- Well, the Reverend Franklin Graham,

the president of Samaritan's Purse,

joins us now to talk about COVID-19

and the strategic fieldhospitals that Samaritan's Purse

is deploying at this point.

Rev. Graham, thanks somuch for joining us.

- Thank you for having me.

- You have been tweetingabout these field hospitals,

and also of course

about what is happeningin Washington right now.

I'd like to ask you first

about the House preparingto impeach the president

on a charge of incitement of insurrection.

What is your view on that?

- I think it's all political.

And I think it's a smokescreen

to take the attention offmaybe some of the other issues

that are out there before us as a nation.

So I think it's a waste of time

and I think it's a mistake

because on the one hand,

they talk about unity andbringing the country together,

but yet you try to impeachthe president a second time.

It's just gonna further divide the country

and you've got to, maybe,50% of the American people,

40% of the American people

who feel that the election was not fair.

Whether that's true or not, I don't know.

But at least they feel that.

We've got to find ways tobring the country together,

and I believe only God can do that.

And I would encourage Christians to pray,

to pray for our president,the president-elect,

and all of our leaders,and that God would somehow

bring unity and forgivenessinto their hearts.

Because right now, they'rejust putting fuel on the fire

with this impeachment

and it's gonna make thepeople on the right even more,

I think, frantic andthis is a big mistake.

- I wanna ask you, there werea number of Christian symbols

that we saw during thebreach of the Capitol,

including Christian flagsand a big Jesus flag.

Can you talk about this mixof faith and unlawfulness?

- Well, I'll been told

that there's close to a million people

that went to Washington,

and there were a number ofChristians that were there.

And I understand that theyhave a right to protest.

But the protesters thatbroke into the Capitol

were a few thousand peopleout of that huge crowd,

and so, yes, there were all kinds

of Christian signs throughout the crowd,

but that doesn't representnecessarily who that crowd was.

And the people thatbroke into the building,

those are thugs.

They should not have done that.

They broke the law andthey have security cameras

and I hope they'll be ableto identify every one of them

and prosecute 'em.

Put 'em in jail where they belong,

because what happened was wrong.

They should not havebroke into the Capitol,

they should not have destroyed property,

they should not have threatened anybody,

and those people need to be prosecuted.

- Thank you.

I wanna ask you, ofcourse, about COVID-19,

the work that Samaritan's Purse is doing

to help the situation.

We know that a plane took offwith supplies this morning

for a field hospital in California.

Tell us about the needs,

particularly in SouthernCalifornia right now,

and how you're hoping to meet them.

- This was a request that came to me

through a large church in that area,

along with the mayor of the community,

and so we are respondingas a result of the request.

This is Northern Los Angeles County,

a place called Lancaster.

Our DC-8 is landing right nowat Palmdale Air Force Base,

it's on the ground as we speak,

unloading the rest of the material.

We hope to have this 50-bed hospital open

and then we're workingwith Antelope Hospital,

I think it's calledAntelope Valley Hospital

there in Lancaster,

and we'll have this up andrunning, I think by Thursday.

It'll have about 75 staff,

and these are Samaritan's Purse staff,

that will be out there.

We don't have government grants,we don't have state grants,

this is all being paid for

by Christian men andwomen across the country

that have supported Samaritan'sPurse and these hospitals

and we are there in the nameof the Lord, Jesus Christ.

And so, as a result of COVID,

we're gonna do all we can to try to bring

some relief to people,

to help bring healing to their bodies,

and doing it in Jesus' name.

- [Reporter] I can't imagine anything

more valuable right now.

I wanna ask you briefly, wejust have about 30 seconds,

you're also setting up a fieldhospital in North Carolina.

Do you plan on more hospitals?

- [Franklin] No, we'remaxed out right now.

The problem is the staff.

We just don't haveenough staff to do this,

and so I think the two hospitals,

they have one in North Carolina

and the one in Californiaright now, we're maxed out.

- [Reporter] All right, well Rev. Graham,

thank you for what you're doing.

Thank you for your time right now.

- Thank you.