please join us when our trumpet sounds again, next "sunday morning." i'm major garrett in washington. this week on "face the nation," democracy stress test. americans are worried about voting, violence, and disinformation. joe biden delivered his message for the 2022 campaign last week, putting former president trump and the so-called maga extremists he leaves squarely on the midterm stage. >> as the republican party today is dominated and intimidated by donald trump and the maga republicans. and that is a threat to this country. >> in his first rally since the fbi searched mar-a-lago as part of an investigation into the harndzling of classified documents, the former president responded. >> republicans and the maga movement are not the ones trying

to undermine our democracy. we are the ones trying to save our democracy. >> the committee investigating the january 6th assault on the capitol prepares its next move. we'll ask maryland congressman jamie raskin, a key democrat on the panel, what to expect. voter turnout set records in 2018 and 2020. will new voting laws break the streak or sustain it? we'll hear from michigan secretary of state jocelyn benson. we'll talk with former massachusetts governor and the former head of the justice department civil rights division, deval patrick. plus, we'll ask two experts who study online extremism what can be done to combat the problem and whether fears of unrest around the midterms are warranted. it is all just ahead on "face the nation." ♪ ♪

good morning, everyone. welcome to "face the nation." margaret is taking some time off. labor day typically marks the kickoff of the homestretch of an election year, as americans look ahead to the midterms, there is broad and deep anxiety and the health of our democracy. a new cbs news poll shows 72% of americans think u.s. democracy is under threat. why? the top answers include tin fluns of money in politics, potential for political violence and aterveltaattempts to overtu elections. we begin with cbs news senior national correspondent mark strassman with a look at how we got here. >> we're going to take a sledge hammer to these -- >> reporter: take arizona's kari lake or pennsylvania's doug mastriano, republican nominees for governor and election deniers.

evangelists of the big lie. cbs news election expert david becker. >> it's important for voters to understand our process is as secure and transparent and professional as it's ever been. >> reporter: yet since the 2020 election, at least 39 states changed or updated voting laws, often spurred by invented claims of widespread election fraud. texas imposed new i.d. requirements for mail-in ballots. georgia restricted drop boxes. florida established and elections crime unit. yet come election day, november 8th -- >> for most voters, they'll find the experience is very similar to 2020. >> reporter: the bigger worry, what comes next? more january 6th outrage? claims of election rigging, crowds baying for blood. >> nancy, oh, nancy. >> reporter: potentially encouraged by candidates who may refuse to lose.

our research shows in these six battle ground states, in this november's elections for offices that helped certify elections, 53 of 88 republican candidates are election deniers. that's 60%. in arizona's four major republican primaries, it worries other republicans there. >> this cannot be accepted, because our democracy cannot withstand it. so we have to continue to push back. >> reporter: like many election deniers, doug mastriano says as governor, he would have refused to certify joe biden won pennsylvania. he was in the crowd on january 6th. with or without new election laws, every state's chief election officer has to certify results. usually that's the secretary of state. and this november, a number of conservative candidates running for that office are also election deniers. major? >> mark strassman in atlanta,

thank you. we're joined now by maryland congressman jamie raskin, a democratic member of the january 6th select committee. good morning. >> thanks for having me, major. >> former president trump says that maga republicans are trying to save democracy and want to be taken seriously on this issue. let's review what he said this week earlier. he said the 2020 election should be rerun or he should be reinstated in office, and that if re-elected in 2024, he would provide apologies and full pardons to those charged and/or convicted for storming the capitol january 6th. evaluate that. >> first, if he's saying that the elections should be rerun, which is something he's been asserting from the beginning, that's outside of the constitution. there's no procedure for the military to just seize the election machinery and run a new election, which is one of the things that his disgraced former national security adviser michael flynn was pushing and was part of the january 6th plot. and, look, more than 60 courts

rejected every claim of electoral fraud and corruption, which donald trump advanced. he's had the benefit of more than 60 courts, including eight courts where he appointed the judges to office. look at all those claims. they were all rejected. it was rejected in the states, and he lost the election. two of the hallmarks of a fascist political party are, one, they don't accept the results of elections that don't go their way. and two, they embrace political violence. that's why joe biden was right to sound the alarm this week about these continuing attacks on our constitutional order from the outside by donald trump and his movement. >> let's talk about the january 6th committee. there is conversation about having newt gingrich, former speaker of the house come in. he's described this committee as a stalinist show trial. he said under a republican-led congress, members of this committee might be arrested. how do you respond to those

remarks? and what would be the value of him coming in and talking to the committee? >> well, we're inviting in only people who have relevant evidence and testimony. >> what is his relevant evidence and testimony? >> well, he has appeared numerous times in, umm, throughout the investigation about the attempt to pro-pound the big lie and to keep things going long after the election had been settled. itere invokes stalinism, when all of the stalinists are on donald trump's side, like vladamir putin, the former head of the kgb, who said the collapse of the soviet union was the greatest ka tas row fi. >> does the committee still have interest in obtaining testimony from the wife of supreme court

justice clarence thomas? >> we're interested in getting testimony from anyone who has relevant evidence about the attempt to overthrow the 2020 election. >> there were disclosures she was in email discussions with people in wisconsin about that topic. >> speaking as only one member, i would say she has a relevant testimony to render. and she should come forward and give it. i don't want to overstate her role. we talked to more than a thousand people. but we would like to hear from gingrich and from her, too. >> what is the probability former vice president pence testifies? >> vice president pence was the target of donald trump's rath and fury and effort to overthrow e whole idea was to get pence to step outside his constitutional role and to declare unilateral lawless powers to reject elecleelectora

college votes from the state. so i would hope he would come forward and testify. >> voluntarily or subpoena? >> we're trying to get everyone to come forward voluntarily. >> so a subpoena is not out of question? >> i would assume he would come forth voluntarily. >> one of the man dates of this committee is to create legislation. is there a bill on the house side, will there be, and do you expect this to be updated and resolved legislatively before the midterms or in the lame duck session? >> we want to take a much broader view, i think. the narrowest thing you can say is well, the vice president doesn't have the power to unilaterally rebuff electoral college votes. >> clarify that. >> if that's all we do, in a certain sense, it's validating donald trump's argument that

there was ambiguity in the first place. no vice president had ever rejected electoral votes and mike pence and his team said it was ridiculous. so we need to take a look at the entire democratic process from the counties and towns through the states up to the federal government. so we have to defend the right to vote and democracy itself. >> does that mean the senate bill would be unacceptable in the house? >> it's a good first start, it's a good first offer. but we need to look far more systematically at what donald trump was trying to do. we have seen when he called secretary of state brad r rathlessberger and said just find me 7,000 votes. this was a far more sweeping plot. >> we have less than a minute. one of your colleagues, adam kinzinger, said the next step is

to look at the money being made off the big lie. true? >> that was an important dimension. this was a donald trump operation. so it was always an effort to -- >> will that be part of the public presentation? >> it will undoubtedly be part of our report. whether it comes up again in the hearings, i can't say yet, because we're still working that all out. >> there is much anticipation in the nation's capitol, and a report pro-pounded by the committee. when can the country expect to see that? >> by the end of the year, because we're like cinderella at midnight. our silence runs out at the end of the year. under house resolution 503, that's a significant part of our responsibility, to report to the american people how to prevent attacks on our democratic process going forward. >> maryland congressman jamie raskin, thanks so much. "face the nation" will be back in one moment. please stay with us.

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welcome back. we turn now to michigan's secretary of state jocelyn benson. welcome to "face the nation" and good morning. i know you talked to lots of secretaries of state of both parties and election officials nationwide. what are they most worried about as the midterms approach? >> violence and disrupgs on election day. and secondly, there's a concern about the spread of misinformation, which fuels the potential for additional threats, harassment, and even violence on >> a natural question that viewers might have is there a plan to deal with violence? should i be afraid when i go to the polls? >> there is, and they should -- all voters should know election officials are working night and day, to ensure we're collaborating with law enforcement and every other potential partner to protect the sanctity of the polling place and the integrity of our

democracy. we've been doing this work for over two years. and we've been succeeding at every turn. democracy prevailed in 2020. in michigan and other states, there have been no significant attempts apart from the tragedy in our capitol on january 6th, to really see disruption of the polling places on election day itself. so we are in many ways more prepared this year than ever before, than even in 2020, to ensure that we are eliminating, mitigating, or certainly protecting a system against any potential disruptions, and thinking to folkthink i -- speaking to folks who are trying to interfere with our elections.>>et i put things into two different pock curiosity,

voters who don't believe the election was stolen but have questions, are you welcome to that engagement? >> yes. i think we need to look at things based on truth and evidence. if there are questions based on evidence of any issues around our elections, then yes, we welcome that. the more transparency we have on the process, the more sunlight, the more people can understand how much work has gone into protecting the security and accessibility of elections for every voter. what's really happened over the last few years is this growth of factless misinformation or allegations based not on evidence, but on aspersions and really geared towards furthering partisan agendas and delegitimizing democracy itself. but if questions are rooted in evidence, we move forward where everyone can have confidence

that their voice is heard. >> this next question might be an opportunity for that kind of clarity. so a piece ofonebay investigation.ld a an what do you want to say about that? >> well, in michigan, as many other states, it's illegal for anyone to have unauthorized access to election equipment. so we have for the past several years been engaging and working with law enforcement to ensure the security of the equipment. we immediately decommissioned any equipment that has been found to be potentially compromised, and we ensure that prior to every election there are accuracy tests for every piece of election equipment, so the citizen can feel confident when they vote on paper ballots that the machines are securely counting every valid vote. in this case, we had a situation, we're still working with law enforcement to investigate what happened, where a marking device, a device used

to assist voters who need assistance in marking their ballot, perhaps may have been inadvertently dropped off at good will or discarded as something it wasn't clear what it was. but it's important to note that this is happening in this era of misinformation where people are quick to seize on the potential for machines to be somehow unsecure, and our en tt any mach atted to begallys sion and we only have secure machines on election day and we test those. >> madame secretary, keeping with the theme of transparency, there is a lawsuit filed in michigan alleging that the names of deceased voters remained on those rolls than they should have been. what can you say about that, and do you need to do better in michigan than you have on this particular front? >> we have maintained and

prioritized ensuring the accuracy of our voting list since i took office, including a mail-in to every voter in the state so we can assess whether or not they were still in michigan. we also partnered with national collaborations with other states to ensure when voters move to another state we get that this was with regards to voters who become deceased. we receive information every week from other sources and we move that mission on a weekly regular basis, ensure that we're tracking and increasing and improving the accuracy of our list. now, that said, we also welcome the -- the suggestions or the input of others, and we have asked individuals who do present us with lists to let us know how they compiled this evidence so we can verify whether or not it's actually true. the bottom line is, we want to ensure our lists are accurate, but that we're not removing voters who are legitimately able to be registered and vote in

michigan. and that's a very technical process. one that requires constant vigilance. we have also set up a website on our michigan.gov/vote where citizens can learn what we do to ensure the accuracy of our vote in michigan. >> secretary of state of michigan jocelyn benson, good to see you. happy labor day. >> thanks for having me. we'll be right back with a lot more "face the nation." we invite you to please stay with us. and talk about some risks. with type 2 diabetes you have up to 4 times greater risk of stroke, heart attack, or death. even at your a1c goal, you're still at risk ...which if ignored could bring you here... ...may put you in one of those... ...or even worse. too much? that's the point. get real about your risks and do something about it. talk to your health care provider about ways to lower your risk of stroke, heart attack, or death. learn more at getrealaboutdiabetes.com your shipping manager left to “find themself.”

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catch the audience up on what we learned. >> a federal judge in florida decided to unseal more information about what was collected during that fbi search at mar-a-lago in early august. what we learned this week were new details, including the fact that there were empty folders marked as classified inside the president's mar-a-lago estate. this is a serious investigation. it also has mounting unanswered questions about why the president had so many -- former president had so many documents marked as classified, empty folders. if they were empty, where was the information contained in them? >> and if the representations made to the justice department were truthful. >> the justice department has been suggesting that they're looking into possible obstruction by trump and his legal team. >> scott, fair to say, fairly or not, this has set off a firestorm within the trump sympathetic community in our country, has that gotten the

attention of prosecutors, judges and others picking up similar suggestions of violence or threats of violence of the find that preceded january 6th? >> exactly. there is a symmetry to what's been said publicly and on social media platforms and chat groups after the search of mar-a-lago, and what they saw and what they heard january 4th, january 5th, 2021, talk of civil war, talk of delegitimizing federal institutions. and one of the most unequivocal warnings have been coming from d.c. federal judges, warning of the prospect of another january 6th in 2025, of more political violence. these are the judges who know the january 6th cases. they know what these defendants have been saying before the attack, and the symmetry of what's being said now is striking and important. >> bob, what is your reporting about january 2025 and concerns republicans have looking that far ahead?

>> when i'm on capitol hill, there is the point of alarm among top sources, what happens in january 2025, after the next presidential election? it's up to congress to decide how this is all certified. if there are disputes in the states, let's stay a state court says another and the legislature says another, how will congress hand that will? the electoral count act, guiding this process for a long time, has been confusing to many lawmakers. so as congressman raskin was saying, there are ongoing discussions in the senator, senator manchin and collins trying to come up with their own proposal. but the threshold now for an objection is just one senator, one house member. the senate proposed package is about 20% of a chambers needed for an objection. some of my sources, democrat and republican, are saying is 20% too low? for the sustainability of democracy in america, does it

need to be more stringent and more clear in terms of having congress understand what to consider as a legitimate outcom. >> scott, related to the conversation. is the atmosphere on capitol hill still as tense as it was after january 6th? are members and staff still on edge about the prospect of violence? >> yes. and note the increased security that members of congress have had to get because of the talk in recent weeks and months. the defendants in court from january 6th, when it's time to go ask for leniency, go to sentencing, plead for the mercy of the court, are still so muted of their criticism of donald trump and still denying the integrity of the 2020 election. the judges and some of the people involved will say that's why they're so concerned about more violence. even defendants on their day of reckoning, are still critical.

>> how much volatility does it add if the president says he will grant full pardons if re-elected in 2024? >> it infuses this with more chaos and potentially more denialism of elections. >> bob, any thoughts on that? >> january 6th remains a wound that will not heal in this country. it's influencing ongoing investigate shuns and congress in the next election in terms of how people are running in pennsylvania, people who are linked to january 6th in various ways. >> robert, scott, thank you very much. we'll be right back. with billions of passengers taking millions of trips every year? you aren't about to let any cyberattacks slow you down. so you partner with ibm to build a security architecture to keep your data, network, and applications protected. now you can tackle threats so they don't bring you to a grinding halt. and everyone's going places, including you. let's create cybersecurity that keeps your business on track.

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want a permanent solution to homelessness? you won't get it with prop 27. it was written and funded by out-of-state corporations to permanently maximize profits, not homeless funding. 90% of the profits go to out-of-state corporations permanently. only pennies on the dollar for the homeless permanently. and with loopholes, the homeless get even less

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