♪♪ >> brennan: welcome back to "face the nation." we now want to go to adam schiff, a democrat from california, and he joins us from the los angeles area. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> brennan: i want to start on ukraine. the united states purchases about 600,000 barrels of russian petroleum products a day. speaker pelosi said that oil should be banned. the white house says it is looking at options. what is that option? does the solution come from congress? or is this something president biden needs to act on? >> i think it could come from either place. i think there is a very

strong bipartisan support to cut off russian oil and gas sales to the united states. it is to many of us in congress that while we're sanctioning them and trying to cripple their economy, that we would help them in any way by purchasing their petroleum. but i think the administration wants to make sure we work with our allies. this will have an impact potentially on global oil prices, including here at home where in los angeles gas is over $5 a gallon. so he wants to make sure we understands the impact on the global supply. but i think there is strong support to show a solidarity with ukraine, but also to make sure that american dollars are not supporting the russian war machine in any way. >> brennan: how quickly does that need to happen? this is putin's lifeline. it is a cash cow. >> i think we would like to act on it very quickly. at the same time, we have to be circumspect that russia will probably find somewhere else to sell that oil and gas, too.

so the impact on russia may not be as powerful as we would like. which is why we have to explore additional ways to really crush the russian economy. but i have to say i'm enormously impressed how the world has come together, and here in congress, a very partisan congress, democrats and republicans are uniting around this tough sanctions package, as well as providing more defense defensive support and there is solidarity with the brave people of ukraine. >> brennan: there is solidarity, but it seems that vladimir putin is willing to suffer the consequences of those sanctions, and the russian people are. the military is not stopping its advance, as least that we can see. what will happen if, as president zelenskyy is predicting, he loses his life in this russian attack? what will the united states do then? >> well, he has been, i

think, an incredibly courageous war-time leader. this was another miscalculation by putin, who believed that zelenskyy was weak, would not be able to lead a country to war. but in fact he has proven urageond h people in ukraine, but people around the world. i don't want to contemplate what will happen in his absence, but i think the ukrainian people will continue supporting him. we are providing intelligence to protect him, and giving ukrainians what they need to protect themselves. >> brennan: what we spoke to antony blinken about is a renewed version of this nuclear program with iran. should the biden administration present that to congress for review? do you want to take a look at it? >> i'm certainly going to

want to look at it and study it and assess the merits of it. it will come down to whether it is essentially re-entering the deal that the trump administration ppulled america out of, or it is substantially a new and different deal. if it is the latter, i think it will require a vote in the congress. if it is the former, then the administration may be able to do that on its own. ultimately, i think the decision to pull out was disasterous. iran has moved forward, both in terms of its enrichment, but also in terms of its expertise. and ultimately we're going to have to weigh the im of t o agreement. >> brennan: you aggressions they are attempting on american soil, including the attempt to kidnap a new york journalist. and the threats against mike pompeo and other trump officials.

should this deal with iran include a promise to stop carrying out those aggressions on u.s. soil? >> i would love a nuclear deal to include a cessation of its missile and drone program. but the question is not what i would like, but whether a deal that is confined to curbing iran's ability to get a bomb is a good deal. i think if we can take off the table any pathway for a bomb to iran, that in and of itself is worthwhile. the other malign activities of iran, the plots against u.s. personnel or americans around the world, we can deal with and have to deal with separately. and we should deal with them aggressively. but i wouldn't say that we should neglect to stop the nuclear program because of these other activities. we need to go after all of this, not necessarily in one agreement. >> brennan: before i go, i want to ask you about the january 6 committee. there was a development this week, a court filing

claiming there is now evidence that president trump broke the law in his do yhink tt ener is moving eit enforcement? >> what we made clear in our filing to the court is we believe there is a good faith basis to conclude that the former president and his campaign may have violated any number of federal laws, including obstructing an official proceeding, the joint session, and defrauding the american people. i do think that the justice department ought to be looking at these issues and ought to be investigating, in particular to give one very graphic example, the former president on the phone with the secretary of state in george, demanding he find the precise number he would need to overtake president biden. it should be no different for the former president.

i believe the department is diligently pursuing those who attacked the capitol that day, but there were multiple actions which violated the law, which also should be investigated. >> brennan: thank you very much. we'll be right back. and lower your ability to fight them. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms or if you had a vaccine or plan to. emerge tremfyant® with tremfya®... ask you doctor about tremfya® today. this is nfl star derrick henry, accidentally tagging "titan's pans," instead of his loyal fans. which has maya's business trending. good thing titan's pans uses fedex to help prepare for unexpected demand. because you never know what's next.

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to help prepare for u[ sneezing ]mand. are your sneezes putting your friends in awkward positions? stick with zyrtec. zyrtec starts working hard at hour one... ...and works twice as hard when you take it again the next day. zyrtec. muddle no more. >> brennan: we turn now to the refugee crisis, christina reports from poanld. >> reporter: as ukrainian men stay behind to defend the country, ukrainian women are fighting their own battles. navigating danger, rubble, and chaos. >> it was scary. we got scared. before that, we did not think we would leave. >> reporter: panicked crowds and freezing temperatures, hauling children, luggage, and even the family dog. thousands of refugees have fled into surrounding countries. more than slow

slovakia. >> i want to stop war and live in peace. >> reporter: this 29-year-old came to this border crossing with a mission: to pick up and deliver this car to the front. paid for with donations and filled with supplies. >> we have night vision. it is really hard to get now. >> reporter: since military-aged men can't leave ukraine, women are acting as couriers. >> the whole country is helping each other. >> the only thing we can do is to work and believe. >> reporter: believe that this will end, that they can win, and that their country and its people will be made whole. ow secretary of statehole. antony blinken was here yesterday, where he met with refugees and told them they are not alone. and in a show of support, president biden has asked congress for $4.2 billion in aid for ukraine.

margaret? >> brennan: christina, thank you. we want to go to the united nations high commissioner for refugees. he is at a refugee shelter at the ukrainian polish border. hi, commissioner. you have set this is the fastest moving refugee exodus since world war ii. what are the numbers now? what are you seeing? >> as of today, we have passed the terrible mark of 1.5 million refugees, and this is in 10 days. essentially from ukraine into five neighboring countries, the bumk here in poland, where i am now. if i think of past cases, i cannot think of a faster exodus of people, not since the end of the second world war, i would think. >> brennan: what are you seeing in terms of the state that people are showing up at these shelters in? what do they need? >> men of military age,

which is 18 to 60, cannot leave the country. they have to stay there to defend their country. so it is mostly women, children, elderly, many disabled people. they are, above all, frightened, traumatized. these are people until just a few days ago had a perfectly normal life. and in a matter of hours, everything is thrown apart, and they have to be on the road. very difficult journeys, very traumatizing journeys, through war-torn ukraine and to the border, where they are save, but, of course, are separated from family, uncertain about their future. i would say that trauma and anguish is the most defining feature at the moment. >> brennan: can civilians safely get out of the country? how many people would be refugees but are instead displaced and at risk right now? >> these statistics are

impossible to define precisely because we don't have access. we are -- u.n. agencies and red cross are inside the country, but they cannot move everywhere. this is why the u.n. and the red cross are trying to negotiate safe passage to the most affective places. but up to now we have not succeeded in getting the necessary guarantees and respect for the cease-fire. that's the only way that we can send convoys in, bring supplies, and, if necessary, bring people out. but people are moving, also, from other places that are even less impacted. sometimes they move before it happens because they know it might happen to their location. so this is an extremely messy situation. >> brennan: who is firing on those safe passages? >> there is bombardment by the russian forces. and this is what people

are mostly afraid of. yesterday i was in moldova and other neighboring countries, and people were coming from the city of odessa, where there is no bombing bombardment yet, but sirens have sounded over the day and people are so afraid that they just leave their homes, especially people with children. they want to bring them to safety. >> brennan: you know, high commissioner, you have been dealing with these refugee numbers all around the world, even before this happened in europe. what happens now that you have this massive influx? what does the u.n -- i mean what kind of resources do you need? >> let me state the obvious first: we need this to stop. we need this to stop. se whohe war stopping, people will just continue to pour out of the country.

1.5 million is difficult enough to manage, even for a relatively stable and prosperous country in europe. imagine if we go further up, and we will, no doubt, if it doesn't stop. for the people that are on the move, first of all, we need to get more supplies inside ukraine. and for that we need some areas of tranquility where we can deliver help. and here for the mass of refugees, a lot is needed. any kind of relief supplies. we need cash to help people. we n need logistical support. if this number of people grows, we will need more international support. and if at some point these people stay here for a long period of time, there will have to be other countries offering places to host refugees, even outside europe. >> brennan: tell me about that because there

was massive political backlash in 2015 when syrian refugees poured into europe. there are charges of racism, of discrimination. poland, just in the past year, has tried to build a wall to keep refugees out coming from the middle east, from africa. what is different now? and what is happening to those refugees? >> i think there is, of course, at the moment a colossal emergency. there are certain geopolitical factors at play. but i look at the future. land, you're right, we've been struggling to convincing europe to open the doors for more people, not to push back people. but i think this crisis, and i said it before, carries an important message: that anybody can become a refugee very suddenly, and any country can become a frontline

refugee-receiving country, needing the support of others. europe is learning fast to work together in so many ways in response to this crisis. i hope that this working together will apply to all people seeking refuge in europe, not only now, which is happening, but in the future as well. >> brennan: thank you very much, mr. high commissioner, for your time today. and good luck to you. we'll be back in a moment. 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're joined now by kurt volker, a former u.s. envoy to ukraine, and former u.s. ambassador to nato. and he joins us now. thank you for coming on the program. you've been arguing for a no-fly zone over ukraine. nato says it is off the table. the united states, no way, no how, no combat troops. because president biden says this would turn into world war iii. why is he wrong? >> well, i think there are ways to do this that mitigate those risks. it doesn't eliminate the risk, but it mitigates the risk of direct conflict with russia. first off, i think we have to recognize that the civilian casualties and the or risk scenes that we

just saw are going to get worse. there is going to be massive airstrikes against kyiv and other cities, and it is going to be absolutely devastating. so if we can prevent that from a humanitarian point of view, i think we need to try. and the way to do this that i would recommend is we make clear the humanitarian purposes, we limit the scope geographically to kyiv and western ukraine, so we're not getting close to russian borders. we make clear that we will only fire if fired upon on any ground targets. we are not there to strike anything. we make clear to the russian military we will not strike l their helicopters or aircraft as long as they is stay outside the no-fly zone. and i think we apply all of those things in order to try to create a safe space for the civilians. >> brennan: so other former ambassadors to nato have made the public argument that this is

unrealistic because you would have to take out russian systems not only in ukraine but long-range once inside russia. you go to war like this. >> you don't do that because it does bring us directly into the fight. russia does not want us in the fight. and i think we are letting putin get inside our heads and deter us from doing things to protect civilians, rather than taking into account he does not want the u.s. or other countries supporting ukraine. >> brennan: so if the goal, ultimately, diplomatically, is to stop the carnage and stop the war, how do you get vladimir putin to back down? who can actually do that? because the germans tried. the french has tried. no one has had any success. who can do this? >> the ukrainian people can do this. the ukrainian people are there and fighting. we're fortunate that we don't have to be in a position of fighting putin and trying to stop him. the ukrainian people are ready to do this, that's why it is critical we give

them every bit of support we can. >> brennan: when you say it will get worse, that's basically what vladimir putin told us, what do we need to do? the united states intelligence has a said a list of people going to camps is being drawn up. is this a scenario where we can sit down and negotiate -- >> not at all. putin wants to destroy ukraine, decapitate the leadership. he doesn't care about how many casualties this causes, what happens to the civilian population. this is a messianic mission he is on, and he has to be stopped. i'm very happy to hear secretary blinken saying we're green-lighting the aircraft from poland to ukraine. we should be providing some of our a-10 aircraft

we're ready to put into storage. there are trained ukrainian pilots who can use them. what the u.n. high commissioner just said is they need tranquil areas inside ukraine. in western ukraine, where there is no fighting now, we could help create those tranquil areas. so much more we could be doing. >> brennan: is there a political will for that? you served in the trump administration. former vice-president pence said there is no room in the republican party for apologists for putin. it is civ extr kind of extraordinary he that to say that. >> we have heard that. there is incredible bipartisan unity in the congress, the senate and the house, and among experts and national security figures here in the country. everyone sees what putin is doing. there is no support for this whatsoever. full support for ukraine. the only question is how

far we go to help ukraine. >> brennan: was the former president anthropologist for putin? >> i'm not going to pass a judgment on that. he said that putin was acting in a smart, savvy way. that is not the messaging you want to send. the messaging you want to send is he is acting in ar rirresponsible, inhumane way, and we should be on the side of the ukrainians to help them. >> brennan: thank you, ambassador, for joining us today. we'll be right back.

>> brennan: there was some good news this week: progress at home battling cfo. there are hints something mmight be returning to something resembling normal. >> reporter: when the only mask in sight is a mmardi gras costume, you

know something has changed. starting tomorrow in new york -- >> we are winning. so let's celebrate the win. >> reporter: one of america's first cities to impose a mask mandate in public spaces will lift it. starting on monday, new jersey ends mandatory masking in schools. california, oregon, and washington state will do the same next week. covid cases, hospitalizations, and deaths all down dramatically. under the c.d.c.'s new metric, more than 90% of americans live in counties with low or medium covid risk, and a big reason is vaccinations. three-fourths of adults now have theirs. another booster: with covid cases down, the labor market is up. nearly 700,000 jobs added last month. 90% of jobs lost during the pandemic have returned. but covid always comes

with a caveat. health officials warn the pandemic is hardly over, and children under five are especially vulnerable. but overall in unmasked america, we're breathing easier. >> brennan: our mark strassmann with some news on covid for a change. 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 blackburn, cbs,

new york. blackburn, cbs, this is the cbs "overnight news." good evening. thanks for watching. tonight, russian forces are intensifying air striking and the shelling of cities across ukraine. their targets reportedly include civilians. the u.s. secretary of state said russia's actions could constitute a war crime. this video, just west of kyiv, where people ran for their lives to escape attacks. mortar fire also claimed the lives of a mother and two children. today, ukraine's president urging resistance with russian

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