-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com good evening, i'm van jones. welcome to "the van jones show." we've got an inspiring installment for you tonight and frankly, after this week, we really need some inspiration. so tonight, we are jam packed with powerhouse women on both sides of the aisle. we've got an award-winning actress with us. she is a leader in the time's up movement, the me too movement, she's a brand-new author. the brilliant america ferrera is in the building. oh my gosh. oh, i can't wait.

we also have got three women who are all running for congress and all three have a shot at making history this november. one is poised to become the youngest woman ever elected to the congress of the united states. you may have heard of somebody named alexandria ocasio-cortez. ever heard of her? she's here. also, this young woman, she once was a refugee, refugee kid. she is now expected to become the first somali-american, the first muslim woman, and the first woman to wear a head scarf ever elected to the united states congress, ilhan omar is also in the building. trying to make some history. it's going to be awesome to hear from all of these women, because if there's anything that we have learned this week, it's the power of women's voices. we heard an incredible testament in front of congress from a powerful woman. we're going to talk about her. and even though it was senator jeff flake who broke with this

party and demanded that we have a real delay and fbi investigation, i believe the real courage came from two women, two heroes, who are just regular citizens. they were victims of sexual assault and they stopped senator flake in an elevator when he was going to the committee. take a listen to what they told him. >> what you are doing is allowing someone who actually violated a woman to sit in the supreme court. this is not tolerable. you have children in your family. think about them. >> you're telling all women that they don't matter, that they should just stay quiet because if they tell you what happened to them, you're going to ignore them. that's what happened to me, and that's what you're telling all women in america. that they don't matter, they should just keep it to themselves because if they have told the truth, you're just going to help that man to power anyway. >> those women, ana maria and

maria gallagher, ready people who stood up. give them a round of applause for fighting for what they believed in until very bitter end. give them a round of applause. regular folks. just people. they put a personal face on the pain that so many people have been feeling watching this stuff, and that might have been the key to slowing this whole train down, and i'm so glad because i really believe we need applause. you know, emotions are running high on all sides and the stakes are just too high, not just for the future of the supreme court, but for the future of the whole country. you know, this week, judge kavanaugh and professor christine blasey ford both took oaths before the nation and then swore to an opposite set of facts, and the messy truth is, people are going to choose who to believe based on what they believe politically, and that's dangerous in a democracy. you know, after all, democrats are now saying #believewomen, but a few democrats embraced or

supported bill clinton's accusers, and they were women. so that gives a lot of republicans an excuse to just roll their eyes, duck the issue, and say, it's just a partisan plot. now, that said, when it comes to the republicans, i want to just strangle my television listening to republican senators saying, this is some kind of a scheme to undermine and derail a nominee. it's terrible. i'm sorry. you're the same republicans who invented and unleashed the mother of all supreme court disruptions when you derailed barack obama's nominee, merrick garland and wouldn't even give him a hearing. that didn't just blow up an individual. it blew up the whole constitution, tarnished for a generation the idea that the nation's highest court is fairly constituted. so on both sides, everybody's got to do better and hopefully, hopefully the fbi can help. now, speaking of the power of women's voices to get us out of trouble, to get us out of danger, to get us out of jams,

please welcome to "the van jones show," two women who are almost certainly headed to the house of representatives to make history, ilhan omar and alexandria ocasio-cortez on "the van jones show." help is on the way. thank you. help is on the way. oh, my goodness. the first thing i want to just ask you, as leaders, as people who are about to join hopefully america's government, what did you feel watching these hearings? >> i just thought about the generations of women and women of color that have just tried so hard to have a voice in this process, seeing dr. ford just -- these photos of the lights on her and 11 men that were determining whether or not they were going to choose to believe her and echoing that as a

generation later from the testimony of anita hill where women had even less stature into belief on the seriousness of sexual assault allegations, and it also just made me feel like just the sheer destructiveness of this process alone in this -- around this nomination alone, why is that not good enough to withdraw and nominate a different gop justice? >> i mean, how did you feel watching her testimony? >> all kind of emotions. to see judge kavanaugh come and testify with so much rage and anger, and for us to actually understand the deeper issues of why women really don't come

forward, because they have seen that rage. they have faced that anger. and they know what that looks like. >> do you feel like there's a double standard? i was watching kavanaugh. i mean, he was fully in his feelings. i mean, he was going for it. he was talking back. let's just play a little bit of this. his neck was rolled. >> this confirmation process has become a national disgrace. you're asking about blackout, i don't know. have you? >> could you answer the question, judge? i just -- so you have -- that's not happened? is that your answer? >> yeah, and i'm curious if you have. this whole two-week effort has been a calculated and orchestrated political hit. revenge on behalf of the clintons. >> is that appropriate? >> that's my senator, senator amy klobuchar. >> god bless her. >> who briefly held on in that exchange, extremely inappropriate exchange, at least

in my view. i think if dr. ford did even something close to that, we would have talked about how she's not credible, she's overly emotional, and for him, we say, you know, it's good that he's showing his emotions, it's his life that's hanging on the balance. >> if you could just imagine those same words and that same expression that you just saw judge kavanaugh express, if you could just imagine if sonya sotomayor did the same exact thing a few years ago and, mind you, the frenzy around her nomination was racialized. you know, it was heavily insinuated that she only got into princeton because of her race, because she was a poor girl from the south bronx, and there was so much vitriol around her nomination and she walked

into that chamber cool as a cucumber and stuck to her values and she had to prove why she was worthy of that seat. and it seems as though he has to prove why he shouldn't have that seat. and it's that difference in entitlement that explains the differences in the diversity of our boardrooms, of our editorial boards, of leadership, and it really lays bare the classicism and the social tensions and the stratification that ripples all over the country. it's just completely laid bare for the world to see. >> this division is getting worse and not better. >> it is. >> i thought that when trump got elected, it was, you know, at a maximum. that now was the good old days. the senate can't function. the supreme court's being politicized, possibly poison. what can young elected officials like yourselves do that could acknowledge all this division but also start to bring it back around? is there anything that can be done? >> the kind of polarization we're seeing in our politics is

very scary. and it's doing, i think, the opposite of what's intended to do. a lot of young people are seeing themselves as a solution to this problem, because we oftentimes care really about fixing a solution rather than worrying about what letters are after our names, and i think the solution really lies in making sure that we have young people infused into the process that we are having conversations about what's really at stake. for alexandria and i, when we are talking to people on the campaign trail, we're talking to them about things like medicare for all, about tuition free, right and that free college. we're talking to people about reforming criminal justice, our criminal justice system. we're talking to people about what it means to have humane immigration systems. we're talking about what united states -- unites us and the struggles we see within our communities. >> part of what i see is, you

know, there's -- it's almost like tone deaf on both sides. in some ways, what you saw in that hearing for some people, it was really a collision of two nightmares, one the nightmare of being attacked and not believed, the other the nightmare of being accused but being accused falsely, and people were literally watching two different movies. do you think that sometimes liberals and progressives in our righteous indignation maybe miss opportunities to show some understanding for folks for whom these changes are scary? >> you know, i do think that there's -- i do think that there's always room in that conversation there. for example, there's, you know, there are some people who believe that if you cast your vote for donald trump in 2016, that you are completely written off, that they never want to talk to you again, and that was your decision and it's over. and you know, i do think that sometimes in our anger and in our hurt, it's easier to just push away the people who hurt

us. it makes it -- it's easier, emotionally easier, but in order for our nation to heal, we have to at the very least see the lens through which someone else is seeing. when we appeal, i think, to common values and find the things that unite both sides, and there are. ilhan and i both got elected without accepting any corporate lobbyist funds. any at all. and i think the way that we approach these conversations is we sometimes come to the table so steeled and hardened for a debate as to why i'm going to prove you wrong as opposed to coming to the table in the form of a mutual education. what can i learn from you that i am not understanding and to work it through as a communication issue that we want to get -- that we actually want a solution to. i think that's very important. >> one of the things i just

admire about both of you, it seems like the old model was to be the most powerful speaker, but you also are powerful listeners. how important has that been in terms of this kind of unlikely road that you've been on to be able to listen to people who are obviously did not grow up in a refugee camp or any of those things? >> for me, as an immigrant, as someone who came to this country not speaking any english, at the age of 12, it was really important -- and that i listened and worked to be able to communicate with people because it helped all of my otherness kind of disappear as soon as you are able to have a conversation. as they say, it's hard to hate up close. and so once you are in conversation with people, once you have the ability to eat and talk with someone, it's really hard for them to hate that -- to hate you. >> well, that's why you guys just give me so much hope. you know, that as you rise, more

people will get a chance to see you and i see you really as the antidote to some of the poison. we got a lot more to talk about. when we get back, including the impact that this whole debate about the supreme court is going to have on our midterms, but as we go to break, i want you to hear from other folks about these hearings, where we are, and what's going to happen. here's what some of you had to say. >> if you believed kavanaugh before today, you believe him today. if you believed his accuser before today, dr. ford, you believe her today. >> the detail of whether he gets confirmed or not isn't going to be the main point. it's going to be this impact it has had on how men and women sort out this millennia-old imbalance of power. hey allergy muddlers. are you one sneeze away from being voted out of the carpool? try zyrtec®.

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welcome back to "the van jones show." i am here with two rising stars of the democratic party, alexandria ocasio-cortez who is running for congress in new york's 14th district and ilhan omar who is running in minnesota's fifth district. is the blue wave real? can we lay back, take it for granted? what's going to happen in november? >> well, i think ultimately this is about a fight for our values.

this is about, you know, in my opinion, and i think one of the things that we're both fighting for is true economic, social, and racial justice for working class americans, and i think that that's what the core of the democratic party and the democratic message should be about, and i think that that's the best message to get this nation through this dark moment. >> but people, you know, when you talk about the working class, working class people of color identify with democratic party, but increasingly, working class white folks, especially working class white men say, hey, look, you guys are more concerned about immigration and these other issues. you don't care about me. do you have to choose as a democrat between sticking up for some of these racial and gender issues and working class issues for people of color and appealing to the white guys? >> no. no. and i think that is the ultimate trap that is set up, that we have to choose between race or class and that we have to choose a side in what to advocate for, when really, all of these things

are so interwoven. >> and i want the add, i think ultimately, we have to think about what is our common struggle and in this country right now, everybody is part of that common struggle. we all want economic security for working people. we all want to make sure that there is vibrancy within our economy by making sure that young people are freed from the shackles of student debt. >> all that sounds great. do you feel that democrats come across that way now? because sometimes i think other people will tell me, when i'm in the red states, it feels like everybody's not really welcome anymore and if you don't say it exactly the right way with the right word and intersectionality, you're going to get smacked down. that doesn't seem very inviting to a lot of people. how are you going to fix that? fix that. >> i think, ultimately, it's how each of us as individuals choose to interact with those who are not like us. you know, i may have very strong

convictions and principles about what justice in america looks like, but really, it's going to be listening that heals this nation, and when people feel heard in all of their pain, wherever that pain comes from. >> and i think ultimately, too, it is avoiding the trap, right? it's avoiding that, you know, saying that one particular issue is more important than another one because when we're talking about the kind of america we believe in, the kind of america we deserve, we are talking about an america that includes everyone, that uplifts everyone, that secures prosperity for everyone. >> let me ask a couple of tough questions. you've got these hearings. we've been outraged by these hearings, but you could actually have a backlash coming. are you concerned about the other side getting just as motivated and just as agitated to then stop this blue wave? could this create a red wave? >> i don't think that -- first

of all, i just categorically do not believe in acting out of a place of fear. i don't think that we choose to do something or not do something because we are scared of what might happen to us. what i act out of is a commitment to principle and a commitment to value. >> do you think that trump should be impeached? you guys are going to be in a situation where you would have to possibly take a vote on the impeachment of donald trump. would you vote yes or no? >> i would vote yes. >> why? >> i think, you know, when we're looking at the kind of nation i feel i believed in, the kind of nation that i heard about 23 years ago in that refugee camp, and the kind of presidency that really should exist, i feel, like we're just even seeing the tip of the iceberg of how destructive this president is.

i recognize him as a tyrant. i recognize him as someone who has developed tendencies of dictatorship. >> so when the republicans say the democrats just want to run so they can redo the 2016 election, are they right? >> no. no. what the democrats are running for is to save our nation from destruction. we are interested in making sure that the american people have hope restored in them. we are interested in making sure that the american people get a government that is functioning for them. we want to make sure that we have transparency and accountability. >> how do you answer the question? >> yeah. i would vote to impeach. >> on what basis? >> because i believe he's committed a crime, and people who commit crimes need to be

impeached. >> what crime do you think that donald trump has committed? >> well, i think there's a couple. the first that we have is a violation of the emoluments clause, he has refused to divest himself of businesses that have foreign actors. i think we currently have a full fbi investigation through which women may have been provided financial settlements in an illegal manner or a manner that violates campaign finance laws. i think that there are many different ways that people can reach that conclusion. >> what you're saying right now is something that most people would say, it's not smart politics to say that. most people would say, i shouldn't say whether i'm going to vote for impeachment or not because that wouldn't be good politics but you're saying, whether people like it or not, what you actually believe. so first of all, round of applause for that.

i'll take objectivity any day. coming up, we're going to hear from another candidate from another side of the aisle. she's also a woman, running for congress as a republican in pennsylvania. she is a survivor, both of sexual assault, but she's also been a special victims prosecutor and she's going help us understand all this when we get back. you wouldn't accept an incomplete job

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as you can see, people find that democrats do not have a lock of history-making candidates this november. there's some barrier-breaking republicans out there too, including my next guest, running for congress in pennsylvania's fifth district. if she wins, she's going to be the first woman of color ever to represent pennsylvania. right now, that state doesn't even have any female representatives at all in congress. so please welcome to "the van jones show," pearl kim. i'm so glad to have you here. you know, because of your background as a survivor of a sexual assault, as a woman, as a republican, as a former prosecutor, you might be the only person in america that can explain to us what is going on. so, i appreciate you being here.

first, do you think it's a good thing that there's going to be this sort of week-long pauds for the fbi to get involved? do you think it's not necessary? do you think it would be helpful? >> i think at this point it would be a good thing. now i don't know the specifics in terms of protocol, but at this point, having some time for the fbi to investigate and for -- in terms of the background check would be appropriate. >> one of the things that i think people are wanting is for there to be a change in the way that women are treated. >> yeah. >> that women's voices are heard across the board. you know, given your experience, again, on both sides as a prosecutor and as a victim, how important is that to you and what role did your experience play in having you run for office in the first place >> the me too movement has been an incredible social movement. when i was first teaching and talking about it, this was prior to even considering or thinking that i was going to run for office. someone asked me a question and they said, where do you think the me too movement is going to go? and at that point, you know, i

saw it as a powerful social movement. i recognized that it was incredible that women, men, victims felt safe to come forward, but i actually did not think it was going to go beyond that, and i remember telling the individual, i said, it's incredible that we have this space that people can come forward but i have yet to see any accountability and then within weeks of me saying that was when you saw top executives resigning, you saw individuals like the arrest of bill cosby, harvey weinstein and so forth, and so with my own personal journey and my personal story, it's a really unique time, but you know, now it's time to actually change institutions, and in order to do that, you have to elect new leadership, promote new leadership that actually cares about this issue, and that it's something that would factor into their vote. >> now, help me understand. you are running as a republican. to be a republican woman in the trump republican party, that's got to be a little bit weird at different times.

how do you think about these issues? as somebody who's a strong pro-woman voice in a party that seems to not always be with you. >> well, i think my concern is that we should never politicize this issue. combatting sexual violence, combatting domestic violence should transcend politics, period. >> you have some of your republican colleagues who are now in the senate, murkowski, susan collins, jeff flake, do you have any words of advice or any requests or anything that you would want to say to the swing vote republicans who are sitting in the u.s. senate right now? >> yeah, absolutely. like i said before, i do not want to see combatting sexual violence, combatting domestic violence, combatting human trafficking being politicized. it should transcend politics and in terms of determining credibility, for example, the lack of a prompt complaint shouldn't be a factor in terms of determining credibility, because that happens very, very

often in these types of cases. and i think what's also important to note, and i think the hearings are different in terms of the evidence that has been unfolding, but as a prosecutor, what i know is that typically, the cases that we went forward on, sometimes you didn't have corroborating evidence. and when you didn't have corroborating evidence, there's a specific jury instruction in pennsylvania when you're trying to prove your case, and it says the following. if the testimony of a sexual assault victim is believed, that testimony is sufficient to convict. and that's in a criminal case. and so i think what the senators need to do is they need to recognize how to properly address credibility and then i hope they factor that into their vote. >> i observed you retweeting during the mccain -- john mccain's funeral where i think the whole came together and you retweeted meghan mccain, joe biden. here you are a republican doing that. what was in your heart to retweet those folks?

some people said those people were kind of trying to dis trump in the middle to the of the funeral and you're retweeting. >> this is why i'm running. i'm frustrated with washington. i'm frustrated with the rhetoric coming out of the washington, the inaction and that politicians can't work across the aisle for the common good. i've had a history of working with both republicans and democrats for the common good and i'm so completely frustrated with our political climate right now. and so this is all -- the reason why i'm running. >> can you reach across now? it seems like to me the few people who do try reach across, before they can even get their hands out their pocket, their base is just eating them alive and tearing them apart. are you -- got some special super powers that you can do stuff that other people can't do? >> let's make it very clear. it's not like the national republican party is helping me or supporting me. i put in, in essence, my life savings. i left my job with no wink-wink, you can get a job when you come back. i am all in this race. i am here to break into the establishment, to shatter some

glass ceilings, and i am unbossed and unbought. >> you sound a little bit like a maverick in the most positive sense of the word. you're unbought, unbossed. is there room in today's american politics for a young woman of color to be the next john mccain? is that possible? >> yeah, absolutely. >> why? >> well, why not? and i say this because also, i was able to implement criminal justice reform in pennsylvania, so i was able to secure the first human trafficking conviction in the state of pennsylvania. i then went on to work with legislators, both republicans and democrats to expand protections for victims and i was able to secure the first human trafficking conviction under the new legislation but what's important to that, not just the lawyering aspect, that had a lot to do with mobilizing local law enforcement, federal law enforcement, the community, building consensus to make sure resources were placed in fighting this and the combatting

human trafficking, and then i was actually able to execute and get something done and that's what i want to do in washington. >> listen, i am, like so many people across the country, so excited about having someone coming in so independent, so passionate, and also so fair and balanced. so listen, i wish you the best of luck in november. coming up, we've got an emmy and golden globe award winning actress, america ferrera. she's a leader in the time's up movement, the me too movement we've been talking about. she's got a lot to say tonight and you're going to want to hear from her when we get back. thank you. does this map show the peninsula trail? you won't find that on a map. i'll take you there. take this left. if you listen real hard you can hear the whales. oop. you hear that? (vo) our subaru outback lets us see the world.

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all right. now, my next guest is an award winning actress, a director, a producer, a leading activist in some of the biggest political and cultural movements happening in our country right now. she's been a leading voice in the fight for immigrant rights, in the time's up movement, the me too movement, and now she's embarking on a new chapter in her life and her career. she's given birth to a new baby and a new book, "american like me: reflections on life between cultures." please welcome to "the van jones show," america ferrera. oh, yes.

very good to see you. >> thank you. >> oh,ism li i feel like a supe starment i'm so happy, happy, happy. with you on my show, i feel like that. first of all, congratulations on the new book, on the new baby. >> thank you. >> and also your role in these movements, and i just want to say it is so unusual -- it's so hard to be a good actor. it's so hard to be a good activist, and you are somebody who's excellent at both and we just love you, and we appreciate you for everything that you're doing. give love to america ferrera, y'all. have you been watching these hearings? >> yes. >> what was your take on what you saw happen this week in america when it comes to this issue? >> well, many, many things. the first, off the top of my head, is how incredibly grateful i am to dr. ford. >> yes.

>> you know, she said it. i don't want to be here. i'm terrified. and so many of us know exactly what she meant. she didn't have anything to gain in this process. as most survivors do not. and i myself am a survivor of sexual assault, and did not talk about my experience for over 20 years, not to my family, not to my friends. but it was the courage of other women who were ready to come forward with their stories that gave me the feeling that i could too speak up. and that i was ready to. because i knew that i was going to be met with the sisterhood of women standing by me. and so, i think -- i thank dr. ford. she's amazing and a true patriot and such an example of what it actually means to love your country and sacrifice for your country, which a lot of people

in that hearing could learn a lot from. something else i saw that was disturbing was the -- was this, like, angry white man tantrum, and not just from kavanaugh but from so many of the republican senators who were so infuriated and i'm like, you're mad? you're mad? like, i'm mad. and i've been mad for a long time. and god, i wish that there were some women who were allowed to rant and rave the way they were. because god knows how they would have been treated had they dared talk and rant and rave and be as angry as they had the right to be. so that was so upsetting to see that we're -- that we're at this stage -- it's like it's our prequel to hand maid's tale

stage. i remember watching this series and thinking, how are they going to explain how we got here, how they got to this kind of world? and this is it. >> this kind of stuff. >> it's not deals being made in dark basements and back alleys. it's in broad daylight. it's for all of us to see. this is how it happens, this is how it begins, this is how our rights get taken away in all legal terms because the people making the laws and making the decisions are all representing a very narrow group of people, and so many of us are literally invisible from this process, and if we stand a chance of changing that reality, of who's in those positions of power, who's in that committee, who women have to face to tell their stories and be heard, if we want to change that reality, we have to show up in the midterm elections this year. >> you're not just somebody who's found your voice. i think people really

misunderstand you. oh, she's so outspoken. that's the least of it. you are actually organizing real people. you're somebody, you know, with the time's up legal fund who's actually got real people together to get some real victories. can you let people know when you're not on shows like this and writing books and changing diapers, some of the organizing work you're doing, say with the legal fund. >> yes. well, i was very excited to be a part of the beginning of the time's up movement along with hundreds of other women. it was so invigorating, and i'll tell you what was at the heart of what was happening with time's up was that women were giving themselves the permission to be in rooms with each other, unapologetically, and it was actresses who have never been in a room together because you're only ever the one actress in the whole cast that doesn't have much of a voice and no one to

support you because you feel like you're the only one. it was publicists and studio execs who were often the only one in the room. agents and lawyers and we shed these lines that we've been abiding by, these labels, these boxes that we've been put in that keep us isolated from one another and it takes our power away. i'll tell you something. those men in that hearing, they gain power from each other. they knew, i'll go in this and lie through my teeth, because all of my colleagues are going to sit here and do it with me. and so they know a thing or two about showing up for each other, right? and that is, to me, what is really fueling this me too movement is women coming into spaces with one another in new ways, being with each other in different ways, and saying never mind to all of these divisions and lines that we've abided by and not just within the entertainment industry, but

across industries. we've -- we have stood with our sisters who are farm workers, who are domestic workers, who are in the tech industry, who are in the sports industry, and the ad industry and the financing industry, and we're saying we are going to unapologetically say that we're in these spaces as women and we are going to support women. >> wow. that's just -- that's so inspiring too. that's so inspiring. because you know, my hope is that more people in all the areas of life will start realizing the power that we have and i think you're such a great example. we've got more to talk about with america ferrera when we come back. alright, i brought in new max protein ...to give you the protein you need with less of the sugar you don't. i'll take that. [cheers] 30 grams of protein and 1 gram of sugar. new ensure max protein. in two great flavors.

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welcome back to "the van jones show." i'm here with america ferrera, author of "american like me." first of all, how did you get all these people to write stuff for your book? you have lin-manuel miranda, you have everybody with an immigrant background in your book, practically. >> i asked and asked and asked and asked. yeah, i don't think it's so much about me.

i think it's about this moment and how eager and excited so many of these incredible, creative, powerful people were to tell this part of their story. i've been living this my whole life. i grew up, i was born and raised in los angeles. i grew up feeling like 100% an american. and i mean, i believed what they taught me. this is america. there's nothing this short, poor, chubby brown girl can't do, and i'm going to do it, and i believed it to my bones. it wasn't until i realized how other people saw me that i realized, oh, i'm not american to them the way i am american to myself. and i never saw my experiences of being both 100% american and feeling around american and being linked to my family and their history and their culture and their country. so i felt alone and isolated and felt like i didn't belong anywhere. and then i grew up and realized,

not only are there so many millions of american people's story, this is the american experience. being of somewhere else. unless you are indigenous to this country and to this continent, at some point in your history, this is your story. and when we feel alone and isolated in any of our experiences, it takes away our power. we feel like our voices don't matter. so if young people can skip the part that i had to go through, feeling alone and isolated and just get to the point when we can look at their culture and say, yes, i'm reflected in my culture, my experiences, my voice matters. this is why i wanted this book to be in the world. >> congratulations. [ applause ] >> you can literally open -- i promise you can open any page in this book and start reading. you're going to learn stuff, you'll see stuff from a completely different perspective. part of -- i see what you're doing as an answer back to build

the wall and all that kind of stuff. as a mom, how did it hit you to see donald trump authorizing authorities to snatch babies away from moms, seeing those babies come back not even knowing their moms, being so traumatized? this is a beautiful response to some stuff that is pretty ugly. how did that ugly stuff strike you? >> thank you for bringing that up. i think we need frequent reminders there are still over 500 of those children who have been ripped from their parents still in detention centers. never mind the reports that have come out about the thousands of children who we have in detention centers and are incarcerating through this, you know, for-profit policy. i took some time off when i was having my baby at the end of my pregnancy and for the first couple of weeks, i was afraid to some degree that i would have my child and really never want to go back to the pace of

responding to everything happening in the world. but when i had my son, it was within a week of the images of children being ripped from their parents. and to be literally becoming a mother at the moment where these images were being exposed, hearing the voices of children screaming for their parent. this is -- this is evil. it's evil stuff. if we call it what it is. he was 4 weeks old when i had to -- i left him with his father and took a train to d.c. and marched with tens of thousands of other americans to say that we're not going to take this without a fight. and so all of that to say, becoming a parent makes it all matter that much more. i don't have some fantasy that we're going to fix it all for our children. i think we will be fighting the

fight for social justice for as long as we are humans on this planet. but i want to set an example for my son of the kind of citizen of this world i want him to be. i want him to show up, because it matters and because he has the capacity to. >> i'll tell you what, i can't think of anything else to say except sebastian, look out, with you as his mama. that's all i got to say about that. america ferrera, i want to thank you for being here. everybody should buy this book, "american like me." i'm van jones, "the van jones show." thank you for watching. peace and love for one another. [ applause ]

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you're live in the cnn newsroom. i'm ana cabrera in new york. we begin with breaking developments on the nomination turmoil of brett kavanaugh. after more than a week of resisting, president trump is now calling the added fbi investigation of his supreme court nominee, quote, a blessing in disguise. you'll hear from the president in my a mome in just a moment. first we're learning this investigation is looking into the allegations of kavanaugh's second accuser. the attorney for deborah ramirez says the f