- Members of Mueller's teamsay the attorney general
didn't correctly summarize their findings.
The 2020 race for the White House
and the latest on theDemocrats in the campaign.
And why some say the Americandream is fading away.
All this and more tonight on Faith Nation.
(rhythmic music)
The Department of Justice stands by
its initial summary of the Mueller report.
Welcome to Faith Nation.
I'm John Jessup.
- And I'm Jenna Browder.
The DOJ's defense comes in response
to reporting that beganwith The New York Times
claiming people close tothe Russia investigation
believe Attorney General Bill Barr
undersold some of theconclusions in the report.
- White House Correspondent Ben Kennedy
joins us from the NorthLawn with more on the latest
and the president's reaction.
Ben.
- Well John, Jenna, PresidentTrump says The New York Times
has no legit sources andcalls this bad reporting.
He tweeted today: There isnothing we can ever give
to the Democrats thatwill make them happy.
This is the highest levelof presidential harassment
in the history of our country.
The attorney general spent nearly 48 hours
breaking down the300-plus-page Mueller report
into a four-page summary.
In it, Barr stated the investigation
cleared President Trumpof collusion with Russia.
But the papers report thatpeople close to the investigation
are unhappy that Barr seemed to downplay
negative information within the report.
The White House fired back
at that credibility of those claims.
- I have full confidencein the attorney general
and his assessment.
Let's not forget that the people
that have been involved in this process,
they've wasted two years of their life
and they need to finda way to validate it.
- Now the DOJ also pushed backon the newspaper's allegation
saying, in a statement, thatBarr released the report's
bottom line findings andhis conclusions immediately
without attempting tosummarize the report.
John, Jenna.
- Yeah, Ben, Democrats on Capitol Hill
also not letting this go.
How are they respondingto these newest claims?
- Yeah, Jenna, you're right.
On Wednesday, Democratsauthorized a subpoena
for the Mueller report.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said,
"Just show us the Muellerreport, that's it."
But this is after Barr already said
he plans to release a redacted version
of the report mid-April, if not sooner,
so it could happen, John andJenna, as early as next week.
- Yeah, Ben, and it's notjust the Mueller report.
Democrats are also now pursuing
for the release of thepresident's tax returns
from 2013 to 2018.
- Yeah, John, the president's tax return
could soon becomeanother huge legal battle
between the White House and theDemocratic-controlled House.
Trump says he's being audited
and cannot release those returns.
- But until such timeas I'm not under order,
I would not be inclinedto do that, thank you.
- What I can tell you isthe president's filled out
hundreds of pages of afinancial disclosure form
which puts all of hisbusiness dealings in that
like every other memberof government has to do
and it gives you a great look
at the president's financial holdings,
his business, and how successfulhe was over the lifetime.
- Sarah was talking aboutthose financial holdings.
Lawmakers want the IRS toprovide Trump's personal
and business returns from 2013 to 2018,
but as you just heard from the president,
he does not plan to do that.
That's the latest outside the White House.
Ben Kennedy, CBN News.
- All right, thank you, Ben.
Well President Trumpis easing up on threats
to close down the southern border.
He now says he'll slaptariffs on cars from Mexico
if Mexico doesn't do moreto stop illegal immigration
and the flow of drugsinto the United States.
If that doesn't work,
Trump says he will thenclose the ports of entry.
Many lawmakers have been warning against
the economic damages of shuttingdown the southern border,
something the administrationhas acknowledged
would be an issue.
- Well the 2020 Democraticpresidential field is big.
Today, growing even larger,
with Ohio congressman TimRyan announcing on The View
he's joining the crowded field.
Amber Strong has a look at thealready busy campaign season.
- With less than threemonths to the first debate,
Democratic candidates arecriss-crossing the country
and making their openingarguments to voters.
- The boundaries ofprotecting personal space
have been reset, and I get it, I get it.
- [Amber] But evenbefore entering the race,
former VP Joe Biden is onan apology tour of sorts
after several women have accused the veep
of making them feel uncomfortable.
Friends from both sides of the aisle
have come to his defense,
including former AttorneyGeneral Eric Holder,
Meghan McCain, and RepublicanSenator Lindsey Graham.
Buttigieg boom.
- One day, we're hoping tobe in the actual West Wing.
- Thanks to a slew of mediacoverage and pointed interviews,
the 37-year-old mayorof South Bend, Indiana
saw a big surge in donations.
The Afghan war vet wentfrom a relative unknown
to raising $7 million.
He's expected to make hiscandidacy official April 14th.
Speaking of booms, first-quarterfundraiting totals are in.
Senator Bernie Sandersraking in 18.2 million.
Senator Kamala Harris raising 12 million.
And after an impressive start,
Congressman Beto O'Rourke settles in
well behind the front runners.
Speaking of Bernie Sanders,
the Democratic Socialisthas decided to hold
a town hall with Fox News.
That's notable, consideringthe DNC's decision
not to host a debate with the network.
Amber Strong, CBN News, Washington.
- Thanks, Amber.
Well CBN News ChiefPolitical Anlayst David Brody
is here now with more on 2020.
David, Joe Biden, he ison this apology tour,
as Amber called it.
How do you think he'shandled this response so far?
It seems like that video that he put out
has gone over pretty well.
- Yeah, I thought it waspitch perfect, actually.
I mean we really can'task for anything better.
He didn't apologize necessarily
because, you know why, he really can't
because he doesn't reallythink he did anything wrong.
I mean I think that's reallythe heart of the matter.
Howeever, it'd be interesting to see
if he gets in, whenever he gets in.
When is Uncle Joe gonna run?
But if he eventually gets in,
how everybody's gonna belooking for the demeanor
and how he interacts with folks.
But look, I think thebar here for Democrats,
I mean where is the bar exactly?
I mean, you know, they wentwith the #MeToo movement.
Makes sense.
So much legitimacy in the movement.
But now what?
Where's the bar exactly interms of what sexual assault,
sexual harassment, and otherwise?
So it's difficult.- They're in a tough place.
- Mm-hmm.- David, a lot of people
rushed to Biden's defense.
There are some still whoare noticeably silent.
What do you make of all this?
- Well, first of all, the silence,
I want to talk about that for a moment.
Where's Barack Obama?
I haven't heard anything.
You can hear a pin drop.
Hillary Clinton, where's she?
Having said that, you're right.
There have been quite a fewother prominent Democrats
that have come to Joe Biden's defense
because they don't believe he's creepy.
They believe that this is Joe Biden
and they believe it's authentic
and he's not being, he's not trying
to do anything here atall that's mischievous
and I think that's why they felt the need
to stick up for him.
- And Tim Ryan, David, he's the latest
to join this crowded field of Democrats.
What can you tell us about this
Ohio congressman?- He's one to watch.
Remember, we go tothose progressive scores
and we talk about Amy Klobuchar being a C,
and Kamal, Kamala, I'll haveto get it right eventually,
Kamala Harris an A.
He's a D.
In other words, he'spretty decent moderate.
He's from Youngstown, Ohio.
That's Trump country, that'sblue collar Trump country.
He voted with thepresident 20% of the time.
That's a lot more than anyof these other Democrats.
So someone to watch out for.
He's going for the yoga vote.
That's right, you heard it here first.
Can I look into thecamera and say yoga vote?
Okay, cut that clip out.
- What's the yoga vote?
- Great follow-up.
It's college-educated, white women
in the suburbs who do yoga.
That's the point.
It's the yoga vote.
You'll hear it here,you've heard it here first,
and it's coming.- David, trying to squeeze in
one more quick question.- Oh no.
- Mayor Pete Buttigieg.
Another one to watch.- Yeah.
- Somewhat of an underdog,
but he seems to be popping up everywhere.
How much of a contender
could he possibly be?- I think he's a dark horse,
for sure.
He's cutting through clutter,
he's very good, he's authentic,
he kinda dumbs it down, andthat's the most important thing.
Also, he's polling at 2%,or at least nationally,
if you look at all the polls together, 2%,
but his fundraising is third, $7 million.
And Google searches are,
everybody's searching about him right now.
- Well, abortion is always a hot topic.
No doubt, it'll be thatcase in the 2020 elections
with the crop of late term abortion bills
that are popping up around the country.
David, stick around becauseI want you to weigh in
on the other side of the sound byte.
Earlier today, I interviewed someone
who plans to jump into the race.
His name is Henry Hewes,a former Republican,
who became a Democrat inopposition of the Iraq war
and who is unashamedly pro-life.
As he told me earlier, pro-life Democrats
may not be as uncommon as some believe.
It all depends on how theabortion question is framed.
- Even though the polling data
in the Democratic Party says Democrats
self-identify as being pro-life 47%,
so the party is, if youask people to self-identify
whether they're pro-abortion or pro-life,
it's 53 to 47, so we're almost50% of the Democratic Party
self-identifies as pro-life.
And so people are terrified,however, of admitting.
I remember when I, even 20-30 years ago
when I ran for mayor of New York
against Giuliani and Dinkins
and I would go out campaigning.
People would come up to me and say
hey, I'm pro-life, but Ican't say anything about it.
And so a lot of thepeople who are pro-life
are literally scared because,in the Democratic Party,
if you say you arepro-life, the NARAL mafia
will come after you and youwill not get the nomination,
you will not get the jobas director of parks.
I mean literally, if a pro-life person
who seeks to be appointeddirector of parks
in New York City will not get the job
because they're pro-life.
- Is there room in the DemocraticParty for evangelicals?
- We can take over the Democratic Party.
In other words, if we wentto Iowa, for instance,
and all of the evangelicals
who go to the Democratic caucuses came out
and voted for me, we wouldwin the Iowa caucuses.
And so, in some states like New York,
it's very hard for us to dothat, but in much of the South,
if you went across theSouth, we would have a chance
of winning every single primary
if the evangelicals participated.
But what happens is thepeople get dissuaded
from participating 'cause,A, if it wasn't for me,
there would be no pro-lifecandidate for them to vote for
in the presidential primary.
And even with me, I'llappear on your network,
but the Democratic Party willtry to keep me out of debates
and much of the rest ofthe media will pretend
that I don't exist.
So many evangelicals are not even aware
that there are candidatesin the Democratic Party
that they can support andthey're reluctant to go
to meetings where everyone feels
that they are terrible peoplebecause they're pro-life.
So we, as evangelicals,we have to participate
in the political process
and participate in the Democratic Party
in order to take it over.
- Henry Hewes, a pro-life Democrat.
John, great interview.
David, question for you.
Even if Democratic lawmakerssay they're pro-life,
does it affect policy at all?
- Well no, 'cause here's the problem.
You know, how do we saythis, bless his heart.
But the problem is therearen't any pro-life Democrats
anymore in the party and wehave the statistics to prove it.
Take a look at what hashappened throughout the years.
Look at this.
The demise of the pro-life Democrat.
1999, there were 43pro-life House Democrats.
2006, 37.
Now, today, one pro-life Democrat.
That's a problem.
Also, look at this.
In 2003, as you can see there,
remember that vote to banpartial-birth abortion
back in the day, 15-16 years ago?
63 House Democratsactually voted for the ban.
Now, fast-forward to 2017, thatban on the fetal pain bill,
three House Democrats voted for that.
That's the difference.- David, quick follow-up.
You heard Henry Hewes talkabout evangelical Democrats.
Do you think that there's much potential
for a pro-life evangelicalmovement in the Democratic Party?
- Absolutely not.
And the reason is is becauseof exactly what he said,
which is that NARAL will come after you,
I mean, and it's true.
And to a degree, theyprobably won't deny it.
They won't say it that way,
but the truth of the matter is
is that they know that theyhave the Democrat Party
pretty much in lock stepwith them on all of this
and it is good politics to be pro-choice
in the Democrat Party.
That's the way it's going.
The sad part of all of this
is that science isn't on thatside of the equation at all
and the new millennialgeneration is growing
in support of the pro-life movement.
So at some point, theDemocrats are gonna have
a reckoning here about thenew millennial movement here
and where they stand on abortion.
- All right, David Brody,
thank you very much.- Thank you.
- Well Republicans hit the big red button,
going nuclear to push throughlower level Trump nominees.
The nuclear option willchange Senate rules
to expedite the confirmationof the backlog of judicial
and executive branch positions.
The rule change is a double-edged sword,
but Senate Majority LeaderMitch McConnell says
that's a risk he's willing to take.
- And the fall-out triggeringthis nuclear option
is something that could be radioactive
for both Democrats andRepublicans down the road.
- CBN News Capitol Hill Correspondent
Abigail Robertson joins us now for more.
Abigail.
- That's right, guys,and Leader McConnell says
if there is a fall-out, he'sready to take the heat for it.
Today, I spoke with The HeritageFoundation's Thomas Jipping
about the implications oftriggering that nuclear option
and why these confirmationsare so important
to the Majority Leader.
- We're talking about 17%of the federal judiciary
across the country is empty.
I mean if anybody thinks about a company
or an organization that they know of,
if 17% of the workforce was not there,
how could it function properly?
And 90% of the vacanciesthat are out there today
are on the district court level.
That's the bottom level of the judiciary.
Those are the courts wherepeople take their cases.
So the people that are being hurt by that
are people who need to rely on the courts
to handle their cases andthe criminal justice system.
And we have almost record vacancies today.
It's hobbling the entire judiciary
and it's doing so for nothingbut political purposes.
- Now one source in the Senate
says this isn't exactly goingto create a conveyor belt
for confirmations, but howfar is this going to go
in clearing up the current backlog?
- Well, I worked inthe Senate for 15 years
and I can tell you there's no such thing
as a conveyor belt inthe Senate on anything.
So no, it's not gonna do that.
There are several different tactics
that are being used on theSenate floor by Democrats
to slow down the process,and what Republicans just did
only addresses one of them.
So, you know, it's gonnaimprove things a little bit.
We do know, from back in 2013 and 2014
when very similar rules appliedjust for those two years,
but we do know that confirmations
can increase significantly.
And vacancies were a lot lower then
and there were fewer nominees
to actually work through the process then.
So there's every reason to expect
that we could make significant progress
in clearing up some ofthis vacancy backlog.
- Now this is the third time in six years
the majority party has madeunilateral rule changes
in the Senate.
Now this is the side of Congress
where things are supposed to slow down,
but now there are these moves
towards mutually assureddestruction on both sides.
Will we see more of these in the future
and maybe more things that theytake the nuclear option on?
- Well, I mean if youdon't like something,
then of course you describeit in super-apocalyptic terms.
If you like it, thenyou're talking in terms of,
you know, making the institutionwork more efficiently
or something like that.
Yes, the Senate has kindacrossed some barriers
in the last number ofyears about how it decides
how it's gonna handle nominationsand legislation and so on,
but in the big picture,that's what the Senate does.
The Constitution givesthe Senate the power
to determine the rulesof its own proceedings,
and that's exactly whatthe Senate is doing.
Depending on thecircumstances, that can be,
you know, somewhat bold orkinda chart new territory,
but then everything that'sdone for the first time
is unprecedented, so it's just a matter
of the Senate deciding what'sthe best way to operate.
- And as more and moreSenate rules are changed
unilaterally, one still stands,
the legislative filibuster to delay votes.
That's something PresidentTrump has already endorsed
and McConnell has quashed.
But a Democrat majoritymight feel differently
if it wants to pushthrough an extreme agenda.
Jenna, John.
- Well why some say the future
of the quintessential American dream
will live or die by thechurch's role in communities.
(light dramatic music)
Welcome back.
Some believe the American dream is dying,
but others say it alldepends on who you ask.
- New data shows that the heart of
whether a community thrives or dies
lies within its churches.
CBN's Jennifer Wishon sat downwith journalist Tim Carney
to talk about his newbook, Alienated America.
- Hillary Rodham Clinton.
- [Jennifer] Whether it'shoping from state to state
following presidential candidates
or chasing breaking newswherever it happens,
journalists like Tim Carneycover lots of ground,
and through his travels,
he kept coming back to the same question:
Why do some communitiesthrive while others bomb?
- I wanted to know whyso many people thought
the American dream was dead,'cause I think that attitude
of hopelessness itself causesall sorts of bad outcomes.
I saw numbers about depthsof despair going up.
That's suicides, drugabuse, alcohol abuse.
You even see the life spans shortening,
so I knew something was wrong out there
and I wanted to figure out what it was,
and too many of the explanationswere just about economics
or they were blaming people,oh these are deplorables
clinging to their guns and Bibles
and not willing to takecare of themselves,
and I knew that thoseexplanations were wrong.
- [Jennifer] So he hit theroad, dug into the data,
and compared communities, fromthe bustling to the busted.
- And the biggestdifference was a strength
of community institutions.
Particularly in Middle America,
it was the strength of churches.
Those were, where they were strong
in bringing people together regularly,
you had better outcomes,
and where they were disappearing
and population was disappearing,
the people left behindwere really struggling.
- Popular culture likes to paint
the dark picture of religionin America, he writes.
But the actual data point the other way.
In other words, if you wantto be happy and thrive,
go to church.
(audience chants)
We know President Trumpenjoyed enthusiastic support
among evangelicals in the 2016 election,
but Carney's research alsopaints a clearer picture
of those so-called forgotten men and women
Trump resonated withearly in his campaign.
You write that, to explainTrump's core supporters,
many commentators pointed to the factories
that were closing, but theyshould've been pointing
to the churches that were closing.
- Early on, I think his core supporters
were the ones who heard himsay the American dream is dead.
And where that sounded themost true were the places
where they didn't have anymore of the Friday fish fries,
where they didn't have anymore
the high school football gamesthat everyone was going to
or the local library had shut down,
where parents weren'tinvolved in the schools.
Those are the placesthat the American dream
seemed most dead, even more important
than the economic factors.
- What is the American dream?
Is it the things thataccompany the American dream,
or are those thingsactually the American dream,
like potlucks and going toChristmas concerts and tee-ball?
- That's exactly right.
So many people have aneconomic explanation
of the American dream.
I think that that'srelated, but it's off-base.
It's not owning a home.
It's not making a ton of money.
It really is being connected,
usually through aninstitution, to your neighbors,
to other people who share thesame common higher purpose.
- But good old fashioned neighborliness
can be hard to find.
Technology increasinglykeeps us inside our homes,
disconnected from our communities.
There's also the problem of Big Brother.
As government spending increases,
faith-based charities decrease.
- The other big thing isa push by some politicians
for secularization.
There's a belief that the church
doesn't belong in the public square,
that you should just sort of go back
and only do sort ofworship services on Sunday.
That's a new idea and it'sa really dangerous idea
because, for middle class inAmerica and the working class,
church has always been the main place
where they get connection,
where they get a little safety net,
where they get a sense of purpose.
- You write more of Americais a wasteland of alienation,
less of America is the village.
You know, so many people remember
Hillary Clinton's ittakes a village, right,
and it does, according to you.
- It does take a village to raise a child.
Now, whatever HillaryClinton meant by that,
she might have meant a government program,
that's not what I'm talking about.
I'm talking about neighbors.
I'm talking about a church organization
that runs a sign-up list sopeople are bringing you food
when your baby is born.
I'm talking about oldercouples that can tell you
here's what to expect whenyour kid becomes a teenager.
- [Jennifer] So what's the solution?
- So if I accomplish anythingwith Alienated America,
it's hoping that somebody'sgonna go out there
and say you know what,
I'm gonna start up a new club in my town,
I'm going to start up anew ministry in my church.
That's what I'm hoping becausethat does happen in America,
it used to happen more,and it can happen again.
- [Jennifer] If you do it,Carney's research suggests
you'll be happier, find aninvaluable support system,
and on your way to livingthe American dream.
Jennifer Wishon, CBN News, Washington.
- Still ahead, meet the pope's pick
for one of the CatholicChurch's top spots in the US.
(light dramatic music)
Welcome back.
Well the Vatican isappointing Wilton Gregory
as the Catholic Church's newest archbishop
here in Washington DC.
- He'll replace Cardinal Donald Wuerl,
who resigned after facing criticism
over how he handled thepriest sexual abuse cases.
Gregory was the head ofthe US Bishops Conference
when it adopted a zero toleranceabuse program back in 2002.
He currently serves asthe archbishop of Atlanta,
where he's seen as fairlyprogressive in that role.
Gregory is known for falling in step
with Pope Francis' visionfor the Catholic Church.
Well that is going to do itfor tonight's Faith Nation.
- Have a great evening andwe'll see you tomorrow.
(uplifting music)
