today. >> you as well, dana. our coverage continues. chris wallace and shannon bream are live from washington dc. stay tuned, the vote's about 30 minutes away. here we go on the fox news channel. bye-bye. chris: it appears all but certain that brett kavanaugh will be the next supreme court justice. welcome to the special coverage of the kavanaugh confirmation vote. i'm chris wallace s. shannon: i'm shannon bream. while the outcome is expected to be 50-48, as we've seen throughout the drama, anything can happen. mitch mcconnell joins us live in just a minute. chris: first, mike emmanuel kicks off our special coverage. what's the latest on the hill? >> reporter: the emphasis from republican leaders is this confirmation of judge brett kavanaugh will be good for the country. they maintain judge kavanaugh is

highly qualified and has been treated by some unfairly. >> due process should apply as much to the senate, advice and consent responsibility as it should in a court of law. if we lose this basic concept of fairness, then we risk doing i reparable damage to the foundation of our democracy and core conceptions of american justice and even liberty. >> reporter: three of the key swing senators we were watching announced in the past 24 hours, they were yes on judge kavanaugh. the only democrat expected to vote yes, joe manchin. the fourth moderate explained why she is a no. >> in my conscience, that's how i have to vote, the end of the day, with my conscience, i could not conclude that he is the

. some democrats are complaining about the confirmation process. >> the decision to plow through will undermine and haunt the integrity of the supreme court for decades to come. >> reporter: after nearly 30 hours of speeches, soon it will be time for the senate to do this historic confirmation vote. chris? shannon: joining us now, mitch mcconnell. mr. leader, welcome. any doubts in your mind that you would get to this point today and how do you move forward through a process a lot of folks say i damaged. >> this has been a nasty process initiated in the beginning by

senate judiciary democrats and carried over into the public. we've literally been under assault by a mob that's going to our homes, brushing up against us in the halls, requiring enhanced security. look, the good news is, the mob didn't win. justice will be done. we protected the presumption of innocence in this country. it applies in all walks of life and certainly in supreme court confirmations. shannon: well, you know, senator susan collins obviously made the moment and made the big turn a lot of people think yesterday when she took to the floor at 3:00 p.m. and laid out in detail for about 40 minutes her case for why she would vote yes for judge kavanaugh. but she has split with a lisa murkowski and other colleagues across the aisle. will those relationships take time to heal following this fight? >> i don't think so. at the time we were in the middle of the fight we passed an

opioid bill and faa bill by overwhelming bipartisan majority. we completed most of the appropriation bills. this has been a big fight, largely partisan. there's plenty of other things we're doing along beside it on a bipartisan basis. chris: i was talking to somebody who used to work for you and is a great admirer. he said mitch mcconnell has a narrow emotional bandwidth, by which he meant you don't need to run too hot or too cold which is probably a good thing as senate majority leader. in this fight there time were ts when you began to run pretty hot. >> there were times when i wondered whether we would win. i never considered for a moment quitting. that would have been unfair to judge kavanaugh. his reputation was dragged through the mud for two weeks. he needed to have a vote. we needed to have a vote.

the president and i had talked about if we came up short we were going to deal with another supreme court nominee this year. and so we were not going to allow this to go on for a multitude of reasons. it was not getting better. there was uncorroborated, outrageous things thrown at you, trying to get them on the air. this wasn't going to get better with the passage of time. we needed time if per chance we came up short. the heroes of the story are susan collins and jeff flake. they wanted this additional one week investigation. they realized it couldn't be a fishing expedition. they defined the parameters of it, not the white house, but the senators in doubt. we got the report back in adequate time. they read it, reviewed it and reached a decision. i'm thrilled that two of the three who went through the process are voting yes and that's why we're going to put a new outstanding judge on the

supreme court today. chris: you say that there were moments when you really had doubt whether or not the kavanaugh nomination was going to go through. what was your moment of deepest doubt? >> well, obviously dr. ford was very convincing. i remember the president and i talked after that and agreed that she had made an effective presentation. i suggested and he agreed that that was half time, we needed to wait until the second half was over to take a look at the other side. we talked again after judge kavanaugh's performance. we thought it was spectacular. he knocked it out of the park. i don't think any of us ever discussed the possibility of withdrawal. but if there was a moment when you might wonder whether you were going to win, it certainly would have been after dr. ford's credible testimony. shannon: you mentioned the information that started to come through the flood gates once they were opened. many of the allegations were anonymous. they became more disturbing as we went along.

do you think there will be any accountability, should there be any for any of the cases for what was alleged that turned out to be false. >> we don't get to police the media. a lot of folks, in your world, not you, necessarily, would print this stuff or put it on the air with no corroboration whatsoever. under the first amendment, we don't get to tell you what to do. in terms of what the senate democrats may have done, i think senator graham is on the committee, indicated they need to take a look at it. shannon: the spotlight is on judge kavanaugh right now. you got scores of other nominees. you've had very good success in getting a number of the president's dozens and dozens of his lower court nominees onto the bench. what about those who are still waiting, do you worry that what's happened over the last couple weeks will impact those nominations in. >> no, we're going to do them all. the single most significant long-term thing is confirm the president's judges, not just to the supreme court, two new supreme court justices, 26

circuit court judges. there are more that will be done at the circuit and district court level by the end of the year. it's the most important thing wire doing with a positive impact on the country. chris: you were talking about the mob and the fact that they didn't win. there was quite some extraordinary scenes of protesters and we all value the first amendment and the right of people to express their views but as you were coming through the airport, the beginning of the week, you were surrounded by protesters. sometimes they were being members of congress, they were trying to talk to repor reporte, they were trying to shout them down. they came to your house, other people's houses. are you worried at all about the potential not for fair statement of grievances but this could become a security risk. >> well, look, in retrospect i'm glad they did it. what it's done, it's fired up our own base going into the

election a month from now. nothing turns republicans of all stripes, whether bush republicans or trump republicans, on like a court fight. and they played right into our hands in retrospect, turned this into a big issue, put it front and center going into the november election, underscores how important keeping the senate in republican majority is so we can continue to confirm the president's judges for two more years. so as unpleasant as it's been, it's been worth it. they made a tactical mistake that helped me unify the conference and turn over the republican base going into the election. maybe i ought to say thank you. chris: just real briefly, because have you to get to the floor, any thought of new security measures because the fear, and this could go either way, conservatives to democratic senators, liberals to republican senators, of a security threat? >> i think it's best not to talk about security on the air. chris: senator mcconnell, we're going to leave it there

and you will join me on fox news sunday tomorrow. i'll have an exclusive interview with senate judiciary committee members lindsey graham and democratic senator ben cardin. check your local listing for time and channel. shannon: we're told the confirmation vote is expected to start around 3:15 eastern time. schumer and mcconnell are expected to speak before the vote happens. chris: let's bring in our panel now. charlie herd, opinion editor for the washington times, carrie sevarino and mo alafy, let me start with you, mo. you just heard senator mcconnell say that -- not talking about you, but the far left, the people that were protesting on the hill in fact i think he says in an interview with the washington post overnight gave republicans a big political gift by energizing their base. do you think that's true? >> i think both sides find their

bases incredible ianer jived right now. and a lot of energy is driven by anger. democrats have been energized and angry throughout the midterm crisis. this did give as mcconnell said republicans a boost. i find it funny when he said we couldn't energize our own folks so democrats had to do is for us. if you believe that a lot of the energy is driven by anger, as you look toward the do you recall process ahead -- electoral process ahead of us, can republicans sustain the anger, will the anger remain, will it remain energizing for them. i'll tell you, democrats are coming out more angry and more energized moving forward. i think that will help them on election day. shannon: looking past this election, further down the road, we think of senator susan collins who made an epic speech yesterday, explaining her vote.

i'm sure you did too, got an in box full of e-mails that were calling her a tray tore and saying she was -- traitor and saying she was betraying women and voting in favor of people who would harm women in so many ways. listen, she told many of us about the things that were coming into her office. we heard from staffers about the level of intimidation she's faced. do you think that stays to her next election. had they are saying we will never forget what you did. >> i've seen angry e-mails. i've seen people saying this is so important and praising her. her speech was thoughtful and well executed, talking about how important the me too movement is and that a vote to confirm kavanaugh, this is not a vote saying we don't believe women. this can be very important. but you have to judge each case on its own merits. she laid out in clear detail what -- how she viewed the merits of the case as well as going into judge kavanaugh's actual judicial record which has

gotten lost in the process. so i think that was an amazing moment for her and i think it's one that people will remember in a very positive way as well because she was the person who stood up and showed the deliberation and thoughtfulness that we would hope that a lot more senators would show. chris: let me step in for a second to set the scene. it looks like the final vote on confirmation of brett kavanaugh is going to take place there on the senate floor around 35:00 # of, about 3 -- 3:50, about 37 minutes from now. we will have live coverage of the final speeches and roll call which even if you think you know what's going to happen, it's always very dramatic. it's interesting to point out that this is supposed to happen, if they had taken the full 30 hours, which happens after cloture is invoked, that would have taken us to 4:52 p.m., so an hour later. i think there's one thing even more important, everybody getting their say and this is a holiday weekend and people just

want to get out of town. >> yeah, it's been a pretty nasty couple of weeks and i don't blame anybody for wanting to get out of town. i've been covering these judicial nomination fights since the beginning of the bush years when this current episode we're sort of going through first began with the filibuster of miguel estrada to the d.c. circuit court. i feel like i've seen nasty stuff. what we've seen over the past couple weeks has been nastier than anything i've ever experienced with this fight. and you know, i get the argument that a lot of democrats try to make right now, that this isn't a court of law so this is a confirmation fight to the supreme court. due process doesn't -- isn't a legal standard that applies here. well, that may be true technically. but the problem was the fundamental unfairness and the

dishonesty of so many of the attacks that were leveled against brett kavanaugh, many of which were so preposterous that they were unbelievable on the face. and that's a yo a new level of w that i think we've reached and it's a very sad thing if you care about the country and you care about the courts. but the one silver lining in all of it i think as carrie pointed out was the speech from susan collins which was one of the -- i think it's probably the most beautiful speech i've ever seen delivered on the senate floor that dealt with both the issue at hand, but also talked about what we're supposed to stand for and talked about what the republic is supposed to be doing in times like these. and it was -- and i hope that we all sort of sit back and -- i printed out a copy of it and i read it three times since and i'll continue to read it. it was powerful, important speech. shannon: in just seconds you're going to hear from the

president. he left the white house earlier today. he's going to fly into topeka, kansas. he has a rally there tonight. he stopped and made comments before heading out, knowing we're going into the vote today. >> he will be a great justice of the supreme court. people have thought that for 10 years. they thought he's an extraordinary person, a great talent and i think he's going to make us all very proud. i also feel very strongly that in the end maybe the process it was really unattractive but the extra week was something that i think was really good. i thought it was really good. i think a lot of very positive things happened in the last week. it didn't look that way but in the end that's what happened. it was uncorroborated. it was so many different things. he's going in looking very good. but i'll have further comment later. i want to go, i want to watch the vote. i'm heading -- excuse me. i'm heading out to kansas, chris

klobak is running for governor, steve watkins is running for congress. we have a big crowd and i look forward to it. we'll be watching in a little while. we'll be watching on television the vote and the vote's very exciting. this is a very exciting time. any time you have a chance to put a supreme court justice in position and in this case i think he's going to be a great, great supreme court justice for many years, it's a very exciting time. so we're going to kansas. but we'll see you in a little while after the vote. [ indiscernible ] >> say it again. >> [ indiscernible ] >> i thought that susan was incredible yesterday. you could see how hard she worked, how hard she was working. she didn't stop. and i know for a fact because i

spoke with her, she didn't stop. and she gave an impassioned, beautiful speech yesterday and that was from the heart. that was from the heart. i have great respect for susan collins. and i always have. thank you. [ indiscernible ] shannon: leaving from the white house, praising senator susan collins, telling reporters he's going to watch the vote on tv as we hope millions of other americans do with us. chris: absolutely. let me explain what's going on here, which is that the president's going to be making his remarks but that's going to be at 7:30 eastern which is too late for all the newspapers in the east coast or for the evening news, so the president wants to get his remarks on the evening news tonight in the sunday morning papers, so by making that statement when he did, he puts a place holder there and of course he'll make more extensive remarks at the rally tonight which i assume will be a victory celebration because at that point judge kavanaugh will be justice

kavanaugh. john roberts joins us now from the north lawn. john, looks like the president's feeling pretty good. >> reporter: yeah, sunday morning paper, such a quite idea in this electronic world. chris: i'm an old guy, what can i say? >> reporter: i've got two questions for the president. the first one is, how are you feeling about the vote and what do you think of the pros that's the nation went through to get to where we are and that was the driver of his first answer there where you heard him say he's looking very much forward to judge kavanaugh, doesn't think the process was a good one, though, but in the end some positive things happened. my second question to him was you and senator collins have not always seen eye to eye. earlier this week she said what the president said at the rally in northern mississippi was absolutely wrong. but that she came out so forcefully in favor of judge cav you gnaw. and that's when the president said what he did about senator collins. for the president, this is going to be a very big moment, personally and politically. when you're a president, he said

many, many times and other presidents have said it, picking a justice for the supreme court is probably, other than committing men and women into harm's way with our military, the most important decision that a president can make. politically, it likely would have been a disaster for him in the midterm elections had he had to withdraw kavanaugh's name from consideration. i mean, the republican base might have been angered and somewhat energized but i think that the republican party would have been so deflated from that and then questions about what comes next and could you get somebody else confirmed in a lame duck session of congress, not knowing what the outcome of the election is going to be. the president really put all of his political power behind getting kavanaugh through and we will find out within 90 minutes or so if it worked. the white house believes it will have a 50-48 vote to confirm kavanaugh. this might not end it. democrats -- some democrats at least have said that if they were to take control of the house after the november elections, they may begin impeachment proceedings against

judge kavanaugh. we may have a way to go. at least in the near term what happens this afternoon, if it comes out as the president believes it will, will be a huge political victory for him. chris. shannon: thank you very much. senators are expected to begin voting any minute now on supreme court nominee judge brett kavanaugh. both sides of the aisle have been critical of the president, the super charged hearings are set for supreme court nominees in the future. chris: joining us now to weigh in, allen dershowitz. good to talk with you. your thoughts about how this process has played out and the fact that we're going to get justice brett kavanaugh, if the schedule holds, in about 45 minutes. >> well, i think it would be a disaster if the democrats, if they were to gain control of the house were to look backwards and try to do revenge investigations and revenge impeachments. it would be unconstitutional to

impeach a sitting justice for what he may or may not have done when he was 17 years old and a private citizen. it would also be a pretext to say oh, no, we're not going after him for what he did when he was 17, we're going after to him because of what he said he did when he was being confirmed in the senate and he was then a sitting judge. it would be a disgrace to the constitution if the democrats, if they were to gain control, were to engage in that kind of petty score settling. look, i'm a democrat. i want to see the democrats regain control of the house but i don't want to see them flitter away their power to serve as a check and balance by trying to pretend they're the avenging angel and can't look to the future and has to just look to even the score, looking back. the american public does not want that. shannon: professor, with the impeachment aside, what about this issue of perjury. there are a number of people stepping forward saying at the very least they think there should be an attempt to look at judge kavanaugh, the statements

that he made along the way and other evidence and others who have come forward to say he wasn't completely truthful. is that also a fool's air rand, in you--errand? >> it's hypocrisy. these are the same democrats who complained when the republicans did this to bill clinton. they said they're going after him for his perjury for what he said about sex. it's completely make way and it's below the dignity of the house of representatives. this matter should end with the confirmation. we should look forward. look, i'm optimistic. as a civil libertarian and liberal, i think it's very possible that justice kavanaugh has really become very sensitized to issues of due process, to issues of freedom of speech, to the presumption of innocence. people learn from their own experiences. we certainly appointed people like thurgood marshall and

justice ginsburg and justice sew take mayor because -- sotomayor because they had experiences that made them sensitive to violations of civil liberties. justice kavanaugh may be increasingly sensitive to these issues. i'm looking forward with some degree of enthusiasm. he's going to vote against my views on abortion and gay rights. that's what happens when you have an election. the president gets to appoint his nominee to the supreme court. this process has just been awful. now it's spreading to harvard law school where student mobs want to prevent him from teaching. he's been teaching for many i years in a distinguished way. it reminds me when i that was college and students and faculty was firing faculty members because they said they were communist and it didn't matter whether they were innocent or gil ticks as long as there was suspicion of communism, that's enough. if they responded by being

angry, now they can't teach, because they expressed anger. it's such an old technique, it makes me sick to the stomach as a liberal. chris: it's one thing to fool around with a supreme court and the senate. when you fool around with harvard law school, you've gone too far. >> that's right. absolutely. we can't let that happen. chris: to what degree do you think that justice kavanaugh, still being what we think is going to happen in the next half hour does, to what degree do you think that will shift the balance in the court and make this a solid conservative majority court? >> any nominee of president trump would have shifted the balance. if he nominated the judge from the seventh circuit it would have shifted the balance even more. she is well to the right of kavanaugh. i think we'll see a shift but we would see a shift no matter what. the democrats aren't going to get this nomination. they had a nomination stolen from them when president obama nominated merrick garland. i objected to that. i think it was an outrage.

but this is the way politics works and there will be a shift and if the democrats get elected there will be a shift back. that's the way the supreme court has operated for generations. shannon: professor, thank you very much for your time today, sir. we appreciate it. right now, minority leader chuck schumer is speaking on the senate floor. we want to take you there live. >> least fair, most biased processes in senate history. slanting the table from the very beginning. to produce their desired result. why do i say this? because thebecause they withhel% of the nominee's record from the senate and the american people. because they refused to allow dr. ford to call a single corroborating witness at the hearing, including the only other eyewitness to the incident. because they refused to have an independent investigation of the

facts before the hearing in order to inform the questioning. because they hired an outside prosecutor to question dr. ford as if she were on trial. because the white house kept the fbi investigation on a short leash, dictating the scope and even the kinds of questions the fbi was allowed to ask. because republican senators, sensing after dr. ford's testimony that a debate about the truth and facts was not working adopted a cynical new strategy to shout, pound the table, and portray judge kavanaugh as the helpless victim of some unseen partisan conspiracy. because the president of the united states -- because the president of the united states stooping to new depth, even for

him, chose to stand before a crowd of thousands and cruelly ridicule a survivor of sexual assault. and because this grossly distorted biased, unfair process run by the republican majority, the senate, is about to elevate a nominee who doesn't belong on the nation's highest bench. now, why doesn't judge kavanaugh belong on the bench in the nation's highest court? judge kavanaugh doesn't belong on the bench because he obscured his views, shrouding his juries jurisprudence in spoke so thick the american people would never know what he really believed. judge kavanaugh doesn't belong on the bench because he was

chosen by a president and a far right organization, both dedicated to overturning and undermining roe v wade and he did not a thing to refute the presumption that he would want to overturn it too. judge kavanaugh doesn't belong on the bench because he was chosen by far right organizations that are bent on repealing health care protections for americans with pre-existing conditions and he did nothing to refute the presumption that he would too. judge kavanaugh doesn't belong on the bench because he believes that presidents should not be subject to investigations of any kind while in office, a distortion of our founding principle. that no person is above the law. judge kavanaugh does not belong on the bench because his jurisprudence is deeply skeptical of environmental

protections, consumer protections, workers' rights, civil rights, lgbt rights, and rights of treaties and agreements with native americans and a host of other hard-earned rights. judge kavanaugh doesn't belong on the bench because he has repeatedly misled the senate, putting into serious doubt his credibility and a judge must be credible, believable, and honest, above all. judge kavanaugh doesn't belong on the bench because he is an extreme partisan, something we have seen from his earliest days in his career and reconfirmed when he gave one of the bitterest, most partisan testimonies ever presented by a nominee. judge kavanaugh doesn't belong on the bench because of his injudicious demeanor, his

partisan partscreed will go dow. judges must be temperate, judicious, even-handed. judge kavanaugh is anything but. republican leaders knew before he was nominated that judge kavanaugh was a very flawed choice but once president trump selected him, republicans decided they had to rush him through. they became a steam roller over truth, fairness, and our traditions of bipartisan cooperation. any means necessary to reach their desired end. they blamed dr. ford and democrats for judge kavanaugh's flaws.

they were intent on shrouding the truth because they knew that if the truth came to light, judge kavanaugh would be exposed as a truly flawed nominee. so, my colleagues, my fellow americans, what is the appropriate response? our country needs to have a reconning on these issues and there is only one remedy. change must come from where change in america always begins. the ballot box. so to americans, to so many millions who are outraged by what happened here, there's one answer. vote. if you believe dr. ford and other brave women who came forward and you want to vindicate their sacrifice, vote. if you believe the supreme court should uphold women's rights, vote.

if you believe the supreme court must protect health care and our pre-existing conditions that are protected now, vote. if you believe the supreme court should defend workers, consumers, the environment, civil rights, native populations, vote. if you believe the supreme court should be a check on an over-reaching president, vote. if you believe the process here in the senate was a sham and you believe americans deserve better, vote. if you believe that supreme court justices should conform to the highest standards of character, impartiality, temperment and above all honesty and credibility, vote. i understand, i share the deep

anguish that millions of americans are experiencing today but i say to you, my fellow americans, there is one answer. vote. i yield the floor. shannon: it's interesting because we saw new fox news polling this week in some of the key senate races in the red states where they've been very tight and a lot of our pollsters have said in looking at the results and the way things are moving, they do believe the kavanaugh impact is going to benefit the gop. democrats had a sizable intensity advantage. so whether or not they're p now on even or level playing ground because of this, not sure. it's wokeen up the gop. chris: it's interesting, in effect what you heard there was the democratic leader and we'll just go in a second to the republican leader, chuck schumer conceding defeat on the vote in the senate and saying let's take this to the voters and make this an issue in the midterm elections and now the senate majority leader, mitch

mcconnell. >> mr. president, kentucky's own. they underscore that the decision united states senators will make today will echo in the history of our nation. the very survival of our constitutional form of government requires an expert and independent judiciary. without fair and impartial courts of justice, as alexander hamilton put it, in the federalist papers, all the reservations of particular rights or privileges would amount to nothing. the courts guard our rights and the senate guards our courts. that, mr. president, is why today is such an important day.

that is why the vote we take this afternoon, a vote to confirm a new associate justice of the supreme court of the united states represents one of the most consequential decisions a senator ever makes. the members of this body are duty-bound to ensure we confirm justices of the supreme court who are men and women of the highest character and the most supesuperlative qualifications. fortunately, that is just the sort of nominee who stands before us today. 12 weeks ago the president nominated the jurist who has been described by legal peers of all political stripes as a superstar, a serious scholar, and who is legendary for his preparation and possesses the

qualifications, the temperment and the judicial philosophy to be an excellent associate justice. the president nominated a brilliant student of the law, those who taught and knew the nominee at yale say, quote, it is hard to name anyone with judicial credential as strong as judge kavanaugh. they describe a true intellectual, a leading thinker, and a wonderful mentor and teacher. and those he's mentored, a diverse group of bright young lawyers who clerked for judge kavanaugh, talk about his work ethic, his unflinching honest advice, and his fundamental humility. for 12 weeks the senate has seen that this is not empty praise. we have seen the legendary preparation of a tireless judge.

we've seen the patience of a committed mentor and teacher. we've seen the humility of a truetrue intellectual who let hs record speak for itself. each of us have seen it for ourselves. every senator who came into this process with a an open mind have seen that very same brett kavanaugh firsthand. we've seen his brilliance, his painstaking thoroughs in on display in the 300 plus opinions he issued on the d.c. circuit. for 12 years judge kavanaugh excelled on the bench that many experts see as the second most important court in our nation. we've seen his kindness firsthand in our private meetings with the nominee. precisely the approach that is so necessary on the court. we've seen his professional excellent as we reviewed more pages of documents pertaining to judge kavanaugh's career than

for any other supreme court no, nomination in our history. pages that depict a meticulous and dedicated public se servant. and yes, we have now studied the results of seven -- seven fbi background investigations, inquiry as that have produced no evidence whatsoever to corroborate any prior misconduct, but rather are consistent with all we know about this nominee's sterling character. this historically tall mountain of evidence a adds up to one clear message. judge brett kavanaugh is among the very best our nation has to offer. he will make the senate and the country proud. he will serve with distinction on our highest court. he unquestionably deserves confirmation and the country deserves such a supreme court

justice. now, mr. president, as i've explained, the stakes are always high, always high, where a supreme court confirmation is concerned. this time, this time stakes are higher. a lot higher than they've been in the past. i can't sum this up better than our friend and distinguished colleague, the senior senator from maine put it in her historic -- historic remarks yesterday. this what is the senior senator from maine said. it is when passions are most inflamed that fairness is most why jeopardy. she said, when passions are most inflamed is when fairness is most in jeopardy.

we all know the events of recent weeks have stained, strained the country's comedy and fanned the flames of partisan discord. but even more critically, our very commitment to the basic principles of fairness and justice is also being tested. basic principles of fairness and justice being tested right here. a vote to confirm judge kavanaugh today is also a vote to send a clear message about what the senate is. this is an institution where the evidence and the facts matter. this is an institution where the evidence and the facts matter. this is the chamber in which the politics of intimidation and personal destruction do not win the day.

this is the body whose members themselves uphold the same commitment to american justice that we seek in the judges we examine. a vote to confirm judge kavanaugh today is a vote to end this brief, dark chapter in the senate's history and turn the page toward a brighter tomorrow. chamber we are privileged to occupy is often called the world's greatest body for good reason. recall the world's greatest body for a good reason. when the rubber meets the road, when the hour is critical, when a historic precedent needs to be set, the united states senate most often finds its way to doing what is right. today we can honor that history.

we can vote to turn away from the darkness. we can vote to set a precedent about fairness and judgment that will define this body for the better. we can vote to confirm an excellent supreme court justice who will make the senate and the american people proud. i yield the floor. shannon: you've been watching there where the two top leaders of the senate have spoken, the top democrat, chuck schumer, the majority leader, top republican, mitch mcconnell. you see vice president mike pence is providing over the senate. if there was a tie, he would be the tiebreaker. we're told most republicans are in their seats. many of the democrat seats remain t empty at this point. chris: this will be one of the rare moments by the end of the vote when all -- i was going to say 100 seat -- 99 seats will be

filled. steve danes is walking his daughter down the aisle. now the vote is going to be taken. let's listen in. >> sergeant at arms will restore order in the gallery. [ indiscernible ] [yelling] >> is there a sufficient second? there's a sufficient second. the clerk will call the roll. >> mr. alexander -- [yelling. >> the sergeant at arms will restore order in the gallery. [yelling] >> the sergeant at arms will restore order in the gallery.

[yelling] >> [ indiscernible ] >> the sergeant of arms will restore order in the gallery. [ indiscernible ] >> the sergeant at arms will restore order in the galleries. the sergeant at arms will restore order in the gallery. >> the clerk may continue. >> ms. baldwin. ba>> mr. bennett.

mr. blumenthal. >> no. >> mr. blunt. >> [ indiscernible ] >> mr. booker. mr. boozman. mr. brown. >> no. >> mr. burr. >> [ indiscernible ] >> ms. cantwell. mrs. capito. mr. cardin. mr. carper. >> [ indiscernible ] >> mr. casey. >> no. >> mr. cassidy. >> [ indiscernible ] >> ms. collins. [yelling] >> the sergeant at arms will restore order in the gallery. continue. >> mr. coons. >> no.

>> mr. corker. [ indiscernible ] >> mr. corning. >> [yelling] >> senator will suspend. sergeant at arms will restore order in the gallery. [yelling] >> the sergeant at arms will restore order in the gallery. resume. >> mr. corning. mrs. cortez masto. mr. cotton. >> [ indiscernible ] >> mr. krepo. mr. cruz. >> aye. >> mr. danes. mr. donnelly.

ms. duckworth. mr. durbin. >> no. >> mr. ens. >> mrs. ernst. >> aye. >> mrs. feinstein. mrs. fisher. >> aye. >> [yelling] >> the sergeant at arms will restore order in the gallery. continue. >> mr. flake? >> aye. >> mr. gardner. >> aye. >> mrs. gilibrand. mr. graham. >> aye. >> mr. grassley. >> aye. >> ms. harris. >> no. >> ms. house in. > housein.>> [ indiscernible ]

>> mr. hatch. [ indiscernible ] >> mr. heinrich. ms. heitkamp. mr. heller. ms. hirono. >> no. >> mr. hoovin. >> aye. >> mrs. hyde smith. >> aye. >> mr. inhofe. >> aye. >> mr. isakson. >> aye. >> mr. johnson. >> aye. >> mr. jones. >> no. >> mr. kaine. >> no. >> mr. kennedy. >> aye. >> mr. king. >> no. >> ms. klobuchar. >> no. >> mr. kyl. [ indiscernible ] >> mr. langford. >> aye. >> mr. leahy. >>

[ indiscernible ] >> mr. lee. >> aye. >> mr. manchin. >> aye. >> shame, shame, shame! >> the clerk will suspend. the sergeant at arms will restore order in the gallery. the sergeant at arms will restore order in the gallery. >> [yelling] >> the sergeant at arms will restore order in the gallery. >> [yelling] >> clerk may continue. >> mr. markey. >> no. >> mrs. mccaskill. >> [ indiscernible ] >> mr. mcconnell. >> a aye. >> mr. menendez. >> no. >> mr. murkly. >> no. >> mr. moran. >> [ indiscernible ]

>> ms. murkowski. >> [ indiscernible ] >> mr. murphy. mrs. murray. >> [ indiscernible ] >> mr. nelson. mr. paul. >> aye. >> mr. purdue. >> aye. >> mr. peters. >> no. >> mr. portman. >> aye. >> mr. reid. >> no. >> mr. risch. >> aye. >> mr. roberts. >> aye. >> mr. rounds. >> aye. >> mr. rubio. >> aye. >> mr. sanders. >> no. >> mr. sass. >> aye. >> mr. shots. [ indiscernible ] mr. schumer. >> [ indiscernible ] >> mr. scott.

>> aye. >> mrs. shaheen. >> no. >> mr. shelby. >> aye. >> ms. smith. [ indiscernible ] >> ms. stabenow. >> [ indiscernible ] >> mr. sullivan. >> aye. >> mr. tester. [ indiscernible ] >> mr. thune. >> aye. >> mr. till liss. > tillis.>> aye. >> mr. toomey. >> aye. >> mr. udall. >> [ indiscernible ] >> mr. van hollen. >> no. >> mr. warner. >> [ indiscernible ] >> ms. warren. >> no. >> mr. whitehouse. >> no. >> mr. wicker. >> aye.

>> mr. wyden. >> no. >> mr. young. >> aye. >> >> with my friend the senator from montana, senator danes, who is walking his daughter down the aisle this afternoon, if he were present and voting, he would have voted aye. i have voted no. the pair will not change the outcome of the vote. i therefore withdraw my vote. >> the senator has that right. >> senators voting in the affirmative. alexander, baraso, blunt, boozman, burr capito, cassidy,

collins, corker, cornyn, cotton, krepo, cruz, ensi, ernst, fisher, flake, gardner, graham, grassley, hatch, heller, hovins, hyde smith, inhofe, isakson, johnson, kennedy, kyl, langford, lee, manchin, mcconnell, moran, hall, perdue, portman. chris: we are going to pause for a moment now to let our fox stations join us. welcome to our fox news live coverage of the senate vote to confirm brett kavanaugh for the supreme court. i'm chris wallace. shannon: i'm shannon bream. we are here in washington. you're going to listen live as they're talking through the votes now. the roll call, as you listen, to hear the tallies, what at this moment appear to be a confirmation for kavanaugh.

>> senators voting in the negative. baldwin, bennett, blumenthal, booker, brown, cantwell, cardin, kaycasey, donnelly, duckworth, durbin, feinstein, gilli diss brand, harris, hasin, heinrich, heitkamp, klobuchar, leahy, markey, mccaskill, menendez, murkly, murray, nelson, peters, reid, sanders, shots, schumer, shaheen, smith, stabnow, val holholeen, white disshouse. wyden. >> mr. murphy.

>> mr. murphy, no . chris: what's going on right now is that they are waiting for senators who missed the first roll call and there were a few who did to come to the floor and to vote and then they'll have the final tally which is going to show that the senate has voted to confirm judge kavanaugh. shannon: just moments ago people saw senator lisa murkowski, republican who is voting no, step up to say she is pairing her vote, something they can do in the senate, where someone has to be away, we talked about gop senator steve danes is away at his daughter's wedding today in montana. they have an agreement where she is voting no, he is voting yes.

they pair their votes and since they offset each other, she pulls back her vote and votes present in essence, that would givget us to 50-48 and one. chris: good to see somebody has the right sense of priority and he apparently flatly said, steve danes, i don't care if it's a senate confirmation vote, i am walking my daughter down the aisle. shannon: it sparked a lot of conversations in families, what would you do in that moment. now, he did have a backup plan in that a congressman from montana had said i will allow you to use my private plane if necessary. if you need it, to get there. there was a backup plan for him to be here if needed. i didn't want the judge to think he was wa waiverring. now because of the agreement it looks like he can enjoy the wedding.

consider early ichris: early i, before we came onthe national fox network, there was a lot of disruption, an unusual amount of disruption in the senate gallery. there were 112 121 public seats there. anyone that passes through security can sit in the gallery. you're admonished you're not

allowed to support either support or any disagreement with any decision or any statement that's made. you're there to sit and watch the senators do what they did. when they began the roll call it sounded mostly like female voices shouting very much in opposition to the kavanaugh nomination and particularly when jeff flake, who was considered one of the key swing votes, was voting and voting for kavanaugh, you could hear one of the female protesters up in the senate gallery shout and call flake a a coward and she was escorted out. we're told those 121 seats left in the -- here we go. waiting for some stragglers. i can tell you the senators -- >> no.

chris: waiting for taking letters. the senators want to get on planes and fly home. it is a holiday weekend and they want to go back to their states but they're waiting for this vote to be completed. so whoever it is that hasn't voted yet is not going to be popular. shannon: looks like we got the final vote in that we're going to get today. >> as a reminder to our guests in the gallery, expressions of approval or disapproval are not permitterred in the senate -- permitted in the senate gallery. are there any senators in the chamber who wish to vote or change a vote? if not, on this vote the ayes