>> brennan: today on "face the nation." the president makes some bold personnel moves and suggests there are more to come. but is the firing of deputy fbi director andrew mccabe by attorney general jeff sessions that sparked a controversy that has washington reeling. along the topic of conversation in washington the when will rex tillerson go question was answered tuesday when president trump dismissed him by tweet. c.i.a. director mike pompeo relayed tillerson. with gina the current number two moving up to the director's spot. if confirmed she'll be the first woman to hold that job. >> i'm really at a point where we're getting very close to having the cabinet as other things that i want. >> brennan: kentucky republican

rand paul to state and c.i.a. we'll talk with him and tennessee senator bob corker who has a prickley relationship with the president but is responsible for getting the new secretary of state confirmed. maine independent angus king will be here to talk about russia and the firing of andrew mccabe. will sit down with the south korean foreign minister to get an update on the potentially historic meeting between president trump and north korean kim jong-un all of that plus plenty of plate 8:00 analysis are coming right up on "face the nation." captioning sponsored by cbs good morning, welcome to "face the nation." i'm margaret brennan. after a week at the white house, filled with speculation about who the president would dismiss next, late friday night attorney general jeff sessions fired deputy fbi director andrew m mccabe, mccabe was jim comey's deputy. he was just hours away from

being able to retire with his full pension. but the firing sparked a fierce debate over whether it was justified or if it's an assault on federal law enforcement. outrage intensifies when the president's attorney called for an end to the mueller probe which could be seen as attempt to influence the ongoing investigation into russian investigation meddling. rand paul joins froes bowling green this morning. senator, we do want to talk to you about your opposition to the president's nominees for the state department and c.i.a. but first ask you about the mueller investigation and firing of andrew mccabe this morning the p president has had a lot to say about the special counsel's investigation, comes in the wake of news that his lawyers received questions from mueller's team and that the trump organization itself has been subpoenaed. do you believe his statements are an attempt to influence the investigation?

>> any time the president speaks, i don't know how much influence it has. the facts with regard to mccabe are very important, it appears that the facts are from the inspector general's office, the inspector general something i'm a big fan of, they're objective, they are not partisan, they look at the facts, they bakesly said that mccabe leaked classified documents. that's illegal. but then he also lied about leaking classified documents so the the fbi are sticklers on this they don't tolerate lying from their agents f. all that is true i see no way that he could continue in his office that punishment is appropriate. look at comparison to general flynn. been offered a year in jail for lying about something or misleading the fbi about something that was actually legal. new evidenceñi mccabe does something illegal and lies about it -- >> brennan: have you seen the results of the investigation into andrew mccabe which have

not been made public are you saying you agree he should have been fired? >> if the facts are true as they have been reported in the media that mccabe lied about releasing classified documents, yes, it's against the law to release classified documents and against law to lie about it if the fbi asks you. that would be two significant infractions. >> you don't know that he did that -- you haven't seen that's he did that? >> only what the news is reporting on this that's what everyone in the news says that this is what happened. that he leaked -- illegally leaked classified documents then lied about it. >> brennan: the president also tweeted that there was tremendous leaking, lying and corruption at the fbi, justice department and the state department. are you concerned that there is some sort of chilly neglect that might be going through federal law enforcement in the way of this firing and the president's statements? >> i'm afraid that the fbi has been terriblyx this starting with james comey,

there's been this politicalization but basically not indicting they saying she was guilty as heck in a press conference then i think they reverse course then went over the top on trump. really the fbi needs to learn to stay out of politics. here is the problem, from the bee generalling of our country madison warned about this, that men are not angels, you have people at the fbi that turn out to be very biased, mccabe, peter, lisa paige this is why i've been advocating that no one should be allowed to search american data, republican or democrat without asking judge for permission. this is the institutional reform that i've been advocating, it means that bias can come from either side. needs to be held in check and balanced by the judiciary. >> brennan: because of the slim republican majority, your vote will be key here and much needed if the president wants to got hess new secretary of state nominee confirmed, mike pompeo. what do you need to hear from

him to change your vote from a no to a yes yes? >> i've been very supportive. when it comes to foreign policy the thing i liked was on opposition to the iraq war. what i'm perplexed by he keeps nominating people around him on foreign policy who thought the iraq war was so good they want to have iran war now. i think the lesson of the iraq war was that there are unintended consequences from regime change, i don't think somebody being head of secretary of change wants regime change is a good thing. you really want a diplomat to be in charge of the state department not someone who is advocating for war, i can't vote for pompeo, on haspel, she over saw an illegal black ops operation in thailand that included torture. i don't think torture is what america is about. >> brennan: the c.i.a. is looking at declassifying the details of exactly what her job

was. they have not confirmed that she ran that black site. why don't you withhold your judgment on her until you see the details of her 33 year career? >> because i think there is ample information out there it's not disputed that she ran the black ops operation in thailand that she did oversee in hansed interrogation, her colleagues said she was enthusiastic supporter of the waterboarding. also evidence that she signed a cable to destroy the evidence, there were videotapes which i'm sure were ghastly of l the simulated drowning these were destroyed with her support and advocacy when she returned home to washington. i think there's got to be plenty of good people at the c.i.a. who weren't involved with torture, really, we're supposed to be symbol of hope for the world and people who want freedom from totalitarianism. they want freedom from torture -- this is a terrible --

>> brennan: that was u.s. policy at the time that wasn't her individual policy. but just -- >> she was at a -- >> brennan: on something there, sir, the investigator who looked into some of what you're talking about with those tapes, cbs news security contributor, former number two, mike morell, did clear haspel saying she didn't order the destruction, her superior did she just draftedded the cable. does that change your -- >> i think she was -- she was a willing participate in water boring, i think she was a willing participant in destro destroying the tapes. it wasn't her taking a stand saying i'm going to the president, i'm not going to destroy these tapes, it was her writing the memo, who advocated her or her superior there's no that's she was protesting against torture, there's every evidence that she was covering it up. this isñi not what we stand fors a people. we stand for freedom and hope, can't be the country that tore terse prisoners and i've got

three young members of my family in the military. i don't want every enemy around the world to think, it's okay to torture people because the americans do it. i don't want my family to be captured saying torture is okay. >> brennan: do you feel -- cannot be the symbol of this. >> brennan: will you filibuster these nominations? >> i'll do everything to stop it. i don't have the power to stop her nomination, there's enough votes she'll eventually win. few things in life where it is worth standing up saying enough is enough. this is wrong. this is beneath contempt. we are not a people that should be so fearful or vengeful that we think that torture is somehow acceptable. on what level could torture ever be acceptable? we should make a stand on this. should never leave the c.i.a., one other reason is, such enormous power to destroy lives, they can listen to all the phone conversations of the world, 'sass natural people with drones, not have someone at the top who has been advocate or

participant in torture. >> brennan: gina haspel will speak her peace. thank you, we turn now to maine independent senatoring a go gus king who sits on the senate intelligence committee he joins us from his home state this morning. good morning, sir, i want to give you a chance as well to respond to the firing of fbi deputy andrew mccabe, came just hours before his retirement when we have been allow to receive full benefit. what is your reaction? >> i think the first reaction is much as rand paul said i think we got to see that inspector general's report. i don't want to go on press reports with pieces of it. a long time ago i learned there are two sides to every story, i want to see what the inspector general says. i want to see what andrew mccabe has in the way of response. but even if you assume for a moment that the report said he did this -- he had violations of

the code of the fbi, if you will, my problem is the timing and the way it all worked. just seems mean spirited to come down on a guy within 48 hours of his scheduled retirement, he had 1 years of exceptional service in the fbi. so, it was clearly rushed. i think there are questions about that and whether the administration was putting pressure on the justice department to take this action. the whole thing appears, at least at this point we'll find out more in the coming weeks, but it appears to have been compressed in order to take vengeance on this guy for some prone. and i don't think that's the way we should be governing. we have to find out the facts of what he did, if he did then some punishment was necessary, to rush it through in order to take his pension away from him within a few hours of the end of his tenure strikes me as i said, mean spirited. >> brennan: your fellow intel committee member, mark warner has called on all members of

congress to speak out in defense of this special counsel. president has a lot to say about robert mueller, his own personal attorney called for an end to the mueller probe. what do you make of that? >> i think it's a huge mistake for the president. i think it's very dangerous for the country. robert mueller is as straight an arrow as there is in america, former marine, he's a prosecutor, i think he's a republican, he was -- when he was appointed everybody said, hurray, this is the right guy. now he's just doing his job. for the administration to keep trying to undercut what they're trying to do, the president keeps saying there's no story here, they didn't do anything wrong, if they didn't do anything wrong why are they going to such extreme lengths to undermine this investigation which is being carried out in a very responsible way, noticed there haven't been many if any leaks from the mueller investigation, noncommittal.

they're trying to get to the bottom of very complicated set of facts. anybody that says there's nothing to it, theyñr have alrey had three or four guilty pleas and indictments that tells me there is something going on here, there's something serious. it may or may not involve the trump campaign or the president but certainly involves lot of other people. that is a serious investigation, if the president tries to terminate it prematurely i think it will be a true constitutional cries. >> brennan: what is the top question you have for gina haspel when she comes before your committee? >> pock, what did you have to do with this so-called enhanced in arrogance which rand paul properly pointed out as torture. i'm interested in the destruction of the videotape because that was as i understand it against the instructions of the general counsel of the c.i.a., somebody knew they were doing something wrong. i think the c.i.a. should declassify as much surrounding this circumstance as possible so

she can answer these questions in an open setting and the american people can understand i'm very troubled by this and senator paul said seems to me there may be other people qualified to do this job that weren't involved in what john mccain characterized one of the darkest moments of our recent history. >> brennan: you did vet for john brennan to become c.i.a. director he was higher ranking within the agency at the time when these practices as you call it torture were carried out. why vote for him and withhold it for her? >> well, because, we determined this was lot of examination that he wasn't directly involved in the decision making he was there, he was an executive at the c.i.a. but she was on the spot, at least that's what -- again we're talking about material that isn't fully in the public sphere that's why first thing i said was, the c.i.a.

should declassify as much as this as remotely possible so that we can all make a full judgment. but her involvement was much more direct and hands on, if you will, than john brennan's. also, john came forth basically said, i regret that we did this. one of the questions i wouldn't want to ask her is how do you feel about what went on and what is your view looking back. the other thing we have to think about, margaret, she's going to work for a president who has said waterboarding is no big deal. and although it's the law of the land that it can't be done now, is he going to try to change that, is she going to follow orders from a president that tells her to do something that's contrary to the law. because she was involved in this project 15 years ago. those are the kinds of questions i think she's going to have to answer. >> brennan: if she says she personally disagrees enough to switch your vote? >> well, i'm not sure. it's the whole context. i want to listen to her

explanation and how she reacts to the questions. >> brennan: senator, thank you very much for joining us this morning. we will be back with more "face the nation" in one minute.

>> brennan: we salt down with bob corker, he's head of the foreign relations committee also happens to be one of the president's toughest critics in the republican party. you've been pretty candid in your past about what you thought of where the president was, you questioned his competence, his stability, do you have reason now that you're doing more careful in i don't language? have you fixed your relationship with the president? >> never stopped being more careful. again, i'm assessing things as they are, i just mentioned there has been a lot of progress made, sometimes it's a little uncanny as to how it happens, it's very

unorthodox. the president just like a lot of business people, just picks up the phone and sometimes things happen in a good way, sometimes not. we've made some -- we have made progress in north korea. >> brennan: you think progress is the meeting? >> i'm talking about the things we've done to bring the international community together to put us in a place where discussions can take place. the iran deal will be another issue that is coming up, right now it doesn't feel like it's going to be extended. i think the president likely will move away from it unless our european counterparts really come together on a framework and it doesn't feel to me that they are. now as we get within two weeks of the may 12th date that could change. >> brennan: you think the president is going to pull out of that iran deal? >> i do. >> brennan: now you have this timeline in may where you could

see the u.s. pulling out of a nuclear deal with iran at the same time it's starting to negotiate with north korea about its nuclear program. do you think it makes things harder to get anywhere with north korea? >> i don't. i know -- >> brennan: you don't think they're related? >> i don't. look, i have used that argument. but at the end of the way i think this whole situation with north korea and the way that it's shaping up right now, as i mentioned, somewhat unorthodox. i think you're dealing with a leader there that probably doesn't think the same way that other countries in their leadership might. i'm not sure that it's going to end up having a detrimental affect. >> brennan: do you think the president should sit down with kim jong-un? >> i think it's fine. >> brennan: you do believe that meeting is going to happen? >> i think ultimately it happens, i do. you've seen the administration

sort of move away from an instant meeting. they have said that don't know exactly when it's going to occur. >> brennan: maybe not may? >> i think we're seeing that happen because realities of what you have to do in preparation to make sure that it's successful. it takes awhile for that to occur. we have back channels, ourselves, by the way, to north korea. and we have hour ways of setting things like that up and in an appropriate manner. >> brennan: do you think mike pompeo currently at the c.i.a. but ultimately face confirmation ahead of your committee to become secretary of state is he the right person to be leading that diplomacy? is he already with the ground work? >> he became aware of his situation over the weekend and you saw where he had already briefed himself up on north korea a little bit more fully than he otherwise would have probably. its it's my sense that pompeo is much more aligned with the president so think one of the

questions he'll get during the hearing process is just ensuring that he's going to be giving honest assessments in that full range of options to the president as decisions are being made. my sense is they will get along, they will move much more fully together as they move down the path on foreign policy. >> brennan: do you expect to have new secretary of state by may? >> look, it's -- margaret as you know we're moving into the sort of the election season and things are beginning to feel slightly more partisan. i hope that's the case. >> brennan: rand paul says he's going to block the nomination. >> we have 21 members it takes 11 we have one member who said they would oppose. there were two democrats who voted for pompeo on the floor who are members of the committee for c.i.a. >> brennan: have you spoken with rex tillerson since he was fired? >> i had a long conversation with him, yes. >> brennan: how is he doing?

>> i think he's doing fine. he feels he knows he's laid the ground work for north korea, i know he feels like he's moved things along in a good way, wants to have a very good transition with pompeo. he's a class act in that regard. i think he's at peace. i think he obviously wanted to stay a year he moved beyond that. i think he was planning to be here this entire year also to make it two. but, look, i think he feels like he served his country well and knows that the president needs to have his own secretary of state or one that he he are gels fully with. >> brennan: you canñi see our full interview with senator corker on our website at facethenation.com. we'll be right back. ainst time. and keeping it in the right conditions is the best way to get that fish to your plate safely.

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presidential election is taking place against the backdrop of new sanctions and expelled diplomat, liz? >> good morning, as you can see it's a beautiful day today here in moscow which may have helped voter turn out. certainly from what we saw the polling stations this morning it looked pretty heavy. all the signs of a real contest are here. but everyone knows how it's going to turn out and should be announcing his victory. that will make him the longest be continuously serving leader in russian history, beating the record said by joseph stalin the u.k. government certainly won't be sending its congratulationss, britain's foreign secretary said likely putin himself decided to poison the russian exile with nerve agent. >> overwhelmingly likely that it was his decision. >> in retaliation britain would ex spell 23 russian diplomats.

then moscow responded tit for tat announced it would expel 23 british diplomats. meanwhile moscow was taking heat from washington last week when the u.s. treasury announced fresh sanctions against russia for meddling in the election and staging cyber attacks. now, in retaliation for that, the russians have announced that they will be expanding their so-called black list, which is a list of americans who are not allowed to visit or do business in russia, although it's worth noting they have never made the content of that list public. margaret? >> brennan: liz, thank you. we'll be right back. at bp, everyone on an offshore rig depends on one another. that's why entire teams train together in simulators, to know exactly what to do before they have to do it. because safety is never being satisfied. and always working to be better.

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