jerry. it is a letter that reverend falwell would have been very, very pleased to read. y tells me that letter now hangs on the wall in the boardroom of your great university. it came from the late father theodore hex per, the beloved president of the university of notre dame 35 years ago. school's founder, he was a truly kindhearted man of deep faith. in the letter, he recalled that notre dame's own rise from a small, midwestern school to a national football powerhouse. he wrote something so amazing and generous, he wrote, i think you are on your -- on that same trajectory and i want to wish you all of the best and ,ncourage you from the starting and from being able to start very small and arriving in the big ten -- time. thanks to hard work, great faith, and devotion, those dreams have come true. as of february of this year the liberty flames are playing in the highest level of competition in ncaa football. that could tough -- be tough. i am a little worried. jerry, are you sure you know what you're doing here? other players are big and fast and strong. i have a feeling

jerry. it's a letter that reverend falwell would have been very, very pleased to read. t letter now hangs in the wall in the boardroom of your great university. it came from the late father theodore hesper who was the beloved president of the university of notre dame, 35 years ago. like this school's founder, he was a truly kind-hearted man, of very, very deep faith. in the letter the father recounted recount ed notre dame's own rise to a football powerhouse and he wrote something so amazing and generous, he wrote i think that you are on that same trajectory now and i want to wish you all the best and encourage you from the start, and from being able to start very small and arriving in the big time. thanks to hard work, great faith and incredible devotion those dreams have come true. as of february of this year, the liberty flames are playing in the fbs, the highest level of competition in ncaa football. [ applause ] don't clap. that could be tough. don't clap. that could be tough. i'm a little worried. i don't want to look at some of the scores here. swrerry, are you su

i want to thank president jerry falwell and his incredible wife becky. up, becky, for their kind words, their steadfast support, and their really wonderful friendship. let me also extend our appreciation to the entire falwell family, trey, sarah, wesley, laura and caroline. thank you for everything you do to make this university so exception exceptional. most importantly to our new graduates, each of you should take immense pride in what you have achieved. there's another group of amazing people we want to celebrate today, and they are the ones who have made this journey possible for you, and you know who that is? nobody. you forgot already. you're going to go out and do whatever you're going to do. some will make a lot of money, some will be even happier doing other things. they're your parents and your grandparents. don't forget them. you haven't forgotten yet? never, ever forget them. they're great. especially this weekend, let's make sure we give a really extra-special thanks to the moms. don't forget our moms. graduates today is your day, today is yo

jerry falwell who was the founder of this university. falwell surprised people early on in the campaign when he endorsed donald trump during the primary. the first world major evangelical leader to do so and that really helped donald trump in a big way in the republican primary. to a certain extent this speech here today by trump was a thank you message to jerry falwell, repeatedly telling him how impressed he was with his work here at liberty, and how much he appreciated the support that falwell gave him during the campaign. been to your point, trump really tried to connect with the students and the faculty here on a faith level, connecting to their religion and you mentioned what he said before. let's play that moment with he talked about what type of nation the united states is. >> america has always been the land of dreams because america is a nation of true believers. when the pilgrims landed at plymouth, they prayed. when the founders wrote the declaration of independence, they invoked our creator four times. because in america we d

but what was different from billy graham in this case was that jerry falwell, et al., et al., plant to make a mass movement and early graham never did. he was content. but this was, it came up from the grassroots really. you can't credit these creatures with being, having totally novel ideas. there are all kinds of things that preceded it, like the terrible textbook wars in west virginia, the upsurge of conservatism in southern california. all kinds of things, and sort of issues began to appear, issues most of them having to do with resentment at the novelties of the 1960s, the kids, you know, from feminism to protests against the wars, you know, women dressing in blue jeans and guys wearing their hair long. it all came at once and it was huge in the sense that the issues were enormous and they were added to by the supreme court, which had really since the 1940s had been trying to make the status more neutral arbiter between various religious groups and non-religious people. so it all sort of happened at the same time, and it was a bit delayed because the real reaction came in 1980 as

jerry falwell, junior, that started to allow him to coalesce evangelical voters in that republican primary and he rode that support all the way to the nomination and eventually to the white house. in many respects, this is the president saying thank you to this base of voters that supported him. last time someone from this administration was here in lynchburg, when mike pence visited in october before the election and that was shortly after that "access hollywood" tape came out. he attempted to defend the president and ask for forgiveness, he wasn't the president at the time, there was a smattering of boos from the crowd. we don't know exactly howl be received, we expect a warm reception. seen red make america great again hats in the crowd. there will be protesters but relatively far from where we are here at the commencement address. overall, victor, this is expected to be a warm reception for the president of the united states. >> brian nobles at liberty university. two hours away from the president's commencement address. >>> cnn political commentator with us as well as douglas brink le

institutions like churches more freedom in their political speech, something that he turned to jerry falwell, the president of the university here, and said, see, jerry. i told you i would do it and i did. he was celebrating that accomplishment and pushing back. >> i was prepping the show. i wasn't able to keep my eyes glued on everything in the broadcast of this, but were there standing ovations? was there thunderous applause? was it the kind of reaction you think he had either hoped for or expected to get there? >> reporter: well, of course it was primed for that when jerry falwell got up to the microphone and said it was a record setting crowd. the stadium was, in fact, packed here. there were thousands of people and they did cheer for him when he got on stage. there were applause lines when he started talking about you how we worship god and not government. those were big applause lines. it was a friendly reception. they were happy to see him, excited that a sitting president was here. you did have that here today, alex. >> thank you very much, ali there in lynchburg, and kelly o'donnell

jerry falwell was one of the trump campaign's earliest supporters. >>> more shark sightings.ozens of sharks appeared in the water from orange county to long beach. now, the tour boat business is thriving with beam who want to see them. one guide said he never has seen so many sharks up close. >>> i've never seen anything like this, where we have an abundance of juvenile and possibly adult great whites swimming along the beaches here. >> a scientist says he is excited by what appears to be a significant increase in the shark population. this after the great white became a protected species in 1994. >>> special prom night for one southern california couple. michael could have probably taken any one of a number of young ladies as hit date to the prom -- his date to the prom. he took his grandmother. she told him she never went to her prom because her family couldn't afford it in 1961. >> i said i'm an old lady, i'm not going to your prom. and he said no, you're going to my prom. >> she's the most important woman in my life. if it wasn't for her, my woman wouldn't be here. and sh

addressed the graduates of the nation's largest christian university, liberty college, run by jerry falwell, jr. falwell was a crucial early evangelical supporter of trump's presidential candidacy. the president told the students they don't need lectures from washington on how to lead their lives. >> because, in america, we don't worship government; we worship god. ( cheers and applause ) it's why we proudly proclaim we are one nation under god when he say the pledge of allegiance. >> sreenivasan: finance ministers and central bank governors from the so-called group of seven industrial nations have finished a two-day meeting in bari, italy. while there, u.s. treasury secretary steve mnuchin told the g-7 that cutting the corporate tax rate is a top u.s. priority. the final communique said officials are "working to strengthen the contribution of trade to our economies." mnuchin said the u.s. is looking for "balanced" deals. >> we do not want to be protectionist, but we reserve our rights to be protectionist to the extent that we believe that trade is not free and fair. >> sreenivasan: preside

. >> why evangelical support trump, straight from the mouths of this jerry falwell larval form.he shameful desire to smack. >> i want to start a group, children for trump. >> that will go over great. host: what was your take away? guest: i think was morally reprehensible and samantha bee owes the child and apologies. he is talking about children for trump. not teenagers. he is identifying himself as a child. they are either teens were preteens. grown-up that a he liked trump, that he is a christian, and we got a little bit of a flavor of what his life is like with bible study and going to church. he was deeply humiliated by an adult here at someone had to get the child's mother to sign a release. the child clearly waited to be on tv and was clearly excited to show his friends and family that he exporter the candidate, and he was humiliated by an adult. samantha bee has already apologized and rightly so to a man that she called a nazi turned out to be a state for cancer survivor and that is why his hair had an unusual haircut. she gave the child the next game for school in the ne

. >> and honest admission as to why christians support donald trump. " straight from this jerry falwell in this larval form. support among my students -- my fellow students for donald trump. >> will go great in the house of slithering. owes: i think samantha bee that kid in apology. that is a child. in good faith, he simply told an likes donaldt he trump and that he is a christian. we got a little bit of knowledge about what his life is like, and he was deeply humiliated by adults. that child's mother had to sign a release. he was probably very excited to show his friends and family that he supported their values and candidate, and he was humiliated by an adult. already bee has apologized to an adult that he caught up for having a not see haircut, but it turns out that he was a cancer survivor. she gave him a nickname that he will have to bear for the next four years. he will have to face bullying, because adults took a cheap shot at his expense. she already paid thousands of dollars to the men she called and not see, but i think she she called aa -- nazi, but i think she owes this kid

joining me is jerry falwell, jr.ek in the rose garden on the national day of prayer, the president signed an executive order following through with his pledge that he was going to put own end to any discrimination against religion in terms of the political candidates and the ability of some of the churches to be able to state what their positions are. how big a deal is this? >> it's a huge deal and it was all his idea it was one of the first issues he mentioned to knee when i met him early in the campaign. it proves's a man of his word an followed through. it's sow brilliant how he did it. he didn't just repeal the johnson amendment, it would have required congress. it would have made universities, non-profit, and it would have made them susceptible to political action committees. the johnson amendment has been used since the 50s to bully and intimidate patsr pass towards and leaders of non-profits to not speak their niernld and it's un-american. donald trump was the first president in decades that came up with the i

what was different from billy graham in this case was jerry falwell planned to make a mass movement and graham never did. graham was content to have his own relationship with the powerful. it came up from the grassroots, really. religious groups and between religious groups and nonreligious people. so, it all sort of happened the same time, and it was a bit delayed because of the real reaction came in 1980 as opposed to the '60s, and at that point falwell, with the help of this new right operatives from washington, dc who had their own little consecutive pacs and so forth, persuaded him to create the moral majority, and to structure it in rather sophisticated ways, and in their view it should have included conservative catholics as well as everybody else, but falwell really was only able to attract some other fundamentalists, and so he didn't really succeed in creating this mass movement. on the other hand, it made a big fuss and there warlet of southern baptists -- were a lot of southern baptists around in this, and ronald reagan carried the south, which was for him the point, and why

joining me is jerry falwell, jr. this week in the rose garden on the national day of prayer, the president signed an executive order following through with his pledge that he was going to put own end to any discrimination against religion in terms of the political candidates and the ability of some of the churches to be able to state what their positions are. how big a deal is this? >> it's a huge deal and it was all his idea it was one of the first issues he mentioned to knee when i met him early in the campaign. it proves's a man of his word an followed through. it's sow brilliant how he did it. he didn't just repeal the johnson amendment, it would have required congress. it would have made universities, non-profit, and it would have made them susceptible to political action committees. the johnson amendment has been used since the 50s to bully and intimidate patsr pass towards and leaders of non-profits to not speak their niernld and it's un-american. donald trump was the first president in decades that came up wi

one of the reasons why reagan won by such a large majority 84 was because of his support from jerry falwell and others in the christian right. and that led to a dramatic change in the way in which supreme court justices were confirmed. so casey comes up in the early 1990s. 20 years roughly after roe. by this time republican presidents including reagan and bush had managed to make a majority of appointments to the supreme court and by this point i think seven of the nine justices were republican presidents. -- elected by republican presidents. -- constitutional and the fundamental question really being raised is whether roe should be overruled. reagan had certainly strongly taken that position. and the number of supreme court nominees upon reaching the courts like justice go yet had made there that they were in favor and the expectation was that the court in casey would overrule roe v. wade. the court at that time one had justice scalia, thomas, rehnquist, kennedy, o'connor and the expectation that they would overrule roe.after it was argued, that is what everyone thought would happen. and t

demonstration of how to pad a speech by rambling about the football schedule with university president jerry falwellor. >> just wait until the world hears the football teams you'll be playing on your schedule starting next season. president falwell gave me a list of some of those schools, the ones you're going to be playing 2018. would you like me to read the names, just came out? u-mass. virginia. auburn-- jerry, are you sure you know what you're doing? rutgers. old dominion. brigham young. army. i might be at that game. who am i supposed to root for? tell me. i don't know. that's a tough one, jerry. i don't know, jerry. i'm have to think about that one, jerry. buffalo. troy. virginia tech. oh, no, jerry, ole miss. and wake forest. those are really top schools. >> stephen: "what's that, jerry? i have to keep talking? okay. here's a list of football teams you're "not" playing next year. ohio state, michigan, the new england patriots-- that would be crazy, right jerry? who would we root for if we did that? what else we got here, this week's lunch menu: mac 'n cheese, tater tots, carrot coins-- love t

thousands of people here made trump happy especially when the liberty university president jerry falwellaid that it was a record crowd. they hadn't had this many people in here. that was playing to one of trump's favorite things having massive crowds. the crowd was friendly to him. he did talk to the graduates about what they would need to succeed including a passion and never -- and a belief they should never be quitting on those things they should be passionate about but stand true to their convictions. the advice sounded like advice trump would have given himself on the campaign trail all of last year. take a look at that. >> relish the opportunity to be an outsider, embrace that label. being an outsider is fine. embrace the label because it's the outsiders who change the world and who make a real and lasting difference. the more that a broken system tells you that you're wrong, the more certain you should be that you must keep pushing ahead. you must keep pushing forward. >> reporter: and that says a lot about the donald trump i've been following almost two years. he has been an outs

president of the united states yesterday gives the commencement speech at liberty university and says jerry falwell'se us so much material by doing these bizarre things. >> they do, they give us a lot of material no doubt about it. brian, is there a point though where, is there a line of respe respect? >> pro trump not pro trump, trump loyalists feel that line was crossed a long time ago as opposed to in recent weeks. i think trump loyalists, people who think no jokes at all from "snl" are funny, that was crossed a long time ago. i understand what you're saying, pete, when it comes to ice cream for example. i don't think it's bizarre the president wants two scoops of ice cream. the joke was "time" magazine had dinner with trump and he got one scoop of ice cream. paul ryan bringing the ice cream out on "snl. "the story the republicans not speak being trump are trying to avoid being asked about comey. ryan on friday said i haven't looked at all the tweets trump posted. to me that was funny. >> said straight out i'm going to work on things with my constituents and let trump deal with his tweets. so bria

deliver a commencement address at liberty university, a christian university founded by the pastor jerry falwell>> you can see them setting up. team coverage. cokie roberts, ana navarro are standing by. lynchburg virginia we'll kick things off at and david wright. >> reporter: the crowd just starting to gather at liberty university where president trump is going to give the commencement address later this morning. the white house is really trying seismic shock of the president's firing of the fbi director. and the aftershocks keep coming. even though former director comey declined an invitation to testify before the senate intel committee, the president opened up a whole new can of worms by tweeting this. james comey better hope there are no tapes of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press. say what? does that mean the white house secretly recorded trump's meetings with comey? judge jeanine piero on fox news asked him about that in an interview to be broadcast today. >> i can't talk about it. i won't talk about that. all i want is for comey to be honest and i hope he will be and

and jerry falwell jr. has been supportive of him on the campaign trail. we heard that gaffe when he cited two corinthians. he swore when he was here. he used the word "damn." it was notable at a christian university. you heard the preview from kelly. he is leaving the political storm in washington and he is coming down here with the friendly crowds. i have seen signs here in support of trump. people seem to be excited that there will be a sitting president who is coming to talk to them. of course, jobs and economy and things he has pointed to multiple times over the course on the campaign and president as things he is proud of and passionate about. we will hear about the religious liberty executive order he signed just last week which gave churches and other organizations more freedom in political speech. thomas. >> ali vitali on the scene. we know the forecast for the east coast. we hope you are prepared for college graduates there and across the country. ali, thanks. >>> could president trump be better off if he didn't do the talking himself? that's com

in 2000, jerry falwell told churchgoers to vote for the bush of your choice.he irs has rarely punished any church for political statements. because the amendment is part of the tax code, the only way to get rid of it would be through the legislative process. but as president, trump could have the irs not enforce it if you wanted to. -- if he wanted to. steve: some background on our topic for this sunday morning, "do you want your church to become more political?" this is a headline from the washington post as the president is signing the order to allow churches to engage in more activity. lauren from rogers, ohio. good morning. caller: i don't feel that churches should be allowed to be political because it is an abuse of power. people that i know that are really religious, they pretty much worship, whether it is a priest or a minister or a rabbi and i think it is really an abuse of power and it should not be allowed. i don't have anything else to say. thank you. steve: let's go to john from columbus, georgia. thanks for calling in on the independent line. call

here he is, jerry falwell, jr., the president of liberty university.esident trump, sir? >> good to be with you, stuart. i invited president trump back in december. i got the acceptance in march. we're just so honored as a university to have sitting u.s. president to do first commencement speech at liberty. for generations tradition was first president to do his first speech at notre dame. there were protests there this year. it is so disrespectful, these universities, many elitist universities, we have high regard to be notre dame. we inspired to be for evangelicals what notre dame is for catholics. places like berkeley and ivy league, liberals used to defend free speech. they used to be about academic freedom and free exchange of ideas. now they seem to be fascists. they want to shut down any view pint they don't he -- don't agree with and disinvite speakers. mayor bloomberg spoke at harvard and part of his speech was chastisthe ivy league because, 96% of their staff voted -- contributed to the obama campaign the year before. stuart: what would you do

founded in 1971 by televangelist jerry falwell, liberty is the largest christian university in the world. you can see that speech live on c-span tomorrow at 10 eastern. president trump has been tweeting about whether fired fbi director james comey told the president he wasn't under investigation. mister trump this morning tweeted james comey better hope there are no tapes of our conversation.before he starts leaking to the press. >> sunday night on after words, physician and journalist elizabeth rosenthal examines the business side of healthcare in her book and american sickness: how healthcare became big business and how you can take it back.doctor rosenthal is interviewed by doctor david blumenthal, president of thecommonwealth fund . >> i wonder if your book gave you any thoughts about whether healthcare is a free market, whether it can solve our problems through healthcare. through the free market forces. >> i think what we've seen in the answer is probably not. the beginning of the book, i put a somewhat tongue-in-cheek list of the economic rules of the dysfunctional healthcare mark

liberty president jerry falwell was just with the president yesterday, marie bartiromo and the pit bullld. ♪ it's just a burst pipe, i could fix it. (laugh) no. with claim rateguard your rates won't go up just because of a claim. i totally could've - no! switching to allstate is worth it. ♪ >> we are back on this beautiful mother's day here. with writers nicolette penelli, happy mother's day. abby: lauren woodhole with her mom, barbara. >> and whiter crystal shoal with her niece reagan and her mom sandy. >> hannah brown and her mom sheryl, happy mother's day. abby: and jeff shield happy mother's day to his mother and his wife diana who just welcomed their third daughter three guys. >> and greenroom producer kelly may with her mom, sandy, at disney world of course and windsor a happy mother's day to janice and stella and matthew and theodore. abby: she said she wanted breakfast in bed. happy mother's day to my wonderful mother, mary kay. you can't tell which one's the sister and which one's the mom. she's in the pink dress. a beautiful woman. >> needed that help. pete: if you're looking