tonight on "kqed newsroom," the midterm elections gave democrats ctrol of the house, while a justice department c shakeuld threaten the russia investigation. as california prepares for a high-profile role on capitol hill,oo we at what the results mean for the golden state. dive cse womendidates made history across the country on election night. hello and welcome to newsroom." i'm thuy vu. we begin with a constit oional debat immigration. today president trumo issued a amation to deny asylum to anyone entering the u.s. illegally, a staunchl reversf immigration policy. the migration had undermined the integrity of our boards.

in a separate move, the president forced attorney general jeff sessions to step down and appointed matt whitaker as his placement. he's been a vocal critic of robert mueller's investigation intoussian meddling into u.s. politics. joining me now to talk about this and more is congressman zoo lo gren. nice to have you with us aagain >> you very much. >> you chair the house judiciary eabcommittee on immigration. what is yourion to president trump's proclamation today denying asylum to people who daughter or son border illegally? it's a move that'svi widelyed as aimed at the central american migrant caravan. >> fst the president can't make the laws unilaterally. there are specific statutes enacted by congress that'sc contrad by this executive

order. he can't just throw out the coostitution and the law and make the law up himself. thoenc heseeds to come to congrf he wants to change the law. this will be litigated and i believe he will lose. the laws are in great detail how individuals can come where they an come, how they can claim asylum. >> but federal law does give the president authority to restrict immigration when it's detriment detrimental to the country. the court upheld mr. trump'si rd travel ban this summer. what actions can you and other democratic leaders take at this point to counter that if anything? >> ere will obviously b litigation on this, but the travel ban is somewhat different than this issue. there is very detailed procedures in the immigration act and they're backed uptey ational retreats that have been ratified and also bind the

united states as to the treatment of people seeking asylum. eople need to be treated in an orderly way, either when they ludicrous their ca lose their case, thet come in. simply trying to change the law by executive o ber isause they know, frankly, shocking. >> the white house is making the case that most mgrants who seek asylum are eventually denied but at the samee they are allowed to stay in the u.s. legally sometimes for yearshe whilere cases are being adjudicated. ow would you address those concerns coming from the white house? >> we could speed up theti adjudi process. we have rpeatedly asked for the appointment of additional judges, instead of funding the judicial branch, they've fund mores.for

that's a responsibility the administration can dress. but we here in america believe in the rule of law and in due process. and we had a program that t trump administration eliminated where virtually 100%, 99% to 100% of the politics shadow for their day in court. if they lose, they have to go home. if they win, und the law they're permitted to stay. that's the way the law should work, not abry gated by the prwoident. >> d like to ask you about daca a. federal appeals court in san francisco upheld an injunction barring the trump administration from removing deportation protections for the d dreamers. there are about 700,000 of them in this country. now that the midtermsaveen democrats control of the house, what will you and other lawmakers do on this issue of daca? >> well, i think weught to provide a permanent protection

for these young people who have done nothing wrong. they didn't make a decision to come, in most cases they were brought by their parents as children. they are defacto americans, they are meshes americans in every paperwork.eir there's broad support among the american public of all political parties tory and keep these young people whore blameless from being deported. so i hope that we can pass legislation to do that. the passident in the has said that he favored that, so let's see if he can sign a bill that we send him. >> will you offer a pass to citizenship for t dreamers? >> i believe that no one should be a permanent underclass in the united states. that hasn't worked well for other countries, but obviously the length t ofe a person would wait until they would have their residence, and then you have to wait fiveears to apply to become a citizen, all that would be subject to discussion

and hopefully bipartisan negotiation. >> also another big story this reek, congresswoman, the firing of attorney gel jeff sessions. the president replaced him with matt whitaker. in th past mr. whitaker has criticized not only the russia investigation but also the supreme court, taking to task his authority to declare legislative and executctve a as unconstitutional. what is your reaction to this move to put mr. whitaker in that position? >> first it's unconstitutional. the appointment is unconstitutional. article 2 section 2 requires the acting attorney general to be confirmed by the senate. mr. whitaker has not been confirmed and has been pointed out by several scholars everything he does in that position would be invalid be iuse his appointment invalued. >> but i think there are rules, though, that the trump administration i pointing out that allow the president to put mr. whitaker in place as an interim person, correct?

>> they can say what they want. it's not what the constitution provides. it's not what the statute provides. and it's not what the rules of the justice department provide. further, this guy, his views are at there. he hasarently opined that mar buryv. madison, the case esblishing the role of the supreme court in the united states when thomas jefferson was entering the white house, that that decision suld be rethought. that is bizarre. >> so what can democrats do at this poin the senate widened its majority as a result of the midterms. >> well, there will be litigation if the president doesn't rethink this. you can't have an invalid appointment. you can't just avoid t

constitution. that's the president's decision, not m decision provided that he follows therule. the issue here is also the muelleinvestigation. we all believe mr. mueller should be permitt to finish this investigation, let the chips fall where they may, whatever he reports, i'm to accept, whether it chon rates the president or doesn't, he should just finish the report and let the american public see what it is. >> congresswoman zero lot of gren joining us from her office in san jose. thank you. >> thank you. now that democrats have gained control of the house, san francisco congresswoman nancy losi appears poised to be house speaker once again. she says democratic leaders will focus on infrastructure, controlling prescription drug costsnd changing campaign laws. meanwele in wake of the mass shooting in thousand oaks,

gawsom is calling for gun control. >> the national rifle association is bankrupt morally. and they need to be held to account to their rhetoric and to their actions. >> here now with michelle election results, i'm b join kqed politics and government team, senior editor scott schafer, marisa lagos, reporter guy marzorati and joining via skype, reporter katie orr. let's begin with nancy pelosi. she made it a point to pu forward a more modest agenda, health care, improving the affordable care act. now that the democrats have a majority ithe house, do you expect thorough pursue a more liberal agenda? >> no, in a word. there will be elements of the thats that will push for for impeachment, but i think he's going to be want to bring

up issues that are going to bring people together, things like universal gun control which is broadly popular in the country, things like taking care of dreamers, daca. there will be more oversight. adam schiff is going to take over from devin nunes on the house intelligence committee. >> more subpoena than ga inveson. >> and protecting the mueller investigation but i don't think pelosio wantsget out in front of that. she wants to show they can govern and the way you show that is put forth ideas that are broadly popular. maybe they don't pass the,e sen if they do, they might not get a signature from the president but it gives the country a sense of what the democrats would do as opposed to whay the republicans said t would do. >> how much of this do you think is builng the template for the 2020 presidential election? >> i thok she wants sort of set a tone that will be helpful to .candidat there's going to be so many people both in d.c. and throughout the country who ar

going to be vying for that democratic nomination. and i think that it's going to be up t to them decide what their messages are and we'll see a similar split. between what i we saw 2016 with the progressive left wing and then folks trying to hit a more middle centrist ground. but they can only d what they can do in the house as osmocrats. you know, pe is very good at keeping that caucus together, but it is a diverse caucus as well. you're not going to have a majority for health care for all. >> in night of the thousand oaks shootin gavin newsom talked about gun control and criticizing the nra. what can he do realistically as governor given that california does have some of the are strictest gun control laws in the country. >> i'll give you two examples of bills that were vetoed by governor jerry brown that may have a better chance this time around. one, to stop gun a ammunition

sales here at the cow palace. governor brown twice veto add bill that would stop those sales another one to expand these gun violence restraining orders, basically a family member can petition a judge and make sure someone they think has a ment issue cannot access guns. there's a bill to expand that to a coworker or a teacher would be allowed to make had a that petition. that was vetoed by the governor. i think this time around both reintroducede >> he might be going out and using his bully pulpit to push other states to do this. he's seen as a national figure already and that is sething -- i think there might be these ammunition -- having to registeu for amtion sales, that could be something you could see him trying to take elsewhere. >> let's bringn katie orr at this point. during the campaign gavn newsom took every opportunity to attack donald tru, but now he needs to lead the state. what issues will he tackle right

away? >> he knows that in his acceptance speech california is not just about resistance, it's about results. during his campaign he said addressing child poverty is going to be one of his number one issues. he'sh going te to address the housing affordable care act and homelessness. gavin newsom campaigned on grooufrl preschool and medicare for all do you think he'll face a loheof tensions between liberal and more moderate wings of the democratic party in thes te? >> it's interesting. it's looking like the democrats will have a two-thirds majority in the house.j ry brown was saying it's harder when you have a super majority becau people to keep in line. newsom is going to come in and the first thing he's going to find to do is propose abudget. he doesn't want to blow up that $9 billion rainy day fund jerry brown built. we've seen the speaker of the

assembly make overtures. they disagreed publicly in the past. i think they're going to tryo work toge a grooufrl preschool is a huge issue flash flood rendon in the state senate. tony atkins has been very active on affordable housing. i doo't think he's going tome in day one just like pelosi and try to much al these liberal agendas. >> how can we expect newsom to be different? his campaign slogan was courage fora change what will he do that's different from brown? b gun control. i think jerrywn was known for panel once on thtright, wasnn the left. i think you'll see certainly childhood poverty issues and preschool, education, housing. i thi you' going to see him step back from high speed rail in some way. maybe less of the cap w trade monel go to high speed rail. and then there's the tunnels

question that jerry bron -- the delta.unnels and the i think he wants to create his own legacy and he's going to lean in on things jerry brown didn't think of. >> i think that speaks to their differentife experiences. jerry brown has never had children, has never really wanted formuch. i don't think he cares about money that much, but he's never had to worry about it. and newsom grew up in a single-family home with his mom. >> and he has four children. >> the way he will approach these things as a r and given his life experience will be very different. >> i want to move on to the proposition. a there wenumber of propositions on the state ballot, two measures. yet voters rejected a measure to expand rent control. what does this tell us about the

mind-set of voters? >> rejected by a huge margin. housing r stillains important to california voters. we see support in polling. this particular measure, proposition 10, it lost only passed in one county, san francisco, in the entire state. i think it hadh message the rent is too damn high and that's an issue that prfgz care abo. it didn't have the money. it was outspent 3 to 1 and it didn't have a coalition. there wasn't a party support, big elected fficial support, organized labor gave some money, but not a lot. and so in thend i think that added up for a resounding dellat that ave implications for next year because i'm not sure now that the ndlords, the apartment association really has that much incentive to make a deal around rent control considering how well they did in this campaign. >> also voters rejected prop 5 as well which would have allowed lder homeowners to take their lower property taxes with them when they move. katie, what happens now with the housing?

how will move forward with a new governor, governor newsom and other state lawmakers going to step up on this issue as well? >> i think it's interesting. i feel like governor jerry brown got flak for not making affordable housing more of an issue while he was office this second time around. that's simply politicians can make anymore. the affordability crisis has spread to most parts of the state. funding for affdable housing has gone away a long time ago and there hasn't been a new funding sohece establi so i think we might see a little r t along those lines, creating a new source fordable housing. also you have to look at some of the environmental regulations h whan hold up projects. of course, you have to deal with thnimby issues. once people have tusir ho sometimes they're not exactly

excited to allow f a big development close to where they are. they're challenges that newsom is going to have to take into consideration. >> scott, let's talk about quickly the cgressional races. there were seven districts in california that democrats were hoping to flip from red to blue wh the update on that? >> going into the election republicans held 14 of the 53 seats, they lost two. the darrell ices seat flipped to blue. the one held by steve knight in northern l.a. county, katie hill defeated him. there is another in orange county, leaning toward the democrat in tt. then there's three that are a tossup, two of them in orange county, one of them in modesto. very close, 1,300 votes between them and tens of thousands of ballots still to count. really upn the air. >> thank you all. you guys have eren doing wol work this week. go get some rest this weekend. >> thank you. >> mike scott,la marisagos, guy

marzorati, and katie orr in sacramento. thanks tall of you. now to another much talked about aspect of the midterms, the many women who ran for office this year.h ere in california first-time candidate katie hill flipd a traditionally red congressional district to blue. nationwide more than 120 women have won so far, among the many firsts, the first two native american women elected to congress, the first woman senator from tennessee, the first female governor of maine. and ayanna pressley became the first african-american to chusetts in s congress. >> when it comes to women of d color, canes, folks don't just talk about a glass ceiling. what they describe ine a concree w what breaks through concrete? seismic shifts. [ cheers ] >> here now with me to talk about the wave of women in politics are amanda renteria walh emerge america, a nati organization that trains democratic women who want to run

for office and anne moses with nonite that trains women political world. good to have both of you here. amanda, the women who ran for office were pretty diverse. asian native american, some had military backgrounds. did they have certain campaign themes in common, though? s the womenlook acro that ran, i think one key mesege folks have is they bringing a new perspective. so you saw women really talking about who they were and whether it was the fighter pilot or it was the reason why they pernally got engaged. what we saw across the board is women come to the table with their own stories who they genuinely and authentically were o d what fired them up there. for some, it was health care. for some, it s their perspective that they were going to bring into these roles. >> what made them comfortable telling their own stories instead of sticking to the resume as we've seen in prior elections?

>> i think there's been this whole discourse of w need to start getting to a new place of politics.01 after theelection people really did look inside themselves and said how c i be a part of changing the culture of the conversation or changingh leadership of our country. and women stepped up largely because there's great organizations out there trying to help women tell their story, rd for office, step up ae out there. >> one of those organizations is ignite and anne moses with that group. i know you're training women from a young age, high school all the way to their early 20s. you're nowng even star younger. moving forward, do you see a new wave of young women will be inspired by this and we'll see more of them running fori oe? i'm thinking alexandria ocasio-cortez, she's latina, youngest woman ever elected to

cong wess. >> whare seeing is post-2016 -- pre20 we saw young women were driven by the issues. they aired about ushz, he wanted to make change around those issues and you had to convince them, though, that that desire and that passion and all that work they were already doing, that they should take that and run for office and be iowa place of p where they could actually make the decisions. that was a big push to convince them that ty could do it. after 2016 they realized they could do it, theyeaized they had to illinono choice but to d. they t out at arches looked around and realized this is who's going to say vote for me. that barrier went away. we've seen extraordinary political activism. >> just in the last two years? >> just in the last twowe years re racing to keep up with demand. we went from being in four states to bei i20 states in two years.

even since, in the three days since the election my staff has been receiving calls om floridkansas, women all over the country. e got a call from someone in panama who wanted to get involved. >> what are the concerns you're hearing from these young people as to why they want to run? >> everyone brings their own personal take on it. it's the issue that is personal to you. so we have a young woman we've known since he was 14 she'sdu about to gte from berkeley and she's now on the commission for women and girls in oakland appointed by the mayor. for her, her brother was killed when she was in high school in a drive-by. for her the iss isun violence. that's the issue that's driving her. we have young wmen for w the issue is access to reproductive rights or immigration. >> very, very personal like amanda was saying. amid the victories nationwide, and there were many. there were also some big losses.

including senatorslaire mccaskill of missouri and heidi heitkamp in north dakota. what does this tell you? >> you know there was an article out about is red getting redder and is blue getting bluer. i think right now what we're seeing is there is a whole new generation ofho folksre engaged and who are really -- no one expected at the beginning we wouldalking about stacy abrams right now and what's happening in georgia. no one expected .gill so i think some of that is not just about a party question, but about is there a time for new faces that aren't affiliated with democrat or republican and really the space in between that seems to be being filled by a lot more young people coming at politics fm a different angle. >> one of the reasons we're nonpartisan is young people are registering in droves are declining to state. ehen ifdo affiliate, they don't feel 100% affiliated with it and they're issue to issue.

>> do you feel like they would want aa newy or they don't want to be part of a party at all? >> they want to be authentically who they are. maybe they go this way on immigration and tha oway health care. they want to stand up for the issues they believe in. they don't feel particularly represented by parties at this point, and i think that's a great thing because they can run as they are authentically as they are. for young women in particular, their first race isore likely to be a local race. >> board of education. >> or city council race. why do you need affiliate yourself with that. you should just go forwa. and do i >> amanda, i want to talk about california's influence we have now democratic majority in the house.y naelosi is expected to become speaker. maxine waters on the financial service committee.

how can tecalifornia's ists be reflected in washingt? >> i think when you starto e that in the state of california it's not just someone breaking through and becoming a first. now all of a sueeden you're g a lot more women at the table. certainly when i word on the hill for the first woman elected from michigan, we were fhting get maternity care within the affordable care act and there were fthr women o committee. today you can imagine that conversation happening, now have six, seven. all of a sudden the course is a little louder, and i think we're going to s over the next five to ten years, what does that mean f governing now, how are coalitions being built with the new voices. >> amanda renteria with emerge america and ane moses with ignite. nice to have both of you here. >> thank you. >> that will do it for us. as always, you can find more of our coverage at kqed.org/no r m

kqed.org/newsroom, including the latest on the califoenia wildf i'm thuy vu. thank you for joining us.

robert: the acting attorney general under fire. democrats rising and washington divide. i'm robert costa. welcome toin "waon week." president trump: we're looking at different people for different positions. it's very common m after t terms.si robert: prent trump begins cleani house. attorney general jeff sessions steps down. atthew whitaker, a critic of special council robert mueller rises, and democrats express alarm about the probe. >> it wouldreate a constitutional crisis, and protecting mueller is paramount. robert: and a diverse field of newcomers and look to the future. >> we will have a responsibility to look