here's why you should switch fo to duckduckgo on all your devie duckduckgo comes with a built-n engine like google, but it's pi and doesn't spy on your searchs and duckduckgo lets you browse like chrome, but it blocks cooi and creepy ads that follow youa from google and other companie. and there's no catch. it's fre. we make money from ads, but they don't follow you aroud join the millions of people taking back their privacy by downloading duckduckgo on all your devices today. good morning, it is saturday, march 23rd. i'm symone sanders-townsend with michael steele in washington, d.c., and alicia menendez in new york. if you're just getting up with us, congress avoided a partial

government shutdown overnight, but there could be the start of even bigger problems for speaker mike johnson and his republican majority. plus, the former giuliani associate who blew a russia-sized hole into republicans' impeachment dreams. we'll talk about his testimony on capitol hill. later, michael cohen is with us as his former boss tries to scrape together $454 million all before monday. we've got a lot to talk about. welcome to "the weekend." congress managed to avoid a shutdown at about 2:00 a.m. eastern time, passing a bill that funds the government through the end of september. republicans left for a two-week recess without delivering crucial aid to ukraine and israel, as well as taiwan. overnight, russian authorities detained 11 people following a terror attack at a concert venue

just outside moscow. the russian government says at least 115 people are dead after several gunmen opened fire on the crowd. there were fears moscow would blame ukraine for the attack, but the terror group i.s.i.s. claimed responsibility in a post on telegram. nbc news has not verified that claim, and i.s.i.s. did not provide proof for the attack. joining us in new york is new york congressman gregory meeks, ranking member of the house foreign affairs committee. >> congressman, so good to have you back on the program. have you received a briefing on what has transpired in russia? >> not yet. we are awaiting that. all that i know is that i.s.i.s. has taken the responsibility of causing that -- that grave act in russia. but i have not had any con -- confirmation. >> talking about the stakes, how does that complicate the dynamic in the region? >> look, it still -- you know, you see russia's aggression in

ukraine. so there's flow question about that. but it also shows that i.s.i.s. is alive and trying to do certain things in the region. and you know, whatever blame comes there. i think that we need to find out -- i need to find out more so i can understand the steps that took place, you know, whether or not there was some reports that have been out that intelligence knew something and tried to warn russia in that regard. >> two weeks ago, you had the u.s. embassy putting out a bulletin saying this was likely to happen. >> that's right. so it's a lot -- i think still there to unpack. so i want to reserve my comments until such time i get the briefing that is necessary so i can get a full understanding of what took place, why it took place, who did it. so i'll reserve my comments until then. >> congressman, i mean, we have been up for an hour at this point talking about the implications of the lack of funding to ukraine.

obviously a government shutdown was averted overnight. but ukraine aid and i would also offer aid to israel and taiwan was not included in that package. where do negotiations on that stand right now? >> look, you're absolutely right. i think it's tragic that we're now on our easter recess, where we'll be working within our districts, with no aid going to ukraine, israel, humanitarian aid, as well as taiwan. it's dangerous. we just saw the other day where russia attacked the energy sectors of ukraine. said the greatest and most and hardest type of bombing that has taken place thus far in the two years since the invasion. we've got to get something done. now, there's dialogue and conversation that's going on, but what has to happen in my opinion is the bill that passed

the senate talking about one package for ukraine, israel, taiwan, humanitarian aid, and i might add this was negotiated and basically something that was recommended by the republicans. i was at meetings where -- it was situation room or the white house or -- or on the hill where this is what they said they wanted. to not pass a bill where every day, every minute, every hour counts is tragic in my estimation. so i would hope that the first thing that the speaker takes up is this bill that was passed in the senate because let the house to its will. i believe if he simply puts the bill on the floor, over 300 members in a bipartisan way will pass it. and to hold it because donald trump and those that are a part

of the republican russian caucus, that's basically what they are, don't want it on there is tragic and bodes against the leadership that we should have and be putting forward as the united states congress. >> congressman, i want to draw your attention to a tragedy closer to home. "ap" headline on friday says as gangs rampage through haiti's capital, more than 33,000 people have fled in 13 days. what is your assessment of haiti? what is the conversation in congress about haiti? because we ain't talking about haiti. and it -- it is a real tragedy right now. and it's not focused seemingly on the house side, the senate side, or the white house to publicly address this issue. see what are you hearing, what is the feeling and the thoughts about the situation in haiti right now? >> i'm so glad you brought that

up because it's been the focus i've had for about the last two weeks, the tragedy that's taking place in haiti. and i can tell you that the administration has been focused on it also. the key here is we don't want -- and the united states doesn't want to be put in the situation that they've been and sometimes they have done where we are leading the scenario telling the haitian people what to do and what not to do. so it has been the haitian community, the civic community, the religious community, the private sector that has been meeting, trying to put together a government while, you know -- what we're calling a transitional team of individuals to put haiti's future in front of it. so we are hoping that, and caracom has been negotiating, because the gangs have taken

over. the barbecue and de philippe, they're bad guys and have been moving on with no one holding them accountable and putting them in jail. i'm hoping that we are able to get this council together and then have the kenyans come in because they have agreed to provide security along with benin, who speaks french, to provide security, and then give the haitian people the room to have the dialogue and conversation without the gangs to come in and get things done. now, there's one thing that is being held up right now that i think is very important. what the united states needs to put in is $40 million that's being held up by the republicans in congress that needs to go to the kenyans to provide the security that is necessary. and we've got to get the republicans to release that $40 million as soon as the

transitional council is set up so that they can be secure and protected. that's very important. and we're leaning in and talking. that's the specific role that the united states has to play, giving the haitians the space to do what they need to do. but it's tragic if they don't do the $40 million we'll be facing another migration crises of haitians coming across the border in both the southern border and in florida in mass numbers. >> such an important reminder because so often we talk about immigration as though it is something that only happens when people show up at our shores, when they show up at the u.s.-mexico border, and in reality there are all of those push factors whether you're talking about central america or talking about haiti. i do want to make sure we quickly ask you about israel. here with secretary blinken, these remarks on friday in tel aviv, take a listen. >> we share israel's goal of defeating hamas which is responsible for the worst massacre of the jewish people since the holocaust. we share the goal of ensuring israel's long-term security.

as we've said, though, a major military ground operation in rafah is not the way to do it. >> clearly growing frustration on the part of the administration with netanyahu's administration. do you sense that we are moving toward a resolution? >> yeah, i would certainly hope so. and i think that the administration has been clear, number one. we know that hamas is a group that means no good for israel and no good for anyone in the middle east. i think hamas has been harmful to the gulf countries. they would like to get rid of hamas. and so that has to happen. but it's how you do it, and you can't have thousands of innocent lives lost in the process. and so talking about and figuring out a way to get rid of hamas without the deaths of thousands of innocent young individuals, mothers and fathers and uncles and aunts, is what

has to happen. one example is what took place recently because of intelligence. israel was able to go into a hospital and get several key hamas individuals without one innocent person or doctor, anyone being killed. we've got to look at that region -- at that -- how that worked. but also the end result. two-state solution, something that the biden administration has been very strong on because we can't just go back to october 6th. we've got to change what has been taking place for 75 years in the region. >> very quickly, though, another complication here is the restrictions on funding to unwra. you have a lot of progressives very upset about it. your thoughts? >> i'm very just sbet it. we had to strike this deal to keep the government open. unwra is the only one with the ability to get the aid to the people there. that was a problem for me also. but i had to make decisions because you give and talk when you do these budgets. so we still -- i've been talking

to a number of individuals and from other humanitarian organizations on how we can get resources to them and they may be able to get resources to unwra or whoever else can get food and aid into the region. absolutely key. >> congressman meeks, appreciate you being with us, waking up early to do so. next, president biden's campaign, they are working hard to win over nikki haley voters. and later this hour, the unlikely man who delivered a dose of reality to house republicans this week. former rudy giuliani associate lev parnes. you are watching "the weekend." .

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this morning we're waiting for president biden to sign the $1.2 trillion deal to fund the government. the legislation includes important provisions like funding for global health initiatives, childcare, and cancer research. but the votes on capitol hill also expose divisions in the republican caucus with marjorie taylor greene filing a motion to vacate, threatening speaker mike johnson's job. joining us now, nbc news correspondent julie serkin and columnist hayes brown. welcome to you both. a lot of excitement early in the morning. you all up and fresh. >> yes. julie has been on the hill, honey. she authored one of the -- co-authors of the nbc news piece, breaking down what's in the bill. julie, what stood out to you most about this entire process?

>> well, the fact that it's finally over because it has been a journey to get here. it has been months and months and months of negotiations, extended ladder deadlines, extending it and kicking the can down the road which is typical. you know, they essentially wanted to avoid the omnibus, that big spending package that congress muscles through every single year. >> like a mini -- >> they effectively got two versions of the omnibus. i'm not sure what they accomplished in terms of what hard-liners wanted. that's probably why they want to kick speaker johnson out of office. a lot didn't make it in. both sides didn't get major wins or losses. they got moderate wins and moderate losses. you know, they did plus up funding for the homeland security department. that was a contentious issue. speaker johnson touted the funding for the technology at the border. they have 8,000 additional detention beds which is huge. the biden administration has been asking for that for months. they didn't get any policy

changes. that was also a win for democrats. remember, they wanted that bipartisan deal to go through that republicans take. >> and funding for childcare. >> exactly. funding for childcare, too. nothing for unrwa which i know you were talking about with the congressman. >> i think for a lot of folks, though, the drama was marjorie taylor greene and all of that nonsense that sort of came into conversation. i'd like to play for you, hayes, a little bit of marjorie taylor greene on the motion to vacate. >> it's more of a warning and a pink slip. i respect our conference. i played all -- paid all my dues to my conference. i'm a member in good standing, and i do not wish to inflict pain our our conference and throw the house in chaos. i support republicans holding the majority next conference, but we need a speaker of the house that knows how to negotiate, knows how to walk in the room, knows how to hold the line, and knows how to defend

america first. >> so hayes, she doesn't want to inflict main, nor does she -- pain, nor does she want to create conflict inside of her caucus. how crazy is that? that's all she's been about. and so the frustrations for the speaker is that i can't get anything done when this right flank is just constantly yipping and nipping and threatening. how does this now set up the remainder of this time before we get to the fall elections? and what impact is it having inside the caucus itself? >> so i think that marjorie taylor greene seems to have amnesia from the last couple of months because it seems like she's forgotten what the process was like the last time they passed a motion to vacate. granted that time when they ousted kevin mccarthy it was a few republicans and mostly democrats who wound up voting to take former speaker mccarthy out of office. this time around it feels like more of an uphill climb to try

to get mike johnson out of the speaker's chair because he's actually spoken to democrats, he's done what he said he was going to do. he's tried to placate the right as much as possible. but unlike mccarthy, he has been willing to say, you know what, this is the best we can do, this is what we're going to get, and let the dice kind of roll on that front. and i think that it sets up -- she's going to be spending a lot of time the next couple of months trying to push the sort of agenda that republicans want to be able to run on even though they can't pass into law. it's going to be a lot of coms work between now and november to try to pass messaging bills that show the far right and deep conservatives that mike johnson is still one of you, he still wants to get things done, but it's the darn democrats blocking him. it's something he might be able to do more than mccarthy was. but it comes down to whether democrats back johnson or not

and what johnson is willing to give them to make sure they stay united with him. because now that the federal budget's passed with no major policy issues that are probably going to come to the floor between now and november, johnson has to show democrats there's a reason to keep him in that seat. >> then you've got julie, representative mike gallagher, saying i'm out of here. we knew he's resigning. now he says he's resigning early. that's how insufferable it is to be a member of congress these days. i want to flip what hayes said on its head which is, yes, it may be that democrats need to save mike johnson's speakership if there is, in fact, this motion to vacate. are there any republicans, do you hear any chatter about a willingness to vote for a speaker jeffries? >> no. look, speaker -- democratic leader jeffries had gotten more votes in the multiple rounds of speaker elections that we had in the fall. and by the way, back in january,

that was kind of a funny process on the floor because, of course, all democrats supported him unanimously when republicans were torn between who they wanted in that seat. so i don't see that ever happening. but it is interesting because we reported back in january that not only do some democrats want to save speaker johnson because, face it they don't want a jim jordan in that seat, they don't want somebody that they can trust even less than johnson. but back in january, they actually floated this in front of president biden at the white house. that's the reporting that we have had. all of this hangs on ukraine aid. we have new reporting out just today where speaker johnson's not going to put the senate package back on the floor, he's going consider his own ideas for foreign aid. again, even mcconnell in the senate who doesn't have much power or leverage in the house, is pushing on johnson to put that senate-passed package on the floor with threats coming from marjorie taylor greene. that gives johnson no leverage to do anything that conservatives want on ukraine aid, not even to tie it to the border. he's going to be pushed essentially exactly like hayes said. if democrats are going to save

him, he's going to have to give them something in return. that could be aid to ukraine. >> we just heard from the ranking member congressman meeks that there's money needed for helping haiti. so lots of things that congress needs to fund. before we go, hayes, i want to play senator cory booker last night or this morning, however you'd like to parse it. the biden administration has confirmed a record number of judges with diverse backgrounds, and a member of -- one of the first who would have been the first muslim american on a federal appeals -- on this particular federal appeals court, his nomination was in peril due to a number of attacks. this is senator booker in defense of him but i would argue celebration. >> no matter what happens to his nomination, this is a great american who should be proud of his work. we should celebrate him whether

we vote for him or not. we should cherish a moment like this that makes history. >> hayes, i have to wonder if the nomination of -- this particular nominee would be in danger if it were not an election year, and there were not so many things happening across the pond, if you will, particularly in the middle east when it comes to the war between israel and hamas, and if politics is fueling a lot of the vitriol and misinformation against this nominee. >> i mean, absolutely. quickly, i want to say that love when cory booker gets at the pulpit. i love when he is on a mission to try to convince his colleagues about what right is. he does it amazingly. you know, this is a matter of politics. the fact that there are any democrats unwilling to support this nominee is about being afraid really, afraid of the sort of backlash that, oh, you supported this candidate for

xyz, when none of the rumors and vitriol that are being spread are actually true. it's really just a matter of racism against a muslim candidate that we are seeing. and that is something that senator booker is standing up against. i think all democrats in the senate should be willing to stand up against. >> and we should note it is two democrats, cortez massa of nevada and west virginia's senator who have noted they are not supporting the nomination. hayes brown and julie sirkin, thank you so, so much. coming up, rudy giuliani's former associate lev parnas is here to discuss his surprising testimony before the house oversight committee earlier this week. you're watching "the weekend."

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♪ music ♪ ♪ unnecessary action hero! ♪ ♪ unnecessary. ♪ was that necessary? no. neither is missing your daughter's competition to do payroll. with paycom, employees do their own payroll so you don't have to miss your daughter's big day. time to shine. get paycom and make the unnecessary unnecessary. rudy giuliani on behalf of then-president donald trump tasked me with a mission to travel the globe finding dirt on the bidens so an array of networks could spread misinformation about them.

thus securing the 2020 election for donald j. trump. i found precisely zero evidence of the action in ukraine. this is false information spread by the kremlin. >> that was former rudy giuliani associate lev parnas at a house oversight committee hearing this week sounding off against house republicans' efforts to impeach president biden. lev parnas joins us now. good morning, sir. >> good morning, thank you for having me. >> let's pick up on the whole idea of naming names. you have made quite a firestorm in the last week or so. and i want to play your part in the oversight hearings. just take a listen to what you said on capitol hill. >> because the teams' investigations were centered around biden in ukraine, i was designated point person in every matter they pursued. that is how i know with

certainty that these biden stories are untrue then, and they're untrue now. congressman pete sessions, then congressman devin nunez, senator ron johnson, and many others understood they were pushing a false narrative. the same for sean hannity and media personnel particularly at fox news who used the narrative to manipulate the public ahead of the 2020 elections. sadly, they are still doing this today as we approach the 2024 elections. >> what is the idea now that you have of going out and having this conversation, that -- which you're laying out clearly for folks the role of the individuals, the background conversations, why now? why not then? why not real time? just break away from the scene and go this is not right? >> thanks, michael. i did. you know, after my arrest, i've been screaming at the top of my lungs to try to get the truth out. unfortunately i've been silenced

by first southern district of new york, then by the doj, then by special prosecutor scott, and then the republicans in the senate and the congress, by not calling the witnesses in the first impeachment. i did everything i could at the time. i was being discredited, they were trying to call me a liar. they tried to call me a russian spy, all kinds of stuff. . i did whatever i could, and i did hand over the 300 articles of impeachment against donald trump, i think around 100 were my evidence that i handed over to the impeachment committee. >> the impeachment, and to follow up on that, in 2020 you were a key part of the impeachment proceedings. you sat for an interview with the house of representatives, and i think that snowballed to the moment that we brought us to this week. as you came before the house oversight committee and named the names as michael said. do you think that your actions in ukraine contributed to this

wavering support that we are seeing in the united states congress right now? you talked about the russian misinformation during your testimony this week and how all of these people knew that -- where the information was coming from, and there was no there there. and now you have folks in the united states intelligence community saying that there are members of congress, republican members of congress, who have been willing agents by -- of russia because they are currently united states congress, republicans particularly in congress, are not doing what needs to be done in terms of releasing aid needed to help ukraine. >> well, absolutely. i mean, this is -- you have to understand, all of this to make it simplified, it's all about donald trump, all about re-electing him in 2024 again. it's all about that's what's going on with ukraine. the reason why all of them are supporting russia is because russia is going to do everything possible to interfere in our

elections to get donald trump into office again. i mean, it's simple as that. and you know, it's upsetting to see that they're using the impeachment of a u.s. president for political purposes, not for to get down to the bottom of the truth if there was ever a crime committed. and the objective with me coming there was to get the truth out, to get -- let the american public understand exactly how deep the corruption goes. it doesn't just start with donald trump. you're going into congress, you're going to -- you have people in the doj. think about the investigation and how bill barr chose the -- the doj chose to use information from a russian asset to impeach a u.s. president knowing all along that they had the evidence to debunk it prior to him making those statements when they arrested him. they chose to not even question or talk about it. they chose to just bury it. and that's where the true investigation should happen. that's what we should have -- we have to understand how was it possible a foreign government could infiltrate not only our

president, ex-president, members of congress, senate, doj, how is that possible? how is this going? and the sad part and the crazy part is it's one thing if we didn't know about it, but it's out in the open. they know it, and they're still -- remember when rudy giuliani was -- you're speaking to a russian asset. his response was, how undoo he's a russian asset? he might not be a russian asset. are you kidding me? >> we have that sound that we were referencing of you speaking specifically about bill barr during the hearing. let's talk on the other side. >> my arrest was set up strictly to shut me up, to seal my documents, take away all my information, and turn me into a crazy man that had no way to prove what was going on. but the real story was bill barr was trying to stave donald trump from an impeachment and use me as a scapegoat. he didn't realize that donald trump wasn't going to stop and would continue doing what he wanted to do. that's why it blew up in bill barr's face. >> you name a lot of names there

who -- to your argument have been carrying water for donald trump and by extension for the kremlin. what will it take for that to stop? >> well, the very first thing is to get rid of donald trump. we need to to re-elect joe biden to office. that's the very first thing. and then we need to -- our country to wake up and realize that it's not just the president and elections but we need to get all of these people out of congress, out of senate, it's going to take time. that's the only way we're going to do this, by getting out the vote, going out there and putting people that care about our country and not about the kremlin or russian propaganda into office. because unfortunately, until you do that or have committee hearings and let's get the truth out. let's put criminal, you know, referrals onto people that deserve criminal referrals that really did something criminal and are doing it to this date. that's the crazy part. that they're doing it until this day right in the open, for all of us to see with donald trump at the lead of it. they're making statements about nato with the republicans now

willing to not even -- the border just for the sake of not giving ukraine aid and making joe biden look bad. america has to realize it's all about donald trump. it's his narcissism that he has that he's shown. it's not about the country, it's about him. >> mr. parnas, you know, i guess for me some of the frustration is and i think for a lot of folks that all this has been set in motion by, you know, yourself and giuliani and others at the time as you noted at the beginning of the conversation, once you got caught. you know, then the narrative changes. what do we do? what does it take -- at some point do people realize that they're hurting the country, putting us in a bad position? and it takes getting caught by law enforcement in order for you to realize that? help me understand the

conversion story. because for me, when you're sitting there and you know you're talking to a russian asset and you're working with an administration that is -- that is hand in glove with that asset and the russians, how -- how come it doesn't kick in then? wait a minute, i got time-out. where -- y'all, what are we doing here? what -- so help me understand that. >> yeah. i mean, it's a great question. you have two sorts of people. you have the leader, the people that are brainwashing him, doing this for their own personal political and financial gains like donald trump, giuliani, and a lot of these congressmen and senators. then you have the regular mega followers -- maga followers, the cult environment, where they are brainwashed. when you're in a cult, your mind thinks a lot different. that's why you don't think common sense-wise much you think what you want to and believe and everything else doesn't matter. if you look at every person that's got out of the maga cult like me, michael cohen, and others, something had to happen

in their life very drastic to wake up and leave. either get arrested or, you know, something personally happened to you to realize what's going on. and it has to be something really bad to wake you up and shake you up. with me, i am fortunate as bad as it sounds that i did get arrested, that i was able to get shocked out of the system, that i was able to have time to reflect on the stand and realize what i was doing. that's why now i'm trying to make amends for the problems i caused by doing this with this team. so yeah, it's very difficult. and ump unfortunately -- and unfortunately a lost people are not going to realize it until it hits them personally one way or another. >> lesson learned. lev parnas, thank you so much for taking time. speaking of michael cohen, next hour, former trump attorney michael cohen will be here as his ex-boss tries to come up with $454 million before monday. you're watching "the weekend." follow our show on social media, our handle everywhere is

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so i wanted to really kind of drill down on that last part a little bit because, you know, we were talking off set a little bit about this idea that, you know, nothing changes until you get caught. i mean, in the middle of all of this going on, you know you're dealing with russian assets, you know the kremlin's involved

here, you know you're lying to the american people. and yet you're going, what do you want me to go out and say? then the fbi shows up at your door. you're like, ho, crap, oh, no, no, let me tell it all now. >> uh-huh. >> i just -- that part for me is fascinating. i thought levputting it in the proper context of saying when you're in a cult, yeah, the blinders are on tight, and you don't see or hear anything else until something shocks your system. it shocked the system. >> he called himself a blind follower. and i think often -- we'll talk with michael cohen about how donald trump is on the cusp of accountability in a number of the cases that have to do specifically with the election in 2020. but folks like lev parnas, like michael cohen, folks like jenna ellis in georgia, when -- being faced with the potential jail time, right, forced them, kind of shocked them out of the

system. and thatis the only way we know as much as we know right now. and i thought it was -- he said he was a member of a cult. folks have been saying that for a while. to hear it from literally -- >> someone inside the room. >> someone inside. >> especially set against the backdrop of a vibes-based impeachment of the current president with no evidence, the vibes, they are not good. next, a group of republicans think insurance shouldn't have access to ivf. the debate this country needs to have on reproductive health care before the election. stay with us. re before the election. stay with us

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this week was a true split screen for republicans' mixed messaging on in vitro fertilization or ivf. at a senate judiciary hearing republicans downplayed the alabama supreme court's decision treating embryos as children. but at the same time, four house republicans signed a letter condemning the expansion of ivf for military veterans calling ivf, quote, morally dubious. the president and ceo of the national council of negro women

joins us now. >> so good to have you with us. take a listen to what senator lindsey graham had to say about the alabama legislature correcting the alabama supreme court's decision. take a listen. >> the alabama decision i think has been corrected by the alabama legislature. there are a lot of questions around embryos and what status they should have. but i don't think you have any disagreement here on the committee that ivf treatments should be made available. i think they should be reasonable regulation in this area, just like any other area of -- of medicine. >> where senator graham is wrong is that it -- the legislature didn't get to the underlying question of personhood, and there is great concern in alabama that you are going to see providers leaving the state because it is still incredibly legally complicated for them to

provide care. it would seem to me that republicans realize they've painted themselves into a corner. >> you know, i think that's a -- a serious question to grapple with. thank you for having me because this conversation is so personal for me as someone who has dealt with this issue of infertility. one of the things that many of those that are -- in the agenda are getting wrong is this not just about providers, it's about patients leaving the state of alabama. it's about looking and seeking opportunities for care. this conversation of reproductive health care has been major across this country. it's an election conversation, it's a civic engagement conversation, and now it's a meddling in my personal business conversation. the end of the day, the ability to create life with whatever method is available is not only godly as a minister, but it is also a profound individual right. and this is where many on this side of the conversation are getting it wrong. >> so there are a lot of aspects

to this conversation that have been taking place. and -- a big part of this is sort of the moral underpinning of ivf. and the abortion discussion obviously writ large. the ivf piece for me is fascinaing because of what's involved and why people are so -- so passionate, if you will, about the importance of this. you know, as a roman catholic, i know in my church we have very strong prohibition against ivf. and there's a lot of discussion right now among many congregations, you're an ordained minister yourself. >> absolutely. >> i know you're having these conversations. talk to us little bit about how people are reconciling in their lives their reproductive freedom aspect of this and the moral consequences that their church or faith tradition is putting in front of them, as well.

>> you know, a lot of this is around personal theology, has informed a lot of this. as someone who personally struggled with this myself, to be training -- to be in our church, your ability to have a moral decision for your life is your own. stand in your only personal constructs. however, it becomes government overreach when you begin to infiltrate your beliefs onto someone else. and i think there's a lot of difficult conversations that are happening. the word abortion is one of those words that takes people to another -- >> right. right. >> i'm trying to help people remove that conversation of abortionautonomy. do i have the ability to make a decision for myself? and as a faith leader, if someone told me i could not have my own faith, that would be infiltrating in my own personal decisions. the same context here. if someone's infiltrating my ability, legislating against my ability to have a child, not have a child, or my ability to make a decision with my provider, my god, even my

partner, that stands as unconstitutional and, quite frankly, against the moral compass of our democracy. our country was founded on choice and opportunity. >> the next -- real quick on that part. the next -- boston tea party. you know the next wave of this coming off of ivf is contraception. >> yes. yes. >> yes. >> this is not happening in a silo. >> an agenda. >> it is an agenda. and i'm just -- i know the national council of negro women and other women organizations have been getting together and talking about this particular issue and how you all go out and talk to voters, the american people, as they are making consequential decisions. you all are not endorsing any races or whatnot. but you know, you care about people turning out to vote. i'm just wondering how that particular conversation is going because it's ivf, it's contraception. i mean, it's birth control, the -- the birth control pills -- >> being a woman in america. >> being a woman.

yeah, in america, yes. >> you know, you bring up a great point. one of the things that we found, we are a council of 35 national black women's organizations. we represent a cadre of women where some are educated, some have lower socio-economic status. what brings us together is the opportunity to have our constitutional rights. you know what may separate us? as a country even more -- to take away rights that have been founded on the principles of this democracy. let me say this -- as we see gains taken away from our rights, what we're telling our constituents is your ability to vote now is more important than ever. those that we voted for have placed judges in positions that have made these decisions. and your vote counted then, had and it counts even more now. the more we vote, the more we have voice in this process. and let me say this -- black women specifically have a voting block that has been consistent for the last 35, 40 years,

consistent around the issues that matter oar -- the economy, our health care, public safety, and yes, access to the right to vote. if we're not going to take that seriously, i will tell you this, the administration that's currently in office will see that there are consequences here. and i am hopeful that our country as nonpartisan as we are, we're factual. and we see how black women trend. we are hopeful that the american voter takes this election seriously because there's going to be consequences if we don't. >> talk to some of the black men out there. >> is there a longer segment? >> we'll have you back -- we have things to discuss, okay. black men, latino men, the -- come on. >> okay. >> see, this is why we need to have you at the table. thank you for coming in today. >> thank you. folks, don't you go anywhere. we've got another hour of "the weekend" straight ahead.

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