Soon: Kavanaugh to Testify Before Senate Judiciary Committee
TAPPER: Moment from now, Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh will testify before the Judiciary Committee just after Professor Christine Blasey Ford accused him of sexual assault, saying she remembered it was him with 100 percent certainty. Let's go live to M.J. Lee, who was in the hearing room. M.J., you just spoke to Senator Flake, who is a key, pivotal swing vote on the committee. It's unclear how he's going to vote on Judge Kavanaugh.</s>M.J. LEE, CNN REPORTER: That's right. He walked away from the room pretty quickly. We tried to get some comment from him as we did during the last break. He said he is still listening. That's all he would say. It was notable that one of the questions that myself and another reporter from a different network asked him was, did you find Christine Blasey Ford to be credible? Did you believe what she said? And he would not answer that specific question before walking into a different room. And I just have to say, you know, having sort of taken all of that in over the last four or five hours or so, this was a woman who started her testimony by using the word "terrified." She told the world that she was terrified to be in this room. And I think a lot of the supporters and friends, especially those in the room, were in awe that she managed to say what she needed to say. She was poised, even though she was also very emotional. Just sort of thinking through what this moment is and what it represents, I think for a lot of people that are watching, both women and men, Christine Blasey Ford sort of represented a person's ability to speak about a past, and something that Christine Blasey Ford herself has said, was a dark secret in her life after so many years of not even wanting to share this with family, and certainly not with so many cameras on her and so many people watching her. So I just had that thought about just what this moment represents. And then just in terms of the optics in the room, which you've talked about a lot today, I think there was sort of a missed opportunity for the Republican male Senators, who chose not to question Blasey Ford themselves, but passed on their five minutes to this female counsel, it wasn't only that they were skipping on the opportunity to question Blasey Ford, it was also that they were missing out on an opportunity to say anything about this movement, about this moment in our country, say something to sexual assault survivors, say something about the "Me Too" moment. Because some of the most actually powerful moments in my opinion during this hearing was when Democratic male Senators said what they wanted to say to Blasey Ford, telling her that they believed her, or at least telling her that they know when women and when victims speak out in the way that she is and she did today, that that is really important. Also just thinking about this in a more broader way, I think beyond just the politics, is really important.</s>BLITZER: That's an excellent point, M.J., a very good point, indeed. I want to go to Manu Raju. He's also up on Capitol Hill. Manu, what are you hearing?</s>MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: One of the big questions, Wolf, is whether they will move forward with the Friday vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee. I tried to ask the chairman of that committee, Chuck Grassley, whether or not there would be a Friday vote. He would not answer that question or any other question as they try to figure out the next step here. There was discussion earlier on the Senate floor with Senator Bob Corker, who is not on the committee, but a potential swing vote about whether or not there would be this Friday vote. He came out after a private discussion with Senators and he said he still wasn't clear whether or not they were going to move forward. M.J. mentioned Jeff Flake. I had a chance to catch up with him. He would not comment on whether or not they should move forward on Friday. He also didn't say whether they should bring forth Mark Judge, a friend of Brett Kavanaugh. He's been mentioned time and time again. Yesterday, Flake told me, if her testimony relied on Mark Judge, then Mark Judge should, in fact, testify before this committee. That is another key question. But what you're hearing from Republican Senator after Republican Senator, most are not commenting. They're waiting for afterwards. But the major supporters of Brett Kavanaugh are circling behind him, saying there's nothing to corroborate her story and trying to hope that's enough to solidify Republican votes. But as we know, this will come down to the handful of key Senators, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins and Jeff Flake, in particular. And those three Senators, for now, keeping their powder dry, waiting for Kavanaugh's testimony in a couple of minutes here -- Wolf and Jake?</s>TAPPER: Manu Raju, thank you so much. We're just moments away from Judge Brett Kavanaugh's testimony. Will Rachel Mitchell question him? How will Democrats confront him? Stay with us.