19:16

Senator Kamala Harris has just finished her first press conference as a 2020 candidate for president. Here are some highlights from the Howard University event.

The first question was about her role as California attorney general defending the prison system’s policies denying reassignment surgery to transgender inmates. She said:

It was an office with a lot of people and I wish sometimes that they had consulted with me ... I worked behind the scenes to ensure that the department of corrections would allow transitioning inmates to receive the medical attention that they required, that they needed, that they deserved.”

Harris dodged a direct question about whether she believes trans inmates should have access to gender reassignment surgery, saying, “I believe that we are at a point where we have got to stop vilifying people based on sexual orientation. And we’ve got to understand that when we are talking about ... the transgender community, for too long they’ve been the subject of bias and frankly a lack of understanding about their circumstance and their physical needs.”

Asked about Donald Trump and Syria, she said:

We cannot conduct our foreign policy through tweets. My concern is that when we make decisions about what we will do in terms of our military presence ... that we do that in a way that will involve consultation with our military leaders.”

On voter outreach:

For all voters, we’ve got to reach out to folks, we’ve got to go where they are, understand who they are, we have to listen as much as we talk. That is certainly what I intend to do as a candidate ... It is my full intention to travel this country, and to sit in living rooms and to listen to families ... The vast majority of us have so much more in common than what separates us.

One reporter asked, “You’re an African American woman, but you’re also Indian American. I’m just curious how do you describe yourself?”

She responded, “I describe myself as a proud American.”

On the investigations into Trump and Russia:

My highest priority and what I believe should be the highest priority for the United States Congress is that Bob Mueller be able to finish his investigation ... Clearly he is following the facts where they lead him, and there should be no interference with that process, because the American public has a right to know what actually went on.

Asked if she had regrets about her work as a prosecutor, she said:

I can tell you of cases where I really regret that we were not able to charge somebody that I knew molested a child ... There are cases ... where there were folks who made a decision in my office and had not consulted me and I wish they had. But again I take full responsibility for those decisions. But I will also say that there is a lot about what I did as a prosecutor that I’m proud of, including a recognition that there are fundamental flaws in the criminal justice system ... One of my biggest regrets is that I haven’t had time to do more.

On the shutdown: