- [Jenna] Tonight Iran on the forefront
with the U.S. making major military moves.
What sending a carriergroup and bomber force
to the Middle East means for the region.
- [John] And it's a date, maybe.
When, and if, Bob Muellerwill testify in Congress.
- None of us get to opt out of suffering.
- [Jenna] Plus the impactof a Christian author
is felt in the wake of her untimely death.
- [John] And Alive From New York.
- This is a baby.
- [John] The Times Square event
that has all eyes on the womb.
- [Jenna] All this and moretonight on Faith Nation.
(upbeat music)
- The United Statesflexing it's military might
in the Middle East.
Welcome to, Faith Nation, I'm John Jessup.
- And I Jenna Browder.
Well the U.S. has deployeda carrier strike group
to the Middle East sending avery clear message to Iran.
- It's a move that aims to stop any plans
the regime might have ofattacking American forces,
or allies, like Israel.
CBN News White Housecorrespondent, Ben Kennedy,
starts us off with tonight's top story.
The U.S. warns any attack will be met
with unrelenting force,but what is not clear
is how Iran will respond.
Signs of growing troublewith Iran surfaced in April
when the White House designatedIran's Revolutionary Guard,
a terrorist group.
The situation was all thetalk on Friday's Faith Nation.
- What stories are we nottalking about that we should be?
- Well I think one that's sortof bubbling under the surface
that I'm very focused on is Iran
and what the Trump administrationis doing with Iran.
- Over the weekend the White House made
a stunning move todeploy a carrier striker
to the Middle East as a safety measure
against any potential attacks by Iran.
The Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier,
and bomber task force,
which includes: fourships; nine air squadrons;
and about 6,000 sailors;
is now en route from the Mediterranean.
National Security Advisor, John Bolton,
said the signs were there.
Do you think Iran was preparing
to attack U.S. forces in the region?
- I think unfortunatelyit is a possibility.
In the open source right nowit is Israel and Saudi Arabia
actively checking Iran in aggression.
- Bolton says the U.S. wants Iran to know
that unrelenting forcewill meet any attack
on U.S. interest or its allies.
Do you believe Iran is one of the forces
behind the recent violence in Gaza?
- I think Iran, as a patron of Hamas
is always involved in anykind of broader attacks
by Palestinian terrorist groups
against the state of Israel.
- [Ben] Bolton adds the U.S.is not seeking war with Iran,
but are fully preparedto respond to any attack.
Last month the White House saidit would not extend waivers
to countries that bought Iranian oil.
It's a part of the President'smaximum pressure campaign
to target Iran's economy.
- We clearly have the capabilityto check Iranian aggression
in the region.
The longstanding questionis, do we have the resolve?
Sending in this carrier strike group
definitely says we have the resolves.
- Wednesday is the one year anniversary
of the U.S. pulling outof the Iran Nuclear Deal.
We now wait to see how Iran will respond
once the carrier has arrived.
Ben Kennedy, CBN News, Washington.
- Thanks Ben, and this all comes
as Christianity isspreading in the region.
CBN News InternationalCorrespondent, George Thomas,
joins us now with part of this story.
- George you've been onthe phone with a source
who just returned from Iran,what is he telling you?
- Yes, this particularsource has been traveling
to the Islamic Republicfor the last two decades.
He has made more than three dozen trips
into the Islamic Republic,he just got back.
He visited about six strategic key cities
across Iran and Jenna the question he got
from almost every person he spoke to
in the six differentlocations, was the question,
when is the United Statesgoing to attack Iran?
And it was not asked in a negative way,
or in an angry way, it wasasked from the perspective of
we cannot wait for youto attack our nation.
Why, because Iran is in the midst
of a dire economic situation.
Last year one United States dollar got you
about 50,000 rial, the Iranian currency.
Today on the black marketit's about 150,000 rial,
so hard to put this into perspective.
Last year if you went toyour neighborhood Chick-fil-A
and bought a sandwich youwould pay about $7.00,
today it's about $20.00.
What does this mean?
The price of milk, eggs, oil, flour,
everything is skyrocketing,
but people's wages are not going up
to keep up with the hyperinflation.
So in the midst of all this is happening
the hardship is putting suchpressure on the average Iranian
that they are fed up with the regime
and they know that thecrippling sanctions against the,
against the Islamic Republic
is beginning to hurt them severely.
And by the way, I asked my source,
are they angry with the United States,
or blame the United Statesfor their economic woes?
On the contrary, theyput the blame squarely
on the Islamic Republicand the ruling clerics.
- George, Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo,
just recently spoke saying that his goal
is to get Iran to behave like
a normal nation--- Yep.
- After seeing activitythat indicates escalation.
- That's right.
In fact here's what actuals,as we come on the air,
actuals reporting that part of the reason
for this deployment to the Mid
is because two weeksago Iran's, I'm sorry,
Israel's head of nationalsecurity, Meir Ben-Shabbat,
met with officials at the White House
and it is in fact theintelligence services of Israel,
The Mossad, who hand-delivered information
to the White House saying thatthere is a credible threat
of Iranian forces, and its proxies,
targeting U.S. interest in the region.
What could some of those interest be?
For example we have troopsstationed in Bahrain,
we have troops stationedin Afghanistan, in Syria,
and so this was the intelligencethat was brought forward
to the United States two weeks ago
at a meeting with John Bolton,
the National Security Advisor
and that is why we'reseeing this happening today.
- Yeah, George, Iran'sMinister of Intelligence
made a pretty surprisingadmission over the weekend
about Christianity, whatcan you tell us about that?
- So he basically said that Christianity
was spreading in parts of the country
and that there was this sort of tension
that Iranian's felt with the mullahs,
the ruling clerics,
and how they were constantlyfighting with each other
and people were lookingfor peace in this midst
of all of this economic turmoil.
The reality as we have beenreporting here at CBN News
for such a long time,Christianity is the one place
in the world where Christianityis growing the fastest,
it is right here, you see the images.
It's happening in Iran.
It is not happening in parts of Iran,
it is happening across the country
and it is one of the most untold stories,
but folks here at CBNNews they're getting it.
- All right, George Thomas,thank you very much.
- You're welcome.
- Well Democrats are taking steps
at holding Attorney General, William Barr,
in contempt of Congressfor failing to provide
an unredacted version
of Special Council,Robert Mueller's Report.
The deadline came and wentat 9 o'clock this morning.
For more now we turn to
our Capitol Hill correspondent,Abigail Robertson.
Abigail, what's the next step here?
- Well on Wednesday theHouse Judiciary Committee
will mark up a contemp citation
for Attorney General Barrfor not delivering to them
the full unredacted Mueller Report
by their deadline of this morning.
Now Democrats are alreadyupset Barr did not testify
here on the Hill lastweek because Democrats,
and the Department ofJustice could not agree
over who would question Barr.
Democrats wanted members of their council
to question him and theDepartment of Justice said,
no way, that was unacceptable.
So this is just more fuel added
to an already blazing fire.
Now the Attorney General hasmade a less redacted version
of the Mueller investigation available
to select Republicans and Democrats
at the Department of Justice,but so far we have not seen
any Democrats go to viewthat less redacted version
and the Department ofJustice says that legally
they cannot releasethe full Mueller Report
because of grand jurymaterial that is inside of it.
- Abigail, how are Republicans on the Hill
reacting to this move?
- Well the ranking Republican,
on the House JudiciaryCommittee, Doug Collins,
says that he believesholding Barr in contempt,
this move to do that, is just another play
at tearing down President Trump.
He released this statementearlier today on Twitter saying,
that Democrats know Attorney General Barr
cannot release an unredacted report
without breaking the law.
He believes if Democratsreally wanna see this
they should be introducing legislation
to allow Barr to releasegrand jury material
instead of moving forwardwith holding him in contempt.
- Abigail, we know right nowhe's scheduled to appear,
but there's some question about it,
so will Robert Muellertestify before Congress?
- Well yes, right now RobertMueller is set to testify
on May 15th, President Trump,
to the House Judiciary Committee.
Now President Trump over the weekend
released his sentiments onthis saying, on Twitter,
saying that he does not feellike Mueller should testify.
He said, why would theDemocrats in Congress
now need Robert Mueller to testify?
Are they looking for a redobecause they hated seeing
the strong no collusion conclusion?
There was no crime,except on the other side,
and no obstruction.
Bob Mueller should not testify.
No redos for the Dems!
But other Republicans actually say
that they wouldn't mind havinghim testify here on the Hill.
Senator Lindsey Graham,
the Chairman of the SenateJudiciary Committee,
on Friday sent a letter to Robert Mueller
inviting him here upon the Hill to testify
before his committee saying
that he would be happy togive him an opportunity
to address any potential things
that the media has misreported about his,
about the Mueller investigation
and give him the opportunityto speak for himself.
So we'll see if that happens
and we'll see if he ends up here
before the House JudiciaryCommittee on May 15th.
- All right, Abigail Robertsonreporting on Capitol Hill.
Thanks Abi.
- Thanks Abi, well we now wanna bring in
our political panel.
Rick Klein is the PoliticalDirector for ABC News
and David Brody, CBN NewsChief Political Analyst
join us now.
- Well Rick let's start off with you.
Are Democrats making theright move by possibly holding
Bill Barr in contempt of Congress?
- Well the chicken episode last week
may not have been thebest way to make the case
if you're a Democrat.
But look, they have questions and I think
in trying to get the full report,
and trying to get Mueller,
they have a push to make here.
I found it interesting that Joe Biden,
upon his entry into thecampaign just last week,
said the Democratsshould be investigating,
they shouldn't be impeachingunless their blocked.
And the blocking, we've alreadyseen the President signal
that he does not wanna see cooperation,
he doesn't wanna see Mueller testify,
he doesn't wanna seemembers of his cabinet,
former advisors, testify.
So that to me is the morenuanced argument to me.
I think they have every right to dig in.
The President doesn't get to tell them
what they do or don't investigate
and they have to make politicaljudgements accordingly.
- I'm also not quite sureof the endgame here exactly.
Okay, so you hold himin contempt, then what,
the full House votes on it,okay, he's now in contempt.
Then what exactly?
And what I mean, then what,
ultimately it's the InspectorGeneral's, or excuse me,
the Attorney General's officethat will decide on Mueller.
So now it wouldn't Barr, Isaid on Mueller, on Barr,
it wouldn't be Barr deciding on Barr,
but it would be the Inspector General,
or the Attorney General'soffice deciding on Barr
so you know I'm not quite sure
of the Democrats endgame exactly.
- Are you kind of saying theremay be grandstanding here?
- Oh maybe, just a little bit.
(laughing)
- Rick, you know Mueller, a lot of people
are saying that what, or asking,
what can he provide if he does testify
that's not already been providedin the full Mueller Report?
- Well I think there'stwo different issues.
One is, as came to light just last week,
the perceptions thatMueller disagreed with,
and he put it in writing,
with how Barr was casting his report
and what kind of factors went into that
and how he communicated that.
And I think a lot of Democratsare gonna wanna know,
why didn't you make a judgmenton obstruction of justice?
He made a judgment not to make a judgment.
Why did he punt on that?
What did he think as a prosecutor?
Did he have any thoughts on this
and the question that's being raised
by a range of former prosecutors now,
if this was anyone otherthan the President,
would there be an obstruction case
that would have been brought?
- Great follow up, and thank you
for that perfect segue.
So they're saying nothing right now.
If he weren't President,
if he weren't sittingin the oval office, yes,
so does that mean thatafter he leaves office
that we could potentially see charges?
- I think, I think whenthe President leaves office
he is potentially open toa range of issues that,
including this, including someof the business relationships
and things we've seen out of
the Southern district of New York.
There's a lot of lingeringquestions about that.
I find it hard to believe that this,
that any Justice Departmentwill provide this
once it's been deemed as a complete item
by the Attorney General and Barr has said,
and did say in the initial judgment,
this was based on hisfull reading of the facts
not even the precedent ofnot being able to charge
a sitting President.
But I do think that there are legal issues
that could linger well beyondhis time in the White House.
- I will say in the Mueller Report,
who's gonna win the soundbite war
when Robert Mueller testifies.
You know the Democrats are looking
for the contextual soundbiteof Robert Mueller's saying,
yeah, I had grave concerns,right the quote, grave,
and that's what they'll play.
And then the Republicans will,
hopefully what they'll get is,
well so Mr. Mueller, areyou saying bottom line
you couldn't bringyourself to any charges,
yes, that's what I'm saying.
And they'll have thebottom line, no charges.
So, you know, who's gonnahave the winning soundbite
I think will be very interesting to watch
with the Mueller situation next week.
- Well said, and changing topics here
we wanna talk about 2020.
Pete Buttigieg makingheadlines over the weekend
for apparently going to Sunday School
with former President Jimmy Carter.
To you, Rick, faith clearlygoing to be a big issue in 2020.
- It is and I think you'reseeing more Democrats,
led by Pete Buttigieg, whoare willing to talk openly
about their faith.
And I do think it's tellingthat he decides to visit
former President Carter athis Sunday School class,
that's an interesting setting.
And Mayor Pete talks all the time
about his Christian faith.
It's interesting to have an openly gay man
believing that, that part of the argument.
But it's really not just himand it's not just candidates
checking the box of showing up in church
on Sunday mornings like Joe Biden did
in South Carolina over the weekend.
There are a number of candidates,
Cory Booker's another one,talked about their faith
in more open ways.
And I feel like we've knownthat there are Democrats
who believe strongly intheir faith for a long time
for whatever reason theyseem to be less comfortable
talking about that.
I wonder if that's changing this cycle?
- David, a two-parter for you,
Time Magazine this week isfeaturing Pete Buttigieg
with his husband on thecover of the magazine,
first question, thenwe'll come back to that.
Do you think he could winover evangelical voters,
and secondly, is Americaready for a first couple
that looks like this?
- Well let's be clear,let's just unpack that.
Can he win over evangelical voters,
I mean in the macro of no.
But it's not in the macro, right?
Elections are won at themargins, it could be a percent,
2%, potentially if he goeswith a compassionate angle
for many evangelical Christian perspective
'cause Donald Trump's policieshave been kind of cloaked
in this non-compassionate way.
So if Buttigieg and withJimmy Carter down there,
once again, backed a compassionate
and that type, or strainof evangelical Christianity
I think there is roomto win at the margins
and I think that's what he's trying to do.
Hillary Clinton did nottry to inject faith at all
in 2016 and it cost her.
- And do you think Americais ready for a first couple
that looks like this?
- Well, I think it's a mixed bag.
I mean if you look at thepolls, there was a poll,
I think it's Quinnipiac--- Quinnipiac.
- I can never say thatword, Quinnipiac poll,
talking about 70% of folks are open
to electing a gay president.
36% however say, America's not ready
to elect a gay president.
The wording of that
polling is--- A little nuanced.
- Is pretty, a little nuanced, but look,
the poll number showed15 to 20% of an increase
in people that would be okay
with a gay president since 2007.
So that's progress in their view at least.
- And most polling, mostpolls, show that Joe Biden
is the current front runner.
Of course this week we're hearing,
and last week we're hearingabout his son, Hunter's,
business dealings in China and Ukraine.
Rick, how problematic is thisfor the former Vice President?
- It's gonna be fair game.
I mean we've readyalready that there allies
of President Trump whoare gonna bring it up
and trying to say, look, you know,
you have to worry aboutthese foreign entanglements.
I think it's among the thingsthat the family connections
are a big piece of what Joe Biden is
and it's gonna be all these things
that are subject to scrutiny.
I'm curious as to whetherany of the Democrats
bring it up, because itseems like this is not a time
for opo hits on fellow Democrats.
They feel so energized ingoing after President Trump
I wonder if they're gonnaafter him along the edges
and some of them are doingthat in lighter ways.
And Bernie Sanders just, onthis week, just yesterday,
talking about how his recordversus Joe Biden's record,
I feel like they'regonna be hitting policy
a lot more than person, personality
or even business entanglements.
- Gentlemen we haveless than a minute left.
I want you to weigh in real quickly
on Cory Booker's gun policy,it's a little bit radical,
basically national gun licensing.
- Well he's got a constituencyin the Democratic party.
I think he's also gonnahave a lot of people
on the other side ofthat, of that argument,
who are gonna be upset with seeing that.
But I feel like you're gonnahave some policy arguments
that try to lay that out.
- I'm not sure it plays withindependence necessarily.
In this country anytimeyou talk about gun rights,
or an infringementpotentially on gun rights,
but look, you know, I thinkyou're gonna see conservatives
make the argument.
I'm waiting for Trump onTwitter to basically say,
so Cory Booker wantsthe federal government
to basically intervieweverybody, all the passports,
I don't know, I think itmight be hard to play.
- David Brody, Rick Klein, thank you both.
- Thank you guys.- Thank you.
- [John] Coming up, how the untimely death
of a Christian author issending ripple effects
across the evangelical world.
Well a wave of reactions are pouring in
after the death ofpopular Christian writer,
Rachel Held Evans.
Evans spoke frequently at conferences
for progressive Christians.
- And then she amassed a large following
through her blog and books like,
A Year Of BiblicalWomanhood and most recently,
Inspired: SlayingGiants, Walking on Water,
and Loving the Bible Again.
Her popularity grew among people
who identify as marginalized Christians
as she challenged today'sconservative evangelical culture.
She died Saturday after brain seizures
that caused swelling.
Evans was 37 and leaves behinda husband and two children.
- Well joining us now is, Julie Zauzmer,
who covers religion,faith, and spirituality
at the Washington Post.
- Yeah, Julie great to haveyou thanks for joining us.
- Thanks for having me.
- Julie of course Rachel was many things
to a lot of different people.
In the end though she'ssomeone who made a huge mark
on modern Christian thought.
- Absolutely, she was a writer
who could really speak across divides.
She was read by men and women,
by progressive andconservative Christians,
mainline protestants and evangelicals,
she really spoke to so many.
- Well, Julie on of the thingsthat I found so interesting,
or fascinating, is in thereaction to her initial
medically-induced coma.
For people who knew herthey either loved her
or hated her.
Why did she draw such polar emotions?
- Well she was, in somesense she was questioning
the culture that she came from.
She was in a conservativeevangelical environment
when she started raising questions,
first with evolution was the first topic
that she took on, and thenranging from there to sexuality,
and to gender, and toBiblical interpretation,
all of these really big tough questions.
She was someone who wasprovocative in her environment
and eventually ended upleaving that environment
and joining an Episcopal Church.
It was definitely not an easy message
to get across to her own community.
- Julie she really exposed the rift
within the evangelical community.
- Especially on gender,
I think that was probablythe biggest issue
where she was willing to speak out
and to cause a lot of people to question
exactly what they believe themselves.
- Julie, even some who didn't
necessarily agree with her theologically,
they're saying that her voice stirred
healthy, vigorous debate.
Why do you think some of herdetractors still respect her?
- Well she was definitelycareful in how she spoke
and careful to be kind andcourteous and thoughtful
in a time, and in anenvironment, like social media,
like Twitter was where shedid a lot of her communicating
that is not always kind.
She was somebody who wastrying to demonstrate
what it is to be aChristian voice in Twitter
and in other environmentswhere that's not easy.
- And Julie why did sheleave the evangelical church?
- I think that it's a big question
that she discusses in numerous books,
but gender and sexuality and politics
were big issues for her.
She was leaving and wasengaged in these discussions
long before President Trump came around,
but she was heartsick in many ways to see
that conservative evangelicals,
who were her tribe at some point,
would support a Presidentwho she really did not
and that was something she wrestled with
and wrote about a lot at what turned out
to be the end of her life.
- Julie Zauamer, thank you somuch for being with us today.
- Thank you.
- [Jenna] Still ahead, live from New York.
How a major pro-life eventin the heart of Time Square
could change hearts and minds.
- Well welcome back.
The issue of life andprotecting the unborn
was front and center thisweekend in Times Square.
- It sure--- You were there right?
- I was, it was, I wasthere with photojournalist,
Tim Mario Gonzalez, take a look.
♪ Write your story on the heart ♪
- [Jenna] Alive From New York.
- Fatherhood begins in the womb.
- A star-studded pro-life event
in the heart of Time Square.
There are live performances, speeches,
all sorts of things happening here,
but the main event is a live ultrasound.
- [Abby] There's his little lips.
- [Jenna] The ultrasound was performed
on Abby Johnson, a pro-life activist
and the inspiration behindthe movie, Unplanned.
- This is a baby.
(laughing)
This right here is a baby, it's not a cat,
it's not a parasite,this is a human being.
- [Jenna] Focus on the Family says
10,000 people registered for the event
and it wasn't just thepro-life crowd that showed up.
A large and very vocal group of protestors
set up across the street.
- [Together] It's a hate group.
- [Jenna] Focus on theFamily initially hoped
to use the billboards in Time Square,
but President Jim Daly saystheir plans fell through.
- Well we had 12 weeks to plan the event
and so we went right to the jumbotrons
to see if we can rent the space
and initially they all said,yes, in different ways.
Then when we began todescribe what we were gonna do
they started not returning phone calls,
or saying that this would be too political
and they're uncomfortable with it.
- [Jenna] CBN News reachedout to those companies.
ABC, we do not accept live advertising
on our Times Square video screen.
And Clear Channel Outdoor,
they never presentedany artwork for review.
- That's really notaccurate they knew exactly
what we were going to do and they told us
they were uncomfortable with it.
- [Jenna] Still, Alive FromNew York turned out to be
the cities largest ever pro-life event.
♪ Jesus, Jesus-- ♪- And that's
encouraging news, especiallyin today's culture.
And New York may be considered
the nation's abortioncapital by a lot of people,
but actually John, seven other states,
and the District of Columbia,
also have no restrictionson late-term abortion.
- Well, great reporting out there.
- Thank you, yeah, quite an event.
- Well that's gonna do itfor tonight's Faith Nation.
- Have a great evening.
