captioning sponsored by cbs >> everybody was saying i'm a warmonger. now they say i'm a dove. i think i'm neither. >> brennan: will he retaliate? and just what is the president's red line when it comes to dealing with iran? we'll also look at another flash point, mr. trump's plan to order immigration officials to round up and deport 2,000 people who are here illegally. vice president mass pike joins us along with house armed services committee chairman adam smith and the top republican on

the house foreign affairs committee michael mccaul. >> these are your candidates! >> brennan: plus south carolina is this weekend's pit stop on the 2020 democratic presidential campaign trail. we met up with vermont senator bernie sanders. >> he was just doing a limited strike. >> oh, just a limited strike. oh, i'm sorry. i just didn't know that it's okay to attack another country with bombs just a limited strike. that's an act of warfare. >> brennan: and our ed o'keefe talked to california senator kamala harris. plus we'll have political analysis on the news of the week all ahead on "face the nation." good morning and welcome to "face the nation." we've got a lot to get to today. we will begin with vice president mass pike. mr. vice president, good to see you. good morning. >> morning, margaret. >> brennan: a lot to talk to you about on iran, but first i

want to ask you about the president's announcement this morning that he's decided to delay the round-up of migrants. why did the president announce this law enforcement operation? >> well, first, let's recognize that we have a crisis on our southern border. we are on track this year to have more than 1 million people come across our border, and for the first time ever the vast majority are families that are bringing children with them to exploit what we understand are loopholes in our asylum laws. i mean, if people come across our border, make a climb of asylum, we can detain them for only 20 day, and then they're released into the united states. the truth is 90% of those claims are denied. and the vast majority never show up for their hearing, you know, a year, 18 months down the road. so the president is doing his job. we both took an oath to faithfully execute the laws of

this country. he set into motion an internal enforcement effort to remove people who have been given due process of law, who have been adjudicated through a court order, ordered to be deported, but the president talking with speaker pelosi and other democrats made the decision to delay two weeks and to call on the congress once again to close if loopholes that human traffickers are using. >> brennan: is that going to happen in two weeks? do you expect congress to pass that in two weeks? >> honestly, the president believes it could happen in 15 minutes if democrats in congress would simply step up and agree to close the loopholes that we know human traffickers are using to exploit vulnerable families. >> brennan: why did the president speak to a law enforcement operation. he lost the element of surprise because he announced the law enforcement operation, and that's why many are are saying this is purely for political reasons the president would announce rounding up of migrants. >> everyone that the president said we're going to identify and

arrest and deport have already gone through the legal process, but that being said, it is just essential that congress step up. the president declared national emergency. we're already building a wall on the southern border. we'll have 400 miles built by the end of next year. but we recognize this new crisis of families coming up the peninsula, taking the long and dangerous journey north at the hands of human traffickers, often subject to violence and worse on the journey north -- >> brennan: i want to ask you about that. >> we only solve that by more humanitarian assistance for customs and border patrol who are doing their job every day and by closing the loopholes that human traffickers are doing. >> brennan: but the president is tweeting about rounding people up. he's not tweeting about some of the conditions that have been described as crisis level in the facilities that the united states is running. not across the border, not people who are out loose in the united states, but in u.s. detention facilities. there have been details released

over the past few days by lawyers who have gone down and looked, describing children sleeping on cold floors, filthy, lice outbreak, flu outbreaks, not in any way safe and sanitary conditions. is that acceptable, and what is the white house going to do since, as you say, congress is doing nothing, what are you going to do? >> margaret, it's totally unacceptable, but the american people deserve to know that our dedicated customs and border patrol agents are literally being overwhelmed by hundreds of thousands of people coming across our border to take advantage of loopholes in our laws. >> brennan: so what are you going to do about it at the executive level if you say congress is not? what are you going to do? >> when the president declared national emergency this year, we were asking congress in january to give us more bed space. democrats in congress refused. congress continues, although speaker pelosi has indicated a willingness to look at a bill that would provide more humanitarian assistance over the

next two weeks, we're going to look to get those resources as well as close loopholes, but look, we have asked for more bed space. we've asked for more support. our customs and border patrol agents are doing a job. but the system is overwhelmed. >> brennan: and the homeland security secretary has sat here in your spot and said this, crisis level, for a year. >> it is. it is. >> brennan: so how is the executive totally powerless to do anything about these unsafe, unsanitary conditions? >> well, we're doing a lot with what the congress has given us. but again, congress refused to increase the bed space in the last appropriations bill. they continue to delay efforts. >> brennan: so we just have to accept these conditions? >> no, absolutely not. it's one of the reasons why is president has taken the strong stand that he's taken on the crisis on our southern border. that's why the president took the strong stand he took with mexico a few short weeks ago. he told the government in mexico, we're going to start imposing tariffs starting 59% on all goods coming into the united

states unless mexico steps up. >> brennan: but this is at the u.s. border. >> i was in those negotiations with the mexican delegation and our team. as we speak, mexico is deploying 6,000 troops to their southern border, and for the first time ever, mexico is taking back 100% of central americans who apply for asylum in our country that will now remain in mexico. we think that's part of the solution, but ultimately closing loopholes, getting our dedicated customs and border patrol agents more resources to deal with this overwhelming humanitarian crisis. that's how we address the issue. and the president and i are going to continue to stand strong, call on the congress to do their job. it's amazing to think that mexico has done more to secure our southern border in the last ten days than democrats in congress have con in -- done ine last ten years. the american people deserve

better. >> brennan: many would say thep. people, the children deserve betterst>> the move . say that i was down at one of the detention centers. it's heartbreaking to see what you see. families that are in these detention centers. what >> exactly what we're doing. >> brennan: you can't do anything more other than blame it on the democratic controlled house? >> no, you can demand that the congress do its job. >> brennan: why isn't the president tweeting about it? he's tweeting about rounding people up. he's not tweeting about babies without diapers and sleeping on cold floors, details that are horrific? >> part of the way we stem this mass migration that's being driven by heartless human traffickers who are taking $5,000 a person to entice vulnerable families to come north, part of it is making clear that people will be deported. you know, in 2015, when

president obama did a round of nationwide internal enforcement country, actually we saw illegal immigration at the southern border go down. >> brennan: i want to ask you about iran. >> we have to secure the border with a wall. we have to close the loopholes. mexico has to implement the agreement that they've made, but congress has got to step up. the president's going to continue to demand they do. >> brennan: cbs confirmed that the u.s. has conducted cyber operations to hit facilities in iran linked to missile and rocket launches. is this retaliation for shooting down the u.s. drone? >> margaret, as you know, we never comment on covert operations. >> brennan: has there been any retaliation for shooting down the u.s. drone? >> as i said, i can't speak to that. what i can tell you is that as of tomorrow, we expect the president to announce an additional round of sanctions in response to iran's downing of an american unmanned vehicle as

well as in a very real sense in the wake of what was clearly iran's actioinki two tankers in the strait. but look, what the president did on thursday was listen to all of his advisers and at the end of the day, the president concluded that seeing the potential of 150 people killed in an american airstrike when an unmanned american vehicle had been downed in air space was not a proportional response. but iran should not -- iran should not confuse american restraint with a lack of american resolve. this president has made it clear, we're going to protect american forces in the region. we're going to protect american interests in the region. and the united states of america will never allow iran to obtain a nuclear weapon. >> brennan: iran says it's going to increase its stockpile of enriched uranium. is there a red line for the

president? that could happen this week. >> iran has announced that literally in matter of days they're going to exceed the uranium enrichment limits within the iran nuclear deal, which in our judgment was one of the worst deals this country had ever entered into. you know, i was in the congress back in 2010 when on a bipartisan basis we were able to enact punishing sanctions on iran. >> brennan: and this is the u.s. strategy at this point, to strangle iran's economy. it's devastated its economy. but the bigger question is what is the strategy, because it only seems like iran's lashing out. the region is more unstable. they're struggling here. what is the next step here? >> the american people deserve to know that congress on a bipartisan basis enacted sanctions. and from 2010 to 2012, even all the way to 2015, they were working. iran's economy was contracted. >> brennan: but is that to goal, just to strangle their economy? i thought the goal was to get to the negotiating table?

>> what we want to do is stand with the iranian people, thousands of who gathered outside the white house on friday, and tens of thousands which took to the streetsz last year in communities across iran. we want to stand with them to see iran come forward, step into the future. >> brennan: how does childhood obesitying off the economy do that? are you suggesting the u.s. would do something to support people if they came up to try to throw over the regime? i thought the policy was no regime change? >> since the green rev -- revolution in 2009, the united states has made it clear we're with the iranian people. i thought the president's decision to refrain from a military strike when he learned it could cost 150 iranian lives, i hope that sends a message to the iranian people that while we stand firmly against the ayatollahs, we have the highest hopes for the iranian people. but it is time for iran to recognize that the united states of america will never allow them to obtain a nuclear weapon. that would be a threat to ourcoa

threat to the abandoeir nle and end this reign of terror -- >> brennan: i want to ask you about that. >> but for 40 years they have propagated terror. they're a leading state sponsor of terror in the world, those days must come to an end. america will continue to stand resolved with the people of iran for a better future for them. >> brennan: mr. vice president, thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you, margaret. >> brennan: calling off the( applauded by some democrats, including house speaker nancy pelosi. we traveled to columbia, southnd veont senator bernie sanders if the president made the right decision. >> it's like somebody setting ar and then putting it out. he helped create the crisis.

then he stopped the attacks. the idea we're looking at a president of the united states who, number one, thinks that a war with iran is something that might be good for this country. >> brennan: he was just doing a limited strike. >> oh, just a limited strike. oh, well, i'm sorry. i just didn't know that it's okay to simply attack another country with bombs just a limited strike. that's an act of warfare. the war in iraq, margaret, was a disaster. i believe from the bottom of my heart that the a war with iran would be even worse, more loss of life, never-ending war in that region, massive instability. ly do everything i can, number one, to stop a war with iran. let's remember what we learned in civics when we were kids. it is the united states congress under our constitution that has war making authority, not the president of the united states. if he attacks iran, in my view, that would be unconstitutional. >> brennan: so if you are commander-in-chief, you will ask congress for permission before you engage in any kind of military action? >> no, look, there are some

emergency situations. they understand. >> brennan: defensive actions. >> if you're attacked immediately, you have to respond. nobody believes we are in that type of emergency situation with iran right now. so i'm going to do everything we can to stop that war. and what what the function of a president should be is to say to saudi arabia, which by the way, is a horrific dictatorship, a brutal dictatorship that kills dissident, that treats women as third-class citizens, our job is to say to saudi arabia, you know, we're not following your lead. you're going to have to sit down with iran. we will play a role. work it out. the united states does not want to continue to lose men and women and trillions of dollars in never-ending wars in the middle east. work it out. >> brennan: we'll be back with more of our interview with vermontnders.

uh-oh, looks like someone's still nervous about buying a new house. is it that obvious? yes it is. you know, maybe you'd worry less if you got geico to help with your homeowners insurance. i didn't know geico could helps with homeowners insurance. yep, they've been doing it for years. what are you doing? big steve? thanks, man. >> brennan: we're back with more of our interview with vermont senator bernie sanders.

according to the cbs news polling we've done, the cbs battleground tracker indicates your supporters are backing you without considering other candidates. how do you expand beyond that? >> i'll tell you how. i got to tell you, honestly, i'm feeling very good about this campaign. it's different. last time around you have to win 51% of the vote. this time i don't believe anyone's going to come close to 50%. so it's a very different race with 24 candidates. i think we have a strong core of support out there offering young people, working-class people who understand that to bring about real change in this country ultimately you're going to have to take on the powers that be. >> brennan: but to move beyond those young voters, the working class, don't you still need to expand and win over those blue dog democrats? >> sure you do. absolutely, absolutely. this is what i think: i think that our message of guaranteeing health care to all people red

fades with a significant majority of people who are going to vote democratic. i think making public colleges and universities tuition free and very substantially lowering student debt, which is an incredible burden on an entire generation of people, is going to win us a lot of support. i think my strong sense that a woman and not politicians, a woman has the right to control her own body, will resonate with many women. our assistants on immigration reform and criminal justice reform, i think those ideas are going to bring in new voters. >> brennan: for those who might feel uncomfortable with the term "socialism" you don't think that will inhibit those voted centers. >> i think i have to do more work in explain what that means. what that means to me is carrying on the legacy of franklin delano roosevelt who said economic rights are human rights, and we have got to guarantee all americans fundamental economic rights, the right to a job that pays you a

living wage, the right to health care, the right to education. we have expanded that to say that economic rights are human rights. that means a clean environment. so when democratic socialism in that sense to me is guaranteeing all of our people in the wealthiest country in the history of the world a decent retirement, a decent standard of living. >> brennan: aren't you concerned that someone more familiar like joe biden will be more acceptable to those moderates? >> you have 24 candidates. i think every single one of them will tell you they have work to do, including joe biden. joe has to defend his record. and i helped lead the opposition to the war in iraq, which in my view was the worst foreign policy blunder of modern history in this county. joe voted for that. i led the opposition against a disastrous trade agreement which cost work centers this country good-paying jobs.

joe voted for those. i voted against the deregulation of wall street, which in my view led to the great economic recession of 2008. joe voted for that. >> brennan: congressman john lewis, a civil rights icon, said this week that joe biden's comments about in the past segregationists wasn't offensive. why do you disagree? >> i think joe o's the country an -- joe owes the country an apology on that. it's one thing to work with have fundamental disagreements with. that's one thing. you do that. thing to extol those relationships. you cannot be extolling people who really were part of a disgusting system that oppressed and terrorized millions of african americans in this country. >> brennan: but don't you think he believes those things? >> yeah, if your question is do i think joe biden is a racist, absolutely not.

not for a second. joe is a friend of mine. i like joe. i hope this campaign will be about the real issues facing the american people, and not ugly, you know, attacks. >> brennan: there are ice raids that it's estimated some 2,000 people or not will be targeted. is this appropriate? >> it is not appropriate. >> brennan: specifically on this point, the 2,000 who are supposed to be targeted haven't should be up for court dates. essentially they're not following the asylum process, the legal standard when they're here. so sd prosecuted? should they be deported? >> i don't like this deportation thing at all. i think trump uses this as a beginning to do worse things to come. trump things that he can win reelection, and this is his political game, it's not an accident that he announced this at the same time he went through his announcement that he was seeking reelection. >> brennan: you think this is purely politically motivated? >> i do. it's not to say we don't have a serious problem, but there are ways for serious people to deal

with serious immigration problems. it is a problem. but what he is doing, and this is his entire political strategy, is to divide the american people up. >> brennan: i appreciate you making time. >> margaret, thank you very much for having me. i was just getting warmed up, margaret. >> brennan: i know. our full interview with senator sanders can be found on our website, facethenation.com. we'll haveca e come back. i didn't have to call an ambulance. because your afib didn't cause a blood clote to that led to a stroke. not today. we'd discussed how your stroke risk increases over time, so even though you were feeling fine, we chose xarelto® to help keep you protected. once-daily xarelto®, significantly lowers the risk of stroke in people with afib not caused by a heart valve problem. in fact, over 96% of people remained stroke-free. don't stop taking xarelto® without talking to your doctor, as this may increase your risk of stroke. while taking,

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let's see some more headlines about that. let's expect more from technology. let's put smart to work. >> brennan: cbs news political correspondent ed o'keefe was also in columbia saturday, and despite a case of laryngitis, he did catch up with california senator kamala harris and asked her if democrats should give the president credit for calling off a strike on iran. >> i don't believe that anyone should receive credit for a crisis of their own making. there is no question in my mind that the current occupant of the white house, president trump, put in place a series of events that led to that event.

>> reporter: how would a president harris fix the problem? >> frankly, i believe we need to get back into the iran nuclear deal. i would strengthen it. i would include ballistic missile testing. i think we can strengthen what we do in terms of monitoring and verification of progress. but there's no question that a lot of negotiations with a great deal of depth took place over a long period of time. to reach that agreement. it was an agreement that was being complied with by all parties. >> reporter: where do you rank iran in terms of threats to the united states? >> i am on the senate intelligence committee. on a very consistent basis i receive classified briefings about the threats to our nation's security. and on the list of potential threats, especially in terms of nuclear threats, north korea is of course on that list, and iran is on that list. and there are others.

but we have to conduct ourselves in a way that we are smart about what we do. to have one goal only, which is ensuring that our nation is secure. it cannot be the goal to express one's ego and to engage in gamesmanship without much serious regard to the consequence. i think that's what we've seen in this president. >> brennan: and we'll have more of ed's interview with senator kamala harris coming up. don't go away. welcome to fowler, indiana. one of the windiest places in america. and home to three bp wind farms. in the off-chance the wind ever stops blowing here... the lights can keep on shining. thanks to our natural gas. a smart partner to renewable energy. it's always ready when needed.

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are now available at google.com/grow >> brennan: we'll be right back with more of cbs news political correspondent ed o'keefe's interview with senator kamala harris, plus interviews with two key house leaders on iran, democrat adam smith and republican michael mccaul will be with us along with our political panel. stay with "face the nation." ♪ ♪

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>> brennan: welcome back to "face the nation." we continue with ed o'keefe's interview with senator kamala harris. >> reporter: the president is set to meet with vladimir putin. >> uh-huh. >> reporter: would you meet with him if you're president? >> it depends. listen, i believe that we do have to have open lines of communication. and i will never close that as a viable option, but let's be clear about this president's relationship with russia. the current president of the united states has taken the word of the russian president over the word of the american intelligence community on the issue of the election in 2016. the current president of the united states takes the word of the north korean dictator over

the word of the american intelligence community when it comes to an american student who was tortured and later died. the current president of the united states takes the word of a saudi prince over the word of the american intelligence community when it comes to a journalist who was assassinated, a journalist who has an american credential. so i would not do that. i trust the intelligence community. >> reporter: but you might have to meet with putin? >> but it would not be without an appropriate amount of, one, reading the briefings. let's start there. it's sad that we even have to talk about that as being a requirement. it would not be without meeting with leaders in our department of state, meeting with a military leader to determine what is the smartest and best course of action for the united states. these are not just about ontiont

has with the president of russia. it has to be based on what is in america's best interests, not self-interest. >> reporter: let's talk about joe biden. you've criticized him for praising his ability to work with people who have very different views. >> no, that wasn't my criticism. >> reporter: what was your criticism? >> i applaud any effort to work across party lines around common goals and common interests. >> reporter: what bothered you? >> praising and coddling individuals who made it their life work and built their reputation off of segregation of the racists in the united states. that's a problem. i would not be a member of the united states senate if those men that he praised had their wa rorter: one of the things they did, and he inferred this, is they might have called someone like him when he was younger "son." they might have called a black man "boy."

that's been part of the issue for african-americans. >> 06 course it is. >> reporter: is that offensive to you? >> we cannot be ignorant to the history of race in this country. certainly anyone who is a leader should not be. that is a very loaded term, loaded with a history that includes extreme racism, violence, discrimination, prejudice, you name it. all of that, it's a very loaded term. i think it is very important that we all who are leaders profess to be leaders, that we choose our words carefully, understanding the significance and the power of our words. >> brennan: thanks to ed for powering through some laryngitis there. you can see more of his interview with senator harris on cbs news platforms including cbsn and on our web site. we turn now to the chairman of

the armed services committee, washington congressman adam smith. good morning to you, mr. chairman. >> good morning. hour are you? >> brennan: very well. you met with president trump before we knew he was going to carry out and then call back the strike on iran. were you surprised that it didn't happen? >> no. based on the conversation we had, it was very clear the president was legitimately torn as to what the correct approach was and response. so it doesn't surprise me that he made a last-second decision. i think it was also clear that the administration, depending on who you talk to, there's a different policy. i think national security adviser john bolton has one idea about what the policy in iran ought to be. i think the president has a different one. i think department of defense has a different one, as well. so they're moving toward different objectives. i think that leads to the tension and the last-member decision we all heard about. >> brennan: cyber command is now combat and command. i want to know if you were in any way briefed or have any knowledge about what cbs news has confirmed, which is that president trump authorized cyber

operations on iran's missile and rocket systems, computers powering it? >> if i i couldn't talk about it. i can't talk about what classified actions are. >> brennan: would something like that be sufficient re back. what aree trying accomplish? we but the drone was part -- it was small piece of a much larger picture that. is the maximum-pressure campaign that this administration has put on robb. what's confuseing to me is when the president met with us, he emphasized the purpose of this campaign was to stop iran from getting a nuclear weapon. we've heard previously from some other administration people that it's about iran's malign activity in the region, and certainly there is plenty of it in syria and lebanon and yemen, but what is it about? what are you trying to accomplish? if you don't know, what is the plan. >> the president says he wants negotiations. >> right. but why tear up the jcpoa.

>> brennan: that's the nuclear accord. >> the nuclear accord. because if your goal is to stop them from getting nuclear weapon, that agreement was working. based on what i've heard them say... >> brennan: it's not now, though, is what the iaea is starting to indicate, that the iran is ramping up. >> because we walked away from it. so you do this maximum pressure campaign to cripple the iranian economy, where our own intelligence people told us, this is what iran would do. even though we knew they were going to do it, but we didn't know how to respond. it's not getting them to the negotiating table. they're not there. >> brennan: i want to ask you about immigration. you heard my conversation with the vice president, and he himself said that some of these conditions at u.s. border facilities where children are being held are unacceptable. >> absolutely. >> brennan: he said democrats wouldn't approve beds for these facilities. >> that's not true. the problem -- look -- >> brennan: wasn't that a sticking point for emergency funding? >> the main sticking point is the wall. >> brennan: in this round of

emergency funding? >> in every negotiation we've had, that has been a major sticking point. number, it's the wall. number, two democrats do not trust this president to implement a humane policy. >> brennan: will you vote for it? >> i don't know what "it" is. it depends on what is in it. i'm not going to vote blindly for whatever they throw at us. i want too explain why. there is a crisis on the border. no question. the president's policies have contributed to that crisis. his maximum pressure campaign on u.s. immigrants has brought a lot of people in central america to think this is their last chance of ever getting into america. then he cuts off the money that's helping central america try to deal with the economic and criminal justice problems they have down there to make the situation worse. so the crisis is created. then the proposed solution, mass deportation and building a wall? we need to build better facilities on the border, and if we could trust the president to do that, to not -- look, i'm

chairman of the armed services committee. the department of defense just had about $6 billion diverted to build a wall. we can't trust this president with the money we give him to not use it for the wrong purposes. that has to be part of the negotiation, as well. >> brennan: you would only support something that was narrowly focused on just providing safe beds for children. >> absolutely. >> brennan: or toothbrushes for children. >> there are a lot of different ways to get them into proper housing. toothbrushes. also there are a lot of private organizations that would take in these migrants while they're awaiting their trial. work with them. find alternative solutions. and remember, a lot of us came as then-attorney general jeff sessions said, they want to make this as painful as possible so people won't comment. it's clear that was the wrong policy. >> brennan: i want to ask you about what the president also announced today, which is that there is a delay in this round-up of migrants who are here illegally and then not following the asylum process. so continuing to break the law. do you think that people who don't show up for their court

dates should be deported? >> i think we can implement a better policy. under the obamat program that was put in place that like i said took high riverbanks who came in seeking asylum and put them into private housing, gave them ba show up. you said. as high a number as policy. you wouldn't have to be ripping families up and deporting them. so i think we need a better more humane policy to address what is legitimately a crisis. what's going on with the children and the families at the border right now is unacceptable in this country. and we must work to fix it. >> brennan: unacceptable seems to be the word everyone agrees on. nothing else, though. congressman, thank you. we'll be right back with the top republican on the house foreign affairs committee, texas congressman mike mccaul. as a small business owner,

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free training, tools, and small business resources are now available at google.com/grow >> brennan: for some republicans' perspective, we want to bring into the conversation, texas congressman michael mccaul. good morning to you, nice to have you here on set in person. >> thanks, margaret. >> brennan: we've been talking about iran but also immigration. and i want to ask you, because in your home state, as you know, there are what everyone seems to agree unacceptable conditions for children being detained there. what do you indead to do about sayssecauseheresi correct. we tried to fix this last congress with my bill and the chairman's. it was voted down by every democrat. it would have provided $25 bord,

asylum laws some the magnet is not there for them to come in. and fix the docket system. it didn't work. so now we are in this congress. i think very little appetite on the other side to get anything done. but i think at a minimum, margaret, we have to pass humanitarian aid to take care of these children. that is the nation we are, and we have to take care of thesecó. >> brennan: so should that be separated out from all the other things regarding border security that you just described? >> i'd like to see it all together, but you know what, it's my choice. on the minority side, vote up or down on a compassionate, humanitarian package, that's what we're going to do. it's the right thing to do. >> brennan: and do you foresee that happening any time soon? you just heard congressman before you saying that things actually haven't been detailed yet. you can't say what he'll vote on because he didn't actually know what's going to be included in it. >> well, i'm on on that committ, as well. we're looking through the draft to see what's in it.

it has to be passed soon. both dhs and hhs will run out of money at the end of this month. so this is real stuff. they're not going to have money to take care of these children and properly detain them. >> brennan: it sounds like they already don't. >> huh? >> brennan: it sounds like there may not be adequate sanitary condition, unacceptable. >> i don't think it's... i was in that state. i've been down there throughout my 15 years in congress and before that as a federal prosecutor. this is the worst i've ever seen it. it has to be taken care of. >> brennan: i also want to ask you about iran. you have been speaking to the white house. was it a surprise to you that the president pulled back from this military strike? >> to some extent, yes. were invited, and i commend the president more bringing in all the national security leaders in the congress, house senate, bipartisan, to discuss what should we do.

it wasalmost like historically like the key to -- like the cuban missile crisis. i could hit this island and strike iran, but what would be the consequences if i did that. are there other alternatives? one thought is if you kill iranians on iranian soil, you will only aggravate the situation. the iranians will rile up around the ayatollah, and become more anti-american and they will unleash what they call the proxy war, the proxy being hezbollah and hamas and other terrorist organizations. i think what the president did was he exercised restraint. he was thoughtful and measured and said, you know, i'm going to take a step back right now. when he found out that 150 people would be killed, take a step back and see if there is another way to get this done. we know that since that time that cyber operations have been conducted to bring down the command and control of these missiles. >> brennan: did it occur? >> i should say it's been reported. that's how i have to say it. it's been reported.

and that's a very effective warfare game that we're playing against the iranians. so they are getting hit. their energy sector is crippled by sanctions. we'll introdiewses some more sanctions to iran to get them to that place where we can negotiate. i talked to secretary pompeo yesterday. he's traveling to the region right now to meet with coalition partners, and then there is a national security -- u.n. national security meeting on monday to talk about iran and condemn iran from actions in the strait of hormuz. >> brennan: do you think this creates a credibility problem for the president to so openly discuss his discomfort with carrying out military strikes? >> i guess you can say that. it almost shows a more human element to him. it's a side that we don't normally see. we usually see a president that hits back, whether it be a tweet or whatever. he hits back. and now you have iran hitting a u.s. military asset and he's not hitting back. i know from that meeting he has

no appetite to go to war in iran. he doesn't want to get dragged into a ten-year decade war in iran. he wants to do everything he can to exhaust every other possibility to stop that from happening. he wants iran to be nuclear-free. he thinks this is the best way to do it. >> brennan: the administration has been offering talks about free conditions to iran since the beginning of june publicly. there has been no bite thus far. putting more and more sanctions on, doesn't that just add to the desperateness of iran? don't you expect more instability? >> i think that's what we want. >> brennan: we want instability? >> we want them to be more desperate. we want them to have their economy crippled. we want them in a position where they have to negotiate with us and the coalition partners in the free world toward a better iran for their people without nuclear weapons. i think that is the ultimate goal, and i think this route as opposed to what president obama

did where he lifted them up and gave them $150 billion in cash and reenergized their terror operation, i don't think that one worked too well. >> brennan: congressman, thank you for joining us. >> thanks, margaret. >> brennan: we'll be back back in a moment with our political panel.

>> brennan: joining us now for some political analysis, our jamal simmons, aest on till tv and the democratic strategist, and salena zito, columnnys for the washington examiner. good to have both of you here. you've within spending a lot of time in south carolina. >> yes. >> brennan: this past week. it's early day, but we know polling continues to show senator biden or vice president biden -- >> senator, vice president, name the title, he's probably had it. >> brennan: exactly. he's been around a while, which may be a good thing or a bad thing demanding on who you talk. to but salena, is it a good thing or a bad thing for the democrats you spoke to? what are you hearing about biden when you were talking to people in south carolina? >> the most interesting thing i heard from democrats in south carolina, and i was all over the state, was they don't

necessarily need to fall in love this time. they just need to coalesce around someone who they believe can win. in my interview, biden still was definitely the favorite among suburban men, among white men, among african-americans. suburban women, though, i saw an uptick for senator warren. a lot of suburban women found her message compelling and thought of her as a fighter. so that was sort of my overview of what i heard, but the thing i consistently heard is whoever is going to win, we're going to get behind that person because we ultimately want someone who can beat donald trump. >> brennan: do you agree with that? >> i heard a little bit more -- people are asking a lot of questions. vice president biden is certainly someone who everyone is fond of. he seemed like he was everyone's first choice. i also heard people saying they wanted to see more of him. it felt like he hadn't been down

there enough. >> brennan: not enough retail. >> not enough retail. he hadn't been in the state. they hadn't seen him and touched him. i heard a lot of good things about cory booker, a lot of good things about his team on the ground, that he's showing up all the time. and south carolina is one of those states, they want to this a scratch-n-sniff. they want to see what you're really life. >> brennan: so a lot of coverage and controversy. we heard from other candidates criticism of j biden's remarks this past week. regarding past work with segregationists is. that something that matters in the news cycle but also matters to voters, or were they kind of oblivious to it? >> at that point when i was there, this wasn't as big a deal. i heard a lot about it since the beginning -- since the end of last week, the beginning of this week. so here's the question that i've heard: you know, when fanny lou hamer said she was sick and tired of being sick and tired, she was talking about jim eastland and the democratic party in mississippi some to joe biden to reflect on that with fondness is what people didn't

like. african americans understand about working with people who are sonistsr else they wouldn't be here anymore, but this idea that joe biden looks back at this era as something that was fond, something that seemed to strike a chord with particularly a couple older folks i talked to this week. >> my experience, i was down there just as this came out. it hadn't really penetrated the electorate yet. and they tend to view things from their perspective, what they're experiencing. sometimes the national news doesn't always hit them and it takes a couple weeks before they really start to discuss whether this is a problem on the local level. >> brennan: on the most granule level, for sure. so what was resonating. what are people looking for in in love. but what do they want. >> they want to win. right? that is the utmost importance is that they want to win. >> the danger for a candidate is that when you are the candidate everyone thinks is going to win,

the minute somebody else looks like they're going to win, you can see shift. it's very quick. >> whack-a-mole. people rise and fall. >> in the last election when we had a republican incumbent, we saw this. people went from joe liebman and john edwards to john kerry and back to john kerry. i think we haven't even had the very first debate question yet. a long way to people making final decisions. >> brennan: you're setting us up for this week with first round of debates. what about the two candidates we heard from on the program today? how are senators bernie sanders and kamala harris doing in south carolina? >> kamala harris is struggling right now. she really has not resonated yet with the voters. even though i think she's spent a decent amount of time down there along with cory booker. i wouldn't mean that discounts he just... she hasn't resonated yet. i do think the debates are going to be something that sorted of elevates some and then others

start to fall down. bernie sanders has always maintained his core supporters. his core supporters, like trump supporters, they don't move away from him. >> brennan: even to senator warren? >> they might. it depends on who has the most presidential timber in the debate. who sort of stands out and seems as though they can bring not just their supporters there, but also broaden their appeal to other voters. >> kamala harris was -- i think she had really good performances this week at the fish fry and at the south carolina dinner last night. i hear a lot of people saying on twitter and people i've talked to i trust, they really are very happy know, pete buttigieg has a line about joe biden that he wants to take us back to the twenty teens. bernie sanders wants to take us back to the 19 teens like eugene

dense. i don't know that will help him with the older voters who are the ones he needs to grow with. he's good with the young folks. but older voters who know what socialism, it's talking about socialism the way to get them to come over to bernie sanders? i just don't see it. >> brennan: salena, you also are tracking president trump's reelection bid here. did this stand off, stand down with iran and on the migrants affect him? willt? is that part of a strategy in. >> i don't think it impacts him. here's why. a lot of this new coalition, this sort of conservative populist coalition is less about having hawks in it and more about people -- i don't know if they call them doves, but people that were very fed up with the establishment in the republican party, that everything sort of in their minds led to war or led to confrontation. >> brennan: uh-huh. >> so among misbase, the majority of his base, this was a good move for him. i also on his base, i think it's

really, really important that something gets done on the border, because those images are just inhumane. just inhumane. >> brennan: we'll be right back. like viola. when she was diagnosed with breast cancer, her team at ctca created a personalized care plan that treated her cancer and strengthened her spirit. so viola could focus on her future. their future. this is how we inspire hope. this is how we heal. cancer treatment centers of america. appointments available now. cancer treatment centers of america. welcome to fowler, indiana. one of the windiest places in america. and home to three bp wind farms. in the off-chance the wind ever stops blowing here... the lights can keep on shining. thanks to our natural gas. a smart partner to renewable energy. it's always ready when needed. at wibs re.

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>> brennan: that's it for us today. thank you for watching. until next week for "face the nation," i'm margaret brennan. captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org (male announcer) the following is a paid program for crepe erase.

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