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tv   Face the Nation  CBS  July 29, 2024 2:00am-2:31am PDT

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i'm robert costa in washington, and this week on "face the nation" -- israel fires back at hezbollah after a deadly rocket strike, plus with
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100 days until the presidential election, and with a new candidate, what's next in the race? overnight the israeli military launched strikes on a series of hezbollah targets. retribution for a rocket strike in israeli territory that killed at least 12 people, including children in the country's northern border. the iran-backed terror group has denied it was behind the attack. >> every indcation is that indeed the rockets were from -- or the rocket was from hezbollah. >> we'll get the latest from house foreign affairs chairman michael mccaul, and senator chris van hollen who has been outspoken about israel's actions in gaza. senate majority leader chuck schumer will also weigh in, in a rare sunday interview. plus -- >> we are not going back. > knew candidate, new energy for the democratic party as vice president kamala harris moves to
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formally clinch the nomination this week after president biden's departure from the race. >> i'm super excited and i think her able is group. >> as former president trump tests attack lines. >> they took him out of the fight. we have a new victim now, kamala. >> are democrats prepared to withstand the onslaught and compete in november? >> i would love to see a woman in power at some point. i'm just not sure if right now is the time and with this candidate. >> we'll hear from new mexico governor michelle lujan grisham on the harris campaign advisory board. it's all just ahead on "face the nation." ♪ good morning. welcome to "face the nation." we'll get to politics and the presidential race in a moment, but we want to begin this morning with the middle east and
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fears that hostilities between israel and hezbollah could spark a broader regional conflict. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has just returned to tel aviv from his trip to the u.s. and debora patta has the latest. >> reporter: it was mostly children and teens killed in the hezbollah rocket attack. this morning, families and friends gathered to bury their dead. knew every single victim. how much will you miss them? >> i wish we could, you know -- i wish we could go back in time and this wouldn't happen. >> reporter: the strike in this remote druze village in the israeli occupied golan heights is the deadliest since october 7. the kids were playing soccer behind me when the sirens rang out. moments later the rockets hit leaving no time for them to run to this shelter.
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children were playing soccer here when the sirens rang out. second later the rocket slammed into the pitch, leaving no time to run to safety. israel and the iranian-backed hezbollah have been trading almost daily fire along the lebanese border for more than nine months now, but this could escalate tensions. a u.s. official told cbs news, there's no doubt it was a hezbollah rocket, despite denials from the armed group. while the u.s. does not believe it intended to hit the soccer field, this is exactly the kind of nightmare scenario it's been warning about, that could push the region into all-out war. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu cut short his u.s. trip to fly home and overnight, his war planes retaliated by hitting hezbollah targets deep inside lebanon. the israeli force is
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overstretched in gaza. over the weekend the israeli military issued new evacuation orders in an area in khan yunis designated a humanitarian safe zone. once again, up ending the lives of displaced palestinians. but there was no warning before the idf hit this school sheltering civilians in central gaza yesterday. in the dust and rubble, people scrambled for safety. this woman calls frantically for her loved ones lost in the panic. we were just sitting, playing happily, says this traumatized young boy. the idf says it was a hamas command center. there were mostly women and children among the more than 30 killed. >> debora patta reporting. in israel, we turn to senate majority leader chuck schumer. senator good morning. >> good morning. good to be here. >> senator, what's your response to the latest strikes in the
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golan heights? >> well, look, first, we know that iran, through its sir row cusses, hezbollah, the houthis, is the evil in this area, and israel has every right to defend itself against hezbollah like they do against hamas. it's sort of -- it shows you how bad iran, and its surrogates are. these were arab kids they sent missiles at, and they don't even care who that is. having said that, i don't think anyone wants a wider war, so i hope there are moves to deescalate. >> sticking with the middle east, senator, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu just in washington. you were part of the formal bipartisan invitation to have him come to washington, yet there was video of you not shaking his hand when he was on the floor on capitol hill. why not? why did you not shake his hand? >> well, look, you know, i went to this speech because the
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relationship between israel and america is ironclad and i wanted to show that. but at the same time, as everyone knows, i have serious disagreements with the way benjamin netanyahu has conducted these policies. >> your colleague and friend, former speaker nancy pelosi, tweeted this, this week, she said "benjamin netanyahu's presentation in the house chamber was by far the worst presentation of any foreign dignitary invited and honored with that privilege in american history." do you agree with her assessment, and do you have any regrets at all about the invitation? >> look, no, as i've said. i wanted to show our ironclad commitment to israel that transcends any one prime minister or any one president, no matter how much you might disagree with that prime minister. >> senator, on july 13th, you went to delaware to meet with president biden. it was a private discussion, and
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discussions with the president private. but that, for history, was a very momentous meeting in the sense of you were the senate democratic leader, the majority leader, meeting with the president to discuss the presidential race. for history for the record, did you in any way suggest to the president that he should leave the presidential race on july 13th? >> well, first, let's look at president biden's record. he's had one of the most amazing presidencies we've had in decades, passing so many good things. the infrastructure bill, the ira bill, getting the price of prescription drugs down for the first time going against the nra successfully, helping our veterans with burn pits, so he's had an amazingly successful record. he's always done what's right for america. and i respect him. i respect his patriotism. i respect the amazing things we worked together on many much them. >> but just for history, though,
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did you -- what was your role, what was your intention with that meeting with him on july 13th? >> yeah. i'm not going to get into the specifics, but he can -- the president -- president biden will walk away from the presidency with his head held high because of all the great things he's done, and because he put america first. he always has. >> vice president harris now the presumptive nominee. senator, are you encouraging senate democrats, including those in battleground states, to invite her to campaign with them, to have her in their advertisements? >> yeah. the biden-harris record is incredible, as i mentioned. all the specific things that they have passed together, working with us, so it's an incredible record and our senators are already talking about it. they're, you know, cutting ribbons at new bridges. they're bringing rural broadband. they're bringing broadband to rural areas. they're opening up new factories from chip fabs.
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so it's a great, great record, and it's helping our senate candidates run on it. let me just say one thing. just compare that to the republican record, to the trump-vance ticket. it's extreme. this project 2025 shows it would take the rights away from women, it would take away rights of working people and help only the very wealthy. it would even be a threat to our democracy. one more point about this, and that is, the addition of j.d. vance to this ticket, it's incredibly bad choice. i think donald trump, i know him, he's probably sitting and watching the tv and every day vance, it comes out vance has done something more extreme, more weird, more erratic. vance seems to be more erratic and extreme than president trump. i'll bet president trump is sitting there, scratching his head, and wondering, why did i pick this guy? the choice may be one of the best things he ever did for
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democrats. >> what do you mean? >> the president has about ten days, ten days, before the ohio ballot is locked in, and he has a choice. does he keep vance on the ticket, where he probably -- he already is a whole lot of baggage, probably going to be more baggage over the weeks because we'll hear more things about him, or does he pick someone new? it's his choice. >> has vice president harris reached out to you and do you have a leading contender or two that you believe would be helpful? senator kelly, your colleague, is one of the contenders we've reported. are you confident he goes on to the ticket you could hold on that seat in a few years in a special? >> let me say this. i have complete confidence that vice president harris will choose a top-notch ticket, top-notch vice presidential candidate. we have a very strong bench. there are a lot of good choices. i have confidence in her choice. >> are you worried about the
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senate majority? it's a narrow majority for you right now. what's your candid assessment of your majority and democratic choices? >> my candid assessment, we're not only going to win the senate but we have a good chance to pick up a seat or two. our candidates, our senators, are running on their records of accomplishment, and that's why they're running ahead of national ticket because when they show all the good stuff we're bringing to their states, through the infrastructure bill, through the chips and science bill with so many good manufacturing jobs, through bringing broadband to rural areas for the first time, rural areas desperately need it. franklin roosevelt said in the 1930s electricity was a necessity and brought it to them. we're doing the same thing with broadband, which in the 21st century is a necessity. we have a great record to run on and it's going to keep us in the majority. >> finally here, senator,
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president biden this week is going to make a push on the supreme court to reform the supreme court. what's really possible there? what's realistic? give us your real view about whether this can happen this year in a bipartisan way? >> well, first, let's start off, the supreme court is a morass. it's an ethel morass. the idea that wealthy individuals, many right wing, can both have -- pay for cases before the court and at the same time give justices gifts or trips is outrageous. and, frankly, chief justice roberts isn't doing enough to curb it. but it's a morass in even a worse way. this is a maga right wing court. it's already taken the right away, the right to choose. it could very well go further on that. i fear it will. it's siding with the wealthiest of individuals and the powerful interests over the average working family. and it even threatens democracy when it says that a president
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can get immunity even for certain acts in the presidency. so this court is just a morass, both ethically and substantively. >> thank you, senator schumer. we appreciate your time. "face the nation" will be back in one minute. stay with us. meet mixtiles. smart frames that you can easily hang using their special magnets. it's beautiful, easy to align, and they will leave zero damage to your walls. easily design the photos you love and order your mixtiles today at mixtiles.com.
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we now go to republican senator lindsey graham of south carolina. good morning, senator graham. let's start with foreign policy. >> good morning. >> it's a serious time over in israel. are you confident, senator, that u.s. and lebanese efforts to cool tensions between israel and hezbollah will be successful? >> no. because i think iran is behind all of this, and until we put iran on notice that w're going to hold you accountable for attacks by hezbollah and hamas against israel, you're going to get more of the same. the attack of october the 7th was designed to stop normalization, in my view, between saudi arabia and israel. so until the iranians believe
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they're going to get hit, that we start putting their oil refineries on a target list, you're going to get most of this. when it comes to iran, biden-harris have been a failure in terms of controlling the ayatollah. they enriched him and israel is paying the price. >> what do you believe could happen? could this conflict spiral and open up a second front. >> what i worry about the most is a sprint to a nuclear weapon. the director of national intelligence gave the senate a report last week about the status of the iranian nuclear program and their malign activities helping their proxies like hezbollah and hamas throughout the middle east. it was stunning. i am very worried that not only you could open up a second front, but they could use these three or four months before our election to sprint to a nuclear weapon. and we have to put them on notice that cannot happen. >> let's turn to the presidential race, senator graham. you just heard from senator schumer. he called your colleague in the senate on the ticket, senator j.d. vance, he called him weird.
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he called him extreme. he said he wonders if your close friend, former president trump, sitting there this morning wondering why did i pick this g guy. it's not just democrats. let me show you something from the "wall street journal" editorial page. senator vance's recent comments smack of smart aleck cracks that get laughs in certain right wing male precincts but doesn't play well with many female voters, many of them republicans. senator vance talking about childless americans in political leadership and other controversial comments. you're close to former president trump. does he in any way regret having vance on the ticket? >> no, not at all because j.d. vance has one of the most compelling stories in american politics. when you look at his background, what he overcome, early in life to be who he is, he went to iraq, he didn't have to, went to yale law school, he became a marine. that's no small deal. the american first agenda will
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be in good hands with j.d., no matter who the democrats pick. vice president harris picks to be her running mate, they will buy into her agenda. her agenda is the green new deal and medicare for all. she is the most liberal senator in the united states senate and there's been enough drugs on her watch as border czar, fentanyl, to come in through the border to kill everybody in the world. so the america described by senator schumer where biden did a great job, is not connecting with the american people. we're on the wrong track. the american people know it and j.d. vance will help president trump get is on the right track and if you expect kamala harris, the border czar, that's been a miserable failure on that issue, to get us back on the right track, it would be a colossal miss mistake. we're in good shape on the republican side. policy matters in an election. if this is a policy election we win. >> senator, understand your focus on vice president harris, the presumptive democratic
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nominee. but there are many americans who do not have children. you're also not just a senator, you're a political strategist and work with former president trump and so many minds. is it a mistake for senator vance to keep talking about americans who don't have children when it comes to a national campaign? >> right. right. yeah. i don't have children, but i'm going to vote for j.d. and trump because i think we'll be safer and more prosperous and more secure. i want to end the biden-harris debacle. you should never say anything to hurt anybody's feelings, but when you look at all these interviews by j.d. he was talking about how the democratic party has abandoned the traditional family. this election is going to be decided by the american people on who can correct the problems in their lives, and here's what most americans are experiencing. having to choose between buying food and gas and a border that is beyond broken, the largest
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cause of death of young people in american is fentanyl poisoning, coming through the broken border and a world on fire. so this idea of trying to marginalize j.d. and make him some kind of bad person is not going to work. he's not a bad person. he's a good person. he has served his country honorably and going to help president trump win. >> no one is questioning his character here. we're wondering is it smart politics. >> they're not? >> well not here at "face the nation." is it smart politics for him to -- is he -- does he have the right message to win this election or not, or would you advise him to adjust his message? >> his message is i'm going to help president trump change america. we're going to secure our border. we're going to drill for oil and gas that we own and set the world right pretty quickly. we're going to address inflation in a real way. that's the message of the trump-vance campaign is to fundamentally change the problems that you're living with. if you expect vice president
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harris to change the course we're on as a nation, you're going to be sadly disappointed. she is the most liberal senator in the united states senate. there is no liberal horse that she has chosen not to ride. she sponsored the green new deal, and medicare for all. her as something she's not she's a nice person, but she's incredibly liberal. i mean major league liberal. at a time when we neat to re-set america, she's going to double down on wrong policy choices and j.d. vance and donald trump are going to change the course of this country and the world. >> senator, president biden's going to be in austin, texas, tomorrow at the lbj library expected to talk about reforming the supreme court, pushing forward a code of ethics for the supreme court. you heard the majority leader endorse that idea. where do you stand? could you work with president biden, yes or no, on a supreme court reform package this year? >> no. because he wants to destroy the
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court. they want to pack the court. they want to undercut the conservative court. they tried to mar sxwrinallize the court, destroy the roberts' court. the roberts' court has brought constitutional balance back to the court and the liberals want to pack the court and destroy the court. so their initiatives coming from biden will be dead on arrival in the senate. they have no desire to make the court better. they're just trying to make it more liberal. >> what about term limits for supreme court justices? put aside the issue of packing or adding justices -- >> no. no. no. no. no. it's worked -- they didn't complain about any of this when the court was pumping out opinions they liked. only when we brought constitutional balance back from having a conservative court was the court a threat to the country. what's been a threat to the country is an out-of-control liberal court issuing opinions that basically take over every phase of american life based on nine people's judgment.
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so this roberts' court has brought constitutional balance back to the country, and one of the issues on the ballot in 2024 is what kind of court do you want. if you left it up to elizabeth warren to pick the court you would have the most liberal court in the history of the world and kamala harris would be right there with her. >> senator i want you to listen to the recent comment from former president trump at a rally. >> christians get out and vote! just this time. you won't have to do it anymore. four more years, you know what, it would be fixed. it will be fine. you won't have to be vote anymore, my beautiful christians. i love you. get out. you got to get out and vote. in four years, you don't have to vote again. we'll have it fixed so good you will not have to vote. >> senator, just a minute here quickly, democrats say the former president is trying to take the reigns of the entire democratic system here with these comments.
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you're laughing. what do you believe he's trying to say? what's the truth? >> he's trying to tell the christian community and anybody else who's listening the nightmare we're experiencing will soon be over. give me four more years, and i'm going to right the ship called america and pass it on to the next generation. we'll have democracy, god willing, for a very long time in this country, but what president trump is trying to tell people, i is it it once, i can do it again. these problems can be solved. you have to go in a different direction. >> we always appreciate your time. many things. we'll be right back with a lot more "face the nation." stay with us. this portion of "face the nation" is brought to you by simply safe. there's no safe like simply safe.
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we'll be right back with a lot more "face the nation." stay with us. tina zimmerman: five years ago, i reconnected with my estranged father, and that's just something i never ever thought could happen. but when he became a believer, he just had this insatiable appetite to learn the bible, and he began to watch dr. stanley.
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dr. stanley: god always blesses obedience without an exception. tina: he teaches in a way that it just makes sense, and i feel like that's the way our heavenly father would teach us. - lift the clouds off of... - virtual weather, only on kpix and pix+. welcome back to "face the nation." we're now joined by the chairman of the house foreign affairs