- [Announcer] The Vice President
rallies the base.
We'll take you to day two of the nation's
largest gathering of conservatives.
Israel's Prime Minister defends himself
against corruption charges.
What's next for Benjamin Netanyahu?
And the family of Otto Warmbier at odds
with the President speaking out against
the North Korean dictator.
All this and more tonight on Faith Nation.
(upbeat music)
- Vice President Penceis pointing conservatives
to look ahead to the nextpresidential election.
Welcome to Faith Nation, I'm John Jessup.
- And I'm Jenna Browder.
Two years in and some two years away
from the 2020 election.
Republicans are paintingthe President's policies
as big wins for conservatives at CPAC,
the annual Conservative
Political Action Conference.
- White House correspondent, Ben Kennedy,
joins us now with highlights of day two
of the event.
Ben, undoubtedly, the Vice President was
the big headliner today.
- Yeah, John, you're right.
Republicans vow to "fighton for conservative
"policies as a plan of attack in 2020."
Ahead of the President's headliner speech
tomorrow, the Vice President laid out
a stark choice for voters.
(audience applause)
- It was freedom, not socialism.
(crowd cheering)
- [Ben] Channeling President Trump
and rousing the crowd,the Vice President laid
out the options ahead in 2020.
- Will we reelect a President who's making
America great again for four more years?
(crowd cheering)
Or we will let the Democrats take America
on a hard left turn?
- [Ben] That turn, according to Pence,
could leave constitutionalrights in peril.
- Freedom of religion is under attack
in our country.
- [Ben] And Pence pointed out how
the fight became personal.
- My own family recentlycame under attack,
just because my wife, Karen, went back
to teach art to childrenat a Christian school.
Let me say before all of you,
I couldn't be more proud of my wife.
- [Ben] Concern over education comes
as Pence prepares to give this year's
commencement speech at Liberty University.
- These universities are disinviting
conservative speakers.
- [Ben] Piped in live from the evangelical
campus, Jerry Falwell Jr's defense
against a liberal education.
- We end up with politicians like
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who have only
been taught one side.
- [Ben] Joined by President Trump's son
to speak out against the far left policies
of some Democrats.
- But any other point in time in history,
what the Governor of this very state said
was called murder.
- [Ben] This year's Conservative Political
Action Conference,
- [Narrator] AcrossAmerican and the world,
we see where liberalism has left
it's devastating mark.
In homes, in schools, in communities,
and in capitals.
- [Ben] Is painting a vivid picture
of Democrat policies.
- You're not allowed to own cows anymore.
- [Ben] Touting the President as the only
defense able to keepout an impending wave.
- [Reporter] Socialism is apparently
becoming mainstream.
- [Ben] The cast of candidates laid out
as the purveyors of a 2020
onslaught of socialism.
- A leading candidate for the Democratic
presidential nominationis an avowed socialist.
But it's not just him.
Bernie's been joined bya chorus of candidates.
- Democrats have gone bat crap crazy.
- [Ben] That only conservatives
and voters can stop.
- The moment Americabecomes a socialist country
is the moment that Americaceases to be America.
(crowd cheering)
And as the President said 24 days ago,
so we must say with one voice,
"America will never bea socialist country."
(crowd cheering)
- [Crowd] USA, USA, USA!
- And for the second year in a row,
President Trump will speak at CPAC.
He's set to talk tomorrow.
I sat down with CPACChairman, Matt Schlapp,
to get a sneak peek into what
the Commander-in-Chief could focus on.
- He speaks from theheart very spontaneously.
My guess is he's pretty fired up
that we continue tohave too much time spent
on this ridiculousRussian collusion story.
I think he feels, a long time ago,
this should have come to an end.
I think conservatives feel the same way.
I think he looks at theseDemocrat presidential
candidates with their extremism,
and their hatred for him,
and the hashtag resistance movement,
and I think he wants to take it on.
- And Matt was really excited about this.
He said this is the firsttime in CPAC history
that both the Vice President and President
talked at CPAC in back to back years.
John.
- Ben, pro-life causes, of course,
extremely important for conservatives.
What are some of the waysCPAC has been playing
up that issue?
- Well John, turns out last night
CPAC screened Unplanned.
It's a new movie set to hit theaters
at the end of the month,but the film centers
on former Planned Parenthood Director
turned pro-life activist, Abby Johnson,
and nearly 1,200 people got a sneak peek
of that film.
- The reactions were all
really great, really positive.
People were very impacted,very moved by it.
And it was, overall, great.
- What's the takeaway?
What's the message you want people
to walk out with?
- Well I mean, the filmdefinitely highlights
the truth of what's happening inside
of these clinics, what's happening,
just sort of the systemicabuse and manipulation,
exploitation inside the abortion industry.
- Now Abby told me that she was shocked
on Monday when the Senateblocked legislation
that would protect babies
who survive botched abortions.
And we're, of course, talking about
the Born-Alive AbortionSurvivors Protection Act,
which lawmakers shot down.
John, Jenna.
- All right.
White House Correspondent, Ben Kennedy.
Thank you, Ben.
Well Chief Political Analyst David Brody
joins us now for more.
David, for everybodywho's inside the Beltway,
we all know CPAC, bigdeal for conservatives.
But for people at home who aren't here,
talk about why this is so important
for these people.
- Well it gauges enthusiasm as to how
the conservative movementstands at this point.
And what Ben was showingwith Mike Pence today,
he got tons of standing ovations.
And I've been at CPAC years and years,
and this was definitely, there were more
interruptions for Pence I think this year
than ever before, sothat's a pretty good sign.
The other thing we look to CPAC for
is the contours of what they're gonna
be talking about come2020, or back in the day,
2016, or 2012, right?
This is what, so whenMike Pence was talking
about abortion, andsocialism, and all of that.
So you get a sense of where they're going
and what their 2020playbook is gonna be like.
- We just heard Ben talking about
the President speaking tomorrow at CPAC.
He has an interestingrelationship with CPAC.
Can you talk a little bit about that?
- Yeah, he's spoken at CPAC for many years
except 2016, right, the year they actually
won the presidency, he skipped out.
And he was all set tospeak, but they wanted him
to do Q and A, and he didn't want to do
the question and answer session,
he just wanted to speak longer.
They said, "Sorry, Mr. Trump.
"The rules apply to everybody."
So he said, "Well I'm gonna--
- [John] Do a rally instead.
- Yeah, do a rally inKansas, I think it was.
Kansas and Florida.
So we did hear from Don Jr. today down
at Liberty University.
CPAC had this kind of simulcast thing
going down with JerryFalwell Jr. at Liberty,
and Don Jr. was on stage.
And I thought this part was interesting
where he talked about the media
and how the media and the liberals
are working hand in hand.
Have a look.
- Even when you're wrong, they'll put
the headline out, evenwhen the headline's there,
and then three dayslater, after the damage
is done, after there's 50,000 Retweets,
there's a little retraction,
in the back of page 32 of a print magazine
that no one's reading anymore.
And no, no, no, we called it back.
- So basically, this is what we've known
for awhile, but this is the frustration
that conservatives have always had
with the media.
And they were even doing this today
in The New York Times.
I won't get into the whole, long story
but there are headlines every day
where they don't necessarily represent
what the body of the story indicates.
- David, you talked about how far left
the Democrats have gone,and now that's really
been a theme for CPACthis year, the extremism.
How much of an issuedo you think that'll be
in 2020 and do you think it's effective?
- Yeah, it'll be anissue and it is effective
and the polls show it.
56% of Independents, and remember,
Independents are the key to any election.
56% of Independents donot want to see socialism
take hold in America.
I mean, that's great for Trump
and the Republicans, for sure.
- Do you think it'll be unifying
for the Republicans?
- It will be unifying.
Here's the problem, fornot just Republicans,
but the future of America.
You like how I kind ofsay the future of America?
But 56% of folks 18-24, I'm not talking
about Democrats, 56% of Americans, 18-24,
the youngsters so to speak,
they are OK with socialism.
56% are OK.
Look, that's generational, that's what's
on the horizon, that'swhat Trump and folks
are trying to stop in 2020.
But what does it mean forthe future of America?
You know, there's some battles ahead.
- Chief Political Analyst David Brody.
Thank you so much.
- Thanks, John.
- Thanks, David.
Well Israeli PrimeMinister Benjamin Netanyahu
is defending himselfagainst corruption charges
brought by Israeli's Attorney General.
- [Interpreter] I tellyou this isn't Israel.
This house of cards will collapse.
I'm absolutely certain of that.
I am certain of it 4,000%.
I plan on serving you and the state
as Prime Minister for many years.
- [Jenna] And Netanyahu faces indictments
from three different investigations,
including firing Israel's Communications
Ministry Director inexchange for favorable
coverage on one ofIsrael's top news sites.
- Well joining us now is Middle East
Bureau Chief Chris Mitchell in Jerusalem.
Thanks for joining us, Chris.
- Great to be with you, John.
- Chris, can you break it down for us?
What do these indictmentsmean for Netanyahu,
both legally and politically?
- Well first of all,John, legally it means
that Netanyahu has achance to defend himself.
That process could take about six months
to a year.
He's gonna review the evidence against him
and then have a rebuttal, so to speak.
Then, if the Attorney General decides,
at that time, he willactually indict Netanyahu.
And then we're in unchartered waters
of actually what it's gonna look like
for a sitting Prime Minister
to be under indictment.
We'll see what happens.
Politically, it's a game changer because
if you look at the polls,before the indictment,
the polls asked the question,
"What would you do ifNetanyahu was indicted?"
And the numbers increase dramatically
for the main challenger of Netanyahu's
Likud party, what's called the
Blue and White Party.
- Well can you tell us more about
that new Blue and White party
and Benny Gantz and how it relates?
- Yeah, Benny Gantz isa newcomer, politically.
He's the former IDF Chiefs of Staff.
Likud interviewed him in the past,
up in the 2006 second Lebanon War.
He was in charge of the Land Forces.
Used to be in commandof the Northern Command
up there on the Lebanese border.
He's sort of a tall, lanky persona.
He looks like Gary Cooper if you can think
back that time to a movie star.
And he has that kind of persona.
He's really enjoyed popularity
since he's announced.
And the Blue and White party has,
not only him as theformer IBF Chief of Staff,
but they also have twoformer IBF Chief of Staffs
on their politicalparty, and they're joined
with another Israeli politician,
called Yair Lapid.
And so this is a center-left new party
and it's really attracteda lot of attention.
- We'll be watching, indeed.
Moving on, the situation in Israel
is already touch and go when it comes
to the peace process.
How could this affect the peace talks?
- Well it could, actually,what will happen,
it will affect probably who's gonna
be the next leader of the government
and how they respond to the Trump
Initiative right now.
Very few people know what the details are.
There are some political parties right now
that are saying what it's gonna do
it's gonna divideJerusalem, divide the land,
and it will form a Palestinian State.
Those are parties on the right that are
accusing the Trump Administration
of maybe doing what they consider would
be a travesty on the land of Israel.
But it is sort of overshadowing
the elections right now.
The Trump Administration says they're not
gonna release it until after the elections
on April 9th.
So we'll see what happens.
- You had just mentioned the peace process
and the initiative that has yet
to be unveiled.
Jared Kushner's traveling through
the Middle East right now to get support
for the Trump Administration's peace plan.
But based on what you know of the region
and your reporting there,
what are the possibilitiesof the so-called
Deal of the Century bringing an end
to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
- Well a lot of us havebeen reporting, John,
about the peace processfor probably 25 years now
and I would say three things.
First of all, in regardsto the Palestinian
Authority, it's probably dead on arrival.
I don't think the peace plan is gonna
be, satisfy their particular needs.
The silver lining is this is actually,
it's obvious the Trump Administration
has incorporated many of the Sunni Arab
nations in the discussions.
And so that could actually be one way
to put more pressure on the Palestinians
and perhaps Israel, too, to foster a deal.
But most people herethink that peace deal,
that Deal of the Centurythat President Trump
would like is not gonnahappen anytime soon.
- Middle East Bureau Chief Chris Mitchell,
thanks for being with us.
And for more news and information
from the Middle East,make sure to check out
tonight's episode of Jerusalem Dateline.
The show airs every Friday night
at 9:30 Eastern, on the CBN News Channel.
You can also check out today's CBN News
Daily Rundown Podcast and listen
to a conversation with Chris Mitchell
and host, Caitlin Burke,about the political
future of Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Daily Rundown can be found on your
favorite podcast platform or cbnnews.com.
- [Jenna] Here at home,
no deal with North Korea.
The President's next move in negotiations
over the rogue regime's nuclear program.
(light music)
- Welcome back.
The parents of Otto Warmbier are blaming
North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un
for the brutal death of their son.
The family released astatement today saying,
"We have been respectful
"during the Summit process.
"Now we must speak out.
"Kim and his evil regime are responsible
"for the death of our son, Otto."
They continued saying, "Kim and his evil
"regime are responsible for unimaginable
"cruelty and inhumanity.
"No excuses or lavishpraise can change that."
Their statement directly at odds
with the President'scomments after the meeting
with his North Korean counterpart.
- I don't believe thathe would have allowed
that to happen.
He felt very badly, but he knew
the case very well.
And some very bad things happened to Otto.
Some really, really bad things.
- [Reporter] But why are you--
- But he tells me, he tells me that he
didn't know about it and I will take him
at his word.
- [John] Well it wasjust about a year ago,
Otto Warmbier's parentswere the President's
guests at the State of the Union address.
- Well Dean Cheng ofthe Heritage Foundation,
joins us now for more.
Dean, thanks so much for joining us.
- Thank you for having me.
- You know, the President this morning,
he was Tweeting thatthe US and North Korea
have a good relationship.
After the Vietnam Summit,do you agree with that?
- Well we certainly have a relationship.
Whether it's good ornot is open to question.
So the good news, Isuppose, is that we are
not saber rattling at each other.
The North Koreans haven't done any nuclear
war missile tests and they haven't
done a provocation.
On the other hand, of course, no agreement
was reached in Hanoi and we don't know
when, or even if, athird summit will occur.
So I personally thinkthe jury is still out
on exactly what the stateof our relationship is.
- Do you think there'llbe any real movement
when it comes to ending North Korea's
nuclear program, Dean?
- Well we have at least made clear
to the North Koreans what we won't accept.
I think that the effort to get us
to reduce sanctions, whether completely
or even in a limited fashion,
simply for access to Yongbyon,
which the North Koreans have leveraged
with the past three presidents already,
is not going to fly.
So I do think that we're sending
an important signal to Pyeongchang
that they need to do more if they want
some kind of sanctions relief.
- You know, some say that President Trump
never should have donethis, this second summit.
What do you think?
Did he lose some leverage going over there
and coming back empty handed?
- I think that if the purpose of a summit
is to reach some kind of agreement,
and I think a lot ofpeople have that attitude,
then sure, it was a failure.
The purpose of theSummit on the other hand,
was to signal to North Koreans two things.
One, we are willing to talk to you,
but two, you have to be serious.
I think we got our message across
and I think the real purpose of summits
is to get messages across.
And I think somethingthat people don't realize
is, I think the Chinese were very close
observers of this summit.
And I think that President Xi Jinping
of China has to be wondering,
in his next meeting with President Trump
over trade, might President Trump
also walk out?
And therefore, does China have to put some
real cards on the table, some real offers
on the table to end the trade war?
Which I think, at the end of the day,
may actually be more important
than the North Korean nuclear issue.
- Yeah, a lot of eyeswatching, that's for sure.
Today, the parents of Otto Warmbier,
they released a statement, Dean, saying,
"Kim and his evil regime are responsible
"for unimaginable cruelty and humanity."
And the death of their son,
they're blaming Kim Jong-un.
What do you make of this?
- I think that the President's choice
of words regarding the tragic death
of Otto Warmbier were, I think it muddied
a lot of waters.
I don't think it'sreally possible or likely
that, at some level, KimJong-un did not know.
And I think that to dilute or to downplay
the horrible mess ofthe North Korean regime
does a disservice, not only to folks like
his parents, but also the thousands
of inmates in North Korea's prison
and gulag system.
- Yeah, Dean Cheng, I have a feeling we'll
be talking about this for quite some time
to come, so thank you so much.
Good to see you.
- Good to see you.
- [John] Why onescientist is fighting back
against the label of climate denier.
That story when we come back.
(light music)
- Well the White Househas plans to put together
a panel to evaluate thethreat of climate change.
The panel will be an initiative
of the National Security Council.
Many reports say formerPrinceton University
physics professor, William Happer,
will head the group.
Although not officially announced,
the chairs of fourdifferent House committees
have sent a letter to the President
raising concerns over Happer saying he
is not a climate expert.
- Well advocates for climate change
continue sounding thealarm about looming doom
and destruction, even proposing expensive
programs the like the Green New Deal.
- But one of America'stop climate scientists
says it could be awaste of time and money.
Dale Hurd has the story.
- [Dale] A new book predicts 100 million
climate refugees by 2050.
Disagree and you'relabeled a climate denier.
Because we're told the science is settled.
- [Announcer] This Sunday,the climate crisis.
The science is settled.
- [Dale] When NBC's Meet the Press did
a special on climate change recently,
skeptics were kept off the program.
- We're not give time to climate deniers.
The science is settled even if political
opinion is not.
- [Dale] But the science of climate change
is only settled for those who believe
the climate models or those scientists
afraid of losing research dollars
by denying it's a problem.
Several of America'stop climate scientists,
like Dr. Roy Spencer, say it's not
settled at all.
- This is the holy grailof climate research.
Right there.
That's the net feedback parameter
which determines climate sensitivity
which determines whether global warming
is going to kill us ormake us more prosperous.
- [Dale] Before becominga principle research
scientist at the University of Alabama
in Huntsville, Dr. Spencerwas a senior scientist
for climate studies at NASA's Marshall
Space Flight Center.
- What's ironic is thatthose of us who are
skeptical and outspokenabout climate change,
for instance, myself, John Christy,
MIT Dick Lindzen, we are more credentialed
than most of the alarmists you will find
in the media being quoted today.
A lot of those people have degrees
in geography, or they don't have any kind
of science degree at all.
These are people that really don't know
what they're talking about.
We are the credentialedones, they are not.
- [Dale] Spencer agreesthe earth has warmed
and that carbon dioxidewarms the atmosphere.
But there are still toomany possible causes
for the earth's warming.
Is it from deep ocean circulation
or is it simply a reboundfrom the period known
as Little Ice Age?
- We don't understand natural causes
of climate change.
Since we don't understand them,
we can't put them in a climate model.
It's entirely possible there are cyclical
changes, probably related to deep ocean
circulation, that are causing these things
but we don't know.
- [Dale] We're told in the media
that climate change hasmade weather more severe,
even though statistics say otherwise.
The number of largetornadoes has gone down
dramatically since the 1950s.
Hurricane activity in the US is still
at a historic low.
- In the US, we went for almost 12 years
without a major hurricane strike
in the United States, starting after 2005.
Now that was somethingthat a NASA scientist
had calculated is abouta one in 250 year event.
- In fact, some of the worst hurricane
activity in the Eastern United States
was long before the widespread use
of fossil fuels.
The Atlantic Coast of the United States
was reformed by monster hurricanes
that struck between the1600s and the 1800s,
long before so-called greenhouse
gases or SUVs.
This piece of land at the mouth
of the Chesapeake Bayis geographic testimony
to the great hurricaneshundreds of years ago.
Willoughby Spit was createdby those hurricanes,
800 acres of sand, morethan a square mile.
Today, people blame cars
for changing the weather.
They used to blame witches.
Records show that during Little Ice Age,
beginning in the 1500s, a lot of people
in Europe were executed for the charge
of using witchcraft to change the weather.
- We had crop failures,shorter growing seasons,
and it's recorded thathundreds of thousands
of people were executed in Europe
for the crime of witchcraft.
People literally thought their neighbor
was causing the shorter growing seasons.
Today, we have computer models that say
your neighbor's SUV is affecting
the storms and the climates.
- [Dale] French philosopher,Pascal Bruckner,
has written that theclimate change movement
resembles a pagan religion that pushes
an apocalyptic narrative.
- [Dale] In pushing hermulti trillion dollar
Green New Deal, Congresswoman Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez says theworld only has 12 years
to prevent the worsteffects of climate change.
Spencer says government policy
will change nothing.
- You could get rid
of the United States entirely.
It would not have a measurable impact
on future temperatures by the end
of this century.
- [Dale] Meanwhile, thebig loser is science,
which has been corrupted by a system
in which Spencer saysgrant money is largely
only given to scientists who believe
in man-made climate change.
- Science is definitely being damaged
when we talk about climate science.
Because the scientists involved, I think,
are twisting the truth.
- [Dale] And Spencerwonders what will happen
when skeptics, such as himself,
eventually pass from the scene.
While an entire generation of young people
is being raised to believe
that the earth faces doomsday.
Dale Hurd, CBN News.
- It's a debate that I'm sure will not
end anytime soon.
- Yeah, no kidding.
- Well that's it fortonight's Faith Nation.
- Have a great weekend!
(light music)
