Overview
- Trump’s pre-recorded video, which played Tuesday night, featured a reading of 2 Chronicles 7:11–22 during a weeklong Bible-reading marathon streamed from the Museum of the Bible and on Pure Flix.
- The selected passage calls for national repentance and promise of healing, a verse often used in conservative Christian politics that organizers had set aside for the president.
- Christians Engaged, led by Bunni Pounds, organized the lineup and worked with White House faith aides Paula White-Cain and Jennifer Korn to bring in administration participants.
- The roster skews heavily Republican with figures such as Pete Hegseth, Marco Rubio, House Speaker Mike Johnson, Franklin Graham, and Jack Graham, prompting criticism that the event promotes a Christian-nationalist message.
- The Oval Office reading follows Trump’s deleted AI image portraying him in a Jesus-like role and his public clash with Pope Leo XIV, and it folds into the America Prays effort that plans a May 17 National Mall gathering.