- Well, welcome, ladies and gentlemen,
to this edition of the 700 Club.
The president said he'sgoing to deport millions
of illegal aliens.
He's launched a campaign in Orlando,
trailing badly in the poll.
He's facing 24 Democrats.
Many of them are actuallybeating him in the poll.
CBN Capitol Hill correspondentAbigail Robertson
has the latest early numbers.
- President Trump officiallyjumps in the race today,
and, if recent polling holds true,
he has a lot of ground to make up.
Former Vice President Joe Biden
not only leads the Democratic field,
but he has a 10-pointadvantage over the president.
- And I believe we canwin Texas and Florida
if you look at the polling data now.
- [Abigail] According to anew CBS battleground poll
of early contest states, JoeBiden holds a double-digit lead
against Democrat primary opponents
with senators ElizabethWarren, Bernie Sanders,
and Kamala Harris takingthe other top spots.
- My plan, if I'm yournominee, winning Georgia,
North Carolina, SouthCarolina, believe it or not.
- [Abigail] CNN reports theTrump campaign severed ties
with several pollsters last week
after information of internalpolls leaked to the press.
- If I thought they were correct,
I wouldn't be complaining at all.
- [Abigail] Those largesurveys showed the president
trailing Biden by doubledigits in Wisconsin
and Pennsylvania and sevenpoints in Florida where Trump
will officially announce hisreelection campaign Tuesday.
Trump's campaign manager, Brad Parscale,
dismissed those polls asancient in a statement,
adding the campaign has seen "huge swings
"in the president's favor" since March.
But even Fox News released a poll Sunday,
showing Trump trailing behindfive Democrat candidates
in hypothetical matchups.
- I frankly don't evenbelieve in pollsters,
if you wanna know the truth.
You just run a campaign,and whatever it is it is.
But I just had a meeting withsomebody that's a pollster,
and I'm winning everywhere.
- Julia Manchester, a congressionalreporter for The Hill,
noted on Monday's Faith Nation.
- And these are national polls,
and I think one big lessonwe learned from 2016
is that national pollsdon't have the whole story
all the time.
- [Abigail] The presidentlaid out his pitch
with swing voters to ABC'sGeorge Stephanopoulos.
- Safety, security, great economy.
Frankly, I think we'regonna do tremendously now
with African Americans,with Asians, with Hispanics
because they have the lowestunemployment numbers they've
ever had in the history of the country.
- But Democrat candidatePete Buttigieg disagrees.
- We are working veryhard to engage people
across the party butespecially black voters.
We have a moment on our hands when we
can do the exact opposite ofwhat the president has done.
The president has usedidentity as a wedge,
used race as a wedge to divide people
who have common interests.
- For now, the 2020 Democratcontenders appear united
in going after PresidentTrump instead of each other.
That could quickly changeas they start facing off
in debates next week.
Reporting from Washington,Abigail Robertson, CBN News.
- Thanks, Abigail.
Well, they used to tell me the only poll
that really counts isthe one on Election Day
when you get those real numbers.
Up to this point, a lotof polls can be wrong.
They sure were wrong the last time
in predicting that Hillary Clinton
would sweep to the victory
when it turned out that Trump won,
and I remember that they were talking
about there's no path to victory.
And I was with John Waage on our team,
and we figured a veryclear path to victory
in the Midwest in stateslike Wisconsin and others.
And we were calling that, and listen,
Fox News and the otherswere just totally wrong.
And we had the goods,and we knew that Trump
was going to win, butit was a clear thing.
This time, who knows?
Well, on the eve of this campaign,
President Trump announced
a sweeping new immigration initiative.
John Jessup has more on that.
- That is right, Pat.
President Trump says, beginning next week,
ICE agents will start deporting millions
of migrants living in theUnited States illegally.
In a Monday night tweet, he said,
"They will be removed asfast as they come in."
One administration official says the push
will focus on the morethan one million people
who've been ordered by federaljudges to leave the country.
The president also tweeted that Guatemala
is ready to help stem the flow of migrants
from Central America,consenting to sign an agreement
forcing asylum seekersto make their claims
in that country rather than allowing them
to travel on through Mexico.
No confirmation yet fromthe government of Guatemala.
All this comes as migrantsdetained at the US border
is slowing, the numberof family units dropping
by about 13% in June.
Border officials believe the decrease
may come in response to Mexico working
to stop the flow ofmigrants into its country.
Well, the US is sending1,000 additional troops
to the Middle East,
acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan
saying the new forceswill bolster security
to protect against land,sea, and air-based threats,
as well as provide moreintelligence and surveillance.
The news comes as Iran is threatening
to exceed limits on uranium enrichment,
breaking its agreement andstepping one step closer
to making a nuclear weapon.
State Department said that threats amount
to what's called nuclear extortion,
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo adding
that the Trump administrationdoesn't want war
but is prepared to do what's necessary
to keep Iran fromdeveloping a nuclear weapon.
- The president willconsider everything we need
to do to make sure, right?
Well, as the presidentsaid, we don't want Iran
to get a nuclear weapon.
The previous administrationput them on a pathway
that virtually guaranteedthat they could get there.
So we withdrew from the ridiculous JCPOA
and our moving ourselvestowards a set of policies
which will convince Iran to behave simply
like a normal nation.
- [John] Meanwhile, the Defense Department
is releasing new images of what it says
are Iranian boats removing a mine
from one of the tankers attacked
in the Gulf of Oman last week.
Iran denies any involvementin those attacks.
Well, the US Chamber of Commerce
is calling on the Trump administration
to end its trade war with China,
warning tariffs couldcost one trillion dollars
over the next 10 years.
The country's largest business group
wants existing tariffs reversedand the proposed tariffs
on $300 billion inChinese goods called off,
this as more than 600 other companies
and trade associations,including Walmart and Target,
signed a letter addressed
to the US Trade Representatives office.
The businesses say thereare better alternatives
that wouldn't hurt the American economy.
Trump has already imposed 25% tariffs
on more than $250 billionof goods from China.
Pat, back to you.
- They say tariffs are a blunt weapon,
and they don't reallyaccomplish what you need
to do because it's tit for tat.
They raise tariffs, we raise tariffs
so that you have whatlooks like a trade war.
The biggest problemwith China is the theft
of intellectual property.
They are stealing usblind, and every company
that goes to do business in China
is forced to turn over all kindsof confidential information
to the Chinese, which in turn use that
to create very, very sophisticated devices
that they in turn use against us.
That's where the deal needs to be,
and they need to squeeze on China.
China, as big as itis, is very vulnerable.
The Chinese economy is notreally as robust as they want
to make us believe, and they are really
would be amenable tosome serious pressure.
But I think pressure withtariffs is the wrong way to go.
But maybe the presidentneeded a blunt weapon,
and that's what he felt he had to use.
John?
- Well, Pat, speaking of China,
Hong Kong's leader is backing down
in the face of hugeprotests over her support
of an extradition agreement with China.
But as Dale Hurd reports,
there is still concernmainland China is determined
to steadily chip awayat Hong Kong's freedoms.
- An extradition bill thatwould've sent criminal suspects
to communist China for prosecutionseems to be dead for now.
But Hong Kong student protest movement
against the heavy-handed rule
of Beijing has come back to life.
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam has apologized
for the extradition bill thatset off the massive protest
but said she would not resign,
this after millions turned out to protest
what they believe tobe an attempt by China
to further erode their independence.
As a British colony, HongKong had political, religious,
and economic freedom, and it grew into one
of the major financialpowerhouses in the world.
When the UK turned HongKong over to China in 1997,
those freedoms weresupposed to be protected.
But residents see the extradition law
as one of a series ofattempts to take them away.
- The extradition law, well, really,
is a threat to the judicialand legal independence
of Hong Kong from mainland China.
- [Dale] The last Britishgovernor of Hong Kong,
Chris Patten, said thewest needs to stand up
to Chinese attempts to demolishwhat he called the firewall
between Hong Kong and mainland China.
- We should make it clear that this
is not a policy or asuccession of policies
which we're preparedto stand by and ignore.
- [Dale] Some havecharacterized the conflict
between China and Hong Kong as a conflict
between communism and Christianity,
and an unofficial anthem of the protests
was singing "Hallelujah to the Lord."
(crowd singing "Hallelujah to the Lord")
A key protest leader who is a Christian,
Joshua Wong, says China's extradition plan
has blown up in its face,reigniting the protest movement
against the dictatorial rule from China.
- Beijing and Carrie Lamtransform whole generation
of youngster from normalcitizen to dissident.
That's the price that Beijing must pay.
- [Dale] Secretary of StateMike Pompeo says Hong Kong
will be on the agendawhen President Trump meets
with Chinese President Xi atthe G20 Summit in 10 days.
- That president's alwaysbeen a vigorous defender
of human rights.
He's gonna get the opportunity, I think,
to see President Xi in justwhat'll be a couple weeks now
in Osaka, Japan at the G20 Summit.
I'm sure this will be amongthe issues that they discuss.
- Optimists will see in thisprotest victory the hope
that Hong Kong residentscan stand up to China.
But pessimists have long predicted
that democracy in HongKong would eventually die
after the 1997 handover to China
and that it's only a matter of time.
Dale Hurd, CBN News.
- Thanks, Dale.
A new Supreme Court decisionis being called a win
for religious freedom.
CBN News has told you about the Kleins,
two Oregon bakers who were fined
for refusing to make acake for a gay wedding.
The legal fight over thecase went all the way
to the high court, whichthrew out a previous ruling
against the Kleins,sending the case back down
to a federal court in Oregon.
The justices say that court needs
to reconsider the case in line
of a more recent ruling in favor
of a Colorado baker who refused
to make a cake for a same-sex wedding.
Kelly Shackelford, chiefcounsel to First Liberty,
who represented the Kleins,calls the decision a victory
for the religious liberty ofall Americans, saying, quote,
"The Constitution protectsspeech, popular or not,
"from condemnation by the government.
"The message from the court is clear.
"Government hostilitytowards religious Americans,"
Pat, "will not be tolerated."
- Well, I think those decisions are good.
I hope they stand with 'em.
John Roberts was a strong conservative.
The American Center for Law and Justice
had worked on cases with him.
He was a good friend,and we were very happy
to see the way he was going.
But it looks like he hasbegun to waver somewhat
in his conservative views on things,
and we're just not sure wherethe court is going these days.
We thought there was a clear conservative
majority with Gorsuch and Kavanaugh
on the bench along with John Roberts.
We don't know for sure right now.
But anyhow, there'llbe another appointment.
And when that one comes, believeme, there'll be fireworks.
