captioning sponsored by cbs >> brennan: it's sunday, june 30th. i'm margaret brennan and this is "face the nation." ♪ ♪ president trump becomes the first sitting u.s. president to set footing in north korea, greeting kim jong-un on his turf. >> hey, i'm over here, i want to call up chairman kim. this has been in particular a great friendship. >> brennan: that after the president announced the day before a temporary ceasefire in the u.s. trade war with china. we'll talk with top white house economic advisor larry kudlow. and congress finally agrees to give the trump administration nearly $5 billion to help with the migrant crisis at the border. senate judiciary chairman lindsey graham weighs in.

plus, democrats face off against democrats. [overlapping speakers] >> i am the only candidate here who has passed a law protecting a woman's right of reproductive health. >> hey, guys you know what? america does not want to witness a food fight. they want to know how we're going to put food on their table. >> brennan: we'll talk with two presidential hopefuls who took the stage. minnesota senator amy klobuchar and former texas congressman beto o'rourke, all that coming up on "face the nation." ♪ ♪ good morning and welcome to "face the nation." we begin today with cbs news white house correspondent who is in seoul, south korea where she has been covering the president's historic visit to north korea. >> good morning, margaret. the suspense over whether president trump and north korean dictator kim jong-un would meet

quickly turned into frenzy over a historic episode that lasted much longer than expected. in fact, even president trump admitted he was surprised the meeting happened at all. president trump and kim walked toward each other from opposite sides of the joint security area in the dmz. the demilitarized border zone that separates north and south korea. after a handshake, mr. trump became the first u.s. sitting president to cross over the line of demarcation into north korea, something he said he was proud to do. then the two leaders met for nearly one hour and it all came about because of a tweet president trump sent yesterday, inviting kim to the dmz to say hello and shake hands. kim said he was surprised at the gesture and by the president's willingness to see him there. president trump described the meeting as strong and solid and said negotiating teams would be meeting in the next two or three weeks to start crafting a deal for pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons. he also said he would invite kim

to the white house, but did not provide a time frame for when. margaret? >> brennan: in seoul. we go now to some analysis on this morning's events. jean lee is director of the korea center at the wilson center and mike morales a former acting director of the cia and national security contributor. mike, we know the president's national security team was opposed to this. did the meeting strengthen or weaken the u.s. position? >> margaret, two different perspectives here i think. one is that a negotiated solution is the only solution to this problem. there isn't a military option. there's not a covert action option. so getting back to talks with the north koreans is important, and i think that g thing. the second perspective, though, is this comes at a very high cost. this gives kim jong-un a lot of legitimacy. this is gold for him politically at home and in the world.

and secondly this is going to weaken sanctions enforcement against north korea because if you're another country, you're going to say to yourself, myed y a price. they're now getting along. you're going to step back a little bit. we're paying a price for this and it can't go on forever, but let's see if we can get something out of these negotiations. >> brennan: you've lived and worked in north korea. what does this do for kim jong-un at home? is he actually under much pressure to get things done? >> he is and that's a very important point. it's so hard for us to tell what's happening inside north korea because they do such a good job of keeping us out and of framing the narrative of north korea, but the fact is it is an extremely poor country and we may not get that sense when we see he's pouring so much money into nuclear weapons, these military parades and everything looks so organized and he looks so modern, but they have an estimated gdp per person, per year, that is more

than along the lines of congo or some of the poorest countries in africa. this is a country that is suffering and he knows that. i do think he needs this and he wants this so for me, it was only a matter of time that he would start -- he and president trump would start putting out feelers to get back to these nuclear negotiations. and there was a loss of faith after hanoi. he's looking for a chance to get back to that negotiating table. >> brennan: but mike, even though there may be that pressure on kim jong-un and food shortages even, he's still charging ahead with his nuclear program. >> so two pieces to that. one is he's still making material, he's still adding to the nuclear stockpile, but he's not testing nuclear weapons and he's not testing missiles. we know he has nuclear weapons. we know he has icbm's capable of states, but one thing he has not demonstrated is the ability to mate those two together and he needs to test in order to convince himself that we can do that, let alone us.

so the fact that he's holding back on that is important. but the stockpile continues to grow. >> brennan: and you've been watching some of what kim jong-un is doing in the region. he's been meeting with vladimir putin. he's been meeting with xi jinping. he has some powerful friends other than the united states right now. so how much leverage does the u.s. have here? >> in fact, russia and china did support the latest round of u.n. security council sanctions that have been such a chokehold on north korea's economy, and i think that was a major blow to north korea and so he was going to putin and to xi to see if he could get some sanctions relief. it doesn't sound like he got what he needed. and so in that sense, he is trying to tell his people a homeook we do -- meingd relationship, th mean that if he does continue to build

those relationships with putin and xi, it does take away from the leverage that president trump has. it's something that we have to watch closely, the way that kim jong-un is very savvily playing all these different relationships in the region. >> brennan: and mike, it seems like the u.s. strategy has been to try to separate kim jong-un from some of his more hardline, old-school advisors. the idea that he is so unique and president trump is so unique that you could get this impossible deal, even though the u.s. intelligence community says he's not going to give up his nukes. what are the odds on this? >> so i don't think there's any way he's going to give up the entire program. i think the only possibility is significant limits on the number of nuclear weapons and the missile program, probably the distance that missiles can fly. that's the best we can hope for. we should push for the whole thing, but the best we can hope for is limits. >> brennan: containment?

containment. brennan: thank you very much. we turn now to larry kudlow the national economic council director who joins us this morning from connecticut. larry, good to have you here. the president said he's not increasing tariffs on china and he's allowing american companies to do business with huawei that throws that tech firm a lifeline. what did the u.s. get for these concessions? >> well, let's -- first of all, the talks are going to restart. i thinkthets a very big deal right there. they are going to restart. look, regarding the huawei story, let me just try to clarify that. there will be sales from american companies, but only in the sense of a general merchandise, things that are available in other places around the world. anything to do with national security concerns will not

receive a new license from the commerce department. i think that's very important. i think people have to understand that. stuff that's generally available will be -- will be probably getting a temporary license from the commerce department. we'll see how far that goes. second point is we are hoping and expecting that china will engage in large-scale purchases of american farm products and farm services. as the talks continue, the talks may not be ending. the talks may not even be solved. but the president believes that china will begin to purchase american agriculture and that's going to be a big boost to our farmers and that will be a good-faith show that these are serious talks and negotiations. >> brennan: on those purchases that you say might happen, in the meantime, the existing tariffs still stay in place? so that means the retaliatory tariffs are, too. and even with this announcement of china potentially buying more

product, according to the usda, that market for soybean farmers won't recover until 2026 or 2027. they're losing markets the longer this goes on so how much damage can america stomach? >> well, look that may be. i don't want to forecast that. we'll see if china steps in to fill the void. our farmers have been terrific. they're patriots, they support the president's dealings with china. strongest president we've ever had in u.s.-china relations. china's problems, you know, i.p. theft, forced the transfers of technology, problems with getting into cloud services, problems with tariffs, problems with non-tariff barriers, all these things are going to have to be addressed and that's the only way it will helphe's a verg relationship, margaret, as you may know. that has to be fixed. it's not going to be

they have many more remedies and correctives to make and that's what president trump said in his news conference and elsewhere in this recent trip to japan. now, having said that, with respect to the farmers, we are doing the best we can. we are providing short-term assistance to keep them going and try to fill the void until we can get better international markets. the farmers themselves, the farm groups, they've been great patriots and we celebrate their support to make america's overall economy very, very strong. and let's see if the chinese make good on this promise. that will have a bearing. the president said on tariffs, let me make this point, no additional tariffs for now. ina delivers on an early to seef agriculture promise, let's call it an early harvest, but that may be up for grabs.

we will see. no one can predict with certainty. >> brennan: but last time, my understanding is the talks were ff a perceived promise to change its laws. so is there any indication from china that they will make the kind of structural change to their own laws to make good on some of the changes you want to see happen on i.p., etc.? >> you're right about the problem and they did pull back from some agreements we thought we had and by the by that also includes all manner of enforcement to whatever conditions are made so you're quite right. can i sit here and say it's all going to work out? no. we don't know that. the teams are going to start negotiating in earnest, but we don't know. this is just a new first step. i always think it's better to talk than not to talk. we have no assurances and again, the president himself said

several times we want quality talks. there's no timeline here. the issue is quality, not speed. so we will see if china delivers on some of these significant reforms. >> brennan: marco rubio has been raising concerns, though, about what the president just agreed to do with huawei, that tech firm. he said if president trump has bargained away recent restrictions on huawei, then the u.s. congress will put them back in via legislation. isn't this undercutting the president's negotiation and why would the u.s. allow american companies to do business with a firm that is working on surveillance and a national security threat? >> well, look again, i think senator rubio's concerned about all manner o national security are correct, they're proper concerns. and i hope that when president trump comes back, that he and others of us will be able to persuade senator rubio that

there will that any additional licensing from the commerce department to american companies will be for what we call general merchandise, not national security sensitive, general merchandise meaning, you know, various chips and software and other services that are available all around the world, not specific to the u.s. but the president's not backing off on the national security concerns. we understand the huge risks regarding huawei and let me say, the president several times, we will fully address huawei, but not until the end of the trade talks. in other words, that will come last and that will deal, you know, with much larger issues concerning the long-term future with huawei. so that's -- what's happening now is simply a loosening up for general merchandise, maybe some additional licenses from

commerce, it is not the last word. the last word is not going to come until the very end of the talks. this is a complicated matter so i hope we'll be able to persuade senator rubio and others that we are as cautious and concerned as they are. >> brennan: all right. larry kudlow, thank you so much. we'll be back in one minute with a lot more "face the nation." don't go away. cookie cutter por. fisher investments tailors portfolios to your goals and needs. some only call when they have something to sell. fisher calls regularly so you stay informed. and while some advisors are happy to earn commissions whether you do well or not. fisher investments fees are structured so we do better when you do better. maybe that's why most of our clients come from other money managers. fisher investments. clearly better money management. ♪ ♪ this simple banana peel represents a bold idea: a way to create energy from household trash. it not only saves about 80% in carbon emissions... it helps reduce landfill waste.

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can't look at this as going over and talking to your dictator next door and bringing them a hotdish over the fence. there's a lot more. and what this is about is making sure that there are measurable results, that we have a plan when we go in there and we just haven't seen that. in fact, just in may, you saw north korea launch another missile into the sea in violation of the u.n. resolution and to me, you need to have a plan to denuclearize that peninsula or at least reduce those weapons immediately and i don't see that happening yet. but yet, we know that talks are good, but i just don't see this president, when you look at what happened in iran, when he got out of that agreement and we were 10 minutes away from war, and a month away from them blowing the caps when it comes to uranium, enriching uranium, when you look what he did with the nuclear agreement with russia. he is constantly climate change,

pulling us back from working with our allies to try to solve these problems. >> brennan: you said there, north korea would denuclearize or at least need to red arsenal. would you accept them as a nuclear power? >> no, i would not. what i'm saying is you need to have steps and measures and you could start there and then, of course, you have dates and you have times and a focus and a plan, but that is not what he does. he goes and gets a letter and says i love the guy, right in the face of the family who lost their son otto. i am concerned because of the track record here. talk is good, but if all it is is talk, it doesn't produce anything for national security for america and international security for our allies. >> brennan: as commander-in-chief, what would you do differently with china? what leverage would you use to get them to capitulate on trade? >> i would first acknowledge to the american people very clearly the problem here.

the surveillance, the intellectual property violations, they're basically stealing our blueprints. what they have done when it comes to subsidizing industries and manipulating their currency. the second thing i would do is to work with our allies and to push them and i wouldn't just walk away from every negotiating table, months goes by. i think you have to keep at it, methodically. and mostly, i wouldn't have used the approach they've used. targeted tariffs. they have used basically a meat cleaver or maybe we should call it a tweet cleaver when it comes to how they're dealing with these other countries. and when you talked to larry kudlow, and he talked about the patriotism of our farmers. i'm in a heavy ag state. iowa, my neighbor is a heavy ag state. north dakota. i've talked to farmers in those areas and what they tell me is they're not going to get that soybean market back in one year because that market has gone to farmers in other countries and so that's why there's an urgency to this. when we have an $891 billion

trade deficit, which is the worst that we've seen, you can't just keep talking about it. you actually have to get it done. >> brennan: you heard me ask larry kudlow about republican senators' concerns about huawei. you are a sitting senator. would you vote to ban american companies from doing business with them? >> i don't think we should be doing business with them right now. and i agree with my colleagues, not just senator rubio, but also senator warner, mark warner, the ranking on the intelligence committee, that this is a major security risk for america. you know, you look at everything from china to russia, using cyber against us. it is the modern warfare. we certainly know that from our elections in 2016. they may not use tanks or missiles, but they can go after our electric grid, they can go after our security in a very different way. and so i don't know why he would just give that away right now. i would think that he would put

firm, firm standards in place as part of any agreement with china and that's not what we have. we just have another promise that they're going to buy american agriculture. okay that's positive, but i wouldn't give it up in the short-term gain for the long term where we need to protect our security and our cybersecurity. >> brennan: i want to ask you about the debates this week. one question to many was whether their healthcare plan would cover undocumented immigrants. would your plan do that? >> as part of comprehensive immigration reform, we must move forward on making sure that people have healthcare. california just did that with medicaid and i am supportive of that, but i think on the national basis, as we go forward, get immediate healthcare for people yes, but as part of making this actually happen, you need comprehensive immigration reform and one thing that was missing from the nbc debate actually that i hope we can discuss is that we have a

humanitarian crisis at the border right now, but we also did not talk about the other immigrants that are here, the people who are here on temporary legal status. we've got hundreds of thousands of people that are legally here that are at risk or are being deported that work in our nursing homes and our hospitals. we have got dreamers, 2 million of them that came to this country through no fault of their own and are a major part of our economy. so we need to have an economic discussion about this as well as a border discussion and that's why i want to move forward as president with comprehensive immigration reform. >> brennan: so that was a yes, that your healthcare plan would cover? >> that was a yes for immediate healthcare needs, but as far as other benefits i think -- that has got to be a part of the discussion of comprehensive immigration reform. >> brennan: okay because they were excluded from the existing obamacare law. >> that is correct yes. brennan: so you are -- i mean, you call yourself a pragmatist. you're in many ways perceived as a moderate from the midwest.

do you feel sometimes that the rest of the party is leaving you behind? that it's gone so progressive? >> i'm thinking the issues you're focused here on, for instance, medicare for all, and i want universal healthcare, i just got a different way to get there. and, as i said, in the debate, i don't think that we should take away people's right to their private insurance and kick half of america off of their private insurance. i think there is a better way to do this and that's strengthening obamacare, taking on the pharmaceuticals. on free college for all, i made it very clear. i want to expand pell grants, make it easier for kids to go to college, but i don't think and that's what some of these plans do that we should be using taxpayer money to finance rich kids to go to college. many of our public universities, something like 10% of the kids come from families that make over $200,000 a year. and i think that taxpayer money is better used to get free

community college, to help kids get certifications when those are some of the fastest-growing degreed just because we hav jobs nation. to me, this is a legitimate policy argument about how we help people afford college, help them pay off their loans, make bold policy changes when this president is not doing, but i think there's room in our party for a legitimate debate. i think it's important to realize there's a lot more that unifies us than there is that divides us. and that divide right now is with the american people and the president. he promised pharmaceutical prices going down, they're gone up. he's promised them infrastructure, he's done nothing. he promised them a safer world when he got out of the iranian world. it is not safer. that's the case we need to make. >> brennan: we'll look for you on that next debate stage. thank you very much senator klobuchar. >> i'm very much looking forward to it. >> brennan: we'll be back in a

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♪ ♪ >> brennan: welcome back to "face the nation." we are now joined by 2020 democratic presidential candidate beto o'rourke who joins us from el paso. congressman, we've had this news overnight and i'm wondering if as president you would continue the diplomacy with kim jong-un and would you accept north korea as a contained nuclear threat if it refuses to give up its nuclear weapons? >> you know, i would continue diplomacy, contingent on progress that keeps this country and our allies safe. despite three years of almost bizarre foreign polic from this

president, this country is no safer when it comes to north korea. they have removed none of their nuclear weapons or their potential to deliver them to the united states. and, in fact, in contravention of the united nations, they have launched other missiles, flouting the diplomacy that this president has attempted so far. so we've added legitimacy to kim jong-un. >> brennan: but it sounds like you're saying you would continue to talk to kim jong-un? >> i want to make sure we produce diplomatic, peaceful, nonviolent negotiations to resolve the challenges that we face on the korean peninsula, to ensure that we denuclearize that area. >> brennan: we know from your team that you plan to go to mexico today. what is the purpose of that visit? >> i'm going over to ciudad juarez our sister city to meet with asylum seekers who have traveled hundreds, in some cases thousands of miles, fleeing the

deadliest countries on the face of the planet, coming to this country, trying to follow our asylum laws and through a program that effectively shuts them out of this country and our laws, are forced to stay in ciudad juarez where they are preyed to criminal organizations with where they are penniless, where they are suffering and where too many feel they are forced to try to cross in between our ports of entry as we saw earlier this week, a picture of oscar and valeria who died tried to do that that. this inhumane policy is causing suffering and death and i want to call attention to what we are doing so going to ciudad juarez mexico and meeting with these asylum seekers is a great way for the american people to know what is being done in our name right now. >> brennan: so do you believe applr asylum froms shou other countries or from mexico?

>> yes. i think we should follow our own asylum laws that are on the books. our obligations to those pple to whom we are connected by land and language and culture and for whom we have some responsibility given our involvement in the westerwestern hemisphere that's produced some of the challenges they've faced that would cause a family to flee hundreds or thousands of miles to come here. so when we follow our own asylum laws, those people are safer, we live according to our traditions and in a program we've proposed a family case management program no family is separated. they're not detained in these border patrol stations. >> brennan: but that's if they cross into the united states. >> -- and to follow our own laws. >> brennan: what you're proposing is when they cros into the united states. i'm asking if they're applying as now from mexico or from a third country, that is one of the proposed changes also to immigration law now. >> yes, i think that asylum seekers should be able to apply

from their home country. so from honduras or guatemala or el salvador to the united states wiving to ke that journey by foot in the first place. it will ensure that they are following our laws and it will guarantee greater safety and reduce suffering for them. >> brennan: we are just about a month out from the next debate. during the one this week you were hit by your colleague from texas, julian castro who said you need to do your homework. are you going to change your strategy for the next debate? >> what i'm going to do is get across what i think we can do as a country and on the particular issue that you're referring to on immigration, under my administration, day 1, we are going to stop family administration. we're going to reunite those families who have been separated. we're going to make sure that no one who is fleeing persecution or violence is criminally prosecuted and we're going to follow what i was doing in congress where we help to introduce legislation that would stop this and rewrite section

1325 of u.s. code to make sure that those families who are at their most desperate and vulnerable moment do not face further fear when they get to the united states and then in addition, we're going to rewrite our immigration laws from the ground up. the 9 million green card holders in this country, we're going to waive their citizenship fees so they can contribute even more to our success and our greatness. >> brennan: you'll be reliant on bending republicans to your will on that. >> well, i'm not sure that i'm willing to concede that point. there are a lot of great candidates running for congressional seats and u.s. senate seats across this country. i'm confident that 2020 is going to produce a significant change, not just in the white house, but in both houses of congress. i think that democratic majority on immigration, on healthcare, on a more inclusive economy, on confronting the challenge of climate before it's too late is going to be able to show success for the american people at this

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could sell some technology to china that would not compromise our national security so i don't know what he agreed to regarding exceptions to the ban. if they're minor exceptions that's okay, but if we're selling huawei major technology, that would be a mistake. >> brennan: but you don't worry that this is too much of a concession on national security grounds? >> i don't know yet. it's clearly a concession. there will be a lot of pushback if this is a major concession. if it's a minor concession i think it's part of the overall deal. >> brennan: we know president trump did meet with president erdogan and he seems to have the impression that president trump said there will not be u.s.

sanctions if turkey goes ahead and buys russianade we systems. is that the case? >> well, i'm in turkey, and it's being reported in the turkish media that president erdogan is claiming that president trump in their discussions told turkey that if you activate this 400 we'll find a way around sanctions. i doubt if that conversation occurred. it's impossible under our law, if turkey buys the missile battery they bought from the russians, sanctions would be required under law and we also a couple of days ago passed legislation banning the sale of the f35 to turkey. if they activate the russian s400 missile battery. there's no way we're going to transfer to turkey the f35 technology and let them buy a russian missile battery at the same time. it would compromise our platform. >> brennan: but you're not saying sanctions are inevitable

at this point? you see a way around them, some kind of compromise? >> i hope so, but under our law, there is no discretion. if they activate the s400 russian missile battery, they will be sanctioned under u.s. law and the f35 technology cannot be transferred to turkey. we need to find a way out of this dilemma. >> brennan: i'm sure you saw that video of president putin and trump seeming to laugh when asked about election meddling. did that concern you? >> what concerns me is are we going to be ready for their meddling next time? i've seen this administration up their game. in 2018, we had a mid-term election without a whole lot of interference because we're upping our game so to speak. so it was clearly a joke. >> brennan: but last time you were on this program you said russia did not learn its lesson so when you see regarding an upcoming election, doesn't that counter everything

in terms of a hard line the rest of the national security community is trying to send? >> i'm not sure rebuking putin in front of a bunch of cameras does much good. what hurts him is when you hit him in the pocketbook, his oligarch friends are having a hard time sending their money around the world. we put sanctions on the russian economy particularly in the energy area, and it's biting russia so actions mean more than anything in this part of the world. >> brennan: do you believe that president trump embracing saudi crown prince undermines the u.s. credibility on human rights? >> i don't think it helps. i led the effort to sanction the crown prince. there's no doubt in my mind that he ordered the killing of mr. khasoggi, that he knew about it, that he's done things like that to other people. and that he's been a disruptive

force throughout the region so i'm in a completely different place when it comes to mbs. >> brennan: here at home, i know you've been working with the president's son-in-law, jared kushner and other democrats as well to find some compromise around asylum laws. the president said he will go through with rounding up migrants after the july 4th holiday. do you see any legislative compromise? >> yes, i do. i spent about an hour with speaker pelosi and here's the compromise. we'll start turning the aid back on to central america. it is in our national security interest to help the triangle, more than triangle nations with their economy, with their rule of law problems, but if you don't turn off the magnets that attract people, which is our asylum laws, if you don't reform them, they'll keep coming. all you have to do is to put one foot on the united states soil if you're from central america with a small child, you're not going to get deported. >> brennan: on that question of

children, it was that image of the father who drownng with his 2-year-old daughter that really captured a lot of attention this week. that was his child. that was not a tool to exploit the asylum system. by warning that asylum is going to get tougher and saying the border might close, doesn't that incentivize people to take the risk in the first place? >> good question. here's what i think and i don't know and it does break your heart to see that image and the thought that went into it. here's what i think the father believed. if we can just make it across the rio grande and i can put one foot in america, my child and myself are going to be in america and we're not going to get sent back. i would like that asylum claim to be made in mexico at a u.n. center so that this father doesn't have to risk him and his

child drowning in the future. asylum claims should be made in the home country or in a facility in mexico because the reason he tried to go across the river, he was told by people in central america, if you can put one foot on american soil, you're home free. and this is a tragic result of that policy. >> brennan: i want to quickly ask you about your friend joe biden. how do you think he performed in the democratic debate this week? >> he's got to up his game. but anybody that knows joe biden, there's not a racist bone in his body. that's not a cliche. that's a reality. but the narrative is that maybe it's not his time and that he's not up to the task. i think you will underestimate joe biden at your own peril. i watched the debate. the policy options being presented to the country by the leading contenders on the democratic side are their biggest problem. pretty liberal, pretty extreme.

but when it comes to joe biden i think the next debate he's got to change the narrative and one thini will say about kamala harris and i said this before. she's got game. she is very talented. she's very smart. and she'll be a force to b reckoned with. >> brennan: senator graham, thank you very much for your time. we'll be right back with more from our political panel.

>> brennan: it's time now for some political analysis. edward wong is a diplomatic correspondent at the new york times. shannon pettypiece is a white house president of bloomberg news. ramirramesh ponnuru is a senior editor at bloomberg opinion and antjuan seawright is a political strategist. thank you for joining up. this was a big week for you and fellow democrats in terms of the first round out of the debates. what is your takeaway. what needs to change between now and when they take the stage in july? >> i think our candidates have to realize that they are running for our party's nomination and not against each other. and i think that's such an important point because what we saw during debate wasamonf

our candidates, but i think the focus was lost on the big picture and that is we have a race to run next year against the republicans. i also think that we have to again probably sing a little louder on the quality of life issues, like healthcare, like the economy, like housing, all the things that democratic votes are hungry and thirsty for and independent thinkers, independent voters and even some of those voters who may have voted for the president in '16, but voted for democrats in 2018. >> brennan: and what you just heard from senator graham was he characterized the debate stage as too extreme. for those who are those tryers, people in the middle, maybe even some republicans who aren't comfortable with president trump, is there anyone yet who they feel comfortable voting for on the stage? >> well, i think that the democrats right now, the candidates are not concentrating

on swing voters. they're not concentrating certainly on persuadable republicans and the process of winning the primaries may be pushing them too far to the left on some issues. look i think the trump reelection campaign had a very good week, not because of anything the president did, but the frontrunner joe biden got dinged in the debates. three of his top rivals came out, outlining the type of health insurance that 200 million americans relied on. they are in a race to the left on immigration. all of these things are going to make people who don't necessarily love everything that the president does think i don't know if i'm comfortable with this other side. >> but margaret to one point, we saw very few people between the two nights quote/unquote play with this idea of what the republicans and some of the right wing media call liberal. what we saw i think was a real center left type of approach to how we govern and what a policy agenda looks like. there's only two people on wednesday night who raised their hand for medicare for all, and i think it may have been two on

thursday night so this idea that the party is driving to the left is a false narrative, one that the republicans are pushing because they know it playsually to their base, but two, smoin the media are pushing this narrative because it's good for political conversation. that does not make it true. >> three of the top candidates are all for outlining this kind of private health insurance that most americans rely on. >> brennan: shannon, pick it up there. do you see it as a good week for the trump reelection campaign? >> everything went exactly as the campaign had hoped it would and as they expected it would. whether they have they have really gone to the left or not the trump campaign will use those moments to make it look like they moved to the left, whether swing voters are watching the debate or not they will cut moments from that debate and use them in campaign ads, that to them this was a television commercial against the democrats for their 2020 campaign. so it went exactly as they wanted and on the expectation point, they expected biden to be a bit off his game.

they've been sort of talking -- about feeling like joe biden today isn't joe biden of 2012. they expected warren to be strong. they're concerned by her sort of authenticity and on message brand and kamala did catch some by surprise. >> brennan: one of the factors here for any big geopolitical calculations is who's going to be in the oval office after 2020. there is this perception that whether it's kim jong-un or leadership in iran that they're waiting out president trump. is that factoring into this? >> i think with iran they've been put in a difficult situation because the sanctions are hurting iran so they have wanted to try to hold out for a change of commander-in-chief in 2020. now, you're seeing them push back a little bit in the persian gulf because they think they might not be able to wait out the sanctions that long. kim is a different position. i think he has nuclear weapons. he wants to be able to keep them and as long as he keeps trump talking in this sort of

diplomatic sort s h weapons. maybe trump eases up on sanctions, and then that's what kim wants. and that's what as we heard, that might be what the u.s. needs in terms of pushing forward on diplomacy and maybe in the long run you ratchet back the tensions but right now, you do need a diplomatic opening. >> brennan: kim jong-un has to look at this and say no president, but president trump would take this level of risk of meeting with me? >> right. brennan: so maybe there's a narrow window of opportunity, but you heard senator amy klobuchar on here say maybe he would just reduce the number of nuclear weapons. that's different than full denuclearization. he's kind of shopping for options? >> i think the stated policy is full denuclearization. i think what we're seeing in this administration maybe in a future administration is there might have to be a path of acceptance of the fact that north korea is a nuclear power. it's unstated like with israel, but that these administrations

will have to accept that and figure out how to deal with theu what former vice president joe biden came out the day after the debate and said regarding his past record on forced busing. >> i want to be absolutely clear about my record and position on racial justice, including busing. i never, never, ever opposed voluntary busing. >> brennan: how big of a misstep was this truly? >> i don't know if it was a misstep, but i do think the vice president and his team are going to have to make some adjustments going forward. look, this country and our party has been shaped by the experiences of joe biden and kamala harris and we can't lose sight of that, but i also think we can't ignore on how the experiences of kamala harris and how she's been impacted by throughout her life, but i will also say that sometimes, a

moment doesn't mean it's transferable to several moments in the future, and i think that's what we all have to keep in mind. this was oneyf work on issues that have been pro civil rights and for the improvement of quality of life o get back focused to the big picture and that is quality of life issues on how we go forward. >> brennan: shannon, the issue -- racial issues, though, are coming up on the trump side of things, as well. donald trump, jr. sent out a tweet this week that questioned whether kamala harris was quote "an american black." >> right. it almost sounds reminiscent of the birther argument as many people have pointed out in 2016. and, of course, with an administration that does not have a great track record with race and has really worked to try to overcome the people, good people on both sides image, they're trying to sell hard the economic argument about black

unemployment, hispanic unemployment, criminal justice reform. but i do think they miss sometimes, with race it's not always dollars and cents and it's not always about we give you money and jobs. there is a moral sense here and a sense of self, too, that if you degrade people in that way, no matter what you can give them financially it's not going to overcome that. >> brennan: do we need to hear from more republicans on this? most of all the democrat competitors have come out in support of her. >> i don't think that republicans are afraid of having an argument about busing in the 1970s. let's recall, busing -- >> brennan: on this -- not terribly popular among black americans. it's bizarre that the democrats have latched on to this if theie trying to bring it back. on the republican side you've got the fundamental problem that you've got a presidency that is not especially sensitive on racial matters, not necessarily thinking about a demographic

future with the changing racial composition of this country and congressional republicans who don't want to take it on. that's the way it's been for three years. >> your question was about the -- >> brennan: you're right. i'm running out of time here so i'm running out of time here so i've got to take a break. we'll be right back. grow with google is here to help you with turning ideas into action. putting your business on the map, connecting with customers, and getting the skills to use new tools. so, in case you're looking, we've put all the ways we can help in one place. free training, tools, and small business resources are now available at google.com/grow it's how we bring real hope to our cancer patients- 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.

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cancer treatment centers of america. >> brennan: that's it for us today. thanks 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 (announcer) the following is a paid advertisement from time life.

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