Transcripts For CNNW CNN 20240703

Phillip starts now. Tonight, a sitting United States senator is accused of using his official position to help a foreign power in exchange for sxrichz rewards. And while the allegations of cash, the gold bars, even the convertibles are getting all the attention, the other end of those alleged bribes is downright chilling. Geeng. Im abby phillip. The Justice Department indicting democratic senator bob menendez and his wife and his wife. That he sought and received Sensitive Information about u. S. Diplomats in egypt. Information that eventually made its way to people with ties to the government there. Now, in Addition Prosecutors say that he gave nonpublic information about u. S. Military aid. Hes also accused of ghostwriting a pitch to senators on behalf of a foreign government. Now, that would ease restrictions on arms and ammunition to egypt. Those restrictions were in place in part due to concerns about human rights and democracy. All of this as he is chairing the Senate Foreign relations xhirkts one of the most powerful positions in the entire government. These schemes allegedly ended with stacks of cash, more than a dozen gold bars, help on mortgage payments, a mercedesbenz convertible, and youre seeing right there pictures of the evidence. But the timeline is important and also stunning here. This alleged conduct started not long after menendez escaped conviction on previous Bribery Charges when a jury deadlocked, but also it allegedly began around the same time that he said this about then president donald trump. The American People deserve to know who they elected to be their president. They deserve to know if hes in fact putting americas interests first. They deserve to know if donald trump is wittingly or unwittingly an agent for the russian federation. Congress must carry out its constitutional duty to fully and thoroughly investigate where the facts lead. Tonight, the pressure is mounting. The number of democrats calling on him to resign is growing. Both from congress and his home state of new jersey. But menendez is maintaining his innocence. He says his ethnicity is to blame. Those who believe in justice believe in innocence until proven guilty. I intend to continue to fight for the people of new jersey with the same success ive had for the past five decades. This is the same record of success these very same leaders have lauded all along. It is not lost on me how quickly some are rushing to judge a latino and push him out of his seat. I am not going anywhere. As for the man in charge of the United States senate, Chuck Schumer is praising menendezs work, says he is temporarily stepping down from the Foreign Relations committee, and he says menendez has a right to due process and a fair trial. That may be so, but many of his fellow democrats arent as forgiving, including my next guest, joining me now, new jersey democrat steven full op. Mayor of jersey city, also a candidate for new jersey governor in 2025. Mayor, thanks for joining us. You are now a part of this growing chorus of democrats calling on Senator Menendez to resign. What did you find to be the most damning allegation in the indictment against him . I mean, i think your intro was pretty spoton. If you read the indictment, i mean, it was 40 pages. It read like a movie script. It was really hard to kind of take in from dna on money and gold bars and of course cars and then giving information to the Egyptian Government. It was kind of really kind of a salacious 40 pages. And you know, it makes it really hard to say that everything in there is not true. Maybe bob menendez or Senator Menendez could defend some of it. It would be really tough to say every component of that is defensible, if any of it. Tonight Senator Menendez is pushing back on calls to resign. He says, as we read, its not lost on me how quickly some are rushing to judge a latino and push him out of his seat. He also says hes not going anywhere. What do you make of that . That suggestion that hes making there that this is about his ethnicity, trying to push out the highestranking latino in the senate. I mean, i think any reasonable person knows its not about his ethnicity. But if you also know bob menendez, hes a tough guy. Hes not going to bow down to any amount of pressure. Thats unfortunate. The pressures going to build. But its not in his dna to resign. So absent the Senate Taking action, you know, i think hes going to dig in. And you know from a democrat standpoint its really hard to be critical of indictments that surround former President Trump or be critical of Clarence Thomas and then at the same time from a senate standpoint not take aggressive action against bob menendez with the same sort of allegations. All right. Mayor steven fulop, thank you so much for joining us tonight. Thank you. And lets continue this conversation here with former special Assistant To The President , President Biden, michael larosa. Also with us republican strategist shermichael singleton, cnn political analyst Laura Barron Lopez and former federal prosecutor joseph moreno. Joseph, i want to start with you here. As the mayor just said, it really does read like a movie script. Meeting a girlfriend, marrying her quickly after, and she just happens to have contacts who are close to the Egyptian Government that then are seeking information from a sitting United States senator. How strong do you think this indictment is . Gold bars, wads of cash, a mercedes convertible . Tawdry, absolutely. But tawdry does not always equal illegal. And the Supreme Court has made it pretty difficult to bring these Bribery Cases against elected officials. You need not a just quid pro quo, you need an official act, an exercise of governmental power. A vote on something, approval of a policy. When i go through basically those four kinds of conspiracies that Senator Menendez is accused of, i see holes in at least two of them. But what about providing that information . According to the allegations, he received he sought information from the United States government that was nonpublic and provided it to these contacts who then passed it along to the government. Unclassified but sensitive, absolutely. But hes not facing espionage charges. Maybe he should be, but theyre not in there. Again, it looks really bad, optics are horrible here. But as defense counsel, i can definitely poke some holes in this. Michael . I think one of the things i noticed today, it was a very splashy presentation. Sometimes i think im not a lawyer, but from a communications perspective, it seems as though when prosecutors make these kinds of large presentations before the media, sometimes it seems like their cases might be weaker than perhaps we think they are and are trying to argue their case in the Public Opinion instead and thats why theyre doing the visual presentations. I mean go ahead. No, i was going to say, i dont think that the seat will be competitive from a political perspective. Whether he should resign or not, you know, i think whats funny about my party is, we quickly fall apart, whereas the other party tends to fall in line pretty quickly. We have no problem throwing each other under the bus, eating our young. It seems like republicans stick with each other. Look, i hear what you guys are saying. But again, just a normal person reading this document, what it sounds like hes being accused of doing is taking money, almost 500,000 in cash, in exchange for providing information actually, even acting to facilitate the interests of a foreign government. Theres no doubt it looks terrible. But should he be held to a different standard when it comes to running for office than santos or donald trump . Well, actually, thats exactly the question. Thats a fair critique, but i would say as someone who had a topsecret clearance, ive gone through that process, this has been a oneyear investigation. This guys the chair of the Foreign Relations committee. The second most prestigious, one of the most powerful Senate Committees thats over Foreign Relations for this entire country. And hes essentially acting as a Foreign Agent against the interests of the United States. Now, look, i agree George Santos is a problem, and republicans should have expelled him from the house. But i expect democrats, including the president , to speak to this. Because if this were a republican, i would argue that the expectation would be for republicans to speak out against that individual. How, if you are senator schumer, would you be able to say that George Santos, for example, should leave the house and not say that the chairman of the Senate Foreign relations committee, whos under this kind of investigation, should not be in that post . Thats exactly why i think youre seeing so Many Democrats, in particular new jersey democrats the governor of new jersey, but also a number of menendezs colleagues in the house that are saying he has to go, he has to resign. Because even one of his former colleagues, tom malinowski, who used to serve in the state department, said, how can we as a party be calling for donald trump, say that donald trump is not fit for office, but then not call for the resignation of menendez . It doesnt look as though it will be sustainable position from schumer to not speak out more aggressively on this matter. Hes also now bringing in the fact that hes the highestranking latino in the senate. His state is 22 latino. He has a huge base of support. This is like a kennedy in massachusetts. Abby, i would say thats like Clarence Thomas all of a sudden saying, but im the black guy on the Supreme Court. Im not exactly sure how much room he has to maneuver by saying, im the Senior Latino in the United States senate. I think this puts democrats in a very precarious political predicament. Theyve gone after donald trump under the idea donald trump would somehow sell the secrets of the United States to any highest bidder. And here you have bob menendez, the chairman of the Foreign Relations xhicommittee, Essentiy Selling Secrets to a foreign entity, at least acting in the interests of a foreign entity. I think democrats have to address this. Help me understand this. Sounds like youre saying, generally speaking, unless he took a vote for the Egyptian Government, he can accept hundreds of thousands of dollars in gold bars, he can accept 500,000 in cash, in exchange for facilitating their interests informally . Almost like a lobbyist would, from the halls of the United States senate. Is that what youre saying . Dont get me wrong, im horrified by this im just asking. I think thats kind of what it sounds like youre saying. If youre looking at it purely legalistic, it has to be an official act. Throughout the indictment youll see that term peppered all throughout. It doesnt mean they can prove that beyond a reasonable doubt. Setting up meetings, making phone calls, right . Establishing goodwill in terms of a relationship. Those are not official acts. Sharing staff details about a u. S. Embassy in egypt . Thats not its wrong, but its not part of his job as being a senator. Making votes, making nominations. Maybe putting a hold on foreign aid. Now thats a good one hes using his role as a senator to access that information. If he were just a regular joe, he would not have access to that. Thats right, this is the loophole. This is the Bob Mcconnell from virginia or bob menendez several years ago. Thats why they couldnt get him the last time. If they can drive through the same holes that prevented the doj from getting him the first time around. But even if that is the case, shouldnt we have standards about ethics in this country . Whether its a republican or democrat, i think the American People have the expectation that our elected officials serve our interests, not their own interests, let alone the interests of a foreign country. And that appears to be what mend ez do you think, laura, this is going to be on the issue for trump the central issue for democrats with trump is Law And Order. Can they make that argument with this sitting right in front of them with bob menendez . I think given the speed of how many new jersey democrats including the governor have come out to say that he should resign, that as soon as lawmakers come back next week, theyll be back by tuesday, the democrats are going to be peppered with questions in the senate about the president will too. The president will as well. And i think that we are going to see more and more democrats start to say he should resign. These seats dont come up often in massachusetts, new jersey. The governor would probably love to run for that seat and spend his own money. Millions of dollars rung for sflat the way he did for governor. Several people whove been in congress for decades want that seat. I imagine they also want that seat Becausemen Dez has been indicted twice in the last decade and it seems but you know what, they spent 30 million against him after the last one and he still won by 12 points. Now hes running in a president ial year. This may help him. Who knows . Stranger things have happened, guys. Interesting conversation. Well continue to follow this story. Thank you, everyone. Coming up next for us tonight, we are now seven days away from a government shutdown. Next ill speak live with one of the republicans at war with House Speaker Kevin Mccarthy about the path forward. Congressman matt gaetz joins me live next. Plus why the mayor of dallas is changing his Party Affiliation from democrat to republican and the chilling words now that we are hearing from the former trump aide cassidy hutchinson, who testified about what happened to her in washington after january 6th. I could not go back to my apartment. I ended up moving down to atlanta for several months. Free gentle. Ide s it cleans better, and doesnt leave behind irritating residues. And its gentle on her skin. Tide free gentle is epa safer choice certified. Its got to be tide. Hello 12 hours of relief. 12 hours not coughing . 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They were sent home for the week without a clear plan after conservative hardliners once again scuttled Kevin Mccarthys plans. One of those hardliners, congressman matt gaetz, joins me now. Thanks for being here, congressman. Absolutely, thanks for having me, abby. I should note you are still on the hill. So ill take that as a sign that perhaps things are moving forward. But i have to ask you, because this is starting to come to a head here. If Speaker Mccarthy puts a continuing resolution on the floor to keep the government open for 30 days, is that enough in your mind to force a vote to kick him out of his job . I gree with many of my colleagues who say if Speaker Mccarthy embraces a clean continuing resolution to continue the spending policies of nancy pelosi and joe biden that would most likely trigger a motion to vacate. Remember, i gave a speech last week detailing multiple areas where Kevin Mckarcarthy has breached his agreement with house conservatives. There was a big thrust of that that was the spending commitments but also a vote on term limits, a vote on a balanced budget amendment, release of the january 6th tapes. These are things Kevin Mccarthy promised. He hasnt done these things. We need to hold him to account. There are meetings happened. I just left a meeting with Congressman Biggs about the finer points of our department of Homeland Security Appropriations Bill. We have a rule being drafted right now so that we can apass Appropriations Bills for our military, department of Homeland Security, for our Agriculture Priorities and also the department of state and foreign ops. So those bills will have a good amalgamation of policy and spending cuts, and i think it will put our country on better fiscal footing. Do you have enough support to actually take away mccarthys gavel . Well, that depends on the democrats. I saw in an interview this morning that democrat whip Catherine Clark said if democrats were to bail out Speaker Mccarthy they would require concessions. And that should trouble a lot of republicans because if we have a republican speaker who is working for the democrats because theyre the ones who bailed him out then i doubt well be able to make much progress for the voters who elected us. But im asking actually what im really asking is whats the plan b . If not mccarthy then who . You . No. I dont want to be speaker. But i do know we have a very talented group of members. Its a little uncomfortable to discuss right now because our number two who would be naturally someone we would look to is right now getting treatment for blood cancer and is not with us. We hope he has a full fast recovery and would be right back into our leadership structure. Our number three is tom emmer. Hes our whip. Hes got a lot of credibility across different sections of the conference. But getting rid of mccarthy if he has failed us for eight months, if he has delayed the appropriations process, as even his allies conceded earlier this evening in the Rules Committee, then getting rid of him is sort of an end unto itself because it shows that weve got the ability to pivot, Make A Boaterbetter C and go forward and actually deliver. But how is getting rid of mccarthy an end unto himself. If you get rid of him but you cant elect a replacement who will do what you want them to do, that seems to kind of defeat the purpose. Do you have the votes, do you think, to elect someone who in your view would be better than mccarthy . Oh, sure. I think that if we were backing a speaker contest there are any number of people who would be able to assemble a coalition there werent the last time around. There werent the last time around. Right. But weve had eight months of experiences that inform how we think about these things. Eight months ago Kevin Mccarthy hadnt broken the series of promises that he made at that time. Eight months ago Kevin Mccarthy hadnt stalled the appropriations process. I mean, a democrat from colorado, joe neguse, made excellent points today haranging some of the republicans in the Rules Committee saying gosh, if the borders such a priority and if the Appropriations Committee had a Border Funding Bill in the summer, why did more than 100 days pass before Kevin Mccarthy put that legislation on the floor . We dont really have good answers to those questions other than the fact that its always the parlance in washington to just wait until the very end and then jam all these bills together and get one up or down vote on funding the entire government. That is the way we have run since the mid 90s. And im trying to break the fever and liberate us from those up or down votes and get to singlesubject spending bills. Its an idea even folks on the left support because it leads to more transparent, honest and open government. So congressman, a number of your republican colleagues say that theyre at a loss for understanding your strategy. Listen to what they had to say. What are you asking for . You know, we need to pass appropriations okay, were trying to pass an Appropriations Bill. You wont let us do that. So stop voting with democrats. I think everybodys just confused because theres not rational explanations on the opposition. At the end of the day any final bill is going to be bipartisan. And if somebody doesnt realize that, theyre truly clueless. I understand what youre saying, that you want to take this bill by bill. But the question is how will you do that in the next seven days in a bipartisan way that will end up with something that is the Law Of The Land . Theres no doubt that we are behind in the House Of Representatives because we are poorly led. But to my friend and colleague dan crenshaw he probably should have watched your program ten days ago when i laid out exactly what we want. A vote on term limits. A vote on a balanced budget amendment. And then singlesubject spending bills. Now, weve been dilatory and delayed in that, and it was frustrating to me, abby, that yesterday 3 00 on a thursday Kevin Mccarthy sent everybody home as if were operating in the french workweek. We should be starting at 7 00 in the morning, finishing at midnight and getting our work done. There are members from across the congress and across the republican conference who are here doing that. But we are doing that in spite of our poor leadership, certainly not because of it. And to my friends and colleagues i would say pretty simple. We want a vote individually on these Appropriations Bills and we will not tolerate them being lumped together. I think a lot of americans would agree theyd like to see folks working through the weekend to resolve this before theres a government shutdown. But i wonder, dont you think it is reasonable for members i mean, you heard mike lawler there talking about a bipartisan fashion. Dont you think it is reasonable for them to work on the other side of the aisle if it means avoiding a shutdown that can actually hurt americans including thousands of your constituents . No doubt. And mike lawlers right. The final solution in divided government always has to be bipartisan. But the question is what platform and what paradigm do we use to engage that negotiation . I believe that we should negotiate each agency of government and each Appropriation Bill separately so that we get to a programmatic level of analysis. What i disagree with is the notion that we should start with the premise that we just Fund Everything the way its been going the prior year whether its worked or not, whether its exceed its expended expected distributions of funds or not. You see, that just leads to more of the same. Its actually precisely the reason that we are 33 trillion in debt facing 2 trillion annual deficits. We cannot go on as a country thats spending 7 trillion and bringing in 5 trillion. So i hope we i understand we get bipartisan agreement to reduce spending. I understand what youre saying good the spending levels. But how do we get from point a to point b . From where we are right now which seems to be chaos to a point where theres a solution and the governments not shut down. In a week. This could have real impacts on a lot of federal workers. People who are working without pay. Military Service Members who are actually in the line of fire right now. In harms way right now. Are you confident that this will not have a shutdown will not have a National Security impact on this country in addition to the Economic Impact that it will have . Well, we have endured shutdowns before, and while theyre certainly not helpful and they do bring pain upon americans whove done nothing wrong to lead us to that moment, were at a moment right now where we have to take the bold action to break the fever, to stop governing by omnibus and continuing resolution. I am not certain that we are going to avoid a shutdown. But a shutdown of maybe, you know, 10 or 11 or 12 days certainly is different than a shutdown that would span multiple pay periods for federal employees what do you let me make this what is the longest you would go in a shutdown . Well, i dont want to go at all. And i certainly think that the sooner we could get the government funded the better. But theres a reason why we put the defense Appropriations Bill and the Homeland Security Appropriations Bill first, because we want to be able to say as House Republicans that we moved options for the senate and democrats to negotiate with us on the Military Spending Bill so that our troops are paid and on the Homeland Security bill so that we pay our Border Patrol and i. C. E. So that there is a reason why we have prioritized some of our bravest and most valued fellow americans in what were putting forward to fund. And if democrats and senators have ideas on those things, wed like to negotiate them. Were just not going to negotiate through the context of how washington has always worked with continuing resolutions and omnibus bills. I should note that you did vote against the defense Appropriations Bill this week that no, i didnt. The rule to abby, this is going to be a very embarrassing moment when the internet corrects you on this. I voted for the defense rule both times. Well, i stand corrected. Congressman, appreciate you joining us tonight. Thank you so much. Thank you. And coming up next, the mayor of dallas is leaving the Democratic Party to join republicans. Ill speak live with the head of the dallas Democratic Party, who will respond to that. Plus, Melinda French Gates joins me on health care, on the strikes, and on criticisms of Vice President Kamala Harris. I think its ridiculous that when a woman reaches the position that she has reached that theyre asked whether they have the skills or theyre qualified. [car traversing over uneven ground. ] [silence in the vehicle. ] [car traversing over rocky ground, Babbling Creek in the background. ] [minimalist piano enters, plays throughout. ] dad we got our Subaru Forester wilderness [heavy sound of water coming from waterfall. ] [heavy sound of water stops abruptly. ] to discover all of the places that make us feel something more. 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Eric johnson announcing that he is switching parties from democrat to republican in a Wall Street Journal oped. He slammed the party which he was elected by saying, the future of americas great urban centers depends on the willingness of the nations mayors to champion Law And Order and practice fiscal conservatism. Our cities desperately need the genuine commitment to these principles as opposed to the inconsistent polldriven commitment of Many Democrats that has long been a defining characteristic of the gop. Joining me now to respond to this is cordle coleman, party chair for the Dallas County democrats. Thanks for joining us here. Eric johnson is blaming democratic policies for exacerbating in his words crime and homelessness. He says sxriem tax policies are the reasons hes breaking with your party. Whats your response to that . Absolutely untrue. We can see in democratic cities throughout the country where crime is lower than even in republican states. So we cannot allow these false tactics, fake news, if you will, to be shoved down the throats of texans and the voters in texas. One of the things we should note here just for context, the city of dallas, hes been leading the city of dallas for some years now. The murders are down in the city for 15 over 15 over the last two years. Rapes are down 40 . Robberies down nearly 30 . Aggravated assaults have declined 5 . It seems like his approach is working. But his approach actually has been characterized by kind of being at odds with democrats in the city. So how is he wrong to take a different approach from the party that he has been affiliated with . Well, you know, things have been working in dallas. Not only these numbers or these metrics. But we have to include community policing, conversations with our neighbors. We have been doing that type of work. So to take a pivot right now at this time, we have to ask the critical question, why now . What is it thats on the other end of this that youre not being transparent about with voters . Youre saying hes taking a pivot. I guess the point im making is he would say hes been governing from a centrist position. Sure. Right . And its working. As far as the metrics . Thats what he would say. Im sure he would say that. And you dont think its working . Even though the data seems to show that it might be . I believe that the data seems to point to that fact. However, if it is working, why now switch teams . Thats the question. He also earlier this year invited republican senators ted cruz and john cornyn to his inauguration. Both senators spoke highly of him. Is there anything wrong with having bipartisan relationships . Or do you think that this was a deception to the voters who elected him basically as a progressive, as a democrat, although in dallas theres a technicality, they dont technically have Party Affiliation. Sure. But he was elected as a progressive. He was elected as a democrat, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with having bipartisan relationships, being able to get things done across the aisle. Specifically in texas. We know in the texas house, which he served, democrats are in the minority. So there has to be a bipartisan effort and a way to get things done. However, we must be real and transparent about who we are as candidates, who we are as elected officials. Do you think he was not transparent . I do. I do believe he was not transparent. He was just elected less than four months ago unopposed, actually. So he ran on democratic values. I believe the voters trusted him and thought he would uphold those democratic values. Now we see a now mayor whos turning republican who has turned his back on the very voters who advanced his political career. Kardal coleman, thank you so much for joining us tonight. Thank you so much for having me. And coming up next, President Biden makes a big announcement about the auto workers strike. And Melinda Gates joins me on inequality in form. Plus former trump aide cassidy hutchinson, shes speaking out tonight about her fear after testifying and what happened to her after that day. energetic music plays there he is its right there oh, hes straight ahead. Hes straight ahead. Straight ahead. Go go go. Cover more ground in the kia sportage turbohybrid. Kia. Movement that inspires. As someone living with Type 2 Diabetes, i want to keep it real and talk about some risks. With Type 2 Diabetes you have up to 4 times greater risk of stroke, heart attack, or death. Even at your a1c goal, youre still at risk. Which if ignored could bring you here. May put you in one of those. Or even worse. Too much . Thats the point. Get real about your risks and do something about it. Talk to your Health Care Provider about ways to lower your risk of stroke, heart attack, or death. 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Now, i sat down with Melinda French Gates to discuss this era of strikes in america, Income Inequality and also Vice President Kamala Harris and her deeply personal mission to tackle what she calls the most urgent global issue today. There are so many issues that face the world that you could be tackling. This one, which is what happens to women, their health, their ability to have children, its literally the oldest problem that we as a human race have faced. Why is it still a problem . Because we dont invest enough in Womens Health. I mean, the fact that we still have, you know, 800 moms dying in childbirth every day just tells you right there, we know a lot of the right interventions to do. Yes, there are new innovations coming and we can talk about that. But we dont invest enough in Womens Health to say this is a priority, this is important, lets not lose this mom. Why do you think progress on this particular issue seems to have stalled . Here in the United States we may even be going backwards. The fact youre ten times more likely to die in our system than in japan or israel or spain, that makes no sense. And the fact that a black or indigenous woman is three times as likely to die as a white woman . Its because we have a system that is not set up to serve everybody well and to serve them equitably. And so were not making the right investments in data to learn exactly why women are dying or investments in the system to take bias out of the system and to use all the right tools. Its just unnecessary. Your daughter recently my oldest daughter, jen, recently gave birth. And again, theres a lot of time when youre in the delivery room, if its going well, where youre waiting. And i could think about the other women who werent being served well around the world. Because ive been in delivery rooms, honestly, all over the world. Thank god, i was so grateful she had a healthy birth for herself and for her child. From a policy perspective, especially here in the United States, whats stopping political leaders from actually addressing some of these issues . Its will. Its political will. Its saying these lives matter. Every mom matters. To not put women first in our policies, whether its child care, whether its paid family medical leave, whether its maternal mortality, to say moms are important to us and were going to make sure that our System Changes for moms thats whats not happening. And perhaps not enough women making those decisions in the halls of power . Ive become very passionate, and im actually putting money behind now trying to get far more women into state legislatures. There are 7,000 seats that are available. Its a great Training Ground to be up on the hill. When we get more women and people of color making our policies, our policies will change to support women and families. I have to ask you as were having this conversation, we have a black woman as Vice President of the United States. The first time thats ever happened. A woman or a black woman. But at the same time, she gets questions all the time about whether shes qualified for the job. When you hear that and you compare it to the rest of the world stage that you operate in, what do you think . I think its ridiculous that when a woman reaches the position that she has reached, that theyre asked whether they have the skills or theyre qualified. I mean, one of the things that to me is outrageous is that we have a senate in the United States that has no female black senators. Not a single black female senator in our country. Yet we have millions of black women. So how can we have a senate or a house that we say actually represents we the people . And so again, its these bias in the system. Its the harassment. Were sending woMen And Women of color into a broken system. And until we can get them to all these positions of power, were not going to fix and change that system. I want to ask you just more broadly, we are also sitting in a time where were in the middle of all these strikes, right . Auto workers, actors, directors, you name it. It seems like in this country theres a question about fairness in our economy. Youve had the pleasure and luxury of being a fabulously wealthy person, deciding also to give a lot of that, most of it, away. But when you look at the broader society, especially here in the United States, what do you see . Is it fair . Its not working for us. What were hearing from workers is, these wages arent working for us anymore to raise our families so that we become middle income or go from middle to highincome. Thats the american dream. Thats what my grandfather lived, my parents lived. And i have been fortunate enough in the situation im in. Everybody should be able to live that dream. I think youre hearing people rise up and say, lets fix this system. Like capitalism works in certain ways, but theres certain societal things its not addressing and we need to rebalance. You walk in so many of these spaces with people that have a lot of privilege, world leaders, et cetera. When youre in those rooms, are you thinking the wealthiest should pay even more than theyre paying now in taxes . I do say that i think we should have stairstep taxes in our country. I do think its more fair for the wealthy to pay more than somebody whos lowincome. So i do believe in that. And i believe its up to the wealthy to give back and give back substantially. If you have anything close to 10 million, you can give back half of it quite easily. So its our duty to give it back and give it back well and show models to other people of wealth of how they can do it also. So Melinda French Gates. Theres Lorraine Powell jobs. Mackenzie scott, formerly bezos. A lot of people would say powerful women, Women Who Prioritize giving back. Is there something there . Why is it that women seem to be the ones really prioritizing this, putting a stake in the ground and saying, philanthropy is important once you reach a certain point of wealth . Well, i think you see Men And Women giving back. But i think you see women doing it in a different way. We are the threads that make up the fabric of society. We are the ones who, in all three of our cases mackenzie, lorraine, and me weve all raised children. We have a different view on society. And what youre seeing all three women do is invest in communities and invest in other women. Because we know, if you invest in a woman, she invests in everyone else. Do you all know each other . We do all know each other, yeah. We all know each other. Weve worked on some projects together. Everybodys also working on their own pieces. But these are both women i admire greatly. And when i need advice, theyre both two women that i walk with and talk with and ask them, how are you looking at this . How do you think about this . Have you found that you have wanted to change your approach or reestablish yourself now as Melinda French Gates on your own . I think i do both. I mean, im still a cochair of the bill and Melinda Gates foundation. I completely believe and im still traveling on behalf of that. But yes, theres a mark i want to make on the world, and i have a little bit more degrees of freedom to do that. Now standing on my own, ive gotten comfortable with it and i feel like i can just speak my mind freely. And i enjoy that. I enjoy just being myself. Thank you so much, melinda. Appreciate it. Thanks for having me, abby. And we have some Breaking News tonight. A Hurricane Watch is now being issued for parts of the east coast as a Tropical Storm gets stronger. Stand by. Better. Cough . Congestion . All in one and done with new Mucinex Kickstart. 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Now with ocusorb better absorbing nutrients. Breaking news, a Hurricane Watch is being issued for portions of North Carolina as Tropical Storm ophelia is strengthening. Forecasts predict a storm surge of up to six feet, which is already threatening the coast. Our own Chad Myers Is Standing by in the cnn weather center. Chad . Abby, the storm is less than 100 miles offshore, but it really is looking like its getting still a little bit stronger right now. Winds could be 75 or 80 Miles Per Hour gusting on shore overnight. That is hurricane force, especially with the gusts now at 49 Miles Per Hour at Virginia Beach already. The biggest threat is going to be the coastal erosion and surge of the water that runs up these estuaries across parts of the east coast. The winds are going to blow from the east for a very long time, pushing water along that coast and rising that water up to surge levels of up to six feet in some spots, so yes, it begins to slow down tomorrow as it makes shore makes landfall probably between 5 00 and 6 00 if the morning. But then by sunday its all over with gusts only around 20 Miles Per Hour. Abby . All right, chad myers, thank you so much. Well keep our eye on that. That is it for me tonight. Cnn primetime is coming up next with laura coates. She hosts an entire hour on senator Bob Menendezs indictment. Stick around for that. The lor barista coffee and espresso system. Now brewing peets coffee. The day you get your clearchoice dental implants makes every day. A lets dig in day. Mm. A chow down day. A take a big bite day. A perfectly delicious day. Mm. [ chuckles ]. A love my new teeth day. Because your clearchoice day is the day everything is back on the menu. A clearchoice day changes every day. 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