Correspondent and early start coanch coanch coanchor Christine Romans. White house officials are saying that they do not expect a deal today and what happens next . You know, its looking grim. It looks like it was not a bluff, jim and poppy. President trump jacked up tariffs on thousands of goods, dishwashers, frozen fish, baseball caps. Right now about half of the products china sells to the u. S. , about half of them now carry an import tax. So how did we get here . Three rounds of tariffs last year, first the u. S. Put tariffs on all foreign steel and aluminum, including from china. Then in july the u. S. Singled out beijing, slapping tariffs on 50 billion worth of high tech chinese exports. China hit back right away with tariffs on 50 billion in u. S. Goods, mainly ag products and that has been devastating for american soybean growers in particular. The biggest round was in september, 200 billion in chinese goods, luggage, handbags and hats, beijing hit back with 60 billion in u. S. Exports in response. That 200 billion nut in september that was originally taxed at 10 , today at midnight tonight it became 25 . Remember it is u. S. Importers, not china who pay those tariffs. Now, experts warn this will have consequences. That trumps tariffs will disrupt smaller american companies. One Analysis Finds it could cost the equivalent of 900,000 jobs and raise prices by 767 per year. Higher costs for everything you put in your shopping cart. The trade war is not over here. President trump says he has started the paperwork for 25 tariffs on everything else, 325 billion more in chinese exports. That would be everything that you shop for at walmart and target and wherever youre going to spend your money. He also has this date, the 18th of may, to decide whether to impose auto tariffs if he declares that car imports are a National Security risk. This is remarkable, its going to hit especially some of his basin credibly hard like farmers. Already hitting his base hard. I dont get it. Help me understand why. The president had a tweet storm this morning including something he fleeted about buying soybeans and giving them away to impoverished nations he then deleted. Its unclear if he knows already that americas farmland you know, heartland is going to be hurt hardest by this. He did say one thing that has resonate this had morning, you dont pay tariffs if you make it here. That i think is the core of what hes trying to do here. You know, he says make it in the United States. I think on the autos, you mean, the early indications are that the president sees autos as another big part of the u. S. Trade deficit. Between autos and china that is where their tariffs lie. You convince americans to pay double for their tshirts and everything else, you know, and then you can make it in america, but until you do that you have a problem. The 325 billion that he hasnt put on yet, thats going to be things like sneakers and pants. Those are things people will feel right away. Thank you so much. We appreciate it. Poppy, its a great point, whether its clothes, tvs, refrigerators, washing machines, make them here, absolutely. Sure. Consumers would have to be prepared to pay a lot more for all those products. Totally. Thats the essential question. There are no Simple Solutions here. President trump is showing no signs of diffusing this tense, increasingly tense standoff with china. Joe johns is at the white house this morning. So the president appears to think he has an upper hand because the u. S. Economy is strong right now. Does that hold, i suppose, is the question and are there concerns in the white house that he is overplaying his hand . Reporter well, thats been the continuing argument from white house staff including some of his economic advisers at the u. S. Economy is very strong, that tariff war here between the United States and china would benefit the United States and hurt china more. So as you look at the tweets this morning its clear what the president is trying to do. Number one, hes blaming china and xi for the breakdown in the negotiations that occurred over the weekend. The president and others have said that china essentially was seeking to change some of the language that the United States had an understanding had already been negotiated and agreed upon, but hes doing a couple other things, too, i think. He is essentially trying to tell the American People that there is really no rush here because he says the tariffs are going to benefit the United States. So what happens next, thats anybodys guess, of course, the president did say last night that he got a nice letter from president xi and he was asked if there would be a call between him and president xi anytime soon. He didnt say when that might occur, however, the suggestion is it could occur today. Thats not on the schedule, nonetheless i talked to one adviser who suggested its possible. Back to you, jim. Well, got a lot of nice letters from kim jongun, that didnt lead to a nuclear deal. Youve got to negotiate and make an agreement. Joe johns, thanks very much. Lets speak now to National Political correspondent for the New York Times alex burns and chief economist at moodys analytics mark zandy. I want to ask you first, set aside the idea that somehow tariffs make us money, you you and i pay for it, 767 a year for an average family of four. Lets talk about what china will do you in retaliation. What kinds of u. S. Products it will target and how will that hurt u. S. Companies selling those products in china . Well, the chinese have already raised tariffs on most of the products that we ship to them that we sell to them, about a little over 100 billion a year. What they could do is they could increase the percentage of the tariffs. So most of the tariffs are now at 10 . They could raise them to 25, they could go even higher to 35 . They could make life difficult for a lot of american companies. The most obvious would be the most visible would be apple. So apple produces a lot of iphones in china, they could make life very difficult for them and other american companies. You know, they could manage their currency, the r b, they could allow the r b to fall in value visavis the dollar and that would offset the tariffs on them. I suspect if the president keeps pushing her they will do them. Mark, let me read you from page 496 of the president s own, as jim stated at the top, the president s own economic report, the economic report of the president talking about the tariffs. Offsetting these benefits are the costs paid by consumers in the form of higher prices and reduced consumption. There is a lesson here, mark, isnt there, in history and this moodho moodholly act, it precipitated and made the Great Depression prolonged and worse. Is there anything in history that else it us this is a good idea . No. No. Tariff wars are a really bad idea. They put the burden on us, the american consumer, the american businessperson. I mean, tariffs have increased, they have doubled since the trade war began a little over a year ago. That 35 billion increase in tariffs is born by us when we go to the store to buy things that come from china when businesses buy things to use in their production processes. Its borne by us and, you know, now that the tariffs are going to have a higher percentage and if the president follows through and increases what were imposing a tariff on, all chinese imports, thats going to hit us as consumers more directly. You were talking about apparel very clearly, consumer electronics. So American Consumers are already paying, they just dont really know, its kind of a stealth tax, but its going to be become a very obvious tax not too far from now if this continues. Alex burns, lets stipulate here that china is a bad actor. Puts undue burdens on u. S. And foreign businesses operating in china, makes it very difficult by design, steals u. S. Intellectual property left and right. We know that. What the president is demanding here is china in effect fundamentally change its economic model here. The president believes he has an upper hand. Xi is pushing back here. Is there an awareness in the white house that the president s tactics here might not work and then what happens next . If china doesnt yield, is the white house, is the president , prepared for just a trade war that threatens the economy . Oh, i think theres very little doubt at this point that the president is prepared for a trade war, that he believes in the concept of trade wars, in some ways hes enthusiastic about the idea of pushing things about as far as he can. Talking to a lot of republicans over the last few months and sort of business sector donors to both parties, there has been this confidence that to be candid im not sure where it came from that at the end of the day theres going to be a deal. The president wont take things over the edge and i think today were seeing a lot of that confidence may have been misplaced. There is politically speaking there is a short term long term tension here. In the long term a lot of people like the president really taking it to china for all the reasons you have just described. There is a big constituency for a president or for a politician who would say you do of to fundamentally change the way you do business globally but short therm that comes with a lot of pain is this tune whats really interesting too, alex talking about the politics of this, it was just a week or so ago that joe biden said china is not that big of a threat. Essentially, im paraphrasing here. You have joe biden leading by a lot in the new monmouth poll this morning. It sets up an interesting contrast between how former trpt joe biden now 2020 contender sees china and how the president sees china and how hard the president is going to go against china and what joe biden would do and what hes going to say in response. And a big i think thats dead on and i think its a big contrast between essentially how they see the nature of competition with china. Sure. Biden i think remarks were inarticulate. What he was clearly trying to convey was the sense that china has a whole bunch much problems with their economic fundamentals that over the medium to long term will work to our benefit so lets not freak out. Right. He has had to sort of defend those comments and explain that he wasnt trying to play down different kinds of threats that the chinese pose right now. The president s argument is very much the opposite of that, that the chinese are coming for us guns blazing and we have to fight hard and fight hard right now. What we havent heard from joe biden and a lot of the democrats is what they would do differently to challenge china on the same unrelying complaints. They are going to articulate that especially when you have Chuck Schumer telling the president to go hard on china. Schumer has been essentially a zero cost china hawk for a long time talking about currency manipulation, unfair trade practices, but this is what it might look like to actually take those subjects on. Thank you both very much. Still ahead, the president s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani is now taken on a new role, he is planning to trip to ukraine to dig for information that could help President Trump in 2020. Are you comfortable with that . We will explain. Its really fascinating. Also former fbi director james comey has clearly strong feelings about the current attorney general when it comes to the handling of the Mueller Report. Ahead, why comey thinks william barr is behaving less than honorably. We have to be able to repair the enamel on a daily basis. With the new pronamel repair toothpaste more minerals enter deep into the enamel surface. You have an opportunity to repair whats already been damaged. It s amazing. Whats hmm. Exactly. Damaged. And doug. Liberty mutual customizes your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. Nice. But, uh. Whats up with your. Partner . Oh. Well, we just spend all day telling everyone how we customize car insurance, because no two people are alike, so. Limu gets a little confused when he sees another bird that looks exactly like him. [ loud crash ] yeah. Hell figure it out. Only pay for what you need. Liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty morning. What are you doing . Isnt it obvious . Nah. Were delivering live market coverage and offering expert analysis completely free. Were helping you make sense of the markets without cable or a subscription from anywhere you are. I get that. But what are you doing here . Nice pajamas. Really . I say pajamas. Pajamas, pajamas, whichever. Good. Yahoo finance live. Stream free anywhere. Welcome to the show. Lets make finance make sense. This morning President Trumps personal attorney Rudy Giuliani with a new 2020 tactic, go after joe biden, involving ukraine and bidens son. According to the New York Times giuliani is planning to trip to ukraine to dig up alleged dirt. He is also looking to get information on the origin of the special counsels investigation into russias interference in the 2016 election. Cnn reporter Michael Warren has the details on that story, we also have shan wu. Michael, first to you. What are you learning about what giuliani is up to here, whats his intention . So Rudy Giuliani is the lead attorney for President Trump, he says starting back in november he started speaking with some people, some ukrainian former officials, current officials, over skype and even in person in new york in which he says he was getting new information that he was learning about connections between democrats and certain ukrainian officials, somehow this had to do with the origins of the fbi investigation. He also said he learned some details about joe bidens son Hunter Bidens position on this ukrainian natural gas firm. Now, both of these stories the details of which we have known bits and pieces over the last couple of years, there are a lot of holes in Rudy Giulianis sort of story that this is somehow corrupt. But he says now the New York Times reporting that hes going to ukraine to follow up on these things. We dont know for sure who hes going to be speaking with. He tells cnn last week that he had been speaking with the prosecutor general in ukraine who seems to be on his way out. We expect he could be speaking with him again if he does travel to kiev. Could be clear joe bidens son is no longer on the board of that ukrainian gas firm. Thats correct. Shan wu, legality here, im just curious, the president s personal lawyer going to ukraine. From a legal standpoint is that okay . Is that seeking foreign help, electionrelated help here . It certainly sounds like it. Obviously its going to be much more obviously for example, biden to become the nominee, but this raises a host of concerns legally. Is there a National Security problem . Is he discussingclassified information that he learned from his client . What about the fara issues, the foreign agents registration act, he formerly supposedly was a lobbyist for the ukraine. To your question, jim, on the obstruction start, giuliani is quoted in michaels article as saying hes, quote, meddling in an investigation. Its quite astounding that a former prosecutor like him is so blatantly acting this way and frankly cries out for him to be subpoenaed and this would be tomorrow i can b after the obstruction questions. The broader intention here, michael, i imagine, is to score political points in the run up to the election as you still have questions hanging over the president , the president s son, et cetera, related to the mueller investigation. So there is a political intention i imagine. Absolutely. Of course now that the Mueller Report has been completed, there is sort of those ends and ties have been sort of tied up, and now the whole sort of trump apparatus is sort of focused now on 2020, trying to sort of work on the president s behalf. Rudy giuliani remember is not just a lawyer, he is a former mayor, he is a politician and i think he very much thinks of himself as playing all of these roles on behalf of the president. Absolutely. Certainly not just a legal role. Michael warren, thanks very much for your reporting and, shan, please stay with us. Poppy . It is such a fascinating story. We will see where it goes. At the same time former fbi director james comey is attacking the current attorney general William Barrs character and his credibility when it comes to barrs handling of the Mueller Report. Watch this. I think he acted in a way thats less than honorable in the way he described it in writing and described it during a press conference and continues to talk as if hes the president s lawyer. That is not the attorney generals job. Shan wu is back with us, sabriis a breen nasa sabrina sadiddiqui ao joins us. From a legal perspective is he right . I think he is right. Comey, whatever his other shortcomings may be, has been pretty darn accurate in terms of his legal analysis and i think almost every former prosecutor from doj agrees with him on this point, that barr has unnecessarily reached out, hes acting very blatantly, so i think hes spot on. Sabrina, what about the credibility issue here, though, when it comes to james comey and his actions during the 2016 election, holding that press conference and essentially assailing Hillary Clinton as a candidate, but then not moving forward with charges and publicly reopening the investigation just days before. Is there a credibility issue here for him in making these claims, at least in the court of Public Opinion . Well, there certainly have been criticisms of former fbi director james comey, that he has crossed the line and engaged in territory that is clearly political and thats some of the criticism that you saw of attorney general william barr, that he put his own right. He drew his own conclusions from the Mueller Report and was speaking in a way that was clearly designed in this case to protect the president , to absolve him of any wrongdoing and those were his interpretations. In the same way that comey was accused of applying his own interpretations of Hillary Clintons conduct, but at the same time its worth noting james comey had expressed confidence in william barr when he was named attorney general. I think this reforces how the way someone like barr who was a mainstream republican in the age of trump appears to be a loyalist to the president and there are ongoing questions over his handling of the Mueller Report a lot of i think will be resolved when special Counsel Robert Mueller appears himself, if he does, to testify on capitol hill. I think the number one question members of congress will have for mueller will be did william barr accurately characterize your report and do you believe that he has acted in a way that is designed to protect the president of the United States . Yeah, you say when he appears. We will see if he appears, right . I mean, nadler is getting a little less confident that mueller will be there. But well watch, of course. Shan, listen to this Exchange Last night, again, from the great cnn town hall that my colleague Anderson Cooper held with james comey. Here is this about the question of criminal intent. Do you think he had criminal intent based on what you have seen now in the Mueller Report . It sure looks like he did in connection with a couple episodes, the direction to don mcgahn to get the special counsel fired is to my mind a flaming example. Of corrupt intent . Yes, of corrupt intent. Does it, shan, to you to your expert legal eye look like corrupt criminal intent . Because, you know, it was just yesterday that the president said the Mueller Report is the, quote, bible. Well, it absolutely looks obstructionist. Its always hard to factor in to what the president is saying into any legal analysis. Yes, that seems like a textbook example of trying to interfere with ongoing investigation. Quite a few people including myself have said that from the very first hints of that. Again, comey, whatever other questions there may be about his motivations and such, that analysis is quite mainstream in that sense right now. Id say anyone who is trying to dispute that analysis including the attorney general of the United States is really an outlier on this point. Mainstream conventional analysis says that looks like obstruction to us. Thank you both for your expertise. Shan, sabrina, always good to have you. Tension once again ratcheted up between the u. S. And north korea after the regimes recent missile tests, but u. S. Officials say there is still hope for possible talks. Why . We will find out. To a single defining moment. When a plan stops being a plan and gets set into motion. Todays merrill can help you get there with the people, tools, and personalized advice to help turn your ambitions into action. What would you like the power to do . This is not just a headache. This is not just a fever. This is not just the flu. Its meningitis b. And youre not there to help. While meningitis b is uncommon. Once symptoms appear, they can progress quickly and can be fatal. Sometimes within 24 hours. Before you send your teen to college. Make sure you help protect them. Talk to your teens doctor. About meningitis b vaccination. Still fresh. Unstopables inwash scent booster downy unstopables it turns out, they want me to start next month. She can stay with you to finish her senior year. Things will be tight but, we can make this work. Now. Grandpa, what about your dream car . This is my dream now. Principal we can help you plan for that. I like to make my life easy. romo mode. beep bang good luck with that one. Yes thats why i wear skechers slipons. Theyre effortless. Just slip them right on and off. Skechers slipons, with aircooled memory foam. Iand i dont add up the years. But what i do count on. Is staying happy and healthy. So, i add protein, vitamins and minerals to my diet with boost®. Boost® high protein nutritional drink has 20 grams of protein, along with 26 essential vitamins and minerals your body needs. All with guaranteed great taste. And now try new boost® peaches and creme natural flavor. With 27 vitamins and minerals and 10 grams of protein. Boost®. Be up for life™. This morning that the u. S. Is still open to holding talks with north korea. This despite renewed tension between the two countries and north korea breaking a whole host of promises. This after pyongyang conducted its second missile test in a week and the u. S. Just sees a north korea cargo ship. Lets speak to kylie at wowood. Theyre testing missiles, that was one of the things he claimed from his failed two summits. The u. S. Hitting back by trying to capture the ship and stop them evading sanctions. The interesting thing here, jim, is that they captured that ship about a year ago now. So the u. S. Is just revealing it, interestingly enough. But we need to go back here and look at the u. S. Saying that they are open to these talks, you know, steve beegen in the region. But who is the decisionmaker . President trump. He says hes not sure if north korea wants to negotiate anymore. If north korea doesnt want to negotiate anymore then where does the u. S. Go . Do they start ramping up their aggression, taking in more north korea assets . This is the first north korean ship that they had seized control over. There is a political dimension in this because the president has put a lot of capital into this personal relationship and claimed successes when there werent successes and made concessions to north korea as well. There is a political element. There is. We were just talking about it. Its 2020. So President Trump would like to see these negotiations continue, but the reality is that theyre going backwards. So one of the first things that the u. S. And north korea agreed to do jointly and that trump touted as a big sign of progress was getting these american war remains out of north korea. Thats since stopped because the u. S. And north korea arent talking. It can only go to far for how long President Trump can continue to say that this is going well when things are actually going backwards. On iran now, a rare concerning warning to commercial shipping in the persian gulf. What do we know . This was a warning that commercial ships now, u. S. Military boats that are in the region, oil tankers, may be targeted by iran or iranian proxies. This is going further than what the u. S. Initially said earlier this week that American Military assets or those of our allies could be targeted. This is based on credible intelligence coming into the u. S. , multiple strains, that essentially are saying iran is amping upping the ante and really gaining posture militarily against the u. S. Now, what happens here is yet to be seen because u. S. Officials tell cnn, barbara starr, that this is not going down. This posture is increasing despite the u. S. Sending a military presence there recently. Theres always the risk of escalation, you have u. S. B52s in the region as well. Yes. Thanks very much. Were obviously keeping a close eye on the market, the dow off 105 points here. This is as we know that there is not going to be a u. S. china trade deal likely made today and those additional tariffs went into effect last night at midnight. You might expect a bigger selloff, dow only off 87, may recover those losses for the day, its because as our Christine Romans says investors are still hopeful that an agreement will be reached in the near term. We will watch closely. Ahead, a mother says she warned School Officials there could be, quote, another columbine months before tuesdays deadly shooting at the colorado stem school. You will hear from that mother next. This is a very difficult job. Failure is not an option. A. More than half of employees across the country bring Financial Stress to work. If youre stressed out financially at home, youre going to be too worried to be able to do a good job. I want to be able to offer all of the benefits that keep them satisfied. It is the people that is really the only asset that you have. Put your employees on a path to Financial Wellness with prudential. Bring your challenges. Its a revolution in sleep. The sleep number 360 smart bed is on sale now during our memorial day sale. It senses your movement, and automatically adjusts to keep you both comfortable. It even helps with this. So you wake up ready to hit the ground running. Only at a sleep number store. During the memorial day sale, save 1000 on the new queen sleep number 360 special Edition Smart bed, now only 1,799. Only for a limited time. Sleep number. Proven, quality sleep. One of the teens suspected of carrying out a Deadly School shooting in colorado will be in court this afternoon. The 18yearold accused of opening fire at Stem School Highlands Ranch will appear. It is unclear if the other suspect who is a minor will be in court as well. As we wait for that in a cnn exclusive interview a parent at the school says she warned School Officials of the potential for, quote, another columbine months before tuesdays deadly shooting. Our Scott Mcclain joins us again in morning in highlands ranch, colorado. When jim and i heard this this week we were stunned. Now cnn has spoken to that woman, that parent, under the condition that she remain anonymous. What did she say . Reporter good morning, jim and poppy. The woman you are about to hear from says had a she is the parent who complained about what she calls a Pressure Cooker environment at that school. As you mentioned, she is choosing to remain anonymous because she fears retaliation, but cnn has confirmed that she does have a child at that school and knew a lot of details about the allegations being made. She speaks of kids who had a ril rouse academic program, little sleep and started acting out with aggressiveness, she talked about attempted suicide, teachers having to intervene in fights and she feared all of it might culminate in someone getting seriously hurt or even killed. It looked like to me that there was potential for having another arapahoe or columbine shooting. And i was seriously concerned about it. When you mix not reaching out, when you mix a Pressure Cooker environment where students are stressed out and overworked and they dont get enough sleep and they feel suicidal or they feel aggressive towards one another and they are not being disciplined for it, when you dont listen to parents concerns, when you dont listen to teachers concerns, when you dont give teachers the kind of training that they need or the support that they need, those are the elements that we need for the perfect storm for Something Like a columbine or, you know, some kind of imminent threat to our childrens safety in the school, whether it be a bomb or an active shooter or a suicide. Reporter now, this parent says while teachers were wellintentioned there was this pervasive culture of polarization where the School Administration didnt listen to teachers or parents. The executive director of this school responded to cnn through a pr firm saying that the school had found no evidence to support this parents allegations writing in a Statement Like any school with more than 1,800 students we receive complaints all of which we take seriously and investigate promptly. I should also mention, though, in response to this parents complaint the school actually filed a defamation lawsuit against her back in january. Jim, poppy. Wow. Its incredible that a parent concerned about safety in school feels she has to hide her identity. I mean, its just incredible where the debate has come. Thanks very much. Cnn polling shows now that nearly nine in ten republicans approve of how President Trump is doing in his job. So how does a man running for the gop nomination in 2020 against President Trump plan to beat him . We will ask former governor of massachusetts bill weld that very question next. With Clean Base Automatic dirt disposal empties the roomba bin for you. 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We have local Senior Living advisors who can answer your questions about dementia or memory care and, if necessary, help you find the right place for your mom or dad. We all want whats best for our parents, so call today. Today, lifechanging technology from abbott is helping hunt them down at their source. Because the faster we can identify new viruses, the faster we can get to stopping them. The most personal technology, is technology with the power to change your life. Life. To the fullest. The house judiciary chairman jerry nadler now says it is unlikely special Counsel Robert Mueller will testify on may 15th. That was the date floated by democrats earlier this month. Nadler says talks to finalize a date are ongoing with muellers team at the justice department. Of course, that all depends on if President Trump will attempt to prevent mueller from testifying. Right now he says he is staying out of that decision. Have a listen. Will you allow Robert Mueller to testify in congress . Well, im going to leave that up to our very great attorney general and he will make a decision on that. Well, well see. Lets discuss with former Massachusetts Governor bill weld, he is running against President Trump for the republican nomination for president in 2020. Governor, we appreciate you taking the time this morning. Jim, thanks so much. So lets get to this issue here. Youve said the president should resign, but interestingly you have not gone as far as to say he should be impeached, preferring this to be a decision at the ballot box in 2020. Since you have made that statement, though, the president has instructed virtually the entire executive branch to ignore all subpoenas from congress and may or may not stand in the way of the special counsel testifying. Does that change your view . Well, i think the president is trying to bait congress into impeaching him because then he can have a complete circus between now and the 2020 election, but his position, youre right, its just they are democrats therefore they are partisan therefore we are not cooperating in any way with them. He has abandoned all responsibility that should attach to his office as president. Congress is an equal branch of government under the constitution, maybe even a superior branch of government. Its congress in article 1, its not the president. So i think the president has shown that he really has no interest in being serious about any of the great issues of the day in washington. He has oneword slogans, wall, hoax, so he is not really doing the job in my view. Do you think he has the politics right here, because weve noted that democrats running for the 2020 nomination they dont talk about the Mueller Report or investigation very much, theyre not getting asked about it very much. Does the president have his finger on the pulse here in effect correctly . Well, he certainly doesnt have the law correctly because 750 former federal prosecutors, myself included, have signed a letter saying that there were multiple examples of the president committing obstruction of justice and it wasnt even a close call. Now, against that we have attorney general barr who says, oh, no, its impossible for the president to have committed obstruction unless, you know, he was right there committing the offense, like in the Watergate Hotel with g. Gordon liddy and howard hunt in the case of nixon. So that position is completely untenable in my view and bill barr is a smart lawyer so i cant figure out quite whats going on there. So i wonder, then, based on what you just said, but also past comparisons you have made between trump and nixon, including citing reasons that nixon was impeached like failing to take care of the law, its a clause of the constitution, gets to the president ial duties here. Right. So why should the president not be impeached if he is exhibiting nixonian behavior . Oh, on the law he is absolutely subject to impeachment right now. He is making no effort to see that the laws are faithfully executed. Volume 2 of the Mueller Report makes that very clear and makes clear if you read the end of it, pages 178 to 183 of volume 2 he makes it clear that the president even acted with corrupt intent. So its all there and the argument against impeaching now is a purely political argument that we dont want just a circus between now and november of 2020, we want the president to be held accountable for what hes done and left on your leagues, republican colleagues, many of whom in previous times were very critical of the president. Lindsey graham called him a cook. Ted cruise called him a pa pathological liar. As you watch your fellow republicans line up to defend the president at every turn, what do you say to them . I find it incomprehensible. I know a lot of these senators in d. C. The republicans, and theyre good people. And i just dont understand why nobody will bell the cap. It really seems to me to be a case of no one will say the emperor has no clothes until a 6yearold boy says it, and then everyone says, oh, yeah, we knew that all the time. I think that dam is going to burst at some point and the president cant continue to live in this unreality that hes concocted for himself. His position is there is no primary. There is no election. Lets be honest. The president wants to be reappointed president by the Republican National committee and he doesnt want any interference with that hallowed process. Thats not how the world works. The real world. How do you, talking to the real world, have a path to winning here when well 86 of republicans based on cnns latest poll, approve of his job as president . Well, you know, im going to play it the Old Fashioned way. One voter at a time in New Hampshire. Im taking off for New Hampshire and vermont to campine tomorrow. I think the president s approach here, im not going to play ball, im not going to exercise any of muy responsibilities. Im going to hollow out the state department, the defense department, the Homeland Security department so all that power will revert to me and ill make all the decisions and i dont have to listen to congress or anybody else. Thats not the american way. Thats how a king or a despot would act, and the framers of our constitution, if nothing else, were united in the desire to make sure we dont have another king in the United States. Donald j. Trump, candidly, he looks like he would rather be a king than a president who had to work to earn and preserve the trust of the American People. And as president Lyndon Johnson once said, once you lose the trust of the American People, as mr. Nixon did when the tapes proved he had been lying for years to them, youll never get it back. Bill weld, thanks very much. Thanks, jim. All right, interesting and important conversation. Also this ahead, an historic number of women are vying for the democratic nomination in 2020. 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Relief that works as hard as you do. But we all know were paying too much for it. Enter xfinity mobile. Americas best lte, with the most wifi hotspots combined for the first time. When youre near an xfinity hotspot youre connected to wifi, saving on data. When youre not, you pay for data one gig at a time. Use a little, pay a little. Use a lot, just switch to unlimited. Its a new kind of network. Call, visit or go to xfinitymobile. Com. All right. Welcome back. Now poll numbers out of New Hampshire voe former Vice President joe biden with a 2 to 1 lead over Bernie Sanders in the early primary state. Senators Elizabeth Warren, kamala harris, Amy Klobuchar are in the top eight, but theyre all still in the single digits. Could the ghost of 2016 be haunting their campaigns. Mj lee spoke with female voters who are worried a female nominee could get quote unquote hillaried. What anybody wanted to talk about. What i was wearing, what my hair cut was. Six women seeking for nomination for president. Four senators, one congresswoman, and spiritual writer. As a young mom, i will fight for your children as hard as i would fight for my own. Female voters across the country telling cnn it is time for a woman to finally take the white house. We make up i think 51 of the population. I dont think a man could ever handle the pressures of that office any better than a woman. But theres another darker sentiment, frustration about sexism fueled by flashbacks to Hillary Clintons loss in 2016. I know we have still not shattered that highest and hardest glass ceiling, but some day, someone will. Democratic voters describing a lingering trauma from the last president ial election. Some voiced concerns about you getting hillaried in the election, meaning you get held to a higher standard for arbitrary or maybe even sexist reasons. And concerned nominated a woman again will hand donald trump a second term. I think most people didnt vote for her because she was a woman. I think they ended up voting for trump because he was a man. I worry about the old boys club. Nine months out from the iowa caucuses, some of the women who want to see a female president leaning towards supporting one of the men. I would vote for joe biden. Because i think he has the best chance of winning the presidency. On the campaign trail, the female candidates making a forceful case for why women are just as electable as men. People tell me, it cannot be done, theyre not ready for you. Its not your time. It will be hard work. And i know this. And we won. Someone once said, and i agree with part of this but not all of it, that women candidates should speak softly and carry a big statistic. Okay, so i think you know i dont always speak softly. Its going to be fun when i say, and i won because thats what girls did. A recent cnn poll shows no indication that women are overwhelmingly supporting the female candidates over the male candidates. This man telling cnn he does have a gender bias. If there were two equally qualified candidates, one was male and one was female, i would support the female. Its high time we had a female president. That is a fascinating piece, mj, for people who havent read it, i would encourage them to read your pice online as well. Lets talk about where you are, youre in west virginia. This is a town that is ravaged by the opioid crisis. Thats right. This is a very small town in southwest virginia, and if you have heard it, it might be because this town was in the headlines last year because one Pharmaceutical Company had sent over around 3 million prescription pills to one single pharmacy here over a course of ten months, and that is especially stunning if you think about the fact that this is a small town of a population of around 400 people. So yeah, senator Elizabeth Warren is here today trying to use this as a backdrop to promote her new opioid plan. This is an issue that a lot of the 2020 candidates are talking about, including senator Amy Klobuchar. She told voters recently this is an issue she gets asked about way more than Something Like the Mueller Report. I have been in those towns too and im so glad theyre getting the attention they deserve. Thank you very much for the great reporting on both fronts. All right. Good morning, everyone. Top of the hour. Im poppy harlo