[Kristie Lu Stout, Host, "news Stream":] " The field widens, U.S. Senator, Kamala Harris throws her hat into the ring for the 2020 Presidential race. Presenting Plan B, Theresa May prepares the new pitch as British lawmakers start to take matters into their own hands. An economic slowdown. China's GDP growth stalls growing at the slowest pace nearly three decades. Another Democratic candidate has officially announced her bid for U.S. President in 2020. Just minutes ago, Senator Kamala Harris to California threw her hat into the ring. Kyung Lah, has more on the woman who could be a major player in the race.
[Kamala Harris, U.s. Senator, California, Democrat:] That's why I'm running for President of the United States.
[Kyung Lah, Senior National Correspondent, Cnn:] Senator Kamala Harris, announcing her Presidential campaigns core principles on Martin Luther King Day.
[Harris:] Truth, justice, decency, equality, freedom, democracy. These aren't just words. They are the values we as Americans cherish and they're all on the line now. I intend to fight for truth and transparency and trust. I intend to fight.
[Lah:] California's junior senator is notable both in biography and her two-year tenure in the senate. Supporters hail Harris' rapid-fire questioning in the Senate from Supreme Court nominees.
[Harris:] Can you think of any laws that give the government the power to make decisions about the male body?
[Brett M. Kavanaugh, Associate Justice Of The Supreme Court:] I'm not thinking of any right now, Senator.
[Lah:] To Justice Department officials.
[Unidentified Male:] He is has the.
[Harris:] Yes or no, sir?
[Unidentified Male:] He is has the full independence that is authorized by those regulations.
[Harris:] Are you willing to do as has been done before.
[Lah:] Making more than one of them squirm.
[Unidentified Male:] I'm not able to rushed this fast. It makes me nervous.
[Harris:] A lot of the work I've done has been inspired. And so, it's about fighting for justice. It was about fighting to make sure that all people had a say in their future.
[Lah:] Harris graduated from Howard University, returning to Oakland to become a prosecutor. As a San Francisco district attorney Harris crafted innovative programs to reform the criminal justice system, at a time when other prosecutors were taking a tough on crime approach. And despite political pressure from her own party, she refused to seek the death penalty against the killer of a police officer sticking to a core campaign pledge and personal belief.
[Harris:] I'm humbled to be chosen to be the next Attorney General of the State of California.
[Lah:] But she would defend the death penalty as California's first black woman Attorney General. Still personally opposed but upholding state law coming under fire from activists.
[Harris:] I now declare you spouses for life.
[Lah:] When the Supreme Court allowed marriage equality to stand in California, she officiated the first legal same sex marriages in 2013.
[Harris:] Any day that justice is delayed, I would suggest justice is denied.
[Lah:] All part of her pledge to be a progressive prosecutor.
[Harris:] It is a false choice to suggest that one is either in favor of the Second Amendment or in favor of reasonable gun safety rules. We can be both.
[Lah:] That history is both an asset and an opening for attack. A question that may follow her to the campaign as it did on her book tour. Is it possible to be both the top cop and a reformer for progressives?
[Unidentified Male:] What do you say to those who hear that and read that and still say that you're anti police?
[Harris:] Well, it's just not true.
[Unidentified Male:] I mean, I had that out.
[Harris:] And that's why I say we have to talk truth. It's just not true, it's not true, it's not true-period.
[Lu Stout:] That report by CNN's Kyung Lah and Kyung joined just now, live from Washington. Kyung, the field for the Democrats, still wide open here but now we have official, as of what, 30 minutes ago, Kamala Harris along with Elizabeth Warren, with Julian Castro, with what Kristen Gillibrand, possibly Cory Booker, there's Beto" O'Rourke, his name keeps being tossed about. The field was even wider than that. How is this field so wide taking shape? And who's on top there? In terms of name recognition?
[Lah:] Well, we're going to need a whole lot more boxes because the field is expected to grow significantly, Kristie. Of those pictures and of those names that are there. Certainly, Elizabeth Warren is probably the best known. But if you put in Vice President Joe Biden, who has not yet decided if he's going to run or not for President, he is in many polls of name recognitions, certainly the best known but here's the important thing. We're more than a year away from the Iowa caucuses. So that's why you're seeing people jumped in now with a field so wide, with so many new faces coming in. You're seeing people like Senator Harris jump in with the biography, doing a soft launch, trying to get voters to know her, making a book tour, explaining who she is. The time is now for candidates like her and others to jump in to say, give U.S. a look because there are so many potential people who could be out there.
[Lu Stout:] Yes, the time is now and so the publicity blitz begins. Kyung Lah, reporting live first from Washington. Thank you so much. Take care.
[Lah:] You bet.
[Lu Stout:] And now to the partial U.S. government shutdown. Now, in day 31. U.S. President Donald Trump is facing criticism from the left and from the right over his plan to reopen the government. In his speech on Saturday, Mr. Trump offered a plan that would temporarily protect some undocumented immigrants from deportations in exchange for $5.7 billion that he's asking for, in funding for the southern border wall. It was immediately criticized by conservative media commentators and democratic House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi swiftly rejected it. On Capitol Hill, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell plans to put the person's plan up for a vote this week. But there is little chance it's going to pass. Meanwhile in the House, Democratic leaders plan to vote on a new bill that would add an extra $1 billion for border security, not the wall. Let's get more now from CNN's Lauren Fox. She's live for us on Capitol Hill. Lauren, Donald Trump extended what he called the compromise. He's offered to end the shutdown but the Democrats they are not buying it. Tell us why.
[Lauren Fox, Congressional Reporter, Cnn:] Well, that's right. Kristie, Democrats are saying that the President's plan is just too little. First of all, they say, if you want to negotiate over the border, well, do it. But first, you have to open up the government. The President says he's not willing to do that. Democrats also want more permanent protections for recipients of DACA and temporary protected status. That's something else that the President's plan doesn't include. His plan only has three years of protection. Here's what the top Democrat in the Senate, Chuck Schumer had to say about the President's plan.
[Chuck Schumer, U.s. Senate Minority Leader:] It was the President who single handedly took away DACA and TPS protections in the first place. Offering some of those protections that he took away back in exchange for the wall is not a compromise but hostage taking.
[Fox:] And Kristie, as you noted, Mitch McConnell will put the President's proposal on the Senate floor this week, but don't expect enough Democrats to support it to get it out of the Senate. So if House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi and the top Democrat in the senate say, this is a no go, expect the democrats are going to hold firm even as there's growing frustration among rank and file members that the shutdown is going on more than a month now, Kristie.
[Lu Stout:] Is it going to drag on as we look in a fresh start or fresh week. Last week it got really nasty. It turned into this personal showdown between Speaker Pelosi and President Trump, this offer of what he called, the U.S. President, a compromise here with that offer from Donald Trump. Is that just a sign that there could be some leeway here. There could be moves towards ending the shutdown this week?
[Fox:] Well, you know, certainly moderate members on both sides of the aisle hope that's the case. Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia, who's from a state of the President one in 2016. He's newly reelected. You know, he said, "Look, this may be a way forward," but it's going to take some of those moderates in the middle to keep negotiating. And the problem is, even if they find a solution among themselves, moderates in the Republican Party, moderates in the Democratic Party. If the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi and the President of the United States can sit down in a room and negotiate it doesn't matter and that's the issue here. This comes as furloughed workers and folks working without pay will miss their second paycheck this week.
[Lu Stout:] Yes, the shutdown has reached the record of 31 days and the pain is definitely being felt. Lauren, thank you so much for your reporting. Lauren Fox there on Capitol Hill. Now, new explanations coming from President Trump lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, about a stunning report from BuzzFeed. The report, last Thursday, said that the President directed his former attorney Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about a Trump Tower project to Moscow. Now, Giuliani is saying that Mr. Trump may have talked to Cohen about his testimony but it's not a big deal if he did. Listen to what he told our Jake Tapper.
[Rudy Giuliani, President Trump's Lawyer:] As far as I know, President Trump did not have discussions with him. Certainly had no discussions with him in which he told them or counseled him to lie. If he had any discussions with him, they'd be about the version of the events that Michael Cohen gave them, which they all believe was true.
[Jake Tapper, Anchor, Cnn:] But you just acknowledge that it's possible that President Trump talked to Michael Cohen about his testimony.
[Giuliani:] Which would be perfectly normal, which the President believe was true.
[Tapper:] So it's possible that that happened, that President Trump talked to Michael Cohen about this incident.
[Giuliani:] I don't know if it happened or didn't happen, and it might be attorney client privilege if it happened, where I can acknowledge it.
[Lu Stout:] The Office of Special Councel, Robert Mueller, which almost never respond to news items challenged the BuzzFeed report, saying characterization of documents and testimony are not accurate. But BuzzFeed is standing by its story.
[Ben Smith, Editor In Chief, Buzzfeed:] We are eager to understand which characterizations Mueller is talking about there. And obviously, we take that incredibly seriously.
[Anthony Cormier, Investigative Reporter, Buzzfeed:] If a further confirmation that this is right. We're being told to stand our ground. Our reporting is going to be born out to be accurate and we're 100% behind it.
[Lu Stout:] A Kremlin spokesman says Moscow did not communicate, "Anyone whatsoever," about the Trump Tower Moscow deal beyond an initial email in early 2016. A new week brings a new Brexit plan from Theresa May. The British Prime Minister is expected to lay out her Brexit Plan B in Parliament in the coming hours. But her historic failure to get the votes needed to pass her deal last week has stirred up a government meltdown. In fact, CNN has learned that a group of cross party members of Parliament has plans to introduce legislation, making it impossible for Britain to leave the E.U. without a trade deal in place. International Trade Secretary Liam Fox has warned the Parliament taking control of the Brexit process would jeopardize democracy.
[Liam Fox, British International Trade Secretary:] You've got to leave population and a remain Parliament. Parliament has not got the right to hijack the Brexit process because Parliament said to the people of this country, "We will make we make a contract with you. You will make the decision and we will honor it." What we are now getting are some of those who were always absolutely opposed to the results of the referendum trying to hijack Brexit and in fact, steal the result from the people.
[Lu Stout:] CNN's Bianca Nobilo joined now from outside the Houses of Parliament in London. Bianca, wow, this is being called a hijacking, this is being called a parliamentary plot. We know that various MPs are working on motions to block a no-deal Brexit, but what exactly are they planning?
[Bianca Nobilo, Correspondent,cnn:] Well, Kristie, we're expecting an onslaught of amendments this week, which will try and stop the Prime Minister from being able to go for a no deal in any scenario. There is a lot of business within the Conservative Party about some of these MPs and the amendments that they're trying to put forward to, as some have said, hijack the political process. However, the reason that some MPs have come forward with these amendments is simply because that there is an impulse, there is a deadlock in this Brexit process. So what these amendments seek to do, and there are an array of them, is to make a no-deal situation legally impossible. That's because they'll try and enshrine in law that if a deal hasn't been approved by Parliament by mid-February, or perhaps March, depending on the amendment, that it will prohibit the Prime Minister going for a no deal and for so to extend Article 50. So that goal is to stop no deal in any circumstance. Now, the Prime Minister's focus is on presenting her plan B to Parliament today. Her hope is still that she can get a deal through to avoid that no deal situation. However, she's still in this situation where parliament is so split on what it wants, that it's very difficult to see anything she puts forward being able to garner the majority support of the House of Commons.
[Lu Stout:] Absolutely. So this brings us to the question that I've been asking you for weeks and months now. What can she do? How can she break the deadlock and bring a majority of MPs on side with her?
[Nobilo:] Well, this is the problem. Yes, she's going to be presenting a new plan today as Plan A didn't work and how government accepts that. But she's facing the same old problems that she's faced through the entire process. The main difficulty is, the Prime Minister, because she faced such a historic defeat on her Brexit deal, knows that a tweak here and tweak there simply isn't going to work and get the numbers on side. Her problem is, is that if she ops for a softening of Brexit and making some allowances there, then she was completely isolating some of her Brexiteer MPs that might support her. So the job of Downing Street at the moment is to try and amend the Prime Minister's existing plan without isolating anybody else who's already supporting it. So she continues to walk this tightrope that she's been walking now, throughout the entire negotiation process. There's been discussion about whether or not the Prime Minister could reach out across the aisle to Jeremy Corbyn and try and work with the Labour Party. She invited him to talk, he declined, because he said that she needs to take no deal off the table first. But there's also so many problems in trying to work with the opposition to secure the main policy of the government because it will mean that labor tries to extract concessions and that's going to put even more pressure on a conservative party that is near breaking point.
[Lu Stout:] Bianca Nobilo, reporting live from London, outside the Houses of Parliament. Bianca, thank you. Now as referred, one of the key stumbling blocks for Theresa May's deal is a contentious Irish backstop in order to get her deal through Parliament. This likely to be the issue she will have to unravel. So what exactly is the backstop? Why is it so unpopular while the backstop is a policy to prevent a hard border between Ireland, which is part of the E.U. and Northern Ireland which is part of the U.K. The whole of the U.K. will stay in the European customs territory during a transition period in a new borderless trade agreement. If that hasn't been reached by the end of 2020 then the backstop would kick in. If that happens, U.K. would remain in the European customs territory and could only leave with permission from Brussels, thus limiting the power of the U.K. to pursue its own trade deals with the rest of the world, backstop or no backstop. Whatever solution is found to the border question will have huge implications for those in the ground. Nick Robertson reports from Northern Ireland.
[Nic Robertson, International Diplomatic Editor, Cnn:] In a few months' time, this could be E.U.'s land border with the U.K. It's giving rise to the most contentious issue in Brexit, the backstop. When I say backstop, what does that mean to you?
[Unidentified Male:] Backstop means, basically, it's an insurance policy but Theresa May and the European Union have taken out.
[Robertson:] In its simplest form, the backstop keeps the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland open. Both the E.U. and the U.K. say they want that. But the E.U. insist the backstop is part of the deal in case the two sides can't get an agreement.
[Unidentified Male:] Whatever's going to happen, it's going to impact on the city more than any other part of the U.K., more than any part of the
[E.u. Robertson:] This city here?
[Unidentified Male:] This city because we are the biggest population center which will be in the U.K. on the border with the E.U. So whatever is going to happen, be it good or bad, it's going to impact most here.
[Robertson:] We are in Northern Ireland's second largest city, Londonderry, also known as Derry. A few miles from the border with Ireland. From the 1960s to the 90s, Gary was at the heart of Northern Ireland's deadly sectarian violence. Twenty something years ago, I heard right here as Catholic teenagers rushed up here to fight pitch battles here with mostly Protestant police, 1998 peace deal has made all that feel like ancient history. But that's what the backstop is about in part to prevent a return to that sort of violence. Is it going to work?
[Unidentified Male:] Better.
[Robertson:] Because?
[Unidentified Male:] I don't know what that's supposed to be like if it doesn't. This place will go back to it was 25 or 30 years old.
[Robertson:] You mean the violence?
[Unidentified Male:] Yes.
[Robertson:] Concerns are growing the backstop is blocking Brexit. It could bring back border controls. What would happen if those are no-deal Brexit and to the border?
[Unidentified Female:] Does it mean I have to show my passport or something to go down, I don't know. I was like, I was told that maybe you'll have to show your passport or have a visa to go join over the border to visit family.
[Unidentified Male:] I don't think a man on the street has any idea what's going to happen, especially with businesses. I'm working for a company that does out of cross border trade. So they are particularly worried, in terms of taxes going back and forth over the border.
[Robertson:] What would you hope for with the border yourself?
[Unidentified Female:] Well, we would obviously hope that it's an open border. You know, especially in this area, there's a always been a strong relationship because we're a border area, so we would need free movement. It's very worrying. I don't know what the future is going to hold for myself, for my family and especially for my children.
[Robertson:] The trouble for Theresa May is she needs the support of Northern Irish MPs who oppose the backstop. It makes them feel less British. And so far, she hasn't found the way around it. Nic Robertson, CNN, Derry, Northern Ireland.
[Lu Stout:] The British Prime Minister is skipping the World Economic Forum to deal with Brexit and she's not the only leader staying home. This year's Davos is as much about the no shows as it is about the lineup. We'll take you there next. Plus, we'll take a look at what the latest economic numbers say about the health of the Chinese economy.