good morning, everyone. top of the hour. i'm poppy harlow in new york. >> i'm jim sciutto. this morning the re-opened fbi check of brett kavanaugh has a new mandate from the white house. that is interview anybody that's necessary. that said, the one week deadline still stands, and the senate majority leader says that floor votes on brett kavanaugh's nomination will get underway this week. >> right. and it is already tuesday. >> democrats are asking the fbi to question at least two dozen people. 20 more than the four people who were specified by the white

house and senate republicans. originally one of those four deborah ramirez who says brett kavanaugh exposed himself to her has offered up an extensive list of at least a dozen witnesses. that includes people she says were in the room that night, as well as those whom she discussed this with. also, a police report from 1985 documents a bar fight that brett kavanaugh's critics say further indicates he may have misled the senate about his drinking. the white house responding calling that ridiculous. let's go to abbie phillips. what else is the white house saying on this. >> reporter: once again we are talking about this issue of brett kavanaugh's drinking. that's in part because president trump put that back on the public agenda yesterday during that press conference. he talked about brett kavanaugh acknowledging problems with his drinking during his senate testimony, which is something brett kavanaugh tried to down play a little bit when he spoke

to senators. but the president -- even while the president is talksiing abou that publically, it is not clear if that is officially part of the fbi investigation ongoing. we know that so far the investigators have spoken with four witnesses, including mark judge, who is a friend of brett kavanaugh's and was allegedly present for the incident involving christine blasey ford. they have also spoken to deborah ramirez. ramirez, as you pointed out, has already given investigators a list of a dozen more people they can speak with. senate democrats added 20 more names so that list. but we are still at a place we don't know what is the mandate the fbi has and how deep they will go into some of these witnesses being potentially presented to them as part of this investigation. but president trump today later is going to be once again hitting the campaign trail. this time in mississippi.

this could be another opportunity for him to back brett kavanaugh. the president's words critical to this because it signals to republicans where he stands on his own nominee. poppy? >> thanks very much at the white house. several gop senators say they want a real investigation. manu raju is on capitol hill. do they believe they can get that real investigation under the time limit that has been set, of basically a week? >> reporter: the republicans senators have been told by the fbi, by the justice department that they believe that that background investigation could get done by friday. now, the question is if it does expand, if there are other witnesses they have to interview, can they ultimately finish by that time. i don't think the senators here know. but the republican leadership is dead set on getting a vote this week. mitch mcconnell made clear he is

pushing for that vote by the end of the week and the senator majority whip told me also that this investigation should not be interfered with by senators. but nevertheless they want to move forward and no matter what happens here. now, jeff flake, one of the three key senators whose vote is at risk of flipping on the republican side said earlier this morning to cnn that he believes that the report needs to be finished before there is any investigation, before there is any key procedural vote on the senate floor by the end of this week. so he is leaving open the option it seems, of not voting to advance this nomination if that fbi report is included. we'll see what he does. starting tomorrow, they will have a vote by the end of the week. we'll see what happens. >> thanks, manu. athena jones is with us now

about, look, this police record from 1985 that "the new york times" first reported on that we have now seen. what does it say about brett kavanaugh's conduct while at yale? >> hi, poppy. this was a night in september of 1985 when brett kavanaugh was at a bar with several friends. the report says that a man told police that brett kavanaugh threw ice at him, quote, for some unknown reason. that's when things heated up between brett kavanaugh's group of friends and this man. a friend of brett kavanaugh's then threw a glass at this man, leaving him bleeding and in need of attention. brett kavanaugh did not want to say whether or not he had thrown ice, whether or not he had started this fight. his friend denied throwing a glass at this man. the police report does not indicate that brett kavanaugh's disposition, his state of mind. it doesn't say he was drunk or

ineeb br now republicans say this is ridiculous. this is a nonstory about a scuffle at a bar decades ago. it shouldn't have any bearing on whether judge brett kavanaugh should sit on the supreme court. sara sanders said democrats attack brett kavanaugh for throwing ice during college. what motivated this story. throwing ice or her opinion of judge brett kavanaugh in july? she is referencing a tweet by that same reporter. this goes to the picture he's painted of himself and whether he drank to excess. so they argue this paints of a picture of whether he might have been able to committed the assault that dr. ford says he committed. >> these are all fair questions. thanks very much. joining us now, james, let me draw on your experience as former fbi supervisory agent

here. for folks at home trying to die guest this information that's coming every couple of days, the bar fight, questions about his drinking habits, if you were doing a background check for an official applying for a job in the federal government and you got new information like this, whether it is a police report from 1986 or a college classmate who says, actually, he did drink a lot and i saw him get combative in those circumstances, would that be relevant information to you in conducting a background check? >> yes, sir. so the fbi has only one mandate that i'm familiar wit. i'm not familiar with restrictions or limitations on investigation. they pursue evidence. they follow the evidence and they track down that evidence and wherever it leads, that's where it goes. i understand that there is a distinction here between a criminal investigation and a background investigation. in a background investigation, you are looking at character associations, reputation. >> in that way it could be

broader. >> if something came up, absolutely. i think the limitations we're talking about here is they want them to look into the alleged incidents of sexual assault. if something else comes out of that, if another witness needs to be interviewed, if some new piece of evidence is collected or harvested, it would be dereliction of our duty not to pursue it. >> it is a fair point because you are not saying here you have a choice here to investigate or not investigate. you are saying it would be dereliction if you did not. >> you swear an oath. the motto of the fbi is fidelity, integrity and bravely. they have to follow the evidence. i cannot imagine any instance where this fbi director, with what i know of him, would not say to the president or to the white house or to senate republicans in any instance, you cannot tell us who we can interview and who we cannot interview. that is beyond the pail.

cannot imagine it. >> caroline, as you look, there are separate questions here, right, as you look at this because the fbi has a job. it's got to investigate it. then you bring that information to senators who then have to make a decision whether this is important enough to them to change a vote either way. those are two different questions, right? do the investigation and then present that investigation to the folks who have to make the decision. >> that's exactly right. we all can hear joe biden's words ringing in our ears, the fbi does not draw conclusions. well, just like an mri machine doesn't produce conclusions. it provides information. it highlights the nature of this whole situation in general. it is a quasi legal-quasi criminal investigation. they need to decide what standard of proof they are using. it is not -- again, this is not a criminal trial. we're not talking about the deprivation of life, liberty and

property. we're not going to throw this man in jail. it is not due process as we know it in the legal system is not on the line here. it is a job interview and everybody needs to think about what standard they want it to be. i think it should be more akin to a civil standard, a preponderance of the evidence. do you think it is more likely than not this incident did occur. but there are no hard and fast rules in this situation and everybody is just kind of flying by the seat of their pants. >> is there a danger in going with the basis that caroline suggested, which is just a preponderance of the evidence when you are looking at something from 36 years ago, when you are talking about a lifetime appointment to the high court? should the standard be higher? >> so when the fbi conducts these background investigation, they do them for people that want to become fbi agents, people with top security clearances, and they look at judicial nominees. should there be a different standard? i have heard the argument that this is a job interview, that this is not a criminal trial. i think that our laws are

predicated and based on presumption of innocence and due process. so if our laws are based on that, we should look at this the same way. i think i would feel a lot better and a lot of law enforcement folks would feel a lot better if a police report was filed in montgomery county. then the grand jury system could be evoked, right? then we could start subpoenaing witnesses, doing an investigation that way. the fbi, their job is only to go out and interview folks. they're not doing any of the things you would do in a criminal investigation. they can only put that information from those interviews in a document, put them together, hand one copy to the white house, the other copy to the senate judiciary committee and leave it. they can't draw any conclusions. >> thank you both. good to have you here. a new report this morning, the president in february, according to the journal, directed his then torn, michael cohen, to get a restraining

order against stormy daniels. what is the significance of that? we're going to give you the details. plus, is a show down with china coming up? the administration gearing up for its next major trade battle. the chairman of the council of economic advisers for president trump will be here with us. and the death toll spikes in indonesia after a devastating earthquake and tsunami. you really have to watch this. it is fascinating. it is frightening. it is devastating. a moment of joy. a source of inspiration. an act of kindness. an old friend.

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welcome back. "the wall street journal" reporting that president trump sought a restraining order against stormy daniels back in february to prevent her from publically talking about the affair she alleges she had with him. the president reportedly told michael cohen to seek a restraining order against

daniels through a confidential arbitration hearing. >> now, that attorney then reportedly requested the restraining order at the request of eric trump. the nojournal says an arbitrato issued the order to daniels who ultimately ignored it and went on to do a 60 minutes interview with our colleague anderson cooper. joining us now -- >> the significance of this because the story from the president has changed over and over. we are all reminded of what he said on air force one when reporters asked him, did you know about the $130,000 payment to stormy daniels for her silence? no, no, no. the significance that he sought through his son and an outside attorney a restraining order to keep her quiet through arbitration. >> one is that the president has been caught not telling the truth. you add this to a very long instance of other instances, not shocking news in a way. he's established he's not going

to necessarily always be straightforward with the press or the public. more important i think is the idea that all of the talk about keeping himself separate from the operations of the trump organization were not even remotely being followed here. you know, it is one thing to benefit from the trump international hotel. this is almost fingertip criminal, direct criminal ovonth his son. he was supposed to have an arm's length distance from it. it is a tangled bunch of business in which his personal affairs, his relationship to stormy daniels is intwined. here is the president of the united states manipulating and ordering people what to do, offering to pay legal fees and on and on and on. it is a terrible mess, but it speaks to the fact that this president is still running his company. >> the journal says this was in february this year. the president denied this after

that. let's play some sound from the president from air force one in april, two months after this apparently took place. >> do you know about the $130,000 payment to stormy daniels? >> no, no. what else -- >> why did michael cohen make it? >> you have to ask michael cohen. michael is my attorney, and you will have to ask michael cohen. >> do you know where he got the money to make that payment? >> i don't know, no. >> we already knew that the president was not being truthful when he gave that answer based on what we learned since then. the president's adviser have frequently said it is the stormy daniel's case that worry them more about the mueller probe. >> you see that people did ask michael cohen about it. now that he has worked out a deal with prosecutors, it is something that sources say really concerns the president and the administration, and it

offers just one more example of what michael cohen may have that we don't know yet, right? it's michael cohen's name being thrown out there once again, dangling information that the president does not want the public to know. i also go back to the point about the significance of eric trump being involved because you see the administration and the president respond by saying, oh, i was talking to him in the capacity of him being my son and not as someone running the trump organization. and you see that excuse being given time and time again. any time there's sort of an inconvenient crossing of paths between the president and his daughter or his children whenever something comes up that's newsworthy, they are the president's children or they work for the president. >> it shows just how hard it is to stand up those supposed fire walls, right? because ivanka trump works for the white house, right, which means she works for the american people. eric trump was supposed to be

the one taking care of the business so that the president wasn't voinvolved. >> when we get to the bottom of all of this, the only remaining mystery for me is why this case? why this one act of whatever relationship he had with stormy daniels seems to have them so sort of on edge that they keep coming up with new untrue stories that are ease will discovered. why go to all of this effort? in many other cases he doesn't even bother. he says, look, i did things one way and now i will say something different. in this case the whole question of the cover up being worse than whatever the underlying offense was is out in some ways. she's been on 60 minutes. avenatti built a television career around this. she's talked about genitals. >> before we go, i do want to

get you both to weigh in on something we saw yesterday in the press conference. it is how the president chose to treat some female reporters, one of our colleagues. let's just watch this. >> now that you have answered several questions on trade, i'd like to turn to judge brett kavanaugh. >> don't do. that do you have a question on trade? don't do that. >> just to wrap up -- >> you've really had enough. hey, you've had enough. >> she's shocked that i picked her. like in a state of shock. that's okay. i know you're not thinking. you never do. >> i'm sorry? >> no, go ahead. >> i know you're not thinking. you never do. optics for the president? especially, you know, it shouldn't be political, but if you are going to look at it politically how to display with the president and women? >> i feel like we have become numb to this type of behavior. if this had happened immediately

following the election, this is all we walk talking about. our hair would be on fire. we have grown to accept this type of behavior, something that's become an m.o. for him. we see him lash out at certain reporters on twitter. good for kaitlyn to continue plowing through. >> of course. they're doing their jobs. >> you don't want to be the subject of the story, right? >> i love the, i'm sorry? >> this is the trump effect, right? it is what ties together everything we have been talking about lately. from the tum per tantrum that brett kavanaugh threw to the stormy daniels obvious untruths to this sort of a thing, that it's insults. it's falsehoods, it's tantrums. it is a different kind of politics that was warned about all through the primaries in 2015, all throughout the general election in 2016. it's a choice that the voters may not have fully realized that we were making.

>> right. we're going to see in the midterms and if this strong economy continues, is it the economy and that's it or a whole lot of other things? >> can i make one quick point about why this seems to get under their skin? one theory could be that there is concern that the house will turn democratic. >> right. >> and you will start to see more investigations launched. >> first lady crossing the african continent on her major foreign trip solo. >> stocks expected to falter a little bit at the open. global markets down. we'll see why, how the reaction is to this new trade deal between the united states, canada and mexico. people worried. what is this going to mean for auto prices in this country and the global auto market? we'll check the market next. let's begin.

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happening right now, significant moment for the first lady, melania trump, her first major solo trip to africa. take a look at the video coming in, her being welcomed in ghana. >> cnn is there. significant that her first major trip is to africa. is that affected her reception in any of these places?

>> jim and poppy, certainly she's only a few hours into the trip, so we will have to see how she's welcomed in the other countries. in ghana there is a strong relationship with the u.s. it is an ally in many ways. but there has been criticism of the private comments that president trump has made, derogatory comments about the continent. but the first lady will try to push her own agenda, which in this case is her -- the domestic agenda to be campaigned on an international stage, very hand in hand with the development agency of the u.s., pushing the health programs that the u.s. is working on throughout the continent. >> and the president beyond the comments has made policy decisions here that have limited even eliminated foreign aid for some countries. does that contradict to some degree the efforts that she's

making here. because there is substantial things of great importance. how does that gel with the president's own policies? >> you're right. as you will well know that the policies of the u.s. are very robust when it comes to health care progress in africa, but it has been undercut. many leaders over the last few days i have been speaking to by the reinstatement of the mexico city policy by president trump, which in effect bans u.s. funding from groups that give any kind of advice or advocacy on the topic of abortion. that's something that has come in. but it has been expanded dramatically under president trump and a lot of the charities i have seen speaking to in the countries that the first lady is visiting said they could lose millions in funding that could effect real world situations for people. so while she is pushing, there

will be real impact of u.s. funding on the ground. there are these other issues because of president trump's policies, particularly that of mexico city policies that could undercut her message as she goes through with her trip. jim, poppy? >> reporting for us. thanks for being on the ground. we appreciate it. the president's revamped version of the trade deal is a historic win. we'll speak next with the council of economic advisers to talk about specifically how will this help the middle class and whether or not the goal is to use it to take on china. what makes this simple salad the best simple salad ever? great tasting, heart-healthy california walnuts.

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it was being tauted as a major win for the trump administration, a maryland earnized trade deal. it is now paving the way for a major new trade show down with china. >> and we get into all of that with the man that chairs the

president's council on economic advisers. but what does this mean for you at home? why is this good for the average american? watch this. >> right. i think the way to think about it is that we've got a new 21st century trade deal that makes it so that we now have agreements about, like, the internet and drugs and even things like environmental rules. and so it absolutely affects american families in a million different ways. >> how about just three for the folks at home who are wondering what it changes for me. >> so as an example, if you have like a bio pharmaceutical, there are these complicated proteins, and it's been really hard for countries to agree exactly how are we going to have a generic version of that to cut the cost of drugs for some people, and the trade deal basically accepts the u.s. standard for generics

for pharmaceuticals so they can start to have them in canada and the mexico and u.s., so that will help lower drug prices. there is that. there's the stuff that's going to move a will the lot of auto n back to america. and that's really good for american workers. you know, eventually for american consumers as well. >> you know economists this morning are worried about is that going to mean that auto prices are going to go up? there is an interesting part of this. 40% of cars imported in this country have to be made by workers making at least $16 an hour. that's three times the average factory wage of an auto mexico worker. that could mean that parts prices and car misses could go up in this country. can you guarantee that's not going to happen? >> there are no guarantees, but you have to understand that the

objective is remove to a fair and reciprocal trade deal that lower tariffs and makes our markets accessible. one of the problems that we have is there are countries like china that have really high tariffs on u.s. exports. and when we try to do something that puts more pressure on them so they have to come to the table and like canada and mexico did negotiate a better deal, then they could have in the past just went through mexico and canada. so they don't have an incentive to lower their tariffs on our product because they were coming in the back door. this is a first step in getting everybody around the world to adopt what president trump said at the meeting is his objective, which is zero tariffs and zero nontariff barriers for everybody. in the meantime, one of the ways that president trump has gotten people to the table and he said this yesterday at the press conference out in the rose garden is that he's threatened tariffs and the threat of tariffs has brought people to the table. >> let me ask you a question on

china specifically. spent a lot of time in china. a close issue of mine. a lot of the details of this deal that you mention struck folks as very familiar because they were included in the trans pacific partnership that president trump pulled out of. he called it a terrible deal at the time. i wonder if that is a signal that the administration, that you and the administration and the president are open to revisiting a deal along those lines. >> well, i think that you're exactly right. you hit the nail on the head, this deal is the model for other deals. i have heard the president say over and over that what is going to happen is we will show people what a good deal looks like and knock them down one after the other. we have the korean deal, this nafta version and we're negotiating with europe and

japan, and i think the president expects that everybody will fall into line and adopt this as a model. >> that sounds like a maybe. >> can i just add one thing, though? >> sure, sure. >> one thing the president emphasizes all the time when you talk about this is that he doesn't want to negotiate with 20 countries at once. he thinks that a bilateral trade deal or in this case remember we negotiated with mexico. then we made a deal pretty attractive to canada and after a couple of weeks of haggling, they joined it. president trump wants to not have these big things. he'd rather negotiate one person at a time. >> i hear you on that. but let's be fair. you know this as well better than me. china has its own domestic politics. they do not like to be pushed around by any country, the u.s. or by president trump. there is a drive there to dig their heels in. the idea that china would say, okay, listen, let's go to the table here, you know that's a high bar to cross here.

how do you get over that resistance in the country there to be seen as giving in to president trump and the u.s.? >> well, i think there was a lot less pressure on china before because they could go through mexico. now that we're close to deals with japan and europe, we will look to china and say, hey, guys, can you start by playing with the rules. so i think that we as a collective front are going to go to china and say, hey, just start playing by the rules and i expect they will have to do that when we collectively put pressure on them. >> they don't really have the teeth that you need. let me ask you about tariffs -- >> which is why we're standing up to china, by the way. the reason we're standing up to china is that we win cases but it doesn't have much effect. so we're pursuing at strategy. >> here is a problem in the middle. if you want to get to that

ultimate goal of no tariffs, you say the way to get there is instill these very tough tariffs. okay. but the problem is what happens in between that, right? because you have major corporations like walmart, like macy's and target. all of their executives have come out and warned the tariffs on china will mean higher prices for consumers heading into the holidays. that's not a good look. how do you reconcile the two? >> well, i mean, you guys know a lot about china. you know, i know from watching you talk about china on the show. and the fact that is, you know, we estimated last year that china is stealing about 1% to 3% of our gdp through intellectual property theft. we're starting from a bad spot. other presidents have wanted to do stuff about it and failed. president trump has this hard line approach that gets people to the table. if you look at the nafta

success, you can see there's hope that it works. when we start from a case where they are taking a big share of our gdp every year. >> right. >> if we put a tariff on them, it's not like that's the first move. >> folks refer to that as the biggest theft in modern history. >> exactly. it sounds like americans will have to deal with that price tag pain in the interim and hope that you reach the goal that the white house wants to reach. goldman sachs came out and warned that all of the benefit we have seen in the stock market and the earnings per share of companies could go down to zero next year. are you concerned about dealing a blow to the stock market as a result of the tariffs? >> i haven't read that report, but the goldman sachs economic team almost at times look like they are the democratic opposition. if you go back and look at their analysis, the tax cuts, right, they said it would be harmful for the economy or have no

effect at all. after the tax cuts were passed, they jacked up their reports. i'm just saying i would have to read the analysis to assess it. but if it's basically -- so think about it this way, that when you put a tariff on a chinese product it has a big effect on the u.s. if there is no alternative supply, right? we have analyzed the effect. and we don't find it anywhere close to being something that reverses all the benefits we have seen. so i really have to see it. their analysis of the tax cuts was really, really wrong. and timed in a partisan way. maybe they are trying to make a partisan point before the elections. >> we'll go back to them on that. thanks for being here. come back soon. thank you. chilling new satellite images of the aftermath of the earthquake in indonesia. so far more than 1,200 people

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all right, welcome back. happening right now, rescuers in indonesia are racing against the clock, searching for any sign of life after the earthquake and devastating tsunami. more than 1200 people have died. that is the death count now, up significantly from what we saw yesterday morning. still, though, you have rescuers searching for anyone who may be a survivor. >> to get a sense of the scale and look at this, take a look at these before and after satellite

photos. that on the left, the prior to the earthquake, afterwards, and what you see is the effect of what is called liqueification. the earthquake turned the soil to something like a liquid, like a flood, and it washed entire communities, structures, buildings, away, erasing them. that's the beach there, erasing them from the map. cnn's matt rivers is in the town of pal uu, one of the hardest h areas. as rescuers are getting in here, it's taking time to get to many of these areas. this death toll is going to rise. >> yeah, there's no question, jim. we said it yesterday. and we say it again today. the death toll will continue to go up. these are really remote areas. i'm in kind of the middle of the city, if you could call it a city. it's certainly not like new york or anything, but there's remote areas that as rescuers continue to work their way out, they find new bodies, new victims.

that death toll is going to continue to rise. the other thing that we're experiencing here is just a lack of basic services for people. you know, it's one thing for rescuers to go and try to find victims, but what about the people that are left behind? 66,000 homes so far have been destroyed by this. and so as a result, you have a whole bunch of homeless people that don't have water, don't have food. a lack of electricity, lack of health care, a lack of real basic services. it's a real desperate situation. >> when you look at the government response, i mean, you told us yesterday, matt, how long it took just you to get there, two days from bangkok. how difficult it is to get outside aid in. talk about what more outside aid is needed and how the government response has been so far. >> well, if you're judging how much outside aid is needed based on the domestic government response, you're going to need a whole bunch of international aid. i was hesitant to say this

yesterday because we hadn't been on the ground long enough, but today, we spent our entire day talking to people affected by this. we were in the homeless camps talking to people who are without. they have lost everything. and they are angry at the government response. it has been slow, it's been inefficient. five days on and some places still don't have electricity in government-sponsored camps. it's one thing way out in the remote areas for no electricity, but in government-sponsored camps, i talked to a camp director saying our government isn't giving us enough rice, the bathrooms are horrendous, and you have babies in there who can't take formula because there's not enough water to go around. if you can't get the smallest, the most vulnerable, the most basic necessity of life, water, i don't think your response is all that great. >> matt, thank you for being on the ground, for bringing us all of the facts, helping where you can. we'll check in with you in a little bit. >> meantime, the white house says now the fbi can talk to

anyone it wants for the background investigation into judge brett kavanaugh. it seems like everyone now in congress and beyond has an opinion about who the fbi should to to. we'll get into the facts next.

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and millions of wifi hotspots to help you stay connected. and this is moving day with reliable service appointments in a two-hour window so you're up and running in no time. show me decorating shows. this is staying connected with xfinity to make moving... simple. easy. awesome. stay connected while you move with the best wifi experience and two-hour appointment windows. click, call or visit a store today. welcome back. it is just 35 days, five weeks until the midterm elections. >> that's it? >> it's coming fast. a lot can happen in that time. we want to hear about what will drive you to the polls. this is a special segment we started yesterday. we're going to do to every day until the midterms. we want to know what you're hoping will happen and how your vote will make a difference. >> this is not about your voice

or pundits' voices. it's about your voice. we're airing it today at the end of the 9:00 a.m. hour. "why i'm voting." here's what you told us today. >> i'm voting because it's your civic duty, honestly. people don't think that politics has a big impact on their life or they think their vote doesn't matter. we had an election here that came down to 12 votes. your vote really does matter. especially in local elections like that where it has a great impact on your everyday day-to-day life. people think national politics are all that is, but your vote counts. >> the economy, definitely. my parents are small business owners so i really like think that the economy is important to me. i value the republican platform on taxes and that whole deal, and it does a lot for my family. that's why we get out to the polls and vote. >> i really want adults, i want adults in the room. i just don't think we have adults in the room right now.

>> i'm voting to bring back civility back to the white house. i'm voting because i feel as though we need a real change and to make america really great again. >> well, will you be voting for the first time in november? post a video to instagram telling us what is motivating you to vote for the first time. use the #whyivotecnn for a chance to be featured on the show as well as cnn's instagram. >> very good tuesday morning to you. i'm jim sciutto. >> i'm poppy harlow. we're so glad you're with us. it's the top of the hour and we're on the top stories. so many witnesses, so little time. the finish line is in sight for the newly reopened background probe of judge kavanaugh, the top senate republican who is also kavanaugh's top booster said floor votes will get under way this week, regardless of where this probe goes. it's going to happen this week. >> in the meantime, agents from the fbi security division have virtual carte blanche f