Case against him. I know how to fight and i know how to win. My exclusive sitdown with california senator Kamala Harris next. Constitutional crisis. Democrats widen their probes into the president and his associates. In response to their subpoenas, the Trump Administration says no. Trump is goading us to impeach him. Whats next the in the stalemate between two branches of government . Hello and happy mothers day, im jake tapper in washington where the state of our union is wondering how this will all play out. President trump is in washington this morning facing standoffs at home and abroad. On the International Stage the president is confronting escalating crises in four global hot spots, iran, north korea, venezuela and with china, after negotiators failed to reach a deal friday to avert a potential trade war. Back at home the president is up and tweeting about the russia investigation already today after a week in which his standoff with democrats in congress seemed to reach a new level as the white house looks to block democratic oversight at every turn. Both the speaker of the house and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee are openly calling this a constitutional crisis. But the white house is betting that stonewalling congress will not hurt the president politically. All this as the president is clearly feeling the pressure on 2020. This morning were bringing you a special exclusive interview with one of the top democratic president ial candidates. We went to oakland, california, and sat down with senator Kamala Harris to talk about her white house run. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, jerry n nadl nadler, say were in a constitutional crisis because the Justice Department isnt turning over the unredacted all right. I think we are. A constitutional crisis is generally when the system that we set up with checks and balance, each of the independent call branches of government fails to perform its duties. I think we are seeing a breakdown on responsibilities. We saw it last week in the barr hearing, were seeing it in terms of a failure to comply with subpoenas. Now being a member o the United States congress and the senate, im seeing up close where there is a failure to respect the significance of congress eduity to perform a role of oversight over the agencies. Im ceiling a failure to appreciate the importance of testifying before congress in a way that is straightforward and truthful. Yes, i think it is fair to say were looking at a crisis, not only of confidence but potentially a constitutional crisis, yeah. President trump, as you know, slapped higher tariffs on chinese exports on friday morning, dialing up pressure with the chinese. Your leader, Chuck Schumer tweeted earlier this week saying, quote, hang tough on china President Trump. Dont back down. Do you agree with leader schumer that President Trump is doing the right thirng when it comes to the chinese . I think part of the failure of this administrations failure on Foreign Policy is this president and administration have failed to understand that we we are stronger when we work with all our allies, china included. China is an ally . No. Meaning working with our allies to address china in terms of the threat it presents to our economy, the threat it presents to American Workers and american industries. But instead this president seems to believe and has a preference for conducting trade policy, economic policy, Foreign Policy by tweet. Thats irresponsible. It is a display of a president who thinks that apparently that unilateral action is better than working with the friends to address issues that not only impact our country but impact the globe. I think it puts us in a weaker position. As a more broad manner, President Trump on the campaign trail in 201516 and as president says trade deals in this country by democratic president s and by republican president s have been too tilted towards helping corporations and helping wall street and too tilted against the middle class and the manufacturing sector. Do you disagree with that premise . I believe that there is no question that over many decades the rules have been written in a way that have been to the exclusion of lifting up the middle class and working people in america and working families in america. In fact, thats why im proposing that one of the things we do to address that is that we reform the tax code in a way that will give middle class working families that are making less than 100,000 a year a 6,000 tax credit they can receive up to 500 a month. On the subject of trade, it does about the sound like you disagree with the president on the premise that the middle class is getting screwed by the trade deals and hes trying to renegotiate better deals. I believe we have got to have policy that better protects American Workers and american industries. I believe very strongly that we have to have policies that understand that as it relates to the issue of trade, as it relates to the issue of various countries including china which we just talked about, that we have to supply and equip the American Worker with the skills and resources that they need to thrive, not only survive but thrive. Trade has been drawing dividing lines in the democratic field when it comes to nafta, for example, Bernie Sanders attacked joe biden last week saying, quote, i helped lead the fight against nafta. Biden voted for nafta. Who was right on nafta, widen or sanders . Im not going to choose between the two of them. Would you have voted for naf nafta . I would not have voted for nafta. I believe we can do a better job to protect American Workers. I also think we need to do a better job in terms of thinking about the priorities that should be more parent now perhaps than they were there which are issues like the Climate Crisis and what we need to do to build into these trade agreements. We saw another Deadly School shooting this week in colorado. Cory booker has called for creigh aegt feder creating federal gun licenses. Opponents say it would create a way to track gun owners. Would you support a federal gun license . I like the idea. Jake, ill tell you, on this issue of the need for gun safety losses, were not at any loss for good ideas. People have been having good ideas for decades on this issue. What were at a loss is people in congress have the courage to do something. Im going to tell you on this subject, were not waiting for the worst tragedy because weve seen the worst of tragedies including what happened this week and seeing the heroism of a child who we now mourn his loss, his parents only child. Were not waiting for tragedies and great ideas. Universal background check . Good idea. You might want to know if someone has been proven to be a danger for themself or others before they can buy a lethal weapon. Let me tell you what im proposing. Im proposing, one, if by my 100th day in office when elected president of the United States, the United StatesCongress Fails to put a bill on my desk to sign with all of the good ideas or any of the good ideas that im prepared to take executive action because thats whats needed. To do what . For anyone who sells more than five guns a queer, they will be required to perform background checks on the people they sell them to. This will be the most comprehensive background check policy that has ever been had in our country thus far. Can that be done by executive order . Yes, yes it can. Im also prepared to say and to direct the atf to remove and take away the licenses of gun dealers who fail to follow the law. Jake, 90 of the guns that are associated with crime have been sold by 5 of the gun dealers. We need to take their licenses away. I think the last time i saw you was the town hall. I want to ask you about something you said that night. You said on stage when it comes to private insurance, lets eliminate that. Lets move on. Now you said we dont need to get rid of all private insurance. Lets clear that up. When we were together, and roll the tape please you support the Bernie Sanders bill. I support medicare for all but i want to clear up what happened in that stage. It was in the context of saying lets get rid of all the bureaucracies. Not the insurance company. No. Thats the way it was interpreted. What i meant is lets get rid of the bureaucracy. The bill gets rid of insurance. No, it does not get rid of insurance. Listen, let me just tell you where i am. Lets tell you where i am. I support medicare for all. It is my preferred as a principle, you mean, not the bill . I support the bill. The bill gets rid of private insurance for everything doesnt get rid of supplemental insurance. Right, like cosmetic surgery. For all essential health care benefits. But why. Ask the question why. The answer to that question is because medicare for all and the vision of what it will be includes an expansion of coverage. So medicare for all will include vision. It will include dental. It will include hearing aids. Dlr a lot of members of unions, for exam, who like their private insurance and the plans that have been negotiated on their behalf and dont want that replaced. Listen. Let me tell you something. I completely agree with those members of organized labor who have negotiated for plans and have in those negotiations often given up what could have been higher wages in exchange for higher coverage for health care. We have to address that. Its a legitimate concern which must be addressed. The bill also says, quote, every individual who is a resident of the United States is entitled to benefits for Health Care Services under this act. Not every individual who is a citizen, every individual who is a resident. You support giving medicare for all to people in this country illegally . Let me be very clear about this. Im opposed to any policy that would deny in our country any human being from access to public safety, Public Education or public health, period. Stay right there. We have more of our exclusive interview with democratic president ial candidate senator Kamala Harris including why she says this im going to win and i fully intend to win. 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Im jake tapper. Were back with more of my exclusive interview with president ial candidate senator Kamala Harris and her response to questions some progressive voters are raising about her record. Let me ask you about your record as a prosecutor. The Truancy Initiative is something youve had to answer some questions about, which threaten prosecution for parents of students who miss too much school. You told a story in a 2010 speech, homeless single mother working two jobs. You said her childrens truancy improved and you dismissed charges against her. Thats right. Can you explain to people why threatening her with jail time was the right way to handle that problem . It was more about getting her the services she needed that didnt know was available. It was more about putting pressure on the School District to do its job. I learned that over 80 of the prisoners are high school dropout. So looking at the issue, i realized that there is a very direct connection between the issue of truancy and who will end up in the criminal Justice System. The first thing we did is go to the School District and say what are you doing to get these parents the support they need to get their children to School Every Day . What are we doing as a community . Its because we put those resources into this initiative and put the spotlight i was able to bring to it frankly, they were able to improve attendance by over 30 . Not one parent was sent to jail. You pushed for a statewide truancy law and people were thrown into jail under that . Not by me. But you supported the law. Were going to get in the weeds, but give me the patience of time to explain it. When i was looking at the issue of truancy, i realized we defined truancy as three or four unexcused absences youre truant. I was seeing kids missing 80 of 180 days. What ended up happening is by changing the education code, it referenced the penal code. That was an unintended consequence. If i could do it over again, i would have made sure it would not have increased penalties for the ability to prosecute anywhere in the state to prosecute parents. That was never the intention and it was never anything i did. Do you think that you hear this more than i do. But i hear from democratic voters, progressives out there, they like you, they hear about you, they like you, they learn more and they say shes a cop. Where i come from thats not pejorative. In some it is. Im acutely aware of the impact of the criminal Justice System on communities, both in terms of what the criminal Justice System can do to rightly make sure there is consequence and accountability when a woman is raped, when a child is molested, when one human being kills another human being. I will never apologize prosecuting people for those crimes. I am also acutely aware that we have a criminal Justice System in america that is deeply flawed, has often by informed by bias and is in need of severe reform which is why my entire career i have worked to do both. Were 30 miles away from facebook headquarters. Chris hughes pubbished an oped calling for it to be broken up because it restricts our consumer choice. Do you think facebook is a monopoly, should it be broken up . I think facebook has experienced massive growth and has prioritized its growth over the best interest of its consumers, especially on the issue of privacy. Theres no question in my mind there needs to be serious regulation and that has not been happening. There needs to be more oversight. That has not been happening. Especially during my years in california one of my greatest areas of focus has been on consumer privacy. They have not been adequately informing consumers about where they are relinquishing their privacy . They havent been a great corporate model. Its not just they havent been a great corporate model. They should be broken up . We have to seriously take a look at that, yes. When you look at the issue, theythe theyre essentially a utility. Very few people can get by and be involved in their communities or society or in whatever their profession without somehow, somewhere using facebook. Its very difficult for people to be engaged any level of commerce without it. We have to recognize it for what it is. It is essentially a utility that has gone unregulated. As far as im concerned, thats got to stop. Anita hill wrote in a new opinion piece, quote, if the senate Judiciary Committee led by bide dwen had done its job, the cultural shift we saw with me too might have begun in 1991. Me too has been an animating issue for you. Weve talked about it before. Do you agree biden didnt do his job and if he had done it properly, maybe we would have had this reckoning 25 years ago . I think theres no question that that committee did not do right by anita hill or any of the other women. Led by joe biden. He said it himself. I agree with him. Let me ask you a question. Ive been speaking to a lot of your supporters and wouldbe supporters, people who like you. Do you want to hear a criticism, a constructive criticism that they have offered . You dont have a choice. You have a camera in front of you. Right. The whole nation is watching. Of course i do. They like the prosecution these are democrats, they like the prosecution you offer of President Trump. They dont know that you have the satisfactory answer for why you, why should you be the nominee. Yes, we get it, trump shouldnt be the president but why should senator Kamala Harris with the nominee . Why should you be the nominee . Well, lets start with the fact that i love my country. I love my country. And we are better than this. But lets be more specific. We need on that stage someone who has a proven track record of leadership and i say what im about to say not as a criticism of any of my colleagues and friends who are also running, but we need someone on that stage with a proven track record of leadership. I have served as a leader in local government, State Government and federal government. This has to be more than somebody who can just give a beautiful speech. It has to be somebody who knows how to lead. You have been critical of the pundits talking about electability. Maybe some people think i