and says were going full steam ahead, were going to vote on that thing. Is that do you think, does your reporting bear out, because of any new sense of confidence he has . Can his whip count have possibly changed without anyone having read this fbi investigation . I think hes feeling confident. But the main thing you need to know about senator mcconnell is that he is plowing ahead, he wants this very badly, this is everything to him. This is his legacy. You mentioned earlier about President Trumps remarks being not helpful. Thats certainly the case. But for senator mcconnell this is everything. Getting a conservative majority on the Supreme Court for the next generation, you know. Never mind the midterms. Thats a twoyear event. This is everything. And they are somewhat confident that they have the votes. Otherwise, they wouldnt have he called for the vote, the procedural vote, the cloture vote, leading to the final vote this weekend without even seeing the fbi report. But they are they feel fairly confident about the three waverers. Susan collins, Lisa Murkowski and senator flake. Also senator heitkamp and senator manchin they think might also vote in favor among the democrats. Frank figliuzzi, ive been trying get you on this broadcast for a couple of nights. I have a couple of questions for you. Number one, about the process. This investigation, i suppose, should have been unrestricted. It should have been transparent. It should have been thorough. It is your position that this was held back from the getgo and here we are reporting tonight 40 peoples stories who have come forward will go unrecorded and unreported because this thing is done and dusted and already has arrived at the senate tonight. Yeah. I think the fbi could do Amazing Things in one week, brian, but they simply werent permitted to do those Amazing Things. And the fact that dr. Ford herself has not even been interviewed is just a basic failure of its classic how to do an investigation the wrong way. The American Public needs to understand that the rules need to change regarding the relationship, the client relationship between the fbi and the white house when it comes to president ial appointments. That process needs to be looked at. But thats down the road. What were faced with right now is something less than a full investigation, an investigation dictated by politicians and handcuffs placed on the fbi. You and i both know, i hope our viewers know you dont speak for the fbi but you can speak about the organization. You and i both also know that if director wray had come forward, perhaps even gone public, held a press event, and said i consider this free rein, we would have had a much wider, much deeper investigation, would we not . Well, i dont know if we would have had an fbi director anymore at that point. I think this is a real tough dilemma for the director of the fbi because there is existing protocol that needs to be followed. And we dont know and it would be dangerous for us to speak about what communications went between the fbi, doj, and the white house. Someday, as has been said before, all of this could be discoverable via subpoena, via freedom of information act requests, or even congressional hearings as to what really transpired and whether requests were made for Additional Investigation were turned down or not. And all of the field Office Investigations saying to headquarters weve got people calling in, walking in, do we still have to turn them away . Answer yes. All of thats potentially discoverable. We need to hear what happened. Ive got one more for you before ashley and eugene accuse me of showing favoritism to the times. I hold in my hand an fbi 302. This happens to be the 302 thats been released following Hillary Clintons 2016 interview. The senators are going to view 302 forms tomorrow. Theres no conclusion. Theres no summary page. But frank, in your best nonfbi english for our viewers explain what a 302 is. Sure. The governments famous for having numbers on everything. 302 just is the number of documents, federal document number 302, and theres no magic or mystery to it. It really is a recitation of what the interview subject has told you. It always starts with the usual preamble. On wednesday october 3rd Brian Williams was interviewed by special agent frank figliuzzi. Mr. Williams was advised of the nature and purpose of the interview and he agreed to voluntarily provide the following information. At that point it might say that mr. Williams requested confidentiality, and in that case the name would be redacted from people its being presented to. And then it cites what was said but its not a verbatim description. Sometimes when youre in a sensitive interview youre seeking a confession, it doesnt help to have a notepad out or youre clicking on your laptop in front of the subject. But rather youve got to have eye contact and report. So you get very good as an fbi agent of leaving the room and immediately documenting what was said and remembering. And if youre putting quotes in from the subject, you need to put those in quotes. Whats not in there, brian, is conclusions and opinions of the agent. That would be a separate section and only in the event that the subject is clearly indicating deception. The subject sweated profusely during the interview. The subject looked down and closed his eyes for the entire interview. That would be put in a separate section away from the 302. As i recall hearing, a former fbi director followed that very same protocol after dinner with the president. Frank, thank you for that. Ashley, im going to play you something from senator ben sasse on the senate floor tonight. Well talk about it on the other side. We all know that the president cannot lead us through this time. We know that hes dispositionally unable to restrain his impulse to divide us. His mockery of dr. Ford last night in mississippi was wrong, but it doesnt really surprise anyone. Its who he is. So ashley, what is that . Is that kind of, forgive the phrase, senator, having it both ways . A senator whos going to end up as a yes who wants broadcasts like ours to do what we just did and air that sound bite with the whiff of criticizing the president . I was struck by those comments too, especially because that sounds like a senator who is going to vote no. But hes not even one of the ones of those sort of three to five we hear about in that mix. What senator sasse is saying, for instance, is hes saying publicly something you frequently hear privately from members of congress in both parties. But if you just want to focus in on the real three republicans right now everyone is paying attention to, whats so striking again about all of this is they all came out, senator collins, senator murkowski, senator flake, and condemned what the president did when he mocked dr. Ford in mississippi the other night. That said, senator flake said quite overtly that it wasnt going to affect how he voted on judge kavanaugh. Some of the other senators were a little more circumspect, but there is this interesting thing where much like some of the president s own voters and supporters they dont like the language. They dont like the tone. But they ultimately more often than not end up supporting him. Eugene, i want to show you some video and have you react to it. Last night of course we pored over the words of the president at the rally in mississippi. Tonight its djtj, donny jr. , at a cruz event who gives us our sound bite. Now, i know that in this week in particular youre not allowed to have a beer if you are a conservative. Now, if youre a liberal, you can do cocaine and you can be the president. But thats okay. Its okay. Well hold ourselves to a higher standard. Eugene, you comment for a living. Go ahead. You know, hes becoming much more visible and frequent spokesman for the administration. And maybe they like that. I dont think thats going to work out very well for them in the long run because he has he may face great legal peril. Exactly. And he doesnt have his fathers charisma or swagger or any of that. But you know, let him go ahead and say what he wants to say. Look, this is it sounds like theyre going to push this through. Thats what it sounds like to me. Mitch mcconnell could be bluffing. He could be putting pressure on the waverers by saying were going to vote on friday and push ahead. He usually doesnt bluff. He usually has the votes. He counts very well. And he thinks theyre going to vote with him in the final analysis. We should not be surprised that the investigation is not a real investigation because it never was going to be. It was constrained to one week from the beginning. No matter what you find just one week. Then there was a negotiation of do you do a transparently inadequate investigation or do you cover for a bit to make it look more a like a real investigation . They decided to go with plan a. Elizabeth, rampant speculation from you, tempered by years of experience. How do you get flake, collins, and murkowski given all we know about them and all the ink thats been spilled this week to a yes . Well, i think that collins, senator collins is the most likely. She has said publicly that shes not concerned about judge kavanaugh and whether he might overturn vote to overturn roe v. Wade. She thinks that he is he will not do that. I think senator flake in the end i think one argument that senator mcconnell can make is that we need to look at the entire life of this man, not just these wild years in high school and college, look at the women who have worked for him more recently. They have supported him. Look at his entire life. I think Lisa Murkowskis the one under the most pressure in alaska from the governor and lieutenant governor. But i think that is how you do it. Also we know that senator height kam. And senator manchin under enormous political pressures in their states. So i think thats how you do it. About that place you cover for a living, if this goes either way how can this not split us further apart as a country . How can this not increase our tribalism . Well, its a great question. Its not one that this white house is particularly concerned with. This is a president who came in and unlike most of his predecessors did not move toward the middle but in fact doubled down on his hardcore base. So if this does go through we may see a backlash among female voters, more moderate voters, independent voters. That was one of the concerns about the president going after dr. Ford, republicans being very careful at least initially not to attack her credibility. But what the president has internalized in recent days is there was a real Enthusiasm Gap going into these midterm elections and one of the things rallying around judge kavanaugh specifically and then more generally getting a win, getting a conservative on the Supreme Court is something that as you said may tear the country apart but the president believes will be very good for him, very good for his base and potentially at least in the short term quite good for republicans. Eugene, the freshman year roommate of kavanaugh appeared on cnn tonight. I want to show it real quick. Speaking up on behalf of his yale classmate deborah ramirez. At the end of the day it feels like there are not enough people who are willing and can credibly say, you know, i know this girl and she didnt lie and she wouldnt lie and i cant see any reason why she would. And so it felt to me like somebody had to get up and speak for her. Another guy not interviewed by the fbi. Another log to throw on the pile. Exactly. And you know, what hes talking about, look, we found an example of what its like to be a woman in this country and to report allegations of Sexual Misconduct against a powerful man. And you know, that apparently has not changed. That is a dangerous thing to do. And it is unbelievable that in what we thought was the me too era the accusers, the victims are being treated in this manner. The way that they would have been treated 10 or 20 years ago. We havent changed a lot. Frank, im going to be severe and limit you to 15 seconds. Ive been asking our guests how three senators get to yes. You tell me how does the fbi get to pride in their work product when we eventually hear about it tomorrow . Wow. Thats beyond 15 seconds. But i think the first thing that needs to be done is we do need to hear from the fbi director at some point. I dont know when that point is. But the restoration of public trust is going to take time, brian, and its way beyond 15 seconds that weve got tonight. And the first 20 minutes of our hour and were of course just Getting Started. I cant thank our guests enough. Elizabeth bumiller, the boss over at the New York Times in washington. Frank figliuzzi, Ashley Parker and eugene robinson, representing the fine