“The View” co-hosts criticized a new Louisiana law that requires the Ten Commandments to be displayed in classrooms across the state and took aim at Christians supporting former President Trump. 

“They want to post this in schools, I say post it at Mar-a-Lago and put a picture of Stormy Daniels right next to it,” co-host Joy Behar said. “He [Trump] has broken 11 commandments, and there’s a wait list. I mean, this guy has gone above and beyond and yet these so-called Christians are going to vote for him.”

Under the legislation, H.B. 71, a poster-sized display of the Ten Commandments in “large, easily readable font” is required in all public classrooms, from kindergartens to state-funded universities.

“This bothers me to no end, because I grew up, and you were allowed to believe how you believed. It wasn’t really stuff you discussed with other people. You had your beliefs, you had your religious thing, and if you weren’t religious, nobody knew,” co-host Whoopi Goldberg said. “I don’t understand why you’re telling me you’re concerned about children learning things. One of the things that you don’t seem to understand is, I have the same respect for my child that I have for yours. I’m not asking you to believe what I believe. I’m not asking your kid to believe what I believe. Public school is public school.”

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“If you want your child to have a religious education, send them to a religious school. There’s nothing stopping you. Get out of my pocket, get out of my body and get out of my school,” Goldberg added, clarifying that she had no issues with religion. 

She said Louisiana was playing a “very dangerous game.” 

Co-host Sunny Hostin warned that Gov. Jeff Landry was hoping the Supreme Court would side with him and overturn previous rulings on similar laws it found unconstitutional. The Republican said he “can’t wait to be sued.”

“I think what he is banking on is this reactive, very partisan Supreme Court will overturn precedent and say, now, this is okay. And we should be very afraid of that because we’re now in upside-down world where you have a precedent from this century saying you cannot do that anywhere,” Hostin said. 

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Republican Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry speaks in the House Chamber in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Jan. 15, 2024. (Michael Johnson/The Advocate via AP, Pool, File)

Hostin warned that everyone should be “scared.”

Co-host Sara Haines also said the law was concerning.

“This would be concerning because, unlike abortion, which was decided as a right to privacy and became a precedent over time, this is literally the establishment cause of the First Amendment, it is why this country was born, to allow for that religious freedom,” she said. “This would be concerning for me.”

Fox News’ Louis Casiano contributed to this report.

A deceased convicted serial rapist from Ohio has been identified as the suspect responsible for the murders of two women in Shenandoah National Park nearly 30 years ago, a case that has confounded investigators. 

DNA evidence that was recently retested linked Walter Leo Jackson Sr., of Cleveland, Ohio, to the killings of 24-year-old Julianne “Julie” Williams and 26-year-old Laura “Lollie” Winans, the FBI said Thursday. 

“After 28 years, we are now able to say who committed the brutal murders of Lollie Winans and Julie Williams in Shenandoah National Park,” U.S. Attorney Christopher Kavanaugh said. 

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Both women, who were a couple, were killed on May 24, 1996, at their Virginia campsite near the Skyland Resort. Family members called the National Park Service when the women didn’t return home. 

The pair began hiking in Shenandoah National Park on May 19. They were due to return to their summer jobs in Vermont on May 28. But no one had heard from them, according to media reports at the time. 

Their bodies were found on June 1, 1996, during a search by park rangers. They had been bound, and their throats had been slashed.

“Their murder sparked shock and fear throughout the community and nation,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Stanley Meador. “We now know who is responsible for this heinous crime.”

Jackson died in a prison in Cuyahoga County, Ohio in March 2018. His criminal history includes kidnapping, rapes and assaults, the FBI said. He was forensically linked to two rapes that occurred in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, in June and July 1996, just weeks after Winans and Williams were killed, Kavanaugh said.

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An image is displayed during a news conference concerning the 1996 murders of Laura “Lollie” Winans and Julianne “Julie” Williams at a campsite in Shenandoah National Park, Thursday Jun. 20, 2024, in Richmond, Virginia. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) (FBI)

Jackson was a painter by trade and was an “avid” hiker who was known to visit Shenandoah National Park.

In 2004, another man, Darrell D. Rice, was indicted for the killings but the charges were dropped just before his trial after his DNA failed to link him to the crime. The Virginia FBI took a new look at the case in 2021, Meador said. 

With funding from the Department of Justice’s sexual-assault-kit initiative, investigators combed through everything in the case file, re-examining evidence, photos and interviews. Considering advancements in DNA technology, the team spent “countless hours” determining what pieces of evidence could be retested, Meador said.

A lab pulled DNA from the evidence and submitted the result to the federal DNA index system, the FBI said. They found a positive match to Jackson, whose DNA was on file in Cuyahoga County. Additionally, investigators compared evidence from the murders directly to a buccal swab containing Jackson’s DNA.

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Stanley Meador, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Richmond Field Office, gestures during a news conference concerning the 1996 murders of Laura “Lollie” Winans and Julianne “Julie” Williams at a campsite in the Shenandoah national park, Thursday, June 20, 2024, in Richmond, Virginia. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

“Those results confirmed we had the right man and finally could tell the victim’s families we know who is responsible for this heinous crime,” Meador said. 

“There was a one-out-of-2.6-trillion chance that it originated from someone other than Walter Leo Jackson,” Kavanaugh said. “I’ve prosecuted many homicides and cold cases, and I have never witnessed statistics that high.”

Federal investigators said Jackson was likely driving a 1984 Chestnut Brown AMC Eagle 30 at the time of the murders, though he was known to use temporary tags, alter license plates and frequently change vehicles.

An image is displayed during a news conference concerning the 1996 murders of Laura “Lollie” Winans and Julianne “Julie” Williams at a campsite in Shenandoah National Park, Thursday Jun. 20, 2024, in Richmond, Virginia. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

The FBI is working to determine whether Jackson was responsible for other unsolved crimes. 

A CNN host locked horns with a Louisiana state representative over a new law requiring the biblical Ten Commandments to be displayed in classrooms.

Louisiana is the first state to require the display of the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom after Republican Gov. Jeff Landry signed a bill into law Wednesday. Under the legislation, H.B. 71, a poster-sized display of the Ten Commandments in “large, easily readable font” is required in all public classrooms, from kindergartens to state-funded universities.

Louisiana state representative Lauren Ventrella defended the display of the Ten Commandments as a historical document that has served as America’s very moral fiber during a Thursday episode of “CNN News Central,” but host Boris Sanchez was not convinced. 

“When you talk about the moral fiber of our country, you realize that this country is an amalgamation of cultures right? And different faiths. And even within Christianity, people don‘t interpret those commandments the same way,” he said. 

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Ventrella argued that biblical imagery is part of American life, arguing that the Ten Commandments are displayed in the Supreme Court of the United States and that Moses is depicted on the wall of the House chamber in Congress. “This is part and ingrained in our nation, this is a historical document that’s important in Louisiana, because in Louisiana we believe in faith, family, and freedom, and that is why I voted in favor of this bill.”

“Sure, but you also recognize that the Constitution of this country, its founding document, doesn‘t include the word ‘God’ or ‘Jesus,’ or ‘Christianity’ and that‘s for a reason, because the Founding Fathers founded this country as a secular one, you don‘t see that?”

“Boris! I’d bet you CNN pays you a lot of money!” Ventrella said.

“What does this have to do with the network that I work for or what I’m getting paid? Don’t make this about that, answer the question! Why did the Founding Fathers not include God in the constitution if they wanted this country to be the way that you see it?”

After Ventrella asked to finish her statement, Sanchez demanded, “Answer the question and don’t make this about me!”

“We’ll make it about me!” Ventrella said. “I got a dollar bill in my wallet, ‘In God we trust ’ is written on that dollar. It is not forcing anybody to believe one viewpoint.” She then pivoted back to the bill and argued, “It‘s merely posting a historical reference on the wall for students to read and interpret it if they choose.”

Public displays of the Ten Commandments have been a hot-button issue in America for decades. Here Anna Dollar (2nd L) of Boone, NC, and Deanna Gosnell (R) of Avery, North Carolina, hold posters during a rally in front of the U.S. Supreme Court to support the Ten Commandments March 2, 2005 in Washington, DC. ((Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images))

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Ventrella objected to criticism of the bill, arguing that amid America’s ongoing internal strife, displaying the Ten Commandments gives children the option to see some “good principles.” She added, “I don’t understand why this is so preposterous and that litigation is being threatened, it doesn’t scare us in the state of Louisiana, we say bring it on!”

Sanchez went on to ask Ventrella what she would say to parents of students or teachers in classrooms where the Ten Commandments would be displayed who might not share her religious views. Ventrella advised, “Don’t look at it.”

Sanchez followed by asking her how she herself would feel if a text like the Five Pillars of Islam were displayed in such a way, “How would you feel if you walked into a classroom and something you didn‘t believe in was required to be on the wall?”

Ventrella rejected the hypothetical line of questioning, “we’re specifically talking about a limited text on, mind you, a piece of paper that‘s not much bigger than a legal sheet of paper. Some kids might even need a magnifying glass to read all of this. This is not so preposterous, that we‘re somehow sanctioning and forcing religion down people‘s throat. I‘ve heard the comments and it‘s just ridiculous.”

Fox News’ Louis Casiano contributed to this report.