Yamiche Alcindor:

Well, the White House fought for this nomination, and won.

President Trump watched very closely as all this drama played out on the Hill. Don McGahn, the White House counsel, personally went to the Hill to shepherd this vote through. And the White House was very, very involved in Brett Kavanaugh's nomination.

The president himself was calling senators, engaging senators throughout the week, but also today. And the White House really was making the case, look, this is Brett Kavanaugh's chance. He's going to be a good conservative judge. You should trust him.

And I should say that the White House really coached Brett Kavanaugh for hours and hours and hours, first about his initial testimony, and then when he had to go back a second time. And they told Brett Kavanaugh, you should be aggressive in your defense of yourself. They coached him to say, you know what, you should go on FOX News, which, of course, is the president's favorite channel. You should go and defend yourself.

And you should write this op-ed in The Wall Street Journal and say, you know what? I know you saw me get emotional, but I can be an impartial judge.

So tonight the White House is feeling great. I want to read to you some of the tweets that the White House press secretary, Sarah Sanders, put out. She said: "Thank you, Senator Collins, for standing by your convictions and doing the right thing to confirm Judge Kavanaugh."

The president's son, Donald Trump Jr., also tweeting tonight. He is attacking Joe Manchin, who is the only Democrat who voted to clear Brett Kavanaugh. He wrote: "A real profile in courage for lying liberal Joe Manchin. Waited until Kavanaugh had enough votes secured before he announced his support. I bet he had another press release ready to go if Collins went the other way."

So what you see here is allies of the president going after the people who — even Democrats who voted for Brett Kavanaugh, so still a very highly political moment here.