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New Day Saturday
Senate Holds All-Night Session Ahead of Kavanaugh Vote; Chicago Police Officer Convicted of Second-Degree Murder of Laquan McDonald; Interpol Ask China for Information on Agency's Missing President; Christine Blasey Ford's Attorneys Say She has No Regrets on Coming Forward; Final Episode of Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown Airs Tomorrow Night at 9 P.M. Eastern; A Chinese Refugee in the U.S. Helps Homeless People in the U.S. Aired 6-7a ET
Aired October 06, 2018 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is on the path to confirmation.
(CROWD SHOUTING)
SENATOR SUSAN COLLINS (R) MAINE: I will vote to confirm Judge Kavanaugh.
CROWD CHANTING: Believe women! Believe women! Believe survivors! Believe survivors!
SENATOR LISA MURKOWSKI (R) ALASKA: I could not conclude that he is the right person for the court at this time.
SENATOR CORY BOOKER (D) NEW JERSEY: So I say to every American that is hurting tonight, every American that's angry tonight, tomorrow we face a defeat but we shall not be defeated.
(END VIDEO)
ANNOUNCER: This is "New Day Weekend" with Victor Blackwell and Christi Paul.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Well, the votes have been counted, the decisions explained. Now all that's left is to make it official with the Senate confirmation vote on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
CHRISTI PAUL, CNN HOST: The vote's expected at some point later today as protests continue in Washington, around the country, of course, and today's vote ends a political battle that has gripped the political world for weeks, continued overnight, of course, as Democrats held the Senate floor for debate.
BLACKWELL: Joining us live from Capitol Hill, CNN Congressional Correspondent Sunlen Serfaty. Sunlen, so we know essentially where the vote will come down. Now we've got these hours of debate headed until the vote this afternoon. What have we seen overnight, and what are we expecting for the morning? SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well good morning to
you Victor. There certainly has been so many twists and turns and bitter partisan battles over this confirmation, but as you said, indeed Republicans do have the votes to confirm Brett Kavanaugh today and we will see the Senate officially seal the deal this afternoon on the Senate floor when they vote for his final confirmation.
Now key to all of this is when they saw those four key swing Senators who went into the day yesterday previously undecided. They revealed their votes and this is how it breaks down -- two Republicans, Senator Collins and Senator Flake, and one Democrat, Joe Mnuchin, announced that they will vote for Brett Kavanaugh. One sole Republican, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, the sole Republican that will vote against his confirmation.
Specifically Senators Collins and Murkowski really taking to the Senate floor and explaining and defending their reasons for each of their votes. They came to two very different conclusions. Senator Collins saying she felt in the end there wasn't sufficient corroboration for one of Kavanaugh's accusers, Christine Blasey Ford. Both said they struggled and agonized over the decision. Here's both of them yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO)
SENATOR SUSAN COLLINS (R) MAINE: My fervent hope is that Brett Kavanaugh will work to lessen the divisions in the Supreme Court so that we have far fewer 5-4 decisions, and that public confidence in our judiciary and our highest court is restored.
SENATOR LISA MURKOWSKI (R) ALASKA: I believe that that Judge Kavanaugh is a good man, but in my conscience because that's how I have to vote at the end of the day, is with my conscience, I could not conclude that he is the right person for the court at this time.
(END VIDEO)
PAUL: Moments after Senator Susan Collins gave the floor speech, we saw red state Democrat Joe Mnuchin announce his support of Kavanaugh. You're looking there at video of the scene that unfolded outside of his office yesterday; certainly emotional with a lot of very vocal protests. Overnight, the Senate floor was held open overnight, 30 hours of debate. What that's amounted to is a series of floor speeches and you're looking at the Senate floor live now, a series of floor speeches by Democrats really essentially protesting the confirmation.
At the end of the day, though they will use up all of that time to say their floor speeches but at the end of the day, it will not change the math here. This is essentially baked into the cake for Brett Kavanaugh that he will indeed get confirmed by the end of the day. One thing to watch Christi and Victor as we're looking at the votes later this afternoon, especially as we're looking at each and every one of these important swing votes.
Senator Lisa Murkowski will vote no on Kavanaugh, but her vote today will technically be present and that is something she doing out of courtesy for her colleague, Senator Danes from Montana. He is back home in Montana. He is walking his daughter down the aisle today so basically their votes cancel each other out, that margin in the end stays the same, and he will indeed get confirmed.
PAUL: Absolutely. Sunlen Serfaty, we appreciate it. Thank you.
BLACKWELL: All right joining me now to discuss, Errol Louis, CNN Political Commentator, political anchor "Spectrum News" and Joey Jackson, CNN Legal Analyst and criminal defense attorney. Gentlemen, welcome back.
[06:05:00]
JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Good morning.
ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good to see you.
BLACKWELL: Errol, let me start with you. Sunlen started with the twists and turns of the process and we've used the word "unprecedented" for two and a half years now every Saturday on the show. But we had a nominee who did a television interview before the vote. He wrote an op-ed on the eve of the cloture vote in the "Wall Street Journal." is this now, do you expect the anomaly, or is this going to be a campaign for the nomination that works?
LOUIS: What we've seen, I think, is the transformation of what had been a pretty restrained nomination process in the past. I see where you're going, Victor. It looks more and more like a political campaign, complete with op-eds, with partisan speeches, with back and forth, and in the style of Trumpian politics, it includes insults, it includes denials, it includes rallies and so forth. This was not at all what we've seen over the last couple of generations, frankly, of the path to the Supreme Court.
BLACKWELL: And what does this mean for the court, Joey? We heard from Justice Elena Kagan yesterday talking about the need for the country to look at the court and believe it is impartial, that they're not just nine politicians wearing robes. Does the campaign potentially for a seat on the court change the court?
JACKSON: You know its interesting Victor and good morning to you and Errol. I - I think we have to understand that this is a seismic shift and the realities are as they are. Let's be clear about this. You'll have a solid conservative block on the court, 5-4. And just talking Supreme Court 101 where you have nine justices, it takes five votes. And we've seen a very polarized process getting them here. You just looked and counted the votes, 51-49, what a squeaker.
When you look at the Supreme Court and the tremendous things that they do, responsibilities over issues like abortion, issues of affirmative action, voting rights, immigration, go down the line, transgender, gay, there are so many things the court is in charge of. When you have that block of five votes, irrespective of this bruising confirmation process, the reality is in terms of ideology, it's to the right.
And so look, everyone -- and you learn this in law, and it was one of most frustrating things about law, Victor, but one of the most challenging -- and good things about the law -- if you want to get to a result, you can justify your logic to get there. We saw that with the two Senators yesterday coming out on opposite sides of how they'll vote for him and that's what the Supreme Court does. So I think we're in for a seismic shift moving forward with regard to how the court decides cases.
BLACKWELL: Errol, there are people who protested and are still protesting the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the court who were thinking of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford yesterday as they heard that Senator Collins would support this nomination. I want everyone to listen to Dr. Ford. This was on September 27th during her testimony.
(BEGIN VIDEO)
CHRISTINE BLASEY FORD, KAVANAUGH ACCUSER: Once he was selected and it seemed like he was popular and it was a sure vote, I was calculating daily the risk benefit for me of coming forward and wondering whether I would just be jumping in front of a train that was headed to where it was headed anyway, and that I would be personally annihilated.
(END VIDEO)
BLACKWELL: So Errol, did she jump in front of that figurative train, and is there any evidence -- short of maybe Heidi Heitkamp in North Dakota, that her testimony changed any votes?
LOUIS: Well, it may not have changed the votes, and it's heartbreaking, of course, to hear her sort of predict exactly what turned out to be the case, but we should keep in mind that this confirmation process, not just this one but all of them, are intended to be a national discussion. This is sort of a hiring not just by the partisan transient members of the Senate but by the whole country. We've had a national discussion.
People protested who have never protested before. People got on trains and went to Washington and protested. That same energy is going to carry over into the November 6th elections and beyond. Just as we saw an unprecedented wave of women go into politics after the Clarence Thomas confirmation battle, I think you're going to see something similar here and it will only be over the long term that you can really tell what happened. But certainly for Dr. Ford, exactly what she predicted has come to pass.
BLACKWELL: You talked about November 6th and beyond, typically, do these votes stay with politicians? Does it stay with Susan Collins to 2020, to Lisa Murkowski to 2022? Manchin may have shored up the lead over Morrisey in West Virginia with his support for Brett Kavanaugh. What's history tell us about two, four years down the line for these types of votes?
LOUIS: I can't give you patterns from the past, but I can tell you for Lisa Murkowski, for example, her political support depends on native Alaskans and they were very, very explicit that they expected her to vote no. She was working her local politics. Susan Collins in 2020, she's got a very different set of political
problems. My understanding is something like $3 million has been raised; at least one-third came while she was speaking on the floor explaining her vote. That -- this is crowd-sourced money. There are a lot of people who are not going to forget this and that money and once the money is in the till and ready to go for her opponent in 20, that will give her a lot to think about as she contemplates whether to seek a fifth term.
BLACKWELL: Hey Joey, let me ask you about the American Bar Association. They sent this letter that I have to Chairman Grassley of Senate Judiciary and Ranking Member Feinstein in which they write, new information of a material nature regarding temperament during the September 27th hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee has prompted a reopening of the stand committee's evaluation. What's the significance here?
JACKSON: You know I hate to tell you Victor, but the significance is nil. The fact is is that the end of the letter they said our initial evaluation stands as it relates to well qualified and of course, they say that they won't complete their review until a confirmation process is over, and as we're speaking here we know that the Senate is gearing up to vote later today.
The American Bar Association, very important, significant in what they do and how they rate people, but this is irrelevant. And you know, it's just going to be interesting moving forward globally. I know we always talk in law about this issue of stare dicisis; it has been decided, precedent. We always in Supreme Court look at precedent, but Supreme Court overrules precedent and we're going to be looking very closely to see what these members do and last term they just overruled the labor decision called Janis. It has a direct effect on me and what I do as it relates to law and labor unions and their ability to sponsor and pay, that is the union for them.
And so look the reality is is that these justices have a vast amount of power, notwithstanding what law was yesterday. They have the ability to change it today and moving forward. So we are in a new day. To be clear, should he be confirmed and it certainly looks likely that he will be.
BLACKWELL: Yes, sometime this late afternoon, maybe early evening. Joey Jackson, Errol Louis, thank you both.
LOUIS: Thank you.
JACKSON: Thank you Victor.
PAUL: Well still to come, President Trump silent so far. What will he say to supporters later today in Kansas now that his second Supreme Court justice is just hours away from confirmation?
BLACKWELL: Plus, she was mocked by the president after coming forward with an accusation of sexual assault against Kavanaugh. So does Christine Blasey Ford regret her decision? Her lawyer says no.
(BEGIN VIDEO)
LISA BANKS, ATTORNEY FOR CHRISTINE BLASEY FORD: I don't think she has any regrets. I think she feels like she did the right thing, and this was what she wanted to do.
And guilty, a Chicago jury says a white former police officer did murder a black teenager. His family now calling the conviction a victory for America.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:15:00]
BLACKWELL: Our live look at the Senate floor. Yes, it is 6:17 a.m. on the east coast. We don't often see this, especially on a Saturday but this is a momentous weekend for the Senate and the Supreme Court. Judge Kavanaugh will almost certainly join the court after a vote this afternoon or this evening. President Trump may be in Kansas when his second nominee to the nation's highest court is confirmed. He plans a campaign rally in Topeka today. That brings us to CNN's Joe Johns at the White House. Joe, we haven't really heard a lot from the president since Friday morning and the announcement from Senator Collins and that she's a yes.
JOE HOHNS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's absolutely right. The last time the president tweeted about the nomination was 19 hours ago. That was a tweet essentially congratulating the Senate for voting to move forward on the final vote on this Kavanaugh nomination. But look, the moment of the week Victor, quite frankly, obviously came just yesterday when all of Washington stopped to listen to that speech on the Senate floor by Senator Susan Collins of Maine in which she described her thinking, her reasons, her conclusion, and then saying, of course, that she would vote in favor of the Kavanaugh nomination.
All of Washington stopped to watch, including the president who was in the Oval Office with members of the House and Senate. He was getting ready to sign a bill reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration into law for the next five years. He asked those members of Congress if they wanted to watch the Susan Collins speech we are told and they did.
As you know it was a long speech, between 40 - 45 minutes. The president at the end of the day of course described as in a very good mood obviously after hearing the news from Susan Collins because she essentially puts Republicans over the top for this vote which is expected in the United States Senate unless there are any other problems later today.
As you said, the president is expected to be heading off to Topeka, Kansas. He's expected to leave the White House before the vote occurs here in Washington and he is expected to have that rally in Topeka, Kansas, after the vote. So a couple opportunities to hear from the president then. Also important to say this administration appears to be on a roll right now. They just got a jobs report indicating a 49 year low in unemployment, so that's very big for them. But the truth of it is the thing that galvanizes voters right now in
this last stretch toward the midterms is for the Conservatives, for Republicans, the president following through on his promise to get another conservative jurist on the United States Supreme Court. It appears that is going to happen. Still on the other -- on other side, of course, there is that question of the opposition being energized, and we're expecting that, too. We'll see another demonstration today at the Supreme Court against this nomination.
BLACKWELL: Yes, big week for the president. Also starting the week off by announcing Canada joined that multilateral trade deal, as well. We'll see how much all this means, about 30 days from now at the midterm election. Joe Johns at the White House. Thank you very much.
PAUL: CNN Political Commentator Errol Lewis, back with us. Errol, thanks for sticking around. We haven't heard specifically from the president, of course, except for that tweet that was mentioned and very proud of the U.S. Senate for voting yes to advance the nomination. We have heard from Donald Trump Jr., however, and it's been a bit perplexing. I want to read you one of his tweets, a real profile in courage from Lying Liberal Joe Mnuchin. Waited until Kavanaugh had enough votes secured before he announced his support of it. He had another press release ready to go if Collins went the other way. West Virginia vote mega champion Morrisey, West Virginia.
So he's got Manchin, the lone Dem voting yes, voting the way they want him to vote and he's taking a shot at him. Do you get a sense that Trump, Jr. is speaking for his father?
LOUIS: I think you have to always assume that the Trump operation, let's just call it the larger political inner circle is speaking with one voice and that voice is that of the president. Look, in this case, there was some speculation going up to the cloture vote the other day that perhaps Senator Manchin had some private deal with the White House. The president was in West Virginia not long ago; did not go out of his way to make over the top insults or criticisms of Joe Manchin. The thinking was, perhaps there's some kind of implied deal here.
The tweet by Donald Trump, Jr., suggests that there is no such deal and they are going to fight tooth and nail. Look, the reality is if there was anybody among all of those wavering so called Senators who are undecided, Joe Manchin had the most room to maneuver. He's up by close to 10 points in his race; we're only 30 days out. It's clear that he could have weathered this and a negative vote would not have cost him the election or cost him his lead in the polls which is all we've got right now. So we've got to assume that he did this according to his own merits. He said, right up until the last minute, he wasn't sure what he was going to do. I don't think Donald Trump, Jr's, speculation really holds much water.
PAUL: You know, you mention people who are on buses, people who are protesting in front of congressmen and congresswomen's law offices. Anger is a great motivator to get people to the polls. What is President Trump, what are the Republicans going to do to counter the anger that we're seeing? LOUIS: You know, it's very interesting because, what Donald Trump himself does, and what we're going to probably see at his rally in Kansas today, is very different from what candidates need to do in order to win. So I think you'll see a sort of split reaction. You'll see Donald Trump bombastic, using the full range of insults and talking points that he usually uses at these rallies.
And then I think it's a very different question for people who are trying to get themselves elected. You'll notice, I think -- and it's a pretty consistent pattern -- that the economic argument is not something that Republicans are running on. They're running on culture war issues, they're talking about the Supreme Court, they're talkin about everything except the economy, because I think their internal polling is showing that that's not moving their voters -- that's not getting their voters voters excited, as much as something like the fight over the Supreme Court.
So I think we're going to continue to see this Kavanaugh process, the nomination, and of course the outcome, as very much a front-and-center consideration for a lot of the candidates -- not necessarily the president, but the candidates who are on the ballot this year.
PAUL: All right. Errol Louis, always appreciate your perspective. Thank you, sir.
LOUIS: Thank you.
BLACKWELL: Still to come, a Chicago police officer guilty of murder in the death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. Coming up, the message from that teens family after this conviction.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Laquan McDonald represents all of the victims that suffer what he suffered, acroos the country.
[16:25:28]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:30:00] CHRISTI PAUL, CO-HOST, NEW DAY SATURDAY: It is just about 6:30 here on a Saturday morning. So good to you with us, I'm Christi Paul.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CO-HOST, NEW DAY SATURDAY: I'm Victor Blackwell, good to be with you. Judge Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination heads to a final Senate vote later today. Right now, looks like he is sure to be confirmed with Senators Collins, Flake and Manchin deciding to back Kavanaugh.
PAUL: Senator Lisa Murkowski is the lone Republican who says she opposes the judge, but she will vote present as a just here to Senator Steve Daines so he won't have to leave his daughter's wedding, and they essentially cancel each other out.
BLACKWELL: For weeks, Kavanaugh's confirmation process has been has been a heated battle on Capitol Hill. And with hours of hearings, FBI investigations, allegations of sexual assault. A Chicago police officer is facing decades in prison after been
convicted in one of the most closely watched trials in the city's history. Jason Van Dyke was the first Chicago police officer to be charged with first-degree murder since 1980. He was the first to be convicted of murder in an on-duty shooting in nearly 50 years. Cnn's Ryan Young has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We, the jury, find the defendant, Jason Van Dyke, guilty of second-degree murder.
RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Nearly four years after the shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, a jury found Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke guilty of second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery on Friday.
The verdict marking a culmination to the racially-charged case that became emblematic of decades of tension between Chicago's urban communities and the city's police force.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you!
YOUNG: The shooting was captured on a grainy police dash cam video with no audio. Van Dyke told investigators he fired in self-defense after McDonald lunged at him with a knife. The video shows Van Dyke shooting McDonald 16 times. None of the other officers at the scene fired their weapons.
It wasn't until 13 months after the incident that a judge ordered the city to release the video.
(CHANTING)
(UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sixteen shots and a cover-up!
YOUNG: The video ignited protests, a Justice Department civil rights investigation, criticism of the city's mayor and eventually the ouster of the police superintendent.
JASON VAN DYKE, CONVICTED POLICE OFFICER: I shot him.
YOUNG: In an unusual move Tuesday, Van Dyke took the witness stand in his own defense.
VAN DYKE: His face had no expression, his eyes were just bugging out of his head. He had just these huge white eyes, just staring right through me.
YOUNG: At times becoming visibly emotional as he alleged the 17-year- old ignored repeated commands to drop his knife before the officer opened fire.
VAN DYKE: He waved a knife from his lower right side upwards, across his body, towards my left shoulder. YOUNG: Prosecutors sparred with Van Dyke over discrepancies in his
testimony that the teenager raised his knife toward officers which could not be seen in the dash cam video.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you ever seen Laquan McDonald do that on one of those videos?
VAN DYKE: The video doesn't show my perspective.
YOUNG: Van Dyke's lawyer says he was not surprised by the verdict and plans to appeal.
DANIEL HERBERT, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: If police officers think that they can never fire against somebody that is acting the way Laquan McDonald did when they're 12 feet away from them, I think that what we are going to have is police officers are going to become security guards.
YOUNG: But for Laquan McDonald's family, they hope this verdict will finally help bring them some closure.
MARVIN HUNTER, LAQUAN MCDONALD'S GREAT UNCLE: This trial today did two things. Again, it gave us justice of which we seek, and it also set a precedent across this country.
YOUNG: Van Dyke faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for second- degree murder and 6 to 30 years for each of the 16 aggravated battery convictions. He is scheduled back in court October 31st. Ryan Young, Cnn, Chicago.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PAUL: CNN legal analyst and Criminal Defense Attorney Joey Jackson with us now. Joey, based on what you saw, what happened, what do you prognosticate his sentence would be?
JOEY JACKSON, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: You know, Christi, good morning to you. I think the judge certainly has to serve -- has to serve him up with a significant sentence. Why do I say that? Number one, obviously, when a purpose of sentencing is punishment, and he needs to be punished for that.
I mean, I think we all saw the video, and I think we all had a reaction that we had to the video, that it was not necessary. Number two as it relates to deterrence, you certainly want to deter this type of activity.
Police certainly have a tough job, we get that, we understand that, we value and appreciate what they do. But when they act unreasonably as he did, they have to be punished for it, and it has to be known that matters need to be de-escalated where appropriate and deadly force, you know, should be used as a last alternative, not the first reaction.
And so, I think by matters of punishment and deterrence, I think the judge has to give him a stiff sentence.
PAUL: Did they have to put him on the stand in your opinion?
JACKSON: I think they did. I will not fault the defense in this case, and let me tell you why? I think there were two things that need to be overcome. Number one, the immediacy of the threat.
[06:35:00] The only one who could explain whether there was an immediacy of the threat which would justify deadly force is him. You heard him on the stance talk about his perceptions. He is the guy that has to say what he perceived and why he perceived that Laquan McDonald represented a deadly force.
Number two, the disproportionate nature of the force used, Chris, that he shot 16 times, most of those shots were when Laquan McDonald was on the ground. Why on earth would you do that? The only one who could explain that was him. And quite frankly, given the nature of the evidence, I just think that it was the only call to make because you know, he's the only guy who could try to justify it.
It did not at the end of the day get justified. And I think the jury reached the proper and just result in this case.
PAUL: Yes, jurors were saying that he seemed rehearsed in his testimony. And we know that the police union is promising an appeal on what grounds?
JACKSON: You know, I -- there's always, Christi, an appellate issue or two or three or multiple that come out of the trial. The grounds that they're going to rely upon is that the judge did not move the trial out of this particular jurisdiction, given the protests and the heated nature and environment that was there.
I just don't know that, that carries any weight at the end of the day. Particularly, nowadays where we're in a society where something could happen in Chicago, it could happen in New York, it could happen in France. We all see it, we all have a reaction to it.
And you know, throughout the course of the trial, certainly there are other issues that came up. But I thought the judge allowed so many things. I think that in this particular case, the defense savaged Laquan McDonald, talking about the PCP found in his system, talking about his troubled path as a youth, bringing in juvenile counselors and talking about how he was disruptive and belligerent.
And a lot of times judges don't even allow that. So I think the judge was beyond fair in terms of what he allowed. And I wouldn't, you know, if I was presiding, would have allowed half the things that this judge did. So there will be an appeal, I don't see it having, you know, much merit from the evaluation that I've seen of the trial and the multiple witnesses.
And I think at the end of the day, Christi, it's the right call, you can't shoot someone 16 times who doesn't appear to pose an imminent threat to you. No other officer on the scene fired, the value of that is that why did you act so differently from your compatriots?
Those officers testified, saying they didn't seem to share your fear or concern. And so, I think it's an uphill battle to be clear, and I think the second-degree murder result which was a lesser included I should add because he was charged with first-degree murder.
The distinctions for the viewers briefly is that they felt that he thought that he had lawful justification, that as officer Van Dyke did. But it was unreasonable and unjustified. That made it second- degree murder. I just think it was the right result in this case and I think justice was served.
PAUL: All ready, Joey Jackson, thank you so much for sharing.
JACKSON: Thank you, Christi.
PAUL: Always.
JACKSON: The international police agency Interpol has a mystery to solve. Its president is missing. Meng Hongwei of China also holds a top security position in the Chinese government. But Interpol won't say whether Meng was there when he vanished. Now quoting an unnamed source, the "South China Morning Post" says Meng was taken for questioning when he landed in China last week.
PAUL: Well, Christine Blasey Ford's lawyers say she has no regrets about coming forward with her assault allegations against Judge Brett Kavanaugh. But President Trump's mockery of her testimony at a rally, that has hurt her deeply. We're going to hear from her lawyers and relatives regarding how she's handling the fallout of this confirmation battle now.
[06:40:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: Well, today the U.S. Senate is expected to vote on the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court and it's very likely he will be confirmed. But of course, we heard from Christine Blasey Ford, her accusations that Kavanaugh assaulted her while they were in high school.
PAUL: We have to be very clear Kavanaugh denies the accusations, but Ford's sister-in-law says her testimony at the Senate hearing, Ford's testimony and President Trump's reaction to it at a rally has caused her more pain.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEBORAH FORD PETERS, CHRISTINE BLASEY FORD'S SISTER-IN-LAW: I think when her sexual trauma, you know, involved being laughed at and being helpless, and both of those things have happened. She's been laughed at by the president of the United States, with people applauding and laughing.
So I can only imagine from what I know about trauma that she is probably feeling a whole host of intolerable, terrible feelings right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BLACKWELL: Now despite that laughter, Dr. Ford's lawyers say that she
has no regrets about testifying, but they are blasting senators for what they call false claims about the FBI investigation into the allegations. Cnn's Dana Bash spoke with him earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANA BASH, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Have you heard any regrets from her about coming out the way she did?
LISA BANKS, ATTORNEY: I don't think she has any regrets. I think she feels like she did the right thing, and this was what she wanted to do, which was provide this information to the committee so they could make the best decision possible. And I think she still feels that, that was the right thing to do. So, I don't think she has any regrets.
BASH: If you were to do it all over again, knowing what you know now, could this have been done in a different way with regard to Senator Feinstein, the fact that she didn't tell anybody, she says it was because she was abiding by the wishes of Professor Ford, Congresswoman Eshoo and so forth.
I mean, in retrospect, knowing what you know now, could and should it have been done differently?
[06:45:00] DEBRA KATZ, ATTORNEY: I can't speak to the process. What I can speak to is when victims of sexual assault and violence go to their Congress people. When they go to their senators, and they ask for their information to be kept confidential, I think that that's a request that needs to be respected.
Victims get to control when and how and where their allegations get made public. Now, if we want to look at all the things that went wrong in this process, there are many. There are many process issues that need to be addressed.
But I think Senator Feinstein respected the wishes of her constituent, and that was the right thing to do.
BASH: And does Professor Ford feel that way as well?
KATZ: Absolutely.
BASH: President Trump, I'm sure you saw, mocked your client's testimony at a rally in Mississippi on Tuesday night. The crowd who were obviously big Trump supporters applauded. Did you speak to Professor Ford? Did she see that, and what was her reaction?
BANKS: She did. She was -- she was upset by it, it was very hurtful as it would be to any woman, any survivor, who had the courage to come forward only to be mocked and belittled by anyone really, but certainly by the president of the United States. It was -- it was very upsetting, it was very hurtful.
BASH: So one of the things that has gotten Republicans really enraged is the fact that during her testimony, Professor Ford told the committee that she wasn't clear that there was an offer to you, her legal team, from the committee to have the committee fly out to California and have a private conversation with her, interview with her, as opposed to flying her for a public hearing. Is that true?
BANKS: No. We -- as her counsel informed her of all options made available to us by the committee. We showed her all of the correspondence. And what they were offering was to send staffers to California to interview her. Dr. Ford wanted to speak to the committee members themselves.
And I think what you saw in the hearing was that Dr. Ford got a little confused and thought that Senator Grassley was suggesting that he himself would have come to California which was not what he had offered at all.
BASH: The allegation, they're making very blatantly is that she has lawyers, you two, who are Democrats, who wanted to have a public spectacle.
KATZ: Dana, that is such a ludicrous accusation. We've been listening to it, and we have not wanted to respond to it because it's such a distraction and deflection. Our client was advised of every single option given to her by the committee. She saw every single communication. She's a smart woman.
She wanted to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee, not speak to members of his staff.
BASH: If Judge Kavanaugh becomes Justice Kavanaugh or even if he stays on the federal bench he's on now, would Professor Ford like impeachment proceedings to begin?
KATZ: Professor Ford has not asked for anything of the sort. What she did was to come forward and testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee and agree to cooperate with any investigation by the FBI. And that's what she sought to do here.
BASH: She said, no, she's not going there on impeachment?
KATZ: No.
BASH: She does not want him to be impeached?
KATZ: No.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: Dana Bash reporting there. And we're going to take a live look here as Senator Gillibrand is on the floor. They have -- senators have been debating the Kavanaugh confirmation all night long before the final vote happens later today. We'll be right back.
[06:50:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PAUL: In his travel, they opened the eyes, the minds, the hearts of so many millions to new places and new food and new people. And tomorrow night, we are continuing our last ride around the world with Anthony Bourdain and the final episodes of "Parts Unknown".
BLACKWELL: In Sunday's episode, Bourdain travels to Indonesia, a diverse country comprised of thousands of islands where food is a great unifier. And before we bring you a preview, a note to our viewers, this episode was filmed in the Spring of 2018, five months before a powerful earthquake and tsunami devastated portions of the country on September 28th.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTHONY BOURDAIN, DECEASED: Indonesia, it's the fourth largest country in the world. But yet, we know so little about it. In the West, we tend to think of things in a binary way. There's good and evil, life and death, that is not the way of thinking in this part of the east.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Without this, there's no this --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The existence comes from the same thing.
BOURDAIN: You mentioned Bali, and people think paradise.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of course, of course, there's the tourism part, yes, it has its bad side. Is the tourism good? Yes, of course.
BOURDAIN: Bali, enchanted wonderland or post-eat, pray, love apocalypse? So this, too, is Bali, I guess or it is now. Thank you, Jimmy Buffett, for taking a big dump on the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: For ways you can help earthquake and tsunami victims in Indonesia, go to cnn.com-slash-impact --
PAUL: Yes, and be sure to tune in for an all new episode of the final season of "ANTHONY BOURDAIN: PARTS UNKNOWN", it airs Sunday, 9:00 p.m. Eastern only here on Cnn.
BLACKWELL: Well, for the past 37 years, one woman in California's remote North Coast has dedicated her life to serving Americans in need.
PAUL: Yes, she was tortured as a child, and coming to the U.S. nearly penniless. Well, now, she's tackling a rampant homelessness problems that are in her own back yard. Meet Betty Chinn.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[06:55:00] BETTY CHINN, SUFFERED HOMELESSNESS AS A CHILD: In China, my family was a target for the government. I separated my family and I lived on the street by myself. This all happened at a very young age. I had nothing to eat. Inside my heart, I don't want anybody to suffer what I suffered.
I don't sleep a lot. I get up at 2:07, not 2:08, not 2:06, I tell myself time to go. Somebody needs your help.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Wow. To see Betty in action and all of the services she provides, go to cnnheroes.com.
PAUL: Listen, it has been a long night on Capitol Hill, live pictures as Senator Gillibrand is still debating what's going to happen because there is a confirmation vote for Brett Kavanaugh happening in several hours now. This is a rare all-nighter for the Senate here. We're live on Capitol Hill next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
