. >> let's get over to kristen welker. i guess this is just another day of the week for this white house. but i've got to think this one makes them long for the days of dealing with the woodward book, and that was just an hour ago. >> reporter: well, that's right. and, chuck, the day started with them trying to dismiss it, laugh it off. of course kind of tough to do because their boss, the president, was on twitter early this morning slamming the woodward book and of course hallie jackson was in the room with him asking him questions over and over again about the woodward book. you heard him try to dismiss it. just to give you a sense of what unfolded here in the moments after that op-ed came out, my colleague, peter alexander, ran up, had it in his hands and handed it to a senior administration official that hadn't seen it yet. that precipitated a long line of officials going into and out of sarah sanders' office. i was up there. at last check when i spoke to sarah sanders, she said no response yet. they're trying to get

here's kristen welker. >> reporter: with critical battles looming on the high court and campaign trail, president trump briefly walked outside the white house in golf gear today and quickly went back inside and into fight mode attacking labor unions on this labor day and lashing out at a familiar target, his attorney general jeff session. the president slamming what he called the jeff sessions justice department, which indicted republican congressman duncan hunter for misusing campaign funds and chris collins for insider trading. mr. trump tweeting two easy wins now in doubt because there is not enough time. good job, jeff. it all comes as president trump is gearing up to crisscross the country for critical gop seats, but he's also eyeing this election, including secretary of state john kerry. >> are you. >>> -- >> are you going to run in 2020? >> i'm not thinking about it. talking about 2020 is a total distraction and waste of time. >> reporter: the president pouncing. i see john kerry is thinking of running for president. i should only be so lucky although the field that's assembling

let's get more on it from nbc's kristen welker. >> reporter: in his explosive new book, bob woodward describes the trump presidency in the midst of a nervous breakdown, excerpts first obtained by the "washington post," quote aides calling it crazytown, at times paralyzed by the russia investigation and that possible interview with robert mueller. >> i've always wanted to do an interview. >> reporter: woodward describing the president's one time lead attorney john dowd so convinced the president would commit perjury he staged a practice interview last january, that session so rocky, woodward reports mr. dowd later told mr. trump, don't testify. it's either that or an orange jumpsuit. the book a remarkable portrait of aides taking extreme measures to block their boss. former economic advisor, gary c prevent him from a trade agreement with south korea by swiping a letter off his desk and after the president told defense secretary james mattis he assassinate syrian dictator bashar al assad for a chemical attack on civilian, mattis told the president on the phone he would do it but then t

they have the jority and don't need democrats to confirm kavanaugh. >> kristen welker, thank you. >>> overseas a u.s. service member has been killed in what mitary officials call an apparent insider attack on afghanistan. this is the sixth american service member to be killedr. th the name has not been released. ca a second amewas also wounded in that attack and is listed in stable condition. >>> for the first time tonight, we're hearing reaction from thefa ly of a man killed in the controversial stand your ground case in florida. their response to the gunman speaking out from jail defending his use of deadly force in a confrontation over a parking space. nbc's stephanie gosk has that. >> reporter: michael drejka ss he shot marqukeis mcglockton because he was quote very scared. >> felt like i was tackled or someone hit me from behind with something. >> reporter: the bullet killed mceldermc glockton. a relief for his father who believes race played a role in the shooting. >> when somebody is backing up and you got your weapon hdraw is that -- how are you ten fear of your life? >> rep h

our kristen welker has details. >> reporter: tonight, the hearing in limbo after christine blasey ford said she wants an fbi investigation into her allegation of sexual assault against judge brett kavanaugh as a first step. president trump urging her to testify on monday. >> i really want to see her. i really would want to see what she has to say. >> reporter: and answering the critical question, does he believe her? >> i can only say this, he is such an outstanding man, very hard for me to imagine that anything happened. >> reporter: but notably leaving the door open for a change. >> if she shows up and makes a credible showing, that will be very interesting and we'll have to make a decision. >> reporter: blasey ford has received death threats, her lawyer says, forcing her to mom out of her home with her children. >> any talk of a hearing on monday is premature. she came forward with these allegations 48 hours ago. >> reporter: kavanaugh has vehemently denied the allegation from more than three decades ago. in this case, only the white house can ask for an investigation. mr. trump sho

let's get more from nbc's kristen welker. >> reporter: lester, good evening. late tonight president trump said the storm would be one of the biggest ever to hit the east coast adding protection of life is the highest priority and said fema has extensive resources on the ground. the president dug in on controversial comments he made tuesday calling the response to last year's hurricane maria incredible unsung success. today he called it an unappreciated great job. the mayor of san juan lashed out calling those remarks despicable nearly 3,000 people died as a result of maria. lester? >> all right. kristen welker, thank you very much. >>> pope francis is calling the world's vaticans together for a summit. in february the topic will be preventing sex abuse in the church and protecting children around the globe. it's amid accusations of a church coverup by priests here and in other countries. one of the figures under fire, cardinal donald wuerl, clarifying he hopes to ask pope francis to accept his resignation when he travels to the vatican. t e-cigarettes warning

. >> and this is another part of what the president said on the south lawn today and our kristen welker was there, and take a look at this. >> look, if she is showing up and makes a krcredible showing, that is going to be very interesting, and we will have to make a decision, but i can only say this, he is such an outstanding man, and very hard for me to imagine that anything happened. >> so, how do you deal with that with chuck grassley and even senator flake who was initially, you know, skeptical about going forward, and now saying, they should go forward, and a lot of the republicans are accusing the democrats and this woman of delaying tactics. >> we are asking for a basic review of the facts. if you are listening to anita hill herself, she said that you need to push the pause button to do this nonpartisan investigation before the s senators have the information that they need to ask appropriate questions, but make no mistake this is false choice and they are trying to bully her into testifying against her versus kavanaugh as opposed to calling all of the witnesses who have importan

our kristen welker joins us live from the white house. kristen, what's the latest? >> reporter: lester, good evening. tonight, president trump is insisting his administration is as ready as anyone has ever been to deal with hurricane florence. the president describing the storm as tremendously big and wet. and when asked about lessons learned from those storms that devastated puerto rico last year -- >> the job that fema and law enforcement and everybody did working along with the governor in puerto rico, i think was tremendous. i think that puerto rico was an incredible, unsung success. >> reporter: one top democrat calling those comments offensive given that nearly 3,000 people died as a result of hurricane maria. mr. trump started his day in shanksville, pennsylvania commemorating the 17th anniversary of the september 11th attacks, greeting airport by pumping his fists. theed presiwo campaign rallies to monitor the storm this weekend, leer. >> kristen welker, thank you. >>> disturbingly, the horror of 9/11 continues to claim victims. almost 1,900 first responders

>> kristen welker at the white house tonight, thanks. >>> still ahead, more breaking news. explosions ripping through boston suburbs. homes in flames. people warned to get out now. stay with us. >>> more breaking news tonight near boston. major evacuations are underway as dozens of homes and businesses are burning. explosions tearing through three different cities. nbc's ron allen has the dramatic images just coming in. >> there is no way to predict which house will go up or where the next fire could spring up. >> reporter: late this afternoon, explosions frantic 911 calls from residents about gas. massachusetts state police reporting a group of gas leaks set off explosions or fire in at least three dozen homes or businesses in three towns. lawrence, andover and north andover. thick black smoke billowing into the sky. the homes spread out over a two to three-mile area in what looks like a random pattern. reports of multiple injuries. evacuations under way. warnings to residents to get out if they smell gas and not turn anything electrical on or off, no phone calls, just lea

kristen welker, nbc news, the white house. ♪ i'm free >> reporter: i'm peter alexander. tonight, president trump escalating the attack on the anonymous official behind the "new york times" op-ed. aboard air force one calling on jeff sessions to get involved. >> i would say jeff should be investigating who the author of that piece was because i really believe it's national security. >> reporter: the president also saying he's considering taking action against the "times." earlier complaining about his hometown paper to fox news. >> "the times" should never have done that because what they have done is virtually, it's treason. >> reporter: "the times" saying it's confident the justice deputy would not participate in a blatant abuse of government power. president obama weighing in, too. >> should not be a partisan issue to say that we do not pressure the attorney general or the fbi to use the criminal justice system as a way to punish our political opponents. >> reporter: the white house tonight dialing back the president's remarks insisting he isn't directing sessions to d

nbc's kristen welker now with late details. >> reporter: after first fighting criminal charges, paul manafort is now cooperating with special counsel robert mueller. the plea agreement says manafort must cooperate with the government in any and all matters. >> a tough day for mr. manafort but he's accepted responsibility. and he wanted to make sure that his family was able to remain safe. >> reporter: in court today, mr. manafort told the judge, i plead guilty. the charges, conspiracy against the united states and conspiracy to obstruct justice. in a statement, white house press secretary sarah huckabee sanders said "this had absolutely nothing to do with the president or his victorious 2016 presidential campaign. it is totally unrelated." court documents show manafort's financial crimes stretch from 2006 to 2017, even while he was working for the trump campaign. and he failed to register as a foreign lobbyist. according to the documents in 2012, manafort pushed false stories in the u.s. for his client, then the pro-russian parking lot of ukraine. in one example, manafort aimed to co

kristen welker, thanks very much. i >>> pope franc calling the world's vaticans together for a summit. the topic will be sex abuse in the church pr anecting children around the globe. it's amid accusations of a church coverup by priests here and in other countries. one of the figures, cardinal dald whirl clarifying he hopes to ask pope francis to accept his resignation when he travels to the vatican. >> today the fda sounding a big alarm about e cigarettes warning they are becoming a big epidemic among teens. they are telling them to come up with a better way to keep them out of the hands or minors to face consequences of the government. let's get more from rehema ellis. >> reporter: vaping, the it thing for teens and a dangerous epidemic. >> the trajectory of use we're seeing in g youth and a result path to addiction must end. reporter: the agency sending out warning letters to retailers and giving an ultimatum to the papers of popular juul and four other man th have 60 show they can ep it out of hands of teenage use

kristen welker is at the white house. what's the latest? >> the president said we'll see when asked if he plans to fire his embattled deputy attorney general rod rosenstein, although he says he doesn't want to. he says he may delay a meeting set for tomorrow to focus on kavanaugh. this drama started when "the new york times" reported rosenstein discuss red moving the president from office. rosenstein summoned to the white house monday called that report inaccurate and its high stakes, the deputy attorney general oversees the russia investigation, lester. >> kristen welker, thanks. >> let's turn to the united nations where the president today fired off a broad slide against a world power with an accusation of meddling. andrea mitchell has the details. >> reporter: the dramatic accusation as president trump was presiding over the u.n. security council for the first time. >> china has been attempting to interfere in our upcoming 2018 election. they do not want me or us to win because i am the first president ever to challenge china on trade. >

>> kristen welker, thank you. >>> whiplash in the halls of the capitol where things went fromy hu to hurry up and wait. kasie hunt has been chasing senators down he all day into evening. what are you hearing right now? >> reporter: it's been whiplash because capitol hill is in a holding pattern while potentially new heinformation from t fbi and behind closed ca doors, repub senators undecided, susan collins, lisa murkawski and flake might be hearing what judge is telling them. the reality is politics is still g go play a big role in the decision for undecided republicans and to potentlly for joe mansion up for reelection in deep red west virginia. lester? > to the white house, hallie jackson outside the west wing. i can imagine they are huddled to play this out where this leads. what are you hearing? >> reportel you what, lester, there is a growing sense of dread among allies i've been talking over what could happen in the next week, whether more time might shift public op ion away from brett kavanaugh but tonight the president remains firmly behind his pick. the west wing seemed cau

nbc's kristen welker h the latest. >> reporter: the hearing in limb after christine blasey n fbi ays she wants investigation into her allegation of sexual assault against judge brett kavanaugh as a first step. president trump urging her to testify on monday.ll >> i'd r want to see her. whaally would want to see she has to say. >> reporter: and answering the critical question, does he believe her? >> i can only saythis. he is such an outstanding man. very hard for me to imagine that anything ephappened. >>ter: but notably, leaving the door open for a change. >> if she shows up and makes a credible showing, that will be very interesting and we'll have to make a decision. >> reporter: blasey for has received death threats, her lawyer says, forcing her to move out of herome with her children. >> any talk of a hearing on monday frankly is premature because she just came forward with these allegations 48 hours ago. >> reporter: kavanaugh has allegationdenied the for more than three decades ago. in this case, only the white house can ask for an fbi investigation. mr. trump showing no signs

let's get more on it from nbc's kristen welker. >> reporter: in his explosive new book, bob woodward desibes e trump presidency in the midst of a nervous breakdown, excerpts first obtained by the as "whington post," quote aides calling it crazytown and th >> i've always wanted to do an interview. >> reporter: woodwded ribing the president's one time lead attorney john dowd so convinced the president would commit practice interview last january, that session so rocky, woodward reports mr. dowd later told mr. trum't testify. it's either that or an orange jumpsuit. the book a remarkable portrait of aides taki extreme measures to block their boss. former economic advisor,ar cohn, reportedly trying to prevent him from a trade agreement with south korea by swiping a letter off his desk and after jail mattis said he wanted to assassinate bashar assad for a chemical attack on civilian, mattis told theid prt on the phone he would do it but then telling a senior aide quote we are not going to do any of that. the book describing extraordinary insults from the president's sthaafvif,ng w toohedw

>>> kristen welker, thanks. >>> kim jong-uwants to do it again. the north korean leader asking president trump for a second summit but despitthe promises kim made to denuclearize and trump's continued prai nbc news learned u.s. intelligence believes m,hi north korea is se o still producing nuclear war heads. here is andrea mitchell. jong-un showing off military might but what you don't see here are nuclear weapons he is secretly building. despite president trump's constant a praise for kimnd tonight, three current and former senior u.s. officials tell nbc news u.s. intelligence says north korea is producing five eight new nuclear weapons this year. tnd building new structo hide them despite kim's promise to denuclearize and now the white house accepting kim's invitation for a second summit sent in a letter to the president today. >> the president achieved tremendous success with his policies so far and this letter was further evidence of progress in the relationship. >> reporter: criticsy ere is not progress in getting rid of kim's weapons. >> whe

>> kristen welker at the white house tonit, thanks. >>> still ahead, more breaking news. plosions ripping through boston suburbs and homes and flames, ople warned to get out now. stay with us. flames, people warned to get out now. people warned to get out now. burning, of diabetic nerve pain these feet... ... made waves in high school... ...and built a career in construction. but i couldn't bear my diabetic nerve pain any longer. so i talked to my doctor and he prescribed lyrica. lyrica may cause serious allergic reactions suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worsening depression, unusual changes in mood or behavior, swelling, trouble breathing, rash, hives, blisters, muscle pain with fever, tired feeling or blurry vision. common side effects: dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain and swelling of hands, legs, and feet. don't drink alcohol while taking lyrica. don't drive or use machinery until you know how lyrica affects you. those who have had a drug or alcohol problem may be more likely to misuse lyrica. now i have less diabet

here is nbc's kristen welker. >> reporter: tonight, present trump is standing by judge brett kavanaugh. >> judge kavanaugh is one of the finest people that i have ever nown. >> reporter: kavanaugh facing an allegation of sexually assaulting a teenage girl more than three decades ago ata high schoolrty and he denies the accusation. according to the white house ys he was never at the party in question. >> he's an outstanding intellect, an outstanding judge, respected by everybody. never had even had a little blemish on his or r >> reporter: the accuser, 51-year-old christine blasey fd, a professor in california tells "the washington post" a 17-year-old kavanaugh was stumbling drug income the 1980s when he pinned her to the bed and groped her while another teenage tboy watched. i thou he might inadvertently kill me, ford told "the post." her lawyer said that ford is willing to testify publicly. >> does shnsider this an attempted rape? >> she does. co she clearlyiders this an attempted rape. >> reporter: kavanaugh is willing to testify aadding this is completely false allegation. i have ne

our coverage begins with nbc's kristen welker. >> reporter: tonight, c clash between bitter rivals, the president and his predecessor. >> you need to vote because our democracy depends on it. >> isn't this much more exciting than listening to president obama? >> reporter: in illinois, former president obama coming off the sidelines for the first time since leaving office and taking on president trump by name. >> it did not start with donald trump. he is a symptom, not the cause. >> reporter: rebuking a brand of politics he says is steeped in fear and division. mr. trump responding >> i watched it, but i fell asleep. i found it's very good, very good for sleeping. s > reporter: the two leadve been adversaries since mr. trump unched his politil career by questioning whether president obama, the icfirst african am president was born in the u.s. a feud mr. obama revived today. >> the politics of division and resentment and paranoia has d unfortunately fo home in the republican party. embraced wild conspiracy theories ro like those sding benghazi or my birth certificate. >> reporter: he exco

kristen welker with details. mueller wants to ow. isten welker with details. >> reporter: after first fighting ulcriminal charges, manafort is cooperating with robert mueller, the plea agreement says manafort must coopate with the government in any and all matters. >> tough day for mr. manafort but he accepted responsibility and he isanted to make sure thatamily was able to remain safe. >> reporter: in court today mr. manafort told the judge i plead guilty. the charges conspiracy against the united states and conspiracy to obstruct justice in a statement press secretary sarah sanders said this had absolutely nothing to do with president or his victorious 2016 presidentialampaign. it's totally unrelated. court documents ow the financial crimes are from 2006 to 26. and he failed to register as a foreign lobbyist according to the documents in 2012, manafort pushed false stories in the u.s. for his client and the pro-russian president of ukraine in one example manafort convinced the quote, obama jews to push it. >> if anyone were toow f

. >> and kristen welker at the white house, and kasie hunt at capitol hill, and -- let me say that he is not accused of having sexual intercourse can, but sexual misconduct and attempted rape. and kasie, where you are covering this, i understand that lisa murkowski has been in a scrum with reporters and asked about debra ramirez who had an account of a sexual activity that he exposed himself at college at age 18 and living as an adult, and if she should have an opportunity to testify. and will you fill us in on that? >> sure, andrea. she was asked about that, and she said that she thought like dr. ford it should be up to the ms. ramirez, and if she does want to come forward, she should be allowed to testify, and that is really the standard of the undecided senators have set for their own leadership. right now, mitch mcconnell does not have the votes. he has 48 republican senators who are more confused about this which is coming with ms. ramirez which many believe are thinner than those brought by dr. ford, and not strongly corroborated, but he still does not know where jeff flake, and

and joining me is kristen welker and mimi. and kristen, it is clear that he was subdued own the south lawn, and then he went there. >> we spent so much time this week talking about the president's tone, and the fact that he was not engage ing ing types of attacks and then today it changed. we sort of saw him getting closer and closer to the line overnight when he said why wasn't this reported to the fbi 36 years ago? well, of course, a teenager is not going to report something like this to the fbi, but andrea, the bottom line, he is taking her on directly, but the messaging still runs counter of that of many of the top officials including kelley anne conway said there is no reason to attack her. she needs to be heard. >> and so, you been watching this closely, and you and the washington post team did the first reporting on this of christine blasey ford, and how do you see this evolving with her attorney debra katz on the phone last night into the evening with the democrats and the republicans in a conference call saying that i

back to you. >> kristen welker live for us at the white house. thank you. more onhat hearing coming up next on the "today" show. >>> this morning, the bethesda school brett kavanaugh attended at the time of dr. ford's alleged assault is defending its reputation. georgetown prep released the following statement saying in partquote, the image that has been presented on social media and in various new outlets depicts recklessness, illegal conduct, and lack of respect for persons. it is demon th such behavior and culture is tolerated. >>> there are only 40 days until november's midterm elections. we saw the virginia u.s. senatef candidates fac last night in a heated debate here on nbc 4. incumbent democratic senator tim kaine and his republican challenger corey stewart took the stage in northern virginia and answere a questions from panel that included aaron and our own julie kjacarrie. >>> breaking news now. if you're just joining us, there's a barricade situation happening in northwe d.c. >> news aimee cho is live o t the scene wi latest. >> reporter: a rape

let's bring in our panel, kristen welker, also vox political reporter andrew procop, and also johns hopkins professor and contributor to the hill, wendy aseffo, and danny cevallos. kristen, let's start with you. as we're all watching the president's twitter feed, nothing yet. anything from the white house about this? >> i just spoke with a white house official. we can push this story forward a little bit. according to this white house official, when i asked if judge kavanaugh would withdraw his nomination, this white house official was firm, no. that was the response. this official pointing us back to that original denial by judge kavanaugh. as you just pointed out, judge kavanaugh initially saying i did not do this, unequivocally denied the allegation. now, i also spoke to this white house official about the mood here within the white house. are they wavering, are they concerned? the response i got to that question, this white house is standing by judge kavanaugh. they point to the fact that he sat for more than 30 hours of testimony. this issue was never raised. he also sat for hearings b

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kristen welker is joining us from the white house. already this morning, we have heard several administration officials, several republican leaders say, listen, it's fine. we are good. fema is good. it has what it needs, right? >> reporter: that is right. first, we should say nbc news hasn't verified the documents, but dhs is not disputing. they are pushing back vigorously about the criticism and the notion that transferring the funds means they won't be ready. this from a dhs spokesperson says the money in question could not have been used for hurricane response due to appropriateuation limitations. dhs/fema stand ready to support current and future response and recovery needs. the administrator was asked about this. take a listen to what he had to say. >> we have plenty of resources, monetary, staff and commodities to respond to hurricane florence. again, we ask the residents to heed the warnings. >> reporter: they released those documents saying, look, it is impossible to think transferring those funds won't have an impact. the pre

and joining me now is kristen welker, and political analyst ashley parker, the white house reporter at the post, and nbc correspondent kasie hunt, and also with us linda furnstein, former prosecutor in the manhattan office and best selling authorf. and kristen, what is the white house reaction if any? >> no official reaction but i am told that we can expect a statement some time soon and they are processing this with everyone else. as you have rightfully pointed out the new allegations coming in the 11th hour as everyone is preparing for the hearing to take place tomorrow, and there is no indication as of right now that the president, that this white house is planning to break with brett kavanaugh, but again, we await the official statement, and there a broad sense in the trump world that these are allegations, and they want to get to the bottom of what has happened here. and there seems to be agreement, andrea, that if these allegations are true, and if they are verified and verifiable, and nbc news has not been able to corroborate them, and we have not been able to reach the woman at

and joining me is correspondent kasie hunt and correspondent kristen welker, and also, the editor from the washington post. and kasie hunt, what is the state of play up there, and then to kristen, judge kavanaugh is back at the white house today and more on that in a moment. kasie? >> andrea, and you have showed some of this in the opening of the show, and today, emotional protests from women who are going from office to office and many members of congress who are not here, and the senate is out of session, and they are going into the front of their offices, and they are telling their own stories, and we obviously get a lot of protesters up here on a lot of topics and always a lot of yelling and chanting, and little bit of that today, but this is kind of markedly emotional, and in of the women here are saying that this is the first time that they have told their stories in public, and that they have talked about it. i spoke to onele woman who said that she hoped that by christine blasey ford doing what she is doing, and anita abraham telling her story in public, younger women will real

s sorry, frank, apparently, he can't hear me, so we will fix that, but kristen welker, you are standing by at the white house as we are waiting for the tape of the president to come out, and the fbi is caught here in the middle where the democrats are saying, you need to reopen this investigation, and there are people who, you know, others who may have been at the party, and there are her, you know, psychologists or her marriage counselor whom she told at the time, and others quoted in the newspaper at the "mercury paper" out there, her local newspaper who were contemporaneous witnesses at least to the way she was dealing with this in her a adult life. >> and i think that the calls for an fbi investigation, andrea, could likely grow loudly, but president trump again, just to reit rate se rre that he does not believe that the fbi should be involved. i spoke to someone here from mercy shlap, and no response on that point. she did reiterate it is important for dr. ford to be heard. but lett me tick through the readout from the president in the oval office. he says that we are looking to ge

we have nbc's pete williams, our justice correspondent, nbc news white house correspondent kristen welker, "washington post" white house bureau chief, phil rucker. and adam schiff on the house intelligence committee. thanks to all of you. first of all, pete williams, if you can pick it up where i have left off of all of your great reporting today. we know there are different signals coming on what is going to happen to rod rosenstein. >> exactly, andreandrea, two contradictory stories about what's happening here. there was one and possibly two meetings in may of last year, rod rosenstein suggested that people wear a wire when pemeeti with the president to talk about who the new fbi director should be, and perhaps invoking the 25th amendment to declare the president unfit for office. after that story came out, the justice department pushed back against it. rosenstein issued a statement that had conversations with the white house friday night. they said you've got to get a more definitive statement out which he did, he completely denied that he ever suggested any of these two things. we jus

kristin k kristen welker joins me from the white house. chuck grassley talking about a letter with 65 signatories, women who knew brett kavanaugh when he was a high school student when this was alleged to have occurred. we are seeing here sort of a fight by proxy, testaments to this person's character. what's your read on what happens next? are we hearing anything from the white house at this point? >> the only thing we're hearing from the white house is they're pointing us back to that initial statement by brett kavanaugh. here it is. i categorically and unequivocally deny this allegation. i did not do this back in high school or at any time. now, of course, we're all watching our twitter feeds very closely to see if the president is going to tweet about this. i would frankly be surprised if he doesn't. because of course that is how he communicates. we know that his strategy for dealing with these types of controversies, these types of issues is to dig in. to fight back that much harder. i would be surprised if we didn't see that tactic f

kristen welker has more on this. >>> president trump is standing by judge brett kavanaugh >> judge kavanaugh is one of the finest people that i've ever known. >> reporter: kavanaugh faces an allegation of sexually assaulting a teenage girl more than three decades ago a party he denies the accusation and he said he was never at the party in question. >> he's an outstanding intellect, an outstanding judge. respected by everybody never had even a little blemish on his record. >> reporter: the accuser, 51-year-old christine blasey ford, a professor in california, tells "the washington post" a 17-year-old kavanaugh was stumbling drunk in the 1980s when he pinned her to the be and groped her while another teenage boy watched. i thought he might inadvertently kill me, ford told "the post." her lawyer said that ford is willing to testify publicly. >> does she consider this an attempted rape >> she does. she clearly considers this an attempted rape. >> reporter: kavanaugh is willing to testify adding this is a completely false allegation i have never done anything like what the accuser describes to h

kristen welker, you wrote on nbc news.com in part, mr. obama is expected to frame the midterm elections as a choice wean an inclusive or fearful america. that's precisely what we heard there from the president in illinois. kristen, he stayed out for the most part, stay out of the fray until now and party leaders have been pushing for him to jump in. what are democrats expecting for mr. obama as we march into the midterms. >> they are expecting him to do what he did today. as anita points out, he spoke about the state of america's democracy right now and how we ended up here and how he would like to see moving forward. he created that sharp contrast speaking broader terms of the need to reject politics of fear but taking on president trump in specific terms as well at various moments as you pointed out. he said how difficult is it to call out nazis? that's a direct rebutte of president trump. i think he's going to be careful in terms of where he goes and strategic. we know that he's going to go to various parts of california and ohio, penn

nbc news white house correspondent kristen welker has the latest. >> reporter: with critical battles looming on the high court and campaign trail, president trump walked outside the house in golf gear and went back inside and into fight mode, attacking labor unions on labor day and lashing out at a familiar target, his attorney general jeff sessions, the president slamming what he called the jeff sessions justice department which indicted republican congressment duncan hunter for misusing campaign funs and chris colins for insider trading. it all comes as president trump is gearing up to crisscross the country for critical gop seats, but he's also eyeing his own reelection, including this exchange with former secretary of state john kerry. >> are you going to run in 2020? >> i'm really not thinking about it. talking about 2020 right now is a total distraction and waste of time. >> reporter: the president pouncing, i see that john kerry is thinking of running for president. i should only be so lucky, although the field that is currently assembling looks really good, for me. another po

kristen welker read part of it. it is disturbing that these allegations from more than 35 years ago during high school would surface on the eve of a committee vote after democrats sat on them since july. if ranking members took this claim seriously, they should have brought it to the full committee's attention much earlier. instead they said nothing during two joint phone calls with the nominee four days in august, four days of hearing, a closed session with committee members with the nominee where sensitive topics can be discussed and more than 1,300 written questions. 65 senators met individually can judge cavanaugh during a nearly two month period before the hearing began yet feinstein didn't share this with her colleagues ahead of many of those discussions. grassley is the same senator who originally released a letter with the signatures here of 65 women defending kavanaugh's care last week. josh, i want to hear your take on that response and does it point r poito that these suppor knew this was coming? >> certa

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kristen welker is here for the next hour. >> thank you. so many fast moving developments with the kavanaugh negotiations. >> take it away. >> appreciate it. good afternoon to you. i'm kristen welker in washington, d.c. balance of power. breaking news of capitol hill. we have new reporting on the negotiations between the senate judiciary commit tee and the woman accusing supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh of sexual assault. the very latest on whether she will testify. >>> trump unleashed. after a week of an unusually restrained president trump has taken off the gloves and gone after the supreme court nominee's accuser. what was the tipping point? >>> and lessons learned. vice president joe biden on the senate's handling of kavanaugh's accuser. craig melvin has the exclusive. craig? >> reporter: kristen, coming up, we'll run that conversation with the former vice president and his wife dr. joe biden in its entirety. what he has learned since the clarence thomas confirmation hearings in 1991 and what this country especially washington stil

white house correspondent kristen welker and justice correspondent pete williams. great to see both of you. pete, walk us through what you're expecting for the first day of hearings tomorrow. >> it will test brett kavanaugh's ability to stlit for hours without saying anything because that's how the first day goes in recent years in these confirmation hearings. the question of him won't start until wednesday. so tomorrow, opening statements from all the members of the senate judiciary committee. at the very end of the day, the nominee makes a brief statement saying he's humbled and proud and then he introduces his family. so all the questions that you talk about won't actually start until wednesday. and i think you're exactly right. certainly roe v. wade will be an important question. it usually is, but especially so because of the fact that brett kavanaugh is the nominee to replace anthony kennedy who was willing to join with some of the liberals in striking down the latest efforts by states not to overturn roe but to limit access to abortion. so that's going to be

i'm joined by kristen welker at the white house and nbc intelligence reporter ken dilanian. ken, you said this is more than not normal. you have never seen anything like this. but here's the thing, that's the case in almost anything surrounding president trump. explain what you mean. a trump supporter could say i'm tired of you saying unprecedented. that's why i voted for him. i wanted a change. >> you put your finger on it, stephanie. this president shattered so many norms. it's hard for people to understand when he does something that's truly damaging, this is one of those times. current and former intelligence officials i've talked to are stunned. they say they've never seen a president overrule his own intelligence and law enforcement professionals and try to force the release of highly sensitive documents from a pending counterintelligence criminal investigation. that would be bad enough but the obvious motive is the real scandal. the problem is the subject of this investigation. as adam said there, he's helping his own defense. he's helping to fuel what's essentially a

kristen welker, thank you, david, thank you as well. david is a washington post associate editor. >> do you think this time it's different, whether it's bob's book or the op ed? >> it's hard to know whether there's a straw that breaks the camel's back in this. i think bob waoodward brings credibility to the story. but i think people are entrenched this their positions. >> i wonder if it's credibility with an audience who already supported those views and had these thoughts? >> i think it's only people on the margins. if you're not so fully entrenched in trump's camp and the resistance, you're somewhere in the middle wondering about what you're supposed to do in the election, this informs your viewing. but that's a smaller and smaller group in the middle. >> margins decide elections. >>> a closer look at trump's mounting legal troubles. he's agreed to give up his right to millions in damages against guess who, stormy daniels. his former campaign adviser, george papadopoulos says he may have led the special counsel to investigate collusio

i want to start with kristen welker, 0 who is on the phone, our white house correspondent. kristen, i'm told you have new information from the white house about how this is going to be handled. >> we see a white house that is increasingly digging in. kasie, think we got that sense from the statements that you read from brett kavanaugh and from the white house spokesperson. but my colleague, peter alexander, spoke with a source familiar with the confirmation process who says that president trump had two conversations today, about these latest allegations. against judge brett kavanaugh. before the it became public and he expressed no change in his views. and this i think aligns with what we've seen from the president. in recent days, you and i spent a lot of time, kasie, talking about the fact that the president has been very on-message, very disciplined last week in talking about the initial allegations from christine blasey ford, saying i want to hear from her. but his tone started to change toward the end of the week. he became increasingly combative and we have the stunni

kristen welker is covering the white house today and kristen, the white house found it impossible to keep quiet while his nominee is on the hill. at least on twitter. it's clear the president sees this book as a clear and present danger. >> reporter: very clear, brian. the president and his top allies really trying to dismiss this book. digging in. i can tell you one white house official saying we're laughing off these headlines. i said your boss certainly isn't. he's been on twitter throughout the day, let me give awe small sampling of what we saw on twitter from the president earlier today tweeting the woodwood book already refuted and discredited by secretary of defense james mattis, john kelly. quotes were made up frauds a con. wodwa waroodward is a dem opera. so many lies and phony sources. calling jeff sessions mentally retarded, an a dumb southerner. i said neither. then this. this final one, brian, a little threat almost. isn't it a shame someone can write an article or book, totally make up stories and form a picture of the person that is literally the exact opposite of the

. >>> i'm kristen welker at the white house with the president ordering the fbi to reopen its background check into judge kavanaugh, we're learning ability the witnesses agents may talk to, including kavanaugh's high school friend, mike judge, who says he's ready to talk. his lawyer telling nbc news, if asked to speak to the fbi he woul in my experience an fbi interview is always confidential. ford testified judge was in the room when kavanaugh allegedly sexual assaulted her. >> mark seemed to be urging brett on and at times telling him to stop. a couple of times i made eye contact with mark and thought he might try to help me. but he did not. >> reporter: later saying she bumped into him at a safeway weeks after the alleged attack. >> i said hello to him, and his face was white and very uncomfortable saying hello back. >> reporter: in his book, judge wrote he worked as a bag boy at the local supermarket in 1982. the book called "wasted" details his struggle with addiction. >> mark judge was a friend of ours in high school who developed a very serious drinking problem and addiction repor

we want to go to kristen welker at the white house. for those viewers who are off trying to enjoy the last blast holiday of summer, can you remind our viewers of exactly what it is? the president said on twitter yesterday that has some members of the senate and house saying a line has been crossed. >> that's right, brian, and that line that was crossed happened yesterday during labor day. the president mostly endures but lashing out on twitter. really creating the backdrop to proceedings you were watching there so closely now on capitol hill. taking aim at a familiar target. his own attorney general, jeff sessions. now, of course, he has taken aim at jeff sessions in the past. but yesterday was a little different. he escalated his attacks and blamed what he referred to as the jeff sessions justice department for two indictments of two congressman, duncan hunter, for allegedly misusing campaign funds and chris collins for insider trading. he never mentioned those two. he did say this, two long running, obama era investigations of two ve

. >> kristen welker who by now has a degree in psychology, as well, coverings the white house. how does it feel over there this morning, kristen? >> reporter: it's a bit tense, brian. i can tell you there's really a full court press to try to push back against bob woodward's book. press secretary sanders out shortly after that tweet went out that you mentioned and she was digging in. we pressed her on this point, that stephanie makes, that this book is not an anomaly and echos and builds on the reporting our team has done here and nbc on other books that we have seen throughout the past year and a half, the fact that particularly in the early days there was chaos and dysfunction throughout this white house, that the president has at times been paralyzed by the russia investigation. take a listen to what sarah sanders had to say. >> these are the same rehashed, retold stories, certainly, just because they keep getting told doesn't make them more true. i think that's a ridiculous accusation and just because the same people write the same type of books you have a bunch of elites a

kristen welker delves deeper. nightly news starts in about 20 minutes. >>> it is every parent's worst fear. an accused child predator taking care of your kids. in san mateo county a babysitter and one-time uber driver is facing felony charges for allegedly molesting several young boys. more on how this man found his victims and why police think there may be more. >> reporter: that's right. some very disturbing allegations. the san mateo county sheriff's office says the suspect is facing at least three felony charges right now and they believe there may be more victims out there. 32-year-old angel leopoldo gutierrez monney is accused of molesting at least five boys under the age of 14. the sheriff's office says he was a part-time babysitter on a child care website and a parent who hired him ultimately introduced him to other families. that's how gutierrez molested and found his other victims. he also worked for uber as a driver. the company tells us their security system sent them an alert once he was booked into j