sunday morni ♪♪ [trumpet] ♪♪ brennan: i'm margaret brennan in washington. this week on "face the nation," the standoff between russia and the u.s. over ukraine escalates. president biden vows swift and severe consequences should vladimir putin defy him. plus dramatic new developments in the january 6 investigation. tensions in eastern europe are at their highest point in years, with russia's military buildup along the ukraine's borders preceding despite u.s.-led diplomatic negotiations. we'll get the latest from secretary of state, antony blinken. texas congressman michael mccaul will be with us too. he is leading sanctions to

try to halt president putin's aggression. we'll talk with mississippi democrat bennie thompson. late last week, the supreme court order the release of 700 pages of white house documents detailing president trump and his allies' communications, leading up to and including the day of the attack. the omicron wave in the east is subsiding, but the daily death toll from covid reaches a new high. we'll hear from former f.d.a. commissioner dr. scott gottlieb. plus, americans weigh in on the pandemic and the economy as president biden kicks off his second year in office. it is all just ahead on "face the nation." ♪♪ captioning sponsored by cbs ♪♪ >> brennan: good morning and welcome to "face the

nation." we begin with the tense standoff along the ukraine border. more than 100,000 russian troops are now poised to potentially invade from the north, east, and south of ukraine. russian fighter jets and missiles arrived in neighboring belarus, where war games are citizen to begin. meanwhile nato naval exercises are taking place in the mediterranean, and 90 tons of military aid just arrived from the united states. president biden is monitoring the situation from camp david. late saturday, britain accused russia of a plot to install a pro-russian leader in ukraine as it considers some form of attack. secretary of state antony blinken is just back from consfromconsultations with sergi lavrov, and he joins us from the state department. good morning. these ll look like signs of escalation?

>> well, there is a path of diplomacy, which is clearly the most responsible one to do. and there is path of russian aggression and massive consequences for russia if it engages in that direction. i tried to make clear both paths with my meeting with sergei lavrov this week, and we'll see if we can advance the diplomacy. even as we're that doing that, we're preparing that if russia chooses the other path. >> brennan: what exactly are you negotiating? because russia is creating these facts on the ground. they're setting the terms, it seems. are they just using you to buy time? >> that's exactly why even as we engage in the diplomacy, to explore whether there are ways on a reciprocal basis of building up collective security, answering some of the concerns that russia may have, and russia answering the many concerns we have, as wer doing that, we are building up defense.

we have rallied allies in a very intense way over the last weeks to make very clear there would be massive consequences for renewed russian aggression. we provided more military assistance to ukraine than in any previous year. we've been going after agents of russia in ukraine, seeking to destabilize the government. i just approved the transfer of military technology from other countries to ukraine. we'll be ready either way. the choice is vladimir putin's. >> brennan: but what are you negotiating? if russia's demands are non-starters. president biden has already said russia is not going to join nato any time soon. what's left to talk about? >> margaret, we started this effort of diplomacy and dialogue about 10 days ago. in the course of that, russia has put some ideas on the table in writing to both the united states and nato. we've been in very close consultation with allies and partners. we are now sharing our own

ideas, as well as our own deep concerns. and we'll see if in the mix there there are things that we can do, again, on a reciprocal basis that would actually advance collective security in a way that answers some of what we're hearing, and russia answering a lot of what they're hearing from us. and as russia looks at that, and as it considers the massive consequences that would be followed if it pursues aggression, it will have to make a decision. it will have to put those things in the balance and decide what the best path forward is. i know what the most responsible path forward is. whether president putin gacie agrees, it remains to be seen. >> brennan: he hasn't seemed to deescalate it appears. why not do what ukraine is asking you what to do and sanction now, take action now? why keep it as a punitive matter after the fact? >> first, as i said, we

are taking action now. we built up across these very weeks a very strong coalition of countries that has said it will take action -- >> brennan: right, and ukraine is saying you could go harder, be stronger. >> we've been taking action against russian agents in ukraine. but as to the sanctions, the most important thing we can do is to use them as a deterrent, as a means of dissuading russia from engaging in further aggression. once sanctions are triggered, you lose the deterrent affect. what we're doing is putting together a whole series of actions -- >> brennan: right. even president biden said at his press conference, he spent a lot of time trying to get nato allies trying to be on the same page when it comes to anything short of invasion. it seems like putin's easiest strategy would be to hit on that weakness. that is how you divide allies. it doesn't look like the alliance is completely

knit together mere. here. >> first, we've been very clear if there is any further russian aggression in terms of sending russian forces into ukraine, there will be a swift, a severe, and a united response from the united states and europe. second, we've been equal clear that russia en gauges in other tactics, short of sending forces into ukraine and other countries. hybrid actions, cyber actions, and, thereto, i'm confident there will be a swift, calibrated, and also united response. >> brennan: is the fact that you need russia to help you with the iran negotiations tying your hands? >> not in the least. and, again, it is important to put this into perspective, too, margaret. this is about more even ukraine and russia, more even than europe and russia and the united states and russia. it really is and should be a global concern because there are some basic

principles of international security at stake that has helped keep the peace and security in europe for the last decades. and it goes to very basic principles -- >> brennan: exactly, but vladimir putin obviously has no regard for those principles in the past eight years that he has been invading and taking parts of ukraine. when you get to that bigger "what is this all about" question, the state department said they were concerned about the possibility of russia moving nuclear weapons back into belarus. you have high precision equipment being used towards ukraine. is this about something more than just that country? >> this is exactly why even as we're engaged in diplomacy, we are very much focused on building up defense, building up deterrents for both ukraine and nato itself. nato itself will be enforced if russia commits acts of aggression. all of that is on the table. but, again, when it comes

to these principles, margaret, the principle that one nation can't simply change the borders by force -- >> brennan: russia already has. >> that's what we're standing resolutely against. it is trying to say that nato's doors should be shut on ukraine, and it is not. we stand by that principle. >> brennan: how significant is the insider threat to president zelensky and his government? >> this is, again, part of the russian playbook. it is something we're very focused on. and that's why we have been speaking about it. we have raised this publicly in recent weeks. we want to put people on notice and on guard that this is something russia could do, just as we talked about the possibility of a so-called false flag operation where russia creates a provocation inside ukraine, and uses that as justification to take aggressive action. >> brennan: before i let you go, does the timing of the olympics have any impression on putin's calculus? any impact here? >> you would have to ask

him. i don't think so. i think that russia will make its decisions based on president putin's calculus of what is in their interest. if there is al gression, there will be massive consequences. so the choice is his. >> brennan: mr. secretary, we'll be watching. thank you for your time today. in one minute, we'll take a look at the new developments in the january 6 attack investigation with congressman bennie thompson. stay with us. hey... it's our these calls can be.w how t not with schwab. nina made it easier to set up our financial plan. we can check in on it anytime. it changes when our goals change. planning can't be that easy. actually, it can be, carl. look forward to planning with schwab. schwab! ♪♪ mass general brigham. when you need some of the brightest minds in medicine, this is the only healthcare system in the country

with five nationally ranked hospitals, including two world-renowned academic medical centers, in boston, where biotech innovates daily and our doctors teach at harvard medical school, and where the physicians doing the world-changing research are the ones providing care. there's only one mass general brigham. >> brennan: we are back now with the chairman of the committee investigating the january 6 attack on the capitol, congressman bennie thompson of mississippi. good morning to you, chairman. >> good morning. good morning how are you? >> brennan: good. this is a big week, 700 pages of trump documents were handed over to you at the supreme court. what changes now that you have these in your possession? >> well, we are in the process of reviewing the documents. as you know, this was one

of the first requests that we made as a committee to the national archives. we think it is important to our investigation to have this information. and we are glad that the supreme court agreed with us today. >> brennan: is this the last piece of the puzzle here? how does this affect your timeline for holding public hearings, as you said, you want to begin those in the spring? >> well, to be honest with you, we'll review the documents. we'll see what those documents present to us in terms of direction. we'll see if that information leads us to additional individuals to make requests. but it is so significant to our investigation to the documents and executive privilege and other things, obviously, which had no bearing, and we're just happy for the supreme court's decision. we'll look forward to reviewing it.

and based on the review, we'll take next steps. >> brennan: and the spring is still the plan for public hearing? >> absolutely. to be honest with you, as you know, we're reviewing thousands of pages of documents, hundreds of witnesses. it is taking a good bit of time for the committee to put together. and our hearings, at this point, we expect to be some time in the spring. >> brennan: in recent days your committee also took aim at rudy giuliani, the former president's attorney. you subpoenaed him. you asked the president's daughter, ivanka trump, to appear by february 3rd. you also subpoenaed two white nationalists. it seems a pretty wide net. what is your strategy? >> our strategy is to get to all of the facts and circumstances that brought about january 6. we identified the players. rudy giuliani is clearly one of those individuals.

the right wing individuals and organizations that participated, providing security and other things. they're important. and, obviously, ivanka trump was a major advisor to the president all along. a number of items attributed to what she has been saying. we're asking her to come involuntarily and give us the benefit of what she knows. >> brennan: will she? >> we'll wait and see, february 3rd, and we'll go after that. >> brennan: in terms of rudy giuliani, who you subpoenaed, there was another news development in terms of public reporting. republican electors in at least five states put together essentially state slates of the electors. in states that joe biden won, they handed over these slates saying that donald trump won them. according to the former

chief-of-staff to vice president mike pence, he was presented with letters from rudy giuliani to this end trying to persuade the former vice president not to certify the election. do you know who was orchestrating this effort? i mean this is a pretty significant claim. >> well, we do know that some of the information we received from national archives include opposed plans for doing certain things. if we, after review of those plans, determine specifically individuals who did this, we will make the referral to the justice department. we're not a criminal entity. that's the department of justice. but we are concerned that documents have been filed saying they were individuals responsible for conducting and

certifying elections and they're not. and when you falsify documents, in most instances that's a criminal act. >> brennan: uh-huh. there was also another story, significant, poliítico published the text of a draft executive order that had been presented to president trump in december of 2020 to have the defense secretary seize voting machines in battleground states. and multiple news organizations have now reported this. do you intend to go to the attorney general, bill barr, to ask him about this? how do you followup on this kind of allegation and the paperwork to back it up? >> well, yes, we do. to be honest with you, we've had conversations with the former attorney general already. we've talked to the department of defense individuals. we are concerned that our military was part of this

big lie on promoting that the election was false. so if you're using the military to potentially seize voting machines, even though it is a discussion, the public needs to know. we've never had that before. and so any of these individuals who are participating in trying to stop the election, the duly election of a president, and if we can document it, we will share it with the public. >> brennan: i just want to follow up on something you said. do you have proof that there was someone inside the united states military working on this premise of actually seizing voting machines? >> well, we have information that between the department of justice, a plan was put forward to potentially seize voting machines in the country

and utilize the department of defense assets to make that happen. >> brennan: something beyond this draft executive order? there was actually an operational plan? >> well, no, not an operational plan. but just the draft itself is reason enough to believe that it was being proposed. our job to to get to the is to e facts and circumstances of how far did they go? we do know that a potential person was identified to become the attorney general of the united states who would communicate with certain states that the election on their situation had been fraudulent and not to produce certified documents. well, we understand that. so we will move forward on that investigation and we will look and see specifically how far that plan went.

>> brennan: that's incredible. will the former attorney general, bill barr, testify? will you seek out other members of the military to clarify some of what you just laid out here? >> well, part of our plan is to continue to engage all of those individuals that we deem necessary and important to our investigation. some we'll talk to. some we'll do in depositions, under oath. others we'll offer hearing opportunities. but i can assure you as we develop this information, we will clearly present it to the public. we plan, as this point, to have a series of public hearings showing the use of federal assets, department of justice, department of defense, and other agencies to actually stop the duly elections of

a president. we'll do it in due time. >> brennan: quickly, stewart rhodes was charged with seditious conspiracy about the department of justice this week. as part of that, it became public he was apparently stashing weapons, waiting for the white house to invoke the insurrection act. is any part of that connected to what you just laid out? >> well, stewart rhodes is one of the persons that we identified as someone we wanted to talk to. we'll see what happens. we're not part of the criminal indictment. that's a separate investigation. >> brennan: okay. i understand. chairman, thank you for your time this morning. and next up, we'll have more on the situation in ukraine and what can be done to stop russia. done to stop russia. ♪♪ there can be some not-so-pretty stuff causing vision loss or even blindness.

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>> brennan: and we're back with the top republican on the foreign affairs committee in the

house, congressman michael mccaul of texas. good morning. >> good morning to you. thank you for having me. >> brennan: i want to start with what we just heard from the chairman, but seemed fairly extraordinary, what he just laid out. he says there is reason to believe, and the committee has possession of documents about this plot, essentially, to seize voting machines, that it involved members of the military. he has already been in touch with the tomar formerattorney general. what is your reaction to this? >> my reaction is it was a dark day, january. january 6th.i want the truth toe out. i think the department of adjujustice has been conducting an investigation. i worked at d.o.j. for almost 15 years, and i, in fact, called upon them to investigate. i'm hopeful that the truth will come out on this. the allegations are very serious. >> brennan: uh-huh. i do know t that you are endorsed by the former

president trump, so this has to be a little uncomfortable to hear these kind of allegations. >> of course. i mean, when the executive commander in chief -- these are allegations. i don't think the executive order was ever followed through with -- >> brennan: it was a draft. but it was discussed in the oval office. >> i think it should come out, obviously. i always say the truth should come out. >> brennan: well, we will continue to watch the committee on that point. on russia, you heard the secretary say that if he uses the leverage of sanctions now, he gives up an important bit of deterrence. do you disagree? >> i completely disagree. i think this has been a passive deterrence. i don't see putin changing his course of action. it is getting very aggressive. the nuce is tightening around ukraine. president zelensky says he wants the sanctions now. we can always remove the

sanctions is it deters putin's bad behavior. but if you continue to award that, it will continue. there are so many things we can do to provide deterrents, and if we don't do this, there is very specific, very aggressive, and the timetable -- if we don't do something strong right now, i'm afraid he is going to invade ukraine, which will have, as the secretary talked about -- he is right -- and i think you and i did -- it will have global ramifications here. >> brennan: when i pressed the secretary on that, he twice said that the u.s. is going after russian agents in ukraine. is the u.s. doing something now that the rest of us just don't know about? or is he just talking about sanctions? >> we know that the brits released intelligence report that the russians are trying to depose

zelensky, and they're right on the border with belarus, and they're going to do joint exercises with precision weapons and aircraft. we know ki kyiv is right there. there is other one on the black sea, crimea. this is a build-up we've never seen before. with no deterrents, it is going to happen. >> brennan: let's take a break and continue to talk about this on the other side of it. so, congressman, please stay here. we'll be right back. i am here... i am here.... because of dana-farber. what we do here changes lives everywhere. i am here. your shipping manager left to “find themself.” leaving you lost. you o hire.

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i'm elise preston, cbs news, new york. ♪ ♪ this is the cbs "overnight > welcome to the "overnight news." i'm todd hanson. more than 100,000 russian troops are noised to potentially invade ukraine. from the capitol kiev, 90 tons of military aid arrived from the united states. joe biden is monitoring the situation from camp david. he met with his security team this weekend. sources tell cbs news, the u.s. embassy in kiev is in the process of authorizing the departure of non-essential diplomats and families. cbs' david martin takes a closer look at what is at stake and

what russia could do next. >> this is t