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confirmation. he writes, privately, discussions about the political fallout grip the party with republican lawmakers and strategists unnerved by the charge, gender-infused debates that have upended this campaign season. susan collins seems to be well aware of this. a source close to her says she had a call with the deputy director of the fbi to get a better understanding about how background investigations are conducted. this morning on a local main radio show, the senator continued to press for a hearing for both ford and kavanaugh. >> i think it's not fair to judge kavanaugh for her not to come forward and testify. both of them need to testify under oath next monday before the judiciary committee. >> meanwhile, friends of christine blasey ford are starting to speak out about the
life. >> david jolly, i feel the need to just go back and remind everybody, just take a moment. the president this week called the fbi a cancer in our country. there are agents tonight all over this country preparing for court cases in the morning, serving warrants tonight with their fbi jackets on, needing to enforce the law. this can't help their lives. >> you cannot undo the damage that donald trump has done to the law enforcement community and to career law enforcement agents, both at the fbi, but in other court of law enforcement agencies as well. these are public servants who protect us and frankly protect the president of the united states himself, and while we can have discussions about it, the reality is the president's words matter particularly to his base, and they get repeated on other networks that are happy to defend the president and repeat whatever he suggests.
19. the ap notes, mueller's legal actions have not been overlooked by trump, which just this week ordered him to declassify all those documents that he thinks will be damaging to the investigation. trump dumbs down to the special counsel on hill.tv calling the investigation a hoax six times and a witch hunt four times. as we mentioned, he yesterday referenced the fbi as a cancer on our country -- in our country, for gifr give me. still with us, mark jolly and frank montoya. frank, what about these memos that may contain intel sources, things we don't share for a reason? >> it's hugely disappointing. aside from the fact there is an ongoing investigation and that it will reveal sources and methods, the biggest issue is about trust.
>> frank, a question we ask you from time to time along with many of the rest of our guests, what inning do you think the mueller effort is in right about now? >> i don't want to mix metaphors, but i was reading this morning that jim comey thinks we're entering into the fourth quarter. i think that's a really good analogy there, that it could go into overtime, but the fact of the matter is, i think we're heading towards the end game. i don't think it will happen until after the midterm elections, but at the same time i think when trump sees himself or sees the news getting really bad for him, that's when his fury increases. when you hear things like what he said about jeff sessions today, about jim comey, about the fbi, that to me is an indicator that we are getting
veteran senior official chuck rosenberg. >> we should take a look at the letter "i," brian, in fbi, because it actually stands for investigation. this is precisely their thing. they pass along information to the white house on mr. kavanaugh, and if the white house wants more information, all they have to do is ask. >> two more things here, both on social media, one of them from steve schmidt who wrote this tonight. riddle me this. if someone is lying, dr. ford, and they know that lying to the fbi is a crime, why would they be asking for an fbi investigation? if a sitting federal judge is accused of something he denies with his reputation at stake, why wouldn't he demand one? and then finally, stephen dennis over at bloomberg news. if both kavanaugh and ford testify under oath on monday and tell opposite stories, one would be committing the federal crime of lying to congress.
would there be precedent for the fbi to then investigate? mimi, this is why we have you here. answers to any of these? >> absolutely there would be an investigation then, or should be, about whether one of them is lying. but again, you can't really get at that answer without going beyond the two people. the republicans are trying -- by trying to jam this through, they're trying to make this a he said-she said situation, and it's not. it doesn't have to be. there are other witnesses out there. we already know about them in the public record, which, by the way, i think lends credibility to dr. ford's story. why would she have told the story and put -- i think his name is mark judge at the scene if she were making this up. why would she put a friend of brett kavanaugh's there to go investigate? but there are so many details already in her story. she said she was wearing a bathing suit. was it a pool party? there are things you can find out. it's a closed community, there
she has to say. >> we should note the obvious here. the white house could ask the fbi to investigate ford's allegations. tonight a number of the president's republican allies are pushing to move ahead with a kavanaugh vote in the committee with or without a hearing. senator lindsey graham issued a statement today, quote, requiring an fbi investigation of a 36-year-old allegation without specific references to time or location before professor ford will appear before the judiciary committee is not about finding the truth but delaying the process until after the midterm elections. it is imperative the judiciary committee move forward in the kavanaugh nomination and a committee vote be taken as soon as possible. "washington post" reporter robert costa, who will join us in just a moment, reports tonight that republicans are concerned about the political implications of rushing this
until a collins, flake or corker breaks on the fbi point, it still looks like this vote could happen next week whether she comes to the senate or not. >> one more quick one for you, bob, and that is, what's your reporting on the state of the trump-kavanaugh relationship? your writing was so interesting on this the other night. >> distant but close. trump huddling with don mcgahn going through what are called murder boards, tough questions we're told, things he would probably be asked by senate democrats at the monday hearing. but he's not interacting with the president. why is that? officials tell me they need to protect the presidency. they like kavanaugh, they hope he gets confirmed, but they're trying to keep the president away from this situation, not to get too close because it's a fragile nomination. if they need to pull it at some
in as we see the democrats and dr. ford are not interested in moving forward without that fbi investigation as a prerequisite. but the senate is a political body. we have republicans and democrats who are making political calculations, and right now they are dug in but the momentum seems to have shifted to republicans who seem to want to move forward with this vote whether or not dr. ford does appear next week despite the criticism that it looks like they are strong-arming her or trying to bully her to rush this process when the process has no real deadline. there is no reason why monday has to be the day. they can take extra time. they can do more investigation if they don't want to get the fbi involved. they can have some sort of third-party arbitrator to vet the testimony of the people involved. there are a lot of ways to do this and they are choosing one way which is their way or the
ford? [ inaudible question ] >> i really want to see her. i really would want to see what she has to say. >> we should note the obvious here. the white house could ask the fbi to investigate ford's allegations. tonight a number of the president's republican allies are pushing to move ahead with a kavanaugh vote in the committee with or without a hearing. senator lindsey graham issued a statement today, quote, requiring an fbi investigation of a 36-year-old allegation without specific references to time or location before professor ford will appear before the judiciary committee is not about finding the truth but delaying the process until after the midterm elections. it is imperative the judiciary committee move forward in the kavanaugh nomination and a committee vote be taken as soon as possible. "washington post" reporter robert costa, who will join us in just a moment, reports tonight that republicans are concerned about the political implications of rushing this