- The most visited andfamous in all the world

burning from the inside out.

Part of the spire and theroof collapsed in the flames.

The smoke visible fromacross the Seine River.

Firefighters working intothe night battling the blaze,

its cause still unknown.

But authorities say itappears to have started

in an area under construction.

- Now back here in the US, President Trump

and Vice President Penceare offering their support,

the president tweeting,

"So horrible to watch the massive fire

"at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris."

and Vice President Pence tweeted,

"Notre Dame is an iconic symbol of faith

"to people all over the world

"and it is heartbreaking tosee a house of God in flames.

"Our thoughts and prayersare with the firefighters

"on the scene and allof the people in Paris."

- CBN News spoke with JenniferDale who is visiting Paris.

- [Jennifer] We could see the smoke

but we could not see flames.

And it was a lot of smoke, it was gray.

Usually in my experience usuallythe dark smoke comes first

and then the firefightersarrive on the scene

and they start getting controlof the fire, it turns white.

I kept looking and hopingthat it would turn white.

It didn't and really sad.

You could tell this wasa piece of their lives

that obviously had been herefor a very, very long time.

It just seemed really, really sad

that something like this could happen.

- And senior international correspondent

Dale Hurd joins us now for more.

Dale, obviously a shocking loss.

Talk about the significanceand the importance

of the Cathedral of Notre Dame.

- Well, I guarantee youthey're already talking

about rebuilding this.

That is how important it is to France.

Built in the 1100s, it is theheart and soul of the nation.

This may seem like astrange thing to bring up,

but when the French PatriotDominique Venner was

so upset that France was losing its way

because of gay marriageand Muslim immigration,

he went to Notre Dame to thepulpit and killed himself.

Because it is the symbol of France.

And it's ironic becausechurch attendance is so low.

And yet, that is thehome of the French soul.

- Dale, the cathedral is 800 years old.

It survived World War II.

What does this loss meanfor the city of Paris?

- Oh yeah, it's unthinkable.

It's got to be for themas 9-11 was for us.

They're watching it andnot believing their eyes.

But trust me, it's going to be rebuilt.

It won't be the same.

My memories of Notre Dame are, of course,

all of the ancient things inside

and some of those are gone forever.

But it's going to rise again.

- Dale, so what happens next?

When we see something like this,

where do the French people go from here?

- Well, let's talk aboutthe rumors of terrorism.

That's not being reported by officials.

It looks certainly like an accident

from the renovation going on inside.

Some of the rumors stem from the fact that

on Friday a French Muslim was sentenced

in a plot to blow up Notre Dame.

But that has nothing to do with this.

Some people are trying totie the two things together.

Officials are gonna haveto go through the ashes,

figure out how it started, and I'm sure

because I've been toNotre Dame several times,

security is very tight.

It's not easy to get inthere and destroy it.

This is probably an accident related

to renovation and they'll sort that out.

- All right, Dale Hurd for us.

Thank you very much.- Thank you.

- And back here at home, therace for 2020 is heating up

as South Bend, Indiana,Mayor Pete Buttigieg

officially announces he'srunning for president.

- The long-shot candidatewho's been steadily climbing

in the polls made it official Sunday.

At 37 years old, he isthe youngest candidate

in the race so far.

- This time it's not justabout winning an election.

It's about winning an era.

(cheers)

Not just about the next four years,

it's about preparing our country

for a better life in 2030, in 2040,

and in the year 2054 when God willing,

I get to be the same ageas our current president.

Principles that will guide my campaign

for president are simple enoughto fit on a bumper sticker,

freedom, security, and democracy.

- Mayor Pete, as he likes to be called,

isn't the only candidatehoping to gain speed.

Senator Cory Booker launcheda national campaign tour

just this weekend.

Booker has been down in the polls,

but he's hoping his newJustice For All tour

will give him a boost anddrum up grassroot enthusiasm.

His campaign push will havehim visiting early voting

over the next 10 weeks.

In his first speech of thetour, Booker portrayed himself

as someone who could unifythe political divide,

saying, quote, I learned that the only way

to overcome the really tough challenges is

by extending grace, finding common ground,

and working together.

- As it stands in recent polling,

Booker is in the middle of the pack.

Joe Biden leads in a recentuniversity Monmouth poll

with 27% of likely democraticcaucus voters supporting him.

Bernie Sanders is comingin second with 16%.

And Buttigieg rounds outthe top three with 9%.

- And the best of the rest,Senators Elizabeth Warren

and Kamala Harris at 7%.

Beto O'Rourke and AmyKlobuchar are also pulling

in single digits withCory Booker close behind.

And in 2016 President Trump took home 81%

of the white evangelical vote leading

into issues important to conservatives.

Three years later, and that support

really hasn't changed much, Jenna.

- Yeah, and now Democratsare trying to win over some

of those Christians hopingthat they can take them away

by making faith really moreof an issue this time around.

Here's Amber Strong.

- Religion and politicshave gone hand-in-hand

with many conservativepoliticians over the years.

But now, a new wave ofdemocratic hopefuls are breaking

out their faith credentials aspart of their 2020 campaigns.

- If you've got a problem with who I am,

your problem is not with me.

Your quarrel, sir, is with my creator.

- [Amber] Perhaps none morethan South Bend, Indiana,

Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

The Afghan War vet who is Episcopalian

and in a same sex marriageis garnering headlines

by going directly afterVice President Pence,

Trump, and the evangelicalswho support him.

- The hypocrisy is unbelievable.

Here you have somebody who not only acts

in a way that is notconsistent with anything

that I hear in scripture,but also personally

how you're supposed to conduct yourself.

Not chest-thumping, look at me-ism,

but humbling yourself before others.

- [Amber] Washington Postpolitical analyst Eugene Scott

says there's a multi-prongstrategy with Buttigieg.

- A lot of attention hasbeen paid to the rise

of the nones or thereligiously unaffiliated.

There's a hostility a lot of them tend

to have towards faith for various reasons.

And some of them do sobecause they feel like

there's no room for them within faith.

And I think what Buttigieg is doing is

actually a bit evangelical in the sense,

trying to let these people know that

there could be room forthem in Christian faith.

- [Amber] Other candidates are taking

a more low key approach.

- You saw somebody who washungry and it moved you to act.

I believe we are called on to act.

- I was raised in a church where

my mom taught Sunday School.

I'll never forget learning that verse

that faith without works is dead.

- [Amber] They're prayingwith their pastors

and making the public casefor their personal beliefs.

- The gospel reallydoesn't leave anybody out.

'Cause are you feeding the poor?

Are you helping the sick?

Are you visiting the incarcerated?

I would argue thatDemocrats are often better

on those issues than Republicans.

- [Amber] Scott says the 2020candidates are determined

to correct past mistakes.

- President Barack Obamaactually was praised a bit

for actually trying to reach out

to some more conservative evangelicals.

But those efforts seem not to transcend

into the Clinton campaign.

And I think a lot of Democratshave learned from that.

- [Amber] Former Obama faithadvisor Michael Wear says,

"The faith discussions are an attempt

"to convince voters totake a second look."

- In the Trump era, we're also seeing

an increasing willingnessfrom democratic candidates

to be critical

that have aligned with Donald Trump.

- [Amber] While that message may resonate

with the political left and unaffiliated,

it's long way to winningover conservatives

who support the president.

- If you really wanna tap in to that 81%

of white evangelicalsupport for Donald Trump

and you wanna pull awaya percentage or two,

you're gonna have to talkabout some other issues,

abortion, religious liberty, marriage.

A lot of those types of issues,

the problem is Democrats don't wanna talk

about those issues because they are

on the wrong side ofthose issues when it comes

to pulling away thatwhite evangelical support.

- [Amber] Even still, CBNNews analyst David Brody says,

"There are potential pitfalls for Trump

"that make evangelical support crucial."

- Donald Trump won 81% ofwhite evangelicals in 2016.

If that number gets down to 80%, 79%,

he will lose the presidencyof the United States.

There are a low ofwhite evangelicals that,

hey look, ultimately they are concerned

also about character.

Yes, the issues are important to them,

but there are some, a small subset

of those white evangelicalswho say character actually

when it comes to the candidate much

more important than the issues.

- [Amber] Wear says he'sexcited about the possibilities

but has a warning for fellow Democrats.

- What I do think Democratsneed to be careful about,

and Buttigieg has done some of this, too,

is using religion as a weapon.

Not just talking about how faith

has positively influenced you,

but sort of taking an antagonist posture

towards the faith and faithexpressions of others.

Now, you can certainlycritique Vice President Pence

on policy.

- Whatever the outcome, this much is true,

the faith talk and allthe potential baggage

that comes with it, good orbad, has only just begun.

Amber Strong, CBN News in Washington.

- Thank you, Amber.

Well, Eric Sapp, founderof the Eleison Group,

and David join us on a talk forum

about the 2020 Democrats and faith.

Eric, to you first.

Pete Buttigieg, what do youmake of his play toward faith

and do you think evangelicalswill buy into it?

- Well, my experienceworking with faith community

is evangelicals want authenticity.

And I think that's been the key

with Mayor Pete is he'sauthentic, it's real.

It's his faith clearly.

He's not talking off of talking points.

He's talking off his lived experience.

But more expressively, the fruits of kind

of everything he'sdoing, how he's talking,

it's clear he's been listening.

And it's clear that kindof the way he engages,

his openness, the fact thathe's trying to unify people,

that's a message I think can resonate.

- And David, as Eric was putting it,

Mayor Pete uses faithkind of like a weapon.

Do you see this helpinghim or actually backfiring?

- Well, I would say if it's a weapon,

it's an authentic weapon.

He's using it because he believes it.

And I think that's really animportant point to distinguish.

People can typically tell a fake.

And whether or not you agreewith Butti-cheg, or Buttigieg,

I'll get it right eventually, or don't,

he is where he is on certain issues.

And I think the key issuefor him will be compassion.

He'll talk about Matthew 25 a lot.

He'll talk about love your neighbor,

kind of what President Obama was doing.

And when you talk about compassion

and faith compared to whatDonald Trump has been doing

with, many of his critics will say,

anti-compassion type policies,then you have a recipe

to forge ahead in the faith category.

- Yeah, but what about issueslike abortion and marriage?

How does he get aroundthese really tough issues

that most Democrats do not wanna touch?

- Well, I think he'llbe good in the primaries

for now, but that's a question

for the general election if it gets there.

In terms of winning theDemocrat nomination,

he's not gonna have to worry about it.

This idea about being okaywith late-term abortion,

I hate to phrase it that way but

in essence that is whatit is, he's pretty much

in lockstep with a lot of these folks.

And so, I don't thinkthat's gonna come up.

The marriage issue, once again,

general election, different story.

So, I think the key for Buttigieg

or anybody is the Democrat candidate

that can kind of moderateright now and kind of play

to the faith crowd, but moderate

at the same time, will do well if

they end up becoming thegeneral election nominee.

- And Eric, I now we're talkingabout Buttigieg right now,

but what other candidatesdo you feel are doing

a really good job, an effective job,

talking about their faithand reaching the faith voter?

- Well, I think we've actually seen a,

surprising in a way compared to some

of these past years, embrace.

Cory Booker's beentalking about it saying,

Christ is the center of his life,

talking about the roleof prayer for a nation.

Kamala Harris, what wasbringing these things in.

And we're seeing candidatesup and down the ticket

also engaging on these issues.

The key is they're starting to reach out.

They're listening.

They're not just going off ofa tick-tock of talking points,

but each of them sounds different.

And to me as I hear it, that's the key

'cause then it's authentic.

If you're talking again,trying to say this is

what we have to say to get these voters.

If you're trying to use itas a weapon, it's gonna fail.

When you speak fromyour heart you can win.

- Do you think they're looking back

to 2016 seeing how President Trump was

very effective reachingthe evangelical vote?

And even now, these past two years,

he talks about his faith a lot.

I go to many press conferencesin the Rose Garden,

East Room, and he mentions God.

- I think Trump creates a very useful foil

on the faith side becausethe Bible talks about

how we should be known by our fruits,

those that cry my name, Lord, Lord,

but do nothing for the least of these,

how we're going to be judged.

I think in that sense, itcould be looking to Trump.

But what's happening clearlyis these are candidates

who are running in partbecause of their faith.

And when they're speakingfrom what matters to 'em,

whether it's faith or anything else,

that's what voters need to hear.

- This question for both of you.

David, we'll start with you this time.

Where are these candidatesreally missing opportunities

to reach faith voters, andhow big or organized is

this so-called ReligiousLeft that we hear about?

- Well, I'd be curious to get Eric's take

on the Religious Left.

I think he probably dabbles in that

a little bit more than I do.

Having said that, there'snot doubt that the energy

and the verve rightnow, and has always been

the white conservativeevangelical community.

It's what has propelled Donald Trump,

or propelled others before him.

In essence, they are lockstepped together

with the Republican party.

I know that causes a lotof people some concern,

but the truth of the matter is I believe

that the Democrat candidate,whoever that ends up being

in the general, this is the key,

not in the Democratprimary but in the general,

will have to somehow figure out a way

to play and get a percentage or two

from that white conservativeevangelical community.

I think you can get as much as you want

of the progressive Religious Left,

but I think there's a ceiling there.

I don't think you're gonnawin national elections there.

I think you have to pickoff some of Trump's base.

And I think it's possibleon the character issue.

That might be where the play could be.

- Eric, what about you?

How organized is this Religious Left?

- Well, I don't thinkwe're gonna win elections

with the Religious Left,but I think more importantly

to your viewers, we'renot gonna win as a country

if this becomes ReligiousLeft versus Religious Right.

What we need to get back to is a

more holistic gospel conversation.

And that's what should excite people

about what we're hearing right now out

of so many democratic candidates,

a return to compassion, to grace.

This week of all weeks,when we're in this point

between a celebrationof God's people saying,

we want the warrior king to rule

and bring God's authority versus

what we know Jesus stood for on the cross,

conversation about grace, moreDemocrats looking at service.

That's gonna be the keyto success for our party,

but more importantly,what we need as a nation.

And I think for the Christianwitness it's so vital.

- Eric, David, thank you guys both

for stopping in to talk to us today.

- Thanks.- Thanks, nice to be back.

- Definitely.

Well, the long-awaitedMueller Report is about

to be made public.

We'll tell you when toexpect it when we come back.

(bouncy pop music)

- Well, after much anticipation,

the long-awaited MuellerReport is expected

to be released this coming Thursday.

Testifying on Capitol Hill last week,

Attorney General BillBarr said he would release

the findings of the Russiainvestigation within a week.

That means it should comein the next few days.

The version Barr releases toCongress will have redactions,

including foreign intelligence information

and info on ongoing investigations.

- It turns out today is thelast day to file federal taxes.

Ahead of today, the IRSsaid they were still waiting

for some 50 million peopleto file their taxes.

If you're one of thoseand you aren't going

to make the mad dash to finish by today,

the IRS is recommendingfiling for an extension.

You can actually find thatinfo on the irs.org website.

If you don't file today andyou don't get an extension,

you could be chargedwith a late filing fee.

And now, we're joined by Stephen Moore,

former economic advisorfor the Trump campaign

and President Trump's pickfor the Federal Reserve Board.

Steve, thanks so much for joining us.

- Hi man, good to be with you.

- Today, a good day to have you here.

It is tax day.

President Trump is in Minnesota

to talk about the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

Break it down for us, what does it mean?

- Well, it's been powerfulfuel for the economy,

no question about it.

The economy keeps picking up steam.

We've gotten really great jobs numbers.

We now have sevenmillion more job openings

than people to fill them.

It's been, I think a bigsuccess when it comes

to generating more jobs andhigher wages for workers.

And then this big issue now is

how much did people actually save?

A middle class person, let's say makes

between 40 and $100,000.

We just did a big analysisat the Heritage Foudation

where we're estimating, but depending

on everyone's individual circumstance,

the average middle class family saved

about 1,500 to $3,000 a year.

Now, that depends onhow many kids you have,

'cause we've increased by$500 per child the credit.

So, if you have four kids,that's $2,000 right there.

But this idea that middleclass people are paying

more taxes, you'd be veryhard pressed to find anyone

in the middle class whoactually pays more taxes

as a result of this bill.

- Steve, new pollingshows that many Americans,

they actually feel likethey didn't get a tax cut.

What do you say to them?

- Well, the main reasonfor that is people are used

to getting a big refund in April

because they paid too much taxes.

We changed the withholdingtables throughout 2018,

so people actually got more money

in their paycheck eachweek and each month,

'cause we wanted people tofeel the effect right away.

So, I think it's mostly just a mirage.

People are saying, wait a minute,

I got a bigger refund last year.

Well, that's because yougot a bigger paycheck

throughout the year.

There are very few people, as I said,

in the middle class paid more taxes.

By the way, when youinclude the wage increases

that people have gotten, the bonuses,

the increases in benefits,you're talking about

for a lot of families threeor $4,000 more take-home pay

as a result of this tax cut.

We're proud of it.

I think most Americans wouldnever wanna see it go away

because they would face highertaxes if we repealed it.

- Tax Cuts 2.0, do yousee lawmakers picking

that back up before the end of the year?

- I'd love to see it.

I think there's just things that needed

to be cleaned up in the tax bill.

And I'd like to see even more relief

for middle class people.

As you said, a lot ofmiddle class people say

they wanted a biggertax relief, I do, too.

I just finished my taxes.

I don't know about youguys but it is daunting.

I wrote a big check to theIRS, how about you guys?

(laughing)

- My wife did, I did not.- Yeah, I think we wrote one.

- Yeah, I should say, mywife wrote a big check.

- We balanced it out.

- Yeah, balance each other out.

Steve, let's talk about theFederal Reserve appointment.

Congratulations first of all.

- Thank you.

- If you do get through theprocess, what do you wanna do?

- First of all, a lotof people are probably,

what does the Federal Reserve Board do?

Probably a lot of peopleare confused about that.

The Federal Reservecontrols the monetary system

of the US government.

I've been critical on this show and others

of some of the policies that have come out

of the Federal Reserve of late.

But what I'm in favor of ismaintaining stable prices

because the purpose of having currency,

I mean why do you have dollars, and $5,

and $10 and $20 in yourpocketbook, or in your purse?

It's because you know thatcurrency holds value over time.

And so, I'm a big believer inmaintaining a stable currency.

But I also believe, and thisis kind of I think a threat

to sort of the conventional wisdom there,

that when you have more people working

and more people earning bigger paychecks

and producing more that thatdoes not produce inflation.

Growth does not cause inflation.

We've got too manyKeynesians who believe that

if you have increase in economic growth,

oh, we have to pullback on the money supply

because that's gonna cause prices to rise.

But the way my buddy, Art Laffer,

says is very, he puts it very well.

If the economy is producing more apples,

the price of applesfalls, it doesn't rise.

So, I'll probably disrupt some

of the conventional wisdom over there.

And I think that's one

of the reasons Donald Trump selected me.

Donald Trump likes tochallenge conventional wisdoms.

- And when President Trumptweeted out his pick,

your pick, critics prettymuch came out of the woodwork.

Many are saying you arenot qualified for the Fed.

They're bringing up yourdispute with the IRS.

What has been your response?

- So, I have 35 years experience

as a top economic policyadvisor to presidents

and to many members of Congress.

I have kind of the street smart experience

on economic policy.

I do not have a PhD.

I think a lot of people think maybe

there are too many PhDs running this.

I think it would begood to have more people

with practical experience and people

like business men andwomen over at the Fed.

So, I think that it willbe a positive thing.

And a group think is thekind of mentality that got us

into some of these financialcrises in the first place.

- Stephen Moore withthe Heritage Foundation,

thank you very much.

- Thanks, guys.- Good to have you.

- [Jenna] Coming up, a lookat the continuing prices

in Venezuela and what theadministration is doing to help.

(bouncy pop music)

- [Man] Young people, millennials,

are flocking to church.

- [Woman] It's not havingsaturation to say that we love

to meet them and that welove to know their stories.

- Crisis conditions inVenezuela continue tonight

as the Trump administration says

all options are on the table.

When it comes to ending theregime of Nicolas Maduro.

- Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was

in the region over theweekend meeting with leaders

to discuss the humanitariandisaster facing that country.

- Nicolas Maduro is denyingfood that's sitting here.

These aren't people that are starving

because the country doesn't have wealth.

These are people that are starving

because the politicalleadership, the military thugs,

inside of Venezuela havedestroyed their capacity

to produce crude oil.

They have destroyed thecapacity to grow crops.

They deny their people aid that is sitting

right at the border.

You saw the bridge today.

Welded trucks preventingfood from getting in.

This is horrific.

There's nothing else in SouthAmerica that compares to this.

- And unfortunately, the crisis

in Venezuela shows no signs of letting up.

Constant power outages, food shortages,

and roving criminal gangs are driving more

to leave every day.

Estimates say around 1.5million people fled Venezuela

in the last two years.

- I know we heard from Pompeo there,

but the White House is definitelytrying to change things.

Well, that's gonna do it for Faith Nation.