♪♪ >> brennan: welcome back to "face the nation." we turn now to senate republican leader mitch mcconnell, who joins us from louisville, kentucky, this morning. good morning. >> good morning. >> brennan: president biden heads to europe this week to meet with nato allies. you helped give about $13 billion in urgent support, along with the rest of congress. what do you expect the president to deliver this week? >> well, we've given them plenty of money. i think he needs to step up his game. he has generally done the right thing but never soon enough. let's take a look at what has happened here. the ukrainians have killed more russians in three

weeks than we lost in afghanistan and iraq in 20 years. i think we ought to go into this believing the ukrainians can actually win. and the way they win is for us to get these defensive weapon systems to them as rapidly as possible. for example, i am perplexed as to why we couldn't get the polish russian migs into the country. the ukrainians have plenty of pilots and know how to fly them. in the eastern block countries, they have soviet ground-to-air systems that the ukrainians know how to work. we have the resources, that we've given to the president to get those weapons in there as rapidly as possible. and then we provided loan guarantees to the countries that ship the weapons into ukraine to purchase new weapons, and probably better weapons, from us. so what i would like to

see the president do is to reassure our eastern block allies it's fine to go to brussels, it is fine to go to berlin. i would like to see them go to romania or poland or the baltics, and they need to know we're in this fight with them to win. >> brennan: tere aren't a lot of policy differences here. you agree with the president that there should not be a no-fly zone. there is a matter of a few dozen mig fighter jets here, but i don't hear a lot of policy differences from republicans. in your view, does the $13 billion that you all just authorized ensure the funding of a ukrainian insurgency if the government were to fall? how long does this money last for? >> well, if they need more, we ought to give them more. look, this is a way to have a no-fly zone, in effect, to have these ground-to-air weapons

systems, give them a fighting chance to control the air, to shoot down planes and others that are seeking to control the air, without the u.s. having a no-fly zone that has our own pilots in there. so i think the weapons systems are available. look, i think we need to change our attitude here. the ukrainians can actually win this thing. and that's the attitude we ought to have, that we're in it to help them win. >> brennan: you are very clear in your language there, but others in your party have not been. congresswoman liz cheney said there is a putin wing of the republican party, and i think she is referring to the one that called him a thug, and they say the ukrainians cannot possibly win. is there any room in the republican party for this rhetoric, and why isn't there more discipline? >> well, there are some lonely voices that are in a different place.

but looking at the senate republicans, i can tell you, had i been the majority leader, put this ukraine supplement up by myself. i think virtually every one of my members would have voted for it. the vast majority of the republican party at large, both in the congress and across the country, are totally behind the ukrainians and urging the president to do -- to take these steps quicker. >> brennan: yeah. >> to be bolder. so there may be a few lonely voices off to the side. i wouldn't pay much attention two them. >> brennan: i want to ask you about what is about to get under way this week. you said that president biden's nominee, ketanji brown jackson, is clearly qualified and highly likely to be confirmed. you personally voted against her before. are you inclined to vote for her this time? >> you know, we had a very good conversation in my office. and i asked her, you know,

typically the supreme court nominees of both parties have never answered any of the questions. what they typically say is that something that might come before me and i don't want to pre-judge how i might actually vote. but i asked her to defend the court. ruth bader ginsburg and justice brier both publicly opposed court-packing, that is trying to increase the number of court members in order to get an outcome you like. that would have been an easy thing for her to do, to defend the integrity of the court. she won't do that. so in the meantime, the committee will ask her all of the tough questions. i haven't made a final decision as to how i'm going to vote. >> brennan: you haven't made a final decision, but you're open to be persuaded? i mean this is an historic nominee -- >> i'm going to listen to the evidence -- i'm going to listen to the hearings. by the way, she'll be treated much better than

democrats have typically treated republican nominees, like clarence thomas and brett kavanaugh. it will be a respectful, deep dive into her record, which i think is entirely appropriate for a lifetime appointment. >> brennan: uh-huh. so you are open to voting for her, then. okay. we'll see. >> i'm willing to listen to the testimony. that's why we have hearings. >> brennan: okay. i want to ask you as well about covid aid. dr. fauci in other network said congress needs to build up our supplies of antivirals and tests and give booster shots. republicans haven't been on board with more covid aid. dr. fauci says we need it. are you afraid of an empty arsenal? >> last year congress passed a $2 trillion package allegedly for

covid, and it passed on an entirely partisan basis. much of that money is yet to be spent. we're willing to listen to the case that we need to spend more money on covid, but they ought to reprogram some of this massive amount that was spent last year that is not out the door yet. so let's take a look at how to pay for it and then we'll be happy to decide whether or not to support it. >> brennan: minority leader mcconnell, thank you very much for your time today. we'll be right back. so anyone who says lactaid isn't real milk is also saying mabel here isn't a real cow. and she really hates that.

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the horrific reports about targeting the schools, the art school with 400 people hiding in the basement, about, you know, retirement homes in crimea and elsewhere, where 50 people died. what is happening in mariupol is a war crime. the city is without food, without anything, for 13 days, and instead of simply opening up humanitarian corridors, as we agreed, and letting people out and letting supplies in, russia is just trying to take the city down. and people in the city continue to fight. so all of our hearts go to them and we're trying to do everything on the diplomatic front, and elsewhere, to help the people of mariupol. >> brennan: does the government have any idea exactly where these people are being moved? the reference to camps was compared to world war ii when nazis forcibly moved people into other countries.

>> we saw it -- again, i don't want to say any information that we don't have the exact proof. we hear all of the reports, but we saw it also in the smaller cities that were taken and occupied by russians, where they would let people outside of the prison. they would try to eiteither, quote, "imprison the mayors and people" and we see the protests in all of the cities. today people are coming out with protests against russians, not only the armed forces and the police, but ordinary people. everyone wants them to go home. >> brennan: this week your president made an emotional speech to congress. congress authorized $13 billion in emergency support to ukraine. but one of the things your president said was a personal appeal to president biden to be leader of the nation, of this great nation, but also to be leader of the

world. president biden goes to nato this week. how do you want him to lead the world? what is the u.s. not doing still? >> we have seen exceptional leadership from the u.s. during the past three weeks. deterring putin before the war, and helping us a lot during the first weeks of this war. now we all have to understand that even though we all are united in this effort in helping ukraine, putin is not changing his behavior. it is quite different. he has actually turned to terror and doing what the war criminals are doing, not what the armed forces are doing. it is a clear message to all of the civilized world that we have to step up. ukrainians will not give up. we'll continue defending our homes. we don't have any other choice. i think it is time that every passing day is a

chance to stop this war, and every passing day we have to be discussing, all of us together, the civilized world, united states, and nato countries, and also countries like china, what i more we can do to stop it? >> brennan: ukraine's constitution references joining nato, but your president has said, even just a few days ago, that ukrainians have indicated ukraine won't be a member of nato. is he signaling for more of a diplomatic opening there? i just keep hearing that diplomacy is going nowhere. >> let me be very diplomatic. when a murderous maniac attacks somebody on the streets of the city, do we ask the victim, what is it you're ready to give up, a leg, an arm, to survive? what is it you're willing to give up to be alive? no, we call the police and

we punish the criminal and help the victim. i think this is where we are right now. we are fighting, heroically, our armed forces and the people, to defend. we would like to negotiate. negotiate does not mean to surrender. we are not ready to give up either on our dreams or our integrity. but we are ready to negotiate, even with a brutal enemy, in order to stop it. we're asking all of our friends and allies■ to (a) fight successfully, and also to put on the pressure so russia will negotiate. >> brennan: the president said that a simple withdrawal of troops -- something else needs to happen here. what is the ukrainian vision? >> i will let secretary blinken say what he says.

but for us, it is a brutal attack where most people -- many of our cities are destroyed and still are being destroyed. we lost 60 universities completely, and they're erased. we need this to stop. they need to stop and get out from ukraine, but we also need to be talking about reparations, about the security guarantees and everything else. we need to know that this attack, which i want to remind you is not the first attack. russia attacked us in 2014. russia attacked us in 1918. the goal russia has is to destroy ukraine. >> brennan: ambassador, thank you for your time. as always, 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 turn now to another issue of increasing concern, that of the rising number of covid cases, particularly in china and europe. our liz palmer reports from london. >> reporter: hong kong is building vast isolation hospitals to house covid patients. it has shut down businesses, beaches, and public transport, but even so currently as the

highest covid mortality rates on earth, due largely to unvaccinated old people. right next door, mainland china is fighting to stave off disaster. it kept covid largely at bay for more than two years, with lockdowns, electronic monitoring and mandatory testing. but now omicron has taken hold. china has just reported its first death in more than a year, along with almost 2,000 new cases. 37 million chinese are currently under lockdown. and about 50% of people over 80, 17 million of them, have not been fully vaccinated. erope, too, has seen a surge in infection. the week britain dropped all covid restrictions, u.k. hospital wards began to fill up. >> we started to see an increase in our patients

who need to be admitted and treated for coronavirus. >> reporter: the good news is: the deand r t surge does seem to have peaked. and finally, heroism in kharkiv, ukraine, where in spite of the war, doctors kept on treating their covid patients and set up a bomb shelter in the basement just in case. it is now just over two years since the w.h.o. declared covid a pandemic, and this week they reminded us that in their estimation, we're only about half way through. margaret? >> brennan: liz palmer in london, thank you. we're joined now by former f.d.a. commissioner dr. scott gottlieb. he is also a pfizer board member and he joins us from westport, connecticut. i even tripped up on your name. my goodness, i haven't seen you in a few weeks. now i just need to get your perspective of what this new variant means. should we be concerned abot a wave?

>> doctor: well, look, i don't think we're going to see a big wave of infection, but we'll see some uptake f where we are ra right now. right now we have nine cases per 100,000 cases. there are about 20,000 people currently hospitalized. i think we're going to continue to see low levels of infection through this summer. but before we get there, i think we'll see some tick-up in infection. there are indications that the u u.k. is peaking. it is probably 30% to 40% more transmissible than the omicron variant that became here. people are going out more, and some declining immunity from people who were boosted a long time ago. we're relying on that immunity and that isn't as pronounced. so we'll see an increase in infection. i think this is a test of whether or not we'll be able to live some semblance of normalcy and not go to the mitigations

we relied in the past, while still protecting the vulnerable. so far right now, i don't know we're taking all of the steps we need to be take to protect vulnerable people, so whether this bump and potentially another is surge heading into the fall. >> brennan: you said if you were boosted a long time ago, the c.e.o. of pfizer says immunity starts to wane if you wer ted monthago a lof righ. how lobe >> doc tate that ththatthat is coming out is that vaccine is affective if you're talking about severe disease and hospitalization. but in terms of protection from systematic infection from diseases that starts to wane because the antibodies after a period

of time start to decline and aren't as prominent in your blood. this is really a six-month vaccine in providing meaningful protection against meaningful infection. i think for those who are vulnerable, you should think about getting a shot every six months while we're in a high prevalent environment. and the shots are authorized for that use. the people who are immunocompromised, there is authorization for a fourth booster. >> brennan: pfizer has applied for a booster for people 65 and older, and moderna more widely. do generally healthy adults need to get this, too, or just the immunocompromised? >> doctor: i think it also depends and what the environment is. if we're in a low prevalent environment, like we're likely to be in this summer, i think most people who had three doses will be protected. the flu vaccine only provides about three

months of protection because it usually only lasts three months. i think the risk will be pretty low this summer. i think after we have this bump infection, we'll have low levels. heading into the fall, i think a lot of americans will want do get another vaccine. i think it is heading towards this vaccine becoming an annual vaccine, until we really understand the epidemiology of this disease, and understand if this coronavirus starts to recede into the background, like the four strains of coronavirus that we have become accustomed for. >> brennan: you talked about this risk of becoming a by bifurcated society, those who can go out and those who can't. i have children under the age of five, so i would put myself in that category. and now there is a cost because all of the health restrictions are out. you are choosing to isolate yourself if you're

taking health restrictions. the average person, what should they do? should they still be wearing masks? >> doctor: look, i think if you're someone who is very vulnerable to this infection, in a high prevalent-environment, or if you're going into a setting that is high risk, a confined space indoors, there are things you can do to protect yourself. one way is masking yourself. if you're wearing a high-quality mask, you're going to get a good degree o protection from that. and there is a lot of therapeutics available now, better tools than we had earlier in this pandemic. understanding how you can get access to those is important. >> brennan: dr. gottlieb, thank you for your time today. we'll be right back.

>> brennan: images from the war in ukraine continue to dominate hearts and minds around the world. one that has gotten increasingly familiar is that of a defiant and besieged president of

ukraine, volodymyr zelenskyy, encouraging ukrainians, lobbying for help, and pleading with putin to stop. last week zelensky took his mes tage to canada, to the u.s. congress, and plans to address the people of israel today. saturday he spoke to switzerland, a country that stayed neutral in world war ii, basofiroondemn the russian invasion and po ukraine. translated in english, he said: "it is impossible to stay away from the fact that in the 21st century, in the heart of europe, hundreds of rockets and bombs are flying at peaceful cities. it is impossible to stay away when the army of the world's largest state, be it only in size, directs all of its deadly potential to destroy us, to destroy hospitals, ordinary schools, churches, universities, maternity hospitals, residential areas. it is impossible to be

indifferent when children are killed." the role of a journalist is to find facts and report the truth, and above all stay fair and neutral. but much like switzerland, we find ourselves agreeing with volodymyr zelenskyy, that some facts are so horrific that equivalency is both false and morally wrong. above all else, it is most important to be truthful. for "face the nation," i'm margaret brennan in♪ captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org or connect to

tv. or connect to i'm ae elise preston, cbs news,w york. this is the cbs "overnight news." good evening. thanks so much for joining us. today, defense secretary lloyd austin told cbs' "face the nation" that russia's invasion of ukraine had essentially stalled. he described vladamir putin as moving his forces into a "woodchipper" of ukrainian resistance. but the invasion is a disaster for ukraine. this is the city of mariupol, or what's left of it. today, ukraine's president enpe israel's parliament. he accused russia of wanting to impose a nazi-style final solution on ukraine.