and franklin graham is at the head of it. of course, they're giving him a pass and there's a double standard. this has nothing to do with christianity. this has to do with republican politics. here's a man accused of 13 women, of sexual assault, not just sexual harassment, sexual assault. here's a man, stormy daniels, he's not denied that he had this affair with stormy daniels a year after he married melania and while she was pretty good with baron. if that had happened to barack obama or bill clinton or any democrat, are you kidding? they would be raising, if i can use the phrase, holy hell, because donald trump is anti-abortion, and that's the only issue they care about. >> can you give franklin graham some slack when he says he's about forgiveness, that that is a christian value that he holds dear? >> they always fall back on that forgiveness when it's a republican president. i didn't hear any forgiveness on bill clinton. >> okay. kirsten, where should the line be drawn with the president or with the people that we elect t

>> it's franklin graham and tony perkins, the same politicized group, like rick warren, there are manyible churches around the country where those leaders, they aren't part of the political soup. >> 61% of white evangelicals. >> support the president. support the president. >> still support him. >> that's personally. that doesn't mean they support this kind of behavior. >> look, look, look, to put a pin in it, i think we need to recognize the fact faith is bigger in politics, it always is meant to be. we too often bought into an idea that, you know, that the bible and the american flag are the purveyors of one political party, that's definitionally not so. while the individual leaders i think sell their souls to defend whatever their president seems to do, even if it contradicts all their values, the faith community is bigger, it's more robust and it should transcend politics and the vast majority of folks it does. >> people have used scripture and the bible to sort of wrap themselves in hypocrisy. >> uh-huh. >> and bigotry forever. >> yep. >> it's kind of -- it's sad because that's no

you can't talk about that. >> you heard what franklin graham said. i know this president. i believe him to be a different person than four or five or seven years ago. each person takes measure of a man. that's what dr. graham did and some of other individuals did. i can't comment if it is going to be a trend but i can say that tony perkins and dr. graham's comments said he is someone different than he was back then and move forward. >> i wonder if what's happening now is similar to what happened with feminist leaders in the bill clinton administration. >> that's part of the calculation. many conservatives feel like, we had a fight over whether character mattered in this way and the verdict was resoundingly that it did not and clinton remains one of our most popular presidents. so we're going to play on the same field. and i think they lose some moral authority in some of the ways they talk about it. redemption is real. the way they talk about it throws me off but tinlds calculation that was made. and it ganl with some of the clinton stuff. >> it there are huge issues on th

with us now, reverend franklin graham, president and ceo of the billy graham evangelical association and samaritan's purse as well. reverend, good morning to you, thank you so much for joining me. >> thank you, alex. great to be with you. >> thank you, sir, i want to get to the fate of the d.r.e.a.m.ers, congress battles over them. the american public overwhelmingly sir favors allowing them to stay there was a cbs poll, the numbers of which were put up last week. 87% favor allowing d.r.e.a.m.ers to stay in this country. what is your view, reverend? why aren't d.r.e.a.m.ers high enough priority for the president and republicans to get something done right now? >> first of all, i believe this thing with daca will be, will be fixed. our country is a country of laws and i personally believe we need to obey the laws and follow the laws. but our system is broken. and we need to fix the system. so -- it's not the republican or democrat issue, as much as it is a system that needs to be fixed and i would hope that the democrats and republicans would work together to fix the system. i do belie

i heard franklin graham a couple of minutes ago.icians become like wolves when they attack the poor, they attack the stranger. what we see here is a mass coverup by so-called white evangelicalism that's more about, as i've said before, cash than christ. it's heavily funded. you see franklin graham saying, we have a sin problem. we do. but it's not what they're talking about. the christian values are caring for the strangers, caring for the least of us, caring for the poor. the bible says you should make sure the immigrant is treated like your brother or sister. none of them would treat their brother or sister like this. the bible says it is sinful when you do not care for -- when you do not provide health care, when you engage in dismissing people and destroying the least of these. when we see 365 days of attacks on voting rights, that's sin, attacks on muslims, that's sin, attacks on the lgbt community, that's sin, a tax on living wages, giving the greedy and the wealthy tax breaks on the backs of the poor and the working poor. whe

franklin graham is here as to discuss that next. you won't see these folks they have businesses to run. they have passions to pursue. how do they avoid trips to the post office? stamps.com mail letters, ship packages, all the services of the post office right on your computer. get a 4 week trial, plus $100 in extras including postage and a digital scale. go to stamps.com/tv and never go to the post office again. ...from godaddy! in fact, 68% of people who have built their... ...website using gocentral, did it in under an hour, and you can too. build a better website - in under an hour. with gocentral from godaddy. we know life can be hectic. that's why, at xfinity, we've been working hard to simplify your experiences with us. now, with instant text and email updates, you'll always be up to date. you can easily add premium channels, so you don't miss your favorite show. and with just a single word, find all the answers you're looking for - because getting what you need should be simple, fast, and easy. download the xfinity my account

. >> i did ask the reverend frankl franklin graham, how he would respond and he said pray. this is getting a hreaction. why hasn't it gotten a bigger reaction? >> the guy has been married three times and the second wife was from an affair he had with her on the first wife. that's probably why it's not actually getting that sort of much drama to be honest with you. i mean, the only thing that's interesting is the payout potentially arranged by this lawyer that was setup through an l.l.c. in delaware where you can hide stuff more legally. that's the most interesting part of the story, but trump actually potentially cheating on his wife, you know, it's been the story for a few decades. >> interestingly, lauren, rehema ellis spoke to evangelical voters about the first year and i want to play a clip from that exchange for you. here is that. >> has the president lived up to your expectation? >> yeah, kind of broken into categories, character and policy. he's doing really well in policy but the character is an issue at times. >> i think that there is a lot of frustration both with

franklin graham is here as to discuss that next. . >> also president trump still has plenty of supportmong white eadvantage gel cals despite of his behavior and disparaging language. joining me is billy graham from the billy graham evangelistic association. thank you so much. i appreciate you joining us here on cnn. it's good to see you. >> thank you. >> so i want to ask you just about the because it's a one-year anniversary really within a few days of this president in office. >> right. >> aside from neil gorsuch's appointment which is a win, how would you rate his first year? >> well, i think this year has been good. you have to understand nobody gave him a snowball chance in hell to get where he is. the republicans certainly didn't believe he could make it and when he beat all of the 11 other rivals, the republican party had their mouth opened. they were just stunned. and then, of course, he goes into the election against hillary that he would win. so when he wins, he comes into the office with a republican party, very cool for him kind of reluctantly halfway, not even ha halfway su

. >> joe, since you're a reverend, i want to play for you what reverend franklin graham, president and ceo of the billy graham evangelical association told me about these reports, here it is. >> did he have an affair with this woman? i have no clue. but i believe that 70 years of age, the president is a much different person today than he was four years ago, five years ago, ten years ago, whatever. and we just have to give the man the benefit of the doubt. he says he didn't do it, so okay, let's say he didn't do it. >> why do evangelicals keep giving the president a pass? >> i do not know. i think at the end of the day most evangelicals know, believe that they will have to give accounts to the almighty for whatever they've done here on the planet. so i would be very careful about what i said. just i wouldn't say things just to placate folks, i would be more interested in saying what's right and true and certainly stormy daniels probably has a story to tell, she's going to make a lot of money, she's had a row surgeance in fame. >> victoria, the president manages to remain unscathed here

i would like to know franklin graham's reference about trump is a changed man. in what respect?ver asked for -- engaged in repentance. that's where it comes in, you repent and change your behavior. what has trump down to change his behavior. people are making excuses here? >> i'm not defending the behavior. i said this at the beginning. i'll say it again. this is the problem i have with evangelical pastors and others weighing in on politics. >> i get it. you don't want them to, but they do weigh in on politics. why don't you want to call that hypocritical? >> there's one thing to weigh in on a moral issue or an issue that deals with politics. abortion is a great example of that. i have no problem with a pastor talking about that issue. but if you're going to come out and use the word mulligan on an individual because either, a, you're close to him or, b, because you backed him and don't want to 'embarrass yourself per se, that's where it becomes a real problem and you lose the high moral ground or footing. >> if you believe in these ideals -- let me just reado you the family res

i mean, one thing that interested me, you ran franklin graham in brian's piece. this notion that the family research council, tony perkins, has said well, the president gets a mulligan on this one. it seems to me that, like the women's groups during the monica lewinsky scandal, they're kind of saying, look, he's going to do what we want him to do. he's in our corner -- >> talking about bill clinton? >> bill clinton. women's groups felt that way about bill clinton. they didn't challenge him on the lewinsky stuff, now there's remorse on that. evangelicals are saying he's in our corner on a lot of issues, so we're not going to challenge him on this kind of stuff. so they're going to have some problems with that with their membership, because at what cost? at what cost? >> jim sciutto, how do you see it? >> listen, i don't know what reality we're living in, that it's such a small story relative to all the stuff that's going on. listen, it's -- for a portion of his base, it's never going to be an issue no matter what he does. the president has said as much. but even b

franklin graham went further to the right than his dad ever was.graham was pro choice in the 1970s when we talked to him about abortion as was dr. chris wall of the southern baptist convention. evangelicals went from sending medical teams to haitis with the samaritan's purse which franklin graham started to defending aa man who called people living in black countries and brown countries, people living in shit hole countries. this is the same guy who said there were some good nazi's watching. again, it's the frog getting boiled to death. evangelicals switched from being who advocated to traditional reality to the chief american defenders of not only relativistic morality but all that used to be considered sacred trashed. they're defending a man who trashed fidelity in his own life and with the words he speaks nationally. they have trashed truth telling and have embraced this idea of everything being fake news they disagree with. they've even trashed common decency. what we're now watching, joy, as kind of an appendage of the trump presidency is one

i'm going to speak with trump supporter reverend franklin graham. mom, i have to tell you something. dad, one second i was driving and then the next... they just didn't stop and then... i'm really sorry. i wrecked the subaru. i wrecked it. you're ok. that's all that matters. (vo) a lifetime commitment to getting them home safely. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. >>> a live picture now of capitol hill. that's where lawmakers are minutes away from reconvening since fail to go avoid a government shutdown last night. house members gathering in 10 minutes while the senate gets in a little later at noon eastern. we'll head back to our reporters on the hill the minute we see some action. >>> white house communications director hope hicks did not appear before the house intelligence committee yesterday. her interview was postponed with very short unless. joining me now natasha bertrand with the liatlantic magazine. congratulation to you. >> they are centering around this testimony that hope hicks was supposed to give on friday. now, adam schiff has

. >> you mentioned franklin graham, that was part of an interview i conducted with him last week.'s play part of that and specifically what he responded when he asked about these reports. here it is. >> now, did he have an affair with this woman? i have no clue. but i believe that 70 years of age, the president is a much different person today than he was four years ago, five years ago, ten years ago, whatever. and we just have to give the man the benefit of the doubt. he says he didn't do it. so okay, let's say he didn't do it. >> why, alexi, do you think evangelicals keep giving the president a pass on the issue of moral character? is this unconditional support of donald trump more about politics than morals, from the evangelical community? >> i think jane made the point exactly, trump continues to nominate and confirm these evangelical judges, which has them happy. he participants in the march for life by video. he seemingly represents christian ethics and values in his antiabortion stances. it's a weird moment when they're separating christian morals with politics, which is no

swath of white evangelicals understand donald trump i mean you're talking about someone like franklin graham who before the election positively compared donald trump to to abraham and moses and even frank in media a high old pastor one of trance main event supporters who not too long ago said that he believes trump is receiving the divine downloads from guard people like robert jeffords who currently his chief evangelical adviser who openly explicitly set that in a political contest between donald trump and quote a candidate who expresses christ's values he would choose donald trump and by the way it's not just a cult it's a doomsday cult. it's a cult that is currently facing what any objective observer would recognize to be the slow deterioration of the trump presidency and that's very dangerous because i've hung out with a lot of cult members and i can tell you that cults don't deal well with the reality that the only thing more dangerous than a cult leader is a cult leader facing martyr and we're starting to hear now already from his followers that robertson just a four weeks ago warned t

and jonathan, our colleague, alex witt's interview with reverend franklin graham last week sparked thenal conversation about the evangelical community essentially giving him that pass. is this unconditional support of president trump more about politics than morals? >> you know, the porn star mulligan is a new concept in religion, regardless of which religion you're from. but yeah, i think sean's right. i mean, ultimately, this comes down to president trump basically being on the right side on abortion i think for a lot of these religious leaders. and in addition to that, you've also got a case where they have continued to support him through so many different allegations that you wonder what could possibly come out that would change that view. they're sort of dug in. you know, if they say stormy daniels is the straw that broke the camel's back, well, what about all of the allegations of sexual misconduct, you know, as opposed to consensual relationship here? so, they're kind of backed into a corner because there's no new news or they see very little that would make them abandon him, a

. >> these women also agree with reverend franklin graham who says donald trump is a changed man. >>s man who is a successful businessman did not have those people praying no him daily like now. he has transformed even in the year we have seen him. >> absolutely. >> from a brash new york person to the president that we are proud of today. >> i think we are all different people today than we were in 2006. he is a father, a grandfather. when you have children the way you look at the world changes. >> when you look at evangelical christianity, it is about family, being faithful, and yet this doesn't seem to bother any of you? >> well you know what bothers me are the stories that detract from the good things he's doing. for the american people. instead of hearing that, we're hearing old news from someone that's not really that credible from a stripper porn star. >> he is doing the best job that we've ever seen. >> so proud. >> for a president. >> and i can in the short time can stand proud as an american again. >> among this group of christian women, at least, donald trump can do no wron

. >> reporter: and these women also agree with reverend franklin graham, who says donald trump is a changedan. >> this man, who is a successful businessman, did not have those people praying for him daily as he does now. he has transformed even in the year we've seen him from a brash new york person to the president that we are proud of today. >> i think we're all different people today than we were in 2006. he's a father, he's a grandfather. when you have children, the way you look at the world changes. >> reporter: but when you look at evangelical christianity, it's about family, it's about being faithful, yet this doesn't seem to bother any of you. >> you know what bothers me are these stories that detract from all the good things he's doing for the american people. instead of hearing that, we're hearing all news from someone that's not really that credible, from a stripper porn star. >> he is doing the best job that we've ever seen for a president. and i can stand proud as an american again. >> reporter: among this group of krils sh christian women, at least, donald trump can do no wron

msnbc's alex witt was interviewing franklin graham, listen to this. >> i believe that 70 years of agethe president is a much different person today than he was four years ago, five years ago, ten years ago, whatever. >> i don't know what to say to that. >> me either. >> 65 is different than 70, sure. >> yes, it is. that's a fact. but we don't know if it really applies or it's an operative fact in this situation. the evangelicals have generally just decided to give donald trump a pass on all of the accusations against him. not that stormy daniels is accusing him, but all of the sexual activity that has come up with him since he's been a candidate. they're just giving him a pass, i don't if they care so much about tax cuts that they're giving him a pass. i think tony per kin per perkina mulligan. do you get one extra shot, or do you get a dozen for the various accusers that came forward? on the stormy daniels, it may come down to a technicality, it's not going to be on the sexual aspect, but was the money legitimate paid during the campaign? did she perform, you know, some service that,

let's look at what franklin graham, president and ceo of billy graham er r evan gelistic association. >> this is just a news story and i don't even know if it's accurate. i don't know if it's hypocri hypocritic hypocritical, because he's a flawed man, for me to support him and pray for him. >> how do you think the president maintains the support of evangelicals? what's behind that from the evangelicals' perspective? >> it's quite extraordinary to me that he does enjoy that support and that someone like reverend graham, who comes from an extraordinary heritage of moral and ethical, not just behavior but also preaching, would give, as many have suggested, a mulligan to trump. and on the stormy daniels front, that's really between trump and his wife and stormy daniels. of course the fact that they asked for a nondisclosure agreement suggests they don't want her to talk which raises the issue, what don't they want her to talk about. so that in itself is an indictment. but again, it's between those people. but what does bother me is that in the christian community, in the christian teachin

i asked evangelical leader reverend franklin graham yesterday whether these reports affect his support the president. >> our country's got a sin problem. >> does the president have a sin problem? >> i can promise you he is not president perfect. we certainly don't hold him up as the pastor of this country and he's not. but i appreciate the fact that the president does have a concern for christian values, he does have a concern to protect christians whether it's here at home or around the world, and i appreciate the fact that he protests religious liberty and freedom. >> if he were a democrat would you be as convincing? >> and the answer is yes, he would at least pray for him and the like. there's the guy, reverend al sharpton with whom i'm going to further this conversation. your reaction, my friend. >> i mean, i think when you look at the access hollywood tape, when you look at even president trump's comments about other people based on other than the christian religion, to give all of that a pass, the evangelical leaders, i think, is to really begin to question the integrity of some

. >>> a bit earlier i spoke with reverend franklin graham, one of the president's staunchest evangelicalporters. when i asked about the report of trump's attorney paying a porn star to keep quiet about an alleged affair. here is what the reverend said. >> i can promise you, he is not president perfect. we certainly don't hold him up as the pastor of this country and he's not. president trump, i don't think, has admitted to having an affair with this person. so this is just a news story and i don't know if it's accurate. i don't think it's hip critical because he's a flawed man for me to support him and help him and pray for him. >> morris reed, democratic strategist. evan, to you first, here. your reaction to the reverend graham there. are you aware of any previous occurrence of this level of forgiveness? >> the trump administration always tops whatever happened before. in a normal world, this would seem kind of unbelievable. in the trump world it has a kind of so what feel to it. >> so what, really? you think it has a so what feel, morris? i know you worked with secretary of commerce ro

so, reverend franklin graham, thank you for your time this morning. a new trump campaign ad slamming the democrats on immigration, saying they're complicit in murders committed by illegal immigrants. will they get the message? rachel: plus, i hit the streets to talk with those protesters he was talking about at the women's march here in new york city multiply but why were they marching? that's coming up. >> is it a hate trump march or is it a pro-women march? >> for me it's i would say 50-50 50-50. but we know a lot about drama. we also know that you can avoid drama by getting an annual check-up. so go, know, and take control of your health. it could save your life. cigna. together, all the way. it could save your life. i just want to find a used car start at the new carfax.com show me used trucks with one owner. pretty cool. [laughs] ah... ahem... show me the carfax. start your used car search at the all-new carfax.com. a trip back to the dthe doctor's office, mean just for a shot. but why go back there, when you can stay home, with neulasta onpro? s

we, in turn, have given cuttings to graham and cindy hunter in knoxville and denise and steve smith in franklin. their trees are growing tall in the tennessee soil from which the jackson magnolia came from 80 years ago. while we look back at the long life of the jackson magno lynch a, -- magnolia we can look are forward to its children and grandchildren's growth. i ask to include the article from "the washington post" on december 26 describing the history of the jackson magnolia. i yield the floor. mr. scott: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from south carolina. mr. scott: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i have one request for a committee to meet during today's session of the senate. it has the approval of the majority and minority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted. mr. scott: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, the last three weeks have shown us the beginning of what happens when congress listens to the american people and delivers on our promises. for years we've been talking and talking and talking about real lasting tax reform, helping american famili

graham is in the room. radio silent. >> look, about these guys who have to say you sleep with dogs, you wake up with fleas, to quote benjamin franklin. they have richly earned what trump is giving them in terms of the kind of moral -- >> for mitch mcconnell and paul ryan's choices, they were republicans long before he was. those are men who speak for themselves. >> they have fully made their bed with this president. and it is completely -- it is morally gutting, whatever remains of a sound republican party. >> bob costa, the president talked about a merit-based system. and we know he said he doesn't want people from these countries. but frank lutz tweeted out today, remember, he's a republican pollster that 43% of people from african nations have bachelor degrees or higher, which is more than the overall american population. and twice as many nigerian americans have a graduate degree as white americans. you could go to a hospital in chicago and there are more ethiopian doctors than there are in ethiopia. so besides racist, it's absolutely ill informed and, dare i say, flat-out stupid. >> stephanie, beyond the racial vulgarity at pla