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Judge Orders Slavery Exhibit Restored at Philadelphia Museum; Jesse Jackson Dies at 84; New Details Emerge About U.S. and Iran Negotiations. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired February 17, 2026 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

ANDREW MCILWAIN, MEMBER, CHRIST FELLOWSHIP CHURCH: -- proclaiming the name of Christ at his funeral, it was amazing.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Do you think it marked a turning point for your mission and for America?

MCILWAIN: With the rise of interest in Christianity, I think there's a sense that this way of life, the way America has been heading, that's not the answer. Well, where is the answer? Well, we find that answer in Scripture, in Christ.

BROWN (voice-over): Kirk's death happened at a moment of unprecedented alignment between Christian nationalists and the Trump administration.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Part of the shift that we've experienced in the second Trump administration is a dropping of all pretenses to say, no, we're here, we're protecting Christians.

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We will protect Christians in our schools, in our military, in our government.

BROWN (voice-over): Trump has never explicitly said he believes the country should be a Christian nation, but he is aligned with Christian nationalists and wants their support. And after an assassination attempt during his campaign, Trump said he believes God saved his life so he can lead the country.

TRUMP: My life was saved for a reason. I was saved by God to make America great again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Many Christians who had -- especially evangelical Christians, who had previously said, I don't believe in these prophecies, came around because of the assassination attempts and believed that his survival was the hand of divine providence, a sign of God's favor. He's an anointed figure that God has put in this place.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN (on camera): So, this is just one example of why Christian nationalists are having such a moment right now. In fact, that Christian scholar you heard from told me that its influence could be at the highest point it's ever been throughout American history. And starting tomorrow, I'll take you to the communities I visited that are either actively practicing what it means to embody Christian nationalism in their daily lives, or those who used to belong to these groups but have left and are now sounding the alarm.

You can watch my documentary on the whole story with Anderson Cooper this Sunday, February 22nd at 8:00 p.m. on CNN or the next day on CNN's All Access streaming platform.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And I'll be looking forward to it. I'll be watching like millions of others.

BROWN: I hope you will. It's important no matter what you believe or where you live. This is an important moment in our country.

BLITZER: We're grateful to you for doing this.

BROWN: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. Thank you. And just ahead, back to this morning's breaking news, the civil rights and political icon Jesse Jackson dies at 84. We're going to take a closer look and we'll also listen as his decades of influence still resonate very much so today.

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[10:35:00]

BLITZER: New this morning, a federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to restore a longstanding exhibit on slavery. It was removed last month from a site in Philadelphia where George Washington and John Adams lived as presidents and kept slaves. In her ruling, the judge compared the Trump administration to the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell's novel, 1984.

The judge wrote, and I'm quoting now, "This court is now asked to determine whether the federal government has the power, it claims, to disassemble and disassemble historical truths when it has some domain over historical facts. It does not," end quote.

And we want to return now to the death, very sad death of the Reverend Jesse Jackson, which was announced also this morning. The pioneering civil rights leader, activist and presidential candidate died peacefully, according to his family. He was 84 years old.

Joining us now is Bishop William J. Barber II. He's the president and senior lecturer of Repairs of the Breach and the founding director of the Yale Center for Public Theology and Public Policy. Thank you so much for joining us. You knew the Reverend Jesse Jackson well and often collaborated with him on various social justice campaigns. What was that like for you?

BISHOP WILLIAM J. BARBER II, MINISTER AND SOCIAL ACTIVIST, WORKED WITH JESSE JACKSON, FOUNDER DIRECTOR, YALE CENTER OF PUBLIC THEOLOGY AND PUBLIC POLICY AND AUTHOR, "WHITE POVERTY": Well, like for 40 years, he'd been a friend and an adviser. It started when I was in college. You know, I talked to the family earlier this morning, particularly Jesse Jr., who was right there. And something his mother said that I was told, she said, that mighty lion has fallen. And that's the truth. Jesse Jackson was a mighty lion.

He taught us that what we needed in this country to deal with things like racism and authoritarianism is not just a black agenda, a race agenda, but a rainbow, black and white and brown and indigenous and Asian people coming together, not a single race, but a moral critique, really a true Christian, if you will, critique that starts with the least of these. And you build a rainbow where everything is distinct, but it's necessary to be together.

He knew what Dr. King said, that the greatest fear of greedy oligarchs was for the masses of black people and poor whites and others to come together to form a coalition, a massive voting bloc that could reset the economic agenda of the country. And I can remember Jesse being on a tractor in Iowa or down in eastern black Belt, North Carolina or on a reservation or with Latino brothers and sisters. He brought us together in a way that we've tried to model today. I know I've tried to, with Repairers of the Breach, because it's really the only way to build a true, empowered democracy.

[10:40:00]

BLITZER: And as you know, Bishop, Jesse Jackson drew inspiration from those who preceded him. And they included Rosa Parks, the civil rights activist best known for refusing to move from her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, back in 1955. I asked Reverend Jackson about Rosa Parks when I interviewed him back in 2013. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JESSE JACKSON: Well, fortunately, I knew her. She campaigned for us in the 8th of June 1988 campaigns, but her role as a singular figure in American history is so big. But that's very well a commitment to see her as this kind of seamstress with her head down who's just kind of humble. She was a freedom fighter. Rosa Parks took the literacy test three times. She passed it all three times. As Senator McCollum suggested, she finally passed it. She passed it all three times.

Secondly, she got the right to vote in 1955, 10 years before Selma. She meant to sit down and go to jail. She meant to challenge the 54th Supreme Court decision whether it was valid or not. So, not only did we win the boycott in 55, we won the lawsuit in 56, validating the 54th Supreme Court decision. And she really was a real go-getter, audacious freedom fighter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: How do you think, Bishop Barber, Jesse Jackson himself will be remembered as a civil rights leader?

BARBER II: Well, I think as a civil rights leader, a human rights leader, a moral leader, you know, he was a fighter. He understood that the best politics has to be movement politics. It's not just about party. It's about principles. It's about people. It's about bringing people together and uplifting the poor and the working poor, those on the margins who can truly transform society.

And he understood that nonviolence was not doing something. It was, in fact, choosing your weapons. It was choosing the way of love and justice and truth and choosing to confront the system. And he will be remembered as one who's determined. You know, he didn't stop.

A few years ago, we walked in Texas for three days. Jesse, though he had some ailments, came and was with us when we launched the Modern Poor People's Campaign, National Call for Moral Revival. He came. He was always there.

When we got arrested and chose civil disobedience and nonviolence during COVID, when there was all this attempt to stop a bill from being passed that would help those who were hurt the most during COVID, we look up, and there's Reverend Jackson coming, not as fast as he always did, but coming and reminding us. He said to me that this must be a determined movement. You can never stop.

And he'll be remembered for that determination. He'll be remembered for caring about people. He'll be remembered for uplifting the least of these. He'll be remembered as a mighty lion who has helped raise up a whole lot of others of us who hope to follow and even do more than he did because he did so much to show us how to do it.

BLITZER: Good point. Back then, as all of us remember, Jesse Jackson was also a political, political trail blazer running twice for president back in the 1980s. How do you view his contribution in that regard?

BARBER II: We ought to be grabbing it right now, right this moment. Everybody ought to be listening to his 1984 speech at the Democratic Convention. We ought to be looking at the kind of politics he was doing. Instead of running and retreating from the challenges of our day.

Remember when Jesse Jackson organized politically, he didn't just go in and talk to people about what he was against. He always laid out a vision. He laid out a vision because he knew people can't just do resistance. They have to have a vision. We picked that model up recently in North Carolina this past weekend. We walked 51 miles in this time to mark our love forward together because Jesse taught us that.

But he also organized. People forget, he registered 7 million new voters when he ran for president. He shifted the party and shifted the rules of the party to bring more people in. How many people owe their political lives to what Jesse Jackson did? He never just ran for himself. Some say he didn't win the presidency, but he transformed politics. He brought more people in, and that's a model that we need today, a model that runs to build a political movement, not just a party.

BLITZER: Well said indeed. Reverend William Barber, thanks so much for joining us. And this important note we're going to be hearing directly from Jesse Jackson's son, Jesse Jackson Jr. That will come up right at the top of our next hour. But before we go to break, here are just a few of the reactions we're getting this morning to Jesse Jackson's death and his truly remarkable life.

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[10:45:00]

BROWN: Happening now. President Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner just wrapped up their indirect talks with Iran in Geneva, Switzerland. The Omani government mediated the negotiations. And according to the Iranian state media, Tehran wants a total lifting of sanctions and to build trust about its nuclear program. President Trump wants that program dismantled and the U.S. military is building up assets in the Middle East. Sources tell CNN the idea is to intimidate Iran and provide options to strike inside the country if these nuclear talks fail.

So, joining us now is former Middle East negotiator Amos Hochstein. He was a senior advisor to President Biden. Thank you for coming on. So, how are you viewing these talks?

[10:50:00]

AMOS HOCHSTEIN, FORMER MIDDLE EAST NEGOTIATOR, MANAGING PARTNER, TWG GLOBAL AND FORMER SENIOR ADVISER TO PRESIDENT BIDEN: Well, we have a very strange set of talks because on the one hand, we have talks that are -- it looks like they're, today's at least, talks round, ended positively with a positive atmosphere and positive comments. In the background, the president of the United States is threatening the Iranians with military action if they fail. The Iranian supreme leader is threatening the United States to sink our boats. And the Iranians had a naval exercise where they had to shut down the Strait of Hormuz, which is, of course, the choke point through which a third of the world's oil goes through for a naval exercise.

So, it's these two different parallels at the very same time. I think both sides are looking to extend the talks and use the time to figure out what they actually want to do.

BROWN: Yes. And for Americans watching this play out who may not be as immersed as you are in what's happening, why is this so important for America, these talks?

HOCHSTEIN: Well, look, we have to think about why we got here. Iran has been an enemy of the United States, has been an adversary with clashes between the United States and Iran really through proxies over the last several decades. And that's been happening consistently. Iran escalated its attacks against Israel, against American forces in the region after October 7 at different flashpoints.

And then during the demonstrations that the Iranian people had in January against the regime, they brutally massacred their own people. That is, and remember, President Trump said help is on the way. And that is what got us here. The threat to attack Iran militarily by the United States, not a direct confrontation between Iran against the United States, but rather they were massacring their own people.

And the question becomes why should the United States go to war and what's the purpose of the war? I think that's what the military leaders are telling the president. We can destroy large parts of Iran, but we cannot tell you what happens on the day after. And that is giving them pause.

BROWN: Right, because sources are telling CNN right now that the Trump administration still does not have a clear understanding of what would happen if there is regime change.

HOCHSTEIN: Look, we know the United States military can defeat Saddam Hussein in Iraq. We can defeat Qaddafi's forces in Benghazi. We can defeat the Iranian military. That's not in question. Everybody knows that. The question is what happens afterwards. Vacuums get filled, and usually they don't get filled by the people we think they're going to be filled by.

BROWN: Right. History has been a guide to that.

HOCHSTEIN: Right. So, Libya is a basket case now and violent. Iraq, we all know, is violent and not secure. And so, the question is what happens to Iran the day after. If they had a clear answer to that, I think we already would have seen a military strike. But all these talks and sending more military equipment is to gain time to figure that question out.

Now, they're going to have enough military equipment there to be able to, and personnel, very soon to be able to do whatever they feel they need to do. The question is, is it wise to do it or not?

BROWN: I want to pick up on what you said earlier where President Trump said help is on the way at the peak of the protests. The son of Iran's last shah has called for humanitarian intervention in Iran by the U.S. The president has not followed through on the help that he had offered up. And the protests did calm down, but there are still a lot of issues there, right?

So, how -- what place does that put the U.S. when you have the president pledging that and not following through with that?

HOCHSTEIN: Look, I think it's very difficult when the president of the United States says, and this is what President Obama had a really tough time with the red line in Syria and then not following through. This is very similar to say help is on the way.

Now, in reality, the protests didn't calm down. They were massacred. We don't know how many, but clearly thousands of Iranians were massacred. And those protests are gone. And it's now over a month away. We're now 40 days later. So, time also is playing towards American people saying, I don't understand if in two months later we're going to war about a protest that happened two months ago just because we said help is on the way. I think it erodes the trust and the confidence that people in Iran may have with the administration that they will come to their aid. I don't know how much trust there was there to begin with, but I think that certainly erodes it. But you've got to make decisions on a war that could impact the region for a generation or two beyond just, well, I said help is on the way, so I have to do it. That's not a good enough reason to go to war. There are a lot of reasons for us to want to see a regime change in Iran. This has been a brutal, sadistic regime throughout the region. But we have to see what does this mean for the United States' national security and what is it -- what can we actually achieve. And that is a question I keep coming back to.

[10:55:00]

If it just gets replaced through a replace the supreme leader with a military commander from the Revolutionary Guard and it goes from a religious dictatorship to a military dictatorship, have we really achieved anything? And all the risks, of course, to American personnel in the region and American personnel at home.

BROWN: All right. Amos Hochstein, thank you so much for coming on and providing your perspective. We appreciate it.

HOCHSTEIN: All right. thank you.

BLITZER: Thanks for me as well. And coming up, a crucial testimony. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg will take the stand this week as social media itself goes on trial.

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BROWN: Happening now, breaking news. Student survivors on the stand. The emotional moments playing out in court this morning and the trial against the --

[11:00:00]