♪ >> brennan: welcome back to "face the nation." we continue our conversation with ambassador robert o'brien, national security advisor to president trump. i want to pick up on this idea where we left it with turkey coming, and they are a nato ally, as you emphasized. one of our nato allies, the french president, said this week that nato is suffering a brain death because of lack of american support and resolve. from what he is saying, and from what we're seeing, with turkey causing these cracks in the alliance, you must be very concerned. is that why you brought the nato secretar secretary-genl

to the white house as well. >> i think it is going to be a good summit between our nato allies. but i think the cracks that formed in the alliance is because we have members of the alliance that aren't paying their fair share, that aren't spending money on defense. the united states taxpayer, and the taxpayers of eight of the nato countries that are spending their 2% on national defense, we spend over 4%, they're doing the right things. but there are a bunch of countries, including germany and others, who aren't paying their fair share. it is not right for the american taxpayer to defend these countries that don't want to defend themselves. the president has been very strong on this issue. there has been $100 billion spent, since president trump took office -- >> brennan: macron was voicing out loud some reconcerns. you thought there was a potential ally that would

fire on the united states, intentional or not, in syria and you saw turkey by russia-made weapons -- >> we're very upset about that. >> brennan: can you get behind sanctions on that supposed to be triggered by congress. >> if turkey won't get rid of the 400, turkey will feel the impact of those sanctions. there is no place innate for the s-400 and for russian purchases, and that's a message that the president will deliver to him very clearly when he is here in washington. >> brennan: i know you're just back from asia. and the president says he wants to meet with president xi, and wants to get a trade deal -- >> it will be the first time we'll have a trade deal with china where they respect the united states, and they haven't stolen

property. i think if there is a deal, the president and president xi will get together and sign it. we want great relations with china, but this is the first president that has stood up to china, that is stealing american intellectual property, and dealing in unfair trade practices, and that has to come to an end. it has to come to a stop. >> brennan: as i just said, you're back from asia, and you've been raising concerns about china's militarization, and this only seems to be escalating militarily. >> i don't think it is escalating militarily. i think the president put toomps otariffs on china, and te tariffs have led the chinese to the negotiating table, and i think we'll get a pretty good deal for the american people -- >> brennan: you see a trade deal going ahead, and what you're talking about militarization in the south china sea, that is not going to

complicate -- >> we're going to still stand up. i made it very clear just because one country is big and one country is small, the bigger country shouldn't bully the smaller country and take their resources, and the u.s. navy will continue to have freedom of navigation through the south china sea.e-line, that the they -- they claimed that it is internal waters as if it was lak lake tahoe, that just won't stand. the countries in the region won't put up with it. and all of those countries, with very few exceptions, is grateful that america is standing up for them. that's the future of their grandchids, with oil and gas. china shouldn't be allowed to take it just because they're bigger. >> brennan: i know you were not at the white house when this july 25th phone call happened that is now at the heart of this impeachment inquiry. but you are now part of ukraine policy-making. you heard senator graham

at the top of the program saying that the policy is completely incoherent. will thetinu to ukraine until russia backs out of crimea and stops supporting separatists -- >> i think you put your fingerfinger on the important issue. i was part of a bipartisan election mission, and i had young ukrainian soldiers come up to me and say why wouldn't the u.s. send us lethal aid. you send us blankets and m.r.e.s. why wouldn't president trump send us military aid -- and there was no military aid going to the ukrainians by obama. when president trump got into office, he sent military aid. i think what people ought to be focusing on is that the president is helping the ukrainians defend themselves by sending them aid to stand up to russians.

>> brennan: but is the policy that that lethal aid will continue until russia stops backing separatists -- >> i'm not going to get into hype cull hypotheticals abt what could happen. president trump is the first president to send lethal military aid to ukraine. i think it is very important, and i think that is something that has been lost in all of the hulabaloo about the telephone call. if the american people could be on the phone calls, they'd be extraordinarily proud of the president, how he represents america, an the tough message he has to bud atheoes. b lutcolonel vindman is serving on the national security counsel. will he continue to work

for you despite testifying i wee streamlining the national security council. it got bloated to 236 people up from 100 under president obama. there are people who are detailed from different departments and agencies. my understanding is that colonel vindman is detailed from the department of defense. so everyone who is detailed at the n.s.c., people are going to start going back to their own departments, but we're going to get that number down to around 100 people. that's what it was under condoleezza rice. we don't need to recreate the department of defense, the department of state, the department of homeland security over at the white house. we have great diplomats and soldiers and folks that do that work for us in the department. >> brennan: just to button that up, though, you're saying lieutenant colonel vindman is scheduled to rotate out. you're not never retaliate

against anyone. there will be a point for everybody who is detailed we want them to take the skills they learned at the white house, and take them back to their departments and agencies and do an even better job there. they'll come spend a year, maybe a little more at the white house, and then go back to their agency, and they'll do a better job at their agency. >> brennan: thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> brennan: we'll be right back with our panel. don't go away. when you humble yourself under the mighty hand of god, in due time he will exalt you. hi, i'm joel osteen. i'm excited about being with you every week. i hope you'll tune in. you'll be inspired, you'll be encouraged. i'm looking forward to seeing you right here. you are fully loaded and completely equipped for the race that's been designed for you.

>> brennan: we turn now to some political analysis from our panel. steven haze is the editor. and margaret is a politics editor at axios, and antoine seawright is a democratic strategist and cbs news contributor. good to have you all here. >> good to be here. >> brennan: impeachment seems to be sucking the oxygen out of everything here in washington. steven, i want to begin with you. i know you think that this is a bad week for republicans. but you don't think outside the beltway this is resonating. >> i don't. i don't think it is really resonating. if you look at the way that republicans in congress are reacting to this, it is wit a slug slushrug of the shouldersm.

if you spent time reading the 2,000ag of therit ist. one by one by one, you saw all of the defenses of the president on substances fall away, where there was clear there was a quid pro quo, and the republicans don't have an answer for it, as i think was evident in your interview with senator kennedy. >> brennan: he said it depends on the quid pro quo. >> and he said on the one hand, the president might have been doing this because he had some vague interest in corruption broadly. have you to take a step back and think about what that means. this is a president who has had friendly relations with leaders of tremendously corrupt offices, like turkey, but he suddenly had such an interest of corruption in this one country, ukraine, that he sent his personal attorney to conduct investigations that

happened to overlap, coincidentally, with the political interests, in that they were investigating two of his chief political rivals. >> brennan: so, margaret, why, then, is that not more clear to the public? if it is so clear, as steven laid out there, is that what these public hearings will change? >> well, the public hearings can only change people's minds if they watch them and are engaged in them and read about them. i think it is pretty clear from the early weeks of this that president trump's base is not shaken or thwarted by this. and so really the issue is the group we're going to be hearing a lot about in the next month, which is the suburban voters. if you call them moderate voters or swing voters, somewhere in that circle is this group of people. we saw the relevance of the voters in virginia in the elections, perhaps to some extent in kentucky. and this is a group that both democrats and president trump are now going to be fighting for because they are the

people who are engaged in, you know, sort of the daily business, and that pays attention to more details like this. they are the people who are most likely to be at a work station, at work, with the tv on, absorbing the contents of this, trying to figure out if they're uncomfortable enough about it that they won't vote for president trump twice. >> brennan: antoine, how do democrats avoid what happened with the robe robert mueller hearings, where there was this big buildup, and if he testified publicly he will describe in vivid details what people didn't bother to read in print. how is this going to be different? >> we have to first come to the realization that donald trump and his disciples have no interest in having a relationship with the truth, regardless of whether it is public or whether they actually read it and can see it. number two, i think democrats have to block and tackle. block out this argument or distraction that the

republicans want to draw them into, and really tackle the issues that matter to the american people while they also pass legislation that they promised the american people in 2018, and remind people that the senate -- the holdup is the problem, and everything goes to a raveyardo die. if we fail to do that, we will be sentenced again to two years in the hard time as the minority party. >> brennan: do you think it is going well? >> it is hard to say. here is what i do know: the republicans demonstrated what i believe to be a political pump fake about transparency during this process, when you have 47 members a part of these hearings. and now you have leaders like senator graham who want to press the ignore button and essentially saying, no matter what comes out, like a decorated military official, it is not true because it is anti-donald trump. and we've seen this move before. and that's why i think

democrats have to stay focused on the things that matter outside the bubble. >> brennan: jeffrey, who is actually winning on the messaging here and convincing the american public? because that's what these public hearings are going to be focused on? >> it sounds very journalistic, but i think it is too early to tell. we don't know what dynamic we enter when we see these people live before the cameras, and how convincing it is. on the one hand, we'll know the answer to that question, i think -- i mean, we'll know it when we see what people in the suburbs know about it and if we see republicans become less cohesive. if there is one person with influence in the republican party on the hill who says, you know what, the emperor really doesn't have his clothes on. that could sort of break this open a little bit because all of us up here talk to republicans on the hill who privately say this is a disaster, a moral disaster, a political disaster, an ethical disaster, and

they're just holding on and coming up with these talking points that you saw on your show today. but there is a belief, and maybe this is an overoptimistic belief on the part of trump's opponents, there are people there who wil say enough is enough. when they hear it from, as you say, a de decorated war veteran, from serious professionals in the state department, they may say enough. >> there is one thing democrats and republicans agree on, the interest of national security. if the democrats use it as their north star or foundation, about this being about national security, and the future of this country, that is a point no one can argue. >> brennan: the split screen will be the hearings happening on capitol hill, while the president is meeting with another national leader. i was pressing the national security advisor on why turkey's leader

deserves the honor of walking into the white house. and after listening to all of the things that turkey has done wrong -- >> and as you know, there is a hope that erdogan leaves without having his bodyguards beat up people. we have lower standards for this visit than we usually have. let's not have the street violence associated with this visit. the reception of erdogan this week doesn't make any sense from a national security perspective. we talk about rewarding people with an oval office visit. is this a person who deserves an ovoffic oval office visit? of course no. but nothing is particularly coherent in our national security strategy. >> brennan: you were referring to in 2017, when the american protestors were beaten up.

>> brennan: and we're back with more from our political panel. steven, i want to start off with you. the journal has an op-ed,

and their op-ed pages are often thought to be fairly conservative. >> that's true. >> brennan: when they say, bloomberg, the water is warm, jump right in, suggesting to michael bloomberg he should get in the race, should democrats be skeptical of that? [laughter] >> i think democrats probably should be skeptical of michael bloomberg for a number of reasons, most especially because he has done this before. we've had how many head fakes from michael bloomberg. and he was a democratic republican independent and history covered the gamut. we've heard this from people like elizabeth warren and bernie sanders, that this is not the democratic savior -- >> brennan: but is he the kind of candidate who could convince republicans to cross over -- >> he has some nanny state

issues -- but it could have the opposite effect, where he dilutes support for joe biden, and complicates the path. if you're elizabeth warren today and you see michael bloomberg getting in, you're happy. >> brennan: antoine, being a self-made billionaire, a successful business person, you can look at that as the american dream, or you can look at that and say this is person suspect. and it seems that this person is suspect is more of what we're hearing on the campaign trail. and that isn't comfortable for everyone. pier i'm not going to cite sizcriticize him for making money. let me say four things about bloomberg. most people will believe that the political highway is experiencing a traffic jam because we have too many people running for president. and the second pointe point that it is sunday morning, and

i'll say there is a political scripture that says the road to heaven and the white house runs through south carolina. and he has agreed he will not participate in the south carolina primary, where 65% will be casting their vote, and most of the states that follow reflect south carolina -- >> brennan: also your home? >> yes. and the third thing, it is the home of the most prominent and powerful american in the u.s. congress, jim clyde. and so what bloomberg is saying, i have no interest in what the majority of the african-americans think in the south, and especially the home of jim cliburn. i call it the highest act of malpractice in the campaign committee. >> brennan: wow. margaret? >> there are a lot

complica b i alabama without people finding out. there is a case to be made that what he has done with his billions of dollars is invest in two of the most important issues to democrats, on climate change and gun control, and he has support in wall street and in silicon valley as well. when you look at the results of last tuesday's election, there may be a market of people in the general election -- maybe -- that would be receptive to a message like this. but, you know, there is also an overarching lesson from the 2016 race, when you have a 17-layer, 18-layer primary, somebody who did not have a chance could have a chance. >> he is the democratic nominee without having strong, cross the board support among african-american voters. he doesn't have that. >> brennan: jeffrey? >> i want to say one thing

in his defense, unlike the other billionaires, this ework city -- >> brennan: as a democrat, republican, and independent? >> he has covered all of the bases. he has gone before voters and gotten votes and by many accounts had a large, successful run as mayor. so it does put him in a slightly different lane than the pure vanity billionaire fast lane. >> but it is a biden lane and it complicates that contest. >> brennan: thanks to all of you for the analysis. we'll be right back.

employee: thank you. it's nice to hear that from someone. boss: these are cool. did you...um? where did... armando: i am a veteran, i lost both legs in vietnam. announcer: as america's veterans face challenges, dav is there. armando: my victory was getting my benefits and a good education. announcer: dav helps veterans of every generation get the benefits they've earned. wade: i'm a veteran, i didn't want to admit it, but i have ptsd. announcer: so veterans can reach victories great and small.

wade: my victory was finding help and learning that i wasn't alone. announcer: support more victories for veterans, go to dav.org. >> brennan: 65 years ago, the very first guest on "face the nation" was senator joe mcarthy politician, who rose to prominence on the claim -- the hearings and blacklisting that followed are looked back on as a dark period in american history. it serves as a good reminder that it is not entirely new to have this anger, vitriol and devisiveness in our country's politics. and i'm also reminded that upheaval and change are constant, even if they are disorienting. these days, you've never had so many options at

your fingertips to quickly receive information or disinformation. talk is cheap, and you can get an opinion just about anywhere. "face the nation" has always been a place for listening to each other, which we all need to do a bit more of in our current climate, and for context and perspective. that's what our team here at "face the nation" will continue to try to do each sunday. and at 65 years old, we're in our prime. we want to wish the united states marine corps a very happy birthday. we hundred all who currently or previously served in the armed forces on this veterans' day weekend. thank you all for keeping america safe. until next week, fface nation," m ennan. captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org ll.

>> reporter: two years later, the people did. crowds on the eastern side of the wall demand they be let through. >> they were streaming across the wall within hours of the announcement. >> reporter: overwhelmed border guards had no choice but to step back. >> now their job is stamping passports as fast as they can to keep the flow to the west moving, and many of them seem to relish their new role. >> that's good. >> reporter: the fall of the berlin wall pointed to the end

of the cold war and the promise of a more unified democratic world.thcalater, tion fadewith ri of nationalism and cracks appeinn just a stone's throw awa o mo o it's rising.an wre honest, it ne really went away completely. >> reporter: and today german chancellor angela merkel urged europe to defend freedom and democracy, warning they should never be taken for granted. roxana saberi, london. >> and that's the "overnight news" for this monday. for some of you, the news continues. for others, check back with us a little later for the morning news and "cbs this morning." from the broadcast center in new york city, i'm elaine quijano. firefighters are driving their fire truck for today.

millions get set for a polar plunge. a big blast of cold intensifies. open and televised hearings begin this week as house democrats try to make their misconduct case against president trump. mormon families flee their homes after the massacre in mexico. heading to safety in america. >> not worth living in fear. caught on camera, a texas teacher faces criminal charges. what prompted this violent attack. and crowd stitching. a special community comes together to finish one chicago woman's labor of love. >> that is beautiful. >> isn't that stunning?