does that serve as a template for any kind this week? >> we did use a lot of the stuff we started developing in 2020, actually updated it for 2024. >> what would you want people to understand, folks watching at home about what you did, how you prepared, and god forbid, how you have to use it? >> it's important to remember that we have been doing a lot of planning, a lot of practice. all of the organizations involved in the hospitals to public health to public safety, emergency management, everyone has been doing a lot of work so that we can still do our everyday jobs. we still have patients to take care, the normal stuff to do, but we are also ready to respond in case something were to happen during the week. >> thank you for your time. >> thank you. appreciate it.

>> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we are funded by these television companies and more including comcast. >> you think this is just a community center? no, it is way more than that. >> comcast is creating wi-fi enabled lift centers so students from low income families can get the tools they need to be ready for anything. comcast supports c-span as a public service along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. " washington journal" continues. host: we are joined now by the president of the family research council, tony perkins, louisiana delegate of the rnc and platform committee member. tony, welcome to the program. guest: good morning, mimi, how are you? host: good. before we get into the discussion i wanted to give you a chance to react to the attempted assassination.

>> clearly it was an event that changed the convention going forward. what remains to be seen was was this an event that will change the former president in the country. i've listening to the conversation taking place here and i appreciate those who said -- let's stop, let's pray, let's come together as a nation. i do think that the rhetoric has reached, and i have watched this over my 21 years here at research council, reached a level where we don't have conversations anymore. social media is one of the things that has fueled that. i would say timeout, let's put down the social media and pick up a cup of coffee. i'm not saying this as one of those who've done it. i've actually built relationships with those who are diametrically opposed from a political and ideological standpoint where we realize we are americans, we want same

things for our children, our families. i just think it would be great if we had more conversations at each other rather than about each other. host: do you think that this will bring people together as you are helping, or will he blame divisive this in the country? guest: i think it's up to us, it really is up to us, and there is conversation from some saying that this is the time to step back. ecclesiastes, i was reading that in the bible this morning, saying that there is a time to tear and a time to so. a time to be silent and a time to talk. listen, it's changed the dynamics of the convention. we are kinda stepping back. we were very engaged in the platform and not happy with the way it turned out, not happy that they silenced opposed to the agenda. but you know, it's not the time. it's time to come together, not just for republicans. it's time to come together as a nation and see, as jesus said,

love for the neighbor. that doesn't mean that all of a sudden it's his go away. we have an understanding that each and every human being is created in the image of god, therefore they have foundations regardless of the politics. just have a cup of coffee, i found relationships and it doesn't change their viewpoints on policy, but it brings down the rhetoric to where we are having conversations with one another rather than shouting at each other. host: i know you are a man of faith, i wonder what you think about the role of faith leaders in this country to bring down the temperature to be talking about what you just said, about the idea of loving one's enemies and praying for those who are sick you you. guest: we had a prayer meeting

in milwaukee last night. it was a full church where people came together to pray for the country. it was already planned but it took on a different tone after saturday night, to pray for the former president, to pick -- pray for the current president, to pray for the church and those who follow jesus christ, that we would live out our faith. again, it doesn't mean that you change your view. faith is based on the work of god and to pursue that, but we understand the those who disagree with us are not the enemy. we want to share with them, we want to have conversations with them, and the best way to change hearts and minds is through conversation and show love. there was a time in this country where that was the predominant path forward. i don't want to bash social media, but you know, social

media is the place where everyone talks and no one listen. i have an appreciation for c-span. i advocated to the campaign for c-span to be allowed in the platform committee room, which it has historically done but they wouldn't allow it. c-span is one of the few places left in america where people of differing views can have a civil conversation and i appreciate the fact that you keep it civil. host: if you would like to talk to tony perkins of the family research council, he will be with us for the next 20 minutes. call us online by party. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. let's talk about the rnc platform committee, served this year as a conventional delegate from louisiana. last week the platform committee witt -- voted 84 to 14 to adopt the platform. how did you vote? guest: 84 to 18, 80 -- 18 of us

voted against the platform. and it isn't that everyone of those 18 were against the platform, it's because of the process. this is not the first time i've been on the platform committee. this is my fifth convention to serve on the platform which is usually a 2.5 day process. you get a draft, you go back and look at it, you go into committee like the legislative process on monday, you work through your section of the document and then tuesday, everybody gets together and goes through it from start to finish. it is amended and changed and it more reflects the grass roots republicans across the country. none of that happened this year. first time ever. unprecedented. we were not given a document copy on sunday night. we went into a room on monday morning, our cell phones are taken. we are locked in the room and given a copy and then we listen to 2.5 hours of speeches, not

discussion, about the platform, the language, but speeches. and then you know, marsha blackburn, who was driving this process, she was the driver, she allowed for no debate, no discussion, no amendments, and it was adopted. people were furious about that process. host: why is that? why did that happen? why the change? why not keep it the same? guest: i don't know. i don't know, it's disturbing. many republicans have been arguing about this, it's been happening with the cancel culture, silencing people that you oppose. i detest that. what happens when you silence people is you deprive them of their voice, even through their elected representatives or the direct process. you frustrate them and you raise the level of angst and anxiety. going back to this congress, if

you recall, kevin mccarthy, it took 13 rounds for him to gain the votes for speaker. central to him gaining that support was changing what's been happening in congress for the last 10 years to give the minority of vote, that included republican minorities, to be able to amend bills on the floor, to have dialogue and discussion. that's what makes our system work, we come together, we have differing views of we can debate, argue in a civil manner and reach consensus in which we can all live. when that doesn't happen, it creates anger and angst. that's what the rnc did this past week. they created a lot of anger because of the way they ran the process. host: i want to read to you what the rnc chair set about abortion specifically in the rnc platform . he said -- we have a solid pro-life platform, we feel ver

solid about it. you can just look at the number of pro-life from across the country who he come into say they strongly support the platform. the republican party stands for life, we will always stand for life. i think that when you look at this platform you will see it is very pro-america, profamily, pro-life, and we feel very strong about the language we have. what do you think about the language, tony, and i guess i should have mentioned what the language was, which is -- it says "we will oppose late-term abortion while supporting mothers in policies for expanding access to birth control, prenatal care, and i've yet guest: there's a -- ivf." guest: there's a sentence before that talking about the 14th amendment and there is a history here, what i would say for folks, especially those for whom

the life issue has been a big issue for them to read the platform. it's very -- it doesn't take long to read, compare that to previous platforms going back to the mid-1970's, where the platform was very, very clear on the call for human life amendment and the application of the 14th amendment for the unborn. this platform makes reference to the 14th amendment, but doesn't say anything about it applying to the unborn. so you know, whether or not those -- i'm not going to question the plug -- pro-life groups that signed on to it, they weren't in the room, maybe they haven't read it, i don't know, but i suggest they read it, because it is not an unequivocal statement of support for the unborn. i'm not going to say it's not pro-life, but it isn't as pro-life as it has been that it would suggest that the party under the direction of this campaign is moving away from its unequivocal stand for pro-life. there's this idea that you can address it at the state level and it's now a state shoe post

row. that's interesting, that was never the conversation prior to the overturning of roe, but it also doesn't hold up. today if you look at it, 70% of abortions are being conducted through mifepristone, the abortion pill. there is a recent court case, it did not decide the merits, it's an issue on standing, but the issue at hand was the new fda guidelines they put forth that allow the abortion pill to be transferred across state lines through the mail. so, the idea that states could have these pro-life laws, whether it be an exception for heart beat, 15 weeks, whatever it might be, those are not going to stand up to the abortion pill being sent across state lines, so it remains a federal issue as it relates to the sanctity of human life you cannot deny that there is federal funding and all kinds of issues that have to be

addressed. host: i will put up the full part about abortion so that peoplean see it proudly stand for families, life, and the fourth amendment to the constitution guarantees that no person can be denied life or liberty without process. states are therefore free to pass laws protecting those rights after 51 years because that power has been given to the states ando a vote of the people. we will oppose -- i read this before -- late-term abortion supporting mothers in policies banning prenatal care, access to ivf. i want to ask you specifically what your organizational stances on ivf. guest: before i do that, i want to tell you the three important words that are missing around the 14th amendment including the

unborn, that's been the language in previous platforms. what's stated there may sound nice but is meaningless around the unborn and ivf. this is not a new issue. it goes back to george w. bush. we had a debate in the platform committee back in 2004 over the issue of frozen embryos and experimentation and embryonic stem cell research. sup, this is not a new issue. many, many couples use, utilize ivf. here's the challenge and this is the concern with no parameters, no guard rails established year, and other countries have established guardrails where you are not creating 12, 18 embryos. you are creating just the number that are needed so that you are not creating excess embryos. we see this as an issue of human life that will then be discarded, frozen and left

there, or used for experimentation. we do not believe that human life should be used for experimentation. there just needs to be a discussion about the guardrails here. host: sorry, what do you think the guardrails should be? guest: well, i think limitations on the number of embryos created when the process is done and that we do not allow for experimentation on these, these embryos that have all the capacity to be human beings. they are, in essence. we do not believe that there should be experimentation done on them. i think that that is a part of the concern. if you look at the bill that came through the senate on this issue, it allows for human animal hybrids, chimeric, it has all kinds of way out science-fiction type stuff that's allowed. things that we have been dealing with kind of behind the scenes that never really got the attention of the public until

just now. by the way, back during the bush administration there was a big focus on the adoption of these frozen embryos, they were called snowflake children, there are thousands of snowflake children out there in america today, frozen embryos that parents who could not conceive took these embryos and had children as a result. all of this needs to be a part of the discussion. guest: let's talk to callers and start with susie in texas. caller: tony perkins, i'm so glad i had a chance to talk to you. let me tell you something, i've been a born-again christian since the age of eight. went to mission. and i'm a democrat. i want to know why a lot of christians that vote republican, i always say that the republican party the religion, because they have told me to my face and other democrats, they have

degraded jimmy carter and we are not christians because we don't vote for the republicans. you want to talk about civil and all of this -- democrats across this country, they go to church and are degraded by people that say that we are not christians because we don't vote for the republican party. is the republican party your religion and why? why don't you accept christians that are democrats? host: ok, susie, let's get a response. guest: i'll be very clear, the republican party is not my religion, far from it. you know, in our system of government we have two parties, that's just the way it works. as a christian and a follower of christ that believes the bible, we want to see policies that are a blessing to the nation in alignment with god's word. we look at the two parties and

we see which one is most closely aligned and we try to influence. that's why i'm a part of the republican party. if the democratic party were to move in that direction i would be on with them. by the way, susie, i would challenge anyone to look at what i have said -- i have never said that because someone is a democrat, they are not a christian. i have said that we need to vote for the individual, not necessarily for the party, but for those who most clearly aligned with biblical truth when it comes to the undeniable principles that we find in scripture and it has nothing to do with our relationship with jesus christ. host: tempe, arizona, republican, good morning. caller: good morning. host: go ahead. caller: this situation that happened, the one million signatures for roe v. wade [inaudible]

host: you are going in and out. can you try one more time? caller: something about the signatures that were collected in arizona, 800,000 signatures to approve roe v. wade and the abortion pill. host: are you aware of signatures in arizona for abortion? guest: i'm not familiar with the specifics. i do know that there are a number of ballot initiatives -- this last week there was one in arkansas that did not make that threshold, it will not be on the ballot. i'm not sure the status of arizona. host: frank, atlanta, independent line. caller: can always count on c-span. thank you, mr. perkins you just mentioned we need to pray. i hope i get to make my statement that -- haven't people been steered towards praying for centuries?

where would humanity be today if we could focus on correcting the things that are wrong about this world instead of being so preoccupied with what are we going to do forever in eternity? every second counts on c-span, yarl, don't call in entire the line with what a great job mimi is doing, we already have the line tied up with people saying good morning and how are you. host: any comments on what frank had to say? guest: has to say? guest: i think we do better job here on earth when we realize everything happens in light of eternity. when we live for the fact we are going to give an account of what we do today it makes us better citizens, but we understand we are all sinners and we need a savior and jesus christ is.

>> tim in new york democrat. caller: good morning. thank you for c-span. i want to ask tony what god he worships. because i believe in god and i don't believe my god would sponsor a man look donald trump to run this country and be the most powerful man in the world. it is scary. thank you. guest: well, interesting call, tim. thank you for the question. here is the reality. in our system of government it usual comes down to two candidates and we have to support one or the other. how we make that process is we try to find the one that is most clearly aligned. when you look at the two candidates there's a clear

difference and party. we talk bats sanctity of life and parties and there's a god and he created a male and female. all of these things speak to the issues we find in scripture and we are going to vote for the chad that most clearly alines, nobody is perfect but we help people see where the candidates stand. host: there are those that say the people on the relgs right, if you would allow me to use that expression, were very much against bill clinton because of his adultery. they said that qualifies him as a president, that it would destroy the moral fabric of the country. yet they excused donald trump of adultery as well. what do you say to that? how do you respond to those

critics? guest: i don't think anyone excused it. if you go back to 2016, where i was, i was warning with ted cruz. he was the candidate in the primary i felt most clearly aligned with biblical truth and principles. i was not an early supporter of donald trump. then it came down to a choice between hillary clinton and donald trump. donald trump putting out a list of pro-life justices, picked a running mate i knew well and embraced at that time the republican party platform which of the most conservative the party ever adapted. so it really wasn't a choice. the choice was you stay home and not vote and that's not the right approach or vote for someone who is totally opposed to your policies. it is not that easy of a choice. you have to work through many factors to get there.

but i would not interpret the support for donald trump as a pass on everything and everything doctor anything he is done although we have not seen that type of behavior alleged in the past. i think the president turned a corner when he became president although i would like to see his conversation a little more sill. that is probably the most frequent comments i get from evangelicals can you tell the president to put condition twitter or calm down the rhetoric. maybe what happened saturday pay change him and he can lead the nation into a path of greater civility. i'm praying the president that he sees the hands of god on his life and give almost a sense of mortality and he has to bring the nation together. host: from running ton, new york, republican.

host: good morning. i'm calling in about the trump assassination thing. i have listened all morning to everyone's opinions manifested and the bottom line is both trump and biden have had a chance to be the president and in my opinion biden has done nothing to help the american citizen, the small business owners. donald trump gave back to the american citizens the small business owners. we are electing a united states president, not a pope. you mean to tell me these people calling in never did anything wrong? we need a business plan run the country, not somebody that will give false prosecute promises or be a grandpa. obama did nothing to help the citizens. biden didn't help the citizenment we need a

businessman who loves and wants to help our country, not all of the opinions that are manifested into fear. people are making up things that are not true. we want to be able to go to work, work 40 hours, feed our families, pay our mortgage. we can't do that under biden or obama. host: let's get a response. guest: i hate to disagree with the republican calmer but i would agree in part. that is part of the equation and that clearly is true what she said but i would say there is a moral component. while we are not electing a pope, i agree, we do want a leader who understands the importance like our first president george washington who said tease pillars of public happiness, morality and religion and from that we have prosperity

and the ability to conduct business and freedoms we enjoy. we can never separate our freedom and rosterity from morality and religion. host: tony, the full rnc needs to vote to approve the platform that is happening today. do you expect it to pass? guest: i do. it convention has changed because of what happened saturday. there's a time two speak, a time to be silent. there will be conversations, i can assure you, over what took place last week but this week is not that time. host: last call from mary democrat in georgia. hi, mary. caller: thank you for taking my call, c-span. i would like to ask mr. perkins why is it that many of the southern baptist churches are

still having a spirit of racism against black people here. they do nothing to try to bring unity in this country. i think a lot of the responsibility for the dissension in the country and -- in addition to mr. trump -- at all at the foot of the churches, the southern baptist and other white churches. thank you. guest: well, i cannot speak for all churches, mary. but i can tell you from my church as a southern baptist and pastor that has not been the case in the church that i was pastoring nor the churches i have been involved in. in fact last night in the prayer meeting it was very reflective of who we are. i agree we have to come together as americans and stop the separation based upon these political identities