>> brennan: today on "face the nation." north korea declares it will suspend testing of nuclear missiles and plans to close test sites. announcement is hailed at step in the right direction by president trump as also faces some crucial decisions about that summit with kim jong-un and embattled nominee for secretary of state and cia director moves forward in the senate. all this as the president's personal attorney, michael coh cohen, faces to be criminal charges. wilco win turn on his long time client in order to make a plea deal? we'll cover it all today with two key voices in the senate. arkansas republican tom cotton and california democrat dianne feinstein. iranian foreign minister

mohammad javad zarif what his country is if pulls out of the iran nuclear deal. normer new york mayor michael bloomberg to make earth day announcement about america's contritalks 20 international climate change agreement and answer questions about his own political future. in addition to political roundtable, john dickerson returns to talk about the legacy of barbara bush and why the presidency has gotten too big for one person. it's all ahead on "face the nation." good morning welcome to "face the nation" i'm margaret brennan. we've got a lot to get to today but begin with arkansas republican tom cotton one of the president's closest allies in the senate. welcome to the show. >> good morning, margaret. good to be one with you. >> brennan: great to have you in person here in washington. announcement about suspending some tests but didn't say they're giving up nuclear development or their weapons. should the release of three

americans be a condition for these upcoming talks? >> i think this announcement on friday is better than continued testing but it's not much better than that. as you say it's easily reversible decision, made no announcement about medium or short range ballistic missiles that threatened hundreds of thousands in korea and japan. but they show that the president has put kim jong-un on the wrong foot. the fact that kim requested this summit, president accepted, surprise to move so quickly not going to ask for u.s. troops to be removed. this announcement shows that he realizes that time and momentum is on the side of the united states and our allies. the president and director pompeo soon be secretary pompeo is committed to bringing those americans home. i hope that will happen before this summit occurs. >> do you expect release to happen before mike pompeo. >> they are working hard to achieve that goal you. mentioned mike pompeo a friend

of your cia director, wants to be secretary of state. one issue that some of the democrats at his hearing like senator menendez had with his nomination they say they don't know which mike pompeo to agree. striking iran and north korea and criticize the diplomatic deals or one who now says he wants to preserve the nuclear deal with iran and negotiate with north korea. is this driven by politics or change of conviction? >> driven 100% by politics, margaret. >> change of position? >> opposition to mike pompeo's. >> he has not changed his position. i've known mike for many years, he's committed to diplomatic solutions everywhere. the difference between mike pompeo and the democrats or previous secretaries of state is that mike pompeo recognizes the credible threat of military force is essential to getting diplomatic solutions. lot of these -- >> brennan: oppose the iran

nuclear deal said in his testimony now he wants to preserve it. >> opposing the iran nuclear deal doesn't mean that you're opposed to diplomatic solutions, you're opposed to bad -- >> brennan: that was a change. >> ultimately foreign policy on behalf of the president but as he said in his testimony it's the president who will make that decision. but the democrats especially on foreign relations committee are engaged in shameful political behavior. 15 voted for mike pompeo to be director of the cia not single one has said that he's done a bad job. many have -- >> brennan: very different job than being america's top diplomat. why they get to the fundamental question. >> as director pompeo said at his testimony he is committed to the solutions but ultimately secretary of state is conducting diplomacy on behalf. president. moss of these democrats don't have a problem with mike pompeo, they are still struggling to get over the election of donald trump in 2016 or frankly base

elections in 2018 they're afraid of scaring the move on crowd. it's shameful behavior. >> brennan: last week on this program u.n. ambassador announced quite definitively that sanctionss were coming on russia and related to chemical weapons, the white house walked that back. is that very number disagreement trouble you? >> i can't comment on what was happening behind the scenes. in the national security council it shouldn't surprise anyone that the president gets differing opinions and disagreements among cabinet members on those questions if it gets to the president's desk. i do know this administration has been much tougher on russia than the obama administration ever was. they expelled dozens of diploma- >> brennan: are you saying -- i can't tell you about what was happening behind the scenes and what the negotiations or deliberation were. for the national security last weekend i can say this administration has been very tough and very firm line on

russia by doing things like expelling russian spice and diplomats. closing consulates, posing lots of sanctions to include on russia oligarchs very close to vladimir putin. i expect those measures to continue. >> brennan: you speak very frequently with the president. do you agree with his argument that the special counsel led by robert mueller was based on an in legal act as he tweeted on friday? >> i assume that we're talking here about jim comey's memos that were rees leased -- >> brennan: special continental specifically was created outed of illegal -- >> jim comey testified to my committee that he wrote those memos then gave them to a friend of his in hopes that they would be leaked to the "new york times" then that would lead to the owe point of robert mueller. i think that is unfortunate behavior on director comey's part that we know that they may have contained classified information. at this point, i think it's best for everyone involved to include

the president to the special counsel to conclude this investigation by following the facts to the conclusion as quickly as can just like on intelligence committee. >> brennan: continue tweeting about his personal attorney michael cohen. >> gets lots of advice of what he should or should not tweet to include members of his close family he continues to do so, i don't think he's going to take advice about his exiter comments from the senator. >> brennan: thank you, good to have you in studio. we turn now to california democrat -- to california democratic senator dianne feinstein. she joins us from san francisco. welcome to "face the nation." senator, i want to ask you, the north koreans have announced that they're going to suspend ballistic missiles and nuclear testing shut down a site in the north that have country. how significant is this and do you have reason to believe they will follow through? >> it's a beginning. they are a threat to the united

states. i very much welcome this approach and the fact that the two presidents will have an opportunity to meet and hopefully establish the new perimeter of a relationship. >> brennan: it was revealed this week that cia director mike pompeo made a secret trip to north korea. you've said you have serious doubts about whether he is qualified to be secretary of state and you question his commitment to diplomacy. >> the things that were put of a put off for me about mr. pompeo were a lot of his statements. that's the past now. and i think it's very important that if the president goes that the meeting between kim jong-un and our president goes well. and that there is an ability to put together some terms of an agreement that might exist. the question is, whether it

lasts or not and of course the reputation of the north koreans has been that they don't necessarily keep their agreements. >> brennan: the cia released redacted memos regarding the torture program she was the one who drafted memo, is that ultimately ordered the destruction of tapes of those enhanced interrogations. this declassification said that she acted appropriately. why is that judgment not enough for you? >> i am of the opinion that putting somebody right now at the head of the cia who played a role in -- let's say torture is not necessarily appropriate. i have met with gina haskell, i know her somewhat, i know that she is talented but i also know that she was fully supportive of the program that many of us are

very critical of. >> brennan: this investigation by the cia said she personally academy appropriately. it absolved her. what do you need to learn about her for your vote to be a yes? >> i have spoken to her about it. so i know that she regrets it. the point is, that she was supportive of the program while it was going on. and actually supervised one of the sites where some of this interrogation so-called went on. she's a number two position now, that's different from number o one. the head of the cia worldwide, there are countries that look very badly on what the united states did, particularly european countries. and we want whoever is head of the cia to be able to be acceptable to our allies. so this is an open question in

my mind. we needfire solve it. we have not yet had the hearings. i generally do not make up my mind until after the hearing. >> brennan: it sounds like you are leaning towards a no but are not quite there yet. i want to ask you about what you're thinking here because some in the intelligence are looking to you as very keen vote here. gina haskell would be the first female cia director, she has a lot of support from within the agency but then there are those who are questioning whether it's possible for you personally to be supportive of her given the pressures you are feeling from progressives back in your home state of california. that you just can't afford to support any trump nominee. >> that is not correct obviously that's your interpretation of it. and you're welcome to that interpretation. >> brennan: it's not my interpretation it's -- >> -- the cia.

i'm going to do my due diligence, have chance to ask her questions in the public arena. and we'll do just that. then we'll make up my mind whether i believe she's an appropriate person to head this agency. >> brennan: there's a report in the "washington post" that attorney general jeff sessions informed the white house that he would be willing to resign if his deputy, rob rosenstein was fired. i'm wondering if this legislation that you and senator grassley working on to protect the office of the special counsel if that makes you think that is more needed now or how you're viewing these reports? >> well, i view the reports with concern. i admire mr. sessions for saying that i believe he means it. i think more rosenstein is a very goodman and very good

member of the united states government. we once again will see our legislation i think is well thought out. i'm hopeful that we can get this done so there is back up for bob mueller. >> brennan: you think bob mueller needs back up but -- >> well not necessarily. i think it's not at all harmful to have it, though, knowing how these things go. >> brennan: senator feinstein thank you for joining us. >> thank you very much. >> brennan: we'll be back in one minute. to know exactly what to do before they have to do it. because safety is never being satisfied. and always working to be better.

bp is taking safety to new heights. using drones and robots offshore so engineers can stop potential problems before they start. because safety is never being satisfied and always working to be better. >> brennan: leaders from france and germany are headed to washington this week to meet with president trump. one item that is high on their agenda, lobbying the president not to pull out of the iran nuclear agreement. that obama era deal froze iran's nuclear program in exchange for lifting sanctions. we spoke earlier to the foreign minister of iran, mohammad javad zarif. >> you said that if the u.s.

pulls out the outcome would be unpleasant, what did you mean by that? >> it would lead to u.s. isolation in the international community. everybody has advice, the administration that this is not a bilateral agreement between iran and the united states. withdrawing from it would be seen by national community as an indication that the united states is not a reliable partner. iran has many options. and those options are not pleasant. >> brennan: if the u.s. pulls out of the nuclear deal will iran continue to abide by its terms? >> the benefits of the deal for iran start to diminish, there is no reason for iran to remain in the deal. because it's not acceptable for us to have a one-sided agreement. >> the u.s. and allys come to their own agreement on the sidelines to address some of the things that president trump is

concerned about. will you accept them? >> no. what is important is for europeans to bring the united states into compliance because iran has been in compliance with the deal. >> brennan: you said the president in your view is unpredictable and unreliable. are you saying no power, north korea or anyone else will come to an agreement with america if they break this? >> the countries will make their own decisions. obviously this would be very bad precedent if the united states sends the message to the national community that the length or duration of any agreement would depend on duration of the presidency that would mean people will at least think twice before they start negotiating with the united states. negotiations involve give and take. and people will not be prepared to give if the take is only

temporary. >> brennan: it sounds like you're saying it's president trump's move, if he puts sanctions back on iran then decide what the consequences will be? >> we have put a number of options for ourselves and those options are ready including option, is that would involve resuming at much greater speed our nuclear activities. and those are within the deal and those options are ready to be implemented and we will make the necessary decisions then we see fit. >> brennan: you're ready to restart your nuclear program if president trump puts sanctions on iran even if the rest of the world says don't do this. >> the rest of the world cannot street ask us to unilaterally in

one side implement a deal that has already been broken. >> brennan: president trump offered to meet with your president at the united nations. iran said, no. >> he made a very negative and insulting speech before the general assembly and while he was making that speech they approached us. we believe that the first requirement for any bilateral meeting is mutual respect. and if the president is not prepared to provide that, exercise that mutual respect, then a meeting would not produce any positive results. >> brennan: cia director mike pompeo was a harsh credit can of this deal when he was in congress. he is very close to the president. now he's nominee to become

secretary of state. do you read his nomination as a sign? >> well, indication that the united states sending appointments, statements, indicate to us and these national community that the united states not serious about this international obligation. >> brennan: would you be able to work with him? >> as i said, the requirement for any international engagement is mutual respect. have to wait and see. >> brennan: pompeo has spoken about striking iran, bolton the new national security advisor said the goal should be regime change in your country. do you think that as national security advisors they're going to be honest brokers with the president presenting him with these diplomatic options? >> if that is a diplomatic apps

i think that has been -- >> brennan: that's what i'm saying. are they -- does this -- their appointment make military confrontation more likely or do you still see the possibility to negotiate? >> i think the united states has never abandoned the idea of regime change in iran. >> brennan: under existing deal iran promised to stay more than one year away from -- >> that's u.s. calculation. it's not any promise that we have made. because we never wanted to produce a bomb. and now mr. pompeo obviously has said that in his testimony in congress that iran was never racing towards a bomb. it would not be racing toward a bomb. it's better late than ever. >> brennan: the point, if it is such a settled issue, why not make another pledge saying -- >> why should we. >> brennan: we still won't -- why should we? there was a negotiation. there was an agreement that was

reached. after hours upon hours of negotiations. >> brennan: you aren't saying in the future we don't intend to build a bomb -- >> that's very clear, in the nuclear agreement. >> brennan: it's not clear to president trump though. >> three lines down the preface to the agreement, it says, commits itself never to develop a nuclear weapon. you don't need to read the entire video pages of the deal. just read the first three lines. there is no sunset to the fact that iran seek nuclear weapons. >> brennan: you can see full interview with mohammad javad zarif on our website at facethenation.com. we'll be right back. until exxonmobil scientists put it to the test.

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to tell us he's making good on his pledge to help america's financial commitment to the paris climate change accord. international agreement that president trump pulled out of last year. >> america made a commitment and as an american if the government is not going to do it, we all have responsibility, i'm able to do it so, yes, i'm going to send them a check for the monies that america had promised to the organization as though they got from federal government. >> brennan: $4.5 million this year? >> we'll figure out hopefully by then president trump will have changed his view which would be great. >> brennan: president trump. is huge critic of the climate change. >> he has been. but that doesn't mean he can't listen to others and cake his mind. a person that doesn't change hire mind isn't very smart. >> brennan: he changes his mind. >> he's been known to change his mind that is true. but he should change his mind and say look, there really is a

problem here, america is part of the problem, america is a big part of the solution. and we should go in and help the world stop potential disaster. >> brennan: criticism of the this agreement, the pairs climate change is it's nonbinding, not enforceable, none of the developed nations have met the benchmark they set for themselves aren't you concerned that your throwing good money after bad? >> look. it's dangerous to keep doing what we're doing if everybody would do the right thing, yes, it would be better. but if some people, some countries do the right thing we all benefit from that. >> brennan: the criticism is that industrialized nations aren't living up to the nations. >> i can't speak for other nations. all i know is that america, i believe will meet its commitment by 2025 to reduce greenhouse gasses by an agreed amount f. we do it hopefully other countries will do it as well. >> brennan: do you feel like you're filling a leadership gap for the united states? >> this is what the american

public when you poll them they want to do. you have companies and states and individuals, all agreeing to step in, report to the united nations what our progress is the way all the other countries are going to do it. fulfill our commitment to fund part of it, not a lot of money, but america made that commitment. most importantly to do the things that will keep temperatures from going up and really potentially changing our life for the worst. >> brennan: after the election the president gave you his personal cell phone number. why don't you call him? >> i think when he watches this program on sunday morning he'll get my views. >> brennan: we don't know if the president is watching but for those of you who are, lot more with michael bloomberg in just a moment. don't go away.

>> brennan: we'll be right back with a lot more "face the nation" including our political panel. and our own john dickerson returns so stay with us.

>> brennan: welcome back to "face the nation" i'm margaret brennan. we continue our conversation with former new york mayor and coyou for of climate of hope, michael bloomberg. how do you assess epa administer scott pruitt? >> his policies are not good for the world. to debunk science and walk away from it is just ridiculous. even if you don't believe it if there's a possibility it's right you have to take prophylactic actions to prevent a disaster. and what i do know is that a lot of kids go to the hospital with asthma attacks because we have a lot of junk we put in the air. lot of people come down with stomach cancers because lot of stuff that goes into the water. lot of people's houses are being destroyed and getting killed in hurricanes. >> brennan: sounds like you're saying he's not doing the job

that he should be doing. >> i don't think there's any question about that. he was hired, his job is to protect the environment and he has walked away 100% from that saying, environment doesn't need protection i'm going to try to protect jobs, that's not his job. >> brennan: should he be fired? >> that's up to the president to decide if he could get scott pruitt to change his policies, then he can keep it. but the issue is that what he's doing is very damaging to your health and your children's health and mine. >> brennan: he would say, administration would say that criticism like yours are just pure politics. >> if there's anybody that is making it a political issue it's this administration. 99% of all scientist say that something is happening in the world, it's changing. everybody looks outside their window can see that we have less snow here and more snow there and bigger storms. whole bunch of things that

oceans are rising and things are changing. you can't deny that. >> brennan: at the dnc in 2016 you called donald trump a risky, reckless and radical choice and country you said couldn't afford to make that mistake. >> did i say that? >> brennan: it was a memorable quote. has he done anything to make you reconsider that? do you think he's doing a good job? >> i think he's -- i would give him an incomplete grade. some of the things that he's done i don't agree with, the style of changing your mind every day and leaving your staff out there to make embarrassing things that you don't back them up. the turnover in the administration is really dangerous and worrisome, not fair to people. but, you know, to criticize him doesn't advance anything. >> brennan: his compelling case that he came from a world of business. as you did. >> no, he didn't.

he's real estate developer. he was -- he didn't manage large numbers of people. he didn't run big organizations. he was i gather a reasonably successful real estate developer. which is just a different occupation not really a business person. >> brennan: do you see -- you're drawing a distinction there. do you see some management issues then, you say -- >> i don't think there's any question. >> brennan: the hiring the firing. >> management is not something you -- it's like skiing you don't read a book then go out and ski double black diamonds. management is something you learn over a period of time and you have to manage larger and larger groups of people make more and more difficult decisions and with those decisions as you go. this president does not have experience in running large organizations or facing a lot of the issues that he has to face. and the one time i talked to him after he got elected my advice to him was, get people

regardless of their political persuasion who have exer tease in each of these areas that you're not an expert on and give them authority to go along with responsibility and then let them do it even when there are things that you don't with. decisions that you don't necessarily agree with you have to back them up. if you don't give people confidence that you will have their backs you're not going to keep good people. >> brennan: you've been a democrata republican,. >> i know something about partisan politics i've been them all. >> brennan: do you see any candidates in any of those parties right now that you see embodying the leadership you want to support and would support in 2020? >> i think if you look back at history it is such a long time from this point in the cycle until the election that i bet you 25 cents that candidate that gets the nomination isn't even mentioned today. >> brennan: because you're a numbers guy, who are the odds you put on you deciding to run?

>> not very high. >> brennan: not very high. but not zero. >> if god said i'd appoint you it would be a great challenge, you'd have to think long and hard, physically able to do it, can you think you can attract the right people because not going to be you it's the staff that you're going to build that team that i talked about. but at the moment i'm not running for president. i'm trying to do as good a job as i can, i'm interested in public education, i think the education system in our country is going in the wrong direction, we have to find programs where people can get jobs. we have defense issues around the world. we have potential things that we could destroy our country. we've got to build alliances around the world and do those kinds of things. i think i can as a private citizen help in some of those things. and that's what i want to do with my life. >> brennan: sounds like a platform. >> well, anything you say could be a platform.

i don't know if -- do i think that the president of the united states should do those things? of course i think that. but he's not or she's not the only one that can do those things. >> brennan: new york mayor, michael bloomberg, ruling out a run for office, sort of. our full conversation will be available on "face the nation" website. we'll be right back with john dickerson, stay with us. ♪ oh, look... another anti-wrinkle cream in no hurry to make anything happen. neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair® works in just one week.

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st. martin's church in houston to pay their respects to former first lady, barbara bush yesterday. four of the five former presidents attended along with first lady melania trump for a woman who was the wife of one president and mother of another, the funeral was very much a family affair. as mrs. bush's five children, 17 grandchildren and seven great grandchildren played prominent roles in the service. grand daughters gave tribute. >> many women have done excellently, but you surpassed them all. >> grandsons acted as paul bearers and second son, jeb bush, delivered the eulogy. >> mom got us through our difficult times with consistent, take it to the bank, unconditional but tough love. she called her style a benevolent dictatorship but honestly it wasn't always benevolent. we learned to strive to be genuine and authentic by the

best role model in the world. her authentic plastic pearls. her not coloring her hair, by the way she was beautiful until the day she died. >> brennan: barbara bush died tuesday at the age of 92, she and president george hw bush were married for 73 years. for more on former first lady barbara bush and broader look at the presidency we knew who to call, john dickerson, is now coanchor "cbs this morning" and author this month's cover story how the presidency became impossible good to have you back on very familiar set. >> dickerson: i admire watching you, great to be on. >> brennan: thank you. george and barbara bush they had the longest marriage in presidential history. >> dickerson: that's what i think about. they say about the spouses of people who serve in the military, they are the backbone of the military. and that emotional relationship for 73 years she was the backbone to the family dedicated to public service, it started as

you say 73 years ago. her nissan i went off to war, they wrote constant letters to each other then for month they stopped she didn't know what happened. is for three days she didn't know whether he lived or died. that was the emotional roller coaster who is dedicated their life to their country and she had to go through all of that. then watching him get abused in public, knowing how pain half is not being able to do anything about it. anybody who is a spouse who watches their spouse get abused in public can't do anything knows what that pain is like. now multiply by three. she had two sons in politics, too. that dedication throughout her whole life to that public service, that is where dedication to family becomes dedication to country. >> was it right for president trump not to attend the funeral? >> well, i think -- i don't know right or wrong we certainly know that he attacked the bush family during the campaign, said that george w. bush lied the country into the iraq war. attacked them both specifically lot of the things they stood up

for. so i think melania trump is was in keeping with the continuity of long presidency, but i think you could have gotten into something maybe a little bit more bitter if he had attended. you don't want to do anything to take away from that extraordinary life. and the celebration of it and so i think it worked out well. >> brennan: this was an extraordinary read in the atlantic the piece, you've been working on it quite some time. you write, americans need their president to succeed but the presidency has set him up for failure. what do you mean? >> dickerson: well, make a general point, what's happened to the presidency it's gotten out of shape. so, people may think we're about to talk about this specific president but let's go back to president polk the 11th president, sarah his wife had him play "hailed to the chief" because people wouldn't rise that. >> i love that. >> now we have president basically most famous person on the globe, on the planet. that is not the way the framers

intended it. instead of not noticing the president we're whip sawed by the president's behavior in anything he does or anything we notice. you notice i'm making distinction between the president and the presidency. if you think of the presidency it's an enormous ship l. is a captain that have ship we spend a lot of time talking about him or some day, one day her. it is fitting and proper we do so. but the ship itself has taken on barnacles, some people want the ship to act like a kayak, some want it to act like a barge. all of those expectations we have about the ship of the presidency reflect on our aspirations for the country way we think about the captain. >> brennan: when did that departure happen that evolution of the presidency? >> it depends where you want to put down the needle on the record. you can think in terms of national security. after 9/11 something changed, no longer a he bout big, slow moving armies. it was about threats that could come through the mail, that could come through e-mail, that could disrupt the country by a few people plotting together to

use planes into fly into a building. that in whated what a president had to keep their eye on. george w. bush after the briefings with the presidential daily brief he went through threat by threat. if you do that your whole day is taken up by threats. that focused on the national security piece is one piece. the rise of the primaries and television that is turned the presidency into a performance show that was not the founder's intent. they want presidents to run for the office for fear that grubbing for votes would get in the way of clear reason. now we have reality show president. we see how that has changed those are just -- then of course the rise of partisanship. some people will look at raising this question say this is an attack on trump. or effort to make excuses for him. we can't see any question no matter how much we try to step back outside of that partisan lens. that has hurt the presidency and congress. >> brennan: one of the frustrations with the presidency and some of what you've talked about came up in this past election.

the solution being offered was, let's look to the private sector. that a businessman, a ceo could really take charge. but you puncture that idea. >> well, that's right. they're not the same job. michael bloomberg in that excellent interview you had explained the differences in the job. there are certain set of attributes to the presidency. one is recognizing that you don't know everything you don't know. that's what michael bloomberg is talking about a. lot of people have been successful in business have been successful and/or sometimes blind to what they don't know. so there is a guy at harvard done careful study of this, the way ceos are elevated there's a filtering process through the presidency that same filtering process doesn't exist. for the job we're electing people to actually go to. and so the idea that a business person can come in is just -- it's not consistent with the actual job they have to perform. >> brennan: there's no easy solution. >> there's no easy solution. we don't in the press, in the public allow presidents to do

things, we don't allow them to make mistakes or change their mind all of which are part of best practices in any other large organization. so, there aren't easy solutions, we don't provide road to those solutions in the way we cover the presidency and in the way as partisans we react to the behavior of individual presidents. >> brennan: it's a great read. so good to have you back here. >> take care. >> brennan: we'll be back in a moment.

>> brennan: now for some political analysis. mark landler is white house correspondent at the "new york times." rachel bade covers congress for politico. and mike allen is cofounder of axios. welcome to "face the nation." all of you. mike, there were a number of legal developments this week as relate to the president. you had rudy guiliani joining the president's legal team. a report that the deputy attorney general rob rosenstein told the president he personally wasn't the target of an investigation. then you saw all of these tweets about the former fbi director and the president's personal attorney michael cohen. and the president saying, i don't expect him to flip.

what do they mean? >> best part is all of that was thursday afternoon. a couple of hours. here is what with is important to know. that the president is really rattled by what is going on up in new york. >> brennan: with michael cohen. >> not only because of what his personal lawyer knows but because they don't exactly know what has been taken. like what recordings have been taken, what electronic records have been taken. and so you see the president as he does when he's backed into a corner or rattled acting out. and what does he want? he wants someone who is going to be on tv defending him that's why you have rudy guiliani who is not known for all things he's great at. he's not known as a great in-court litigate for which is what the president needs. but he's comfort food for the president. he was someone who is there during the campaign and when the president flips on the tube he'll take his side. >> brennan: he's very familiar with the southern district of new york where this case is

progressing and with robert mueller. the special counsel. >> and he's promising a quick end which is what the president wants. his initial team did that once again rudy guiliani going in saying, i can make this deal, i can shorten this, that is exactly what is special counsel doesn't do. there's no sign of the way that robert mueller conducted this investigation that he's in the market for a deal. >> brennan: rachel, there's all this talk about the potential of legislation to protect the special counsel yet it look like it would go no w. can't get the floor time, president sun likely to sign off on it anyhow. is this needed? is this just symbolic? why is congress talking about it? >> the chatter has crescendoed. personal knock on special counsel calling it illegitimate. he said they were confidential there for special counsel is illegitimate shouldn't be arou around. earring trying to argue, of

course, most -- every democrat most republicans will disagree with that completely. but there's a lot of talk right now about whether they need to pass legislation to protect the special counsel make sure the president doesn't move to fire him just a few days after the white house basically said they think the president does have this authority. now from talking to republican leaders i can tell you that is just not going to happen. yes, there are a new group, a new faction of republicans who are joining democrats and signing these bipartisan bills. but majority leader mitch mcconnell noted, i control the floor. this isn't coming to the floor. paul ryan has said many times he doesn't think the president is going to fire mueller. so he's just not going to put that on the floor to divide the party in a tough reelection battle to keep the house. >> brennan: there is a battle being played out in the public eye this week within the administration, nikki haley the u.n. ambassador was on the show, couldn't have been more definitive or clear in the

timing and specific roll out of russia sanctions then the white house said, she was confused. what happened and where are the sanctionn. >> well, i think what happened here is some people are ready to throw nicki haley under the bus. larry kudlow said that maybe she was a little bit confused. other officials suggest that she was out of the loop that there had been subsequent meeting she wasn't included in. she then answered rather authoritatively, i was not confused. i think that was actually a very interesting blow by a woman in the president's cabinet to stake her ground. i think it's made a big impression. now the question is, what does it mean for her relationship it was a strong stand for her to take. the president has said there may still be sanctions in the future, he's made the point that no one has been tougher on russia than donald j. trump which of course is highly debatable point. the administration has in fact done several things on the

sanctions front, president showed his habitual inability to be critical of the vladimir putin himself. you seed this odd disjunction, nikki haley fell into that gap between some of the policy things the administration is doing and the rhetoric of the president that continues to be somewhat out of sync with his own administration. >> a lot of people said that that -- sounds like nicki haley felt that the white house undercut her and harder to do her job at the u.n. when world leaders can't take her at her word that she's speaking for the president. i think her response to that really assertive response, aggressive response to stand up for herself really helped her, this is woman who republicans love she's got lot of respect from democrats as well. i think that helped her in the long run, somebody who could run for president. the president trump sees her as a threat. it's really interesting exchange. >> margaret, shows when she was on your show, congratulations on

the global headline that she made right here on "face the nation," she was reflecting where the administration was. she was not freelancing as you know. everyone knows her, built it's the occupational hazard of being top official of the trump administration. may well be that saw it on tv didn't want her announcing it. he put that in the context of this very important washington story this week talking about the president as the reluctant hawk on russia. this is the split that you were talking about. policy makers and president that every time the administration has pushed him to be tough on russia he dialed it back or was reluctant or complained later. >> brennan: iraq war vet an and tammy duckworth made history not only for giving birth as a senator but bringing her 10 day old daughter on to the floor of the senate this week. that required a big change in rules. how difficult was it to get that through? >> well, how many years did it take? decades.

i mean, yeah, there's been a lot of the me too movement launched female candidates to run for office historic numbers on capitol hill in recent months seen talk about sexual harassment in reforming the system to make sure women are protected and not silenced can come forward. but this is more practical thing you have mother in the senate, she can't leave her baby with staffers, that's against the rules, looks like baby-sitting pretty much, she's got to take her baby with her. she wants to vote on the floor and show they got to change these rules to make the senate more welcoming for women and there are more and more female senators. >> brennan: i want to ask you about this state visit that's about to happen. france's president flying here for the first state, chancellor merkel what is the big ask they're coming to washington with? >> i think emmanuel macron will

make strong and potentially last ditch case not to rip up the iran nuclear deal. macron has sort of developed a strong personal rapport with the president but hasn't actually translated into any major achievements he tried to talk him out of pulling out of the paris climate accord, that didn't work. the president faces deadline of may 12th in deciding whether he's really going to walk away from the iran deal. he's been involved in this negotiation with the europeans, they're trying desperate plea to come up with a formula that could come out persuade will draw heavily on the sense of rapport say, mr. president, we've gone some distance toward meeting your concerns, stick with it, stick with the deal. you talk to mohammad javad zarif a few minutes ago on the show he made the point that iran is not willing to change its view towards the deal. be very interesting to watch how that plays out. >> brennan: thank you. >> happy berth day.

>> we'll be right back.

>> brennan: that's it for us today it has been another busy week here at "face the nation." thank you all for watching this sunday. and until next week, i'm margaret brennan. captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

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