from cbs news in washington, "face the nation" with bob schieffer. captioning sponsored by cbs snievment on face the nation house majority leader acre cantor and whitehouse chief how far staff denis mcdonough and the bridge closing scandal involving new jersey governor chris christie. with a former associate claiming there's evidence governor christy knew about those closed traffic lanes on the george washington bridge earlier than he said he did, christy goes on the offensive. we'll talk to christie and who is leading the brain closing scandal. house republicans met to plot their own plans for 2014. immigration reform emerged as a priority setting the stage for a

big debate to come. republican leader eric cantor is here with details. whitehouse chief of staff denis mcdonough will tell us about the prospects for compromise. and we'll have analysis on all this 6 years o 60 years of newse this is face the nation. captioning sponsored by cbs >> the question seems to be what good the governor know and when did he know it. as you know those two questions have sort of a historical echo to them. >> right, they sure do. >>.>> dave willstein's attorney says governor christie knew more than he disclosed and new earlier than he disclosed. thinking about it as your former role ons a u.s. thorn does this

strike you as legally significant. >> i think sometimes kind of acknowledged that when they kind of pulled back on the story. they purse played it as a big bomb shell evidence. here's what it is. it's an offer from a guy who says he has evidence, hasn't given the evidence yet. however you have to take that in context. this is a lawyer who is writing for a man who wants somebody else to pay his legal bills and he can't get them paid unless the governor was responsible. and he's a guy theef these seekg immunity. first of all it's not evidence. it's the suggestion, the tantalizing suggestion there may be evidence. and then you've got at least two big credibility issues with it. so my advice to everyone would be instead of overplaying it as a bomb shell which the files did and the -- times did and then ho back off. i would say put this in context. this is a long investigation, it's going to take a while. there's going to be stuff like this that just jumps out and everybody's going to exaggerate. the governor has denied it. so far there's no evidence to suggest that he's not telling the truth. i think the governor knows the

consequences. if he's lying, it's a really bad situation. if he's not lying then something very unfair is being done to him. so let's see what happens. >> how bad a situation, mr. mayor. the newark star ledger said friday. in this is true, two words must encroach in this conversation, impeachment or resignation. how do you factor that. >> the important words there is if it's true. that's where, you know, i can do about 50 different situations where if it's true, this guy has to be impeached, this guy's got to resign. this guy, the if is true is kind of the unfair part. the reality is we don't know if it's true. all we have is this allegation with a lot of questions about it, ratchet the up from just an allegation and the suggestion to evidence which it wasn't. so if it's true thing is really unfair. of course if the governor didn't tell the truth the governor is in serious trouble we all know. we shouldn't jump to that conclusion until there's evidence to suggest that. >> for the time being, should the governor resign from his

leadership position of the republican governor's association as a loyal republican do you believe he's hurting the party's image and should step down from that position. >> no. if i were a governor i would vote to them came there. look major, maybe i suffer from being a republican, lots of newspapers coming after you, some have real ey biases. in we have a guy step down every time we do let's get a republican or democrats to have a special committee with a guy running the special committee who announces he believes the governor is lying before he begins the investigation, they're going to harass us during this entire campaign. there's nothing wrong with saying the following. until and unless there's evidence to prove he's done something wrong, we'll take the governor at his word and let him do his job. i think it will come out all right. if it doesn't there's tbiem to take action. >> what you're saying is this is a political opposition witch hunt against the governor, is that what you're. >> two things. first of all, major, there's a real incident that was

unfortunate and bad and the governor apologized for that. i don't want to minimize that. what i'm saying if you take that real incident and now you got paul pile on. on. got a legislature for a governor who likes to be governor and he says he doesn't believe the governor. nobody in the state seems it's odd he should be running an investigation when he's already announced he knows the answer that none of us know the answer to. he knows the opposite the governor's lying and should not be running that investigation. that tells me all i need to know about the credibility or the motive, the political motive of what's going on. i don't want to minimize the fact there's a real issue here. that's a serious one. >> okay, very good. super bowl security, are you satisfied with where things are and what is your prediction for snievment's big g9d9@@&c @&i thk side and on the new jersey side, and i've seen a lot of it. i'm walking the streets yesterday, took a look at it on friday, some people asked me

some advice about it. i think it's really really good security. >> who is going to win. >> first of all i think the new york police and new jersey police are going to win. i think commissioner bratton is going to win and chris christy is going a great job. do you know who i think is going to win, i think peyton manning is going to win. a good game, evenly matched teams. one guy that's been there before and is the maybe the greatest guy at that position except for joe montana in the history of football. >> thank you it's great having you on space the nation. john nesky is the democrat leading into the investigation of those lane closures on the george washington bridge last september. good to have you with us. >> major, good to be here. >> act mayor giuliani says it lacks credibility. >> what i said is i have scentism about the governor's statement. i haven't said that the governor has responsibility for this. i haven't said that the governor knew when this was happening. it's something mr. wildstein

said. he made a statement about what he knew and i said i have my doubts about that time line. he could have known at any time but i have my doubts about what he said. >> your committee will begin receiving information tomorrow, subpoenas and other data. >> that's right. >> will you release it publicly, how will you process it and what is it going to mean. >> we're not going to release it publicly. in the beginning the committee needs to see it, evaluate, desite what next steps have been to be taken. are there other subpoenas, do we bring people in for testimony. this becomes part of a public record. it's early to say when that will be. >> when will it get to the state attorney. >> i don't know it's up to them. they're running a separate investigation. the u.s. foreign's office has been subpoenaing out. they're doing their own thing and we're doing a parallel investigation. are ours is a legislative inquiry. >> impeach or resignation what do those mean to you. >> one palo verde word, pre mus.

we don't know. we need to make decisions who knew what when. when that's done maybe it might be appropriate to have that conversation but clearly we're way ahmed of that. >> rudy jewe you'll john ree -- >> they were crafted to say his client knows of facts or information that would contradict the governor. it doesn't say he's in possession of it. we had a subpoena out to him. if he has stuff, it should have come to the committee. so maybe this is material he doesn't have possession of. >> do you believe there's any risk in criminalizing hard ball government in your investigation. >> no. i think new jersey policies has played as hard as it gets anywhere. but when you cross the line, when you use public resources to

exact what appears to be a political vendetta against the mayor at forth le fort lee and t crosses the line. >> are you going to call the governor to testify. >> we don't know. we don't vocabulary to do that. we need to find out the facts who else in his office had knowledge. how did this get authorized. we need to take it one step pat a time. >> what is the next move your committee will make as far as getting this fant liesing evidence? how are you going to get it and what do you think it might lead to. >> i would like to see the material that mr. wildstein's attorney talked about. we need to get all of the subpoenaed documents that were supposed to start receiving tomorrow. and start answering some of questions that are out there. why did bridge and kelly send this e-mail that closed the lane. who gave her the authority to send the e-mail what made her believe it's okay. there's unanswered questions that will then determine the next step the committee takes. >> john nesky looking into governor christi's action.

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♪ chief of staff denis mcdonough. thank you so much for coming in is. your college john pedsta said something about the chris christie scandal. quote i think it's a killer really. if that were true i don't think there's any coming back. the white house is now getting involved in the chris christie scandal. >> i think john was reacting to news of the day. >> do you agree. >> on friday afternoon. and so we've been pretty clear that this is the new jersey matter to be resolved in new jersey. we don't have a role in it. >> politically, do you think it's a killer. >> again, this is a new jersey issue. we'll let them resolve it up there. >> would you prefer john not commented on that. >> i think john was just reacting to a question. >> very good. keystone. there's a report from the state department on friday. how does the whitehouse interpret that. what's the schedule to decide up or down on the pipeline. >> this is one, this is one of

many important inputs in that process. it's an important one. >> how close are we to the even. >> i'm not going to prejudge that right now. what's important, the president laid out last summer in the speech at georgetown his standard for what he thinks should be governor the decision on keystone which is that it should not significantly exacerbate what is a significant climate change crises we face in this country. very chilling story in the "new york times" snievment about the impact of climate change on droughts in the west, california which is now seeing some pretty serious doamplets as a result of climate change. so we'll be looking at that. the president's role is to protect this from politic. let the expert agencies and the cabinet sects make their assessment both of the study that was put in on friday as well as its impact on the national interests. we'll resolve that over the coming period of time. >> let me talk about syria. only 4% of the chemical weapons due out of that country has been removed. is this falling apart.

>> not falling it apart but we would like to see it proceed much more quickly, major. this is a very important development. we've seen one of the largest stock piles of chemical weapons not acknowledged until last summer. now we're seeing it begin to be secured and misdan mumed and moved out of the country. we think that's important. it has to be done on the time line the syrians degreed. second carr carry counted kerryo make sure the syrians live up to their obligations. they have a obligation to do what they say or do. >> or what. >> i'm not going to get into any or what's here. >> speaking of russia, how do you feel about security about the winter owe limbi owe limo ok games. will they be safe. >> you heard us talk about that. we're in close with the russians. when we get new information we share with the american people.

our request is that not people do not travel, in fact we have said that people could travel to the olympics. we just want them to stay in touch with the state department while they travel. watch the website for updates. when we have information we'll share with the american people but we feel good that the russians are faking serious steps right now and will continue to track that closely. >> speaking of information. two weeks ago it was widely said at the white house the russians were not giving up enough, not sharing enough about news threat matrix information. has that improved. >> we always want more information. that's the life blood how we keep our people safe. big international events like this, as you've heard the president say are also times for us to be concerned. i know that mike mow ram and others on this network have suggested as much. so we're going to stay on top of this. more information is always better than less. >> immigration. republicans in the house put out principles. you can read one of two ways. i'm curious how the president reads it. you could rated as a permanent second class status for certain americans who are here now illegally. they could stay here legally but

may never become citizens. is that good enough for the president. >> we're not going to jump any conclusions on this. you know the president's principles which is that we ought to see a fast way of citizenship for people. we don't want a permanent separation of classes or two permanent different classes of americans in this country. we are not going to live with that. so this is an important first step. we'll see how this plays out. our job now is to stand back, see how the house republicans handle this and i think we see some important progress here. we'll see how it plays out. >> it sounds like you're saying house republicans need to research to that position where its citizen shine at least eventually or it's no deal. >> that's the president's principle which is he's laid out his principles on this. we should not have two classes of people in had this country. i'm not prejudging how the ruks will handle this. the democrats in congress will have a view on this too and they have been reclear over the debate the last years. >> administer sharif said they

are not prepared to give up their higher tech more ambitious centrifuge pure faatio purifica. >> i'm not at a point -- we'll let former sharif talk about and we'll discuss what we expect from him privately in the talks later this month. >> i guess what i would like to try to figure out then the american position that once a final deal is reached or in pursuit of a final deal, iran cannot have any centrifuge purification processes of its own. if it has nuclear fuel for civilian nuclear power production capability it must come from the outside. can it have nuclear power it produces its own. >> i'm not going to conduct a negotiate here on your set with you, major. here's what the president's position is. the key question is the president's committee to prevent iran from developing a nuclear weapon. that's what he made clear over the american people over the course of the last many years.wú

nuclear weapons in the hands of the reernz would b iranians wou. it would set off a nuclear arms race which would be at nobody's. and that's why we're focus on precisely that. we'll press them on support for hezbollah and national terrorism. i'm not going to get into that debate with you with you here. >> last question. the president talked about the negotiate in the union of state address. harry reid said i'm against fast track. everybody -- should the president back off. >> the president's been very clear about the trade agreement with our agent counterparts, the ttp as well as the trade agreement with our european friends. think about what trade means for the united states economy. each billion dollars in additional trade means four to five thousand additional jobs in this country, jobs that are paid somewhere between 15-18 percent more than the average wage. if you just take the agreement

with asia when we're able to solidify that agreement as much as asked 130 billion in additional exports a year to those countries. we think this is really important. senator reid has been a great friend of the president. we'll continue to work on this. his position on trade has been clear from the beginning. >> will the president get on the phone and persuade otherwise. >> the president will work on this use the phone and other mean he has over the course of this week to do things reich like create additional opportunity for working class americans. he'll do it again later this week with creating increased access to wireless, education opportunities for u.s. students. >> denis mcdonough whitehouse cheap of staff very much theak. >> thank you major.

>> we're joined by eric contore. thanks to see you. >> it's a pleasure to be here. >> we'll get to the specifics and politics of immigration

reform but i'll give you 30 seconds to tell me what house republicans have done, what do they intend to do this large and what are the larger optics in this issue. >> we just came off only annual retreat this week and we had a very robust discussion about very difficult situation which is our broken immigration system. and i think the take away was major, there's a lot of distrust of this administration and implementing the law. we just heard the president in the state of union address say do you know what, if he can't work with congress, he's going to do it his own way. and that sort of breathe breedss kind of distrust and i think we have to do something about this in order to see a way forward on immigration. >> we'll get to that. what are the principles if you can enumerate them, one, two, three that the house republicans will demand for any comprehensive immigration reform bill this year. >> first of all i know that you know that we are not going to take up the senate bill. >> right. >> and show one of the first things is we believe it is serious that we seriously

control our borders. this goes back to the distrust. there's not been a determined sense that we are going to secure the borders and make sure the laws in the books, being implemented now. i would say that's a precursor and has to happen first. >> the term of art in washington is a trigger mechanism into the legislation which requires that to be established before any other problem is made on these other issues. is that the marker you're laying down. >> what we're trying to say is there's a prerequisite here. part of the reason why people are beating down the doors to get in this country is because the laws we have is to create the opportunity we're about. so we want to make sure before anything else, that there's border security implementation of the laws. >> but you know the word is trigger, is that ha house republicans will require. >> no one is satisfied with the use of that term if it is condefining what is in the senate bill. we would like to see a clear certain determined ability to get the situation on the border descrait and implement the laws

on the intoish so that people can have faith across the country that laws are being upheld. and that has got to happen first. >> the principle enumerate a legal status for the 11-12 gin illegal immigrants here in this country now. what do you mean by that and does that by definition mean no citizenship for them ever. >> well major, let me tell you something. there's a lot of focus on the immigration issue. but you know, in reality, we not only want to help the situation there. a lot of the discussion that we had with our members at the retreat was that we want to help the problems right now of job growth and the lack of a job growth. we know that 75% of americans are living from paycheck to paycheck. we come up with some real solutions to help america work for those people too. so i believe we're going to see us in congress not only continue this discussion of immigration but we want to try and get to the heart of the issues that are affecting most americans. >> but mr. leader you know as

well as i do this is a central dividing issue for many new york constitch oncey. legal status yes, citizenship never or possibly. >> listen. where i think we are to start again, this is an issue among many that in fact most of the country is focusing on the question of a squeeze of the working middle class, the way the president spoke about the state of the union, the lack of opportunity that so many people are experiencing now. we want to try and deal with that as well. but so far as immigration's concerned, we've said all along we don't believe in a comprehensive fix. we want to go in a step by step approach to try address the problems. yes, there's a problem of the board of implementation of the laws. i've always said we ought to be dealing with the things that we can address on which are the kids. most people say this country has never held kids liable for the misdeeds of their parents. and i think in many instances, kids have been brought here and some unbeknownst to themselves and brought here illegally but

yet they know no other place as home. certainly we ought to take care of that problem. that should come first because it just makes sense to start where we can find agreement. >> you know as well as i do, to get this all put together, the president said this week that there has to be some meeting of the minds for all not just the dreamers, the so call kids you just referred to. and twice now you've avoided the opportunity to say what the principles that were handed out to your members said here on camera. are you running away from this even at the start, the idea that there will be a legal status and possibly a pa path to citizensh. >> i'm not really running away from this. i know this is something a lot of people want to report on and talk b most of the american people are worried about what's going on in their households. the fact that wages have not gone up in this country in ten years. and yes we're going to continue the discussion on immigration. we have said yes, we came out of there saying there are some principles, these standards that are being released are draft

standards. we had a very positive discussion, and as i said before, some things have got to happen which is the president got to demonstrate frankly the country and the congress can trust him in implementing the laws. look what he's done with obamacare. he has selectively enforced that law, and some have raised constitutional questions whether he can even do some things like that. so there's some real question of trust here and the white house continues to really thumb its nose up if you will at the congress. the president in the state of the union address did it flat out. he said when congress doesn't work with me, i'll just go do it myself. again that's part of the problem in this town and why there's been such a difficult time in getting things done. >> we're going to take a break right now. we'll have more of our interview with house majority leader eric cantor coming up. and you...rent from national.

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