(jovial music)

- [Narrator] Tonight,

- Iran is responsible for the attacks

that happened in the Gulf.

- [Narrator] Caughtred-handed, the U.S. says

surveillance video shows Iran was involved

in those oil tankerattacks in the Middle East.

- I'll try not to get emotional,

because I know that crying

can make us look weak sometimes, right?

- [Narrator] And the President'srock is on her way out.

Our look back at the legacy

of White House PressSecretary, Sarah Sanders,

and America's CatholicBishops hold a major meeting

to confront the clergy sex abuse crisis

rocking the Catholic church.

- I was blinded right away.

- [Narrator] Plus the miracle

that saved one congressman's eyesight.

All this and more tonight on Faith Nation.

(jovial music)

- New video from thePentagon points to Iran

in the recent oil tanker attacks.

Welcome to Faith Nation.

I'm John Jessup.

- And I'm Jenna Browder.

That video appearing to prove Iran

is behind these latest attacks

on two commercial oil tankers.

- Even with the potential evidence,

Iran maintains it hadnothing to do with it.

CBM News National SecurityCorrespondent, Eric Philips

has the latest developments.

- This makes six attackson commercial vessels

off the coast of Iran inthe last month-and-a-half.

U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo

and the President himself

not mincing words on who's to blame.

I spoke with a military expert who says

the video you're about tosee is a kin to a child

getting their handcaught in the cookie jar.

- [Expert] You're looking atan American military video

that officials say shows thecrew of an Iranian vessel

attempting to recover an unexploded mine

from the hull of a Japanese tanker.

These pictures taken by the U.S. Navy

show exactly where the mines were placed.

About 45 minutes earlier,

a Norwegian tanker came under attack also

in the Gulf of Oman and caught fire.

(in foreign language)

- Iran's President denyinginvolvement in any of it.

President Trump said on Foxand Friends he isn't buying it.

- Well, Iran did do it,

and you know they did itbecause you saw the boat.

I guess one of the mines didn't explode,

and it's probably got essentiallyIran written all over it.

- [Eric] The crew of the Japanese tanker

seen here receiving treatmentfrom American sailors

was picked by the USS Bainbridge

after an urgent raceto recover the 21 men.

The limpid mines help in place by magnets

designed to disable, butnot sink the vessels.

Eerily similar to attackson four commercial vessels

last month in the same region,

Iran denying all involvement.

- I don't need to be PerryMason to figure this one out.

- [Eric] Bradley Bowman isa former U.S. Army Pilot

and National SecurityAdvisor in the U.S. Senate.

He highly suspects Iran's involvement.

- The Trump Administrationrecently designated

the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps

as a foreign terrorist organization,

and Tehran jumped and wailed about that

and said how horrible that was.

Well how have they responded?

With more terrorism.

- [Eric] Bowman says this latest act

is par for the course.

- Their whole normal modus-operandi

is to work asymmetrically through proxies,

which allows them toadvance their interests,

but avoid attribution and retribution,

and if this is them directly doing this,

then I think it can be

accurate characterized as an escalation.

- Iran is calling theU.S. claims unfounded,

and part of the TrumpAdministration's Iranophobic campaign.

Despite any rhetoric,Bowman says he believes

the diplomatic approachthe White House is taking

is the right one to get Iran

oth back to the negotiating table

and talking bout a new nuclear deal.

In Washington, Eric Philips, CBN News.

- All right, thank you.

Eric, well at the White House,

Sarah Sanders has become an icon

in her role as Press Secretary.

- That's right, but she'sleaving that position

at the end of the month and heading home,

which leaves the door wideopen for a hard-to-fill role.

CBN News Capitol HillCorrespondent, Abigail Robertson

joins us now to take a look at her legacy.

Abigail?

- After nearly two years asWhite House Press Secretary,

Sarah Sanders is saying goodbye

and heading back to Arkansas.

- This has been the honor of lifetime.

- [Abigail] In an emotional farewell,

- I couldn't be prouder tohave had the opportunity

to serve my country, and particularly,

to work for this President.

I loved every minute,even the hard minutes.

- [Abigail] Sandersexplained it's time for her

to devote time to anotherimportant job, being a mom.

- I have three amazing kids,

and I'm gonna spend alittle more time with them.

(applauding)

- She talked about that inner struggle

with CBN News earlier this year.

- Do you struggle with mommy guilt?

- Oh, every single day.

I mean one of the hardest things

I do everyday is just go to work.

My kids are clinging to me crying,

why are you leaving?

Why do you have to work?

And to explain to a six,five, and three-year-old

what you do and why it'simportant is nearly impossible.

- She also described the often contentious

relationship with the Press Corps.

- I mean, you do, you seea lot of like angry faces.

People that their sole purpose

is to find this gotchamoment to catch you.

Their job is not to get information,

which is what the briefingis supposed to be.

It's to trip you up.

- [Abigail] And how faith helped

make the difference forher while on the job.

- You know some people wanna say

you can separate yourfaith from your work.

I feel very much the opposite of that.

I think your faith defines who you are,

and I'm certainly notgonna shy away from that.

- [Abigail] As one of thePresident's closest advisors,

(applauding)

- She's done an incredible job.

We've been through a lottogether and she's tough,

but she's good.

- [Abigail] She wasalmost always by his side.

- So if we could get her

to run for the Governor of Arkansas,

I think she'll do very well,

and I'm trying to get her to do that.

(cheering and applauding)

- Sanders hasn't announcedmuch yet about what's to come,

but says she will be oneof the most outspoken

and loyal supporters of thePresident and his agenda.

- All right, AbigailRobertson, thank you very much.

Well to Election 2020.

Tonight, the lineup is set forthe first Democratic debate.

The 2020 candidatesdivided into two groups

that will take the stageon back-to-back nights.

In the first group, CoryBooker, Julian Castro,

Bill de Blasio, JohnDelaney, Tulsi Gabbard,

Jay Inslee, Amy Klobuchar,

Beto O'Rourke, Tim Ryan,and Elizabeth Warren.

That is happening June 26th in Miami,

and in group two, MichaelBennet, Joe Biden,

Pete Buttigieg, Kirsten Gillibrand,

Kamala Harris, John Hickenlooper,

Bernie Sanders, Eric Swalwell,

Marianne Williamson, and Andrew Yang.

NBC is hosting the debate both nights.

Campaign officials took partin a random lottery drawing

to make that lineup.

- And here with us now are Clarence Page,

Syndicated Columnistwith the Chicago Tribune,

and our very own ChiefPolitical Analyst, David Brody.

Gentlemen, thanks for being with us today.

- Thanks guys.

- Question for the both of you,

starting with you Clarence.

Your thoughts a&bout the candidate lineup

and how they're split upbetween the two nights.

- I wish we had theprimaries a little quicker

so I wouldn't have tomemorize so many names.

(laughs loudly)

But it's gonna be interesting.

I notice they are though diplomatically

dividing the two nights between,

well dividing the frontrunners between two nights,

and that's important, so they don't

get a feeling of an A team or a B team,

and the viewers are more inclinedto watch both nights too.

I expect a marathonsession, don't you (laughs)?

- Yeah, I think so.

This reminds me of like the NBA Lottery

with the ping pongballs and who gets what.

This bodes well for ElizabethWarren on that first night.

I mean she's gonna be pretty much

the main contender of thetop contenders on stage.

Beto O'Rourke, a challenge forhim from a policy standpoint.

He's gonna have to be on his game

to go head-to-head with

Elizabeth Warren, second night obviously.

That's the varsity game right there.

- How closely do you thinkPresident Trump will be watching?

- Oh, I think he'll be watching.

- [Clarence] Just a little bit.

- If he's watching BetoO'Rourke's official announcement

in San Antonio or whereverit was down in Texas,

El Paso, he'll be watching this.

He's not just thePresident we talked about.

He literally is a politicalcommentator as well,

and he'll definitely be watching,

and I think if he's gonna pick up

on Beto O'Rourke's hand gestures,

I can guarantee youhe's gonna be picking up

on a few other things that night too.

(laughs)

- The President we heard phoned

into Fox and Friends this morning

and appeared to be a littlebit on damage control

for his comments that hemade earlier in the week

about accepting dirtfrom foreign countries.

Your thoughts on the damagecontrol we saw this morning?

- You know, the more I coverthis Trump Administration,

the more I'm reminded of

covering City Hall inChicago in the old days,

because this is one of those situations

where you ask a news maker a question,

and they actually make a mistake,

they get a little bit toocandid for public consumption.

Mr. Trump naturally thinks

of this dirt on

the opposing campaign asbeing part of the game.

You try to find out what you can.

Oppo research as hecalled it the other day,

and that is what it's called normally.

Well it's actually about a foreign power.

That's a whole different ballgame,

and I think he probably gotbriefed overnight by somebody,

or figured out that this was not playing

like he had hoped it would,

and so he softened his earlier statement.

- Yeah, and I think Republicans

were pickin' up the phoneand callin' him sayin'

you're giving us no place to go here.

You're gotta dial that back, and he did,

or at least he tried to do that

in the way only Trump can do it,

which is I wasn't really sorry,

but I'll amend it a little bit.

- Sarah Sanders, big news coming yesterday

that she would be stepping down.

David, you know her very well personally.

You've interviewed her several times.

What will her legacy be?

- Well I think there are two legacies.

It depends who you talk to.

Mainstream media willsay she was not honest.

She was the one that kind of destroyed

the daily White House briefings,

and she was testy with the press.

So the question is, will thatbe the legacy that sticks?

Then there's the other side of it.

The conservative Christians,the Evangelicals,

and overall who thoughtshe had class and smarts,

and bless your heart witha little bit of moxie,

and a snap thrown in, andthat's the Sarah Sanders

that I think a lot of theTrump supporters will see.

- Yeah, I think she wasa good public servant

in the sense of being aservant to the President

and his public, because sheexpressed his views quite well,

and The White House pressbriefing, I hate to see it go,

but President Trump didn't like it.

He really likes to gethis messages directly,

which raises the questionabout who's gonna replace him?

Whoever it is has toget used to the notion

that President Trump likes tobe his own Press Secretary.

(laughs loudly)

That's one more rule ornorm that he has broken,

and it has disrupted things,

but it's worked for him so far.

- Do you think it'll be the new norm,

whether the Trump Administration

probably will be the new norm,

but if there's a new administration,

will they follow that policy

about discontinuing the press briefings?

- Well, I think they'llpick them up again,

if nothing more thanto brown nose the press

because a reporter liked them.

I personally, I mean I loveto know how you feel about it,

but I personally learned very early on

that the press briefing was disappointing

as far as I was concerned.

I'm more accustomed to being,

well, it's a great place to find

out what the President's line is,

the Administration line,but independent reporting

is where the big stories come from.

- Right.

- Yeah.

- And so I don't go to that

many press briefings if I can avoid it.

- We have just a few seconds here,

but David, any guess whomight take her place?

- Well, I think it's eithergonna be someone called no one,

or it'll be a female of some sort,

maybe watch Kayleigh McEnany.

We've been tossing that name

around the newsroom a little bit today.

She was at the RNC,

now in the Trump Campaign.

He likes her.

She's very well spoken, very, very smart.

I think it's gonna be a woman or no one.

How's that?

(laughs loudly)

- David and Clarence, thank you so much.

- Thank you.

- Thanks guys.

- [Jenna] Well coming up,

what a major meetingof the Catholic bishops

means for the futureof the Catholic church.

- Welcome back.

The Catholic church has new procedures

to deal with sexual abusewithin their parishes.

A Catholic bishops meetingin Baltimore this week

adopted a new process

for reporting andinvestigation allegations

that would hold bishops more accountable.

Nonclergy will now beinvolved in allegations

against high-ranking bishops

rather than the Vatican dealing with them

thousands of miles away in secrecy.

Some have criticized the new plan

because it didn't include procedures

informing police when allegations come in

from a new proposed tip line,

and essentially allowsbishops to police themselves.

- Well Wyatt Goolsby is acorrespondent and anchor

for the EWTN Global Catholic Network

and covered the conferencethis week in Baltimore.

Wyatt, thanks for being here.

- Thanks so much forhaving me, appreciate it.

- Talk about the importanceof this conference.

- This was a big conferencefor the U.S. Catholic Bishops.

They had wanted to address

the sex abuse scandal in concrete ways,

take concrete steps toaddress potential sex abuse

by priests and potentialcoverups at the bishop level,

so this was very critical.

I would say the tone

of the meetings thisweek was very serious,

very focused on getting thejob they wanted to do done

addressing all thesereally important issues.

- Were there other issuesoutside of the church

sex abuse that they addressed?

- There were a number ofissues including vocations,

including issues about the death penalty.

One thing they had talked about

was the role of millennialsbeing involved in the church.

Why are millennials leaving the church?

And they talked abouthow it wasn't so much

that they're switching religionsor leaving Christianity,

so much as they're not going to church

or not participating infaith in a certain way,

and so one thing they talked about

was how can they bring millennials back,

and it's a challengeI think for everybody,

not just Catholics- Sure, absolutely.

- but churches everywhere.

- Yeah, what are some of the ways

they're talking about to bringback some of these people?

- Well, they're talking about this

actually at an intellectual level.

They realize that they really

can't talk down to millennials.

Millennials are verysmart, very intelligent,

and in many cases, very well educated,

and so they realize they can't necessarily

come in trying to play this down

as if this is a Bible coloring book.

They need to address theserious theological issues,

and they find when they do that

and they're straightforwardwith why we believe what we do,

then that tends to appeal more to people.

- Wyatt, can you tell us a little bit more

about the plan that thebishops came up with

to address sex abuse within the church,

and how it might help heal the victims

and also the church as well?

- The bishops talkedabout a number of issues

about how to address the crisis,

and they voted on a number oftopics, made concrete steps.

One of those steps was to create

a national third-party reporting system,

a hotline, a phone numberthat people can call

so that would be run byindependent third party

where people can report sex abuse,

or they could report a potential coverup,

something that theymight see as suspicious,

and that way the bishops realize,

and I think everybodyrealized there this week

that bishops can't police bishops.

They can't police themselves.

They need other people involved

than at simply the clergy level,

and so all of the things

that they voted on, reflective of that.

I mentioned the hotline.

Several other things they talked about

was getting laypeople involved,so it's not just clergy.

It's people who are professionals

that might be involved with the church

to help in terms of investigations.

They also talked a little bit

about getting civil authorities involved,

whether it's local police, prosecutors,

and they realize when it comes

to any of these investigations,

you have to have the localauthorities on board.

- Where does the Catholic church,

where does it go from here afterthe conversation this week?

What's next?

- Next is to try to put someof these plans into action,

so like I said, I mentionedthe hotline to you.

The plan is to have that inplace by May of next year.

In addition, the idea isto try to form lay panels,

lay commissions if you will,

of people at the local level

across the country in order to be there,

and be at the ready in case

there are accusationsof abuse in the future.

So the idea is to takeall of these things.

There's also questions of standards.

What are bishops supposed to do?

How are they supposed to follow protocol?

And then who do they reportto if there's an abuse?

So there's a wider Regional Bishop

called a Metropolitan Bishop,

which they're supposed to report to,

and having all that in a concrete

what to do step-by-step was important.

- All right.

Wyatt Goolsby, thank youso much for being with us.

- Thanks for having me.

- Still ahead, how a miracle saved

this congressman and formerNavy SEAL's eyesight.

(jovial music)

- Well Texas Congressman, Dan Crenshaw

is one of the newest members of congress

and he's quickly gainingnational attention.

- He is.

Recently he sat down with

the CBN's Capitol HillCorrespondent, Abigail Robertson

to talk about the war injury

that thrust him into the spotlight.

The miracle that saved his eyesight

and how the GOP can work

to take back the House in 2020.

- Congressman Dan Crenshaw,

whose district coversthe outskirts of Houston

made national headlines evenbefore he got to Washington

and saw an Army of Americansrise to his defense

after the former Navy SEAL found himself

as the butt of a controversial joke.

- You may be surprised to hear

he's a congressional candidate from Texas

and not a hit man in a porno movie.

(laughs loudly)

- [Abigail] But it was Crenshawwho had the last laugh.

- Thanks for making aRepublican look good.

(laughs)

- [Abigail] Getting a rare apology

from the long-running show.

- I mean this from the bottom of my heart.

It was a poor choice of words.

The man is a war hero

and he deserves all

the respect in the world.

- You did five tours of duty.

- We need a lot more DanCrenshaw in our society.

- [Abigail] And almost overnight

becoming a rising star in the GOP.

- It did change my freshmanyear in congress for sure,

and it's usually the case

is you just try to keep yourhead down your freshman year,

and I was just nevergiven that opportunity.

- [Abigail] Crenshaw sees it as a blessing

giving him a bigger voiceto talk about key issues.

- The left is really goodat selling bad ideas,

and the right is reallybad at selling good ideas.

- [Abigail] A former Navy SEAL,

politics wasn't always in his career plan.

- I never really wantedto leave the SEAL team.

(shouting commands)(guns banging)

- [Abigail] Life and plans changed

after an IED blast in Afghanistan in 2012.

- I was blinded right away.

- [Abigail] Crenshawmanaged to get himself

to the helicopter.

- They saw my condition

and they put me into amedically induced coma.

- [Abigail] Meanwhile back home,

Dan's family, and now wife, Tara

were learning about the blast.

- We knew that his right eye was gone.

We knew that the othereye had been blinded.

- We were hoping for a miracle,

and eventually that miracle

did happen in the operating room.

- [Abigail] After surgeonssaved his left eye,

they discovered hisretina had a hole in it.

- So we were hoping for another miracle,

because the conversation there was

do you just let yourselfgo completely blind slowly,

and at least you'll getto see for awhile longer?

Or do we try the surgery out,

which your eye is so fragile right now,

it's a really bad idea.

- [Abigail] But Godperformed that second miracle

and saved his sight.

- There's no other way to describe it,

except God giving me the strengthto believe the impossible.

- [Abigail] Needing to leave the military,

but still wanting to serve his country,

Crenshaw saw an opportunity

with the retirement ofTexas Congressman, Ted Poe.

- It was all history from there.

I decided to go for it.

- [Abigail Voiceover] A key part

of Crenshaw's brand, authenticity.

- We've created this mess

when we get the politicians we deserve.

- [Abigail] Instead of always

hosting traditional town halls,

Crenshaw takes different approaches

like talking to constituentsover games of foosball.

- I'm pretty good at foosball,

so I can fend off most people,

although there weresome experts who came in

and just took me to town.

- [Abigail] Where winnersget Astros tickets.

- You know, this job can wear you down,

so you might as well have fun.

- What do you think the Republican Party

needs to do heading into 2020

to win back control of the House?

- There's a lot of opportunity

for Republicans to take the center.

With Democrats proposing things

like a Green New Deal or Medicare for all,

and proposing that they takeaway your private insurance,

it's very obvious to regular people

that they've gone on a radicaldirection that will not work.

- [Abigail] The congressmanmaintains Republicans

need to answer for these plans

instead of just criticizing them.

- We need to do a better job

informing people whatis actually happening.

- [Abigail] Such as opposing

the Unborn Child Protection Act.

- It's not about abortion at all.

It's about a baby that is alive,

just like any other baby,and it's outside the womb,

and it deserves the same medical care

that any other human being would get.

- As for potential bipartisanship,Crenshaw is skeptical.

- Your base is so mad.

I mean I've never seen people

so angry and hating conservatism.

- [Abigail] And believespoliticians need to stop

adding poison pills to bipartisan issues.

- Let's pass things out of the House

that will actually go somewhere.

I think that's what people want.

- Congressman Crenshaw tells me he hopes

to continue serving hiscountry for many years to come.

As one of the most recognizablemillennials in the GOP,

he could be a factor

in helping Republicansreach younger generations.

Reporting from Houston,Abigail Robertson, CBN News.

- [John] Next, why it's abig day for the President,

the country, and the Army.

We'll explain when we come back.

(jovial music)

- Well tonight we celebrate Flag Day

marking a number of American moments.

The President's 73rd birthday today,

it's also the 244thbirthday of the U.S. Army.

- From the surface of the moon

to the top of Mt. Suribachi

during the Battle of IwoJima in World War II,

the flag has flown in some of

the hardest to reach places on earth.

The United States Continental Congress

formally adopted the starsand stripes back in 1777.

Tonight, we remember thesacrifices behind Old Glory.

Have a great weekend,

and we'll see you back here on Monday.

(jovial music)