1 00:00:01,900 --> 00:00:04,666 JUDY WOODRUFF: Yesterday marked the halfway point in President Trump's first term, as 2 00:00:04,666 --> 00:00:09,666 the government shutdown stretches into a second month, a perfect time for Politics Monday. 3 00:00:11,633 --> 00:00:15,266 I'm joined by Amy Walter of The Cook Political Report and Tamara Keith of NPR. 4 00:00:15,266 --> 00:00:16,933 Hello to both of you. 5 00:00:16,933 --> 00:00:18,733 It is Politics Monday. 6 00:00:18,733 --> 00:00:22,166 So let's talk about this shutdown standoff. 7 00:00:22,166 --> 00:00:27,166 Amy, over the weekend, as we said, the president made an offer, did some tweaking, and said 8 00:00:28,600 --> 00:00:32,400 what -- made what he said was a significant move on his part. 9 00:00:32,400 --> 00:00:35,600 Democrats, before it was even announced, said they were against it. 10 00:00:35,600 --> 00:00:40,566 Is there any pressure now on Democrats to cut some kind of deal, or can they just wait 11 00:00:41,333 --> 00:00:43,433 the president out? 12 00:00:43,433 --> 00:00:44,266 AMY WALTER, The Cook Political Report: Well, that's what we're going to wait to see is 13 00:00:44,266 --> 00:00:46,366 where the pressure goes. 14 00:00:46,366 --> 00:00:49,033 Up until this point, it's been pretty clear in all the data and all the polling that the 15 00:00:49,033 --> 00:00:52,933 blame is being put squarely on President Trump's shoulders. 16 00:00:52,933 --> 00:00:57,033 And, as we have noted many times, he did say, "I own the shutdown." 17 00:00:57,033 --> 00:01:00,133 So that's a difficult thing to get out from under. 18 00:01:00,133 --> 00:01:05,033 It's also true that Democrats in polling that we have seen feel more committed, Democratic 19 00:01:06,966 --> 00:01:10,900 voters feel much more committed to Democrats sticking by their commitment to not include 20 00:01:12,900 --> 00:01:16,633 the wall in any compromise than Republicans are committed to not having a compromise without 21 00:01:18,633 --> 00:01:20,733 a wall. 22 00:01:20,733 --> 00:01:23,400 In other words, the wall is a much bigger issue right now, believe it or not, for Democratic 23 00:01:23,400 --> 00:01:26,333 voters than it is for the Republican voters. 24 00:01:26,333 --> 00:01:29,100 Supposedly, this is Trump's base, and they're going to want it. 25 00:01:29,100 --> 00:01:32,333 But the opposition to it is much stronger. 26 00:01:32,333 --> 00:01:36,166 So what we will have to see as we go through this process is whether the decision by the 27 00:01:36,166 --> 00:01:40,233 president to say, hey, I have come to the table, you guys said you wanted to have a 28 00:01:40,233 --> 00:01:41,866 deal, that I wasn't compromising with you. 29 00:01:41,866 --> 00:01:43,966 I have put something on the table. 30 00:01:43,966 --> 00:01:48,400 It's your turn now to sit down and hear that compromise out, rather than just pointing 31 00:01:50,366 --> 00:01:52,500 fingers and saying it's all your fault and we're not going to listen to you. 32 00:01:52,500 --> 00:01:56,766 But, as I said, they're -- we still have a long way to go to that piece and whether there 33 00:01:56,766 --> 00:02:01,733 is more compromise or whether it's simply both sides pushing issues onto the table, 34 00:02:03,166 --> 00:02:05,700 but never committing to working on them together. 35 00:02:05,700 --> 00:02:08,100 JUDY WOODRUFF: But, Tam, we are a month into this. 36 00:02:08,100 --> 00:02:09,300 AMY WALTER: Right. 37 00:02:09,300 --> 00:02:11,266 TAMARA KEITH, National Public Radio: Yes. 38 00:02:11,266 --> 00:02:12,200 JUDY WOODRUFF: People are going without paychecks who work for the federal government. 39 00:02:12,200 --> 00:02:14,766 Can Democrats truly wait it out? 40 00:02:14,766 --> 00:02:18,100 TAMARA KEITH: Well, and Democrats, traditionally, at least, have been the party that wants the 41 00:02:20,100 --> 00:02:22,366 government reopened, not just in this government shutdown, but in every government shutdown. 42 00:02:22,366 --> 00:02:26,800 They're -- they're typically the ones that cry uncle first, because they want the government 43 00:02:26,800 --> 00:02:28,366 to be open and function. 44 00:02:28,366 --> 00:02:31,100 They're pretty pro-government. 45 00:02:31,100 --> 00:02:36,100 This shutdown has moved in slow motion, probably not for the people who are working without 46 00:02:37,233 --> 00:02:39,066 pay. 47 00:02:39,066 --> 00:02:40,700 For them, it has been excruciating. 48 00:02:40,700 --> 00:02:45,700 But the negotiations, such as they are, are in slow motion. 49 00:02:45,700 --> 00:02:47,966 There is no shuttle diplomacy. 50 00:02:47,966 --> 00:02:52,933 There -- this speech that the president gave was him making an offer. 51 00:02:54,966 --> 00:02:59,200 There was no private offer -- there was no pre-offer made to Democratic leaders. 52 00:02:59,966 --> 00:03:02,133 That was the offer. 53 00:03:02,133 --> 00:03:06,500 And the remarkable thing is, he could have made that offer two weeks earlier in his prime-time 54 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:08,000 address. 55 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:09,233 AMY WALTER: Absolutely, yes. 56 00:03:09,233 --> 00:03:10,166 TAMARA KEITH: And he didn't do it then. 57 00:03:10,166 --> 00:03:11,533 He didn't offer anything then. 58 00:03:11,533 --> 00:03:13,500 And it dragged on for two more weeks. 59 00:03:13,500 --> 00:03:16,966 JUDY WOODRUFF: But the White House is saying, we have moved, and the Democrats haven't, 60 00:03:16,966 --> 00:03:17,966 so... 61 00:03:17,966 --> 00:03:19,466 AMY WALTER: Right. 62 00:03:19,466 --> 00:03:21,233 And the Democrats are going to say, we have moved too. 63 00:03:21,233 --> 00:03:22,233 We're agreeing to this. 64 00:03:22,233 --> 00:03:23,766 We're agreeing to these. 65 00:03:23,766 --> 00:03:27,600 These are our points that we are willing to negotiate on. 66 00:03:27,600 --> 00:03:31,433 That's when you -- to Tam's point, that's when you get the teams together behind the 67 00:03:31,433 --> 00:03:33,000 scenes and do the work. 68 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:34,966 JUDY WOODRUFF: But it's just they won't negotiate for the wall. 69 00:03:34,966 --> 00:03:38,966 TAMARA KEITH: Yes, though Democrats, also, their position has been -- and this has not 70 00:03:38,966 --> 00:03:43,466 changed -- that they are happy to negotiate, but once the government is open. 71 00:03:43,466 --> 00:03:45,166 JUDY WOODRUFF: Open, right, exactly. 72 00:03:45,166 --> 00:03:48,233 TAMARA KEITH: And that -- there's been no movement on that. 73 00:03:48,233 --> 00:03:53,233 JUDY WOODRUFF: The BuzzFeed article that came out last Friday, early Friday, Amy, the press 74 00:03:55,166 --> 00:03:59,600 was all over the story basically saying that the special counsel has solid information 75 00:04:01,633 --> 00:04:06,600 that the president told his former private attorney Michael Cohen to lie to Congress. 76 00:04:06,600 --> 00:04:11,266 At the end of the day, Friday night, the special counsel's office issues what seems like a 77 00:04:11,266 --> 00:04:15,133 pretty significant denial, says, this is not accurate. 78 00:04:15,133 --> 00:04:16,133 AMY WALTER: Right. 79 00:04:16,133 --> 00:04:17,633 Right. 80 00:04:17,633 --> 00:04:19,700 JUDY WOODRUFF: What do we learn from this episode? 81 00:04:19,700 --> 00:04:22,000 AMY WALTER: Well what's really interesting to me was watching members of Congress react 82 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:23,466 to this. 83 00:04:23,466 --> 00:04:26,066 In particular, I spoke to Representative Joaquin Castro. 84 00:04:26,066 --> 00:04:28,700 He sits on the Intelligence Committee. 85 00:04:28,700 --> 00:04:33,700 And he did preface it with, if this is true, but tweeted, if this story is true, the president 86 00:04:34,833 --> 00:04:37,000 should resign or should be impeached. 87 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:41,033 His point overall -- I'm starting to pick this up from other Democrats too -- is a frustration 88 00:04:42,200 --> 00:04:44,233 about how slowly Mueller's moving. 89 00:04:44,233 --> 00:04:46,700 Remember, it's really been Republicans up until this point that have said, we need Mueller 90 00:04:46,700 --> 00:04:48,200 to move fast. 91 00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:50,233 We need Mueller to release this if he has anything. 92 00:04:50,233 --> 00:04:53,700 Now it's Democrats who really want to see this, or they say, we're going to -- it's 93 00:04:53,700 --> 00:04:56,700 going to come out, a lot of stuff's going to come out through other reporting and through 94 00:04:56,700 --> 00:05:01,066 our congressional hearings, but it'd be better if Mueller could put this all to rest as quickly 95 00:05:01,066 --> 00:05:03,166 as possible. 96 00:05:03,166 --> 00:05:06,533 TAMARA KEITH: Well, the reason I -- we can't be sure, because the special counsel doesn't 97 00:05:06,533 --> 00:05:09,366 talk to us or anyone else. 98 00:05:09,366 --> 00:05:14,366 The reason I think that Peter Carr, the spokesman who never speaks, felt compelled to put out 99 00:05:16,266 --> 00:05:19,966 the statement is because there were so many members of Congress who, for -- because this 100 00:05:19,966 --> 00:05:24,966 story in particular pointed to something that very clearly would be a crime, you had so 101 00:05:26,866 --> 00:05:30,800 many members of Congress saying, we're going to have to do something about it, if true. 102 00:05:30,800 --> 00:05:32,300 AMY WALTER: Right. 103 00:05:32,300 --> 00:05:34,433 TAMARA KEITH: But that left a big cloud hanging out there. 104 00:05:34,433 --> 00:05:36,733 JUDY WOODRUFF: All right, last thing I want to ask both of you about. 105 00:05:36,733 --> 00:05:41,166 Today, we had yet another Democrat saying, I'm interested in running -- I am running 106 00:05:41,166 --> 00:05:43,233 for president. 107 00:05:43,233 --> 00:05:46,566 This time, it's the freshman senator from the state of California, Kamala Harris. 108 00:05:46,566 --> 00:05:51,566 She joins at least six other Democrats who have already raised their hands, Joaquin Castro. 109 00:05:53,566 --> 00:05:56,566 I won't name all of them, Tulsi Gabbard and Kirsten Gillibrand, of course, Elizabeth Warren, 110 00:05:56,566 --> 00:05:58,633 and others. 111 00:05:58,633 --> 00:06:02,366 Amy, what do we make of the fact that these are the ones who are out there first? 112 00:06:02,366 --> 00:06:06,700 AMY WALTER: Right, that, of that group, there's something that really stands out, right? 113 00:06:06,700 --> 00:06:10,833 There are two white men in that group that you put up there, and the rest are people 114 00:06:10,833 --> 00:06:12,900 of color, women, or both. 115 00:06:12,900 --> 00:06:16,700 The other fascinating thing that we're seeing as these candidates roll out, many of them 116 00:06:16,700 --> 00:06:18,666 are younger candidates. 117 00:06:18,666 --> 00:06:23,166 They have been in politics maybe for the last 15 or 20 years, but even they are starting 118 00:06:23,166 --> 00:06:28,166 what we're talking about now within the Beltway as a sort of apology tour, and having to explain 119 00:06:30,033 --> 00:06:32,633 to primary voters about positions and votes they took earlier in their career. 120 00:06:32,633 --> 00:06:37,033 In some cases -- Kirsten Gillibrand, for example - - she's only been involved in national politics 121 00:06:37,033 --> 00:06:41,833 since 2006, but she has now had to come out and explain her positions on immigration, 122 00:06:41,833 --> 00:06:45,300 on guns, when she was a member from Upstate New York, a much more conservative district. 123 00:06:45,300 --> 00:06:47,300 JUDY WOODRUFF: Right. 124 00:06:47,300 --> 00:06:49,233 AMY WALTER: Joe Biden, who's not on that list, he hasn't announced, but he came out today 125 00:06:49,233 --> 00:06:53,300 in a speech, apologized for his vote on the crime bill. 126 00:06:53,300 --> 00:06:56,233 Katherine Harris is going to be asked a lot about her decisions. 127 00:06:56,233 --> 00:06:57,233 JUDY WOODRUFF: Kamala. 128 00:06:57,233 --> 00:06:59,733 (CROSSTALK) 129 00:06:59,733 --> 00:07:01,466 AMY WALTER: Kamala Harris, I'm sorry -- a lot about her decisions when she was a prosecutor 130 00:07:01,466 --> 00:07:06,200 and attorney general, going too far on the prosecution part. 131 00:07:06,200 --> 00:07:11,200 And so the Democratic Party has moved substantially to the left on a whole bunch of issues that 132 00:07:13,033 --> 00:07:16,466 even when Barack Obama was first running were considered mainstream. 133 00:07:16,466 --> 00:07:17,933 JUDY WOODRUFF: Sorry, 30 seconds. 134 00:07:17,933 --> 00:07:20,066 TAMARA KEITH: Well, so you talk about Joe Biden. 135 00:07:20,066 --> 00:07:24,200 He is this big figure who's hanging out there who hasn't said what he's doing it yet. 136 00:07:24,200 --> 00:07:28,566 But in our "PBS NewsHour"/Marist poll -- NPR/"PBS NewsHour"/Marist poll -- that took my 30 seconds. 137 00:07:28,566 --> 00:07:30,500 (LAUGHTER) 138 00:07:30,500 --> 00:07:34,566 TAMARA KEITH: He had the highest favorable, highest known quantity, lowest unfavorable 139 00:07:36,500 --> 00:07:39,300 of all the names that are out there. 140 00:07:39,300 --> 00:07:44,300 If he were to actually run, that might run into a dose of reality or memory of some of 141 00:07:46,200 --> 00:07:48,766 the things that he was involved in so many years ago, because he's been in public life 142 00:07:48,766 --> 00:07:49,766 for a long time. 143 00:07:49,766 --> 00:07:51,800 AMY WALTER: For a long time. 144 00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:52,733 JUDY WOODRUFF: But at least feeling comfortable he doesn't have to get in right now, but he 145 00:07:52,733 --> 00:07:53,866 may need to get in soon. 146 00:07:53,866 --> 00:07:54,866 AMY WALTER: Right. 147 00:07:54,866 --> 00:07:56,733 Yes. 148 00:07:56,733 --> 00:07:57,666 JUDY WOODRUFF: Tamara Keith, Amy Walter, Politics Monday, thank you. 149 00:07:57,666 --> 00:07:58,600 AMY WALTER: You're welcome. 150 00:07:58,600 --> 00:07:58,733 TAMARA KEITH: You're welcome.