i'm jane pauley. please join us when our trumpet sounds again next "sunday morning." ♪ it's been a hard day's night ♪ ♪ and i been working like a dog ♪ ♪ it's been a hard day's night ♪ ♪ i should be sleeping like a log ♪ ♪ but when i get home to you i find the things that you do will make me feel all right ♪ ♪ you know i feel all right ♪ ♪ you know i feel all right ♪ ♪ wade i'm margaret brennan in washington and this week on "face the nation," democrats defend president biden after a disastrous debate. a new cbs poll reveals whether it changed the way voters see

the candidates now. president biden's team sought out thursday's debate to draw contrast with donald trump, and hoped it would soothe concerns about the incumbent's age and stamina. instead, after meandering a hard-to-follow performance, not even president biden's closest supporters could ignore the obvious. >> it was a slow start. i'm not going to debate that point. >> that was strike one. if this were a ball game, he's got two more swings. >> the president went on damage control. >> when you get knocked down, you get back up. >> he spent the weekend at fund-raisers as critics outside some of those events and system of the nation's leading newspapers called for him to step aside. mr. biden said he's staying in the race, but some voters are voicing doubt. >> i'm not so sure he's as sharp as he should be. >> after what happened last night, democrats should wake up today with a plan b.

>> we'll have results of a new cbs poll. maryland governor wes moore who is campaigning for president biden, will join us. meanwhile, despite repeatedly making falsehoods on stage, former president trump claimed victory. >> we had a big victory against a man that really is looking to destroy our country. >> but his legal problems could cut that short as the supreme court prepares to rule tomorrow on whether former presidents are immune from criminal prosecution. we'll hear from possible trump running mate, ohio senator jd vance. plus, we'll check in with congressman jim himes, the top democrat on the intel committee and get the latest from the head of unicef, katherine russell on the humanitarian crises putting millions of children at risk around the world. it's all just ahead on "face the nation". ♪

good morning, and welcome to "face the nation." we begin this morning with reaction to the first presidential debate of 2024. our polling unit asked voters how they view the candidates now, including their cognitive health. the results are not encouraging for the president. the number of voters who say president biden has the cognitive ability to serve has dropped from 35% earlier this month to 27% after the debate. that's the lowest number since cbs began asking voters that question last september. nearly three-quarters of all registered voters now say he shouldn't be running, and nearly half of democrats say he shouldn't remain the nominee, an extraordinary number for an incumbent who didn't face a competitive primary.

we should also note that half of all voters also say former president trump does not have the cognitive health to serve. voters gave former president trump a significant edge though when asked which candidate explained his ideas clearly, inspired confidence, and appeared presidential. joining us now to discuss all of this is maryland governor wes moore. he's in milwaukee where he has been campaigning for president biden's re-election this weekend. welcome back, governor. >> thank you so much. great to be with you. >> governor, you know it wasn't a good night for the president, and i'll save us time because i know you're going to tell us, look at presidential performance, not debate performance. everyone has a bad night. barack obama once had a bad night, but you know at 81 years old, this is a different set of factors for president biden. why was he struggling thursday? >> well, i think both candidates struggled. i don't think either candidate had a very good night on the

debate night, but i also do know that it does matter when we're looking at presidential performance and not necessarily debate performance. >> respectfully, governor, the president doesn't do many interviews. he doesn't do things where we have to see him be quick on his feet. he's not here. you are. he's not on the campaign trail as often as surrogates like you are. >> yes. >> isn't that demonstrating that there are alternatives, democratic alternatives who are younger and able to go out and be quick on their feet and on the trail? >> i know i got a chance to see the president when times were difficult and see him in trials. >> yeah. >> and i've seen him be able to be a remarkable partner to us and that's what i remember, and that's why i continue to believe that the biden administration deserves another four years and i'm excited about what that can deliver for the american people. >> why was the president struggling? >> i think the president had a

tough night. i think -- >> why? >> all of us have difficult nights. well, i think the president had a difficult night just like every single one of us do. >> governor, i know that democrats believe that abortion is a winning issue in this election. here's what the american people heard from the president when he was asked about abortion. >> look. there are so many young women who have been included in young woman who just was murdered and he went to the funeral, and the idea that she was murdered by an immigrant coming -- talk about that, but here's the deal. there's a lot of young women that are by their in-laws, by their spouses, brothers and sisters. it's just ridiculous, and they can do nothing about it. >> abortion is an important issue for democrats. this should have been a layup. he was struggling to make the point. how do you explain that?

>> margaret, that wasn't a great moment for the president, and no one can argue that it can. he was also standing feet away from someone who was talking about politicians who take babies away after they're born and killing them. he was also talking -- he was also standing feet away from somebody who was debating whether or not the limit on reproductive health should be six weeks or nine weeks or 12 weeks or saying that any politician should have a say about what happens with a woman and her body when that conversation should exclusively be between her and her doctor. >> right. donald trump was saying it's to the state. >> we can't defend that. >> donald trump was also claiming responsibility for the turnover of roe v. wade. it wasn't a great moment for the president, but let's be clear. his position on making sure the reproductive health and reproductive rights should be ironclad, his position that we should have roe v. wade as a law of the land is very, very clear.

with donald trump, i want to be also clear that that is not his position. >> i understand you want the conversation to be about the policy and the false statements made by his opponent, but "the atlanta journal and constitution," a key moment for the president said, this wasn't a bad night. it was a confirmation of worst fears of some of biden's most ardent supporters. age has finally caught up to him. it referred to excuses like what you're making as insulting to the american people. how do you respond to that? >> i think that what we are watching, when you are watching a presidential performance, when you are watching a president who is able to lead us to now where we have record low unemployment, when we're able to watch how the black wealth inside of this country since the pandemic has risen by 60%, when you're able to watch a presidential performance that's been able to do things like raise wages for

our workers and making sure that our rights are protected, that that does matter in this conversation, and so i understand people who are, you know, and i understand and i get it, the arguments about age and the complications of 81, but the number 81 is an important number, but so is watching historically low unemployment rates and i do not think people should lose sight of that. >> sure, but we're not just talking about 3 1/2 years in the past. we're talking about four more years, bringing him to age 86. here is what the president responded when he was asked about the national debt and how he would tax billionaires. >> we would be able to wipe outo all the things we can we need to doen. child care, elder care, making sure we continue to strengthen our health care system, make shing sure we're able to make every single solitary person eligible for what i have been able to do with the covid -- excuse me.

with dealing with everything we have to do with -- look. if -- we finally beat medicare. >> the president lost his own point. >> we also have to remember that this election is a binary choice. it's an election between president joe biden and frankly even the conversation around the national debt, you know, someone whose tax cuts at a time when e over the next decade, we are going to have the largest transfer of wealth in the history of the world, and a president -- >> you need young voters to turn out. democrats need young voters to turn out. >> that's right. >> how are they supposed to see themselves reflected in that? >> that's right. i think they're also going to see themseves reflected in all the people who are going out and being the president's surrogates. i think you have to go out and earn it. i'm the youngest democratic governor in this country. the only african american governor in america, and we are out here all the time and we're

out here in conjunction with other surrogates. we're out here in conjunction with the president who's out here campaigning and the vice president. we're going to the people, and we're making our case to the people as to why this kind of partnership matters. progress does not happen by accident. the work that we are seeing -- i look at the state of maryland. we now went from being 43rd in unemployment when i was first inaugurated to having the lowest unemployment rate for 12 straight months. >> you would want the democratic nomination if joe biden were to take himself out of this race? >> i will not, and joe biden is not going to take himself out of this race, nor should he. he has been a remarkable partner. >> are you confident that the only person -- the only democrat in america that could beat donald trump is joe biden? >> joe biden is our nominee. joe biden is our leader, and joe biden has earned and joe biden deserves the confidence, the respect, and frankly the partnership that we now have to

provide to him, and so i will be in chicago. i will proudly be supporting the president in chicago. i will work through november to make sure he gets re-elected. so yes, i do think that president biden has earned the respect of democrats and joe biden is going to be our leader going forward. >> governor moore, thank you for joining us. >> thank you. and "face the nation" will be back in one minute. stay with us. (vo) you might be used to living with your albuterol asthma rescue inhaler, but it's a bit of a dinosaur, because it only treats your symptoms, not inflammation. treating both symptoms and inflammation with rescue is supported by asthma experts. finally, there's a modern way to treat symptoms and asthma attacks. airsupra is the first ever dual-action rescue inhaler that treats your asthma symptoms and helps prevent attacks. airsupra is the only rescue fda-approved to do both. airsupra is an as-needed rescue inhaler and should not be used as a maintenance treatment for asthma.

get medical help right away if your breathing does not improve, continues to worsen, or for serious allergic reactions. using airsupra more than prescribed could be life threatening. serious side effects include heart problems, increased risk of thrush or infections. welcome to the modern age of dual-action asthma rescue. ask your doctor if airsupra is right for you. we turn now to ohio republican senator jd vance. he joins us this morning from cleveland, and senator, i should say we are having some technical issues so you're with us on zoom. hopefully our uplink stays solid throughout because i've got a lot of questions for you, sir. >> sure. >> donald trump had a better night on thursday during that debate by many measures, but according the our poll, he fell short on at least one of them. fewer thought the former president was truthful compared with president biden.

mr. trump falsely claimed states are passing legislation to execute babies. i think you know that killing people is illegal in every state. he falsely claimed that the speaker of the house at the time turned down 10,000 soldiers that he had offered to keep the peace ahead of january 6th, something his own active secretary of defense testified to congress did not happen. if he has such a strong platform, why make false claims? >> well, morgan, i think the meeting is running interference on all this stuff. nancy pelosi has admitted on camera that she could have requested national guard troops. she bears some responsibility for the fact that they weren't there at the capitol. we know that multiple democratic governors and states and even some democratic senators and congressmen have tried to pass laws that would effectively legalize abortion up until the moment of birth, and most importantly, we know that the media seems totally uninterested

in fact checking joe biden in any of the false number of claims he made -- >> i've lost track, sir. i have been told everything is our fault. let's get back to the candidate you're here to talk about. chris miller said 10,000 troops -- he was never ordered by the president to send those to the capitol that day. >> nancy pelosi has said on camera, margaret, that she bears some responsibility for the fact that the national guard didn't play a big role, and of course, we know the speaker of the house has an extraordinary amount of influence over the capitol police. it's not in dispute, margaret, and more importantly, joe biden said that no troops died on his watch even though 13 american service members died thanks to his botched withdrawal from afghanistan. joe biden made multiple statements of falsehood during the debate and a lot of folks in the media, yes, seem tote lynn interested in fact checking him and the reason, margaret, is because donald trump just performed so much better. there was this 24-hour period

where effectively everyone was honest, that there was an incredible contrast between donald trump's energy and command of the facts and joe biden's obvious inability to do the job as president, and now of course, we've trained this new media cycle where people run for cover. the american people saw what they saw. trump can do the job. biden can't. >> you might not have heard it. i did raise a lot of those issues to wes moore, the biden surrogate who was on before you. as to where you stand on some of these issues, tomorrow at the supreme court, it may be a significant day as we get -- expected to get that decision on presidential immunity from criminal prosecution, and that's directly relevant to the federal charges against donald trump as you know. you're a lawyer. i wonder, if you become the vice president and you are in a trump/vance administration, do you believe a president could pardon himself for federal crimes? >> well, look. i'm focused on electing donald trump as president.

whether i'm serving in some other role, or serving as united states senator, i think the trump agenda has worked, margaret, and on this particular question -- >> would you object if the president were to try to do that? >> margaret, we know that the president has to have immunity to do his job. should barack obama be prosecuted for droning american citizens in yemen? there are so many examples of presidents, democrats and republicans who would not be able to discharge their duties if the supreme court does not recognize some broad element of presidential discretion. i'm very confident they're going to be able to do that, and i'm very confident that the fundamental principle here is the president's got to be able to do his job in the same way that the police officers, judges, prosecutors enjoy some immunity. that principle has to apply to the president too. >> so you do believe that the president could pardon himself for federal crimes? >> i believe that the president has broad pardon authority, margaret, but more importantly, i think the president has immune p

immunety. it's not about whether he should pardon himself, but whether he should be prosecuted in the first place for discharging his official duties. i reject the premise of the question here. we need to have some recognition that the, you know, look. a democrat wins the presidency. they try to throw the republican president in jail. a republican wins the presidency. they try to throw the democrat president in jail. that is the pathway to unraveling 250 years of american constitutional tradition and making the president totally unable regardless of party to do their job. that is not a good thing, and it's not something i think any republican supports. >> okay. to that point, president trump on that debate stage on thursday, suggested that joe biden could be criminally prosecuted after he leaves office. it wasn't clear exactly what crime he was alleging, but he mentioned something about the u.s. border. in a trump/vance administration, would your justice department prosecute joe biden, and if so, for what? >> first of all, that would be the responsibility of the attorney general, margaret, but donald trump did not say that he's trying to throw his political opponent in jail.

that is joe biden who is, in fact, already trying to do precisely that, and importantly what he said is that if you applied the same standard that joe biden's justice department has applied, then there are a lot of democratic officials who could go to prison. he's making a fundamental argument about constitutional fairness. it's so extraordinary that people could say that donald trump is the one trying to use lawfare against his opponent sometime in the hypothetical future when the very next president, that's what joe biden is trying to do. >> but do you object to the premise? >> i think what we need to recognize is applying a consistent standard is what really matters. >> so you would not want the justice department to prosecute joe biden for any alleged crimes? correct? >> i want people -- margaret, i want people who commit crimes to face the appropriate law. what i do not think is reasonable is for joe biden to weaponize his own justice department, going after donald trump. any number of crimes, some of

which had been thrown out, and a number of which i think will be thrown out including on monday by the united states supreme court court. the problem is not which democrat should prosecute and which republican, vice versa. let's let voters decide who the president should be, not judges and prosecutors who are politically motivated. >> senator, you are as everyone knows, on this very short list of potential running mates for donald trump. so for our viewers at home, you are 40 years old. you have been in the senate for less than two years. you haven't held elected office before this. if you are selected alongside a nominee who is 78 years old, you will be a heartbeat from the presidency. what do you think your biggest accomplishment has been to date? >> i'm not running for vice president, and it's important for us to remember that donald trump has been a very good

president. he will be a very good president again. i think in some ways these vice presidential conversations serve to distract from the fact that we have donald trump as president with the success. joe biden as president has been a failure. let's get back to success and peace and prosperity. my advice is, margaret, look. if he asked me, i want to help him, and of course, i would be very interested in the job. you asked, what are my accomplishments in the united states senate? in 18 months, margaret, we've done a lot of work for our constituents. we've got hundreds of millions of dollars to the great lakes. we helped east palestine deal with the train disaster, and we've done a lot of work on making sure that ohio has gotten defense resources that make not just ohio, but our country stronger. there's a lot we can hang our hat on, but i like being a senator. i'm not trying to leave the united states senate. it's an honor to serve the people of ohio, and if you ask me, that where i expect to be in six months. that's where i expect to be in a few years. >> all right.

j.d. vance, we'll be watching, and hopefully we'll have you back-in studio next time. we'll be right back. >> thanks for having me. be rig >> thanks for having me. >> ann >> announcer: this portion of "face the nation" is brought to you by simp lisafe. there's no safe like simpli safe. simplisafe. if advanced lung cancer has you searching for possibilities,

discover a different first treatment. immunotherapies work with your immune system to attack cancer. but opdivo plus yervoy is the first combination of 2 immunotherapies for adults newly diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer that has spread, tests positive for pd-l1, and does not have an abnormal egfr or alk gene. opdivo plus yervoy is not chemotherapy, it works differently. it helps your immune system fight cancer in 2 different ways. opdivo and yervoy can cause your immune system to harm healthy parts of your body during and after treatment. these problems can be severe and lead to death. see your doctor right away if you have a cough; chest pain; shortness of breath; irregular heartbeat; diarrhea; constipation; severe stomach pain; severe nausea or vomiting; dizziness; fainting; eye problems; extreme tiredness; changes in appetite, thirst or urine; rash; itching; confusion; memory problems; muscle pain or weakness; joint pain; flushing; or fever. these are not all the possible side effects. problems can occur together and more often when opdivo is used with yervoy. tell your doctor about all medical conditions including immune or nervous system problems, if you've had or plan to have an organ or stem cell transplant, or received chest radiation.

your search for 2 immunotherapies starts here. ask your doctor about opdivo plus yervoy. a chance to live longer. tomorrow the supreme tomorrow the supreme court is set to conclude a blockbuster term and issue a landmark decision on whether presidents are granted a degree of immunity from criminal prosecution. a decision that could impact the 2024 race. we're joined now by cbs news chief legal affairs correspondent, jan crawford and chief washington correspondent major garret. a lot to get to with both of you, but jan, the big question of tomorrow morning. what will the court rule? >> i mean, we'll see, but i do expect a decision that at least leaves open the possibility of a trial before the election. i mean, i see zero chance they're going to embrace donald trump's argument that he has absolute immunity.

and can't be prosecuted. i think they're going to say there is some immunity for the official actions of a president, and why is that important? i agree, and you heard some of that in your conversation with senator vance. they are concerned that this case will apply to future presidents. they are concerned that after a bitter campaign as one justice pointed out in an argument that the winning candidate could throw the loser into jail. they're worried about that, and as trump said during that debate, he believes biden's policies on immigration have been criminal. they see this as a case that goes well beyond donald trump. that's why i think they're going to wall off those kind of official actions of a president's, but leave open the possibility of prosecution for unofficial actions of an office seeker, and as trump's lawyer argued at the oral arguments, conceded at the oral arguments, a lot of what's alleged in the indictment is unofficial acts. so jack smith could have those papers ready to go and say, he's conceded these are unofficial acts and he can be prosecuted and let's get this trial going,

and i think the judge could do that very quickly. >> it's hard to get your head around something being unofficial act by the president when he is doing it in office at times from the oval office. how do you explain that? >> because as a lower court in a different case on a similar issue explained, unofficial acts are the acts of an office seeker, a candidate. speeches you may give on a campaign trail at rallies. so it's already laid out the groundwork how to make these divisions. it'll be the core powers. immigration policy, and decisions about drone strikes. that cannot be prosecuted. that will be walled off, but there are a lot of things a president does that can be unofficial and criminal. >> there is so much we need to dig into on the legalities and then with you, major, on the practicalities because as you just mentioned there could be a trial before the election. we can't rule it out. we're going to have to talk about what that looks like and the impact on the trail. please stay with us, and we'll

have the rest of that conversation on the other side of this commercial break with jan and major. and major. wounded warrior project empowers post-9/11 veterans and their families with life-changing programs and services. i faced my ptsd, and i'm a better husband and father because of it. we help warriors

get the expert care and support to thrive. i got involved. i got healthier. i got to be an athlete again. through our programs, community and advocacy, we're proving anything is possible. learn more at wounded warriorproject.org/connect weathertech products are designed and manufactured in america using only american raw materials. most competitors make things seven thousand miles away... and then wonder why they don't fit. with weathertech in your vehicle you may hear angels singing as you marvel, how do they do it? simple. american technology and american workers deliver quality... not imported junk for a few bucks less. get the world's best floorliners and support america. find your fit at wt.com (♪♪)

we'll be right back with a lot more "face the nation." stay with us.

>> what's going on, everybody? if i'm doug smith. >> and i'm shasta avery hart finish. >> and we are in the middle of motor city celebrating the top