(upbeat music)
- Welcome to FaithNation, I'm John Jessup.
Well, a deadline has been set.
The head of the SenateJudiciary Committee says
if Judge Brett Kavanaugh'saccuser doesn't come forward
to testify at Monday's hearing,
they'll move ahead with a vote.
CBN Capitol Hill corespondent,Abigail Robertson,
reports on the continuing controversy.
- Republicans delayed acommittee vote on Judge Kavanaugh
this week to take Dr.Christine Blasey Ford
up on her offer to share her allegations
against the nominee.
Then late Tuesday, she changed her tune,
saying she doesn't want to appear
until the FBI looks into her claims.
- If she is not going tobe part of the hearing,
that would be a very interesting
and unfortunate turn of events.
- [Abigail] Democrats have also pushed
for an FBI investigation.
- I came here because ofhow Anita Hill was handled
and the one thing I do know,
is that Committee membersneed to have the facts,
that's why they're asking for
an FBI background investigation,
and I believe that that would produce
a much better hearing.
- [Abigail] But Grassley says
the FBI investigation is closed,
and the president agrees.
- I don't think the FBIreally should be involved
because they don't wanna be involved.
They say this is not really their thing.
But I think politically speaking,
the Senators will do a very good job.
- [Abigail] Trump tweetedthe Supreme Court is
one of the main reasons he got elected,
and he hopes Republicans are watching
the Democrats' playbook.
Meanwhile, Judge Kavanaughis ready to share
his story on Monday.
But Dr. Ford has notagreed to either a private
or public hearing with the Committee.
The Committee also reachedout to the third person
Ford claimed was in theroom with them, Mark Judge.
Judge refused to appear,
saying in a statement he has no memory
of the alleged incident
and never saw Brett act inthe manner Dr Ford describes.
Evangelist Franklin Graham told CBN News
he thinks this allegation is a tactic
to keep conservatives off the bench,
and that we shouldn'thold people accountable
for something they did as a teenager.
- This is just an attempt to smear him.
They couldn't find anythingelse in his record,
and so this is just anattempt to smear him
and smear his name andput a black dot on it.
And I hope the Senate is smarter than this
and they're not gonnalet this stop the process
from moving forward andconfirming this man.
- Grassley's office saysthe invitation for Dr Ford
to testify on Monday still stands,
and that nothing the FBIdoes would have any bearing
on what she tells the committee,
adding, there is no reasonfor any further delay.
Reporting from Washington,Abigail Robertson, CBN News.
- Well you may rememberthe name Manny Miranda
from Judge Brett Kavanaugh'sconfirmation hearings.
He's a former co-worker of the nominee.
Earlier today he sat downwith Abigail Robertson
to give his take on theallegations against the Judge.
- It is clear to me that they wanted to
build up a foundation, strategically,
to make Brett Kavanaugh lookas if he had something to hide.
As if he wasn't credible.
To go after his honesty.
And we now know why they were doing that.
In my view, because they knew full well
that this allegation of sexualassault, would be coming up.
I know that we're supposed to be
sensitive to these sorts of charges,
and I feel that I am sensitive,
but I uniquely have a right to say
that this is part of their playbook.
And I know that becausethey keep telling us
that I read their playbook.
And this is what they do.
They keep files onnominees who are nominated,
confirmed to the AppellateCourt who are young.
And they slowly build a casein preparation for the moment
that those nominees,those Appellate Judges,
get a little bit older
and get nominated to the Supreme Court.
And that's what I believethey have done here.
- So is that why you thinkSenator Diane Feinstein
did not bring this upuntil just a week ago?
- They obviously, it's beenclear to the American people
that the Democrat strategyhas been to delay this.
And she knew that bringingthis up at the 11th hour
would cause the delay that it has caused.
And they also knew thatto set up as advocates,
because basically they're justadvocates for their causes,
to set this whole thing up,
they had to lay a foundation of attacking
Brett Kavanaugh's credibility.
Because they knew that at the end,
his credibility would be at stake
as it is now in dealing witha sexual assault allegation.
- Do you think this willhave a negative effect
on encouraging people to acceptnominations in the future?
- Well I know that a lot ofpeople who could be nominees
don't wanna go through this process.
I know of a nominee who had a fatal result
because his wife just couldn't take it
because of the pummeling that
that particular nominee got.
Nominees go through a great deal of pain
a lot of suffering.
They get calls,
they have to change theirtelephone numbers at home.
They have to make sure that their address
isn't available online.
And then, if they do get nominated,
if they do put themselves forth,
they get attacked in this way.
As Brett Kavanaugh has gotten attacked.
The notion that someonelike Brett Kavanaugh
could be attacked in thisway at the 11th hour,
if it's allowed to stand,
it's a hit on our American Constitution.
Because all that theSenator's supposed to do
is give their advice and consent.
They're not supposedto have the opportunity
to malign a public servant
and a sitting judge.
I know that it has,
all the obstruction ofthe past 10-15 years,
has had a negative effect.
I know of men and women who will not
put themselves forth for public service.
It already has had that effect
and if this happens,
if Brett Kavanaugh is derailed by this,
in my view, planted allegation,
untruthful allegation,
we will see a diminishment in the caliber
of the men and women who serve,
certainly in our Federal Judiciary,
if not public life as a whole.
- Thanks, Abby, for that.
Democratic women voterscould play a big part
in voter turn out come November.
A new Politico Morning Consult poll
finds 71 percent of femaleDemocrats are very motivated
to vote in this year's mid-term election.
63 percent of maleDemocrats feel the same.
Now the poll finds Republican voters
to be relatively equal whenit comes to voter enthusiasm
69 percent of Republican women
and 68 percent of Republican men
say they feel very motivated as well.
Marc Lotter is a former SpecialAssistant to President Trump
and Press Secretary to the Vice President.
He joins us now for more.
Marc, we just saw a poll that was released
saying that women Democratic voters
are feeling very energeticabout the mid-term elections.
How do you think that's gonna play out?
What kind of impact do you think
this is gonna make on the mid-terms?
- I think you see energy on both sides.
When you look at that poll
and you look deeper in the numbers,
it's really within the margin of error
between Republican women
and Democrats and Republicans over all
are both very energizedand that's important
because every voter
and every Conservative voter
people who believe in the progress
we're making in our country,
need to make sure they show up
and vote in these mid-term elections.
We saw in the special electionoutside of Columbus, Ohio
just a few thousand votes,
1200 I believe, separatedwinning from losing.
It could be that close againin many of these mid-terms.
And we don't need to thinkabout it just about the party.
We don't need to thinkabout it just in terms of
a candidate winning or losing,
we're really talking aboutthe President's agenda.
We're talking about beingable to continue tax cuts
as opposed to raising taxes.
Continue to roll back regulations,
invest in our military.
These are the thingsthat are really at stake,
Conservative Justices being confirmed
to the courts at every level
because if we don't show up
and if we don't win andmake our voices heard,
then you're gonna see the Democrats
roll back all that progress.
You're gonna see them tryto impeach this President.
You're gonna see them block Justices
and Judges who believe inthe law as it's written
not as how Liberals want it to be.
- You just rattled off a longtick list of accomplishments
but we're seeing polls thatshow something very opposite
where Democrats are moreenthusiastic than Republicans.
A lot of these races lean Democrat.
What does the GOP need todo in order to maintain
control of both Houses of Congress,
and do you think that's gonna happen?
- I do, and I'll tell you,
the Republican NationalCommittee has got a
tremendous program in place right now
where they're reaching out to voters,
working with the state and local parties,
making sure that we contact those voters,
make sure they know what's on the line.
But I'll also tell you,
we need to take all thesepolls with a grain of salt.
- What do you think will happen,
we've seen it in the pastwhere you've had a Republican,
a President of one partyworking with a Congress
that is either split or divided
or ruled by another party
and having to work togetherin order to compromise.
Do you think that youcould potentially see
some good with President Trump
and maybe a Democratic led House
working with the Senateto push forward an agenda?
- I'll go by history as a lesson,
we've not really seen much opportunity
for them to cooperate right now.
We've wanted to bring them inon things like infrastructure
which the President and Democrats,
many have said isimportant for our country,
but we can't come together.
We couldn't come together
on many of the spending issues and things.
So if that happens,
I'm hopeful it won't be
and it's really up to every voter
to decide whether that's gonna happen,
we'll have to figure out a way,
but so far all we've seen fromthe Democrats is resistance.
- Marc, final question,
I can't let you go withoutasking your thoughts on
Judge Brett Kavanaugh and his nomination.
Where things stand with thelatest in the allegations
and the hearing that'scoming up on Monday.
What can you tell usabout Brett Kavanaugh,
his nomination and doyou think that he will be
the next Supreme CourtJustice on the Court?
- Well, I'll tell you he'sextremely well qualified,
and you've seen that from legal experts
and scholars from across the board,
both political partieshave talked about his
qualifications, his work in the community,
his work for our country.
These allegations are serious,
and Dr Ford deserves to be heard.
I will tell you that Igive Chairman Grassley
a lot of credit for whenthe allegations came forward
and Dr Ford's name became public,
he put a pause on the vote,
and called for a hearing on Monday.
Which is what Democrats said they wanted.
Then they moved the bar,
"well, no that's not what we want,
we want an investigation."
They keep moving the bar.
If she wants to have her story heard,
they've made every opportunity
either publicly or privately,
with the Senate or with staff,
to be able to have her story heard.
And whether she takes that or not is
gonna be, obviously, entirely up to her.
But I'm confident that once this is out,
Judge Kavanaugh has denied it.
Two people who have been named by Dr Ford
as being involved, have also denied it,
that we'll hear both sides,
and the Senate will go ahead and vote,
and I'm confident that Justice Kavanaugh
will take the benchhere in the next month.
- Marc Lotter, thank you for your time.
Welcome back anytime.
- Thank you, good to see you.
- And good to see you.
President Trump haslaunched his newest attack
on Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
The President told Hill.tv quote
"I don't have an Attorney General.
It's very sad."
The President says he'sunhappy with Sessions
on numerous issues, includingthe situation at the border.
Jeff Sessions was the firstSenator to endorse Trump
in his bid for office.
President Trump suggeststhat caused a blind spot
when he nominated him for AG.
But most of the President'spublicized disapproval
of Sessions has since taken place,
since he recused himself fromthe Russian investigation.
The Attorney General has yet to respond
to the President's remarks.
Well, North Korea is agreeing to shut down
one of it's main nuclear missile sites.
The move comes afterdays of meetings between
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un
and his South Korean counterpart.
Shutting down the siteis just one step toward
a previous agreementaimed at getting rid of
nuclear weapons on the Korean peninsula.
The agreement also saysNorth Korea is willing
to take more measures to
decommission another nuclear facility,
if the United Statesmakes further concessions
stemming from June's meeting
between President Trump and Kim Jong-un.
Frank Gaffney is the founder
and president of theCenter for Security Policy.
Earlier today he spoke with my colleague,
Ben Kennedy about NorthKorea's nuclear program
and the threat the regime stillposes to the United States.
Take a look.
- What is your sense, isNorth Korea serious about
shutting down it's missile sites?
- North Korea may be seriousabout shutting down the sites
that it has declaredthat it will get rid of.
I think that's a very different thing
than whether they willactually denuclearize.
After all, that's the mainpoint of this whole exercise.
I wouldn't make too much of the fact
that they've decided theseparticular facilities
are excess to their needs
and that it might beexpedient to close them down
and even have inspectors from abroad in
to witness their doing so.
Among other reasons being that,
one of the things that we'velearned about the North Koreans
is that for any of theelements of their nuclear
and ballistic missile programsthat we've been able to see,
because they're exposed to,
for example, overheadsatellite collection,
there is a whole nother vastinfrastructure below ground.
That is to say in hardened,deeply buried facilities.
Those are not likely to be inspected
or even declared for that matter,
and unless and until they are,
I think that this isprobably more of the kind of
double game that the North Koreans
have specialized in for decades.
- Now, Frank, we've seen the President
praise North Korea
and it's leader on Twitterand also in person,
what is your take onhow President Trump has,
I guess in a way, cosyedup to Kim Jong-un?
- I think the President istrying to see if this is
a North Korean dictatordifferent from his father
and his grandfather.
It's worth a try, I think,
but you have to pursue itwith your eyes wide open.
I think the President hascorrectly in recent days,
made it clear that he's not happy
with the fulfillment of the commitments
that Kim Jong-un hasmade to him personally.
And has been insistentthat the sanction regime
that brought Kim to thetable in the first place,
has to be faithfully enforced,
not just by the Russians and the Chinese,
but also by our South Korean alliance.
- Now Frank, despite everything,
does North Korea,
and I know this isreally the big question,
does it still pose a threatto right here in the US?
- The North Koreans havedeveloped the capacity to
inflect immense damage on this country.
And by the way, it's not just from
long range ballistic missiles
equipped with thermonuclear warheads,
which we believe they'venow got the capacity
to threaten us with,
but also, satellites whichthey have orbiting the earth,
which there's reason to believe,
may have nuclear weaponsaboard them as well.
The North Koreans have made it clear that
doctrinally, they understand
that were one of those satellites,
at about 300 nautical miles or so,
to be equipped with a nuclear weapon
and then detonated,
it could destroy the electricgrid of the United States
and with that, essentially take out
our nation as a 21st century superpower.
Will they do that, I don't know,
but if they have that option,
you can bet the North Koreans are still
very much a threat to this country.
- Alright, Frank Gaffney,appreciate your insight.
Thanks for your time.
- Thank you.
- [John] The President heads to the places
hardest hit by hurricane Florence.
A look at the aftermath of the storm,
when we come back.
(upbeat music)
- Welcome back.
President Trump made hisway to the Carolinas today
to see firsthand the damagedone by hurricane Florence.
The storm made landfall onthe North Carolina coast
last Friday morning bringing with it
devastating rainfall totals.
- Hurricane Florence wasone of the most powerful
storms ever to hit the Carolinas.
One of the most powerfuland devastating storms
ever to hit our country.
To the families who have lost loved ones,
America grieves with you.
- The Commander in Chiefreceived a recovery briefing
at a Marine Corp air stationbefore touring Newbourne
one of North Carolina's hardest hit areas,
and then heading to South Carolina.
President Trump alsotook time to thank FEMA
and the military for theirhard work keeping people safe.
Well Erik Rosales joins me now.
Erik was there for prettymuch the better part of a week
before the storm, reported on the storm
and it's aftermath,
what was the experience like for you?
- Well, I tell you what,
we actually rode out thestorm, just inland just a bit,
and we came in as the stormwas just making landfall.
It made landfall at about7:00 in the morning on Friday,
and then we ended up making our way
over into Wilmington area.
I tell you what, it's Wilmingtonthat was really hit hard.
That was the eye of the storm.
They had substantial flooding.
They have about seven oreight rivers that are there
and the main river thereis the Cape Fear River
and that one just floodedthe downtown area,
homes, businesses, things like that.
But I tell you what,
out of it all, you cantell that Jesus was there.
And I say that because,
and you kind of get alittle bit of emotion to it,
because the hands andfeet of Jesus were there.
People were helping each other.
We ran into so many stories of just,
two guys from Tennessee,
they ended up not knowing asoul there in North Carolina,
they left their jobs in Tennessee,
they own their own businesses,
they have little Bobcat tractors,
they hook them up.
They drove all the way fromTennessee over to North Carolina
and they were clearing out thestreets there in Wilmington
of trees, with chainsaws.
Nobody told them to do that.
- [John] Just on their own.
- But they said that that'sjust what they needed to do.
And they were Christian,they were believers.
They said yes, that iswhat God wants us to do
is to help each other.
- Erik, now you and yourphotojournalist, Mario Gonzales,
did great work, we reallyappreciate your reporting
while you were down there- Appreciate that, thank you.
- But you also became part of the story,
because you got trapped- Yes we did.
- for several days.
- In Wilmington, we got trapped.
We were cut off.
All the bridges, all themain roads were all cut off.
Highway 40 literally looked like a river.
And that's one of themain highways to the west
out to Charlotte
- [John] Are theseactual shots from Mario?
- [Erik] These are actual shots.
That is actual shots from Mario there.
As you can see, look atthe size of these trees.
- [John] That's you.- [Erik] That's me.
That's the root system.
- [John] You're a pretty tall guy.
- [Erik] I'm about sixfoot two right there
and yet that root system,
and people were out there,
that's our hotel, that'show close the water came.
It actually did come up.
Those are the guys from Tennessee there
who were willing to help out
and that's one of themain drags right there,
that's how people were getting around.
- [John] That's a street.
- [Erik] That's a street.
That is actually a street.
And this is Highway 40 there.
If you take a look at that,
the road is just eroding away.
That's the west bound,that's the only way to get
to and from Wilmingtonover to Charlotte area.
- We only have about a minute left
and I really want to ask you this
because I know that youcovered hurricane Harvey,
you covered hurricane Maria,
I wanna know how this particular storm
differed from the previousstorms that you've covered.
Devastation, all aboard, all around,
but how was this different?
- Devastation all aboard, it was
we personally thoughtthat it was more than
a Category One.
We thought that it was more,
we saw, we felt winds morethan 100 miles an hour.
That is more Category Two.
Whether or not it will come out later
that it was a Category Two,
but that's what we feltwas a Category Two.
Once we got into the town itself,
we were amazed at the number of people
just helping each other.
I mean, North Caroliniansthey help one another,
but when you have strangersjust helping other strangers,
helping ladies get out of the house,
carrying them into theircars so they can be rescued,
it was amazing to see.
And just the number ofpeople that were there,
willing to not let thecity just sit there.
And that's what wasdifferent from Puerto Rico
or anything like that.
Nothing against Puerto Rico,
but this whole town wasjust in it to clean it up
and to get life back to normal again.
They wanted to be able to goback to any sense of normalcy.
- It's amazing to see how these storms
can bring people together.
So much suffering, butbringing people together.
We really appreciate you
and the work that Mario did,
fresh back from your trip.
Welcome back.- We're thankful to be back.
- Alright. Well when we come back
we'll take a look athow Operation Blessing
is helping those who saw record rainfall
from hurricane Florence.
(upbeat music)
Welcome back.
Hurricane Florence wasone for the record books.
The storm brought historicamounts of rainfall
to parts of North Carolina
over one million peoplein that state lost power.
And now, nearly a week afterFlorence made landfall,
many in the hardest hit areasstill need food and water,
and they're getting that help
courtesy of Operation Blessing.
- [Narrator] After routingaround closed highways
and making it through flooded streets,
the Operation Blessing team set up
to serve meals to families in need
in Lumberton, North Carolina.
- Y'all were a blessing.
- There's not enoughthank yous to go around.
It's like speechless.
Especially when we got children.
- [Narrator] This is oneof the areas hardest hit
by hurricane Florence.
Pastor Mike Bowen is doing his best
to help his congregation.
- Our town's in dire straits right now,
in drastic needs, but this timeit hit land and slowed down
and kept dropping rain forover 48 hours through our town.
- [Narrator] Step oneis getting people water
and getting them fed.
- It was really a blessingthat y'all came in.
It helped us a lot.
- We're serving hot meals back here.
Over here we have pallets of water
stacked up ready to give to people.
We have an entire truckload of food to help people
and pretty soon we'rereally going to help them
start the clean up process.
We've got a trailer filled with demolition
and clean up equipment.
We're taking people's names,
getting their requests
and pretty soon we'rereally gonna help them
get back on their feet.
In the weeks ahead, oncethe flood waters subside,
Operation Blessing willbe saving people's homes.
Right now, people are justgrateful for a hot meal.
- It's a blessing really.
I just wanna thank them so much
because without them whoknows what we would be doing
and where we would get it from.
- [Narrator] Pastor Bowensaid he deeply appreciates
those who support thework of Operation Blessing
for helping the community
and the members of thechurch in Lumberton.
- I wanna say thank you againfor giving to our church.
The Bible says you'restoring up treasure in heaven
by doing this, thank y'all.
- So good to see people helping others.
That's gonna do it fortoday's Faith Nation.
Hope to see you again, tomorrow.
(upbeat music)
