WEBVTT 00:02.000 --> 00:04.266 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% JUDY WOODRUFF: The first public opinion polling is out since the government shutdown began 00:04.266 --> 00:06.266 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% 24 days ago. 00:06.266 --> 00:09.866 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% To break it down for us and to discuss several other big developments, I'm joined by our 00:09.866 --> 00:11.866 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% Politics Monday duo. 00:11.866 --> 00:16.866 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% That's Amy Walter of The Cook Political Report and Tamara Keith of NPR. 00:17.600 --> 00:18.400 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% Hello to you both. 00:18.400 --> 00:19.533 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% And happy Monday. 00:19.533 --> 00:20.533 align:left position:40%,start line:89% size:50% So 00:20.533 --> 00:23.033 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% let's talk about this poll. 00:23.033 --> 00:26.533 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% We have, Tam, both The Washington Post and Quinnipiac University did some polling, wrapping 00:27.700 --> 00:29.800 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% up just in the last few days. 00:29.800 --> 00:34.800 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% And as you can see, in the Post poll, 53 percent of the public are saying the president and 00:35.700 --> 00:36.966 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% Republicans are to blame. 00:36.966 --> 00:39.033 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% Only 29 percent say the Democrats. 00:39.033 --> 00:42.933 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% In the Quinnipiac, it's 56 percent blaming the president and Republicans, 36 percent 00:43.733 --> 00:45.833 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% the Democrats. 00:45.833 --> 00:49.800 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% What does that say to us, if anything, about where the chips are falling after this shutdown 00:50.566 --> 00:52.566 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% is in its 24th day? 00:52.566 --> 00:53.466 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% TAMARA KEITH, National Public Radio: I think it's not entirely surprising that this is 00:53.466 --> 00:55.166 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% where the numbers are. 00:55.166 --> 00:59.666 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% It somewhat aligns with the way people view the president generally. 00:59.666 --> 01:04.633 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% And, also, it's -- the president before the shutdown started said that he would be proud 01:06.033 --> 01:08.933 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% to shut the government down to get his border wall. 01:08.933 --> 01:13.100 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% He has done absolutely nothing to change that narrative. 01:13.100 --> 01:18.100 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% The only thing that is possibly working in his favor -- and this is a small thing, it's 01:20.166 --> 01:23.533 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% a sliver -- but under the hood on the Quinnipiac poll, there were a couple areas where the 01:23.533 --> 01:25.900 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% public opinion has shifted slightly. 01:25.900 --> 01:30.900 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Now, the minority of people -- it's still a significant minority, but more people now 01:32.966 --> 01:37.500 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% support building a wall along the Mexican border than did a year-and-a-half ago. 01:37.500 --> 01:42.500 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% It's still only 44 percent, but that's up a fair bit from a year-and-a-half ago. 01:45.100 --> 01:48.800 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% Similarly, whether they believe that undocumented immigrants contribute to crime more than American 01:50.766 --> 01:55.533 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% citizens, which is not true, but it was 22 percent in April of 2018, and now it's up 01:58.100 --> 02:00.300 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% to 29 percent. 02:00.300 --> 02:04.966 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% So the president is shifting at least a little bit, though it's a small amount, of people 02:05.866 --> 02:07.100 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% toward his viewpoint. 02:07.100 --> 02:09.166 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% JUDY WOODRUFF: Is that contradictory, Amy? 02:09.166 --> 02:11.833 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% AMY WALTER, The Cook Political Report: No, I think what's happening is, Republicans are 02:11.833 --> 02:13.866 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% shifting the most on those issues. 02:13.866 --> 02:18.733 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% But, overall, if you think about what strategies going into this debate would the president 02:20.700 --> 02:24.600 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% like to see happen, right, what would he like to come out of this battle over the border 02:24.600 --> 02:25.800 align:left position:40%,start line:89% size:50% wall? 02:25.800 --> 02:27.866 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% One, that the wall would become more popular. 02:27.866 --> 02:30.966 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% And while there has been some shifting -- that's true -- and the Washington Post poll showed 02:30.966 --> 02:35.233 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% the same thing -- it still, at best, gets about 42 percent approval rating. 02:35.233 --> 02:39.500 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% So, the wall's not really much more popular than it's ever been. 02:39.500 --> 02:42.600 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% You ask voters who is to blame, they blame the president. 02:42.600 --> 02:46.633 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% You would think that they -- if you were in the White House, you want to see the blame 02:46.633 --> 02:48.700 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% shifted to Democrats. 02:48.700 --> 02:51.866 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% And even making the case about whether this is a crisis, so Quinnipiac also asked that 02:51.866 --> 02:55.200 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% question about, do you see this as a crisis? 02:55.200 --> 02:59.000 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% And about 45 percent of voters thought it was a crisis, but even among those who saw 02:59.000 --> 03:03.933 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% it as a crisis, only a third of those said building a border wall is going to fix it. 03:03.933 --> 03:08.933 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% So, if your whole strategy behind shutting the government down was to make the wall more 03:10.966 --> 03:14.666 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% popular, make the Democrats take the blame, and get folks concerned that there's a real 03:16.700 --> 03:19.566 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% crisis on the border that needs to be solved, he's done none of those things. 03:19.566 --> 03:21.833 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% TAMARA KEITH: Though Republicans are still with us. 03:21.833 --> 03:22.833 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% That's basically what he's got. 03:22.833 --> 03:24.266 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% AMY WALTER: There's the -- yes. 03:24.266 --> 03:25.200 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% TAMARA KEITH: But that's kind of always what he's got. 03:25.200 --> 03:25.866 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% AMY WALTER: That's right. 03:25.866 --> 03:27.133 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% That's right. 03:27.133 --> 03:28.800 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% JUDY WOODRUFF: So, we have seen that. 03:28.800 --> 03:30.866 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% But let's talk about the other big story we're grappling with today. 03:30.866 --> 03:34.233 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% And that is the disclosures that the president, whether he was taking information papers away 03:36.200 --> 03:39.333 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% from the interpreters, questions inside our - - the government about whether the president 03:39.333 --> 03:42.566 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% might have been working for the Russians. 03:42.566 --> 03:45.933 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% On top of everything else, Tam, what are the political repercussions of this? 03:45.933 --> 03:48.033 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% TAMARA KEITH: Yes. 03:48.033 --> 03:51.433 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% So the difference between these articles coming out four months ago and these articles coming 03:51.433 --> 03:56.433 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% out today is now, in the House, there are committees that can act on it, can use their 03:58.533 --> 04:01.233 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% subpoena power to try to get this information. 04:01.233 --> 04:05.666 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% They're exploring, the Democrats are exploring how they might be able to gain access to these 04:05.666 --> 04:09.766 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% interpreters who were there at the meetings with Putin. 04:09.766 --> 04:12.633 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% Unclear whether they will make it very far. 04:12.633 --> 04:17.100 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% But this is now -- the ground has shifted for the president. 04:17.100 --> 04:22.100 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Now these stories come out, and he can go out on TV and stand on the lawn and shout 04:23.566 --> 04:26.533 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% over the helicopter and say, I had nothing to do with Russia. 04:26.533 --> 04:29.266 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% But then Democrats in Congress in the House will follow up. 04:29.266 --> 04:30.400 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% AMY WALTER: Right. 04:30.400 --> 04:32.433 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% And they have already noted as such. 04:32.433 --> 04:35.933 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Eliot Engel, the new chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, saying, we're definitely 04:35.933 --> 04:38.766 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% going to hold hearings looking at the Putin-Trump relationship. 04:38.766 --> 04:43.766 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% Adam Schiff this weekend also tweeting, suggesting that, yes, we're going to try to get testimony 04:44.800 --> 04:46.200 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% from this interpreter in Helsinki. 04:46.200 --> 04:48.266 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% So we have always had three elements here. 04:48.266 --> 04:52.766 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% One was the news reports and leaks that had been part of the sort of milieu here for a 04:54.200 --> 04:57.133 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% long time about Russia and the president and the investigation. 04:57.133 --> 04:59.966 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Mueller's always been there, but we don't know anything that's going on there. 04:59.966 --> 05:02.833 align:left position:30%,start line:83% size:60% So the new thing now is Congress. 05:02.833 --> 05:06.733 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% And that changes some of the dynamics about this story. 05:06.733 --> 05:11.733 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% It makes it harder to kind of push it away by just blaming it on the fake news. 05:13.066 --> 05:14.133 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% JUDY WOODRUFF: What happened in November matters. 05:14.133 --> 05:15.400 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% It's changing the landscape. 05:15.400 --> 05:17.600 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% So, very quickly, you mentioned tweets, Amy. 05:17.600 --> 05:19.766 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% The president was in the White House this weekend. 05:19.766 --> 05:21.700 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% There was a snowstorm in Washington. 05:21.700 --> 05:23.366 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% He did a lot of tweeting. 05:23.366 --> 05:25.666 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% I'm not going to -- I wasn't going to use the term tweetstorm. 05:25.666 --> 05:27.533 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% TAMARA KEITH: But you can. 05:27.533 --> 05:29.766 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% JUDY WOODRUFF: But I could -- I will say that. 05:29.766 --> 05:31.800 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% AMY WALTER: Yes. 05:31.800 --> 05:33.800 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% JUDY WOODRUFF: But what I want to ask you about is some of the language in the president's 05:33.800 --> 05:38.066 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% - - I mean, singling out at one point Nancy and crying Chuck can end the shutdown in five 05:39.966 --> 05:41.900 align:left position:40%,start line:89% size:50% minutes. 05:41.900 --> 05:45.533 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% "If Elizabeth Warren, often referred to me by -- as Pocahontas, did this commercial" 05:45.533 --> 05:48.900 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% - - and he's referring to a commercial she did around her announcing that she's looking 05:48.900 --> 05:50.533 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% at running for president. 05:50.533 --> 05:52.166 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% AMY WALTER: Right. 05:52.166 --> 05:54.233 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% JUDY WOODRUFF: And then, finally, he talks about lying James Comey. 05:54.233 --> 05:57.766 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% He's lumping together all the stories that we're following, lying James Comey, and on 05:58.233 --> 06:00.200 align:left position:40%,start line:89% size:50% and on. 06:00.200 --> 06:05.166 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% I guess we're accustomed to this -- these labels, these names, but... 06:05.766 --> 06:07.733 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% (CROSSTALK) 06:07.733 --> 06:11.066 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% AMY WALTER: What seems different now -- and this, I think, started in the 2018 campaign 06:11.066 --> 06:14.200 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% - - is that Democrats are no longer taking the bait on these. 06:14.200 --> 06:17.566 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% They don't feel any need to respond to the president doing this. 06:17.566 --> 06:22.233 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% You saw every candidate in the 2018 campaign focus on health care. 06:22.233 --> 06:24.866 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% They didn't react to the president. 06:24.866 --> 06:29.866 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Elizabeth Warren in her opening video never mentions the president one time. 06:32.333 --> 06:34.866 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% She's been on the road now going to Iowa and New Hampshire, doesn't talk about the president, 06:34.866 --> 06:36.633 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% unless she's asked about the president. 06:36.633 --> 06:39.100 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% She didn't respond to this tweet. 06:39.100 --> 06:44.000 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% And what the president wants and what he's done in the past with those tweets is to engage 06:44.000 --> 06:49.000 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% in that battle, and then the media's focus is all about, right -- it's this side. 06:49.600 --> 06:50.433 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% He says this. 06:50.433 --> 06:51.666 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% This side says that. 06:51.666 --> 06:53.300 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% And then we move off the bigger topics. 06:53.300 --> 06:54.566 align:left position:40%,start line:89% size:50% (BREAK) 06:54.566 --> 06:55.500 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% TAMARA KEITH: And it becomes a feud. 06:55.500 --> 06:57.000 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% AMY WALTER: That's right. 06:57.000 --> 06:57.933 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% TAMARA KEITH: And if it's only one-sided, it's less of a feud. 06:57.933 --> 07:00.100 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% AMY WALTER: That's right. 07:00.100 --> 07:01.600 align:left position:20%,start line:71% size:70% JUDY WOODRUFF: And each one of these candidates has to calculate how they're going to deal 07:01.600 --> 07:03.666 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% with -- the other thing that's come up late today. 07:03.666 --> 07:08.166 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% And that is the Senate majority leader, Tam, Mitch McConnell, has issued a statement, first 07:10.066 --> 07:14.366 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% one to come from high levels of Republicans in Congress condemning what Steve King, the 07:16.266 --> 07:19.833 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Republican congressman from Iowa, who got a lot of attention last week when he had made 07:19.833 --> 07:24.766 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% a statement about white supremacist and, in essence, how could something like this be 07:24.766 --> 07:26.766 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% offensive? 07:26.766 --> 07:30.400 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Some Republicans have made mild statements, but now to have Mitch McConnell saying this 07:30.400 --> 07:35.400 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% is unwelcome, unworthy, and he said anybody - - if he doesn't understand why white supremacy 07:36.833 --> 07:39.366 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% is offensive, he should find another line of work. 07:39.366 --> 07:43.600 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% TAMARA KEITH: And in the House, they're discussing possible censure or other ways of rebuking 07:45.266 --> 07:47.333 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% the statements. 07:47.333 --> 07:50.966 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% It's remarkable in some ways, because Steve King has been saying things like this for 07:50.966 --> 07:53.900 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% years and years and years and years. 07:53.900 --> 07:56.333 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% And then he would just sort of continue on. 07:56.333 --> 07:58.400 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% This seems a little different this time. 07:58.400 --> 08:02.833 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% JUDY WOODRUFF: But Republicans haven't been - - they have said it's wrong, Amy, but they 08:02.833 --> 08:05.833 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% haven't been full-throated in their willingness to do... 08:05.833 --> 08:06.833 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% (CROSSTALK) 08:06.833 --> 08:07.833 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% JUDY WOODRUFF: The punish him. 08:07.833 --> 08:09.533 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% AMY WALTER: Right. 08:09.533 --> 08:10.333 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% I think he was seen as sort of this fringe character for so long. 08:10.333 --> 08:11.766 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% Well, that's Steve King. 08:11.766 --> 08:14.300 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% He says these crazy things, but it doesn't matter. 08:14.300 --> 08:17.500 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% Well, now it does, because we talk a lot now about white nationalists and white supremacists. 08:17.500 --> 08:20.833 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% And we saw the reality of that in Charlottesville. 08:20.833 --> 08:22.566 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% JUDY WOODRUFF: Exactly. 08:22.566 --> 08:24.600 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% AMY WALTER: And this is no longer just a kooky fringe thing. 08:24.600 --> 08:28.333 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% This is very, very serious and should be taken very seriously. 08:28.333 --> 08:31.866 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% JUDY WOODRUFF: Amy Walter, Tamara Keith, thank you both. 08:31.866 --> 08:32.866 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% TAMARA KEITH: You're welcome. 08:32.866 --> 08:33.000 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% AMY WALTER: You're welcome.