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S.E. Cupp Unfiltered

Judge Brett Kavnaugh Has Sworn In as Supreme Court Justice; Protesters Gathered In Front Of Supreme Court. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired October 06, 2018 - 18:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:00:16] S.E. CUPP, CNN HOST: Welcome to UNFILTERED.

Right now, you are looking at dramatic live pictures of protesters storming the steps of the Supreme Court following the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh.

Inside that building right now is Brett Kavanaugh, awaiting his moment to be sworn in. There have already been multiple arrests of protesters today. Police had been asking them not to take up on the steps. And they have been arresting people who had.

But as Brett Kavanaugh arrived and went into that building, these protesters en masse stormed the steps and there they are occupying the steps of the Supreme Court as Brett Kavanaugh earlier today was confirmed.

And that is tonight's headline. It is Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh now.

Today, Kavanaugh avoided becoming a verb unlike Robert Borke (ph) before him but he will likely carry an asterisk around with him for years as this historic confirmation makes him one of the most controversial justices ever.

In a vote of 50-48, the United States Senate confirmed Brett Kavanaugh as the next Supreme Court justice just hours ago, filling a seat vacated by his former boss and mentor Anthony Kennedy.

Any moment now, he will be sworn in by chief justice John Roberts and Justice Kennedy. Kavanaugh's confirmation was all but sealed yesterday when Senators Jeff Flake, Susan Collins and Joe Manchin, three of four undecided votes announced they would vote to confirm the nominee. The drama reached its climax yesterday after as Senator Collins delivered a forceful 45 minute speech on the Senate floor justifying her decision.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R), MAINE: Despite the turbulent bitter fight surrounding his nomination, my fervent hope is that Brett Kavanaugh will work to lessen the divisions in the Supreme Court so we have far fewer 5-4 decisions. Mr. President, I will vote to confirm judge Kavanaugh. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CUPP: Today's vote caps off one of the most contentious political episodes in recent memory. And even tonight, these protests continue in and around the capital and the court, as you can see. So that's a wrap on the confirmation vote but don't expect tensions to die down anytime soon. As you can see right there, this is not over yet.

Here's the deal. For one, the fallout from Kavanaugh's confirmation is going to reverberate through the November midterm elections. With the events of the past several weeks energizing and rallying the Republican Democrats, that means some red state Democrats are in the races of their lives. Some Republican Senators should get real cozy with the idea of being primary.

Kavanaugh confirmation is also very likely to haunt the 2020 election for better and worse. Two Supreme Court appointments under his belt will be very good for the President's base but how will women respond? You are watching many of them respond right now.

But this battle also has brought implications for the Me Too movement by thrusting it into the national spotlight questions remain as whether or not it was strengthened or weakened by being a political football.

And finally, there is us, you and me. We have just been through an emotionally fraught cultural trauma. Whether you were with Brett Kavanaugh or against him, there is an anger in this country. It's on both sides, believe me. And it isn't going to just evaporate.

Take a look. You are seeing it right now.

Now, the Senate vote may be done but mark my words, the ripple effects are just beginning.

OK, for the latest, let me bring in CNN congressional correspondent Phil Mattingly.

Phil, we are looking at some really dramatic footage right now of those protests on the steps of Supreme Court. They have been taken over, essentially, by protesters. Kavanaugh is inside right now. What are you hearing about all of this from where you are at the capital?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's a continuation of what we have seen over the last couple of days, S.E. where you have had protests around. You have senators followed by protesters. It's very obvious the impact and the effect that this has had on people around the country.

Look. If you want to know where kind of Republicans or Democrats are on the nomination itself and on confirmation, it's pretty predictable. Republicans are elated, tilting the balance of the Supreme Court for generation is an enormous achievement. Democrats, very clearly recognize that and recognized that the only thing they can do now is more or less try to get people out to the polls, win elections, win majorities. I think the bigger question, you kind of got to this as did Senator Susan Collins on the floor is where does everyone go from here?

I will say even though republicans and Democrats really kind of settled in to their partisan camps in terms of how they view on the confirmation, they both seem to agree, at least based on senators I have spoken to in the last 24 hours or so, the chamber is in the bad place. The country is not in a great place right now and people are trying to figure out what happens next.

I think the obvious point is there is a midterm election coming up. But beyond that even, where do they go from here and I don't think anybody has the answer to that at the moment.

[18:05:35] CUPP: No, and I imagine some lawmakers who, as you mentioned, had been followed around by these protesters over the past couple of weeks are watching this footage right now. Live footage at the Supreme Court of protesters taking the steps, essentially, storming the castle and worrying that that did not end. It doesn't go away because Kavanaugh was confirmed.

MATTINGLY: Yes. I don't think there is any question about it. I have been surprised to some degree in my conversations with senators, how cognizant they have been of the protests but also how cognizant they been of security. I think there is a recognition of how much this has resonated around the country.

CUPP: Yes.

MATTINGLY: But S.E., I will tell you something interesting. And that is that, you know, you talk about the protest and what impact they have. Everybody kind of has Jeff Flake in their mind. Remember the moment where he was approached in the elevator by two sexual assault survivors and what happened after that, where he seemed pull off the nomination for at least a week. The other has also occurred. Kind of the counterfactual has occurred. It had a rallying effect on a lot of Republicans. It made Republicans more dead set on confirming Brett Kavanaugh and more convinced they were doing the right thing. And what will be interesting to see is how that plays out going forward. You mentioned, the Republican base fired up. People feeling they did the right thing here. And I would also point out --.

CUPP: Phil, I got to go.

MATTINGLY: Yes, sure.

CUPP: Trump is speaking live right now. We are going to toss it to hill. Here's the President.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So we are very happy. And the vote was -- it was a great vote. A very historic vote. I just spoke to -- I just spoke to him two minutes ago. And I spoke to the justice's family and he's so excited. So we have now justice Kavanaugh and he's a terrific man, terrific person.

I just congratulated him. I said, congratulations. It was well fought. I mean, who would have thought a thing like that could have happened? What he has been through. Everything was uncorroborated.

I want to thank the FBI. I thought the FBI was incredible. They worked hard. And they worked really fast. And I hear the report was really a detailed, thorough, professional report. So I want to thank them.

I want to thank the justice department, because they also, they were working along with the FBI really hard and really fast. And I think this actually, the extra week delay was a terrific thing for the process.

So we have a great new Supreme Court justice and he is going to be there for many years. We are very, very proud of him and what he and his family had to endure. And it's a great testament. And it is a testament also to our country. I'm going to make a speech. I will be talking about it in a little bit. I know you will all be there, so thank you very much. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE)

TRUMP: No, not at all. No, no. Great talent. Great man. Thank you.

CUPP: That was the President taking live questions in Topeka, Kansas, where he will perform at a rally later tonight.

I want to bring in now to discuss this further, CNN Supreme Court reporter Ariane de Vogue.

Ariane, I don't know if you just heard but the President just addressed reporters and said that he congratulated Brett Kavanaugh. He said that Brett Kavanaugh is so excited. He thanked the FBI. He thanked the justice department. He called the confirmation hard fought. And he actually said the week delay was terrific for the process. React to that and what happened today.

ARIANE DE VOGUE, CNN SUPREME COURT REPORTER: Wow, first, you have to react to these pictures. I covered the court. I have covered really big cases coming down affirmative action, abortion, gay marriage and I have never seen people take to the steps.

It is -- the Supreme Court is different than maybe other buildings. You are not allowed to go those steps usually. They did allow a peaceful protest last spring. But that was pretty remarkable when you had that split screen between the President and those protesters. And you wonder, inside right now, we know Brett Kavanaugh is gathered with his close family and chief justice John Roberts is delivering one oath. That's a chief who is very worried about the institution of the court and doesn't like when politics seep in. And the other oath is being delivered by Justice Anthony Kennedy and that's so poignant because not only is Kennedy Kavanaugh's former boss but of course, he is taking Kennedy's seat. And Kennedy was the swing vote on so many issues that those people in that crowd are protesting about, S.E.

[18:10:23] CUPP: What do you make of what the President just said? I want to get your reaction also to a tweet because he's talking about the protesters in a tweet. He said the crowd in front of the U.S. Supreme Court is tiny. Looks like about 200 people. Most are onlookers. That wouldn't even fill the first couple of rows of our Kansas rally or any of our rallies for that matter. The fake news media tries to make it look so big and it's not. Put that in perspective for us.

DE VOGUE: Well, I don't want to make it look too big but there's somebody sitting on lady justice's lap there. And that just, you don't see that happening at the Supreme Court. And it tells you something else. Because you're going to see now Kavanaugh, justice Kavanaugh take this bench but he is going to come with this cloud and the cloud over his head comes a lot from that opening statement that he gave at those hearings.

He was really himself. Political. He was blaring the Democrats in the eyes. And he was invoking sort of the revenge of the Clintons. That's going to follow him to the court and there will be some people who say look, he is got to recuse himself from maybe issues that have to do with the President.

CUPP: And Ariane, we are going to talk to you about that in a little bit. Right now, thanks.

I want to go our reporter Miguel Marquez. He is on the steps of the Supreme Court. You have me, Miguel?

CUPP: I do indeed. We are being moving down the steps along with the rest of protesters. I want to show you some of what is happening here.

A number of officers from the capital police joined the Supreme Court police here. And they moved people out of the area by the doors of the Supreme Court. I do want to show you just up at the top of the stairs. There are some protesters who want to stay up there. They are probably facing arrest. For the most part, the crowd is moving off the stairs now of the Supreme Court.

But all of this started as literally a trickle. One protester walked up as they heard Brett Kavanaugh was arriving here at the Supreme Court. And then within ten, 15 minutes, the entire crowd, several hundred protesters had moved toward the door. The officers here with the Supreme Court had formed (INAUDIBLE), a wall along the door, keeping them from getting to that door because protesters have started pounding on the door.

Their goal in all of this was to have Brett Kavanaugh and Justice Roberts and whoever else is there here then as they were protesting outside. Their main chant out here is that we believe survivors. They want to make sure that Brett Kavanaugh or anybody who is here can hear them as he is being sworn in.

I don't know if that's possible. It probably isn't possible. It's a very big building. But we have been going step by step down the Supreme Court with Supreme Court police and from capital police who just arrived to assist them, are trying to move people off the steps. As you can see there's one, two, I think there is one protester now

being arrested at the top of the stairs. We saw this at the U.S. capital earlier today and we are seeing it again here at the Supreme Court.

The other thing that they are chanting out here is remember in November. They want to take this anger and turn it into votes come November. Whether that happens, they may be angry here at Washington today, but will that happen in the country on November 6th -- S.E.

CUPP: Yes. Miguel, stay with us because I want to come back to you as that story develops.

Right now, joining me to discuss this further, Republican Senator from Iowa Joni Ernst.

Senator, welcome.

SEN. JONI ERNST (R), IOWA: Thank you.

CUPP: You know as well as I do, the Senate was at the center of the past two weeks. This confirmation. I want your reaction to the crowds. I don't know if you can see live footage but there's a crowd of protesters on the steps of the Supreme Court right now. People are angry.

ERNST: Well, we have heard them all day as well as we did our duties in the Senate and in the capitol building. And it's every person's right to express themselves as long as they are doing it in a peaceful manner. So we do hope they can continue to express their thoughts, but again, make sure that no harm comes to any bystanders or those who might be innocent.

CUPP: I know you voted to confirm judge Kavanaugh and so I know you support him. Whether fair or unfair though, he will likely always have an asterisk next to his name. Do you think history, from the long look of history will judge him kindly?

[18:15:06] ERNST: I do hope that we can heal through this process and I know that he will make very fair decisions. If you would go watch Susan Collins' speech from the floor of the United States Senate yesterday, she reviewed so many of the opinions and the decisions, the writings of judge Kavanaugh where he had been very moderate in his stance and upholding the rule of law.

So I do hope in the future, everyone will focus upon his opinions and the fact he is following the law, not making the law. And I hope we can put politics aside and make sure that, again, we are following the law and doing the right thing for the United States of America.

CUPP: Senator, we are showing live footage now of angry protesters who are obviously not supportive of Brett Kavanaugh but I have been saying through this whole thing, there's a silent majority, I'm sure, many of your constituents, who are just as angry. They thought that this process was unfair to judge Kavanaugh. How big of a factor do you think that will be in November midterm elections? ERNST: I think it's going to be a huge factor and yes, you are right.

There is a silent majority across the United States of America that has seen a good man be dragged through the mud. They have seen threats to his family and to his beautiful daughters, accusations that were proven to be unfounded.

There was no corroborating evidence presented and while we want to hear accusers and I believe that is absolutely necessary that those that have experienced trauma are able to come forward, there must be corroborating evidence and in an allegation as serious as this, especially for someone that has been nominated for the Supreme Court of the United States.

CUPP: Yes.

ERNST: So people are angry, but they are not just angry about the confirmation. They are angry about the injustice that was done to an innocent family.

CUPP: Before I let you go, I'm going to ask you a question that I get asked. And I'm sure people in this crowd would ask you and maybe me the same question. I'm curious to see how you would answer it. You are a woman. How could you support a man accused of sexual assault? How do you answer that?

ERNST: I am an American and I do believe in being proven guilty and not just taking allegations at face value. We are innocent until proven guilty. First and foremost, I am an American and our country is founded on these very values and beliefs.

CUPP: Senator Ernst, thank you so much for joining me on a very, very important day.

ERNST: Thank you very much.

CUPP: You are looking at live pictures from the steps of the Supreme Court. We will be back in a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:21:44] CUPP: Protests continue at the Supreme Court. I want to turn again to CNN reporter Miguel Marquez at the Supreme Court. What's the latest where you are?

MARQUEZ: Well, they moved off the stairs and away from the doors of the Supreme Court. I want to show you some of what's happening here. They moved in with the barricades here and we have both police officers from the U.S. capital across the street and from the Supreme Court who have come down. They moved successfully everybody off of the stairs.

There were a few arrests it looks like at the top of the stairs where people would not move and there was even one protest who would climb on top of the one of the statues out here. The contemplation of justice that got the crowd going again. Police were able to get that protester off. And now, I just want to show you, sort of where in front of the Supreme Court. I want to show you just sort of how people just waiting to see what happens.

They know that Brett Kavanaugh is in there. That he is about to be sworn in. The point of all of this, they say, is to have him hear them. He may have been confirmed. He may be sworn in, but they are not going to forget this. There was not one person I spoke to today who thought that any Senators would change their vote on this, but they certainly wanted to put them on notice that come November, they will vote a certain way. And in the future, certainly 2020, they are also looking forward to. They will also remember this moment.

So how long that actually lasts is not clear, but it was a few tense moments for this security of the Supreme Court. There were only about a dozen of them who formed a line, a wall across the doors of the Supreme Court to keep the protesters from pounding on them, which they had been and then now moved everybody off the steps and at least down to the first level of the Supreme Court. They have it all the way down by the street and see if they move this barricade later in the evening -- S.E.

CUPP: Thank, Miguel. Very tense times. Shortly after Kavanaugh was confirmed, the President reacted on air force one. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: And other people aren't. What they are doing is (INAUDIBLE).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUPP: Sorry. Doesn't look like we have that audio, but we will get it back.

I want to bring in now my political panel, CNN political commentators, Republican strategist Doug Heye and Democratic strategist Hillary Rosen.

Hillary, I just want you to react to these protests right now. As Miguel said, no one there thought they would change a vote, but clearly they want to be heard. For them, this confirmation is not the end of the story. Maybe, in fact, just the beginning.

HILLARY ROSEN, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: I think we are facing a couple of things. First of all, being heard is much of what these last two weeks were all about, particularly, for survivors of sexual assault. And you know, I think it is clear that the Republican leadership did not want women to be heard, did not want this conversation. Wants these people to go away.

But secondly, I think we have entered into the new normal. I really think we have gotten to a place where people are no longer going to go along to sort of go along - to get along. That protest and anger is the number of the day. And I have to say I haven't talked about this all week, but I do think that part of this ends up falling at Donald Trump's feet.

We do not have a President calling for national unity. We do not have a President who was expressing understanding for the pain that people -- this nomination has caused. That, to me, is a real shame and I think that's going to make this last longer and be worse than we even know today.

[18:25:40] CUPP: Well Doug, the anger on the left is real and it's obvious. We see it in the pictures. We see it in protesters. We see it from, you know, Hollywood celebrities. We see it. It's real. But the anger among some Republicans, some conservatives, some supporters of Brett Kavanaugh that's not been captured quite as (INAUDIBLE), but it is real. It is real. And how much do you think that anger of perhaps the silent majority was really engaged by this confirmation battle over Brett Kavanaugh?

DOUG HEYE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. I think after a year and a half of Republicans having the wind pressing against them in special elections and protests and fund raising, we are really starting to see a surge of enthusiasm for Republicans.

The national congressional campaign committee has reported their fund raising up more than 400 percent in the last week. Their new donors are up 280 percent. Those are massive numbers. And I will give one example in the states.

Four weeks ago, I was in Nashville. And what I heard from Republicans were they were demoralized and even if they were voting for Marshall Blackburn, they like Phil Bredesen. And over the past few weeks, what I have heard on the ground, overseeing anecdotally is so many voters were upset that Bredesen wouldn't take a position until the very end and they are starting to really coalesce around Marshall Blackburn. It's a state Republicans should win anyways but that raises in a much better plays than it was just four weeks ago. And it is all because of what we went just through the past couple of weeks.

ROSEN: You know --.

CUPP: Go ahead.

ROSEN: This so risks going overboard. If Republicans start to campaign over the next couple of weeks, crowing about Brett Kavanaugh and implicitly suggesting that the survivors and Dr. Ford were not credible, just like Joni Ernst just did. They are going to rue the day. This is not going to sit well. We know -- there is no silent majority here. The polling actually well over 50 percent of the country was actually against this.

CUPP: But Hillary, I'll point out. That's why they are silence because polling does not capture them. And I wonder if you are worried, you know, you seem very certain that this will end up hurting Republicans, but I wonder if you worry about the same kind of thing that happened in 2016. That we did not see a silent majority that was with Donald Trump, that this same sort of thing, through the Kavanaugh culture wars will take effect in November in ways maybe Democrats are not anticipating.

ROSEN: You know, I can't even process the idea that this is actually part of a culture war. These are, you know, these are real women who have suffered severe experiences. And I think that if Republicans are trying to frame this as part of a culture war, again, I think they are going to overplay that hand and make a huge mistake.

CUPP: But Doug, you know as well --.

ROSEN: Particularly, with independent women.

CUPP: But Doug, you know as well as I do, Republicans, as a party, don't have to frame this as a culture war, I think a lot of Republican voters just see it that way.

HEYE: Yes. And certainly, it's what they respond to. And I think, you know, to something Hillary mentioned earlier. I don't like the rhetoric we have heard from the President about Professor Ford either.

CUPP: Right.

HEYE: And I would caution Republicans not to go after her because, one, it's wrong. Two, I don't think it's in their best interest. And also, I really tried, S.E., and Hillary, not to just talk to folks in Washington and reach out, especially to women and find what they are thinking. And I think and have been taken by, what I got feedback from my friends Stephanie who is in Houston, Texas, who is undecided on the Senate race. And I said, God, what do you think about this especially if you haven't decided between Beto O'Rourke and Ted Cruz? And the first thing she told me was, I don't like old accusations coming up. I believe in due process. And I think that's part of the silent majority. We will see if it's a majority that you are talking about.

CUPP: Right.

HEYE: And we know Democratic women have -- are enthusiastic.

CUPP: Sure.

HEYE: They showed up Saturday after Trump's inauguration and marches throughout the country. What is significant now politically is that Republicans at least feel as if the wind is not at their back, that they are not facing totally headstrong winds going in their face for the first time. The question is whether or not that's sustainable.

CUPP: And we will see in just under a month. Hillary, Doug, thanks so much for joining me.

HEYE: Thank you.

CUPP: You are again looking at live protests outside of the Supreme Court as Brett Kavanaugh is inside, perhaps about to be sworn in maybe being sworn in right now.

We will be right back in a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:32:20] CUPP: I'm back. This is UNFILTERED. You are looking at live footage of protesters outside of the Supreme

Court. They have taken the steps of the Supreme Court and have been pushed back. They stormed the steps as Brett Kavanaugh was entering the building to be sworn in. He was confirmed just a few hours earlier today and certainly for these protesters, that is not the end of the story.

Joining again, to discuss this further is CNN's Supreme Court reporter Ariane de Vogue.

Ariane, you have some breaking news for us?

DE VOGUE: Right, I do. He has now been sworn in. While those protests were going on, he was being administered two oaths, the constitutional oath and the judicial oath. One oath by chief justice John Roberts. The other by Justice Anthony Kennedy. Retired justice Anthony Kennedy has pretty poignant because he is taking Kennedy seat. He is a former clerk of Kennedy.

Kavanaugh was there with his family, two daughters, his wife and his parents. He was sworn in over a family bible. And here is something that's interesting. There were other justices. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was there and Clarence Thomas, Alena Kagan and Samuel Alito. Other justices were on travel. This is all according to the public information officer at the court.

CUPP: Wow. Well, let's talk about those other justices. A lot has been made of how they will react to Brett Kavanaugh now that he is a confirmed appointed Supreme Court justice. How do you think the other justices will treat him? Will they sort of put this behind them, close ranks or will this be something that they have to kind of confront with every coming case?

DE VOGUE: Well, a couple of things. First of all, even before this nomination, this fiery nomination, there were justices on this court who thought this has gone too far, too much politics. So they must have really been shuttering now, given what's happened with this nomination. But they will embrace him. As you saw, they were there.

And keep in mind, he knows a lot of these justices. When he was working in the White House as a young lawyer, he worked on the confirmation of the chief justice. He was hired by Alena Kagan when she was Dean of Harvard law school to work there. He went to the same high school as Gorsuch. Of course, he is the former clerk of Kennedy. And then if you think about it, remember, Justice Thomas, he had a very hard confirmation process.

CUPP:

DE VOGUE: And he said in his book that when he joined the court, he was so grateful that he was embraced. So you can see, they showed up today. And they all must have been listening and hearing those protests taking on outside.

[18:35:06] CUPP: That's remarkable to think of Ruth Bader Ginsburg in there with him watching this moment while especially so many people are outside so angry.

Ariane, thank you so much. Appreciate it. Great reporting.

Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh sworn in moments ago. Much more on this when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:40:01] CUPP: Justice Brett Kavanaugh sworn in only moments ago. You are looking at live protest as they continue in front of the Supreme Court. Largely in part to this confirmation process putting the Me too movement in stark relief over the past few weeks testing both its potency and its integrity.

So how did it hold up? Well, if you ask some, Democrats and some in the media weaponize Me Too for political expedience. If you ask others, Brett Kavanaugh and those who supported him are proof the system is still rigged against women. Me Too certainly wasn't on President Trump's mind but men were. He echoed a refrain that is not uncommon in conservative circles. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: While I say it's a very scary time for young men in America when you can be guilty of something that you may not be guilty of.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUPP: Of course, earlier in the week, the President taunted and mocked Kavanaugh's accuser Christine Blasey Ford at a Mississippi rally. Earlier today on air force one, he said women are not actually angry.

It has indeed been an odd time for sexual politics. Brett Kavanaugh was simultaneously harangued for being too angry and then also accused of weaponizing crying.

I want to bring in CNN senior media correspondent, host of "RELIABLE SOURCES" Brian Stelter and Washington correspondent for "New York" magazine, Olivia Nuzzi.

Olivia, the past few weeks have been head-spinning. If you are trying to keep up with the sexual politics of the core court confirmation, good luck to you. Do you think that Me Too though is stronger today than it was before Kavanaugh or has it been weakened maybe by politics on both sides?

OLIVIA NUZZI, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, NEW YORK MAGAZINE: I don't know if that's the right way to frame it. I mean, if you look at the Kavanaugh confirmation as sort of a test for Me Too, I think that's not quite right. I think it kind of just goes to show what happens when you lose an election, which this is the result of the 2016 election of the Senate being in the control of Republicans just like the White House. And I think kind of gave Me Too more credit than any movement to get in the scenario and like, they would had to have been something remarkable, something truly insane to have happen for this outcome to be any different than it was. You know what I mean? It is Me Too could not have changed the inevitable here with a Republican- controlled White House and a Republican Senate confirming the nominee of the President.

And so I don't think that Me Too is really responsible for the outcome. I don't think that the protests are even though there's some reporting that Senator Collins maybe wasn't responding well to some of the protests towards her before she made her decision.

CUPP: Right.

NUZZI: But even if that were true, I just think that this is really just about the Democrats losing the election in 2016. This was inevitable. It felt inevitable as it led up to this moment. And I think that a lot of people are probably feeling maybe cynical or hardened by this process right now. And I don't know how that will affect the elections going forward, but it's a long time from now until then.

CUPP: Well, certainly, Brian, Me Too was sort of an invisible player in over the past couple of weeks in this confirmation. Susan Collins even specifically referenced Me Too in the 45 minute speech yesterday.

I was struck by something Bill Maher said on his show last night. He said this idea that we must listen to women, which is right, is turning to this idea that we must automatically believe them. Do you think that's sort of the next pendulum swing for Me Too?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Among some people, there is a choice to believe these accounts. Other people, there is a choice not to. I think these last three weeks are about the backlash of the Me Too movement which started one year ago this month.

You know, it was yesterday a year ago that the Weinstein story came out and a woman tweeted out. Who was your Harvey Weinstein? I will go first. I will tell you my story. Ten days later, the Me Too hashtag emerges. So we are literally talking about a year ago where this movement comes out of nowhere, comes out of the Weinstein story. It had a lot more power than I think anyone predicted.

CUPP: Yes.

STELTER: Every time I thought it was slowing down, it's sped up. This is the backlash. This is the backlash. This is what so many men in this country, frankly, have wanted to see led by the President.

And S.E., you were right. You called this in July. You made me realize in July with the column you wrote that the Me Too movement backlash was coming. And that President Trump was going to make this a midterm issues.

CUPP: Yes.

STELTER: I just didn't know it was going to be a Supreme Court fight. But this is absolutely now a midterm issue. CUPP: GO ahead, Olivia.

NUZZI: I just think that's wrong. I mean, whether or not the last year happened with me too and all of the ways that it's changed our culture and our politics, this would have happened anyway. He would have nominated.

STELTER: I agree with you, this, yes.

NUZZI: Right. Also, this week, I mean, this entire debate had made me think a lot about the origins of Me Too and Harvey Weinstein story. And why it was so effective and why this did not work. Why Christine Blasey Ford was not affected and did not have the intended result of making sure that Brett Kavanaugh was not confirmed. And that story was, it was not really controversial. Everyone agreed that it was a good story. It was very solidly reported because it was very careful. It met a high threshold.

[18:45:11] CUPP: Right.

NUZZI: And the threshold should be high. Not everybody is a Harvey Weinstein, of course. He is certainly unique with the crimes he allegedly committed but the threshold should be that high. And I hear people saying, oh, you can't bring up the presumption of innocence because that's only counting if you report.

CUPP: Yes.

NUZZI: So I that is ridiculous. They have done this one of our best ideas that we have here in this country.

CUPP: Yes.

NUZZI: And I think if it were anybody personally being accused of something, if it was anybody's father, anybody's husband, they would want it to be held to a very high standard. And I think it's important. And I think the lowering of that standard is part of why tensions are so high right now.

CUPP: Right.

Olivia, thank you so much for coming on.

Brian, you are going to stay right there because I want to get your take on the media's role in all of this after the break.

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[18:50:26] CUPP: You are looking at a picture of the President signing the commission appointing Brett Kavanaugh to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court. Brett Kavanaugh, Christine Ford, Republicans and Democrats are, of course, not the only players in this history fight, though, we are. That's right, the media has playing a starring role from capturing that elevator confrontation on video for all of us to see, to grilling Senators and even revealing their own stories of sexual assault in numerous cases. So how did we do? Well, here to give out the media's report card,

again CNN's senior media correspondent, host of "RELIABLE SOURCES" Brian Stelter.

Let's start with the obvious question, was the media biased against judge Kavanaugh?

STELTER: Some individual journalists were.

CUPP: OK.

STELTER: And there are many, many commentators that were lined up against him. And I think the weight of that commentary made it seem like there is a big chunk of the media was out to get him, out to take down his nomination.

CUPP: Yes.

STELTER: I don't think editors and bosses in newsrooms were trying to tank his nomination, but there were a lot of individual journalists who were really disturbed by the allegations.

CUPP: Let me ask you about that because just to name a few examples "the Washington Post" published an op-ed written by quote "Kavanaugh's ex-drinking buddies" who believe she shouldn't have been confirmed. "New York Times" published a story about that that included Kavanaugh being involved in a bar fight 33 years ago during which he threw ice on somehow. "USA Today" ran a column alleging his what a child predator. I mean that seems kind of like an effort.

STELTER: Well, there was also some sloppiness in some of these stories.

CUPP: OK. And that's the difference. Yes.

STELTER: For example, report in the "New York Times" admitted they shouldn't have had an opinion writer go out and work on a story at Yale. You know, there were some admission about that. So there was some sloppiness as well.

CUPP: Yes.

STELTER: However, I do think a lot of journalists were trying to figure out what really happened.

CUPP: Yes. Because, heck, the Senate really wasn't and FBI wasn't really able to go out and figure out the facts.

CUPP: That's right.

STELTER: So the media played a key role.

CUPP: Yes.

STELTER: But I can understand why to a lot of Americans, it felt like the media was aligned against Kavanaugh. And by the way, I just want to say Christine Blasey Ford was right. She predicted all of this. Remember, she didn't want to speak out publicly.

CUPP: Right.

STELTER: She called "the Washington Post," but she stayed off the record. She didn't want to be named. And then, and all this, she said no, I definitely don't want to tell my story. She said, look. Kavanaugh is going to get confirmed. She said quote "why suffer through the annihilation if it's not going to matter?

CUPP: And it didn't.

STELTER: I wonder what she's thinking right now.

CUPP: Well, and I want to go to a picture. We have a picture right now of Brett Kavanaugh being sworn in. There it is. A very historic, controversial, divisive certainly, moment for our country, for the Supreme Court, for our politics.

Back to you, Brian. I want to give you a second to defend the media, because I think they deserve some. There was some criticism over having journalists on buses with protesters. Our journalists, some other, to me that's the definition of embedding. We do that in wars, we do that on campaign buses. What was your thought on that?

STELTER: Certainly we should be with the protesters, but we should also be with the folks who support Kavanaugh's nomination and now his confirmation.

CUPP: Did we, the media, do that?

STELTER: I think on the left there's constant complaints about Trump's supporters being interviewed too often.

CUPP: Yes.

STELTER: Too many focus groups and panels thought that the counterweight to that is to be with the protesters. And I think when we can be up and personal, that's the best.

CUPP: Yes.

STELTER: When cameras are zoomed out far away, you don't really see what is going on.

CUPP: Yes.

STELTER: But when you are able to be up close the way CNN was today, you have a sense of the passion that's going on the left.

CUPP: That's where the news is. You have to be inside it.

STELTER: We have been watching this for two years. I remember that night after election night that we were sitting here watching protesters try to block streets against Trump's election. There's been this energy for almost two years. What is this energy going to translate to? CUPP: Right.

STELTER: It makes for dramatic pictures. It makes you recognize how angry folks are.

CUPP: Yes.

STELTER: But what does it going to translate to? This is obviously one of the best weeks of the Trump presidency today.

CUPP: Sure.

STELTER: One of the best evenings to the Trump's presidency. For him to see that photo of Kavanaugh being sworn in, it is a remarkable achievement for the President and for the Republican Party.

CUPP: Yes.

STELTER: What is this energy on the other side going to amount to?

CUPP: We will see.

Real quick before we have to go, I really wanted to get your take on this because when I saw it yesterday on Facebook, I immediately thoughts of you. It was Dan Rather going to Facebook to say -- so Collins misses her moment to be a hero. And I was struck by that. Dan Rather, an August veteran journalist. And I'm not sure it's the job of journalists to arbitrate heroism. To be a check on power certainly, but did that strike you as odd.

STELTER: You may disagree with me, but I would say he has embraced a more progressive identity in the past few years.

[18:55:03] CUPP: Yes.

STELTER: And now that he is not a full-time nightly news anchor. And that's fine. But we need to have a lot of down the middle objective as possible news anchors as well. Because everybody has an opinion. Opinions are easy to find. Bringing the facts is a lot harder, last three weeks certainly proved that.

CUPP: Brian, thank so much. I appreciate you being here on a very, very big busy night.

For much more on this, watch "RELIABLE SOURCES" tomorrow morning at 11:00 right here on CNN.

That's it for us tonight. CNN NEWSROOM with Ana Cabrera is up next.

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