- [Announcer] This is CBN Newswatch.
- And thank you so much forjoining us, I'm Efrem Graham.
Topping our news at thishour, the senate judiciary
committee approved Judge Brett Kavanaugh's
Supreme Court nomination.
Mark Martin joins usright now with more on
that nomination process.
Mark?
- Yes, Efrem.
Kavanaugh's nominationnow goes to the full
Senate floor for a vote,
which could happen next week.
The vote passed with 11 yeas to 10 nays
following yesterday'semotional hearing where
both Kavanaugh and hisaccuser Dr. Christine
Blasey Ford testified.
Today's hearing alsowas filled with emotion.
After Republican ChairmanSenator Charles Grassley
of Iowa has set a vote onthe nomination for 1:30 pm,
several Democratic senatorswalked out of the hearing.
They included Kamala Harris of California,
Mazie Hirono of Hawaii,
Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut,
and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island.
- [Senator Grassley] Now I move,
as I said I was going to do,
that we set the vote toreport out Judge Kavanaugh's
nomination at 1:30 pm today.
- Mrs. Finestein?
- [Finestein] No.
- Mr. Leahy?
- [Leahy] No, becauseit violates the customs
of this committee, because it violates it.
- Mr. Durbin?
- [Durbin] No.
- Mr. Whitehouse?
- [Whitehouse] No.
- Miss Klobuchar?
- [Klobuchar] No.
- Mr. Coons?
- [Coons] No.
- Mr. Blumenthal?
- [Blumenthal] No.
- Ms. Hirono?
- [Hirono] I stronglyabject, this is just totally
ridiculous.
What a railroad job.
My answer is no, no, no.
- Mr Booker?
- Miss Harris?
- Miss Harris?
- They're not answeringbecause this is so unfair
Mr. Chairman.
- It breaks out rules of customs.
- Mr. Chairman?
- Aye.
- Mr. Chairman the votesare 11 yeas, 8 nays.
- [Grassley] Okay, motion carried.
There is simply no reasonto deny Judge Kavanaugh
a seat on the SupremeCourt on the basis of
evidence presented to us.
- I've never heard a morecompelling defense of
one's honor and integrity than I did from
Brett Kavanaugh.
- Now prior to today's hearing,
Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona,
one of a few critical swing votes,
announced he would voteto confirm Kavanaugh,
but then Efrem, I want tomention that before the
actual vote took place to send Kavanaugh's
nomination to the full Senate floor,
Jeff Flake came back inand said that he wants
the committee to do duediligence and actually
he is calling for theFBI to do a week long
investigation no longerthan a week to actually do
the due diligence as far asinvestigating Kavanaugh's
nomination,
but he said he would voteto send the nomination
to the full floor.
- All right, we'll watch tosee what happens with that.
Mark, thank you.
- Sure, you bet.
- Attorney Jenna Ellis isdirector of public policy
with the James Dobson Family Institute.
She's been tracking thehearing with us all week long
and joins us now.
So Jenna, thoughts ontoday's developments.
- Well, this is whyelections have consequences,
because we saw that thevote out of committee was
exactly right down party lines regardless
of the fact that therewas no corroboration,
no additional evidencewhatsoever to support the
allegations coming outof yesterday's hearing.
While it was very emotional,
we as Americans in ourrule of law don't decide
things like this based on emotion.
We decide it based onfacts and the record.
So, this is why it's very,very important for us
to continue as evangelical Christians
to get out and vote and vote our values.
- Where do things go from here?
- Well, hopefully with thereports that Senator Flake
and others are callingfor the week long delay
with the FBI background investigation,
look, there's not gonnabe anything else that
comes out with this.
He's already had six FBIbackground checks since 1993.
This is just anotherdelay tactic and hopefully
the Republican majoritywill send it to the floor.
Leader McConnell has said that he will and
we'll see Justice BrettKavanaugh as of early next week.
- What kind of impact doyou think this will have
in November when people go to the polls?
- Well, I really hopethat this will encourage
evangelical Christians and the faith-based
community particularly,
but every conservative inAmerica that recognizes
that our rule of law matters,
our government is there to preserve and
protect our rights willunderstand that this
is why we have a voteand an opportunity to
participate in ourconstitutional republic.
So I hope that whathappens in November is that
we see an overwhelming majority of people
coming out to vote their values.
That's why Dr. Dobsonand I are launching the
Get Out and Vote Initiativeto encourage everyone
to pray, engage, and vote.
And you can find that atdobsonfamilyinstitute.com.
- Now we saw death threatsand political hatred
on both sides.
Do you think Republicansor Democrats will take a
long, hard look at theirpolitics and tactics
following this?
- I think that every decent American will.
And I think what we haveto do is address this
on a bigger cultural scale.
Of course, politics isdownstream from culture,
and we as Christians,
this is why we have toget out and engage our
community, engage ourculture, stand up for truth
and continue to speaktruth into our culture
so that then when it comes to engaging our
constitutional republicand our government process
these types of things justshouldn't even be part
of our American society.
And the fact that wehave degraded so far past
anything even reasonable really shows a
breakdown of civil societyand the traditional
American family.
So again, I would just encourage and echo
Dr. Dobson's words, "Thisis no time to go wobbly."
People should get out and vote in November
and continue to engage our culture and our
government process.
- Jenna Ellis, thank youonce again for your time.
- Thank you so much.
- No matter their political affiliation,
sexual abuse survivors across the country
struggled with Dr. Ford's testimony.
One woman confronted Senator Jeff Flake
as he was getting in an elevator.
- Look at me when I'm talking to you!
You're telling me that myassault doesn't matter.
That what happened to me doesn't matter.
And that you're gonna let people who do
these things into power.
That's what you're tellingme when you vote for him.
- The Me Too movement andthe Church Too movement
has lead the country toprocess the accusations
against Judge Kavanaughin an entirely new way.
Heather Sells joins usnow with more on this.
Heather?
- Yeah, incrediblyinteresting conversation on
social media yesterdayabout what is going on.
And I want to share with you a lot of
faith leaders who areabuse survivors and those
sympathetic to themhave been speaking out.
Here's some of what they have been saying.
Advocate Boz Tchividjian said Thursday
"This has been a very painful day for many
survivors having beentriggered by what they
witnessed in a Senate hearing room."
Then Bible study leaderand assault survivor
Beth Moore said, " A lot of people feeling
stripped bare.
Your kindness and compassioneven toward matters
you don't fully understandcould be a blanket
to somebody."
Also Christian speakerand assault survivor
Mary DeMuth said of watching the hearing,
"I am crying right now.I remember that too,
the bantering, the joking,the lackadaisical ways
the boys demeaned me,treating their abuse as
no big deal."
Efrem, these are reallypowerful Christian leaders
talking about really beingconcerned and really being
affected emotionally bywhat was going on yesterday.
- Yeah, a year ago withoutthe benefit of Me Too
and Church Too, would the response been
different you think?
- I think our countrycollectively is really
much more aware of thefact that abuse survivors
are present all among us.
They say 1 in 4 for women,
1 in 6 for men.
So, it's a politicalforce to be reckoned with
too, I think.
- Where does all this gopolitically, you think?
- Well, it's interesting.
You saw the President,especially at the beginning
Kavanaugh really temperinghis remarks saying
he did want a complete process.
And you're seeing senatorswho are really trying
to be respectful even asthe politics play out.
So people say that theSupreme Court appointment,
three quarters of registered voters say
it's very important to them.
So senators know they haveto be careful on this.
- Indeed. Indeed, Heather.Thank you so much.
Social media explodedThursday night over Senator
Lindsey Graham's impassionedrebuke of Democrats,
many praising the SouthCarolina Republican,
saying he spoke the truth.
Here's a quick look back at that exchange.
- [Graham] You've gotnothing to apologize for.
When you see Sotomayorand Kagan, tell 'em that
Lindsey said "hello."
Cause I voted for them.
I would never to do them what you've done
to this guy.
This is the most unethical sham since
I've been in politics.
I can not imagine what you and your family
have gone through.
Boy, y'all want power.
God, I hope you never get it.
I hope the American peoplecan see through this sham.
That you knew about it and you held it.
You had no intentionof protecting Dr. Ford.
None.
She's as much of a victim as you are.
God, I hate to say it causethese have been my friends.
But let me tell you, when it comes to this
you're looking for a fair process?
You came to the wrongtown at the wrong time
my friend.
- And joining us now with more is senior
correspondent Gary Lane.
So, what else did Senator Graham say?
- Well he really took onSenator Diane Finestein
and her staff.
Basically saying thatshe was misleading to
Kavanaugh and to others.
To Kavanaugh he questionedhim and said look,
you met with her on August 20th.
Did you know for 20 daysshe had this information
about Christine BlaseyFord and the allegations
against him.
He said no, she said nothing about that.
Then he also took on thestaff regarding the FBI
investigation calls for FBI investigation
of this matter and basically said
"Why didn't you bringthis to the Republicans
on this committee?"
And they had not, youknow, a month earlier.
Why not?
- Why do you think he made such a rebuke
of his fellow senators?
- I think he really feelspassionately about this.
He feels strongly aboutwhat has happened to
Kavanaugh, he's knownKavanaugh for over 20 years.
He also quoted from theAmerican Bar Association
gold rating of Kavanaughsaying, "He's a man
of integrity and a good man."
And I think he feels strongly about it.
Plus, I think Efrem he wanted to energize
Republican base in theupcoming off-year elections.
- What do you think thiswill do for Kavanaugh's
confirmation process?
- Well, I think we'realready seeing that it helped
convince some memberswho were on the fence to
push this out of the committee.
When it gets to thefloor maybe some of the-
all of the Republicansmight be convicted a
little bit about feeling guilty over this.
Because really he talkedabout the ethics of this
process and how he hasfelt this has been unfair
both to Kavanaugh and alsoto Christine Blasey Ford.
- All right, Gary Lane.
A busy week and busy day's ahead.
- Yes, it'll be interesting next week.
- Indeed. Thank you so much.
- Coming up, the move bythe Trump Administration
involving groups like Planned Parenthood
selling aborted baby body parts.
- The Trump Administrationhas canceled an FDA
contract that would payto acquire fresh tissue
from aborted babies.
Republican lawmakers haveapplauded the move and
are calling for the practice of using baby
body parts for researchto stop altogether.
Terry Jeffrey with CNSNews has investigated
this practice for yearsand joins us now with more.
So Terry, this contract has been canceled.
What does that mean overall?
- Well, it's a good movebut it's a small move.
The FDA contract whichwas signed July 25th
was for $15,900 for the San Francisco Bay
area group called AdvancedBioscience Resources,
which is a nonprofit that specializes in
doing this kind of thing.
But at the same time, inthis current fiscal year
which is gonna end on Sunday,
the NIH estimates it willspend 103 million dollars
on human fetal tissue research.
And the defense laborHHS appropriation that
passed the Houseyesterday removed language
that would prohibitfederal funding of human
fetal tissue researchthat uses fetal tissue
taken from aborted babies.
So ironically, we'reabout to see the Congress,
well, we just did see theCongress pass the bill,
the question is whetheror not President Trump
will sign it,
that allows this research to continue.
The administration itselfhas in fact canceled
this contract, which is an excellent move.
- Are federal dollarsthen still paying for
research with baby bodyparts despite this move?
- Yes, absolutely.
This one small contractwas through the Food and
Drug Administration,
which is a part of the HHS.
The National Institutes of Health which
specializes in doing medical research
which is a different part of HHS.
As I said, they themselves report that
this year they willspend 103 million dollars
on human fetal research.
Last year I think they spent 98 million.
Two years ago it was 103 million.
I've written stories on the past,
I'm working on a storyright now that involves
another contract for thiskind of research coming
out of HHS.
There are quite literallyin medical schools all
over the country research programs being
funded by the NationalInstitutes of Health
where they make these mice that require
particularly human liver and thymus taken
from late-term aborted babies.
For example as I citedin the story about this
FDA contract,
one federally funded researcher who spoke
at a workshop on thesemice that was sponsored
by the NIH back in 2007said that the creation
of these mice required babies at 20 to 24
weeks gestational age.
In this FDA contract by the way,
the notice of it that Iquoted specifically said
they needed "fresh tissue."
So yes, we're talkingabout a great deal of
federally funded researchthat requires tissue
taken from late-term aborted babies.
- Are there more ethicalmeans of doing the
research without havingto us aborted baby tissue?
- Well, that's a goodquestion and I think it's
an open question.
Harvard University provideda background paper to
the House Energy and Commercecommittee two years ago
when it was investigatingthe procurement of
fetal tissue.
And it that paper Harvardsaid you cannot make
these kind of mice thatare designed to have
a human immune system without tissue taken
from aborted babies.
I believe there isresearch going on right now
where they're trying todevelop mice that will
not need the tissue from an aborted baby,
but right now they say they need it and
they are using it.
- All right, Terry Jeffery.
Thank so you much for your time.
- Thank you.
- We'll be right back, stay with us.
- The entertainmentworld got a surprise when
singer Avril Lavigne released new music.
The news is trending online.
Here's Jessica Chaco.
- Well, you may not thinkof her as a worship artist,
but singer songwriter Avril Lavigne
just released her first song in five years
and she dedicated it to God.
Dan, what compelled Avrilto write a worship song?
I mean this is not her usual genre.
- Yeah, not her usual genre at all.
And like you said, it's her first song in
quite some time and shedescribed that she was
going back to her roots.
And part of her rootsinvolve growing up in a
Christian home and singingChristian songs at church.
And this song doesdetail a transition where
she talks about trying tosolve all of her problems
on her own and her inability to do that.
And then she transitions and turns over
those burdens and those trials and turns
them over to God and He's the one who
ultimately helps keepher head above water.
- This is such a powerfultestimony because
it's not the Avril thatwe remember with the
dark eyeliner and the punk songs.
- (laughs)
- But it's interestingto see her spiritual
growth and we actuallyhave a statement from her.
She says, "I thought I was dying.
I felt like I was drowning.
Under my breath I prayed'God, please help me
to keep my head above the water.'
In that moment, the songwriting of this album
began.
It was a very spiritual experience.
Lyrics flooded throughme from that point on."
This is a powerful story andwe wish Avril all the best.
Well, you may knowHillsong for their iconic
worship songs or fortheir ability to capture
the attention of young people worldwide.
But in the last fewyears, Hillsong Church has
has experienced such tremendous growth
they're starting their own denomination.
Dan, this is a really interesting story.
Not something you hearin the news too often
that a church is too big.
So what led them to starttheir own denomination?
- Yeah, I don't thinkI've ever heard to much
of a church's growing so big.
Most churches would behappy with another campus,
let alone a whole entire denomination.
And I think it was morelogistical than anything.
They said they don'tsee themselves any more
as a Australian churchwith a global footprint
but a global churchwith an Australian base.
And it was just becomingdifficult for them
to manage things happening in like Spain,
for example, if they hadan issue with a pastor
there they would have to manage all that
from Australia.
And I think it's justgoing to be easier for them
to manage their incredible growth with it
structured this wayinstead of the old way.
And there was no illwill or any disagreements
with the previous denomination that they
were partnered with.
It was just a matter ofthis is just the easier way
and the better, logisticalway for them to go forward.
- Well thanks, Dan.
That's a really encouragingstory to see their
growth and we wish them all the best.
Back to you.
- The Scripture says, "Thisis the day the Lord has made.
I will rejoice and be glad in it."
Tim Tebow has a newbook out and it's called
'This is the Day.'
he's encouraging readersto move from pause to play
in making the most ofthe days of their life.
Here to talk about TimTebow's latest inspiration
is CBN sports reporter Shawn Brown.
So Shawn, we know youhave spent time with him.
He is well-known by fansnot just on the field
but off the field as well for his faith.
But first, give us a briefupdate on the career.
Where is Tebow now?
- He's playing baseball.
I'm sure a lot of usknow he's within the Mets
organization, I think he's playing AA.
Their season is finished,but he has stated
that he's gonna return again and play for
the Mets organization in the 2019 season.
So prayerfully that will go well.
But he's a busy guy.
- Yeah.
- It's not just baseballand professional sports
with him.
He has this Tim TebowFoundation where he does a lot
of work not just herestateside but also around the
globe just doing differentthings and providing
hope where it's needed.
And he stays busy, man.
He's got a film out,that's not out yet but I
think they just wrappedin April a film called
'Run the Race.'
- Yes.
- Which I'm really excitedabout, I can't wait
to see that but, he's staying busy man.
His book is 'This is theDay' and he is taking
every day in stride.
Just making sure he'sdoing what he wants to do
and living his dreams.
- Would you say thisbook is just for sports
fans or, who is it for?
- Absolutely not, absolutely not.
It's for anyone who has a dream.
If you have a dream, this book is for you.
Anyone who has a dream,a lot of times we have
passions and things we're excited about
we kind of shelve thembecause life just happens.
Tim is saying look, whenyou get up every day
get after it.
Don't wait.
Don't put something offthat you can do today
for tomorrow.
No, do it today becausetomorrow is not promised.
- Yeah.
- And so Tim is sayinglook, if you have time today
do it today, don't putit off for tomorrow.
If you got something you want to do,
don't let fear stop you.
Get after it.
This is the day.
- We're all only given 24 hours a day.
It's what we do with it that counts.
Now I know you've interviewed him.
Tell me, he loves to inspire people.
How does this run in this personal life?
- Well, I heard himonce say that, you know
his calling in life is to love God first
and then love people.
- Mmm.
- That's what he lives by.
- Yeah.
- Love God, love people.
Yes, I think everything that has happened
in his football career,
it didn't quite go the way that he thought
it was gonna go.
You know, he felt like okay,
this is God's plan for my life.
But it didn't pan out that way.
And then here he's arounda table with all of
his team trying to figure out,okay what's the next move?
And they're trying tofigure out how to keep
Tim Tebow on the map and he just utters,
"Well, what if I want to play baseball?"
You could hear a pin dropin the room as far as
from what I heard, youcould hear a pin drop.
So he starts playing baseball.
- Yeah.
- And so this bookbasically just kind of tells
the ins and outs of that decision.
Why he decided to do it, reminding us that
hey man, I was passionateabout baseball, too.
I just chose football.
I was faced with a decision, you know,
and I went the football route.
But he's still passionate about baseball
and he's still trying to do that.
And so yes, it runs very parallel with
who he is and he's living every day
to the fullest, not takinganything for granted.
He talks a lot aboutloving your loved one.
Don't put things offthat you want to share
or time that could be spenttoday with your loved ones.
Don't put that off.
- Mm-hmm.
- Tomorrow's not promised.
- Absolutely.
- So live to the fullest andthat's exactly what he's doing.
- He is doing that indeed.
Shawn Brown, always a pleasure.
Thank you so much for your time.
- Thank you for havingme, thank you so much.
- Well that is gonna doit for this edition of
CBN News.
Remember you can findmore of our exclusive
coverage of the issuesyou care most about always
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And we would love toknow what you think about
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You can do that byemailing newswatch@cbn.com
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We love to hear from you.
Make it a fabulous Friday
and a wonderful weekend everybody.
See you next week.
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