- Well some big things in the news today.

We welcome you.

Big storms coming, as ifwe haven't had enough,

just like was hitting Texas.

We're gonna talk about that.

Millions may be without power

as devastating winds come down.

But I wanna tell you a little story.

A few years ago therewas a Egyptian architect

whose name was Mohamed Atta

and he came to America toFlorida, entered flight school

and then was trained asto how to fly big planes.

Didn't learn how to landthem, just to fly them.

So he journeyed northand he came to the city

of Virginia Beach where we live

and he had dinner in aplace called Pasta and Pani

which is one place thatI go right frequently,

at least used to.

It's different now, but it was open then.

And he passed on from hereand before it was over

he hijacked planes, he andhis team of Muslim fanatics,

crashed two airliners intothe World Trade Center

in New York, killed that plus other planes

that he'd included, onethat went into the Pentagon.

3,000 people died.

It was the worst tragedy, civilian tragedy

in the history of America.

And now there's a Democrats Congressman

who says, well somepeople did some things,

some men did some things.

I was on the scene, ladies and gentlemen,

and watched it.

I was doing this programand we had it on the air.

We saw those planes fly intothose World Trade Centers.

And then the plane thatwas aiming for the Pentagon

that was crash landed in Pennsylvania.

Horrible.

And yet, that remark was said to quote,

"had been taken out ofcontext" by this woman

whose name is Omar.

And controversy has arisen about it.

And now the Afghan War veteranwho helped bring it to light

tells CBN News that lawmakersshould stop defending

her incredible comment.

Some men did some things.

George Thomas has more.

- Republican Congressman andretired Navy Seal Dan Crenshaw

is defending his criticism ofIlhan Omar's 9/11 comments.

And he's blasting Democratic lawmakers

who still refuse to condemnthe congresswoman's statement.

In an exclusive interviewwith CBN's Abigail Robertson

Crenshaw said it waswrong for Omar to downplay

the worst terror attack on American soil.

- This is not a case somebody mis-speaking

at a certain point.

I think it's obvious thatshe feels a certain way

about terrorism, about 9/11 in particular.

- [George] Omar was speakingat a fundraising event

for the Council onAmerican Islamic Relations,

also known as CAIR, last month

when she made the commentabout the attacks.

- CAIR was founded after 9/11

because they recognized thatsome people did something

and that all of us werestarting to lose access

to our civil liberties.

- [George] That phrase,some people did something,

outraged many Americans,including Crenshaw.

- I don't want to attribute motivations

but it was dismissive.

The way she referred to it was dismissive.

- [George] Some have said that statement

shows Omar supports terrorism.

But Crenshaw pushedback on the accusation.

- I don't think she supportsany kind of terrorism

or anything like that.

But she did speak about it in a dismissive

and disrespectful way.

Okay?

And I clearly pointed that out.

I said, hey, that's unbelievable.

Why would you talk about it this way?

- [George] The controversy escalated

even further after thepresident retweeted a post

that called Omar a sick monster.

And in another tweet posted a video

with footage of the World Trade Center

with the caption, we will never forget,

and included Oman's remarks.

That brought a barrage ofcriticism from Democrats

who attacked the president for attacking

the Muslim congresswoman.

Some, saying her wordswere taken out of context.

- They do this all the time to us,

especially women of color.

They do that, they takeour words out of context

'cause they're afraid,because we speak truth.

We speak truth to power.

Takin' it outta context,this is just pure racist act

by many of those, hateful acts by those

because she does speak truth.

- [George] Crenshaw pushedback, saying Omar's words

stand for themselves.

- These things should be called out.

They have to be called out.

Nothing was taken out of context.

That is a narrative being perpetuated

which is truly dishonest.

- [George] Omar even released a statement

saying the president'stweet have reportedly led

to an increase in threats on her life.

And Democrats are accusingcritics like Crenshaw

and the president of incitingviolence against Omar.

- The president justtweeted out her own words

and said never forget.

In no way, shape or formis that inciting violence.

- [George] George Thomas, CBN News.

- Well, in other news, morethan 100 million Americans

are in the path ofpotentially savage storms.

Charlene Aaron has morefrom the CBN news room.

Here's Charlene.

- That's right, Pat, severethunderstorms are moving through

a large part of the countryover the next three days.

Forecasters are concerned they could bring

the same devastating windsand tornadic activity

that took nine lives last weekend.

The storms will targetthe plains states today,

moving east Thursday, rangingfrom southern Illinois

all the way down to theLouisiana-Mississippi coast

and taking aim and the South

and Mid-Atlantic states on Friday.

Well, French president Macron wants

to see Notre Dame Cathedralrebuilt in five years,

a tall order after Monday's fire

that engulfed much of the iconic building.

So far, they've raised

nearly $1 billion towards restoration.

This as investigators continue looking

into the case of the fire.

Heather Sells has the latest.

- [Heather] Parisiansare mourning Notre Dame

and cheering their firefighters.

This incredible video released

by the Paris Fire Brigadeshows the heroic operation

that eventually savedpart of the cathedral.

- This is shocking beyond shocking.

- Engineers spent Tuesday looking

for structural weaknesses,as dozens of investigators

began the search for a cause.

They've ruled out arson andbelieve the restoration work

may be to blame.

The Paris prosecutor saysan initial fire alert

sounded at 6:20 pm on Mondaybut no fire was found.

A second alert went off 23 minutes later

and the blaze was thendiscovered on the roof.

- (speaking foreign language)

- [Heather] The cathedralis government property

and President Macronpledged Tuesday to rebuild

and even more beautiful building.

He said a five year plan is possible

although not everyone agrees.

Donations and pledges are pouring in,

close to half a billion so far.

On a spiritual level,the loss is immeasurable.

- Well, I don't thinkit's possible to overstate

the spiritual significance of Notre Dame,

either to the French orto Europe or to the West.

- [Heather] And the timing is stunning,

the day after Palm Sunday,with Easter approaching.

Many believers wonder, would this loss

lead to a spiritual reawakening?

- Big dramatic moments like this,

like this fire at Notre Dame,

are a great time to give us pause

as individuals, forthe French as a nation.

But also, for us as a wider culture

to sort of say, are wereally taking seriously

what we're preparing for?

- [Heather] The Dean ofRegent University's seminary

told CBN News, this could provide France

an opportunity to refocuson its Christian heritage.

- We sometimes thing of Franceas an ex-Christian country

but I do not think weshould make that mistake.

There are deep Christian roots there

and the story is not finished yet.

- [Heather] Heather Sells, CBN News.

- Pat, back to you.

- Well, I want to clarify,the numbers have gone around

but now we understandthe number of donations

to rebuild has exceeded $1 billion.

So, contributions arenot only come in some,

couple of billionaire Frenchmen,

but there coming from all over the world.

And as our dean at the School of Divinity

at Regent University said, this could be

the beginning of a spiritualreformation in France

as they turn away from secularism.

You know, during the French Revolution,

they enshrined reason as their goddess

and they turned away from Christianity.

And then there was, of course,

that St. Bartholomew's massacre

when there was a killing of the Huguenots

all over the country.

And then later on, the Edict of Nantes,

led by the then emperorwhere they turned away,

I mean, back to more balanced religion.

But, the French Revolution

was a totally anti-clerical movement.

And as one philosopher wrote,

(speaking foreign language),

get rid of the infamous one.

So France could turn back.

But we can only hope.

Charlene?

- Well, thousands of Christianpilgrims are in Jerusalem

celebrating Holy Week visitingthe historic locations

where Christ spent his finaldays with his disciples.

CBN Middle East BureauChief Chris Mitchell

shows us how technology ishelping unravel the mystery

of one of those sacred sites.

- The Bible tells us Jesushad a final Passover meal

with his disciples beforegoing to the cross.

The Coenaculum on Mount Zionis the traditional site.

But is there where it really happened?

Christians pilgrimsfrom all over the world

come here to the Upper Room

to remember the LastSupper of Jesus Christ.

Now, Israeli archeologistsknow more about this site

than ever before.

- The Last Supper Room, is one of the most

holy places in Jerusalem.

We couldn't conduct here clear

and classical archeological excavation.

- [Chris] So they turned tostate of the art technology

to uncover the Upper Room's secrets.

- Using laser measurement, laser scanning

and an advanced photographic technique

we managed to create anaccurate 3-D model of the place.

We even managed to penetrateinside the entrance stones.

- [Chris] For years manywondered when was the room built

and is it the real place?

- Suddenly, we needed to decipher signs

and symbols from the wall.

Suddenly, we managed to dateit and this wonderful structure

is dating to the Crusader Period.

- [Chris] Archeologist Amit Re'em said

they discovered two biblical symbols

never before seen in the Upper Room.

- On the keystone, you could see

the Holy Lamb, the Agnus Dei.

- [Chris] On anotherkeystone, there's a lion.

- The lion actually isa symbol of King David.

Now, we know according to the Bible

that Jesus is a descendantof the Davidic dynasty.

- [Chris] Underneath the12th Century Crusader church

there's evidence of a magnificent

fourth century Byzantine church.

- And maybe the Byzantinebuilt their church

on much earlier and ancient, sacred site.

- [Chris] For many,visiting the Upper Room

is a moving experience.

- It's fantastic.

It's like this place hasthe power of the presence.

It's like a different note on the scale

of the song of God.

- Being in Israel during this season

and then being in placeslike the Upper Room

just make a huge difference in my faith.

- [Chris] Re'em sayshe's learned one thing

as an archeologist about traditions.

- Here this ancienttradition, explore there

because inside them is hidden some truth.

- [Chris] Christ Mitchell, CBN News,

the Upper Room, Jerusalem.

- Amazing technology.

Pat?

- Well, I'm glad for the technology

but I tell you, I hate to pour water

on the wonderful feeling that people have.

I've been in that Upper Room.

It is so phony, it is so out of context

of what Jesus was involved in.

There is no way.

It's a beautiful structure.

But there's no way underheaven that was where Jesus

and his disciples had their Last Supper.

It just didn't happen.

So if archeologists can go back,

but what they've found,

they've got a Middle Ages type structure

over an older, 2nd or3rd century structure

and neither one of them are the real room.

If he was in an upperroom, it was a rustic kind

of simple room.

And I've been there and you say, no way

(laughing)

is what's there, is that the place.

I mean, it's just not.

But if people go in that

and they get all excited,well, God bless them.

The Lord can meet you anywhere but

it takes more than that.

I remember one Israeli guy said

well, they found thatthis wadn't the place

so they quote, movedthe holiness, (laughing)

they moved it to another location.

- What about the garden tomb?

Do you thing that?

- [Pat] That's the real goods.

- You think that's the real thing.

- I think that's as close to

you know, where theylaid the body of Jesus.

I've been there, I've knelt there

and there's a stone there.

And it is as authenticas you could possibly get

and so with that place,it conforms to scripture.

But the other, no way.

(laughing)

I hate to be cynical on this near Holy Day

but I just believe that's the way is.