On Tuesday, November 3rd of 2020,
our first guest could make history as the first woman,
and the first Kamala ever to be elected
president in the United States.
She's from right here in Los Angeles.
Please say hello to Senator Kamala Harris.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
How are you?
- I am well. - Welcome home.
I know you've been out on the road.
It's good to be home. I just got in last night.
How's the running for president thing going?
I'm enjoying it.
I don't know what that says about my personality,
but I'm really enjoying it.
I have a feeling that-- it's gotta be kind of fun to go out
there, and mix it up, and field questions,
and listen to people cheering, and seeing
people in states you might not have ever visited before.
It is.
But you know, Jimmy, the thing that I'm
loving most is going to--
you know, that the last trip I took
South Carolina, for example.
In rural towns, where it is much more intimate,
where it's direct conversations.
Where whatever you're thinking is being challenged.
I feel so strongly that this has to be a campaign that--
not only-- well, let me just say, I fully intend to win.
Oh, good.
[APPLAUSE]
There is that.
Not much point in going and doing this otherwise, yeah.
But a metric of success for me will
also be that at the end of the process, we are relevant.
And so what I'm enjoying most is being in places
where I listen, especially at this phase of it,
more than I talk.
And where I am validating, or verifying,
or being set straight about, really, what
are the priorities of people?
And it's been a great process.
How does your family feel about this?
So we-- my husband is one of the most supportive
people you've ever met.
He has a great sense of humor, he loves people,
and he joins me on the road when he can.
But he's based here in LA. - What is his name?
Doug. Doug.
I don't know if we're ready for a first lady named Doug.
I don't know.
Doug, huh?
Oh, he is the most fully actualized person
you have ever met.
Oh, really?
And in fact, he's very much enjoying being the spouse of--
Oh, he is? He's having fun with it?
He's very secure.
Good.
And then our kids, we have two--
23 and 19.
And they've been so incredibly supportive.
Are they nervous about the--
people prying into their lives?
- I'm nervous about that. - You are?
Yeah, right. I'm sure.
I'm nervous about that, because--
Did you go through all their stuff
and go, like, we gotta check Instagram?
And make sure everything's clear?
Well, we had a couple of talks about that.
- Yeah, right. - I mean, because--
You have to.
Well, it's-- you know, look, it is what it is.
Right.
I mean, listen, we all know that nobody is perfect.
I said that in my opening speech, when I announce
my candidacy in my hometown of Oakland, California,
in front of 22,000 people, which is--
I am not perfect, our kids are not perfect,
my husband is not perfect.
And I don't think that the American people want perfect.
What they want is a leader who is going to put their interests
above self-interests.
Well, based on what's going on now--
And speaks truth.
We definitely didn't want perfect.
I mean, we quite clearly--
You think?
Settled for less than perfect.
Yeah.
So the whole thing is really interesting, because, well, you
got a big bump today.
CNN did a poll, and you're--
I think they have you in third.
You jumped a lot of points, behind Bernie
Sanders and Joe Biden, who's not technically running yet.
But obviously, he's going to run do you want Joe--
would you rather he doesn't run?
I think that everyone who wants to run should run.
Everyone who wants to run--
And truly, the more the merrier, because we've got--
we do not lack for talent among Democrats,
and I think that it is good to have a robust competition,
to get to the point of determining who will
be the nominee for the party.
Are Joe and Bernie too old to be
president of the United States?
I think age is more than a chronological fact.
Mhm.
I think it's a state of mind, and if each candidate can show
that they have an ability to understand where people are
right now, and also have a vision for the future,
then I think they will be successful.
Are people--
I'm sorry to interrupt, but are people learning how
to pronounce your first name?
It helps when I tell them that it's like comma,
like a punctuation mark, and then add a "la."
I have a way that I-- because--
I don't know if you remember, because we're
about the same age.
Yes.
There was a wrestler named Kamala the Ugandan Giant.
Yes. There was.
Who spelled his name the same way you do.
And that's what I thought of the last time I saw your name.
You are correct.
I haven't checked up on him recently.
Do you know what's going on with him?
He's-- I don't think he's in great health,
but he's still around.
Thank goodness.
Yeah.
You might want to bring him on the trail, by the way,
because he was very popular.
He would pack a big punch.
Ba-dum-bum.
And I know this is going to sound very strange,
but-- and this is something we talk about in my family.
Yeah?
You-- I mean, she's much older than you, obviously,
but you look like my mom. - No kidding?
Yes.
And I brought some photographs-- in fact,
today's my mother's birthday.
Oh, happy birthday!
And this is--
Oh, my god.
You and my mom together.
And it kind of-- it doesn't quite, entirely, capture it,
but like, there's definitely--
Oh, she is fantastic.
Yeah, well, she's a little crazy, but--
but she's lovely, yeah.
So--
And you grew up in Vegas, right?
That's how I remember her, is I think of Kamala
and my "mamala," you know?
But that's what our kids call me, because--
Oh, they call your "mamala?"
Yeah, because they are--
we don't use the term in our family, stepmother.
OK.
I think Disney messed that up for everybody.
But they are technically my step-children,
but they are my children.
And they call me "mamala."
And we have a very modern family.
My husband's ex-wife, the kids' mother, and her mother,
came to our house for Thanksgiving.
Oh, good. You've got to get her in line.
You know, you gotta make sure.
Just bringing everyone into the circle.
And we have a huge, very modern family.
It's really great, actually.
Senator Warren, Elizabeth Warren,
had a town hall last night, and she
said that she thinks we should do away
with the electoral college.
Is that-- do you agree with that?
I think that it's--
I'm open to the discussion.
I mean, there's no question that the popular vote has been
diminished, in terms of making the final decision about who's
the President of the United States.
And we need to deal with that.
So I'm open to the discussion.
President Trump wants to get rid of regular college.
College altogether.
Indeed.
Indeed, because-- you know, exactly.
I guess he's decided it's not important to read--
Because there are a lot of people running
for the Democratic nomination, and there--
and you mostly agree on things.
Is that-- would you say that's fair?
- I think on a lot of-- - Especially big things.
Yeah.
I think that's right.
So how are you different from--
I mean, obviously, besides being yourself, and your background.
But as far as policy goes, as far as the plan
goes, how are you different?
Because that's, for me, what I need to figure out is like, OK,
there's a lot of people here. - How do you distinguish?
Yeah. And how do you distinguish?
No, that's fair.
I mean, obviously it's going to be a long campaign,
and all of us will, you know, have opportunities to speak,
and voters will learn more, and obviously,
the voters ultimately will make the decision.
I think one of the distinctions is I have a background
of having been a leader.
And I think that the voters are going
to decide who will be the next commander in chief,
President of the United States, based on experience of leading.
I was-- and I led at a local government level,
at state government, and now at federal government.
I was the district attorney of San Francisco,
I was the Attorney General of California,
where I led an office of almost 5,000 people.
And now, obviously, in the United States Senate.
I think people are going to want, and look to who
has a demonstrated ability to be a fighter,
and to be a fighter for the people.
I've done that work.
I took on the five big banks of the United States
when we were fighting for the homeowners of California,
and by extension, the nation, around the foreclosure crisis,
and when they were, you know, basically
stealing from homeowners around these these predatory mortgage
practices.
I also believe that what voters are going to want
is they are going to want that there is someone who has
the proven ability to prosecute the case
against this administration.
Yeah.
And this president.
Yeah.
People do want that.
And that is going to be about having an ability,
and a proven ability to be able to articulate the evidence that
makes the case for why we need new leadership in this country.
You're saying if you are president,
and Donald Trump is out of the White House,
you will then continue to prosecute him
and his various hench characters?
I am very supportive of Bob Mueller being able to finish
his process, and do his job.
Yeah.
Tell him to finish his process, already.
Yeah.
Are you a Star Wars fan?
Oh, my god.
So let me just tell you, I just turned into my 12-year-old self
in the green room.
I met Mark Hamill, and literally, I
met Luke Skywalker.
I literally-- he said to me that the force is with me.
I almost started crying.
I literally almost started crying.
That's big.
I totally reverted.
Who needs the space force when you have the actual force?
I'm telling you.
And he's so interesting, and he's so talented.
I have an idea for you guys.
Through those years--
I think this would be a very potent ticket.
You know, I mean, you could do a lot worse than Luke Skywalker.
Are things as divided behind the scenes in the Senate
as they appear to be when we see a hearing,
where people don't seem to have any common ground whatsoever?
- No. - They're not?
No.
I'll give you--
Do people-- do Republican senators
complain about President Trump?
- Yeah. - They do?
And they roll their eyes, but I'm going to give you
an example, though, of also--
well, first of all, I am leading two
pieces of very significant legislation
that are bipartisan.
One is to reform the money bail system in the United States,
to get rid of money bail, because--
That's happening here in California, right?
Yeah, and it's happening here in California.
Because, you know, people are literally sitting
in jail for days, weeks, and months,
waiting to go to trial, just because they
can't afford to get out.
Meanwhile, people who have money get out,
and that's then an economic justice issue.
It is a great injustice.
It really is, yeah.
So there's that, and that's with Rand Paul.
I have a bill that is about what we need
to do to secure the election systems,
and upgrade it so that the Russians can't
hack our elections.
And that's with Senator James Lankford
from Oklahoma, a Republican.
But I'll tell you this is, in particular,
another example of of the work that happens behind the scenes.
I am on the Senate Intelligence Committee,
and we receive, twice a week, for hours at end,
information in a place called skiff, which
is a secure location in our United States capital,
from our intelligence community, about threats to our nation,
and issues that we should be informed and concerned about.
When we walk in that room, people--
there are no cameras.
There's no press, there's no audience.
People take off their jackets, they roll up their sleeves,
and some of the most civilized and important conversations
take place in a way that is not only bipartisan,
but is nonpartisan.
So while we see so much of partisanship that is attempting
to divide our country, I will tell you,
at least in my experience, on these issues
around national security in a skiff, there is a lot of,
unity and that is very heartening.
Can I come to one of those meetings?
Is that something-- no, I wouldn't be
able to come in the skiff, huh? - No.
I'd love to be part of the skiff.
I really would.
Yeah.
Well, stay strong.
I know it's going to be a grueling--
I don't know how many months are left,
but I'm sure they're going to seem--
A lot. Yes.
And thank you for coming.
It's great to have you here.
Senator Kamala Harris, everyone.