>> schieffer: i'm bob schieffer today on "face the nation," the secretary of state, the rookie senator and nuclear negotiations with iran. secretary of state kerry headed into the home stretch of negotiations to limit iran's nuclear capabilities freshman senator tom cotton says iranians a letter signed by 47 republicans warning them any agreement could prove worthless has that derailed the talk? second of state kerry tells our margaret brennan he's not sure. >> how do you clear the air, are you going to apologize for this letter? >> not on your life i'm not going to apologize for unconstitutional, unthought out action as somebody has been united states senate for 60-some days. >> schieffer: we'll hear more from kerry and cotton's

explanation of why he did it. plus democratic joe manchin and elijah cummings on that and the week's other news. plus report on state of race relations in america. because this is "face the nation." captioning sponsored by cbs man we begin with margaret brennan's interview as he prepared to leave egypt fly to switzerland for the talks. she asked him flatly had the cotton letter put the talks in jeopardy? >> i don't know yet. when i negotiate for the first time on sunday night with foreign minister i'll have better sense. what i do know that this letter was absolutely calculated directly to interfere with these negotiations. it specifically inserts itself directly to the leader of another country saying don't negotiate because we're going to change this. which, by the ways not only

contrary to constitution with respect to the executive's right to negotiate but incorrect because they cannot change an executive agreement. it's false information and directly calculated to interfere, basically say don't negotiate with them, you have to negotiate with 535 members of congress. that is unprecedented. >> negotiate with you, you have to sit at that table? >> it's unprecedented, i've never seen anything like this. i don't know how many people really focus completely on it but i do know that the effect the intent of the author was to basically say don't do this deal. by the way, that is to say that before there even is a deal. it's like, you know, giving people a grade on a test before the test is even written let alone given. it's wrong. it's unprecedented.

and i hope it hasn't made it very difficult here. by the way, we're not -- this is not just the united states of america negotiating. this is china russia germany france, great britain. >> how do you clear the air? are you going to apologize for this letter? >> note on your life. i'm not going to apologize for unconstitutional unthought out action by somebody who has been in the united states senate for 60-some days. that's just inappropriate. i will explain very clearly that congress does not have the right to change an executive agreement. another president may have a different view about it. but if we do our job correctly, all of these nations, they all have an interest in making sure that this is in fact a proven peaceful program. and it would be derelict if we allow some gaping hole in this program that doesn't do so.

but let's see what it is, first. and i think this applies to everybody, incidentally, who has been trying to judge this before in fact the deal, if it can be sealed, is sealed. >> you've made the point this is international agreement, this isn't just the u.s. and iran but senator said decision to bypass congress instead go to the u.n. allows to go is a direct affront to the american people. >> where all due respect, i do really disagree with that judgment. i talked to him about it the other day and made it clear. we are negotiating under the auspices to some degree of the united nations. so just as congress has to vote to lift sanctions congress does have a vote so does the united nations have to lift some sanctions at some point in time. >> but to authorize this deal congress having a role?

>> congress has a role. we have had over 205 briefings, phone calls discussions, with congress. 119 of them have taken place since january of this year. we have been in full discussion with congress on this. we've been in full discussion with allies in the region. we have had our team go to israel, meet with israelis in washington or wells to brief them regularly in this process. this isn't a complete mystery. the fact is that -- we also have been operating under rule that everybody understands. nothing is agreed to until everything is agreed to. so we have to finish our negotiations and we deserve the right to do so frankly knowing we have to submit it to the world to judge. we ought to be able to find out unimpeded and uninterfered with

in an unconstitutional way in violation of 200-plus years of tradition. >> the president wants a deal by the end of march. if you can't meet that timetable what happens? >> margaret, we are trying to get a deal by the end of march. >> will there be an expansion? >> the president's view is that we've been at this for over two years now. and iran has said its program is peaceful. in the time that we've had fundamental framework of decisions necessary to improve your program is peaceful should be possible. we believe very much that not anything that's going to change in april or may or june that suggests that at that time decision you can't make now will be made then. if it's peaceful, let's get it done. and my hope is that in the next days that will be possible. >> if these talks fail do you

think there is a risk that iran will make the choice to build a bomb? >> of course there's that risk. obviously. >> is that what is at stake? >> if they move along the road to decide suddenly to break out and rush to try to have enough material to build a bomb we have a number of options available to us, president obama has said they are all on the table and he has also pledged very publicly and very clearly on a number of occasions iran will not allow to get a nuclear weapon. >> schieffer: also addressed the situation in syria we'll have that in our next half hour. but now we are joined by republican senator tom cotton of arkansas who wrote that letter, you heard what the secretary said unprecedented inappropriate, unthought out,

unconstitutionally wrong. what were you trying to accomplish senator? >> i and 46 other senators are focused on stopping iran from getting a nuclear weapon. we wanted to be crystal clear iran's leaders got the message that in our constitutional system the president negotiates deal congress has to approve them to be lasting and binding. i'm surprised by secretary's comments this morning because just few days ago he testified before the senate to say that any deal would not be legally binding now he says that future congress can't cake and near executive agreement if we disagree or future president disagrees with him? that's not the way our constitutional system works. certainly not the way we should be negotiating with iran. >> did you talk to the secretary of state, did you talk to any democrats in the senate before you chose to go directly to the iranians? >> i and many other senators, republican and democrat have expressed our sincere and long held that congress must approve

any nuclear bill for months. in fact going back almost two years ago i was part of 400-person majority in the house of representatives that sought to impose more sanctions on iran. we did reach out to some democratic offices but i can tell you that the viewpoint widely shared, i don't see how anyone can dispute if a deal is reached with iran that it's not approved by congress and future congresses and future presidents don't have to accept it. >> senator not exactly news to say that the congress can pass laws to change whatever laws or agreements there are on the books. but why did you decide to try to convince the iranian, is that they needed to be weary ever dealing with the night states why not take your argument to the american people? why didn't you write open letter in the "new york times" or something? >> iran's leaders needed to hear the message loud and clear. i can tell you they are not hearing that message from geneva. in fact if you look at the response of the iranian foreign minister it underscores the need

for the letter in the first place. because he made it clear that he does not understand our constitutional system. he thinks inter national law can override our constitution. >> senator, are you planning to contact any other of our adversaries around the country for example, do you plan to check with the north koreans to make sure that they know that any deal has to be approved by the congress? >> bob right now i and most every other senator wants to stop iran. it's important that we communicated with message straight to iran because they're not hearing from geneva this is not parliamentary democracy. they have been killing americans, hundreds of americans for 35 years in iraq and lebanon and saudi arabia. they killed jews around the world. >> schieffer: how does it make america stronger to tell them that any agreement they make with this administration may not be worth the paper it's written on and may not last

beyond this presidency how does that make things better? >> as well as simple fact that our constitution that if congress doesn't approve that deal it may not last. and the deal that is on the table right now is a very bad deal. it would allow iran to have thousands and thousands of centrifuges to continue to enrich ukrainian. nothing to the military dimensions. excluded entirely ballistic missile which is designed solely to strike the united states right here at home and it would have ten-year subject set. i would point out in 1994 united states entered into something called agreed framework. stop north korea from getting a bomb. they almost cheated on it nearly 12 years later they detonated. now the world has to live with the consequences of the nuclear north korea i don't want to live with the consequences of nuclear iran. >> earlier today, former secretary of state madeleine albright told our local affiliate here wusa that what

you did was akin to during the cuban missile crisis if senator had called khrushchev told him he couldn't be certain that president kennedy could back up any deal he made with him, do you see a comparison there? >> no. i would disagree. secretary albright was part of the clip ton administration that entered into the fundamentally flawed agreement. what we did was to send clear message to a dictatorial regime we didn't conciliate with the dictators we told them that the american people 71% of the american people will not accept the deal that puts iran on the path to nope. 71% of the american people are right, that is where we're speaking. >> schieffer: what do you want to happen here? what is your alternative here? let's say that the deal falls through, then what? >> prime minister netanyahu said alternative to a bad deal is a better deal. the iranians frequently walk

away from the table if they block this week, call their bluff. congress stands ready to impose much more severe sanctions, more over we have to stand up to iran's 'teams drive for regional dominant they already controlled tehran increasingly controlled beirut and baghdad now as well they do all that without a nuclear weapon. imagine what they would do with a nuclear weapon. >> schieffer: do you feel that you have not weakened the president's hand here and do you have any regrets about the way you went about this? >> no regrets at all. and if the president and secretary of state were intent on driving hard bargain they would be able to point to this letter say they're right, as secretary kerry said on wednesday in senate testimony, any lasting deal needs to be approved by congress. when past senators like joe biden or jessie hems communicated directly with foreign leaders past presidents like ronald reagan and bill clinton did just that. the fact that president obama doesn't see this letter as a way

to get more leverage at the negotiating table just underscores that he is not negotiating for the hardest deal possible. he's negotiating a deal that is going to put iran on the path the to a bomb if not today or tomorrow then ten years from now. >> schieffer: we'll stop there, senator. thank you for coming by and explaining your point. we'll go to democratic senator joe manchin serves on armed services committee he joins us from charleston, west virginia. did you have any contact or discuss any of this with senator cotton before he took this action? >> i did not. no one from my staff had approached. this is going to be -- think try to do bipartisan to see if that is direction we feel strongly about maybe we could have helped negate this from happening. i think it was wrong. i would not have signed it. i was not approached. >> schieffer: the white house chief of staff has written chairman of the foreign relations committee and asked him this morning to hold off on

any legislation on iran or this deal he on the issue of whether or not a nuclear deal can be reached until at least june. does that sound right to you? because i know senator tim cain says you probably can't wait that long, he wants congress to vote on this. >> let me just say this, the democrats and republicans alike are committed not to allow iran to have a nuclear weapon. approach of how we go about it. got to speak with one voice. within the process that we have, the white house and state department know how strongly we feel about something against the reform. perfect example back when state department came over tried to explain to us why they wanted to start bombing syria you recall that not that long ago, year or two ago. i as democrat spoke out loudly against that i thought all it

did was light the fuse for the third world war, basically all of us democrats and republicans who felt strongly that we shouldn't drop the bomb able to succeed and the president was able to negotiate with russia to remove the chemical weapons. that did not take an approval of congress. we were heard. this same process should be used now, what we need to do, i signed a letter with other senators basically saying let's see how far we can progress on the end of march if we have a deal then at the end of june if we don't have a deal at happened we'll double down on sanctions. but we're still allowing white house and state department to do their job. >> schieffer: do you think this action by senator cotton and this letter has poisoned the well? >> it sure hasn't helped a thing. it hasn't helped one thing. except drive us further apart. the country is divided enough. we need to start bringing us together, like you said over 200

years we prayed under a process with the executive branch, state department executive branch, speaking as one. but speaking through and with us being able to have input from the legislative branch. we can second guess all day long get nothing accomplished there is five other countries that secretary kerry had said. not just united states of america. if you want sanctions to work it's got to be bigger part of the world doubling down that's been missing. not part of the civilized world either get your act together or we'll make it more difficult for you. >> schieffer: senator, than you for joining us we'll talk about some of the other news of the day when we come back in one minute. just stay calm and move as quietly as possible. no sudden movements. google search: bodega beach house.

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endless problems that the secret service is having. another week here congressman where we just had over load on news and mostly bad news, i am dismayed and perplexed about what these secret service is going through. it seems like ever since they took them out from under the treasury department and put them under the homeland security agency that is just been one thing after another. are you satisfied with what you have found out about this latest incident so far and what needs to be done here? >> i am extremely upset about it. it's really frustrating to see an agency that is supposed to be number one elite protective agency in the world protecting the most important person in the world to operate like this. director clancy has come in made

many changes, as a matter of fact he's now gotten rid of the -- half of the top folks in the agency. but clearly this latest incident shows that we still got a lot of work to be done and bob, there is a culture of complacency and mediocrity taking place. we have to do -- one thing i am glad about is republicans and democrats agree on this high powered micro scope on this agency and address some of these issues. >> do you now have confidence does director still retain your confidence? >> he does. only been there a few months. again very impressed with the things he's done already. but now i think he's going to have to get rid of even more people. certain people that should not be there. and you cannot have supervisors telling the rank and file that

they can't do their job such as when they wanted the other night. >> schieffer: let's talk about the other big story of the week that is the hillary clinton e-mails. clearly you cut to the chase what was going on here it seems to me is that hillary clinton did not want to leave a paper trail. she set up the various procedures and so forth. do you think she is the best judge of what ought to be made public and what ought to be part of the government record? >> bob every federal employee on the federal level has responsibility to determine what is personal and what's official. she made that judgment, and i believe her. bob, if we have issues with hillary clinton, keep in mind, number one she's been extremely cooperative with our committee.

she agreed to come in as early as last december and -- she is willing to come in under oath and testify as to the e-mails. not only to testify about the e-mails but also testify about benghazi. last friday her lawyers contacted the chairman and yours truly and urged us to release the 850 pages of e-mails that we now have and hopefully will agree to that. will make that happen. >> schieffer: well, are you satisfied that there's anything else to find out about benghazi? >> i don't know. we've been at this now since may. and i still don't know the scope of what we're looking for. i think there are investigations been done very well and resolved

most of the yes, sir. >> schieffer: all right. mr. cummings, we certainly thank you for coming to see us this morning i'll be back in a minute with some personal thoughts. i've just arrived in atlanta and i can't wait to start telling people how switching to geico could save them hundreds of dollars on car insurance. but first, my luggage. ahh, there it is. uh, excuse me sir? i think you've got the wrong bag.

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>> schieffer: in a time when real leader ship is such a rare commodity i want to recognize the decisive action of oklahoma university president david borne, i knew him when he was a u.s. senator, a good one since joining the university he has been a strong leader in higher education. when that nauseating video of oi fraternity boys singing racist songs showed up on the internet borne had all kinds of options, open an investigation confer with his trustees, maybe convene a focus group. but he moved with such speed i doubt he did any of that. he simply expelled those

involved and threw the fra attorney tee off campus, no ifs ands or buts, don't let the screen door hit you on the way out. i'm not surprised in our litigious society that the university now hired a lawyer who may sue unless he reconsiders joins in making this a teachable moment. i think what is teachable is pretty obvious. actions have consequences and hateful words are dangerous things sometimes as harmful to those who deliver them as those they are aimed at. if the students didn't know that before, well, now they do. back in a minute. if you can clear a table without lifting a finger... you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec® for powerful allergy relief.

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>> schieffer: some of our stations are leaving us now for most of you we'll be right back with a lot more "face the nation" in cluing discussion on race in america. margaret brennan's interview with secretary kerry.

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