On this “Face the Nation” broadcast, moderated by Robert Costa:
- Sen. Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas
- Retired Army General Stanley McChrystal
- FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell
- Retired Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster, former National Security Adviser
- Larry Hogan, former Maryland governor
Click here to browse full transcripts of “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.”
ROBERT COSTA: I’m Robert Costa in Washington.
And this week on Face the Nation: Israel assassinates the head of Hezbollah, potentially expanding the war in the Middle East, as the candidates start to feel the heat of yet another global crisis.
Israel’s strike on the Iranian-backed terrorist group has put more fuel on the fire in the Middle East. As we approach one year since the Hamas attack on Israel, what is the impact of this new front?
(Begin VT)
QUESTION: Is a ground incursion into Lebanon inevitable?
JOE BIDEN (President of the United States): It’s time for a cease-fire.
(End VT)
ROBERT COSTA: With five weeks until Election Day, national security and U.S. foreign policy are increasingly part of the conversation on the campaign trail.
(Begin VT)
SENATOR J.D. VANCE (R-Ohio) (Vice Presidential Candidate): Smart American diplomacy is what keeps the peace. We’re not going to have it with Kamala Harris.
(End VT)
ROBERT COSTA: We will speak with Trump ally Senator Tom Cotton and former Trump National Security Adviser Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster.
Plus, we will hear from retired U.S. Army General Stanley McChrystal about why he’s supporting Vice President Harris.
Maryland Republican Senate candidate Larry Hogan will also join us, as we preview Tuesday’s CBS News vice presidential debate.
Plus, we will get the latest on the flooding and devastation following Hurricane Helene, the monster storm that swept through the South, from FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell.
It’s all just ahead on Face the Nation.
Good morning. I’m Robert Costa. Margaret is preparing for Tuesday’s vice presidential debate. That could be the last time this season that national candidates face off in person.
And with just over a month until Election Day, the spotlight is now on how the next administration will deal with challenges across the board. Coming up, we will look at the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, but we begin with mounting fears of an all-out war in the Middle East.
Our Imtiaz Tyab reports from Lebanon.
(Begin VT)
(MAN SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
IMTIAZ TYAB (voice-over): In this just-released Hezbollah video, the apparent burial shroud of Hassan Nasrallah inscribed in Arabic with the words “He was martyred on the way to Jerusalem,” as grief gripped supporters of the assassinated Hezbollah leader following the confirmation of his death.
Many wept as they stood amid the jagged concrete and twisted metal left by massive bunker-busting bombs used to target the towering figure, who was seemingly invincible.
But Nasrallah, who had been in hiding for years, was ultimately no match for Israel’s military might or its breathtaking intelligence capabilities after Israeli forces found and assassinated him at a time of sky-high tensions.
On the streets of the Iranian capital, Tehran, more sorrow. Hezbollah has long backed by Iran. And Nasrallah’s killing is also a major blow to his key ally, the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, but for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who approved the strike that killed him, a major victory.
(PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
IMTIAZ TYAB: “Citizens of Israel, these are great days,” he said. “We are at what appears to be a historic turning point.”
That turning point hangs on how Hezbollah will now respond. But following the assassinations of Nasrallah and several of the group’s top commanders, its leadership has been decapitated and its fighting forces in disarray.
RAMI KHOURI (Distinguished Fellow, American University of Beirut): When the enemy kills the leadership or captures it or decapitates it, the movement comes back stronger and more militant and therefore more of a threat. So, I think the Israeli people are not necessarily going to be safer or feel safer.
IMTIAZ TYAB: In this still-smoking wreckage of the Beirut neighborhood where Nasrallah was killed, the scale of Israel’s actions here and the fear of what it could trigger saw President Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin both insist they were not warned of the attack in advance.
The White House has long feared a major escalation between Israel and Hezbollah could trigger a regional war that would not only draw in Iran, but potentially the U.S., as Israel continues to devastate Gaza for nearly a year now, with Hezbollah still insisting it won’t stop firing rockets at Israel until there is a cease-fire there.
(End VT)
ROBERT COSTA: And Imtiaz joins us now from Beirut.
Imtiaz, has Israel delivered a fatal blow to Hezbollah with these strikes?
IMTIAZ TYAB: You know Bob, I used to live here in Beirut and have been reporting on Lebanon and Hezbollah for years now.
And Hassan Nasrallah, while loved by many and hated by some, almost all here strongly admired his fierce resistance to Israel. But his assassination in that massive Israeli strike is likely not a fatal blow to Hezbollah.
Now, that’s because Nasrallah didn’t rule as an autocrat. And, today, it appears Hashem Safieddine will emerge as his replacement. Now, Safieddine is a first cousin of Nasrallah and bears a striking resemblance to him. The 60-year-old led the group’s Executive Council, and he is a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause and is extremely close to Iran, signaling he may rule quite similarly to Nasrallah.
Now, back in 2017, the U.S. also added Safieddine to the terrorist blacklist – Bob.
ROBERT COSTA: Imtiaz Tyab, thank you.
We are joined now by Senator Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican. He sits on the Senate Armed Services and Intelligence committees.
Good morning, Senator. We appreciate you being here.
What’s next, Senator Cotton? Do you believe there will be an expanded war between Israel and Iran on the horizon?
SENATOR TOM COTTON (R-Arkansas): Well, Bob, I’m not sure that Israel is expanding the war, so much as it is trying to end the war.
I think it’s important to stress just sort of huge blow the last two weeks have been against Hezbollah. Iran is behind all of these terror networks, but Hezbollah is its most potent weapon. Hezbollah has over 100,000 rockets and missiles and mortars aimed at Israel. Iran has used that threat to deter Israel for years, going back probably 20 years or so.
And now that Israel has absolutely devastated the entire leadership structure of Hezbollah, whether it’s at the attacks that came just late last week, killing not only Hassan Nasrallah and all the other leaders, or some of their other actions, or hitting their weapons depots and manufacturing sites in Syria, now is not the time for a cease-fire or to de-escalate, as Joe Biden and Kamala Harris want.
Hezbollah is on its knees. The United States should help Israel drive Hezbollah to the mat and choke it out and finish it off once and for all. That means, for the first time in decades, Iran would be exposed on its flanks with no terror proxy capable – capable of devastating Israel or our troops and our friends in the region.
That’s what we should do, not demand that we have a cease fire, de-escalate at a time when Israel is trying to win. We should let Israel win.
ROBERT COSTA: Senator Cotton, when you say, drive Hezbollah to the mat, would that mean a ground invasion of Lebanon by Israel? And would you support that kind of incursion?
SENATOR TOM COTTON: If that’s what Israel needs to do to eliminate the remnants of Hezbollah’s leadership and its arsenal, then, yes, of course.
Again, Hezbollah had over 100,00 missiles and rockets and mortars. Now a lot of those have probably already been destroyed. Israel needs to destroy all of them. A lot of Hezbollah’s leadership has been destroyed as well. This guy that you all just cited there, maybe he’s the leader. I don’t know who’s in charge of Hezbollah. I’m not sure anyone else does either.
It’s probably someone who wasn’t important enough to have a beeper or a walkie-talkie as recently as two weeks ago. But all of Hezbollah’s leadership needs to be eliminated, just like all of its arsenal needs to be eliminated, just like the United States needs to be much more forceful in attacking Iran’s terror army in Yemen, where Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have had our sailors resting like sitting ducks on the Red Sea for months.
When we finish mopping up all of these terrorist proxies, that means Iran once again is totally exposed. It no longer can threaten Israel and the United States and our friends throughout the region. That’s why we need to back Israel to the hilt and let Israel win, rather than continue to make these feckless demands for cease-fires and de-escalation that Kamala Harris and Joe Biden have been doing for a year now.
ROBERT COSTA: You sit on the Senate Intelligence Committee. Is there an alarm sounding in your ranks about any potential threats to Americans in the Middle East or to U.S. targets at this point?
SENATOR TOM COTTON: Well, from the minute Joe Biden and Kamala Harris got to the White House, there have been threats to Americans. Iran and its proxies have attacked our troops over 100 times.
ROBERT COSTA: But in the wake of this latest news?
SENATOR TOM COTTON: And we barely ever struck back. There’s been continued attacks on us.
Again, just like we should support Israel in striking back against these terrorists, we should be striking back harder again. But that’s not Kamala Harris and Joe Biden’s policy. From the very beginning, they’ve appeased and conciliated the ayatollahs. Kamala Harris, for instance, opposed Donald Trump’s strike that killed Iran’s terrorist mastermind in 2020.
Over the last four years, they’ve given away tens of billions of dollars in sanctions relief. They’ve looked the other way as Iran violates sanctions. They’ve continually put more pressure on Israel than they put on Iran’s terrorist proxy. That’s why Kamala Harris is the ayatollahs’ handpicked candidate, and why the ayatollahs are hacking into Donald Trump’s campaign and trying to kill him.
ROBERT COSTA: Turning to Ukraine, former President Donald Trump, you’re a big supporter of his.
He met with President Zelenskyy in recent days in New York. He talked about a potential deal to end the war. What kind of deal would that be? How would it exactly look? You’re close to Trump and this process.
SENATOR TOM COTTON: Well, he hasn’t been specific, and I think that’s for a reason.
One, he doesn’t know what the world is going to look like in another three months when he takes office. He doesn’t know how much more Joe Biden Kamala Harris might screw things up. But here’s what we do know. This never would have happened on Donald Trump’s watch because it didn’t happen on Donald Trump’s watch.
Vladimir Putin has invaded Ukraine twice, both times with Joe Biden in the White House, first as Barack Obama’s understudy, second with Kamala Harris in the White House with him. That came just a few months after the disastrous collapse in Afghanistan. Those things are not unrelated.
When you project weakness, as Kamala Harris and Joe Biden have, and you suggest to your enemies that they can push you around and walk all over you, you get the kind of conflicts we see in Europe and that we see in Israel, and you get the chaos we see at our southern border.
Bob, the administration – Bob, the administration just acknowledged…
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERT COSTA: I know, but – Ukraine for a second. Just pause on this for a second, Senator.
Senator Vance, who’s going to be at the vice presidential debate on Tuesday, hosted by CBS News, he’s talked about on a recent podcast a demilitarized zone as a part of a potential peace deal between Ukraine and Russia. He said it could look like something like the current line of demarcation between Russia and Ukraine that becomes a demilitarized zone, heavily fortified so the Russians don’t invade again.
The details matter here. Would a demilitarized zone be something as part of a peace deal that you would be comfortable with as a Republican senator?
SENATOR TOM COTTON: Well, the – the details do matter.
But Donald Trump has said he’s not going to negotiate against himself or against Ukraine in advance. Once he takes office, that’s the time to start hammering out the details in private and to make sure that something like this can’t happen again, which didn’t happen when he was president after the first invasion of Ukraine.
But, again, I just want to say the chaos that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have unleashed across this world isn’t limited to the other side of the world. It happens right here. The administration just acknowledged that they released more than 13,000 convicted murderers who illegally entered this country, more than 15,000 convicted sex offenders.
That’s 28,000 rapists and murderers who illegally entered our country who Kamala Harris and Joe Biden have let roam our streets. That’s the kind of chaos that they have unleashed for the last four years and that Donald Trump will put an end to.
ROBERT COSTA: You’re confronting the Democrats here on this show. You’re bringing up all of your different arguments.
Former President Trump, even though there are just a few weeks left in the campaign, has so far said he does not want to participate in another debate with Vice President Harris. Is that a mistake? Do the American people deserve to hear more from former President Trump and the vice president about their views?
SENATOR TOM COTTON: Well, I think they deserve to hear a lot more from Kamala Harris, because she’s been lying to them for the last three months. If you look at her record…
ROBERT COSTA: But why not debate again?
SENATOR TOM COTTON: … she’s been trying to run – she’s been trying to run away from it from the very moment she took the nomination from Joe Biden.
She wants to ban gas-powered cars. She wants to give reparations based on race. She wants to ban fracking. She wants to take away private health insurance on the job. These are not positions that she took as a teenager in high school. These are positions she took as a 54-year-old woman running for president in her own right.
That’s the true Kamala Harris, a weak, dangerous San Francisco liberal. Kamala Harris is the one who owes the American people a lot more answers. Donald Trump can simply point at his record and say, for four years when I was president, we had peace, prosperity, a secure border, and we were respected around the world.
That’s what the American people remember. That’s what they’re going to get when they elect him again to the White House.
ROBERT COSTA: But should Trump debate again?
SENATOR TOM COTTON: There’s no – he’s already debated twice.
ROBERT COSTA: OK.
SENATOR TOM COTTON: And J.D. is going to debate Tim, and he’s going to do a great job telling his story and pointing out what a radical record Kamala Harris and Tim Walz have.
The American people know what Donald Trump will do in office. Kamala Harris is still trying to fool them.
ROBERT COSTA: Senator Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas, thanks for being here on Face the Nation. We appreciate it.
And we will be back in one minute. Stay with us.
(ANNOUNCEMENTS)
ROBERT COSTA: We are back with retired Army General Stanley McChrystal.
He did endorse Vice President Kamala Harris last week and is appearing today on Face the Nation as a Harris campaign surrogate.
Good morning, General. We appreciate your time.
General McChrystal, you just heard from Senator Tom Cotton here on Face the Nation. He said, the United States, when it comes to dealing with Israel in its – its battle against Hezbollah should not de-escalate., should take Hezbollah to the mat. Do you believe that’s the right course for the United States in the days and weeks ahead?
GEN. STANLEY MCCHRYSTAL (RET.) (Former U.S. Commander in Afghanistan): Well, I spent a long time in counterterrorism. We killed a lot of people.
And what I learned was, unless you have an outcome, a political outcome that is durable, that all of those kinds of activities don’t last.
So, I would urge both sides, Israel and Hezbollah, to take a look at the far ridgeline. Now, I know that’s hard to do, because once you’ve shed this much blood, the emotion runs deep. You kill people’s parents and children and brothers and sisters on both sides.
And so I think that where we are now is, just spiraling the violence is unlikely to produce a good outcome. And yet I can sympathize with both sides the visceral desire to go after the other.
ROBERT COSTA: What’s your assessment of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, how he’s handling this moment and his strategy?
GEN. STANLEY MCCHRYSTAL (RET.): Well, I think he’s got a strategy to try to push Iran into a corner, and he may be doing that.
But the long-term outcome in Palestine writ large is going to be from a statesmanlike view. And so if he’s taking a wartime view only, I think, at some point, he’s either going to have to widen that aperture or take a longer view of it.
ROBERT COSTA: You believe the Israelis and Prime Minister Netanyahu pushing Iran into a corner, as you put it, does that mean war with Iran, between Israel and Iran, is on the horizon, potentially, and what does that mean for the United States if true?
GEN. STANLEY MCCHRYSTAL (RET.): I think anything’s potential on the horizon, but – but I don’t know.
ROBERT COSTA: What are you watching now, though, to see if this – this action with Hezbollah assassinating Nasrallah escalates into something far wider in the region? What are you watching? What are the key points?
GEN. STANLEY MCCHRYSTAL (RET.): Well, I think the key thing is, the more you press the fight, the harder you go for the jugular, the more you create scar tissue that’s going to last for generations. And that’s a factor.
ROBERT COSTA: You endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris this week. You endorsed President Biden in 2020.
In your op-ed in “The New York Times,” you talk about character. What is it about her character versus former President Trump that so convinced you to take this public stand and endorse her?
GEN. STANLEY MCCHRYSTAL (RET.): I think character is what a person does when they’re under pressure.
It is a combination of their deep-seated beliefs, the things, their core values, and the discipline they have to execute those, to live up to them. So, I think, when we look at Kamala Harris, we look at her history, she came up as a prosecutor, an attorney general into the Senate.
She has lived a number of experiences that I think build in someone the kind of character that’s going to be necessary in the presidency. But let’s be sure, we don’t elect a president based on policies. We shouldn’t. We should elect them for the character, because we don’t know what’s going to come up.
We didn’t know that one-term Congressman Abraham Lincoln was going to be able to lead the United States through the Civil War. We never knew that the clothing salesman Harry Truman was going to be able to make the decision to drop the atomic bomb or to deal with the crisis in Korea.
Those things come into a presidency in a way that tests the mettle and the character of the person in that office.
ROBERT COSTA: The presidency certainly tests, and it can forge leadership over time. But what convinces you now, ahead of a possible presidency, that she’s ready, especially on national security and foreign policy, areas you know well?
GEN. STANLEY MCCHRYSTAL (RET.): Yes. What do we know about anyone before a job like that?
Young President Kennedy, when he was elected, was a young senator. He did pretty well. He struggled first through the Bay of Pigs, then did pretty well in the Cuban Missile Crisis. Donald Trump had no background in it.
What we’ve seen from Kamala Harris convinces me she has the strength, she has the values to deal with the uncertain crises that are inevitable.
ROBERT COSTA: What’s your view of how she and President Biden handled the withdrawal from Afghanistan?
GEN. STANLEY MCCHRYSTAL (RET.): Afghanistan is difficult. There was 20 years of American involvement in Afghanistan, and a lot of the bricks were put in place in the direction that that went.
There had been a decision made with the Doha accords in the previous administration that the Biden administration had to make a decision to deal with. I didn’t like the outcome in Afghanistan. I put a lot of my life there. And the young Americans who gave so much of themselves, I don’t think did it in vain.
I think they did it in a worthy effort that made Afghanistan a better place. But things don’t always turn out like we hope they will.
ROBERT COSTA: You wrote in your op-ed that it’s mostly about character, but you connected in your piece character to policy, especially on America’s role in the world.
Do you believe that Vice President Harris is, in a sense, a continuation of President Biden’s foreign policy, an embrace of Western institutions like NATO, traditional American alliances? Is that one of the driving factors of your endorsement, more than just her personal character?
GEN. STANLEY MCCHRYSTAL (RET.): I think Vice President Harris’s character is going to drive policies based upon values, but very commonsense values.
She’s a practical person, and I think that that will come out.
ROBERT COSTA: But there’s a real debate in this country about America’s role in the world.
GEN. STANLEY MCCHRYSTAL (RET.): Mm-hmm.
ROBERT COSTA: Trump, the former president, constantly talks about America first, has skepticism toward how NATO functions in some respects. Do you worry that, if Trump wins another term of the presidency, that America’s role in the world would change in a fundamental way?
GEN. STANLEY MCCHRYSTAL (RET.): I think America’s role in the world is critical.
Take, for example, the war in Ukraine. You can make an argument that Ukraine is not a strategic national interest for the United States. I cannot accept an argument that Europe is not. And yet, if Ukraine falls to Russian aggression, even a significant part of it, the Baltic States and our NATO Alliance is going to be increasingly threatened and, I would argue, weakened.
And I think, long term, that’s much against our interest.
ROBERT COSTA: Is it credible that – as Trump says, that he could cut a deal to end the war in Ukraine?
GEN. STANLEY MCCHRYSTAL (RET.): I would doubt that. But if he said – if he has a deal, let…
ROBERT COSTA: Well, he doesn’t talk about details, as we just discussed with Senator Cotton, but he’s claiming he can – he can cut a deal.
Would Vice President Harris, you think, be able to end the war between Russia and Ukraine?
GEN. STANLEY MCCHRYSTAL (RET.): I think it’s going to be difficult to end this war. I personally think we need to support Ukraine as strong as we can, so that their sovereignty is protected as we come out.
ROBERT COSTA: So many former military officials, top leaders who have served men and women in uniform, have come out against former President Donald Trump.
There are those, of course, like former retired General Keith Kellogg, who do support former President Trump, but high-profile people like yourself have raised concerns. I think about General Milley. I think about – General Milley had concerns in the final days of Trump’s presidency about how he was handling his work. And you have concerns.
You have endorsed Vice President Harris. It comes down to one core question here. General McChrystal, do you believe former President Donald Trump is fit for office?
GEN. STANLEY MCCHRYSTAL (RET.): I believe that Vice President Harris is fit to lead the country in the presidency. I think she has got the character.
ROBERT COSTA: Well, let’s go right to the question of Trump. Is he fit for office or not? You’re a former top leader of the United States military.
You’re supporting a presidential candidate. You have a former president now running for the presidency again. You seem to have core character questions. Is he fit for office or not?
GEN. STANLEY MCCHRYSTAL (RET.): OK, Bob, let’s be honest. Why would a retired military officer come on to endorse his opponent?
ROBERT COSTA: You tell me.
GEN. STANLEY MCCHRYSTAL (RET.): Because I think character is very important, and so I’m voting for character. I’m voting for Kamala Harris.
ROBERT COSTA: General Stanley McChrystal, we appreciate you stopping by Face the Nation and sharing your views. Thank you very much.
And we’ll be right back with a lot more Face the Nation. Stay with us.
(ANNOUNCEMENTS)
ROBERT COSTA: CBS News will host what’s likely to be the only vice presidential debate between Senator J.D. Vance and Governor Tim Walz on Tuesday in New York.
Join us for live coverage of the debate moderated by Margaret Brennan and CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell starting at 4:00 p.m. Eastern on CBS News 24/7 and at 8:00 p.m. on CBS. You can also stream it on Paramount+.
(ANNOUNCEMENTS)
ROBERT COSTA: We will be right back with a lot more Face the Nation, including the latest on the recovery from Hurricane Helene. The death toll from that massive storm stands at 63, and the damages are staggering.
We will talk to the head of FEMA coming up, plus former Trump National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan. He’s now running for Senate.
Stay with us.
(ANNOUNCEMENTS)
ROBERT COSTA: Welcome back to FACE THE NATION.
We turn now to the devastation of Hurricane Helene. She made landfall in Florida early Friday and swept through southeastern states. The damage has been enormous in terms of the death toll and loss of homes and businesses. FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell joins us now for an update on the recovery efforts.
Administrator, thanks for being here.
What can you share about the latest death toll from this devastating hurricane?
DEANNE CRISWELL (FEMA Administrator): Good morning, Robert.
Right now I’m here in Florida. And I believe yesterday, as I traveled with the governor to assess damages there, he accounted for 11 deaths here. But I would refer to the states for the specific numbers because there’s – they’re the ones that are tracking this.
But what I can tell you is, we are getting reports of multiple fatalities across the five states.
ROBERT COSTA: Which regions have been hardest hit?
DEANNE CRISWELL: So, this has been, Robert, a true multistate event. We have seen, I have seen, my team on the ground has seen, significant impacts in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Tennessee.
I saw the impacts here in Florida yesterday. I’m traveling to Georgia today so I can see the impacts firsthand there. And I’ll be in North Carolina on Monday so I can assess the impacts there.
But we’re hearing significant infrastructure damage to water systems, communication, roads, critical transportation routes, as well as several homes that have been just destroyed by this. So, this is going to be a really complicated recovery in each of these five states that have had these impacts.
ROBERT COSTA: And where has the flooding be worst? Where – where do you see real problem areas still at this moment?
DEANNE CRISWELL: Well, here in Florida, they had up to 15 feet of storm surge in Taylor County, which is where I was at with the governor yesterday. These are record storm surges across the big bend area. I heard reports of up to nine feet of storm surge in the St. Pete Beach area.
In North Carolina, we’re still in active search and rescue mode. They’re still having flooding issues and landslides. And so we’re still actively working on search and rescue missions up in North Carolina. We’ve had significant wind and flooding damage, again, in all five of these states.
ROBERT COSTA: Was North Carolina, in particular, prepared for this level of flooding? Where – have they ever dealt with anything of this magnitude?
DEANNE CRISWELL: This is really, Robert, historic flooding up in North Carolina and especially this western part of North Carolina. I don’t know that anybody could be fully prepared for the amount of flooding and landslides that they are experiencing right now. But we have had teams in there for several days. We’re sending more search and rescue teams in there. Water is a big concern right now as well. And so we have sent bottled water in, but we also have the Army Corps of Engineers that’s getting ready to start assessments today to see what we can do to help get those water systems back online quickly.
And we’re also moving in satellite communications, Starlink satellites, into the area to help facilitate the lack of communication that that part of the state is experiencing.
ROBERT COSTA: What are you seeing in terms of health consequences from this hurricane, in terms of water quality, access to food, access to medicine?
DEANNE CRISWELL: All of it is having really significant impacts. We know that many health care systems have been impacted. And so we also have health care assessment teams that are assessing the hospitals and the ability to support the people that are experiencing impacts from this storm. There are multiple boil water notices across all five states. And so that’s why we’re bringing in teams to help assess those water systems to see what we can do to get them back online as quickly as we can. But we’re also, again, bringing in the commodities.
ROBERT COSTA: How do you conceptualize this storm in the broader question of climate change?
DEANNE CRISWELL: Well, I think what we’re seeing, Robert, is, you know, this storm took a while to develop, but once it did, it developed and intensified very rapidly. And that’s because of the warm waters in the gulf. And so, it’s more storms that are reaching this major category level than we’ve seen in the past. It’s also creating greater amounts of storm surge in the coastal areas. It’s creating greater amounts of rainfall as it moves up north. And so, in the past, when we would look at damage from hurricanes, it was primarily wind damage, with some water damage. But now we’re seeing so much more water damage. And I think that is a result of the warm waters, which is a result of climate change.
ROBERT COSTA: And here in Washington, the question now turns to resources. Does FEMA have what it needs to deal with this level of storm, this moment in history, with this kind of hurricane?
DEANNE CRISWELL: Well, we absolutely have enough resources from across the federal family. FEMA’s one part of the team, and we have the ability to bring in all of our team members from many other federal agencies to support this response. As we move into recovery, we can pivot those resources to help support that recovery portion. Recovery can be complicated. These five states are going to have very complicated recoveries. But we will continue to bring those resources in to help them, technical assistance as they’re trying to identify the best ways to rebuild.
ROBERT COSTA: Administrator Criswell, we appreciate your time and best wishes to all of those helping those in need in this area of the country. A tough moment.
We’ll be right back.
(ANNOUNCEMENTS)
ROBERT COSTA: We’re joined now by retired Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster. He did serve as national security adviser in the Trump administration, but he has not endorsed either candidate in the presidential race this time around. He’s also a CBS News contributor and the author of a new book “At War with Ourselves.”
Good morning, General. Thanks for being here.
LIEUTENANT GENERAL H.R. MCMASTER: Robert, great to be with you.
ROBERT COSTA: You just heard from retired General McChrystal. He has made an endorsement. You have not. Why not?
LIEUTENANT GENERAL H.R. MCMASTER: Well, Robert, I respect his – you know, his ability to – to make that decision, and right to make that decision. But what I – what concerns me these days is the military is getting drug in to partisan politics. And you hear really both parties trying to involve the military.
Now, of course, General McChrystal is endorsing Vice President Harris as an individual, but I – I think sometimes it’s difficult to differentiate between an individual endorsement and the military getting drug into partisan politics, right? You hear – you hear this narrative these days, you know, from some people on the far right that the military is woke or from the far left that the military is extremist. Hey, the military’s not woke or extremist, right? The military is doing its duties under the Constitution and for whoever’s elected commander in chief.
So, that’s been a big part of my reticence. And then the other role is, I think, Robert – I mean the other reason is, I don’t think anybody needs me to tell them how to vote, right? I – I, in the book, and in other venues, I – I lay all – all of it out, right? The good, the bad, the ugly, you know, of – of the Trump administration, but I do so in context of the eight Obama years that followed it and the four – or that preceded it, and the four Biden years that followed it.
So, I think voters should make their own decisions. And what I’ve tried to do is help inform voters no matter what they’re – which way they’re leaning.
ROBERT COSTA: Let’s turn to the Middle East. What’s your view? You heard from Senator Cotton. You heard from General McChrystal. How do you see a possible war on the horizon, if any, between Israel and Iran, or is there something that can be done, especially by the United States, to contain what is happening?
LIEUTENANT GENERAL H.R. MCMASTER: Robert, I would say there already is a war between Israel and Iran. And it’s a – its’ a – it’s a war that Iran has been waging for four-plus decades. Nasrallah, who was there at the beginning of Hezbollah, who was there when, you know, they killed 241 Marines in Beirut and began a campaign against not only who Nasrallah called the cancerous boil of Israel, but the great say Satan of the United States. And Nasrallah, remember what his catch phrase was at the end of like almost, you know, many of the speeches that he – that he gave, which was, “the Jews are vulnerable because they love life. We can take the away from them. We will win because they love life and we love death.”
And so the Israelis have had really no choice. Remember, right after the heinous attacks of October 7th, that’s when Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel in solidarity with – with Hamas. That resulted in the evacuation of 10 percent of Israel’s territory, about 70,000 Israelis are out of their homes. And so, I think Israel is taking the right approach to escalate against an enemy who has been able to escalate really on their own terms with impunity and I think increasingly the United States has to act like we know what the return address is in Iran. Now is the time to double down on the pressure on Iran, to dry up the cash flow available. So –
ROBERT COSTA: What does that mean, though, just in – just in terms of financial action, or do you expect there might need to be a U.S. military role down the line for the United States and the Middle East?
LIEUTENANT GENERAL H.R. MCMASTER: Well, there already is – is a military role.
ROBERT COSTA: In terms of ground troops or air strikes?
LIEUTENANT GENERAL H.R. MCMASTER: Well, I think – I think both. All of this should be kind of on the table. And I think we should act like we know where those rockets are coming from. The 150,000 rockets that Hezbollah has pointed at Israel. The – the 40,000 or so members of Iran’s proxy army in Syria. The – the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Hamas in the West Bank, what remains of – of Hamas in Gaza, those were all trained, equipped, supplied by Iran to create this ring of fire around Israel and to destroy Israel and kill all the Jews.
The precursor to that is to act against us. Robert, 175 attacks against U.S. forces and U.S. installations by Iranian proxies since October 8th of last year.
ROBERT COSTA: General, you say the United States and Israel should be in lock-step or at least aligned as they move forward. But the Pentagon has said the Biden administration has said they were not informed about these attacks ahead of time. So, what does that say about the real state of play between Israel and the United States?
LIEUTENANT GENERAL H.R. MCMASTER: I think what Israel has determined is that it had to protect its security and secrecy around this operation. If you think about the blows that they delivered to Hezbollah in the past week, ten days, it’s really unprecedented. You know, just killing so many of them, wounding so many with the beepers and then the walkie-talkies. And then when they couldn’t talk securely, they met at a location in Beirut, struck that target. So, you know, Nasrallah has been taken out but so has all the cadre around him.
These are decades long of relationships and knowledge. And so I think now’s the time to put on the financial sanctions. Why did the Biden administration not enforce the Trump-era sanctions against Iran and allowed about $100 billion to flow to that theocratic dictatorship. Now is the time to reverse that policy.
ROBERT COSTA: So that Israel has taken out military targets. Lebanon is saying that many civilians have been killed. What should the U.S. do in terms of protecting civilian deaths moving forward?
LIEUTENANT GENERAL H.R. MCMASTER: Yes.
ROBERT COSTA: Talking to Israel about that issue. What needs to be done on the civilian front?
LIEUTENANT GENERAL H.R. MCMASTER: Well, what you want is, you need fire power to overwhelm this enemy, but you also want to apply that firepower with discrimination. And –
ROBERT COSTA: Is that being done?
LIEUTENANT GENERAL H.R. MCMASTER: And – well, it depends on the calculus at the time. Remember, the bunker in which Nasrallah was killed was underground, several stories underground, underneath, where? An apartment complex. And so it’s Hezbollah – remember, he said, we love death. Remember what Hamas leadership said just before the October 7th attacks. The purpose – one of the purposes of that attack was to get some of their own people killed, you know, so they could use that against Israel. So, it’s really important, I think, at this stage to continue to impress on the Israelis, apply fire power with discrimination, but also to recognize that these terrorist organizations are the principle causes for the violence and destitution and the suffering of the people in Gaza and the people in Lebanon.
Look at the great promise of Lebanon. It’s a beautiful country. Look at what Hezbollah has done to that country with their alliance with the Syrians form the 2000s. Remember, we had the Cedar Revolution in 2006 after Hariri’s assassination. I mean the Lebanese people are destitute in large measure because of Hezbollah.
ROBERT COSTA: And just finally here, former President Donald Trump, who you know well, he met with President Zelenskyy in recent days. He keeps talking about being able to broker something between Zelenskyy and Putin. Do you buy it?
LIEUTENANT GENERAL H.R. MCMASTER: You know, I don’t really buy it in terms of, you know, hey, in 24 hours there can be – you know, I think it’s a real – it’s a real myth, right? It’s a real misunderstanding of war. To assume that you can get a favorable political outcome without a favorable military outcome. That’s never really happened in war.
And so I think the right course of action is, if you want to accelerate toward progress toward a settlement is to convince Putin that he’s losing the war. I think that’s the only way you get a favorable settlement. How do you do that? You demonstrate our resolve to continue to support the Ukrainians as they defend themselves against this continued onslaught by the Russians. That’s how you get to maybe, you know, favorable conditions for negotiation.
ROBERT COSTA: General McMaster, we appreciate you coming on FACE THE NATION. Hope you come again. Thank you very much.
LIEUTENANT GENERAL H.R. MCMASTER: Thank you.
ROBERT COSTA: And we’ll be back in a moment.
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ROBERT COSTA: We turn now to the former Republican governor of Maryland, Larry Hogan.
Governor Hogan, thanks for being here.
LARRY HOGAN (Former Republican Governor of Maryland and Maryland Senate Candidate): Thank you for having me.
ROBERT COSTA: In one of the key Senate races in the country, you are not running alongside former President Donald Trump in your race, but he’s front and center. How are you able to distance yourself, if at all, in such a contested, heated political environment?
LARRY HOGAN: Well, you know, I think I’ve been one of the leading kind of voices of opposition in my party for quite some time, and I’m continuing to do that. We’re actually running 20 or 30 points ahead of Donald Trump in our state. And, you know, I think I – we – I have a completely separate identity after, you know, being governor for two terms in the bluest state – or one of the bluest states in America, you know, we have a separate, you know, identity. We – I stand up to him probably more than just about anyone, and I’ll continue to.
ROBERT COSTA: He’s endorsed you, but it’s not like you’ve welcomed that endorsement. But at – when you go in that voting booth, I know it’s private, but who are you going to vote for?
LARRY HOGAN: Well, look, I’ve said neither one of the two candidates has earned my vote. And the voters in the country are going to be able to make that decision. I (INAUDIBLE) –
ROBERT COSTA: So, there’s no chance you vote for Trump?
LARRY HOGAN: I’m not going to. I didn’t vote for him in 2016 or 2020. And I’ve made that pretty clear. But, look, I’m not running just for the Republican Party or the – you know, it’s not just about red versus blue, which is what my opponent wants it to be about. I’m concerned about the red, white, and blue. And I’m willing to put country over party. And I am hoping that the voters will be willing to do the same thing.
ROBERT COSTA: I asked retired General McChrystal this about former President Donald Trump, who, in recent days on the campaign trail, has attacked Vice President Harris, he’s said she has mental issues. He has said thing after thing, questioning her intelligence, her ability. Do you believe former President Donald Trump is fit for office or not?
LARRY HOGAN: Well, I think all of that is – is outrageous and unacceptable. And I’ve already called him out when he had the one interview where he was questioning her racial identity, and now he’s questioning her mental competence. And I think that’s insulting, not only to the – to the vice president, but to people that actually do have mental disabilities.
And, you know, I’ve said for years that Trump’s divisive rhetoric is something that we could do without. I think he’s his own worst enemy. And I think, you know, I’m very concerned about the toxic and divisive politics that seems to continue really back and forth. That’s what people are so fed up with. It’s why they want to change Washington, and it’s why I’m running.
ROBERT COSTA: When you were governor, you have often said you did not try to go against abortion rights in any significant way, but the U.S. Senate is a totally different place than being governor, as you know.
LARRY HOGAN: Yes. Yes.
ROBERT COSTA: If you are elected to the United States Senate this November, would you support eliminating the filibuster to secure abortion rights?
LARRY HOGAN: Well, I’m going to, on day one, support the compromised bill to secure Roe and protect abortion rights all across the country so that no – no one ever comes between a woman and her doctor.
I’m not – I don’t agree with both my opponent and Donald Trump about trying to do away with the filibuster –
ROBERT COSTA: Why not?
LARRY HOGAN: So we can jam things through on a partisan basis on one vote, so we can have the pendulum swinging back and forth and create more divisiveness. I think we need to find buy-in and – and bipartisan cooperation, just as I did in a state that has a 70 percent Democratic legislature. But we did things like cut taxes and lower the cost of health care and to, you know, pass a criminal justice reform act. We got to find a way to get people in Washington to stop just name calling, stop trying to jam things through on the left or the right. And the filibuster allows – it requires bipartisan cooperation and consensus. And that’s exactly what I think we desperately need in Washington.
ROBERT COSTA: What do you say to that blue, that Democratic voter in Maryland, who says, I liked you as two terms as governor, I’m a Democrat, but I voted for you, but I need you to go further on abortion rights than saying, I’m not going to touch the filibuster. They want you to break the filibuster.
LARRY HOGAN: Well, I’m not sure there are many of those. Look, I’m very supportive of women’s right to make those decisions, not to come between a woman and her doctor. I’m going to sponsor a bill on protecting Roe. I’m going to sponsor a bill on IVF. I ran for governor promising that I would not change – that I would – would not do anything to limit access to abortion. I kept that promise for eight years, and I’m now promising them again that I’m going to fight for that when I’m in the United States Senate.
ROBERT COSTA: If you are in the United States Senate, what kind of Republican Party would you be part of? You always have cast yourself in our conversations over the years as a traditional Republican. You’ve praised former President Ronald Reagan. It’s Trump’s party.
LARRY HOGAN: Well, you know, that’s one of the reasons why I’m running. You know, look, I think we need to get – get the country back on track. I’m standing up. I’ll stand up to the current president, the former president, or the next president when I think they’re wrong. I’ll work with them when I think they’re right. I’ll stand up to the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. It’s what I’ve done my entire career. I’ve been a leading voice in America to try to do something about this, you know, very divided country where all we do is fight with one another and nothing ever gets done. I’m a guy that likes to get things done. I like – you know, I’ll work across the aisle in a bipartisan way, as I did for the past eight years. And I think that’s – that’s what we really need in Washington. I think it’s what most people want.
ROBERT COSTA: But is it possible? I mean, looking at your own record, you – you thought about – flirted with a possible No Labels or independent run for president over the past year or so. And former Congresswoman Liz Cheney, for example, from Wyoming, a Republican, she’s broken with Trump. She recently suggested, as I’m sure you’ve heard, that they’re – it might be time for a new party. Do you believe that’s right? Is it maybe time for the traditional Republicans, the non-Trump Republicans to say, enough, time for something new?
LARRY HOGAN: Well, I’m not willing to give up. You know, I really believe that a healthy and competitive two-party system is important for – for our country. I’m very concerned that I believe my – both parties are way off track from what they – they’re – their kind of base core values used to be. I think the Democratic Party’s moving too far to the left. I think the Republican Party has, as you said, become more of a Trump party. But I’m not willing to give up. It’s why I’m running. It’s also why I stepped up.
You know, I got in this race when the bipartisan deal fell apart to secure the border, supply support and funding for Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan, and people voted against it because they didn’t want to give a bipartisan win.
My whole emphasis has been about how we find consensus, how we find common ground for the common good. And that’s – that’s what I based my whole career on. And so, I’m hoping that the voters will actually want that kind of leadership in Washington. If they decide just another partisan, you know, rubber stamp politician, they just want a vote based on red or blue, I’m not going to be in the Senate. But if they want to change Washington, I think I’m exactly the kind of person that can make a difference.
ROBERT COSTA: If former President Donald Trump calls you up on the phone in the next few weeks and says, Larry, I’d like to go to an Orioles game with you, then maybe have a campaign rally, would you appear with Trump in Maryland?
LARRY HOGAN: No, I don’t think I will. I don’t think he’s going to spend much time in Maryland because he’s – he’s down, you know, by about 30 points and, you know, he’s not going to really be campaigning in Maryland, but he should – you know, he should go watch a game some time, yes, sure.
ROBERT COSTA: But there’s no – you have no interest in appearing with him at all?
LARRY HOGAN: No.
ROBERT COSTA: And you’ve served with – finally here, we’re all looking forward to seeing Margaret do the vice presidential debate with Norah on Tuesday night on CBS.
LARRY HOGAN: Yes.
ROBERT COSTA: You know Governor Tim Walz. You were governors together.
LARRY HOGAN: Yes.
ROBERT COSTA: Is he a strong debater? Are looking forward to seeing what he does?
LARRY HOGAN: You know, I’ve never –
ROBERT COSTA: And do you like him?
LARRY HOGAN: I’ve never – I’ve never seen him debate. But, look, I think it’s – everybody’s going to be interested to tune in. I’m – I’m just hopeful that in this debate we can have a real healthy debate on the issues that people care about. You know, people are concerned about the economy and inflation, affordability. They’re concerned about crime and the border. Hopefully those candidates will talk about it instead of just typical politics.
ROBERT COSTA: Governor Larry Hogan, thank you for being here. Running for Senate in Maryland. We’ll be right back. Thank you.
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ROBERT COSTA: That’s it for today. But before we go, we want to say happy birthday to former President Jimmy Carter, who will turn 100 on Tuesday.
And also on Tuesday, CBS will host the vice presidential debate, moderated by Margaret and Norah O’Donnell. Make sure to tune in to CBS for the pregame, the debate, and the after-debate analysis.
For FACE THE NATION, I’m Robert Costa. Thanks for joining us.
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