>> cordes: our next guest, john podesta was the chairman of hillary clinton's 2016 campaign, his private e-mails were hacked and released publicly by russian-backed entities during the campaign. mr. podesta thank you so much for being with us. >> nice to be back. >> cordes: for anyone who voted for hillary clinton these new indictments mean what? >> well, look, it's a tragedy for the american people, really. as mr. mueller said in his indictment this was an act of information warfare against the united states, against our democracy. i think it's obviously disappointing to those of us who were on the receiving end of these russian active measures but i think the real victims are the american people because there was direct interference with our democratic institutio

institutions. >> cordes: the deputy attorney general was very careful on friday to say that we don't know whether or not this operation swayed the election. you've had a lot of time to think about this, where do you come down on the issue? >> this is one part of a complex, active interference. this didn't even deal with the hacking this was about what was going on in social media and the information campaign that was being done l. but there were 0 people, millions of dollars spent and one of your previous guests, senator coons noted. we won the popular vote by three million votes. they were pushing votes to give one example to joe stein, her vote in michigan, in pennsylvania and wisconsin was greater than the gap between donald trump and hillary clinton in those states. you can't prove that it did affect the outcome. but it certainly seems likely that it had some impact. >> cordes: it does beg the question, how is it that these russian operatives knew to focus on purple states like michigan

and wisconsin and your campaign didn't? >> of course we spent a lot of time and energy and effort in all those states. >> cordes: hillary clinton did not spend much time. >> we had tim kaine was there, barack obama, she spent enormous time in pennsylvania and michigan. we spent a lot of effort, we had staff in wisconsin that even president obama had in 2012. that begs the question. we focused on the places we thought were -- that were in contest and the end of the day we fell short in those states and i think that this act active effort by russians could have tilted the election in donald trump's favor. i think what the real issue is, how he's reacted to it. in that context if this is information warfare then i think he's the first draft dodger in the war.

he has done nothing but tried to undermine the mueller investigation, he hasn't implemented the sanction, is that were passed by congress that he signed in reaction to the activities in the 2016 election. we learn understand week he's ordered no effort to try to get the intelligence community, get together to try to prevent further activities in the 2018 election. >> cordes: why do you think that is? i do think it's because to do so would be to admit somehow russians might have influenced this election? >> you know, i think that mr. trump's psyche is complicated. people have said a lot about it. but he certainly can't accept that this activity may have helped him and i think he just constantly tries to move the ball away including what was i think despicable tweet about the

fact that he's blaming the fbi for investigating the russia investigation somehow relating that to the tragic killings in florida. but who knows with mr. trump. but he clearly, i think, has failed in carrying out his duty as president of the united states which is to protect our democracy. >> cordes: mid term election are coming up, it's been reported that democrats are telling your former positives, bill clinton, that in light of the me too movement they think he should sit it out he should be benched they're not looking for him to actively campaign for them. is that true and do you think that that is the right call? >> look, i think he remains i think a figure who is popular with lot of democrats across the country. i think that people are calling him and asking for advice, whether he's going to be an active participant i think that is not really on top of his mind right now. i think he's doing other things

and people make their own judgments about whether he can be helpful in the campaign. >> cordes: do you think it's good idea for him to sit it out? >> i think that if i was an advising campaign and candidate about what to do, i would sort of judge whether he could be helpful. i think some place he can be probably some places he's more of a lightning rod. >> cordes: thank you so much, campaign chairman for hillary clinton and we'll be right back with our panel of republicans who are leaving the house and senate. ♪

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>> cordes: mid term election are always perilous for the party in power. a record number of republicans have already decided no to the run for reelection. two dozen are retiring from the house and senate plus five are leaving to run for higher office. why so many? well that's the question we put to four departing republicans including ed royce who is one of ten committee chairmen who have announced they're hanging it up. that's a lot of experience out the door. >> it is. there's a debate. i think we should look at maybe the length of our chairman ships, at the same time i think the term limits are probably good from the standpoint of bring ink new blood, new ideas so that's one of the things we have on the republican side. >> cordes: when you left our house colleagues went to the other side of the capitol i'm sure you intended to serve more than one term in the senate. >> i always thought probably two

terms. but i got out of step with my party. makes it very difficult to have the position that i have and win re-election in republican primary. >> cordes: have you changed or has the party changed? >> i don't think i've changed that much. but i do think the party has changed considerably. >> cordes: do you all agree with that? >> from my standpoint, i think that the party has always been a big ten party. i think there is room in the party for lot of different viewpoints. >> cordes: do you think that the tent is as big as it used to be? >> no, i don't, actually. i think what is happening in congress is the political center is collapsing. but that's not true across the country. what i found was that become enormously polarized here in congress. that led to a paralysis, the very simple, basic tasks of governing, just keeping the government open. >> cordes: if folks like you leave don't things just get worse? >> i think that part of the answer here, though, is for us

to look at what we can do to change the fact that no longer do we really have the types of friendships across the aisle that we once had. that's important. >> cordes: when you look at the future of the republican party i think that we will be foolish to not see that we're heading into trouble. very few women are running for -- on the republican party ticket for office. far greater numbers of women -- have been applying themselves as being in the democratic party. minorities that have always been traditionally a group that we should really be going after. i don't see that we really have a recruiting program that's active to get minorities involved in our party so the growth of our party it seems to be very limited in the specific group where as the demographics of our great country is changing

greatly. when you look ahead, what is our future going to be? are we going to end up a marginalized party? i think we need to look toward the future and we need to have the policies that attract millennials, women and minorities. i don't see that. >> cordes: people have been sounding that alarm bell within the party, you're doing pretty well right now. you have the white house, house and step at, what incentive is there to change? >> there's a fundamental political realignment happening. look where the democrats are, they have gone -- bernie has taken over the party. on our side donald trump took over republican party. i do think that this political ground is shifting, under our feet, nobody knows quite how it will settle. in our party a lot of members have adjusted their politics to seek the president. it's about -- given principles or ideals that's what's changed. >> i would agree with that. i agree where republican party

is going, the danger. if you look every four years, every presidential election cycle, we are as a counsel try 2% less white. voters of color, it's changing that way. i don't think that we made enough of an effort as republicans to appeal across the broader electorate. then with young people as well given some of the position and behavior that the president has exhibited i think it makes it very difficult for young people to identify with the republican party. i think they have been walking away from the party in general. i think they're at a dead sprint right now and we've got to change that. >> we don't need to change our principles or change what we stand for but not every vote is a loyalty vote whether you are for or against the president. and that's how it's framed all the time. you have got to be a soldier, i don't think people feel as comfortable that the moderate

republicans feel is comfortable with this kind of tone. >> this issue, if you think about individually, what we are doing, we have recruited female candidates, asian candidates, hispanic candidates, we've helped elect three now, you've got three members who are hispanic that i know played a large role in their election. i think we'll continue in this vein. >> cordes: she is pro immigration reform. minimum wage, pro same sex marriage. could you have gotten elected in a republican primary for the first time now? >> i think so. it depends a lot on the personality of the candidate and getting back to what the republican party used to be, where we were accepting of all types and, yes, we're doing a pretty good job in recruiting candidates at the local level, the state level, when you look at the make up of the democratic

party here in congress, i don't see those asian women and those minority women serving in the house g.o.p. or in the senate g.o.p. that is the reality. maybe we're a farm team that's slowly coming up but we used to be more accepting of having moderate position and now it's getting harder. >> it starts at the top. i agree with that. candidates matter we have responsibility. but at the top when the president makes incendiary comments on hispanics, muslims, women, charlottesville situation and others, i think it narrows our appeal. i do believe that we have to be much broader in our thinking and show that we want -- the welcome mat is out. >> it's like charlie said, it's become a loyalty test to the man rather than to principles then the problem is, if you as a

candidate or as elected official align yourself to a person rather than principle, then you're wedded to that person wherever he or she goes. and that's dangerous. it really is. i see that a big problem for the party going forward. >> and he's got the freedom caucus, this group of conservatives telling the speaker of the house, you are your leadership position is at risk if you stray too far from where we want to be on immigration. >> you know, i've never support these types of tactics. trying to sack your own quarterback is not a strategy frankly that usually when you're working as a team is going to lead to success, right? threats usually don't lead to success. >> cordes: they have had some success. >> i don't think that's successful in terms of getting

legislation into affect. >> cordes: senator, when you talk about immigration, mass violence, opioids, has congress lost its ability to solve big problems? >> you know, it would be hard to argue that we haven't. in the senate we have 60 vote requirement for most legislation, we've had a hard time coming together. there are things that we should on the gun issue, obviously the bump stocks, no fly, no buy, those kind of things. there's broad consensus in the country certainly and there should be. i hope that we can move legislation like that. there's no reason we shouldn't be able to. >> but on immigration you look at the president's position on what he says on monday maybe different than what i says on wednesday, would be different on friday. so it's very hard i think for leaders on daca, on dreamers like jeff flake to figure out a way forward. it's schizophrenic who is coming out of the policy on immigration

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>> cordes: joining me now are five students who attend marjorie stoneman douglas high school they are david hogg, alex and emma plus cameron and jacqueline. thanks for joining me. cameron i'll start with you. you say the adults have let you down. >> well, the adults in office have let us down absolutely. fortunately we have a lot of support from the older generation here but what we're trying to do here in march for our lives say, the adult politicians have been playing around while my generation has whether losing my lives. you see how they treat each other in office, the nasty, dirty things going on with them, it's sad to think that that's what they're doing while 17 people are being slaughtered, gunned down only yard away from where we're sitting right now. and march for our lives has support from everybody and at the end of the day this isn't a

red and blue thing, this isn't democrats or republicans, this is about everybody and how we are begging for our lives and we're getting support but we need to make real change here. that's exactly what we're going to do. >> cordes: so, emma, what is the plan? you say you want to spark a national movement, it's one thing to talk about it it's another thing to actually make it happen. what are you going to do? >> well, what we have set up right now, we have a website march for our lives, we're going to be doing a march in march on washington where we get students all over the country are going to join you go. these kids are going to make this difference because adults let us down. and at this point i don't even know if the adults in power who are funded by the nra i don't think we need them any more because they're going to be gone by mid term election. there's no time for them to safe their skins if they don't turn around state their open support

for this movement they're going to be left behind because you are either with us or against us at this point. >> we're giving a lot of the politicians that we feel neglected by a clean slate. because that's the past. and we understand that. but from here on we are creating a badge of shame for any politicians who are accepting money from the nra it is a special interest groups that has most certainly not our best interests in mind and this cannot be the normal, this can be changed and it will be changed. anybody who tells you that it can't is buying into the facade created by the people who have blood op their hand. >> cordes: david, a lot of people saw the reporting you did from inside the school while the shooting was taking place. i'm truly sorry that all of you had to live through that. but i want to read to you what president trump said last night, he said that it's actually the democrats that have let you down because they didn't pass legislation when they controlled

congress, does he have a point? >> president trump, you control the house of representatives, you control the senate. you control the executives. you haven't taken a single bill for help tall health care or gun control and passed it. we've seen a government shut down. tax reform. but nothing to save our children's lives. are you kidding me? you think now is the time to focus on the past not the file tour to prevent the death of thousand of other diminish you sick enemy. >> cordes: what kinds of laws do all of you think should be on the books that aren't right now? >> well, what i think need to be on the books right now that isn't is the literally any lives from either side of the political spectrum, if you support mental health care we want you out there making your voice heard that's just as important as gun control or gun safety laws. because democrats also want gun safety rules and we can't get into any more debates. we need discussion, we've had the debates. people have died as a result. children have died and will continue to if we don't stop now

and look at both side of this. because we can't wait around any longer. children are dying as a result. we need to take action i call on president trump and republican controlled house and senate and executive branch to work together, get some bills passed and stop taking money from the nra because children are dying and so is the future of america as a result. >> i just want to say something i've heard a lot is the word gun rights. that has connotation that we're trying to strip people of their rights. first of all, we have the right to live and second of all, here at marjorie stoneman we don't want to take the guns away from americans. my father is a police officer, he has guns. i understand that having concealed weapons is good for protecting yourself. an ar-15 is not needed to protect your house from robbers or hunt bears and ar-15 is weapon of war, and 19-year-old who is mentally challenged and has problems was able to buy an ar-15 easily.

we don't want to disarm america. we want to make america have to work for their weapons and we have to make sure that everybody who has this kind of power in their hand, has been cleared to have it. because if nikolas cruz had gone through five minutes with any medical professional, they would have said this person does not need an ar-15. this person needs a counselor. and 17 people would not have needed graves. >> cordes: alex, your own senator marco rubio says that anyone who wants to commit violence is going to find a way to get a gun. >> if you think that senator rubio, then change the way it's easier to get a gun, knock if you think it's too easy to get a gun, do something about it. make it not easier to get a gun. march 24 on the march for our lives is only the beginning. this is the first march but i can guarantee it will not be the last. we will be marching for the 17 we lost at our school, we will

be marching for everyone we lost at the newtown sandy hook, at virginia tech, orlando at the pulse shooting and las vegas. that is only the beginning. march 24th things are going to change. >> it's not our job to tell you senator rubio how to protect us. the fact that we even have to do this is appalling. our job is to go to school, learn and not take a bullet. you need to figure this out, that's why you were unfortunate plea elected. your job to protect us our blood is on your hands. >> cordes: i know that millions of people are watching to see where you take this movement. you've already got tens of thousand of followers online and we'll be watching to see if you're able to change for the entrenched political dynamic here in washington. thank you so much to the five of you for joining us today. >> thanks for having us. >> thank you. >> cordes: weep be right back.

>> cordes: >> cordes: for watch can. tune in to "60 minutes" for margaret brennan's interview with secretary of state rex tillerson. for "face the nation" i'm nancy cordes, we'll leave you today with the memorial of the marjorie stoneman douglas high school shooting.

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