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This Sunday, big beautiful breakup. The feud between President Trump and Elon Musk explodes over the president's tax and spending bill. I'm very disappointed because Elon knew the inner workings of this bill. I think he's flat rock.
I think he's, he's way off. On this breaking news. Elon Musk and I agree with each other. Can President Trump convince reluctant Republicans worry the bill will grow the deficit to sign on?
We will get this done one way or the other, and it's not going to be easy. My guest this morning, Republican Senator Jim Clankford of Oklahoma and Democratic Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey. Plus, returned and charged months after being mistakenly deported to El Salvador. Kilmar Abrego Garcia is returned to the US to face charges.
Abrego Garcia has landed in the United States to face justice and healing powers. Actor Olivia Munn shares her cancer battle and surrogacy journey in our Meet the moment conversation. It's hard to explain knowing that this diagnosis that puts so much fear into me has been able to be turned into something that's saving people's lives. Joining me for insight and analysis are NBC News Capitol Hill correspondent Melody Zenona, Leigh Ann Caldwell, chief Washington correspondent for pop Simone Sanders Townsend, former chief spokeswoman for Vice President Kamala Harris, and Republican strategist Sarah Fagan.
Welcome to Sunday. It's Meet the Press from NBC News in Washington, the longest running show in television history. This is Meet the Press with Kristen Welker. Good Sunday morning.
Elon Musk's criticism of President Trump's tax and spending bill erupted into a bitter public fight this week, with Musk going so as to agree with a call For President Trump's impeachment, Musk blasted the Republican spending bill as a, quote, disgusting abomination and urged GOP lawmakers to kill it. I'm very disappointed because Elon knew the inner workings of this bill better than almost anybody sitting here. In a phone call on Saturday, President Trump told me that he has no desire to repair his ties with Musk and asked if his relationship with Musk is over. He told me, quote, I would assume so.
As Republicans race to pass the president's signature piece of legislation, the breakup between two of the world's most powerful men is highlighting divisions on Capitol Hill. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office analysis found the bill would add $2.4 trillion to the debt over the next decade. Fiscal hawks in the Senate worry about voting for a bill that will add more to the deficit. I can't in good conscience give up every principle that I stand for and every principle that I was elected upon, and that's it.
Can't accumulate more debt. Failure's not an option. We will get this done one way or the other, and it's not gonna be easy. President Trump telling me he remains very confident that he can still get the bill passed before July 4 and claim the Republican Party is more unified now because of how Musk treated him.
When I asked President Trump if he thinks Musk could sink the bill, he told me, I don't think he has the power to do it. Musk spent more than a quarter billion dollars helping Trump return to the White House. Musk posting this week, without me, Trump would have lost the election. As for concerns that must fund Democrats in the future, President Trump told me if he does, he'll have to pay the consequences.
Meanwhile, on Friday, Kilmer Abrego Garcia, who the Trump administration had mistakenly reported to El Salvador, was flown back to the United States to face charges of human smuggling. Abrego Garcia has landed in the United States to face justice. In April, the Supreme Court ordered the Trump administration to facilitate his return. President Trump telling me he did not call the president of El Salvador to directly ask for Abrego Garcia's return.
Asked if he brought him back to the US because of the court's order, Mr. Trump said it wasn't his decision. It was handled by the Justice Department and believes, quote, it should be a very easy case. Over the weekend, chaotic scenes played out on the streets of Los Angeles, where protesters clashed with authorities conducting workplace immigration rates.
And overnight, President Trump ordering 2,000 National Guard troops to the city. California's Governor Gavin Newsom called the move Unnecessary and said it will only escalate tensions. NBC's Jacob Sober off spoke to the border star, Tom Homan. I'd love to get your response to Governor Newsom saying essentially your actions here are provocative and the quote, that he was sowing chaos.
Governor Newsom's embarrassment for the state. He's the one that's feeding this mantra. He supports sanctuary cities. He supports sanctuary laws.
If you care. If you cared about public safety in the state of California, he will not have a sanctuary for criminals, where criminals get released to the streets of this state every day because of his files. And joining me now is Republican Senator James Langford of Oklahoma. Senator Langford, welcome back to Meet the Press.
Thank you. Good Sunday morning to you. Good Sunday morning to you. Thank you for being here.
Let's start right there with President Trump's decision to deploy the National Guard 2000 troops. He says it is the first time that a president will have deployed the National Guard without a governor's sign off since 1965. How do you respond to Governor Newsom who says that this move will only escalate tensions? Yeah, I think what President Trump's trying to do is pretty clear, trying to de escalate all the tensions that are there.
We're watching as Americans, scenes of burning cars and intersections and people waving American flags at local law enforcement, concrete blocks being thrown at federal law enforcement. We watched this kind of scene five, six years ago when there was a takeover in the Northwest around Seattle and Portland. When we watched all that happen and local law enforcement was being challenged over and over again. It finally took a National Guard presence to be able to bring it down after weeks.
What President Trump is trying to say, this is not going to take weeks this time. We're not going to allow this to be able to spiral out of control. This is an American city. And to be able to have an American city where we have people literally flying Mexican flags and saying, you cannot arrest us, cannot be allowed.
If someone violates a law, no matter what state that they're in, they're in violation of the federal law. They should face consequences for that. We know, Senator, Governor Newsom says there is no unmet law enforcement need. The LAPD says the protests were peaceful.
Defense Secretary Pete Heist is now warning active duty Marines could be mobilized. Would you support mobilizing the Marines and do you think Congress would need to sign off on that first? Yeah, well, active duty Marines are not gonna be put into local law enforcement. They would be in support roles on it, as we have in the Border.
We have active duty military at the border, but they're not doing law enforcement tasks. They're doing logistical tasks behind the scenes. Local law enforcement should take care of this. But again, when you're seeing burning cars and federal law enforcement, law enforcement being attacked on the streets and with thousands of lapd, which, by the way, do a great job, the LAPD has a great task in front of them, and they're doing.
They're meeting that task with a great opportunity to be able to actually enforce the law. But it's clear that they're being overwhelmed as the protests rise. We want to make sure those protests actually don't spiral out of control. Again, this wouldn't be an issue if California didn't promote sanctuary city policies to be able to tell people, literally, you can violate federal law and live in our state, and no one will arrest you for this.
Now, suddenly, when they are arrested for federal crimes, then suddenly they go into this kind of protest saying, no, you can't arrest us here. We're immune for federal law. That's not true. All right, let's move on to the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
The Supreme Court back in April actually ordered the Trump administration to facilitate the return of Abrego Garcia. It is now June. Senator, should President Trump have had and ordered him to be returned sooner than right now? Yeah, they have gone through the legal back and forth on this, and I know some lawyers said, hey, it's not required.
Others said it was based on how they would argue that out. They've argued out that's what happens in the justice system. A federal grand jury has now indicted him. He has been returned under the indictment of a federal grand jury for human smuggling.
And he will face those charges then probably, if he's convicted, will face prison time with that. So that is. That is the justice system working through the process. Well, Senator, isn't the point that Abrego Garcia or anyone should have due process first before they are deported and sent to a Salvadoran prison?
So every person is given due process, but someone who is not a citizen of the United States has very different due process than someone who is a citizen in the United States. The administration has been very clear. Everyone gets due process here. But if you're American citizens facing a court, you're going through a jury, you're going through all those things that American citizens have those right for.
But I would tell you, many individuals when they cross our southern border, are told by federal law enforcement official that arrest them. This is what you have Violated and you're being returned if you're along our border. And it was so even in the final days of the Biden administration, I watched it happen where they literally picked up, we're told you violated federal law and with hours were turned around. Well, it is worth noting the Constitution does say that all persons in the US Are entitled to due process.
Doesn't make a distinction about citizenship. I do want to move on though, to this extraordinary fight. Just one quick, just one quick statement. The due process, as the court has ruled on an American citizen is different than someone who's not legally present in the country.
It's a faster process. Literally reading to them the statute and saying this is what you violated does count as due process depending on how they actually entered into the country. But I mean, the US has provided due process even to terrorists. Senator, you're saying that people who are here who citizenship are entitled to due process even though the fifth Amendment.
No, I'm. No, no, not saying that all. Yeah, not saying that all. Just saying the due process is different for a citizen and a non citizen.
Okay. It's a much faster process for a non citizen. Okay. Let's move on to this extraordinary fight between President Trump and Elon Musk.
On Tuesday, Musk posted that anyone who votes for the big beautiful bill, the so called big beautiful bill, should be fired in the next election. President Trump told me Musk would, quote, have to pay very serious consequences if he starts funding Democrats. He would say exactly what those consequences are. Are you comfortable with the president warning there will be very serious consequences for someone who supports Democratic candidates?
We have a lot of social media drama going on between two of the most active social media individuals in the world. Actually back and forth on that. And I know a lot of people are focused on that. I would tell you what we're focused in on is the very straightforward issue that we face if we don't address this issue about the tax bill.
Every American's taxes will go up January 1st because when the calendar changes, tax rates go up significantly. We're trying to fight to make sure that doesn't happen. We don't want tax rates to go up on every single American. We also want to be able to deal with wasteful spending in areas where we know we can address.
We have trillions of dollars in overspending. We're trying to address as many of those as we possibly can in this bill, finish it and then move on to the next, to the next. This is the first step in a long process to be able to get our budget back under control. Senator, let me ask you specifically about what Elon Musk is saying about the bill.
He says massively increase the already gigantic budget deficit and burden American citizens with crushingly unstable debt in 2022. Senator, you posted, quote, for the sake of our nation, it's time Congress actually tackled the debt and deficit and stopped the spending. So do you agree with Elon Musk that this bill just adds too much to the debt? I do not actually, and I will continue to say about the statements, I've made those statements for well over a decade now.
We've got to address the deficit. We've got to be able to tackle this. Here's the assumptions that the Congressional Budget Office makes. The Congressional Budget Office makes the assumption we're going to have this giant tax increase next year that's not going to affect the economy.
That's not going to slow the economy down. We're going to have the same amount coming in and the same economic activity. No one really believes that's true. If you have a giant tax increase in January, it will slow the economy down, it will hurt economic activity, and you'll actually have less dollars coming in.
So if you don't want fewer dollars coming in, then you've got to be able to deal with that tax policy. So we're trying to do it as much as possible, keep the tax rates the same is what they are. Only in Washington is that called a giant tax decrease when you're trying to keep them the same as much as you can. And at the same time, to be able to deal with some of our what's called mandatory spending, things like Medicaid, I would say we talked a lot about Medicaid over the years.
The Medicaid program right now is set up where the Federal government gives $9 for every $1 state puts in for a healthy adult. But for a disabled child, the federal government puts in $1.30 for every $1. That's backwards. And we don't have any kind of work requirements as we do with the rest of our social safety net.
We're trying to be able to fix that. Let me jump in here, Senator, because I want to ask you about your trip to the Middle east, and we're almost out of time. You make several stops, including to Israel. Here's what you said about Gaza in an interview after your trip.
You said, quote, it's unexplainable how much destruction has occurred. Some people think the Palestinians should be temporarily moved out, but they can't live in tents for a decade. Given that, in the conversations you had, do you support President Trump's plans for the US to take over and develop Gaza? We have about 30 seconds.
Yeah, we're not, we're not taking over Gaza by any means. This is not America's responsibility to be able to take over Gaza and be able to run it. There are other countries that have support Palestinians but don't support Palestine's actually moving to their country. But you've got 2 million people there, many of them civilians.
They're totally innocent, had nothing to do with Hamas. They're living in the debris field there. And right now, the Israelis are getting food boxes in for weeks worth of food and delivering a totally different way and trying to establish the process for the Gulf states and others to come in and to be able to do rebuilding in that area. So it's important on the humanitarian side of things, it's important also that Gaza cannot run, Hamas cannot run Gaza, and we cannot have terrorists living right there and we certainly cannot have mosque continue to be able to hold Israeli hostages.
All right, Senator James Langford, thank you so much for bringing us that update to your trip and your other insights. We really appreciate it. When we come back, Democratic Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey joins me next week. Beatboxing actually has hidden health benefits.
It can help strengthen and protect your voice from injury. See healthy living differently with Manulife. Visit Manulife Ca Health. Welcome back to me now is Democratic Senator from New Jersey, Cory Booker.
Senator Booker, welcome back to Meet the Press. Thanks so much. Good morning to you. Good morning to you.
Thank you for being here. I do have to start with President Trump's anti plans to deploy the National Guard to Los Angeles to deal with the protesters there. The president bypassing the governor and federalizing the Guard himself. He says he did so because Governor Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass refused to act against the unrest.
What is your response to President Trump's decision to deploy the National Guard? Look, since years before I was born, law enforcement knows it's good when there's cooperation and coordination. For the president to do this when it wasn't requested, breaking with generations of tradition is only going to incite the situation to make things worse. We are now at a point where we have a president who sat back and did nothing as people stormed our Capitol, viciously beat police.
And then when those people who viciously beat police and led to some of their deaths, therefore cop killers, were convicted by juries, he then pardoned them all. So for him to Be talking to anybody right now about responsive law enforcement to protect people is hypocritical at best. The reality is we see peaceful protests launching in Los Angeles. And again, any violence against police officers should not be accepted.
Local authorities to handle that. But remember, a lot of these peaceful protests are being generated because the president United States is sowing chaos and confusion by arresting people who are showing up for their immigration hearings, who are trying to abide by the law. He's arresting them. You see this in communities of Republican Trump supporters being outraged that he's raiding kitchens and arresting people, high schools and arresting people who are not what he said he would do, which is focus law enforcement resources on violent criminals and people that are a danger to other Americans.
All right, Senator, let's move on to Kamara Abrego Garcia return to the United States to face human trafficking charges more than two months after being mistakenly sent to El Salvador. In my phone interview with President Trump on Saturday, he called Senator Chris Van Hollen, your Democratic colleague, of course, went to El Salvador to meet with Mr. Abrego Garcia, a quote, loser. And he signaled that he thinks Democrats support of Abrego Garcia will cost the party electorally.
What say you? Do you think the Democrats made a mistake by making Abrego Garcia the face of the fight for due process? Look, Chris Van Holland is a champion for Constitution because a threat to due process rights of anyone is a threat to just due process rights for everyone. The president United States has been violating a 9.
0, court order from the Supreme Court of United States of America, including three people he put there himself. There's a unanimity amongst legal scholars that everyone has a right to due process. And anyone who stands up for that, even for people who are, who are not as, don't inspire necessarily public adoration. We understand that in our nation, when you come after our Constitution, you are doing the wrong thing.
Here's the challenge. Abrego Garcia is back, but there are over 250 people that Donald Trump has sent there, 50 of whom who entered our country legally who did not get a day in court. We do not know the truth of the facts of their cases that have been sent to a prison, but to a place that human rights activist says is more of a gulag, where people's human rights are being violated. Senator, let's now turn to the president's tax and spend bill.
I want to read you a little bit what Elon Musk has said about it. He calls it a disgusting abomination. He threatened to fire all politicians who Backed it. He's arguing the bill doesn't do enough to deal with the debt and deficit.
Do you agree with him? Well, I agree that it's going to saddle this country with trillions of dollars of debt, endanger our entire economy. We've already seen movies downgrade our economy, therefore making it more likely that interest rates go up and more and more Americans are paying more. This is a bill that adds to our deficits in a colossal way.
For any fiscal hawk or someone who's fiscal prudently behind, it shows that they are hypocrites and that they are more in allegiance to the president than sound fiscal policy. But here's what makes this bill even worse. Americans will pay so much more in order to give tax cuts to billionaires. The average health care premiums for Americans will go up about $900 a year.
The average energy cost for Americans will go up about $250 a year. We will see 16 million Americans lose their health insurance and millions of children lose their food supports. This is a morally wrong bill and it's definitely, definitely an economically wrong bill as well. Senator, Congressman Ro Khanna says the Democrats should be open to working with Elon Musk.
So let me ask you, would you personally accept money from Elon Musk if you were to support your re election campaign, for example? Let me just tell you, we're stuck in this right, left divide right now. I will partner with anyone like I did in the last Congress, putting my vote alongside of John McCain's, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins to stop the tearing down of the Affordable Care Act. This is not about right or left.
It's about right or wrong. And this bill is disastrous for the average American driving up this cost. This bill is disastrous for our long term economy. This is an American issue.
And I welcome Elon Musk not to my campaign. I welcome him right now not to sit back and just fire off tweets, to get involved right now in a more substantive way and putting pressure on Congress, people and senators to not do this. But Senator, let me just put a fine point on this. Would you accept money from Elon Musk if he were to give it to you?
And should other Democrats. I would not accept money from Elon Musk for my campaign. But I would be supportive of anybody, including Elon Musk, putting resources forward right now to let more Americans know. Sound the alarm.
Treat this like a Paul Revere moment. More Americans have to understand that if this bill passes, average Americans are gonna see their costs skyrocket as this President again pushes legislation that is indicative of his chaos, corruption and cruelty towards Americans. And let's talk about the Democrats. The Democratic primary for New Jersey's gunatorial election will be held on Tuesday.
I don't have to tell you that this comes as Democrats are still struggling with their messaging, quite frankly. Notably this week, former President Biden's press secretary, Kris Jean Pierre switched her party affiliation to Democrats. A lot of the gubernatorial candidates are to Independence Apology. A lot of the gubernatorial candidates have been very critical of the party.
Do you think the Democrats have distance themselves from the party brand in order to win? Well, again, I think the Democrats right now all across America should be less concerned about the Democratic Party and more concerned with the American people. There's a trust problem for Republicans and Democrats. Most Americans voted against both of the presidential candidates in the last election.
We need to start standing up and showing we're fighting for Americans right now. And when we have a president that is driving a bill that's going to rip health insurance away from 16 million Americans, drive up premium costs for 93% of Americans, don't sit around and worry about party and elections over a year from now in the federal sense. Show that you're a fighter, get in the arena, roll up your sleeves and start working on behalf of the American people. I'm excited about New Jersey's primary.
I'll support whoever comes out of it. But my work right now is to stop this disastrous bill that's in the Senate. Senator, you haven't endorsed in this race. Do you plan to do so?
Would you like to do so right here? I'm going to endorse the winner of the primary. I'm going to be in New Jersey working up and down the ticket. And here's the great thing.
Every special election we've seen right now has seen record energy and turnout in America. People understand the consequences of elections they're living in right now. But again, we have work today. We have work this week.
More people please get involved. From Elon Musk to people in my neighborhood on this block, we all have a responsibility. But Bill, this threatening to the well being and the fabric of our country, do not sit down. Democracy is not a spectator sport.
Get more involved. Do more. Because what's going to happen if this bill passes to our neighbors, to the sick, to the elderly, to the disabled is unacceptable. All right.
Senator Cory Booker, thank you so much for joining me. We really appreciate it. Thank you so much. I appreciate you.
And when we come back, what's the impact of President Trump's messy public feud with Musk. The panel is next. Welcome back to panelists here. NBC News Capitol Hill correspondent Melanie Zinona, Leanne Caldwell, chief Washington correspondent for Puck, Simone Sanders Townsend, former chief spokesperson for Vice President Harris and co host of the Weeknight on msnbc and Republican strategist Sarah Fagan.
Thanks to all of you for being here. This powerhouse panel that we have now, let me start with you. President Trump told me in our phone conversation on Saturday he actually thinks his rift with Musk has unified Republicans for his so called big beautiful bill. He says because lawmakers are upset with the way that Musk treated him.
Is that your sense based on your conversation? Certainly unity among the police when it comes to them being annoyed with you on Monday? I would not use the word unity when it comes to the bill itself. This bill was already facing very significant, significant headwinds even before must weigh in.
So I think if it does fail, it's not gonna be because of Musk. I ultimately think that if you pass something, maybe not by July 4th. That being said, I think it's a messaging problem for Republicans with this must criticism because remember, they empowered Elon Musk. They made him the authority figure on fiscal responsibility.
And so for now then to dismiss his concerns, valid concerns about how much this bill as the deficit, I think that's a problem. And meanwhile you have Democrats eating this hallowed with popcorn. Yeah. And it could just slow things down.
Leanne. President Trump told me he has no desire to repair his relationship with Musk. And yet JD Van said something very interesting in a recent interview. He said he hopes he will come back into the fold.
How important to the point that Mel's making is Musk to the broader Republican Party? Well, Musk was extremely important in the presidential election. He spent nearly $300 million. He basically lived in penny to help deliver that state for Donald Trump.
But Elon Musk has also become a toxic branch for the Republican Party. As we saw in the Wisconsin State Supreme Court race a couple, a couple months ago, Democrats had been weaponizing Elon Musk against Republicans. And so while in this rift between Trump and Elon Musk, Republicans are staying with Trump. Elon Musk had a lot of power because of Donald Trump in this situation.
And so what I'm going to be watching going forward is what does must do with his money. If he does anything in the midterm elections, then it could matter. But we're going to see that's where it gets very interesting, Sarah. This is still President Trump's party.
But, boy, if Elon Musk does start to fund Democrats, it could become incredibly complicated. I think Musk is going to fund Democrats. I think the question is, is he trying to form some third party or independent candidates and get behind them? You know, to me watching this, it's a very unfortunate situation because, you know, I don't entirely agree that he was critical to the election.
I think he was helpful to the election. But one individual doesn't really cause a party to win. I think what he was important, his contribution was really on the intellectual movement of the conservatives and the talent he attracted to the federal government. He did a great job attracting talent.
There are some incredible entrepreneurs in all of these agencies, and in large part because Musk signaled that this is worth fighting for. It was a huge miscalculation on Elon Musk's part. Running a political party is not like running a company. And the political graveyard is filled with businessmen.
And he just thought he could roll in in three months, change an entire infrastructure that has all these different power centers. It just wasn't going to work that way. Yeah, I tried to come in really hot. I thought from my interview with Senator Cory Booker.
One of the biggest headlines, he said, I'm not going to accept money from Elon Musk. And yet he said, I'll work with anyone. He threaded that needle a little bit. Yeah, I thought he threaded the needle very well, actually.
Frankly, it was a. It was a grounded response. And, and what I think the answer should be, there are resources that. There are many folks out there that have that could be used to educate American people about what's going on in this bill.
So sure, if Elon Musk wants to use his resources to do that, great. I do not think Democrats, though, should be taking money from Musk specifically because he gave money to Donald Trump and many other things. I don't know. He was very specific about why he felt, what he felt like the makeup the Senate was going to be.
And I think the questions I have for Elon Musk is how are you able to be so specific? Do you want to tell us more? So I don't think you should be taking money because he feels like Donald Trump. Oh, he said that.
He's like, ok, gratitude. That's being tweeted. But I think if Democrats want to encourage Elon Musk, you know, to put your money where your mouth is on the issue, feel free. Why would you want to work with Elon Musk?
Donald Trump, you know, no loyalty anymore. And that's where the Booker comments are so fascinating. We as we watch this drama play out, we're also watching what is going to happen in New Jersey on Tuesday, this primary for the governor's mansion. And the question what it will reveal what Democrats want to see in their candidates, what they think will be a winning message.
What are you going to be watching for? Yeah. So Democrats I talked to are watching that who does win this primary. There's six candidates and either you have the progressive mayor of Newark, you have Nikki Sherrill, who is the, you know, running as a centrist.
But they're watching to see if that the woman, suburban centrist, military veteran candidate can win again, which was a democratic playbook in 2018 that was extremely successful for them. So here's the party moving back to this more centrist mode in their candidates, especially in a primary. Yeah. What makes New Jersey So interesting?
Sarah Fagan, let's look at this graphic. In 2020, President Trump lost by 16 points, but look what happens in 2024. He only lost by 6 points, the second largest gain across all states. Could Republicans actually be competitive in the state?
And could that be an argument for a more moderate candidate? Well, I think they can be competitive. I mean, certainly, you know, those numbers reflect the movement of the middle class toward the Republican Party and the strength of the likely Republican, Jack Ciarelli, who's an experienced candidate. But whether Republicans win or not probably has more to do with the Democrats.
And I think, you know, if they nominate a centrist, they have a much better chance of succeeding. If they nominate one of these progressive candidates, one of the mayors, I think it's going to be much harder for them to hold a governor's mansion. And Simone, all of this playing out as I was just talking about this with Senator Booker, the fact that Kareem Jean Pierre, President Biden's former press secretary, switching her party affiliation from Democrat to independent, frankly, Bernie Sanders, your former boss, has been urging candidates, hey, run as an independent. What does that say?
Where are Democrats right now? Well, my wife, Senator Sanders, he was an independent who ran as a Democrat for president. And I think across the country, you have yet to see folks stepping out to run as independents. You see them stepping out as independent candidates, but on the Democratic Party ticket only in New York.
And I think one other state are running on the working Families Party platform. To me, that says, and when we look at New Jersey, for example, I think what's really important to voters is what these candidates are going to do for them. And if you look at the trend of New Jersey. I think back when Bill Murphy was on the ballot again and he lost very narrowly.
He did these focus groups and he heard what people were feeling is why they voted the way they did. So I think candidates who track very closely to their voters are going to be more successful in terms of speaking to what they want, not these labels. Independent, progressive, Democrat, whatever. Now we have about 30 seconds left.
What will you be watching for on Tuesday? What are the implications for Odley? Yeah, I know Sarah thinks that, you know, one of these more moderate, progressive moderates can win over one of these progressives if they get to get an election. But Democrats feel like they've tried that strategy before and it hasn't worked.
And so if they do end up electing one of these progressives, it will be, I think, a very strong test case and some really strong clues about where the base of the party is right for the Democratic Party and where they think the best strategy is to take on Trump. We will all be reading all the tea leaves on Tuesday. Thank you all for a fantastic conversation. We really appreciate it.
When we come back, the celebration of Pride Month here in Washington and a look back at the fight for Equal Rights Army. The Press minute is next. Welcome back. The nation's capital hosted World Pride this weekend with thousands of people taking the streets to celebrate the LGBTQ community through concerts, a human rights conference, and the annual pride parade.
Nearly 40 years ago, Congressman Barney Frank became one of the first sitting members of Congress to come out as gay. Frank married his longtime partner in 2012, and a few years later, he joined me the press to reflect on the country's progress on LGBTQ issues. Gay rights were once reviled publicly and Congress was revered. Now those attitudes have flipped.
How did that happen? Well, essentially, our reality as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender people, the essential mechanism is that we stop hiding. And it turned out we weren't what the stereotype was. We couldn't.
There was a point when the notion that I could get married to Jim while I was still in Congress would have been the most bizarre possibility. And by the time I got married, someone said, was it controversial that you get married while you were still in Congress? And the answer was yes, it was. A lot of my colleagues were married that they didn't get invited.
When we come back or meet the Moment conversation with actor Olivia Munn on her cancer battle and surrogacy journey. The moment is sponsored by Progressive Insurance. Save when you bundle auto, home and motorcycle insurance. Welcome back.
Approximately one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their Lifetime actor Olivia Munn is one of them. Two years ago, despite receiving a negative mammogram and clearing numerous medical tests, Mun's doctor made a decision that she credits with saving her life. Administering a lifetime risk assessment test that led to a diagnosis of an aggressive form of breast cancer. Soon after, Mun underwent five surgeries in less than a year, including a double mastectomy and a procedure to remove her uterus.
Just months after revealing her battle with breast cancer to the world, she and her husband, comedian John Mulaney, welcomed their second child with the help of a surrogate. And now Mun is returning to the screen, co starring with Jon Hamm in the hit show your Friends and Neighbors on Apple tv. Take a at look. Well, Keely, since you asked, my husband was just murdered in the foyer of our house, which is now a crime scene, which is why I'm staying at a hotel, which is why I need new products, which is why, as you so acutely observed, I might be in dire need of retinal eye patches.
We were in the middle of a very nasty divorce, so there's a part of me, a disturbingly large one, that is relieved that he said, but, I mean, Keely, I'm really guilty about that because he's the father of my kids, for God's sake. I mean, what kind of person does that make me? I sat down with one for a meet the moment conversation about what she calls her mission to help other women. Take me back to that moment, if you would, if you can.
When you were first diagnosed, that shocking moment when you were told that you did in fact have breast cancer. What was that moment like? What went through your head? What went through your heart?
It felt like I was in a car crash. If you've ever been in a car crash, which I have been. Oh, God, no, I don't. I don't want this to happen.
No. No, this can't be happening. And so that's the feeling I had. And at the same time, I was.
I was so focused and in my body because I knew that she was telling me information that I needed to know to get through this. You stayed focused. You fought. You had five surgeries in 10 months, Olivia.
And that would be hard for anyone. You are someone who's in the public eye emotionally. How did you steal yourself for that battle? The only thing that came up in my mind about being a public person was, was that I didn't want any kind of outside attention or any speculation that I may not make it.
I needed it to stay Private, because I had to stay positive and I had to fight. I couldn't imagine going through a battle like this and having all this outside noise. And it wasn't until I was looking back on photos with my son. And just as you do, you know, you kind of go through photos and videos.
And I saw this one of him and I playing in the front yard. I thought, oh, my gosh. Like, I had, I had cancer then. I didn't know it at all.
And how many other women are out there right now with a clear mammogram, clear ultrasound, walking around, they don't know about this lifetime risk assessment test that was free and online. And, and it saved my life. And so I knew, I knew maybe about, I'm not sure, like this months into the journey that I, I knew that at some point I would talk about it. The cancer risk assessment.
You had done everything right. You had gotten a mammogram, you had been given a clean bill of health, and your doctor said, get a cancer risk assessment, something that most women probably haven't heard of. And you credit that with saving your life. It 100% saved my life.
I, I, I, I don't know how long it would have taken me to find the cancer because I wasn't due for the mammogram for a year, so at least a year. Well, the National Cancer Institute says that since you have decided to share your story, more women are actually getting a cancer risk assessment. And journalist Allison hall says she got a cancer risk assessment, found out that she had breast cancer, and she thinks that you and that test saved her life. Olivia, what does that mean?
That you are saving lives, you're impacting women all across this country. That makes me really emotional when I think about that, because, like, that was my goal, was for every woman to know about this test. That women are finding out about this and saving their lives. It's just, it's hard to explain knowing that this diagnosis that put so much fear into me has been able to be turned into something that's saving people's lives.
And that's all I wanted. So if you could speak to lawmakers, people in Congress, people who have the power in the health industry to make decisions about the access that women have to health care, to the medicine they have access to. What is your message? We need to be a priority.
Women need to be a priority. Women need to be a priority. Our health needs to be a priority. There is the money that is there that's being spent on so many other things.
And without women, there would be no life. I mean, not to sound saccharine or to even be annoying about that, because people have said that, you know, in the past, and it's out there, and people say, like, you know, without women, there would be no life. But that is the truth. And.
And although I shouldn't have to say this, because it shouldn't matter, but you. You know, the people who are making these laws and creating these bills and deciding over where the funding goes, they have mothers, they have sisters, they have daughters, they have wives, they have girlfriends. You know, don't you want to save them, too? Don't you want to help them, too?
And if they're talking money, if it's all about money, we can talk money, too. It takes so much less money to educate women on their options, to create options for women to have the best health care possible, and that's going to save you a lot of money. So just help us help ourselves. That's all we're asking for.
We're just asking that you care enough about us to put money where we need it. Because of your cancer battle, you went into surgical menopause. You decided to have a hysterectomy. You like me, and I had different reasons, but I also couldn't carry children.
And so you decided to go the surrogacy route, which I did as well. And I know that that decision takes a long time to reach. Why did you ultimately decide that you wanted to work with a gestational carrier? Having our daughter meant so much to us.
We knew that we weren't done growing our family. We really wanted this little girl to be in the world, and we needed her to be part of our family. And that was my option. There was no other option for us.
And I just believe that I would find someone so kind and so warm and so loving and who had this calling in life. And so not having the option was. Was the thing that got me through it. If we wanted to have her in the world, which we desperately did, then this was gonna be my option.
And I would not let my fear, I would not let my concerns, my worries stop my daughter from having a chance to be in this world. Like, that's what I have to do as a mother, is to be selfless and to put my children first. And that was the first step, was putting my fear aside. How did you do that?
Your fear, and what a lot of people feel is still stigmas about zerdesy that exist. I truly didn't understand the depths of the stigma until I had started researching Things more and talking more people about it and saying, like, you know, are you going to talk about using a surrogate? Like, then you gotta hide yourself so that people don't know that you're not pregnant. I thought, why would I, why would I do that?
Like, I didn't understand there was a stigma. And I will tell you that since coming out and telling people about using a gestational surrogate, there has only been love. There's only been love that I have received. And people have been so happy for us and so happy to see my squishy, chunky little baby girl out in the world.
She is the chunkiest, cutest, happiest baby, just like my son, so happy. And there has only been really amazing consideration and understanding. You are such a fighter, Olivia. Do you see yourself as an advocate?
I think there is like people who advocate and they're like advocates. And to me, I think of myself as someone who advocates for women and it has become my mission in life. There's a few things on my purpose list which is to be a great mother, to be a great wife, to be a great sister and friend and to help as many women in the world know about the lifetime recession test. I never really had like that kind of purpose in life.
I was really happy. I wanted to be an actor and I became an actor. And I just want to work on things I really enjoyed and had fun and take risks, but I had no other goal. It was not, there was no other thing.
It wasn't like I want to take the career to this place I just had. I was just going to live a nice life and be happy. And now I have a very purpose mission in life. Well, if you want to calculate your own breast cancer lifetime risk assessment store, go to our link on our screen right now and you can watch my full interview with olivia [email protected] that is all for today.
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