captioning sponsored by cbs >> brennan: itself sunday, november 18th. i'm margaret brennan and this is "face the nation." president trump pays a visit to the sights of california's deadliest and most destructive fires in history. >> to see what's happened here, nobody would have ever thought this could have happened. >> brennan: we'll get an update from california governor jerry brown, who was at the president's side during saturday's visit. >> does seeing this devastation change your opinion at all on climate change, mr. president? >> noopinn. i want a great climate. we're going to have that, an we're going to have forests that are very safe. >> brennan: then the

coludeed prince mohammad bin salman ordered the murder of jamalas that's presum. we'll have a all right on tuesday. it will be very complete. in the meantime we're doing things to some people that we know for fact were involved, and we're being very tough on a lot of people. >> brennan: we'll talk with kentucky republican rand paul, who says the administration is not being tough enough. he's urging more action against the country the president calls a truly spectacular ally when it comes to jobs. plus the 116th congress, what's ahead for the administration with democrats controlling investigations in the house. the likely chairman of the key committee, maryland's elijah cummings, will tell us. iowart will also be here. she's now part of the republican leadership team. and as incoming freshman congress, we'll hear what unites them and how their diversity could impact future legislation.

it's all ahead on "face the >> brennan: good morning and welcome to "face the nation." there's a lot of news in washington, but we begin with an update on the california fires, where there has been some containment, but the number of dead and missing continues to rise. officials placed the death toll in the camp fire in northern california at 76 and say that at this point there are over 1,200 missing. president trump toured both regions hit by devastating fires with california governor jerry brown andcoming gove gave ny. we spoke with governor brown after that visit, where for the most part politics was put aside. we asked why the fires had gotten so out of control. >> well, how they started is now the subject of investigation.

the consultation occurs because the brush, the vegetation is so dry, and the humidity is so low. and when you have that and then, that gets it going. in paradise, there were a lot of buildings that also caught fire, and it just went from one to the other. so it's a mixture of many things, and the president talked about how our forests are managed. that's an element. but there is also the way the houses were built, the materials, what kind of vegetation is around, and then there's also the changing climate and the increasing drought and the lowered humidity and water vapor. all of that is combining to create the tragic situation that we saw today in both northern california and here in southern california. >> brennan: as you say, the president did acknowledge that he said climate change might be a factor a little bit, but he primarily blamed forest management as the cause here. is california to blame here for

its own problem? >> well, where paradise is, of course, is surrounded by federally managed land. these are national forests. they're not state parks, and they're not private property by californians. so it is the federal government. and the fact is that managing the forest is part of it. they are a lot denser than they were 200 years ago, but on top of that we have a five-year drought. we have reduced rainfall. we have the vegetation and bushes and houses and trees that turn into timber so it's ready to explode. so there is an atmospheric element, which is part of the natural cycle, and then there is an increasing effect of climate change. in fact, i have read specifically peer-reviewed scientific articles that say

that the amount of land burned in california over the last 15 years has doubled because of climate change. >> brennan: did you make that case to president trump? >> i certainly raised it, but i didn't feel that that was where we needed to go. we need the money, we need federal help, and we need a collaborative and cooperative spirit. and we're getting that. but i did say that we're going the look at all the elements that are causing these fires over time, and we're going to work in a way that lets science be our guide. and the president in no way negated that, so i decided to go for an opening, and i think over the next months and years you'll see the science becoming crystal clear and even the folks in washington, they're now more in the denialist camp are going to comp around. >> brennan: you did say that federal funds were coming. did president trump assure you that he's not going to cut funding as he had threatened to

do. >> yes, so that's a big, big win. the president not only has signed the presidential declaration giving california substantial funding, but he said and pledged very specifically to continue to help us, that he's got our back. and i thought that was a very positive thing. and there have been some back h and-forth between california leaders and the president, but in this face of tragedy, peep tend to rise above some of their lesser propensities. so i think you're on a good path, but it's still going to be difficult, because the only way to assure the long-term forest health is not just, you know, cutting trees, it's going to require reducing carbon emissions and eventually, sooner rather than later to, zero. if we don't do that, you're going to see tis no cuiby years.

the last five years, the fires have never been this bad. this fire in malibu is the worst we've ever seen. this fire in paradise in northern california is the worst in the history of california. so, yeah, you can mold the science, but i'll tell you, every year it's going to get clearer and clearer so that i think in less than five years even the worst sceptics are going to be believers. >> brennan: what about the human toll? as we said, 1,000 unaccounted for. do you believe that number is going to continue to rise? >> i don't think it's going to be 1,000. ers are gearedat that's b theth high. look, they're narrow streets. these fires were going at -- i can't even believe it, but i'll repeat what the fire people told me, the fires were moving a football length a second. the roads were very narrow, so there's in way for a lot of these people to get out.

some of them were backed up, cars blocking the road, three hours to move a few miles. so that's another thing. if you can live this close to the forest, if the climate is going to keep changing, you're going to have to build some kind of underground shelters so that you can go in and protect yourself, not by going through three or four miles, but by going 30 or 40 feet. >> brennan: that's a pretty stark image, governor. tell me about what's happening now with the air quality, which we understand is very topic in some cities like san francisco. do you have scenes of the damage being caused by that and the economic hit to your state? >> well, first of all, i like the look at my weather app. i look at it a couple times a day. i never saw on the weather app until yesterday air hazardous to health. and then in other cities i saw very unthe healthful air and unhealthful air and air

unhealthful to sensitive people. so those categories i never saw before. this is bad stuff. it's temporary. in some ways it's far less than beijing or shanghai and far less than los angeles. so it's not good, but for a few days we'll get through it. >> brennan: and the economic hit? >> well, the economic impact is devastating. so, yeah, the devastation at the human level is horrific and hard to find words to describe. and economically, yes, this is going to cost tense of billions, that's what it's going to cost, before we get finished. >> brennan: governor, thank you very much. i know you have a lot of work ahead of you. appreciate you making time. >> thank you. thank you. >> brennan: we turn now to the news that the c.i.a. has determined that saudi crown prince mohammad bin salman personally ordered the killing of journalist jamal khashoggi. kentucky republican senator rand paul joins us now from bowling

green. senator, the president says a final conclusion will be made this week by the u.s. government, but in a fox interview, he indicated that essentially murder can be forgiven if the kingdom provides economic benefit. listen to this exchange. >> what if the crown prince, speaking to you, the president of the united states directly, lied to you. >> he told me he had nothing to do with it. he told me that i would say maybe five times at different points. >> but what if he's lying. >> as recently as a few days ago. >> do you just live with it? >> well, will anybody really know? will anybody really know? he did have people that were reasonably close to him and close to him that were probably sanctions, massive sanctions from a large group of people from saudi arabia, but at the same time, we do have an ally, and i want the stick with an ally that in many ways has been very good. >> brennan: what do you make

of the president's remarks? >> the crown prince, his brother made a phone call to khashoggi, the dissident that was killed and dismembered. that phone call was to tell khashoggi, hey, it's fine, you can go to the consulate, no one will harm you. well, we have the crown prince's brother making that phone call. i think we have other intelligence that the relays the brother's phone call back to the crown prince. i think the evidence is overwhelming that the crown prince was involved. the thing about sanctions is that i think sanctions are pretending to do something would really doing anything. most of these people are in prison other than the crown prince. but the crown prince runs the country, and we deal with him. if we put sanctions on people who are in prison, are we really doing anything to punish them? they're already in prison. we need to punish who ordered this, who is in charge, and really the only thing they understand over there is strength. i think they will see sanctions as weakness on the part of the president, and if the president wants to act strongly, he should cut off the arms sales, not only because of the kill, but until

they stop bombing civilian populations. secretary pompeo told secretary of state three weeks ago, stop bombing civilian populations. since then saudi arabia has bombed cities 200 times. they're not listening. >> brennan: you're talking about yemen? >> they're indiscriminately bombing civilians. >> brennan: you're talking about yemen. i should point out that saudi arabia disputes the reporting that there was a phone call between the prince's brother and jamal khashoggi. they say that's just not true. but given the c.i.a. assessment overall that says there was a role do, you think this needs to trigger some other kind of change in policy? you're on the senate foreign relations committee. are you going to try to block the appointment of the appointed ambassador? >> realize the saudis have told us a lot of things that were untrue. they told us it was a fistfight that went bad. they told us he was alive. they had a body double there to trick people into believing he was still alive.

the saudis were due bliss us to since the very beginning. at the very least we need to quit selling arms. >> brennan: the president says that's exactly why, those arm sales are why the relationship is important and he's not going to hurt the economic benefit. >> here's my point: the arms sales don't make us safer. they make us less safe. when we sell arms to a foreign country, it should not ever be for jobs. it should be for our national security. the saudis involving us in their war in yemen is a disaster. 17 million people live on the edge of starvation. if we get involved in another civil war in the middle east, that's not good for our national security. that just drains our natural resources. >> brennan: can you stop it, though? >> i'd quit arming the saudis. the saudis are bombing to the tune of tens of thousands of bombs in yemen. >> brennan: is there anything you can continue -- you can do because the president says he's going to continue selling? >> i've introduced resolution

after resolution to stop selling arms. the first time i got 27 votes. the second time we got 47 votes. if we have another vote, i think we could almost get to a veto-proof majority, but guess what? they're not bringing any arms sales up right now, because they know we might beat 'em. >> brennan: what about the ambassador who has been nominated here? general john abizaid? are you going to vote to confirm him? >> i want the meet with him. my first impulse is that's not the way to sort of punish saudi arabia by blocking an ambassador. i'm a big believer in dialogue. i wouldn't stop trading oil with saudi arabia even with this, but i would stop selling them arms. that's first thing i'm going to do. that doesn't disrupt trade or diplomacy. it just sends them a very strong message, we're not going to keep fueling your war in yemen, which is a total disaster. and everybody is saying there is no military solution, and yet nobody is willing to do anything that would actually force saudi arabia to stop the war. if we were not providing spare

parts for their american-made planes, the war would be over in matter of months, because you have to have a continuous supply of spare parts and people to repair your plains and train your pilots. we quit doing that, saudi arabia would quit bombing them within three or four months. >> brennan: on domestic policy, the president has put forward a proposal that has some bipartisan support on criminal justice reform. there's no guarantee it's going to be put to vote in the lame duck session, and system of your fellow republicans, like tom cotton says this is just about letting felons out of jail. how do you respond? >> i have been working on criminal justice reform with republicans and democrats for six or seven years. i met with president obama several times on this. bipartisan groups. we have a real chance to pass this now. with president trump being in favor of this criminal justice reform, he came out publicly for it. really it only depends on one senator. senator mitch mcconnell from my home state, if he will allow a vote, it gets 65 to 70 votes

in the senate. it will be one of the most popular things to ever pass. is it a jail break? no, it's saying people that have a non-violent drug offense that we don't keep them in jail for life. it's saying that 95% of people that get out of prison, when they get out of prison, do we want them to keep committing crimes or should we train them for jobs? should we use programs to test whether we can teach people not to recommit crime, and do non-violent people need to be in jail for life? we should reevaluate this? >> brennan: how do you force a vote in you're running out of time here. >> well, it's all up to one person. senator mcconnell has the ability to call any vote he wants to at any time. he has promised in the past he would allow this vote if there was popularity for it. president trump is behind it. in my state 86% of people are behind it. police are behind it. pastors. >> brennan: it seems you're suggesting that he does not want to? >> there have been some

articles, i haven't talked to him directly about it. the last time i talked to him about it he said he was open the allowing a vote after the election. now with president trump all in on, this i really hope we can get a vote, but it's up to senator mcconnell, but it's very, very popular in kentucky and very, very popular with people who support president trump, so i hope he allows the vote. >> brennan: we will watch for that. thank you very much, senator paul. >> thank you. >> brennan: we will be back in >> brennan: we will be back in one minute with a lot more "face the nation." don't go away. the nation." ab this builder in a hardhat... ...the welders and electricians who do all of that. the diner staffed up 'cause they all needed lunch. teachers... doctors... jobs grew a bunch. what started with one job spread all around. because each job in energy creates many more in this town. energy lives here. ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ comfort. what we deliver by delivering. >> brennan: we're back with maryland's elijah cummings. he is the top democrat on the oversight and government reform committee, the chief investigative committee in the house. he's joining us from baltimore this morning. congressman, welcome to "face the nation." i want to ask you about what the president said this morning on fox news in an interview with chris wallace. he said that the acting attorney general, matthew whitaker, has the power to block any subpoena request from the special counsel to the president. the president suggested that he is done answering questions.ñ/ri

and now that the investigation... he seems to be suggesting the investigation is coming to an end. does congress have anything to do to protect the integrity of the probe itself given from these past public statements by the acting attorney general that have drawn that into question? >> well, i am extremely concerned about the acting attorney general. i questioned whether or not it was actually a legitimate appointment since he's not been confirmed by the senate. but we're going to lookñnto all of this. again -- >> can you -- >> i don't think so. i don't know that we have that power. but we're going to certainly look at every angle. i'm hoping that i would love to see him recuse himself, because i think the things that he has said about defunding the special

probe and the many things that he has talked about with regard to his opinion, his negative opinion with regard to the special counsel in the process. i don't think he's the proper person to be in that position. but again, i think almost anything he does in the position of the interim may very well be tainted, because we're not clear, it's not clear that he is an legitimate appointment to that position. >> brennan: if the mueller problem continues to its conclusion, which the president has said he at this point won't interfere, will you, if you do take the chairmanship of house oversight and have the subpoena power that goes with it, will you force mueller's findings to be made public if the department of justice decides not to release them? >> i would love to see it become public, because basically in this last, what the public says

is they want accountability and they want transparency. and they have paid for an investigation by one of our greatest public servants, mr. mueller, special counsel mueller. so i would do anything and everything in my power to have the findings presented not only to the congress, but to the people of the united states. i think it's very important. >> brennan: if you take this chairmanship, what's your top priority? where do you begin? >> well, first of all, we've got to make sure that we do the things that are important to the american people, things such as voting rights. we just saw what happened down there in georgia and in florida. we cannot have a country where people are being blocked from voting. we also want the look at preexisting conditions, things of that nature, to make sure that people are protected in regard to that. we also want to look at the

census. a lot of people are surprised about that, but the census is right around the corner, and what we do with regard to the census will affect us for next 10 to 12 years. and it will affect every single person in this country. another area is postal. our postal system has had some economic problems. we have legislation that could actually cure those problems. we want the move that forward. so we're going to be doing that. but at the same time, we're going to address theñiñr issue t a lot of people are concerned about in making sure that government is doing what government is supposed to do for all of the american people. we may not have been elected by all the people as democrats, but we must govern all the people in fair way. >> brennan: as i mentioned, you are expected to have that powerful position on house oversight, but overall when it comes to leadership right n there are some questions about whether there is enough black leadership at the top of the

democratic party. i mean, if pelosi and hoyer are remaining successful as speaker and leader, is jim clyburn enough? do you need to see more? >> first of all, you got to understand, we have all of us are leaders. and so we can only have one speaker at a time. nancy pelosi has simply been phenomenal, and she hasxdzñ who has been... she believes in. she probably has the most diverse leadership team in the history of anyñr legislative boy as far as congress is concerned, and she has fought hard to makee waters and bobby scott and other members of the congressional black caucus areñr sud.ñiñiñrñi so as far as jim clyburn is concerned, he is a phenomenal leader.çóçó so we're going to be fine. i know there are people who are

talking a lot of talk, but the fact is that nancy pelosi is a phenomenal woman, a phenomenal speaker, a phenomenal leader. >> brennan: congressman, thank you very much. we'll be back in a moment with a we'll be back in a moment with a lot more face the nation. attention to detail, like the ones we teach here, every day. so, the whole world is talking about ai. big, bold promises like... it'll find life on mars! but here's the thing. you don't live on mars. (beep) you build wind turbines. supply car parts to thousands of cities. answer millions of customer calls a year. like this one: no, i didn't order this. it's terrifying. and that's why you work with watson. hello. it knows your industry, protects your insights, info

a wealth of perspective. ♪ a wealth of opportunities. that's the clarity you get from fidelity wealth management. straightforward advice, tailored recommendations, tax-efficient investing strategies, and a dedicated advisor to help you grow and protect your wealth. fidelity wealth management.

>> brennan: 12 days after midterm elections we still don't know the exact make yum of the house and senate. votes are still being counted. what we do know is there are a record number of women and veterans. coming up we'll talk with four new representatives plus a new member of the senate republican leadership, iowa senator joni ernst.ce ry year... ...one of the toughest parts is the search for a job that takes advantage of the skills you've gained while serving. you can now search with the phrase 'jobs for veterans' directly on google... ...and then enter your military occupational specialty code. google brings together job openings from across the web that match the skills you gained in your military role.

just click to apply and use your experience to guide your future. you ok there, kurt? we're about to move. karate helps... relieve some of the house-buying... stress. at least you don't have to worry about homeowners insurance. call geico. geico... helps with... homeowners insurance? been doing it for years. i'm calling geico right now. good idea! get to know geico. and see how easy homeowners and renters insurance can be.

this is not a screensaver.game. this is the destruction of a cancer cell by the body's own immune system, thanks to medicine that didn't exist until now. and today can save your life. ♪ ♪

well, it's a whole day's worth of love songs. or 300 minutes of baby videos. a gig goes a long way. that's why xfinity mobile lets you pay for data one gig at a time. and with millions of wifi hotspots included, you'll pay even less for data. or if you need a lot we have unlimited too. plus, get $200 back when you asmarph it's simple, easy, awesome. click, call or visit a store today.

>> tuesday 9, 8 central. >> cbs sports your 2018 home of the masters the pga championship, pga tour. sec football and nfl and superbowl 53. >> week 11 in the nfl. well there's alex smith leading washington red skins to a 6-3 record. lack of turnovers only threerce. >> looking to weep the ravens have to do it without a.j. green. >> there's andrew luck andthe f