Full transcript of "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," Sept. 22, 2024
On this "Face the Nation" broadcast, moderated by Margaret Brennan:
- Anthony Salvanto, CBS News director of elections and surveys
- Sen. Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida
- Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, Democrat of Pennsylvania
- Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat
- Isaac Herzog, president of Israel
Click here to browse full transcripts of "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan."
MARGARET BRENNAN: I'm Margaret Brennan in Washington.
And this week on Face the Nation: Our CBS News polling shows new gains for Vice President Harris, but what about in those all-important battleground states?
With six weeks to go until Election Day, voting is already underway in a handful of states, and both sides are encouraging supporters to get out and vote.
(Begin VT)
DONALD TRUMP (Former President of the United States (R) and Current U.S. Presidential Candidate): Take nothing for granted. You have to get out and vote.
KAMALA HARRIS (Vice President of the United States (D) and U.S. Presidential Candidate): The election is basically here, and we have work to do to energize, to organize, and to mobilize.
(End VT)
MARGARET BRENNAN: But growing concerns of foreign interference in our elections continue to loom over both campaigns.
We will ask the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Florida's Senator Marco Rubio, about it. We will also talk with an ally of Vice President Harris, Colorado's Governor Jared Polis.
Then: After a second assassination attempt on former President Trump at his golf club in Florida, the scrutiny of the Secret Service intensifies. We will talk to one of the Democrats on the congressional task force investigating both cases, Pennsylvania's Chrissy Houlahan.
Plus: escalating exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and Israel just days after Israel carried out a daring attack on Hezbollah by detonating thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies. Is the risk of wider war in the Middle East growing? The president of Israel, Isaac Herzog, will join us.
It's all just ahead on Face the Nation.
Good morning, and welcome to Face the Nation.
We begin today on the presidential race in our new CBS News poll, which finds Vice President Harris up four points nationwide over former President Donald Trump.
With interest rates and gas prices on the decline, she's aided in part by some improvement in views of the economy. Across the battleground states that will likely decide this election, Harris is up by a slimmer margin of two points. So this remains a contest that either candidate can win.
For more, we're joined now by our executive director of elections and surveys, Anthony Salvanto.
Anthony, this is a remarkable national poll, because, to date, the economy has been viewed as a headwind for Democrats. That appears to be shifting.
ANTHONY SALVANTO: Well, we saw a little bit of an uptick in voters' views of how the economy is doing.
And I should say right away, most people still think it's not good. But to the extent it moves in a positive direction, here's how it connects to votes for Harris. Number one, she wins votes of people who think the economy is getting better, even if it's not good.
She wins the voters who say that their own finances are doing OK. She wins the votes of people who think the economy itself is good. Now, maybe all that's not unexpected for anyone from an incumbent party. There's always been this kind of nature of the times dynamic here where people who say things are bad, Donald Trump has been benefiting from that, especially people who say inflation is a top concern.
So, net-net, Harris has cut in to Donald Trump's margins, still an advantage, among people who say that the economy is the top issue. Is she ever going to eclipse that? Maybe, maybe not. But the question politically is, can she do well enough to sustain this sort of very slight edge in what is, and I got to sort of reiterate this, if I can, still a really close contest.
Because, even when you look state by state, everything is razor-tight.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.
ANTHONY SALVANTO: It can go either way.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So how much did the debate help?
ANTHONY SALVANTO: Well, a little bit in terms of firming up support for Harris, in the sense that, on net, voters told us it made them more likely to consider her as compared to Trump.
But the people who said that had voted for Joe Biden in 2020. They were already sort of Democrats or liberals. So, in the sense that she's still trying to kind of cement that Biden electorate from 2020, that helps. And I should add quickly, look, Donald Trump's support isn't going anywhere. The question for him is, can he draw more voters to him, which doesn't look like it's happening just yet.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So immigration and the border crisis have been a prime area of attack by Republicans on Democrats. It really went back in the spotlight after the debate.
ANTHONY SALVANTO: We looked at whether people thought that those claims about dogs and cats being eaten in Springfield, Ohio, were true. And, by and large, the voting public says, no, they don't think those claims are true. As you know, they have been debunked.
But for Donald Trump's voters, there are two-thirds who do think that that is true, those claims are true. They do approve of him making those claims. Now, here's the difference. For them, for Donald Trump voters, we ask, why do you think he made those claims?
And their answer was, they think he was trying to raise larger topics, raise larger issues about immigration. And that's something we have seen before with Trump's rhetoric. They may – there's maybe the literal part of it, but then there is also what they think is speaking to larger issues of concern to them.
But juxtapose that against what the wider audience of voters thought. They disapproved of him making the claims. They thought his intent was to make people who were recent immigrants feel uncomfortable in those communities.
And so that's the difference, because – and I will sort of button up with this – when you look at Donald Trump's voters, remember that not only is immigration a big concern for them, but their perception of immigrants is very negative, frankly.
It is. They think immigrants commit more crimes. So that's been kind of underpinning a lot of that. And it speaks to that Trump voting base.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Which is why he revisits that theme throughout.
One of the other things that I know all of us have been tracking, you have been really trying to quantify is the risk of political violence and the support for it in this country. It was just last Sunday there was this second attempt on Donald Trump's life.
Now, what do you think that indicates, if anything, about the months ahead?
ANTHONY SALVANTO: Well, people think that the tone and tenor of our politics has gotten worse. And there is a substantial part of the electorate that does worry about political violence.
And each side looks sort of across and says that they think violence might increase if the other side wins. And what's interesting about that is, a lot of times people talk about the worry if one side of the other loses. But you also see this public conception of it as, would that give kind of license to the other side if they were to come into power, all of which is to say we do, unfortunately, see the public mind, the electorate feeling like this is a cloud hanging over the election.
MARGARET BRENNAN: A concerning one.
Anthony Salvanto, thank you.
ANTHONY SALVANTO: Thank you.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And we turn now to Florida Senator Marco Rubio, the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
And he joins us from Miami.
Good morning to you, Senator.
SENATOR MARCO RUBIO (R-Florida): Good morning.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So, I have a lot to get to with you, but I want to focus in on what you and your committee have been told.
I know U.S. intelligence and the FBI said foreign actors are increasing their election interference as we get closer to November. This week, the Senate is going to be briefed in full on this. What is this scenario that is concerning to you?
SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: Well, I think it's going to become a fact of life in the 21st century. It's just very easy now for anyone to do it. You don't have to be a big nation-state.
So they're kind of all different. The Russians are looking at, what are the preexisting fractures in our country? hand then they try to sow division, getting us to fight with one another. That's primarily what we've seen them focused on, you know, sowing messages out there, including with inauthentic things that they create.
You use A.I., you make a fake video, whatever, you put it out there, just to get Americans to fight against each other. In the case of Iran, Iran has – it seems to be more specifically focused on Donald Trump. I mean, it's been, now publicly documented they're trying to kill him. And so, if Iran's trying to kill Donald Trump, they most certainly don't want him to win the election.
And so that's what their efforts have been, including attempted hack and leak operations and things of this nature. The Chinese are really kind of new into this business, or growing into this business of it, and they seem increasingly in some – at least in past cases that we've seen publicly disclosed going after specific candidates that they view as being anti- China.
I don't think they want Donald Trump to win, but I do think you've seen them focus on things like congressional races in the past.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Mm-hmm.
SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: And I also think they're laying the groundwork for more expansive operations in the future on influencing American public opinion, on things like Taiwan and what's happening in the South China Sea and things of that nature.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Right.
SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: So, there are multiple actors out there that are in this space now, and I think you'll see more in the years to come, because you don't really need, you know, to build anything really expensive. You just need access to the World Wide Web.
And, you know, we're an open country, an open society, with open means of communication. And the best way to deal with all this is for awareness…
MARGARET BRENNAN: Right.
SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: … people to understand everything you see on the Internet isn't true.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Right. Exactly. That's why we want to talk about it.
Microsoft's president testified before your committee, and, as he put it, the most perilous time is the 48 hours right before the election. He described this as a race between not just Trump and Harris, but Iran versus Trump and Russia versus Harris.
Do you think the United States has gotten smarter in how it responds? And have we learned from what happened in 2016?
SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: Yes, so what he alluded to are some instances in the past where some fake audio or fake video generated using A.I. is put out there and it influences the election 48 hours.
I think we're a little bit insulated from that, not that we should let our guard down, but a lot of the votes are already in by the time 48 hours comes around. So that doesn't mean it's irrelevant. In very close races, it could tip the scales.
I do think all the way around, here's the bottom line. If you see something out there, a video that just seems way too scandalous, I would pause for a second and make sure that it can be verified. That's my advice to everybody is, don't just believe something you see for the first time. It may have been something that happened five years ago, and they're making it look like it happened yesterday.
It may be something that – that has been made up…
MARGARET BRENNAN: Right.
SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: … using an A.I. mechanism to do so.
And – and so that would be my advice to people as well. Again, I'm not saying 48 hours before the election is irrelevant in America. I am saying it's probably less impactful than it is in some of these other countries, who don't have mail voting, early voting, where so many of the votes are already in by then.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, the Biden administration has issued sanctions, warnings, these public disclosures.
One of them this week was about Iran trying to hurt the Trump campaign by hacking and stealing information and then sending it to the Biden campaign. This was similar to that hack-and-leak operation disclosed in terms of trying to target journalists.
And I know it was widely reported information about you, sir, was stolen and given to journalists. Do you know what was stolen?
SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: No, but I doubt it's anything that you probably couldn't find with, you know, just a search online of past stories that have been written and things of that nature.
But I – look, I think you're going to see more of that in the years to come. And I don't think that the – you know, to – credit to the media outlets and so forth. I remind – that didn't run with it – I remind everybody, you know, back in 2016, when this first happened, I said, that's a foreign operation that was used targeting the Clinton campaign.
So, this is going to become one of those things that is – I'm not saying we should be happy about it or accepting of it, but we need to be just understanding that this is now going to become a regular feature, not just the presidential races.
Presidential races get so much attention that I think you can wade through some of that. It benefits from that at least. But I think some of these lower ballot races are the ones that are particularly more susceptible, because, if you're running for Congress or Senate somewhere, let's say a congressional seat, and someone dumps something like this on you, it's much harder to get the truth out there in time for it to be cleared up.
There just isn't going to be as much interest, and there isn't going to be as much people covering it.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, Donald Trump posted about the hack-and-leak operation attributed to Iran, but he said it was evidence that the FBI was spying on him, and then blamed the vice president for spying on him. That is not at all the case.
SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: Yes, I don't – no. Well, again, I don't know anything more than what's been publicly reported when it comes to that hack-and-leak operation. Perhaps we'll know more this week.
I – but, again, it doesn't surprise me that someone clicked on something, they got into your system, they stole documents, and then they try to give it to the media. And, look, here's what we're going to see one day. It's not just that they're going to take it and give it to a campaign or the media.
They're going to give it to somebody, some online journalist, somebody who will run with that stuff…
MARGARET BRENNAN: Right.
SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: … and will begin to report on it, or maybe even alter it, for example, make up a fake e-mail where it looks like a real e- mail, maybe it is a real e-mail, but they alter a few words in it and put it out there.
And by the time you put out that fire, it's done damage.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Right.
SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: In a presidential race, everybody will cover that, and I think can get to the truth a lot faster. In a downballot race, it's going to be a lot harder for some candidate to prove that that e-mail is fake.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.
SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: By the time they do, the election may be over.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Just to be clear, though, it was the FBI that publicly disclosed this with the Intelligence Committee as happening, not the FBI spying on the Trump campaign.
SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: Right. That's correct.
MARGARET BRENNAN: There are – when we want to talk about threats to Mr. Trump, it was just last Sunday there was this second near-miss.
There are FBI investigations underway into what happened here, but Senator Vance said he doesn't trust Kamala Harris's Department of Justice to really investigate this stuff. Can you assure the American people that law enforcement is conducting a full and impartial investigation?
SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: Well, I think people on the ground in law enforcement want to do so.
What information is made available to the American public, which deserves to know what is behind each one – not just one but, two assassination attempts of Donald Trump, I think that's where this lack of trust in institutions – look, multiple people in the Federal Bureau of Investigation faced charges or were fired from misconduct in the way they handled issues about Donald Trump just eight years ago.
So, I think people are rightful to be suspicious and distrusting, and that's why it's so damaging, for example, when 51 former intelligence officials, formers, sign a letter saying that a laptop of Hunter Biden is Russian disinformation, and then it turns out not to be true, and then people logically conclude, well, this is an example of how these agencies and our institutions work against candidates they don't like.
It undermines people's trust in our institutions, and that lack of trust is eroded in government, in the media, in our agencies within government.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.
SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: And, unfortunately, that's why people – that's why disclosure and openness with regards to these investigations is so critical. It's not just because we want to know.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Right.
SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: It's because it's important to preserve trust in our institutions.
(CROSSTALK)
SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: And we're not seeing that, more on the second than the first, but we've – but, you know – but we're not seeing it.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But you trust the FBI and can assure the public that they are investigating these assassination attempts that J.D. Vance says they're not taking seriously?
SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: I trust rank-and-file in-the-field FBI agents to do their job.
MARGARET BRENNAN: OK.
SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: I don't know what their leadership in some of these agencies and the mid-level will do with it, because you've seen a history in the past of there being bias.
I hope that's not true.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.
SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: And, more importantly, I don't – I don't – I think what the real question is if, in fact, they do discover, let's just say – I'm speculating. I'm not saying I know this to be true or even that I think is true.
But let's say there is a foreign nexus to one of these two attempts. Would they allow that information to be put out there to the American public before the election in November? I can't tell you with 100 percent certainty that there wouldn't be those within the agency…
MARGARET BRENNAN: Should they?
SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: Yes, absolutely.
MARGARET BRENNAN: OK.
SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: I think that's an important factor for people to know.
MARGARET BRENNAN: I wanted to ask you about whether you have heard or have any information in regard to a foreign nexus in regard to the bomb threats made in Springfield, Ohio.
The governor of Ohio said they had over 30. And he said the person who made the calls came from overseas. This was after Trump and Vance put the focus on Haitian migrants in that town.
SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: Yes, only what's been reported publicly, but that would not be uncommon.
For example, a lot of these – these calls where they call and tell the SWAT team to go someone's house because there's a murder occurring, a lot of these come from overseas as well. And, unfortunately, there are – you know, that doesn't mean it's being directed by a government overseas.
MARGARET BRENNAN: OK.
SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: It could be. I haven't heard that. But just because they're coming from overseas doesn't mean a government is behind it.
But, yes, we have these kinds of individuals all over the world that like to do these kinds of things.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.
Well, here in this country, in terms of people being inspired to take action, we have been looking, as you heard about, what the perception of the public is right now, particularly some of the things that Mr. Trump and Mr. Vance say.
Our poll shows two-thirds of Trump supporters believe those false and disparaging claims about Haitian migrants are true. The governor of Ohio has said he is a big supporter of the ticket, but he's sad about this because there's no evidence of these claims, he's disparaging migrants who are legal, and the verbal attacks dilute and cloud what should be a winning argument for Republicans about the border.
SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: Well…
MARGARET BRENNAN: Do you agree that this kind of thing is a distraction from the broader point and dangerous?
SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: Well, it shouldn't be a distraction, because, at a minimum, it shouldn't keep us from, for example, saying, OK, well, maybe I don't believe I don't believe the dogs and the cats thing, but there are literally people moving in by the by the thousands in the case of Springfield.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.
SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: Charleroi in Pennsylvania, you know, that's a 4,000- person city that has 2,500 migrants.
And I think one of the problems here is that somehow Americans, who are not intolerant, they're not bigots, they're not – but they are troubled by the fact that their city is being flooded. In Springfield, you see reports, these are legitimate reports, of huge increases in traffic accidents leading to slower police response time…
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.
SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: … overcrowded schools, I mean the strain this puts on a community.
And if you complain about it, somehow you're a bigot, you're a racist, you're a hater.
MARGARET BRENNAN: No we've talked about those legitimate…
SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: That is the story here, that everyday Americans are being made to feel like they're haters because they're complaining about something all – any of us would complain.
If any of us, I don't care who we are…
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.
SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: … live in a city of 4,000 people, and you bring in 2,500 migrants overnight into one place, there are going to be problems.
MARGARET BRENNAN: There are absolutely problems…
SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: And people are going to complain. That doesn't make you a bigot. And that should be – that should be what we're focused on.
MARGARET BRENNAN: There are absolutely problems that the governor has documented and that we have talked about here.
But it wasn't everyday people making those claims. It was the Republican nominee and his vice president making those false claims about Haitian migrants, that rhetoric.
SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: Well, those are claims – no, those are claims that people – those are claims that people in those communities made. Maybe some have now recanted or moved aside from it.
But that should not take us away from the fundamental truth, and that is, there is – there are real impacts happening when you move people into communities, as has been done by design, by the Biden administration and allowing people across the border and so forth.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes, but you know – you're in leadership. You know words matter.
SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: Yes.
And I think one of the words that should matter the most is, there is a real migratory crisis. There is a real migratory crisis, and even in this particular case, not just Springfield, Charleroi, other places like that. People are – there are real impacts happening in our country with this movement of mass migration, and that's not gotten the coverage that it deserves.
And you say you've covered it. Others cover it. But it hasn't gotten the coverage. The cats and dogs thing has gotten way more coverage…
MARGARET BRENNAN: Right.
SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: … than the real-world impacts that this is having. And I think that's what needs to change in the way this issue is covered.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Mm-hmm. We will talk about that more on this program.
Sir, we've got to leave it there for today.
Senator Marco Rubio, thank you for joining us.
We'll be back in a moment.
SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: Thank you.
(ANNOUNCEMENTS)
MARGARET BRENNAN: We go now to Democratic Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania. She joins us from New York this morning.
Good morning, Congresswoman.
I know you are one of the lawmakers looking into this near-miss in terms of the attempt on the life of Donald Trump recently and the incident back in July. Did you get the answers you needed from Secret Service this past week?
REPRESENTATIVE CHRISSY HOULAHAN (D-Pennsylvania): And, first of all, thank you for having me.
And, yes, I'm one of 13 members, seven R's, six D's, that are looking into this particular event on July, but also the most recent one as well. Yes, we have been getting the answers that we've been asking for. We have been asking for quite a lot out of both the Secret Service, as well as local law enforcement. And I believe that the answers have been largely forthcoming.
If, for whatever reason, they're not, the good thing about this particular group is that we have subpoena authority to be able to make sure that we get the answers. It's really important that this group works bipartisanly and quickly to be able to understand what happened, to be able to make sure that it doesn't happen again, and, to your conversation with Senator Rubio, to make sure that we restore the faith and trust in the – with the American people in the institutions such as law enforcement and the Congress.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Mm-hmm.
Well, Congresswoman, I know the Secret Service on Friday publicly admitted some of the failures on their own part. It was a five-page summary. But the Secret Service said agents failed to use technology to detect the attacker back in July as he flew a drone over the rally.
Trump's detail had no idea police were looking for a suspicious person until shots were fired, and they never directed local police to cover a nearby rooftop. Do you trust the current leadership to address very serious issues like this?
REPRESENTATIVE CHRISSY HOULAHAN: These are very, very serious issues, and they have come up in our conversations and in the briefings that we've received.
And there were some enormous gaps that you've mentioned, in terms of people texting information to each other rather than using the radio, in terms of people not even knowing that there were two command centers. There were huge gaps.
And there were also some gaps, frankly, in kind of culture and people being relatively lax in the way that they communicated with one another. And all of these things have to be fixed.
I do believe that the attention of the organization is fully on all of the different things that they can and should be doing to be correct – to correct themselves. I think, also, the attention of the Congress is on them as well to make sure they have the resources to be able to make those corrections as – too.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And I want to talk to you more about some of those solutions on the other side of this commercial break, if you could stay with us, Congresswoman, so we could finish our conversation.
And we'll be right back with more from Congresswoman Houlahan. Stay with us.
(ANNOUNCEMENTS)
MARGARET BRENNAN: CBS News will host the first and likely only vice presidential debate between Senator J.D. Vance and Governor Tim Walz on Tuesday, October 1.
Join the CBS News political team for live coverage of the debate. The debate itself will be moderated by CBS Evening News anchor Norah O'Donnell and myself right here on CBS, CBS News 24/7, and streaming on Paramount+.
(ANNOUNCEMENTS)
MARGARET BRENNAN: We will be right back with Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, Colorado Governor Jared Polis, and Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
Stay with us.
(ANNOUNCEMENTS)
MARGARET BRENNAN: Welcome back to FACE THE NATION.
We are continuing our conversation with Pennsylvania Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan.
Congresswoman, just to button up this conversation about the Secret Service and political violence right now. Our latest CBS poll shows Harris supporters think the nation will see a higher threat of violence if Donald Trump is elected. And Trump backers think the nation will see higher threats if Vice President Kamala Harris is elected.
Do you have any concern about rhetoric and with Democrats characterizing Donald Trump as a threat to democracy, do you think that can be used to justify or inadvertently even encourage violence?
REPRESENTATIVE CHRISSY HOULAHAN (D-PA): Sure. Let's start from the beginning. Political violence of any form is unacceptable, and we will not tolerate it. And the Democratic Party, starting from the very top, from President Biden, to Vice President Harris, to members of Congress, such as myself, have decried political violence full-stop.
And it is one of those things where we really do need to dial down the temperature and the vitriol. And I think that it's important that everybody do that. And as you mentioned in your earlier segment, it starts at the top. Leadership matters.
And so both sides of the aisle need to make sure that we're being thoughtful about these conversations that we're having. But important to you about me to know is, you and I would likely not be talking had there not been the first election of President Trump. And many of the ways that he conducts himself really need to make sure that - that we understand that should he return to the White House, I am personally concerned that that would be a problem for our democracy. But that means that I'm working hard to make sure that I get out the vote and have the conversations to make sure that Kamala Harris is successful in her efforts to go to the White House.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And you said that in this bipartisan investigation you - that is a focus for you to make sure that you have Republicans and Democrats delivering the same message. And I take your point there.
REPRESENTATIVE CHRISSY HOULAHAN: Absolutely. And - exactly. We were chosen because we're serious lawmakers. We were chosen because we tend to be those people who are willing to do the work and to do it quietly and effective and to do it bipartisanly. And that's what I intent to do.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You are, as we said, a representative from Pennsylvania. And the commonwealth is a key battleground. Our CBS polling shows it is just dead heat there. But yesterday Senator J.D. Vance was campaigning in Pennsylvania, and he said they feel extremely good about their prospects there. Do you have that kind of confidence?
REPRESENTATIVE CHRISSY HOULAHAN: I have - I have the opposite feeling, which as, as I mentioned, I - I would not be talking to you had Hillary Clinton been successful years ago. And we had confidence as Democrats that evening that Pennsylvania would be blue. And as we all know, that wasn't the case. So, I will let Mr. Vance have his confidence because I'm going to keep working all the way into the end of the election and through the finish line and through the tape because I really believe it's that important that we take nothing for granted and that we work as hard as we can during this next several weeks, I guess, six weeks now.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Six weeks. And, you know, on that debate stage, I heard Vice President Harris very specifically speak to the 500,000 Polish Americans she said live in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. And she drew that directly to her position on Ukraine and the war there.
I know you are leading outreach to Polish Americans. How do you quantify how that war, thousands of miles away from the United States, impacts how voters in the state of Pennsylvania actually think about it? Do you really think that it has an influence on the vote?
REPRESENTATIVE CHRISSY HOULAHAN: I do. And I can draw a straight line to it. My father was born in Poland. He was born in 1942 into a Jewish family. He and his mother survived the Holocaust. I'm here - I'm here in America because he was able to survive and came here and had a thriving Naval career. And now I'm a member of Congress, one generation later.
That is because of the - the constant war that goes over that part of our - of our world starting back in the Huns (ph). And I think it's really important that we talk to the Polish American population, as well as everybody from the kind of eastern Europe area because it's not that long ago that World War II was, and that is absolutely something that can repeat itself if we don't support the Ukrainians and we don't support their fight for their democracy, which is their fight for all of our democracies.
Also importantly as a Pennsylvanian, the Lithuanian National Guard is our partner country. And so our men and women are in Lithuania at this moment within harm's way if we don't help Ukraine. So, I do think it's absolutely an issue that makes sense and that we should talk about in places like Pennsylvania.
MARGARET BRENNAN: OK. And my producer is telling me it's actually higher than half a million, it's 800,000 Polish Americans.
REPRESENTATIVE CHRISSY HOULAHAN: It is 800,000. I didn't -
MARGARET BRENNAN: Wow. Yes.
OK. All right. Thank you.
REPRESENTATIVE CHRISSY HOULAHAN: It's a good number, yes.
MARGARET BRENNAN: It certainly seems like that. And the president of Poland visiting the commonwealth today as well.
We'll watch and see how that impacts what your voters think.
Thank you, Congresswoman, for joining us this morning.
We'll be right back.
(ANNOUNCEMENTS)
MARGARET BRENNAN: We go now to Colorado Democratic Governor Jared Polis, who joins us this morning from Boulder, Colorado.
Governor, welcome back to FACE THE NATION.
I know you are supporting -
GOVERNOR JARED POLIS (D-CO): A pleasure to be here.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Supporting the vice president's bid for the presidency. She is ahead by four points, as you heard, in our latest poll. But this is very tight.
What is your greatest area of concern of potential vulnerability here?
GOVERNOR JARED POLIS: Well, yes, it's - it's - it's neck and neck. And, you know, I was - I was reflecting this morning, you know, the next president we elect is going to be president during our 250th anniversary as a nation. Our semi quincentennial, a term we're going to be hearing more of.
We know that Donald Trump's not the person that can unite us and bring us together in that exciting time to celebrate our nation's past, present and future. Let's give Kamala Harris the opportunity to show that she is. I really feel that she's ready to unite us. It's neck and neck, and we just need to get the vote out in the states that matter, to be able to make sure that we can move forward rather than backward as a country.
MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to ask you about some of her economic plans, but first about immigration.
You heard Senator Rubio on this program talk about the lack of attention being paid to immigration and the border crisis. But I know you, Governor, have been dealing with it firsthand.
In Aurora, Colorado, that's been getting a lot of attention from the Trump team in particular because of members of a Venezuelan prison gang who migrated here to the U.S. and apparently were involved in a shooting in Aurora. During the debate, Donald Trump used Aurora as an example of a worst of the migrant crisis. This is what he said yesterday.
(BEGIN VC)
DONALD TRUMP (R), (Former U.S. President And 2024 Presidential Candidate): Under border czar Harris, Venezuelan gangs have taken over entire apartment buildings in Aurora, Colorado. The government - the governor is petrified in Colorado. He's a liberal governor. He doesn't know what to do. The guy is so scared of these guys, and maybe you can't blame him.
(END VC)
MARGARET BRENNAN: Governor, I know local officials set up a special task force, but how do you respond to this personal attack here?
GOVERNOR JARED POLIS: Well, I - you know, I went shopping in Aurora yesterday. I - what a lot of Americans need to know is Aurora is a - over 400,000 people. It's Colorado's third largest city. Violent crime is down two years in a row. Car thefts are down two years in a row. It's a - it's a wonderful city. I'm there all the time. It's - it's really a great, diverse city and it's growing fast. It will probably be the number one or number two city in Colorado over the next decade or two.
So, it's a great city. It's safer than - than it's been. And, look, it's - like any city, Chicago, L.A., mid-sized cities, Denver. Of course there's been an issue with gangs for decades in Aurora, and I feel that we've finally turned the corner. I mean this is the difference between electing a president that skirts the law versus one who's made a career enforcing the law. I mean Kamala Harris is somebody who stared criminal enterprises in the face, put criminals behind bars, as district attorney, and she's going to take that same attitude to the White House to make America safer.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But the mayor of Aurora has - has acknowledged a special task force was established and - and said they're working with the federal government, it's a regional issue. Should - should the Harris campaign be talking about some of the these real issues and acknowledging them in a way that might help their campaign because really the answer is about that failed border bill at the - in Congress. That's usually what the Harris campaign talks about. Should they acknowledge more of the real issues?
GOVERNOR JARED POLIS: Well, I - first of all, I think that's a legitimate and important issue to talk about. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress, had a real bill before them to make the needed investments in border security.
Look, I've - I've been down to the border. I've - I've - I've been at border crossings. We need better border security. Kamala Harris will deliver on that because it's not a simple proposition. It requires investment. High-tech investment. Fencing. Scanning. More - more border patrol agents, which the bill would have funded more border patrol agents.
So, look, I'm confident that Kamala Harris is somebody that will actually solve the border issue rather than keep it going for purely political reasons and for dividing us.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.
GOVERNOR JARED POLIS: We need somebody who's going to unite us. And, of course, that includes securing our border.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Should she talk about it more?
GOVERNOR JARED POLIS: Well, I - look, I mean, I think she talks about it as - as one of the issues. I mean it's - we need to make America safer. We need to secure the border. She had a plan to do that. It was blocked by Donald Trump and Republicans.
So, look, I think it's a great issue for people to - to run on and talk about. And it's one that Democrats should have a huge advantage on because Republicans have failed time and time again to secure our border.
MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to ask about the economic plans here. Vice President Harris has a proposal to tackle housing affordability, and she wants to give a first-time home buyer's down payment credit of $25,000, in addition to a $10,000 tax credit. I know you see this firsthand, what the crisis looks like in Colorado. Are you concerned that this will fuel demand for homes and just push up prices rather than solving the supply issue?
GOVERNOR JARED POLIS: So, that's not the whole plan, right? That's one plank of the plan. Her plan is focused on creating over 3 million new homes, reducing bureaucracy and red tape and making it easier to build homes people can afford. Yes, as part of that, we want people, when they can, to be owners instead of renters so they can build value. This is the opportunity economy she talks about, right? Renting a home, a place to live, it's important. Owning a home, building equity and wealth over time, that's what Kamala Harris believes in.
So, of course, 3 billion new homes, reducing bureaucracy and paperwork, making it easier to build is part of that. Helping transform renters into owners is a key thing we should do to help make America more successful.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So, that's how you would choose to solve it in your state as well? You think this would fix the problem?
GOVERNOR JARED POLIS: Well, again, you - yes, you talk about one plank. We're engaged in very similar reforms here. We've allowed now people to build accessory dwelling units, mother-in-law flats by right. We're doing additional allowing for multifamily, more inherently affordable housing near transit.
The hardest kind of homes to build, not just in Colorado, but this goes in most communities across the country, have been those $200,000, $300,000 starter homes that somebody early in their career might be able to make the down payment and afford.
The average home price in the Denver metro area is now $600,000, and that's great for those who can afford it. But we need more homes that are available for purchase in that $200,000 to $300,000 range. That's what we're focused on in Colorado. We need the help nationally. Whoever saw - you know, this takes mayors, governors, presidents all working in the same direction towards making housing more affordable. And that's exactly what Kamala Harris' plan will do.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Governor, thank you for your time this morning.
We'll be back in a moment.
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MARGARET BRENNAN: Hezbollah responded to Israel's strikes by firing over 100 rockets deep into Israel overnight.
CBS News foreign correspondent Chris Livesay has the latest from Tel Aviv.
(BEGIN VT)
CHRIS LIVESAY (voice over): A barrage of Hezbollah rocket and drones pierce the stillness of northern Israel this morning. Israel says most were intercepted by the Iron Dome defenses, but some found their target, like this strike near Haifa, which left three wounded and one dead when a teenager lost control of his vehicle. All of it in response to this, an Israeli attack on Friday in southern Beirut that killed top Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Aqil, who will be buried later today following the funerals of other commanders who died in the strike.
The Aqil strike came after two days of devastating attacks on thousands of Hezbollah militants. The Israeli military says the war's center of gravity is now moving north towards Hezbollah and away from Hamas.
But Israel hasn't forgotten about Gaza. Today, a school where hundreds were sheltering was struck west of Gaza City. This just a day after the Hamas- run health ministry said a strike on another shelter turned school left more than 20 people dead, half of them children, one of them a pregnant woman. Israel said the school had been turned into a Hamas command center.
In a separate instance, our CBS News team in Gaza filmed babies and children injured in a strike on their family home this morning.
WOMAN: In our Al Jazeera office in occupied West Bank has just been raided.
LIVESAY (voice over): And in the West Bank, during a live broadcast, Israeli forces shut down the Ramallah bureau of broadcaster Al Jazeera, as a journalist read the warrant. The Qatar based network is accused of inciting and supporting terrorism.
(END VT)
LIVESAY: Well, so far Israel has not claimed responsibility for those exploding beepers and walkie-talkies, Margaret. But today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did say that Israel dealt Hezbollah, quote, "a sequence of blows it could not imagine."
MARGARET BRENNAN: That was our Chris Livesay from Tel Aviv.
We turn now to the president of Israel, Isaac Herzog.
Welcome back to FACE THE NATION.
ISAAC HERZOG (Israeli President): Thank you, Margaret. Good morning.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Mr. President, in the - in the past few days Israel carried out a groundbreaking operation against thousands of Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon. The U.S. was only given 20 minutes' notice ahead of time. Since then, Israel also carried out a strike in Beirut that killed senior commanders of Hezbollah.
What is the strategy here, and is Israel trying to escalate into a full- blown war with Hezbollah?
ISAAC HERZOG: Absolutely not. We did not want this war. We're not seeking war. This war was waged upon us by the proxies of the empire of evil of Iran on October 7th by Hamas and on October 8th by Hezbollah. And ever since, from Lebanon in the north, and, of course, from Hamas in the south, and all over the Middle East, the proxies of Iran are attacking and attacking.
Now, Hezbollah's been attacking us on a daily basis, demolishing Israeli villages and towns. Basically leading to the eviction of 100,000 Israelis from their homes. Life has been shattered in our northern border. I don't think any American would have accepted it as a - as kind of a status quo situation in the United States. And at the end, there are things that must be done. The duty of a government or a nation is to take care of its citizens and bring them back home.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But on the issue of what's happening in the north of Israel right now, the White House argues that a war in Lebanon is not the way to bring those 100,000 Israeli back into their homes. They want a diplomatic agreement about that blue line. Do you think that the current government of Israel wants a diplomatic agreement?
ISAAC HERZOG: We never said that we don't want a diplomatic agreement. On the contrary, there is a very able American envoy, Amos Hochstein, the president's adviser, who is trying to go back and forth between us and the Lebanese. But truly, let's understand the situation. When you are dealing with terror organizations, they don't really give a dam about international affairs. They take hostages, or they fire as much as they want. They get instructions from Tehran. They send Houthi terrorists to block the high seas. And the cost of living in the world goes up. This is the culture of terror.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.
ISAAC HERZOG: And it's a terror of jihadists, meaning, they don't give a dam about anything.
Now, we agree time and again to go into rounds of talks. We support and welcome the efforts by the United States of America and the administration. Truly we're respected tremendously. But at the end of it, OK, Mr. Hochstein leaves Israel and they keep on firing and firing. And that cannot go on forever because our citizens must go back home because -
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.
ISAAC HERZOG: The guy in Lebanon, Mr. Nasrallah, thinks he - that he wants to link it to Gaza. And in Gaza, there's another arch terrorist, Mr. Sinwar, in the dungeons, who doesn't want to get to a deal. Refuses to get to a deal. This is jihadism at its best. And that's what we are fighting.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, that -
ISAAC HERZOG: And I wish truly, and say it as the president of Israel officially -
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.
ISAAC HERZOG: And I say it outright because I know, we don't want war, but if it's waged against us, we go all the way.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, you say you don't want war. Mr. President, Israel moved its 98th division to the north of Israel this week. Your defense minister says the center of gravity is moving towards Lebanon. What is the intention of those military moves if not to prepare for war?
ISAAC HERZOG: Because these guys, who we eradicated on Friday, were gathering together in their - in their apartment in Beirut, in order to plan another October 7th. That - they developed this school of thought, of swarming into Israel, of trying to take hostage, of butchering, raping, burning, abducting.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Do you have evidence? Do you have evidence that an attack is imminent?
ISAAC HERZOG: Again, we have enough risks here to take care of.
Pardon?
MARGARET BRENNAN: Do you have evidence that there was an imminent attack?
ISAAC HERZOG: So, I can't go into all the information itself, but it is assumed that they were planning an attack. You see today, this morning, they took out a barrage of attacks on Israeli citizens, towns and villages, all over the northern part of Israel, pounding with huge bombs and missiles on the northern part of Israel. Why would any nation accept it? Why would any decent nation accept it? We're almost a year in such a situation over kind of a vicious cycle. We want to get out of this vicious cycle.
MARGARET BRENNAN: This past week the AP put out graphic footage shot in the West Bank, where Israeli soldiers pushed the bodies of Palestinians off the roof of buildings there. The White House says they want an investigation. That this is abhorrent and egregious behavior.
How do you respond to these concerns from one of your closest allies, that Israel may be adding to escalation risks?
ISAAC HERZOG: So, we, of course, listen to our closest ally openly and frankly. This is - if - if it occurred as reported and it is under investigation because we are a nation of the rule of law. We will, of course, take all necessary action. We will condemn it and use all the, you know, the legal steps that need to be taken against it. But we are studying it, because we are a serious army and a serious people and we study and investigate ourselves as much as we can.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Before I let you go, do you think that President Biden's efforts to negotiate that hostage deal is just wishful thinking at this point? Will this be a problem for the next American president?
ISAAC HERZOG: So, actually, I would say that I have huge respect for President Biden's effort. And we support it wholeheartedly.
But as the spokesperson of the National Security Council General Kirby just said the other day, we are not getting any positive signs from Hamas at all from Sinwar. He's out there in the dungeons taking, you know, I mean whatever we think in our line of thinking as free, loving nations and peoples, he thinks the other way.
But I would say that the - actually the call for the family of nations in this current crisis, which is boiling hot, is actually perhaps the opportunity to go forward and change the situation by finding the right exit and bringing the hostages back home.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.
Mr. President, thank you for your time this morning.
ISAAC HERZOG: Thank you very much.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We'll be right back.
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MARGARET BRENNAN: That's it for us today. Thank you for watching. Until next week, for FACE THE NATION, I'm Margaret Brennan.
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