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Trump Speaks About New Trade Deal with Canada and Mexico; Trump: I Think It's Fine if FBI Interviews Kavanaugh; Trump: I Don't Think Kavanaugh Lied About His Drinking. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired October 01, 2018 - 12:30   ET

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

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Could you tell us who and exactly what situation --

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No, no. I think I'll save it for a book like everybody else (INAUDIBLE) OK. I'm not giving it to you.

Yes, please, go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, if the FBI finds other witnesses who can corroborate the account of any of the accusers, would that be enough for you --

TRUMP: I would certainly look at that. I'm open. I'm open. I think he's a fine man. I think he's a great scholar.

I still believed him when he said what he did, he focused on being number one at Yale. On being number one in high school. At being number one at law. He focused -- I can so understand that.

I mean, it was such -- the way he said that, it made an impact on me. He was so focused on being number one at Yale. And I believe he was number one at Yale. But I understood that very well.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I wanted to ask about something else you brought up today, the Las Vegas shooting.

TRUMP: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's some frustration that more hasn't been done in that past year, more hasn't been done about bump stocks. Are there something --

TRUMP: But we -- no, no, you're wrong about that. So in order to eliminate and terminate bump stocks, we have to go through a procedure. We are now at the final stages of that procedure. In fact the lawyers were just telling me and over the next couple of weeks, I'll be able to write it up. But you can't just write it up because rules and regulations in this country are really tough even for something like that.

So we're knocking out bump stocks. I told the NRA, I told that bump stocks are gone. But to do it you have to go to public hearings which we had. You have to go through all sorts of regulatory control systems. And we are in the final couple of weeks and I'll be -- is our attorney around (INAUDIBLE)? He said we're in the final two or three weeks and I'll be able to write out bump stocks. But it's a process that takes statutorily, it takes about a year to do it. To do it properly.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And any other actions you're planning to help prevent --

TRUMP: Yes, and we're working also with Congress on both sides. We are working on a lot of different things. That was a horrible thing, but we're working on both sides of that question. And the bump stock is almost gone.

But again, to do it so, it's meaningful -- the lawyer just said it. Yes, we've gone through a whole procedure. If you look -- in fact, you could call Derek who you know very well and he's gone through the full procedure. We've done it absolutely by the book. And in a very short period of time bump stocks will be ruled out. OK?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right, thank you.

TRUMP: Yes? You had one. Yes, ma'am. Go ahead, please. Please, sit down.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, a final trade question. Since steel and aluminum tariffs won't be coming down from Canada and Mexico, can you talk about whether there is discussion of ending those retaliatory tariffs against you --

TRUMP: Well, they're not retaliatory. They're really trying to get some really bad things from happening. They were dumping in our country and it was China and various others were dumping massive amounts of dead steel. It's called dead steel.

It's also imperfect steel. Inside that steel was a lot of bad things that make for weaker steel. So when we are building bridges and you have mud steel or you have other quantities of other material in that steel, that's a very bad thing, it's very unsafe.

So it's not just economic. It's -- you know, we have the miners have been very thankful for what I've done. You saw that the other night in West Virginia. And we have metallurgic coal and other materials. We have mines that are opening up now to get that incredible stuff.

This is use not for heating and cooling, this is used in electric. This is used to make steel. And those mines are now opening up, and we're making steel. And the price is going to end up being less because we don't have the shipping problems. When you ship it from places so far away, you'll see.

We'll have hundreds of new plants opened up in our country and they'll be competing against each other. And outsiders won't be able to compete. Just so you understand what was going to happen, they were going to knockout every steel plant we had and then they're going to double and triple the price and we could have done anything about it. It's a very dangerous thing, and we've employed a lot of people and billions of dollars is now flowing into our treasury.

OK, yes, in the back, please. Please.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Staying here on trade. The stock market has light the announcement today. When we walked in here, the DOW is up 250 points or so. There are some who are worried that because of the threat of future tariffs, it could potentially stifle an economy that is hot, a stock market that is hot, but yet today you have once again said as it relates to China, more tariffs could be coming down the line.

Are you worried that potentially you are somewhat suppressing this economy from running further?

TRUMP: No. I'm using them to negotiate.

[12:35:00] And hopefully we can make a great with China, a fair deal and a reciprocal deal but a great deal and a fair deal.

We have a lot of catching up to do with China. You know, when they drain us for $500 billion a year which is probably the real number. And that's not including the theft of intellectual property and other things. And a lot of people say it's hard to value but a lot of people say that could be $300 billion a year.

That's a tremendous -- so we can't -- you just can't let that happen. No. We're using tariffs very successfully to negotiate and if we're unable to make a fair deal then we'll use tariffs.

But Mexico and -- if you look at Mexico and Canada, they are way beyond that. We have a deal that that really works. and the nice part about the deal we make with them is it's not a specific product, it's a product all across the line whether it's dairy or, you know, just a lot of -- you see the list of products. There are many, many product and they're all included. So it's across the board.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, with China, one more on trade if you don't mind.

TRUMP: Go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, if the FBI does find something and Brett Kavanaugh falls, is there a plan b.

TRUMP: I don't want to talk about plan b because I think -- I hope he gets approved, I hope that the report comes out like it should -- like I really think it should, I think it will. I hope. I hope.

But look, I'm waiting just like you. Certainly if they find something, I'm going to take that into consideration. Absolutely. I have a very open mind.

The person that takes that position is going to be there for a long time. I have a very open mind. I just think he's an outstanding person, I think he's been treated horribly. Even if you are going to bring up some of subjects that were brought up, they didn't have to treat him so viciously and violently as they treated him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can I just talk on trade?

TRUMP: Thank you all very much. Thank you. Thank you very much, everybody.

JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to the INSIDE POLITICS. I'm John King. You've been watching the president of the United States in the Rose Garden for well, an excess of an hour taking questions for just shy of 15 minutes. It's a remarkable and a revealing even, the president in the Rose Garden to celebrate what is a big win for him and his administration. Getting Canada to agree now to join a join a new trade relationship with Mexico as well replacing NAFTA.

Remember during the campaign, candidate Trump promised to rewrite, reap up NAFTA and get a new trade agreement. The president bragging about that, saying it will be a big boost to the American economy.

And then finally, when he agreed to take questions, he resisted questions about Judge Brett Kavanaugh at first. The president making quite a bit of news there. Number one saying yes, he's open minded and if the FBI finds some new information damaging to his Supreme Court nominee, he is willing to take a look at it.

Very significantly, the president was asked about the defining question in Washington this week, what about the FBI investigation, are there any restrictions on that FBI investigation? The president insisting he personally and White House have not put restrictions on the FBI but notably the president on several occasions saying he is following the advice of the Republican Senate majority and he wants the FBI to ask the questions that the Republican Senate majority wanted asked.

That some Democrats are already complaining will limit the scope of the investigation although it should be noted the president said on the record he had no problem and he thought it would be good for the FBI to investigate -- to question, excuse me, Judge Brett Kavanaugh as part of this expanded background investigation. Among those asking the questions when she got the second chance after the president first said, not now, trade first, CNN's Kaitlan Collins at the White House.

Kaitlan, a remarkable event. I admire you for your persistence in getting back to your question there at the end. Tell us what's like to be in the Rose Garden today.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, the president came out here, he wanted to take questions on trade first, he refused several questions on Judge Kavanaugh making clear he didn't want to talk about him yet. He wanted to talk about that revised NAFTA deal first. But then when we did get around to Brett Kavanaugh and those allegations made against him as we were in the middle of this FBI investigation, the president made news on several fronts.

My question to the president was, if it is found that Brett Kavanaugh did lie when he was testifying in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee about his drinking habits, would that be enough to disqualify him from being President Trump's nominee on the Supreme Court. That is question several Democratic senators have raised since that testimony happened last Thursday that riveted Washington, and President Trump didn't say that it would bar him from being the Supreme Court nominee. He essentially said that he thought Brett Kavanaugh was pretty truthful about his drinking, saying that he has struggled with it even though that's not what Brett Kavanaugh said. Instead, he tried to characterize his drinking as pretty normal back during his college years saying that he does still drink beer to this day.

The president also was asked if he was -- if the White House is limiting the scope of the FBI investigation which is what some Democrats and critics of the president have complained in recent days, saying that they're only giving it a week and they're only giving -- they're only interviewing certain people that they deem credible.

[12:40:01] Does that include the third accuser Julie Swetnick? And President Trump said he couldn't say for sure, but he thought that some of the claims, Julie Swetnick, the woman who said that she attended parties where there were gang rapes and excessive drinking and aggressive behavior from Brett Kavanaugh, he said he doesn't believe that she has a lot of credibility. So that would be his concern there but he said he's not limiting the FBI's scope here but that he doesn't want them to go on one of his favorite terms, John a witch hunt.

That is what we heard from President Trump there. But also, John, he -- when we were talking about whether or not Judge Kavanaugh lied, he instead launched into this tirade against some of the senators who have criticized Judge Kavanaugh, namely Senator Richard Blumenthal saying that he lied about his service in Vietnam, he went to say apologized and said he mischaracterized. President Trump talked about that, he talked about Cory Booker but he didn't say if lying would disqualify him from being the Supreme Court nominee.

Now, we got into a little bit more about what exactly the White House wants to see from this FBI investigation. If President Trump's mind could be change if they do find more allegations of misconduct against Judge Kavanaugh, if that would cause him to pull his nomination. President Trump said that he has an open mind here, that he is listening and waiting just like we are to find out what the FBI concludes as part of its investigation. But that came a few minutes after President Trump said he already made up his mind about Brett Kavanaugh.

So, not a lot of clarity there, John about how the president feels and if he would be willing to pull this nomination. But what he made clear is that he thinks that this is been a witch hunt against -- essentially against Brett Kavanaugh, that this is unfair. He cited multiple times how Brett Kavanaugh has been treated, how his wife has been treated, how his kids have been treated, but he didn't voice concern about whether or not this person should qualify to be on the Supreme Court.

As we heard from several people in Washington and as of course we know are the concerns of people like Senators Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Jeff Flake who are the ones who spearheaded this FBI investigation in the first place.

John, I do want to note that President Trump did not answer my second question which I tried to get out which was, when the FBI does concluded the investigation, will you release that investigation to the public so the American people can see what it is that it says and what it is that they found in their statements and in their investigation they have conducted since Friday?

John, no answer for that question.

KING: Kaitlan Collins after a remarkable event in the Rose Garden. Kaitlan, thank you. Transparency and scope are the big questions as we head into this big week for Judge Brett Kavanaugh and for the country.

With me in studio to share their reporting and their insights, CNN's Dana Bash, Carl Hulse with the New York Times, Tarini Parti with BuzzFeed News, and Bloomberg's Margaret Talev.

A lot to -- a lot of ground to cover there. The president was sharply political in lashing out not only to Senator Blumenthal but at Senator Booker and Senator Feinstein on the two big questions, number one, how open-minded is he. He says I'm waiting just like all of you. And number two, he was almost a little Pontius Pilate washing his hands off the questions about the FBI scope, saying he was following the wishes of the Republican majority.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. That is what he says, that is the official White House line. But we all have to remember that the Senate majority, particularly the three senators who are undecided on the Republican side or undeclared as you'd say as of now said that they wanted it to be narrowed to current credible allegations. But it is the White House that is as Josh Campbell, former FBI agent now a member of our team says, that is a client.

And maybe the president himself isn't directing the FBI, but boy, does the administration have a lot of say despite what they say on Capitol Hill. And that is why their skepticism and frankly a lot of confusion even and especially among those who are going to be making the decision, those critical votes. Senator Collins and Senator Flake for example about how far the FBI is and will go.

And it's not just about credible allegations of sexual abuse or sexual misconduct, it's also now potentially credible allegations about the fact that he didn't tell the truth when he was talking about -- one of the major lines of questioning that we heard for the president just now, his drinking habits. Whether or not he blocked out. People coming forward in public statements and private statements in the Senate saying I was there, that's not true.

KING: And so, at the moment, look, Democrats are already worried this process is being constricted. The nation we know is gripped both by Professor Ford and Judge Kavanaugh. The nation is watching this. It is a very consequential swing, a seat on the Supreme Court. But there's a most important jury of three. Senator Jeff Flake, Senator Susan Collins, and Senator Lisa Murkowski. What is there? Minimum, if you will. If that's the big question, they wanted Mark Judge interviewed, we know that. Will they be satisfied if the FBI interviews Mark Judge but does not go back to Professor Ford who yes, she was questioned by Ms. Mitchell in the Senate hearings but not questioned by what you would call the professionals, the FBI?

Will they be satisfied if they don't question Judge Kavanaugh about this?

[12:45:01] And is there a standard allegations of sexual misconduct or does the credibility, the truthfulness about his past, his drinking come into play?

CARL HULSE, CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: I think the scope of this investigation has to satisfy three people. Jeff Flake, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and then to some degree, Joe Manchin, the Democrat of West Virginia and Heidi Heitkamp.

You know, when this happened, Friday, you could tell they wanted a pretty narrow look at this. They were really just talking about the gathering, they wanted Judge interviewed for sure or maybe some of the other people. They did not envision a big full-blown investigation. Certainly one that extends into whether Brett Kavanaugh had blackouts and that sort of thing. And they wanted it done in a hurry.

I mean, there were some talk you could even have it before the end of the week. So, I think that they're the ones that have to be satisfied. They are talking to the White House and -- or certainly through administration officials about what's going to make them happy.

I think as the week goes on -- this was the danger that Mitch McConnell was worried about.

BASH: And that he warned them about.

HULSE: The week goes on, it'll get into other areas. But I think the president, what he was saying about the drinking, that didn't seem to be something that he thought was going to be part of this investigation. Had probably one of the most memorable lines of this administration so far. I would be a real mess. I was a drinker.

BASH: Can I say one thing from my reporting this morning on your very important question about what is the scope --

KING: What's the standard?

BASH: What's the standard from the perspective of those three senators? The answer that I have gotten this morning is, they don't know the answer to that. They're not sure because they didn't anticipate that it would -- you know, that the initial ask was to look at these claims, but now you have people coming out again who are contradicting what Brett Kavanaugh said in his testimony. And that is raising questions. So they don't know yet what the standard themselves that they hold.

KING: Well, they're going to have a conversation with the majority leader ASAP then or with the White House counsel Don McGahn ASAP because you can take from that what the president just said there in a remarkable and good for him to stand and take the questions. How we did that, trade questions first, be quiet, you have to ask me trade questions first so we all debate that some other time. But you can take from that, the president is saying, they should follow-up their leads, they should have a free reign.

I think so, should they interview Judge Kavanaugh, the president seeming open ended, but he did not specifically ask, will you instruct Don McGahn, your White House counsel to say they have free reign. And the president on several occasions fell back on the limited in scope, do your business, but follow the wishes of the Republican Senate majority which is very limited in scope.

MARGARET TALEV, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, BLOOMBERG: And that -- so what is going to happen in the ensuing week is that, anyone who disagrees with the testimony that Brett Kavanaugh gave, who knew him during high school or college, that those people know that this is their window. That if the FBI isn't going to come to them, they go to the FBI. And I think what people who voluntarily come forward in the next week to the extent that those people exists, that there are those people that could have a lot to with whether the FBI says we need to broaden who were talking --

KING: But you have for example -- forgive me for interrupting, but a college classmate at Yale who's issued a very long statement now saying that what Brett Kavanaugh said about his drinking is flatly not true. That he was in his presence many times when he was drunk, when he was belligerent. He says it was routine and it was common. It was not an exception. It was common practice he says.

Is that relevant or is that not? Does the FBI interview him or does it say he's not on Mitch McConnell's list.

TARINI PARTI, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, BUZZFEED NEWS: I think part of the reason why the scope has gotten so confusing is because the one thing that they've been sure about is the time limit. They put it at one week. And so even if the president keeps saying he's open to looking at this or that, that he wants it done in a week and so does Mitch McConnell. That was sort of the agreement that everyone came to.

And so, you know, if they started broadening the scope here, then the confirmation gets pushed back. And I think that's something Republicans definitely don't want. At least Mitch McConnell and President Trump don't.

KING: All right, so that's the big question. We are on Monday, the deadline is Friday. As Carl mentioned, there's a possibility they could get here before that. But here's the big question. If you are the field agent and you get a call or an e-mail or in interviewing witness A, one of the people on the list, they gave you new information and you want to go see witness B, do you have to get Chris Wray's permission? Does Chris Wray have to call Don McGahn?

That is the big private question as we go through the week. one of the private conversations about how to proceed and what needs to follow?

Here's the president's public outline. He says comprehensive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I want them to do that. I want it to be comprehensive. I actually think it's a good thing for Judge Kavanaugh. I think it's actually a good thing, not a bad thing. I think it's a good thing.

Now, with that being said, I'd like it to go quickly. And the reason I'd like it to go quickly is very simple. It's so simple.

Because it's unfair to him at this point. What his wife is going through. What his beautiful children are going through is not describable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[12:50:03] KING: Impossible. I don't care whatever your politics, it's impossible to argue with that for, the president. That little piece of it, you wanted to be comprehensive, you wanted to be quick, you want everybody involved. The judge's family, Professor Ford's family, everybody else to get to the other side of this. Whatever that is.

Our Ariane de Vogue has been tracking the what's in and what's out so far. Ariane, if you're a Kavanaugh ally, is the president off message there or are you comfortable with that?

ARIANE DE VOGUE, CNN SUPREME COURT REPORTER: It seems to me that if you're supporting Kavanaugh, he was a little off message, right? One of the things he said is, yes, Kavanaugh can be investigated by the FBI. That's exactly what supporters of Kavanaugh, Republicans, they don't want. They feel like he already gave his testimony and if the FBI goes in and now goes and interviews Kavanaugh, that's going to take more time.

He also talked -- he said, well, whatever the senators' want. Well, which senators? Are we talking about just this small group that (INAUDIBLE) is the target audience here or is he broadening that to other people who think other witnesses should come forward? Look at the Debra Ramirez accusation. She gave the FBI names of other witnesses. Should those witnesses be called?

And the whole beer question. He spent a lot of time on beer and people who drink too much beer and that unknown senator. And of course people who support Kavanaugh say look, he's been through six or seven investigative -- background investigations, any problem like that would have come up.

But here's -- John, here's one thing that he did and he stayed just where people want him to. He did not attack Ford there. Through that whole press conference, he didn't attack her.

KING: He did not attack here. Ariane, that's critical reporting there.

And so, again, my big question here is, who is listening to whom in the sense that if you are Chris Wray, you are the FBI director, it's your job to tell people from your field offices, go out and do this but not this. What does Chris Wray take from that? Does Chris Wray have to pick up the phone and call the president or Don McGahn and say I need clarity because at the end of this, we know the president attacked the FBI repeatedly, we know from James Comey and the Clinton e-mail investigation, the FBI has been reluctantly in the middle of just about every big political drama the country's had in the last two years.

You do not want to come out of this with more questions about the FBI if you're the relatively new director Christopher Wray? How do you get clarity on what you're supposed to do right now?

HULSE: Yes. I think that -- I think one problem with this is as we all watch a lot of T.V. and think this is a great big full-blown FBI investigation. I don't think it's happening like that. And they've got a certain number of people. I don't get the sense that they're going to move far beyond that party and then the Yale incident.

And I think that they're working within those parameters. I think a big problem here is the way this came together. Because it was thrown together there very quickly so there was no real arrangement made about who was in and who was out and how to do it. And, you know, of course, they gaveled that vote through as quick as they could.

And so this is what we're stuck with today. I'm going to continue to say that the people who can determine the scope of this investigation are those people. And they can object and say this wasn't far enough.

KING: And we do know from our own reporting, the FBI has not reached out to Professor Ford yet. Whether they will again or whether they will just take her Senate testimony and try to get to the other people she alleges were at this alleged incident, we don't know the answer to that. We do know they've reached out Debra Ramirez who is the Yale student who says she was at a party, freshman year where Brett Kavanaugh exposed himself to her. We know that much.

Julie Swetnick is the third woman, a lot of people raised questions about her including conservatives and Republicans saying she's involved in past litigation, she's not credible. The president was asked the question, should the FBI reach out to all three accusers?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: SO just to be clear, should the FBI interview all three of Brett Kavanaugh's accusers?

TRUMP: It wouldn't bother me at all. Now, it depends. I don't know all three of the accusers. Certainly, I imagine they're going to interview two. The third one, I don't know much about, but it wouldn't bother me at all.

I mean, I heard that the third one has -- I have no idea if this is true, has very little credibility. If there is any credibility, interview the third one. But, I want it to be done quickly because it's unfair to the family and to the judge. It's unfair. It's so unfair to his kids and his wife.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Among those watching of course, the Senate majority leader, the Republican Senate majority, Democrats involved in this process as well.

CNN's Phil Mattingly is up on Capitol Hill where this is the defining question of the week. When will the FBI conclude its work and how broad will the scope be?

Phil?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, look, it's very clear and if this hasn't been made apparent already that the third accuser, Julie Swetnick is not considered within the scope of the investigation and that's by design. I have to associate myself with Carl's comments, this really comes down to where three senators are. And what I've been told is behind the scenes in the meeting in Senate Majority Leader McConnell's office, the Judiciary Committee Republicans, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, there was an explicit discussion about the scope of the investigation.

[12:55:00] Now the statement that put out afterwards noted credible claims. They don't view the third accuser as a credible claim.

Now, there is a caveat to that and that is Mark Judge, the friend of Brett Kavanaugh is mentioned in both the first and third accuser's allegations. And Mark Judge is one of the key pieced that people like Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski have thought long have been left out of this issue. And he has said he would cooperate, and the FBI is clearly planning to reach to him if they have not already and interview him.

So, the (INAUDIBLE) that he could be asked about the third accuser's allegation but the third accuser herself. Michael Avenatti, her lawyer, they have not heard from the FBI and the expectation is based on the directive and scope that was designed for the White House to pass along to the FBI by those senators. It's not going to happen at any point.

I do think the key point here is this though. What those three senators laid out on Friday in Senator McConnell's office is the guiding force behind what the FBI directive is at this point. Could that shift? That is kind of the question it's up in the air right now. Susan Collins put out on a statement earlier today saying she's confident the FBI will be able to go wherever it wants to in this.

It's very clear that Senate Republicans and the White House would like to keep this as narrow as possible. Obviously given the timeline as well. I think the bigger question right now is, what's the threshold for those three senators not just on the scope of the investigation but what they actually want to see back.

That will determine where this goes or if it expands at all. John?

KING: That's great point. Phil Mattingly. That is the question. Number one, will they be happy with the thoroughness of the FBI or lack thereof of the FBI review. But number two, again, the question I don't think we know the answer to, what is their standard. Is it just you could not corroborate Professor Ford, you could not corroborate Debra Ramirez? I, I vote for Kavanaugh or while you couldn't corroborate that but you came back and said that he was clearly disingenuous about the level of drinking and therefore he -- therefore he was not truthful to the committee.

BASH: Exactly. And that's really the key and that is what I'm hearing this morning. Yes, just as Phil said, we reported real time that the directive of the scope initially came from conversations with those three senators. Those three key Republican senators. But that there is a feeling that that the standards should and could shift based on the statements that are coming to Senate offices, to the FBI, to the public, from people saying he, Kavanaugh was not truthful in saying under oath that he did not blackout or he did not drink excessively to the point that it could have put him in positions to do things that he's alleged to of doing.

KING: And the president was asked this as a relevant question. Here's his answer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: There are now concerns that he may have lied or mischaracterized his drinking while testifying. If they find that he did, do you think that bars him from being your Supreme Court nominee?

TRUMP: Well, I've watched him. I was surprised at how vocal he was about the fact that he likes beer and he's had a little bit of difficulty, I mean, he talked about things that happened when he drank. I mean, this is not a man that said that alcohol was -- that he was perfect with respect to alcohol. I don't --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: That's not a fair -- the president supporting his nominee. That's not a fair characterization about Judge Kavanaugh in the full context has described his drinking.

PARTI: And I'm sure, John, Kavanaugh's allies are not going to be happy by the way the president characterize his drinking. And I think one other note I'd make on what the president said today, another person he did not attack or agents he did not attack was the FBI which he usually does. He actually praised their investigation and said they're working very hard, working diligently everyday to get to the bottom of this.

KING: The stakes for the president. You could see it in his criticism of the Democrats. Senator Richard Blumenthal, Senator Cory Booker, Senator Dianne Feinstein. And one point, as the president often does, and this is reckless, innuendo, saying he knew things, compromising things about some of these Democratic senators.

He was asked to lay that out and he said, quote, I'm going to save it for a book like everyone else.

TALEV: That was amazing. You know, he's -- I thought he sent some mixed signals over. On the one hand, he suggested he's willing to kind of get down on the dirt and fight with these Democrats to push through the nominee that before on the other hand, he said I'm completely open-minded and certainly suggested that if more information came out in the course of the next week, he didn't say he want to answer question about what plan B was, he didn't say he didn't have a plan B.

KING: It's an excellent point there. And the big question is, does the president have faith in the process now? We know he's undermined the FBI repeatedly but what about his own team to handle this. His relationship with Don McGahn, his outgoing White House counsel not so great.

BASH: Not so great. And also, I think that we -- to just remember that it was kind of a laugh line that the president said he's never had a drink before. But that is such a part of his DNA, the fact that he doesn't drink because his brother died he thinks from -- impart from drinking. That the fact that he hears more about Brett Kavanaugh accusations that he did, I wonder how much that's going to affect --

KING: A remarkable day to start what it is a remarkable and consequential week here in the nation's capital.

Thanks for joining us today in the INSIDE POLITICS. Wolf picks up our special coverage right now. Have a good day.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1 p.m. here in Washington. Thanks very much for joining us.