Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Atlanta Shooting Targets The CDC; Trump, Putin To Meet In Alaska Friday To Discuss Ukraine War; Battle Over Congressional Maps Ahead Of 2026 Midterms Expands; Gaza Officials Call For End To Dangerous Airdrops; Three More Victims Of 9/11 Terror Attacks Identified After Nearly 24 Years; Trump Admin Looks At Federalizing Washington, D.C.; Stanford's Student Paper Sues Trump Admin Over Attempts To Deport Student Activists; Meet The Pastor On A Crusade For Christian Nationalist. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired August 09, 2025 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Of course keeping a dog safe goes beyond just keeping them cool. Let's say the car is in motion, right? We want to buckle up that dog. We want to keep the dog secure. Less than 20 percent of us do it, but it's rather easy. You could do it in a secured crate over here or how about a special seatbelt?

Of course sometimes the cars stop, right? And I can remember Chuckster when the car would be stopped, he'd try and run away. Maybe the fireworks might scare him a little bit. But here is the best way to ensure that you can get your dog back as quickly as possible. Microchip your pooch because sometimes our friends try to run out on their own. Of course we want to bring them back nice, safe, and secure.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Very important to keep our pooches safe. Thank you so much, Harry Enten.

Hello, again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me from the nation's capital. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

And we begin this hour with breaking developments out of Atlanta on what CDC officials call a targeted and deliberate attack on its headquarters. A shooting that left one police officer dead. The suspected gunman also dead. And the CDC on lockdown for hours on Friday. The gunman, possibly motivated by a hatred of vaccines, opening fire on the country's top public health institute, terrorizing the agency and neighboring Emory University and Emory Hospital.

Sustained gunshots can be heard in a video taken from a coffee shop located about a half a block from where a gunman opened fire. Take a listen.

(VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Oh, that's a lot of gunfire. Earlier today CDC leaders held a Zoom call speaking to its horrified staff about yesterday's attack. One employee told the agency director that they felt like sitting ducks. CNN correspondent Rafael Romo has more details now from the scene in

Atlanta.

Rafael, what are you learning about the man who opened fire?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka. Well, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation has revealed the identity of the suspected shooter as 30-year-old Patrick Joseph White from Kennesaw, Georgia. Atlanta Police say there was one single shooter involved who died during the incident. Law enforcement sources say the shooter carried two backpacks filled with ammunition and also had in his possession multiple guns, including two handguns, one rifle and one shotgun.

He was wearing what a law enforcement official on the scene described as a surgical mask. According to Atlanta Police, the Friday shooting started just before 5:00 in the afternoon in this very busy part of the city near where Emory University and the Centers for Disease Control are located. CNN has obtained images of the impacts of some of the bullets that struck CDC facilities.

Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said officers responding to the shooting heard gunfire coming from the CVS Pharmacy at this location and moved quickly to neutralize the threat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF DARIN SCHIERBAUM, ATLANTA POLICE DEPARTMENT: We later found the shooter on the second floor of the CVS. He had been struck by gunfire. We do not know at this time whether that was from officers or if it was self-inflicted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: Responding officers also found a critically injured DeKalb County police officer, who was immediately taken to nearby Emory University Hospital, where he died of his injuries. According to a DeKalb County release, the officer was identified as 33-year-old David Rose, who had joined the department last September. This is what DeKalb County CEO Lorraine Cochran-Johnson had to say about his death.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LORRAINE COCHRAN-JOHNSON, CEO, DEKALB COUNTY, GEORGIA: This evening, there is a wife without a husband. There are three children, one unborn without a father. There is a mother and a father, as well as siblings who also share in this traumatic loss.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: As you can imagine, Fred, CDC employees are terrified that the building where they work was specifically targeted. According to two CNN sources, in a large and hastily arranged Zoom call earlier today, CDC leadership acknowledged that the Friday evening attack on their offices had been targeted and deliberate.

There were at least 40 bullet holes counted in Buildings 21 and 24, as well as a few in a third building, Building 16. The buildings housed much of the non-lab work at the CDC. And in a question and answer portion of the call, staffers tearfully told the agency director Susan Mondelez they felt like sitting ducks.

Fredricka, now, back to you.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my gosh. OK. Rafael Romo, thanks so much.

[15:05:00]

Also happening today, Ukraine's president says his country will reject any peace plan that involves ceding land to Russia. These remarks, coming just hours after President Trump announced that he will be meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska this coming Friday, suggesting, quoting him now, "some swapping of territories," end quote, could be needed to end Russia's war on Ukraine.

CNN's Betsy Klein is live for us at the White House.

Betsy, are we getting any response from the administration after Zelenskyy remarks that he doesn't like that deal?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT AND WRITER: We are, Fredricka, but President Trump on Friday announcing plans for a very high stakes summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin that will take place in Alaska. This meeting came together quite quickly. We still don't have details on where exactly in Alaska it will be, but it was chosen in part because Alaska is the midpoint roughly between Moscow and Washington.

Now, notably, the president did not say whether or when Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would be included in these plans, in these talks to end the war. You might recall that during the Biden administration, the policy was nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine. But Zelenskyy has been emphatic that Ukraine needs to be included in any conversations about a potential peace deal.

Now, earlier this week, Putin met with Steve Witkoff, the president's special envoy for the Middle East, to discuss a potential path forward. The president was asked about whether that might include Ukraine ceding territory to Russia. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Working on a lot of these deals. We've closed every single one of them all throughout the world. And that's the last of them. And they're losing, Peter, about six, maybe even 7,000 soldiers every single week.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KLEIN: Now, Ukraine has said the idea of ceding territory is a nonstarter. But there's also the question of whether the Trump administration is able to get its European allies on board with this. They are watching quite closely and scrambling to understand really what could be being agreed to here. And to that end, Vice President JD Vance convened a group of leaders in England today from Europe and Ukraine, as well as the U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy, to discuss this plan and where Russia stands at this time.

We are told, according to a U.S. official, that this hours long meeting produced, quote, "significant progress." We've asked for more details on the substance of that progress. We're hoping to hear more soon -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. We look forward to hearing that. Thank you so much, Betsy Klein, at the White House.

All right. The battle to change congressional maps ahead of the 2026 midterms is expanding. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton says he's filing a lawsuit with the state Supreme Court to remove some of the Democratic lawmakers who have not shown up for a special session to redraw maps in that state. Officials are also suspending direct deposits for Texas lawmakers, who continue to be absent.

Meanwhile, Democratic lawmakers in California are now vowing to hold a special election in November to redraw the state's congressional map in a direct response to the Texas plans.

CNN's Arlette Saenz is joining us right now.

Arlette, walk us through where things stand and what potentially comes next.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, the Republican push for redistricting in Texas remains at a standstill as those Texas House Democrats are sticking to their strategy to remain out of the state in order to prevent a vote on redistricting from happening. Now, there are Republican lawmakers in the state of Texas who are really trying to amp up the pressure on these Democrats to get them to return home.

Just today, the Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a legal complaint in a California court asking that court to enforce these civil arrest warrants for these Texas Democrats. There's a similar lawsuit that's currently pending in the state of Illinois, but the situation in California, the issue here is, is that many of those Texas Democrats have already left the state. There were six who were there yesterday meeting with California Governor Gavin Newsom and a source familiar with their whereabouts that I spoke with this morning said that they are long gone from California.

The California governor seems to hint at that in a post on social media mocking Paxton's lawsuit, saying, quote, "You should definitely use all resources looking for them here, Ken. You will totally find them."

Now, in addition, as you mentioned, the attorney general has asked the Texas Supreme Court to remove 13 Texas House Democrats from their seat. But Democrats say that they are undeterred.

Here is State Rep. Gene Wu, who is the leader of House Democrats in Texas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GENE WU, TEXAS STATE HOUSE DEMOCRATIC LEADER: We will not be broken by these antics.

[15:10:00]

We are not here to play games. We are not here to make waves, to go viral, or do any of that stuff.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: Now, the Texas House speaker has said that they will reconvene on Monday, but Democrats have shown no signs that they are ready to show up there at the Texas state capitol. And they are facing a time crunch as that legislative session is set to end on August 19th and some Texas House Democrats have said that they will stay out until the end of session. But very quickly, our attention will also be shifting to the state of California.

Yesterday, the speaker of the assembly in California said that they are prepared to unveil new congressional maps this coming week. The following week, California could vote on them. And California Governor Newsom has said that he wants to get those maps, a referendum on those maps on the ballot for November for California voters to weigh in on.

WHITFIELD: All right, Arlette Saenz, thanks so much.

All right. Coming up, three more victims of the September 11th terror attacks identified after nearly 24 years. We'll hear from the son of one of those victims.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:15:47]

WHITFIELD: Happening right now Demonstrators are taking to the streets in Israel, and you can see the crowd there protesting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to occupy Gaza City. Several Middle Eastern countries, as well as Germany and the U.K., are among global voices condemning the plan.

Jordan is among several countries airdropping aid into Gaza. CNN's chief global affairs correspondent Matthew Chance went along for the ride.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the pristine skies over Gaza, a clear view of the destruction below. Journalists are still blocked by Israel from freely entering this devastated strip of land. But CNN flew over with the Jordanian military in a cargo plane loaded with aid, an effort to meet acute shortages amid a partial land blockade.

Well, there's been criticism of these international humanitarian aid flights and drops into Gaza. People say they're insufficient. They don't deliver enough aid, that they're dangerous to people on the ground, and that they're purely symbolic and don't meet any practical need. All of that may be true, but amid an intense starvation crisis in Gaza, the six and a half tons of milk powder, canned food that we'll be dropping out the back of this Jordanian plane shortly may be the difference for some people, between the life and death.

(Voice-over): But viewed from the ground, these aid drops are also a mixed blessing. Sending desperate Palestinians scrambling, even fighting each other for food.

"It's a humiliation, an injustice," says this man.

"All I got was a ripped bag of lentils and this carton of tomato paste," says another amidst the rubble. "It's just not enough," he adds.

From 2,000 feet those individual hardships are impossible to see. But you do get a sweeping view of what nearly two years of Israeli bombardment has done.

Well, I've spent this flight as much as I can looking out the window at the Gaza Strip below, and I can tell you from the air, you get a stunning view of the complete devastation in the Gaza Strip. We've been flying over neighborhoods that I reported from over many years of going in and out of Gaza. And I can tell you those places were bustling areas teeming with life, people, children, cars, other traffic, bustling street markets. And you look at the map from above and it's just utter devastation across vast areas of the Gaza Strip. It's shocking.

(Voice-over): Shocking desert of ruins where so many are now struggling to survive.

Matthew Chance, CNN, in the skies over Gaza.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Thank you so much, Matthew Chance, for that report.

All right. Nearly 24 years after the 9/11 terror attack on the World Trade Center buildings in New York, three more victims of those attacks have been identified thanks to advances in DNA.

CNN's Leigh Waldman spoke to the son of one of the newly identified victims. She's joining us right now.

Leigh, what more can you tell us about this?

LEIGH WALDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fred, it's miraculous for these families who have been waiting more than two decades to have answers, to know if their loved ones are ever going to be identified. And just this week, three more of those families got answers that they were hoping for.

[15:20:01] The families of Ryan Fitzgerald, a woman whose family does not want her name identified at this point, and also the family of Barbara Keating. We spoke with her son, Paul, and he said he was shocked when he got the news that they had positively identified his mother after all this time. He tells us that she was on one of the planes that was hijacked, and because of where she was sitting, they were told not to expect any of the DNA to ever be able to positively identify her.

That all changed when a hairbrush was found with what medical examiner's office here believes was her hair inside. His family submitted DNA and then that's when they got the match after all of this time. Take a listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL KEATING, SON OF RECENTLY IDENTIFIED 9/11 VICTIM: We were told not to anticipate that. And apparently there's, through ridiculous, impressive effort by the ME's office and apparently some new technology, they were able to do that. That was amazing to me. We'll always have a connection and a debt of gratitude to them for everything they've done, every step of the way. And they have given us a form of closure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALDMAN: You can hear how grateful he is to the ME's office here in New York City, but there's still about 1100 people's remains who have not been positively identified at this point. We know that work is going to continue. We heard a statement from the chief medical examiner's office, Dr. Jason Graham. He said in that statement, quote, "Each new identification testifies to the promise of science and sustained outreach to families despite the passage of time. We continue this work as our way of honoring the loss."

And Paul just wants people to know his mother was a wonderful person and a superwoman. He hopes that these other families get the closure that they're looking for -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: Yes, we all do. All right. Thank you so much, Leigh Waldman. Appreciate it.

All right, still to come, President Trump follows through with his threat to order federal law enforcement to patrol Washington, D.C. streets. We'll tell you why he's doing it and what kind of impact it's having so far.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:26:34]

WHITFIELD: -- is calling President Trump's order for an increase in federal law enforcement presence in the nation's capital a great success. They say the first night of the beefed up patrols netted two stolen guns and illegal drugs. The president says he is cracking down after a number of high profile crimes in the capital city. But D.C. police say violent crime is actually down 26 percent this year. CNN's Brian Todd explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: White House official tells CNN that this stepped up federal law enforcement presence will include officers that will be in, quote, "marked units and will be highly visible." This increased presence, which actually began at about midnight on Thursday, is being led by the U.S. Park Police, but will have participation from other agencies, including the U.S. Capitol Police, the FBI, the U.S. Marshal Service, the D.C. Metropolitan Police, the DEA, and other agencies.

This will be focused, according to this official, on high traffic tourist areas and other known hotspots. You can count on them being around a lot of popular bars and restaurants and those types of areas in Washington, D.C., especially in the evening hours. A spokesperson for the D.C. National Guard has told CNN that the National Guard has not been activated as part of this process.

Now, in recent days, President Trump has said the administration has been considering, is looking at the possibility of what he called federalizing the entire city of Washington, D.C., and he's looking at the possibility of the federal government taking over, at least temporarily, the Metropolitan Washington, D.C. Police, which they can only do temporarily if they want to do that.

This is all in response to an attack last weekend on a young former DOGE worker who was assaulted during an attempted carjacking in Washington, D.C. That was early last Sunday morning. Now, President Trump has lambasted Washington, D.C. in the days since that incident occurred, saying that crime was rampant, including murders, robberies, et cetera. But according to the D.C. Metropolitan Police, violent crime has in fact gone down in Washington, D.C., and gone down considerably from a year ago at this time. About 26 percent down from that period last year.

Now, CNN has reached out to Mayor Muriel Bowser, to the D.C. Metropolitan Police, and we've reached out to all 12 members of the D.C. city council to see if any of them will comment on this increased federal presence and on President Trump's ideas about federalizing the city and other things. Well, all of them, all of them have declined to comment or not responded with the exception of one D.C. city council member who told us that their frustration was that neither the Biden nor the Trump administration have nominated enough judges to handle the criminal caseload in Washington, D.C.

Well, again, you get silence from most of these D.C. city officials, except for one, and that is D.C. representative -- Democratic Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton. She is D.C.'s delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives. She's been the only person to come out actually on the record and issue a statement about this. She issued a statement to CNN saying that sending in these officers throughout the district is, quote, "a disproportionate overreaction that is offensive to D.C.," and Norton is warning that this is a needless escalation that will heighten tensions and potentially make Washington, D.C., less safe.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Brian Todd, thanks so much.

All right. The student newspaper at Stanford University is suing the Trump administration. They say the decision to use part of federal immigration law to target and deport pro-Palestinian activists has put a chill over students' First Amendment rights.

[15:30:04]

It's the latest legal challenge to two provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Those provisions allow Secretary of State Marco Rubio to revoke student visas or try to deport them. They have been key to the so-called ideological deportation policy being used by Homeland Security.

CNN has reached out to the Trump administration for a response. We have yet to hear back. The lawsuit is being brought by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.

Conor Fitzpatrick is their supervising senior attorney, and he is with us right now.

Good to see you. So walk us through why these two provisions are at the heart of this case.

CONOR FITZPATRICK, SUPERVISING SENIOR ATTORNEY, FOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND EXPRESSION: So for the last five months, Secretary of State Rubio and the Trump administration have been using two provisions of the INA to target non-citizens, especially on college and university campuses, for protected speech. And it is sending an unmistakable message to our international college students, which is, watch what you say or else, criticize American foreign policy or the Israeli government at your peril. And that places free speech in peril here in the United States.

WHITFIELD: And what is it that students are saying about how they feel like their own First Amendment rights are being infringed upon?

FITZPATRICK: The best example is our client here, the "Stanford Daily Newspaper" at Stanford University. They have international students, students who are here on student visas, who write and edit for their paper, who are absolutely terrified to even report on Israel and Palestine or report on the pro-Palestinian protests at university less someone in the Trump administration see their reporting or see their name on a news story about a pro-Palestinian protest and throw them out of the country. And that's simply not tenable for free -- for a free press and free speech here in the United States.

WHITFIELD: And then you also have two non-citizen former students who are part of the lawsuit. What is their point of view and their concern?

FITZPATRICK: Their concern is that, like so many other non-citizen students here in the United States, that simply by virtue of them sharing an opinion on social media or going to a protest, bedrock types of protected speech, going to protests and voicing an opinion about the American or any other government has been core civic activity since the United States became a -- became a country back in the 18th century.

And they are scared that they are going to be thrown out of the country, not for anything they did. These are not kids who vandalized a school or blockaded people from going to class. That's a very different matter. These are people who shared an opinion like Mahmoud Khalil, like Rumeysa Ozturk, and now fear being thrown out of the United States because the government doesn't like what they have to say.

WHITFIELD: Do you see potentially that this is going to become a U.S. Supreme Court case?

FITZPATRICK: I think it has the potential to. So we know from the Supreme Court, back in 1945, in a case called Bridges versus Wixon, that the Supreme Court held that lawfully present non-citizens in this country are entitled to First Amendment protection. Now, what the Supreme Court hasn't done is ruled on that issue in the context of the legislature and the executive branch exercising their immigration power.

But in our view, if non-citizens have a right to freedom of speech, and the Supreme Court says that they do, well, a right has to mean something. Having a right means that you're allowed to do something without the government retaliating against you. And no one in the United States, whether they're a citizen on a visa or visiting Disneyland on vacation, should fear a midnight knock on their door from government agents because they said the wrong opinion.

WHITFIELD: All right, we'll leave it there for now.

Conor Fitzpatrick, glad you could be with us. Thank you so much.

FITZPATRICK: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Straight ahead, meet the pastor on a controversial crusade and how he is expanding his reach all the way to the nation's capital.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:38:45]

WHITFIELD: All right. A new church has quietly opened in Washington, D.C., just three blocks from the nation's capital. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attended the first service. The church is part of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, and its aim is global Christian domination under a strict interpretation of the bible.

CNN's Pamela Brown went to Moscow, Idaho, to meet the controversial pastor behind it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN CHIEF INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Christ Church Senior Pastor Doug Wilson makes no apologies for his beliefs on God and country.

DOUG WILSON, SENIOR PASTOR, CHRIST CHURCH: I'd like to see the town be a Christian town. I'd like to see the state be a Christian state. I'd like to see the nation be a Christian nation. I'd like to see the world be a Christian world.

BROWN: And now Wilson's controversial views as a Christian nationalist are gaining sway in the nation's center of power with the recent opening of his new church and high-profile parishioners like Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Is planting a church in D.C. part of your mission to try to turn this into a Christian nation?

WILSON: Yes. So every society is theocratic. The only question is, who's Theo? In a secular democracy, it would be Demos, the people. In a Christian republic, it'd be Christ.

[15:40:04]

BROWN: Well, what would you say to someone watching this and say, look, I'm a Muslim, who are you to say your worldview is better than mine, that your God is better than mine?

WILSON: Well, if I went to Saudi Arabia, I would fully expect to live under their god's rules.

BROWN: But you said earlier that you want this to be a Christian world.

WILSON: Yes.

BROWN: So you want to supplant their religion with your Christian.

WILSON: Yes, by peaceful means, by sharing the gospel. There's a lot of work yet to do. I believe that we are working our little corner of the vineyard.

BROWN (voice-over): Wilson's little corner, a picturesque campus nestled on the outskirts of downtown Moscow, Idaho, is growing by the day with thousands of like-minded Christians. Parishioners of his church, known as Kirkers, own and operate several businesses downtown next to liberal college town stores.

WILSON: If it's true, if it's true --

BROWN: Why did he yell boo? Because it's --

WILSON: Because of me.

BROWN: Because of you.

WILSON: Yes. Well, you -- there you go.

BROWN: That's a regular day for you.

WILSON: That's not unusual.

BROWN (voice-over): A big focus of his Christian movement is on a patriarchal society where men are dominant and women are expected to submit to their husbands.

WILSON: Women are the kind of people that people come out of.

BROWN: So you just think they're meant to have babies.

WILSON: Well --

BROWN: That's it. They're just a vessel.

WILSON: No, it doesn't take any talent to simply reproduce biologically. The wife and mother, who is the chief executive of the home, is entrusted with three or four or five eternal souls.

BROWN: I'm here as a working journalist, and I'm a mom of three.

WILSON: Good for you.

BROWN: Is that an issue for you?

WILSON: No. No, it's not automatically an issue.

BROWN (voice-over): Josh and Amy Prince, along with their four kids, moved here from Washington state.

BROWN: Do you see Amy as your equal?

JOSH PRICE, MEMBER, CHRIST CHURCH: Yes, and no, in the sense that we're both saved by grace, we're absolutely on equal footing. But we have very different purposes, God-given.

BROWN: But do you see yourself as the head of the household, as the man?

AMY PRINCE, MEMBER, CHRIST CHURCH: He is the head of our household.

BROWN: Yes.

A. PRINCE: Yes, and I do submit to him.

BROWN: So, like, moving here was ultimately your decision.

A. PRINCE: I was just going to say that. Yes, that's a great example.

J. PRINCE: That's a great example.

BROWN (voice-over): Wilson says in his vision of a Christian society, women as individuals shouldn't be able to vote. His fellow pastors, Jared Longshore and Toby Sumpter, agree. TOBY SUMPTER, SENIOR PASTOR, KING'S CROSS CHURCH: In my ideal society,

we would vote as households. And I would ordinarily be the one that would cast the vote, but I would cast the vote having discussed it with my household.

BROWN: But what if there's a -- your wife doesn't want to vote for the same person as you?

SUMPTER: Right. Well, then that's a great opportunity for a good discussion.

BROWN: There are some who have gone so far as to say that they want the 19th Amendment repealed.

JARED LONGSHORE, EXECUTIVE PASTOR, CHRIST CHURCH: I would support that. And I'd support it on the basis that the atomization that comes with our current system is not good for humans.

BROWN (voice-over): And Wilson, a veteran himself, is unapologetic about his view that women shouldn't be in certain leadership or combat roles.

Looking at the leadership page for Christ Church, it's all men.

WILSON: Right.

BROWN: Do you accept women in leadership roles in the church and government?

WILSON: In the church, no.

BROWN: Why?

WILSON: Because the Bible says not to.

JENNIFER BUTLER, FOUNDER, FAITH IN DEMOCRACY: Well, that's not what happens in the Bible. Women do lead all the time.

BROWN (voice-over): Progressive faith leader Reverend Jennifer Butler is concerned about Wilson's growing influence.

BUTLER: He is rapidly gaining in power. He has hundreds of churches established around the country. They actually literally want to take over towns and cities. And they have access to this administration.

BROWN (voice-over): Wilson is part of a broader Christian nationalist movement making inroads with the Trump administration, with a newly created faith office led by Evangelical Pastor Paula White-Cain and people seen right outside the White House entrance praying and speaking in tongues.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are standing on the soil of the White House, and we are declaring your word.

BROWN: And now there's a monthly prayer service at the Pentagon initiated by Hegseth, Wilson's highest-level connection to the administration.

WILSON: It's not organizationally tied to us, but it's the kind of thing we love to see.

BROWN: For his part, Hegseth has publicly praised Wilson.

PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Now we're standing on the shoulders of a generation later, the Doug Wilsons and the others.

BROWN: Wilson's influence spans the globe, with more than 150 churches. Lennox Kalifungwa moved to Moscow from Africa.

LENNOX KALIFUNGWA, NEW MEMBER OF CHRIST CHURCH FROM ZAMBIA: It's really because I wanted to be a part of the community that was doing something, and especially in building Christian institutions.

BROWN: Are there other black families in this community?

KALIFUNGWA: Oh, absolutely. There's a few black families.

BROWN (voice-over): Wilson maintains all are welcome to his church, but he's also not shying away from his past controversial statements on race.

Do you still believe what you said back in the '90s, that there's a mutual affection between master and slave?

WILSON: Yes, it depends on the -- on which master and which slave you're talking about. Slavery was overseen and conducted by fallen human beings, and there were horrendous abuses. And there were also people who owned slaves who were decent human beings and didn't mistreat them.

[15:45:05]

I think that system of chattel slavery was an unbiblical system, and I'm grateful it's gone.

BROWN (voice-over): What he also wants gone? Same-sex marriage because he thinks homosexuality is a crime.

WILSON: In the late '70s and early '80s, sodomy was a felony in all 50 states. That America of that day was not a totalitarian hellhole.

BROWN: So you would like America to go back to that?

WILSON: Yes.

BROWN (voice-over): Wilson maintains his ultimate goal is to bring about the second coming of Christ through his work, and rejects critics' claims he's trying to make the dystopian world of the "Handmaid's Tale" a reality.

WILSON: I'm not a white nationalist. I'm not a fascist. I'm not a -- I'm not a racist. I'm not a misogynist.

BROWN: How far off do you see a Christian nation like a full on Christian theocracy?

WILSON: Oh, 250 years.

BROWN: 250 years.

WILSON: Yes. Honestly, that's -- yes.

BROWN: That's what you see. But you do think it will happen?

WILSON: Yes, I do. We're not going to usher in anything ourselves. We're really, genuinely pioneers.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. Thank you, Pamela Brown, for that report.

CNN has reached out to the Defense Department to inquire about Hegseth's relationship with Doug Wilson. A spokesperson said Hegseth is a, quote, "proud member," end quote, of the network of churches founded by Wilson and that the secretary, quote, "very much appreciates many of Mr. Wilson's writings and teachings," end quote.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:51:07]

WHITFIELD: All right. Pretty scary moment for some cruise passengers trying to beat the heat. Part of a water slide on a Royal Caribbean ship broke off while a guest was on the slide. That guest was treated for injuries. At one point, the water was gushing through a hole in the slide. The slide is now closed for the remainder of the cruise.

The commander for the famed Apollo 13 mission has died. NASA reports Jim Lovell passed away Thursday in Lake Forest, Illinois. Lovell flew to space on several missions, including Apollo Eight, before NASA selected him to command Apollo 13. The mission was planned as a third successful moon landing, but an oxygen tank explosion forced them to head back to earth, surviving a risky splashdown in the South Pacific Ocean.

The 1995 film "Apollo 13" dramatized the ordeal. Actor Tom Hanks, playing Lovell, said the famous line, "Houston, we have a problem." Jim Lovell was 97 years old.

The SpaceX crew has returned to earth after spending months on board the International Space Station. This marks the company's third Pacific splashdown with people on board. But it was the first for NASA in 50 years. The last time astronauts with the agency returned to the Pacific was during the 1975 Apollo Soyuz mission. The four-crew members came down off the coast of San Diego earlier today after clocking 148 days in space. On board were two Americans, along with crew members from Japan and Russia.

All right, this weekend, on "THE WHOLE STORY WITH ANDERSON COOPER," CNN's David Culver has a rare look into a country that was once known as a popular tourist destination in South America. But it's now plunged into violence because of the drug war. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): International smuggling routes like these are being used to transport drugs all the way to the United States, exploiting the vastness of the Pacific. Ecuador's Navy is chasing a moving target.

We're with them on a scheduled training run. And the skills being taught here are the same ones they'll need on real missions. Hunting down traffickers and cutting off their mid-ocean refueling points.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: This all-new episode of "THE WHOLE STORY WITH ANDERSON COOPER," "Ecuador, the Narco Superhighway," one whole hour, one whole story airs tomorrow, 9:00 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:58:23]

WHITFIELD: All right, right now, history made in Major League Baseball. Jen Powell has been called up to umpire today's doubleheader between the Miami Marlins and Atlanta Braves. This is the first time ever a woman is officiating a regular season Major League game. Powell has steadily climbed the ranks since beginning her pro career back in 2016. She reached AAA in 2023, becoming the first female to umpire at that level in 34 years.

And this year, she becomes the first female umpire in 17 years to work an MLB spring training game. The commissioner of MLB calls Powell's accomplishment historic, saying it's a reflection of her hard work, dedication and love of the game.

All right. And they were one of the world's most publicized couples. But then they managed to keep their wedding a secret, even from some of the guests. John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy were married in 1996 in front of their closest family and friends on Cumberland Island. Though additional images and anecdotes have trickled out over the years, a trove of snapshots has been shared exclusively with CNN ahead of the network's premiere of its three-part CNN Original Series, "AMERICAN PRINCE JFK JR.," which airs tonight.

These snapshots taken by Carole Radziwill, a former journalist and a "Real Housewives" alum who was close to the Kennedys. Her late husband, Anthony, was JFK Jr.'s cousin and best man, and her Instamatic film shots were part of a scrapbook that she made for the couple.

I mean, those are some pretty extraordinary pictures. Remember the remarkable life of John F. Kennedy, Jr. and his lasting legacy on the new CNN Original Series, "AMERICAN PRINCE JFK JR." It's premiering tonight, 9:00 p.m. right here on CNN. And thank you so much for joining me today. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

"THE SOURCE" weekend edition is next.