Norman Ornstein & Susan Glasser on AG William Barr

NORMAN ORNSTEIN, POLITICAL SCIENTIST AND CONGRESSIONAL EXPERT: This is not business as usual, Christiane. This really is a difference. We’ve had, of course, other cabinet members who have had disputes with Congress, including Eric Holder in the Obama administration. We’ve had contempt citations issued. We’ve had delays. But in the past, it’s always been resolved through some kind of negotiation.

This in terms of the volume, the blanket refusal to cooperate, the direct challenges to the authority of Congress from the Justice Department, from the president, from a whole series of cabinet agencies is simply unprecedented in our modern age, at least, and it is leading to a constitutional crisis.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: So, you think it is. Let me ask you, Susan Glasser, if you agree with that sort of maximalist interpretation of what’s happening.That it is leading to a constitutional crisis, and, if so, what exactly does that mean and what does it look like, including, of course, Steven Mnuchin, the treasury secretary, so far not saying what he’s going to do about the tax returns.

SUSAN GLASSER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, that’s right. It’s a good point. It’s not just about the Mueller report, and I think that’s something important for people to realize is that, essentially, President Trump has decided to thumb his nose at the broad range of Congressional investigations, and there are many that are ongoing since the Democrats have taken control of the House of Representatives. The president has basically directed his staff not to cooperate at all with the new Democratic House and essentially, he’s daring them. He sees that he has retained the Republican-controlled Senate. He believes that there are not 20 Republican senators who are going to break ranks with him and ever go for a move to impeach and remove him from office.

As a matter of politics, I should say that that remains, I think, a fairly accurate reading of the situation in Washington. But as — it’s typical with President Trump, he is going to the nth degree with this strategy. And that’s where, I think, Norm is right to say it’s something different than we’ve experienced in the past. Previous presidents didn’t want to dial up the confrontation with Congress. They often wanted to dial it down, and it seems President Trump is almost daring the House of Representatives to go farther.

Perhaps even daring them to impeach him and see that there’s potential political benefit from himself in alarming his Republican base in advance of the 2020 presidential election. But it really — what it means is that we’re headed down a course of confrontation because these are co-equal branches of government under our constitution. And so, that leaves, potentially, the courts to referee this fight, which is always a risky situation.