i'm robert costa in washington. and this week on "face the nation," israel assassinates the head of hezbollah.

potentially expanding the war in the middle east as the candidates start to feel the heat of yet another global crisis. >> israel's strike on the iranian-backed terrorist group has put more fuel on the fire in the middle east, as we approach one year since the hamas attack on israel. what is the impact of this new front? >> cease-fire. >> with five weeks until election day, national security and u.s. foreign policy are increasingly part of the conversation on the campaign trail. >> smart american diplomacy is what keeps the peace. we're not going to have it with kamala harris. >> we'll speak with trump ally senator tom cotton and former trump national security adviser lieutenant general h.r. mcmaster and hear from retired general stan mcchrystal about why he's supporting vice president harris. maryland republican senate

candidate larry hogan will join us as we preview tuesday's cbs news vice presidential debate. plus we'll get the latest on the flooding and devastation following hurricane helene the monster storm that swept through the south from fema administrator deanne criswell. it's all just ahead on "face the nation." ♪ good morning. i'm robert costa. margaret is preparing for tuesday's vice presidential debate. that could be the last time this season that national candidates face off in person and with just over a month until election day the spotlight is now on how the next administration will deal with challenges across the board. coming up we'll deal with the

aftermath of hurricane helene, but we begin with mounting fears in the middle east. our imtiaz tyab reports from lebanon. >> reporter: in this just released hezbollah video, the apparent burial shroud of hassan nasrallah endescribed in arabic with words he was martyred on the way to jerusalem. as grief grips supporters of the anas nated leader following the confirmation of his death. many wept as they stood amid the concrete and twisted metal led by massive burning busting bombs led to target the figure. nasrallah, who had been in hiding for years, was ultimately no match for israel's military might or its breathtaking intelligence capabilities after israeli forces found and assassinated him at a time of sky high tensions. on the streets of tehran, more sorrow, hezbollah has long been backed by iran and nasrallah's killing is also a major blow to

his key ally, the supreme leader alli khomeini. for benjamin netanyahu who approved the strike that killed him, a major victory. >> translator: citizens of israel these are great days he said. we are at what appears to be a historic turning point. >> reporter: that turning point hangs on how hezbollah will respond. following the assassinations of nasrallah and several of the group's top commanders, its leadership has been decapitated, fighting forces in disarray. >> when the enemy kills the leadership or captures it or decapitates it, the movement comes back stronger and more militant and, therefore, more of a threat, so i think the israeli people are not necessarily going to be safer or feel safer. >> reporter: in this still smoking wreckage of the beirut neighborhood where nasrallah was killed the scale of israel's actions here and the fear of what it could trigger saw

president biden and defense secretary lloyd austin both insist they were not warned of the attack in advance. the white house has feared a major escalation between israel and hezbollah could trigger a regional war that would not only draw in iran but potentially the u.s., as israel continues to devastate gaza for nearly a year now. with hezbollah still insisting it won't stop firing rockets at israel until there is a cease-fire there. and imtiaz joins us from beirut. has israel delivered a fatal blow to hezbollah with these strikes? >> reporter: you know, bob, i used to live here in beirut and have been reporting on lebanon and hezbollah for years now, and hassan nasrallah, while loved by many, and hated by some, almost all here strongly admired his fierce resistance to israel, but his assassination in that massive israeli strike is likely not a fatal blow to hezbollah. that's because nasrallah didn't rule as an auto crat and today

it appears hashim saf fa dean will emerge as his replacement, a first cousin of nasrallah and bears a striking resemblance to him. the 60-year-old led the group's executive council, and he is a staunch supporter of the palestinian cause and extremely close to iran, signaling he may rule quite similarly to nasrallah. now back in 2017, the u.s. also added suf fa dean to the terrorist list. bob. >> imtiaz tyab, thank you. we are joined now by senator tom cotton, an arkansas republican, sits on the said in armed services and intelligence committees. good morning, senator. we appreciate you being here. what's next, senator cotton? do you believe there will be an expanded war between israel and iran on the horizon? >> i'm not sure israel is expanding the war so much as it is trying to end the war. it's important to stress what a huge blow the last two weeks has

been against hezbollah. iran behind all these terror networks but hezbollah is its most poet nent weapon. hezbollah has 100,000 missiles rockets and mortars aimed at israel. iran has used that threat to deter israel going back 20 years, and now that israel has absolutely devastated the entire leadership structure of hezbollah, whether it's that the attacks that came late last week killing not only hassan nasrallah and all the other leaders, or some of their other actions or hitting their weapons depots and manufacturing sites in syria, now is not the time for a cease-fire or to deescalate as joe biden and kamala harris want. hezbollah is on its knees. the united states should help israel drive hezbollah to the mt and choke it out and finish it off once and for all. for the first time in decades iran would be exposed on its flanks with no terror proxy capable of devastating israel or our troops and friends in the

region. that's what we should do, not demand that we have a cease-fire or deescalate at a time when israel is trying to win. we should let israel win. >> senator cotton, when you say drive hezbollah to the mat, would that mean a ground invasion of lebanon by israel and would you support that kind of incursion? >> if ha that's what israel needs to do to eliminate the remnants of hezbollah's leadership and arsenal, then yes, of course. hezbollah had over 100,000 missiles and rockets and mortars. a lot of those have probably been destroyed. israel needs to destroy all of them. a lot of hezbollah's leadership has been destroyed as well. this guy that y'all just cited there maybe he's the leader, i don't know who is in charge of hezbollah, i'm not sure anyone else does either. it wasn't someone as important to have a beeper or walkie-talkie as of two weeks ago. all of its leadership needs to be eliminated just like the united states needs to be much more forceful in attacking

iran's terror army in yemen where joe biden and kamala harris have had our sailors resting like sitting ducks in the red sea for months. when we finish mopping up these terrorist proxies that means iran is once again totally exposed and no longer can threaten israel and the united states and our friends throughout the recently. that's why we need to back israel to the hit and let israel win rather than continue nike feckless demands for cease-fire and deescalation that kamala harris and joe biden have been doing for a year now. >> you sit on the senate intelligence committee is there an alarm sounding in your ranks about any potential threats to americans in the middle east or to u.s. targets at this point? >> from the minute joe biden and kamala harris got to the white house there's been threats to americans. iran, and its proxies attacked our troops. >> over the latest news. >> and we barely ever struck back. continued attacks on us. again you like we should support israel in striking back against these terrorists we should be striking back harder again but

that's not kamala harris and joe biden's policy. from the very beginning they've appeased and conciliated the ayatollah's kamala harris opposed the strike that killed the terrorist mastermind in 2020. over the last four years they've given away tens of billions in sanctions relief and looked the other way as iran violates sanctions. they've continually put more pressure on israel than they put on iran's terrorist proxy. that's why kamala harris is the ayatollah's handpicked candidate and the ayatollahs are hacking into donald trump's campaign trying to kill him. >> turning to ukraine, former president donald trump a big supporter of his, he met with president zelenskyy in recent days in new york. he talked about a potential deal to end the war. what kind of deal would that be? how would it exactly look? you're close to trump and this process. >> he hasn't been specific and i think that's for a reason. he doesn't know what the world is going to look like in three months when he takes office. he doesn't know how much more joe biden and kamala harris might screw things up.

here's what we do know. this never would have happened on donald trump's watch because it didn't happen on donald trump's watch. vladimir putin has invaded ukraine twice, both times with joe biden in the white house, first as barack obama's under study, second with kamala harris in the white house with him, that came just a few months after the disastrous collapse in afghanistan. those things are not unrelated. when you project weakness as kamala harris and joe biden have and suggest to your enemies they can push you around and walk all over you, you get the kind of conflicts we see in europe and that we see in israel and you get the chaos we see at our southern border. the administration -- bob, the administration acknowledged -- >> ukraine for a second. pause on this for a second, senator. senator vance who is going to be at the vice presidential debate on tuesday he talkd about on a recent podcast a demilitarized zone as part of a peace deal between ukraine and russia and said it could look like the line of demarcation between russia and ukraine that is heavily

fortified so the russians don't invade again. the details matter. would a demilitarized zone be a part of a peace deal you would be comfortable with? >> the details matter but donald trump has said he's not going to negotiate against himself or ukraine in advance. once he takes office, that's the time to start hammering out the details in private and to make sure that something like this can't happen again which didn't happen when he was president after the first invasion of ukraine. but again, i just want to say, the chaos that joe biden and kamala harris have unleashed across this world, isn't limited to the other side of the world. it happens right here. the administration just acknowledged that they released more than 13,000 convicted murderers who ill illegally entered this country, more than 15,000 convicted sex offenders 28,000 rapist and murderers who illegally entered our country who kamala harris and joe biden have let roam our streets. that's the chaos they have unleashed for the last four

years and that donald trump will put an end to. >> you're confronting the democrats here on this show and bringing up all of your different arguments. former president trump even though there are just a few weeks left in the campaign has so far said he does not want to participate in another debate with vice president harris. is that a mistake? do the american people deserve to hear more from the former president and the vice president. >> they deserve to hear a lot more from kamala harris because she's been lying to them for the last three months. >> why not debate again. >> she's been trying to runaway, she wants to ban gas powered cars and give reparations based on race. she wants to ban fracking. she wants to take away private health insurance on the job. these are not positions she took as a teenager in high school. these are positions she took as a 54-year-old woman running for president in her own right. that's the true kamala harris. a weak, dangerous, san francisco

liberal, kamala harris is the one who owes the american people a lot more answers. donald trump can simply point at his record and say for four years when i was president, we had peace, prosperity, a secure border and we were respected around the world. that's what the american people remember. that's what they're going to get when they elect him again to the white house. > should trump debate again? >> he's already debated twice and j.d. will debate tim and tell a great job with his story and pointing out what a radical record kamala harris and tim walz has. the american people know what donald trump will do in office. kamala harris is still trying to fool them. >> senator tom cotton republican of arkansas thanks for being on "face the nation." we appreciate it. we will be back in one minute. stay with us. money for retirement. (wife) and travel to visit our grandchildren. (fisher investments) i understand. that's why at fisher investments we start by getting to know each other. so i can learn about your family, lifestyle, goals and needs, allowing us to tailor your portfolio. (wife) what about commission-based products? (fisher investments) we don't sell those. we're a fiduciary, obligated to act in your best interest.

(husband) so how do your management fees work? (fisher investments) we have a transparent fee, structured so we do better when you do better. at fisher investments, we're clearly different. sometimes jonah wrestles with falling asleep... ...so he takes zzzquil. the world's #1 sleep aid brand. and wakes up feeling like himself. get the rest to be your best with non-habit forming zzzquil. ♪ ♪ we are back with retired army general stan mcchrystal he did endorse vice president kamala harris last week and is appearing today on "face the nation" as a hair rigs campaign surrogate. good morning, general. we appreciate your time.

general mcchrystal you heard from senator tom cotton on "face the nation." he said the united states when it comes to dealing with israel in its battle against hezbollah should not deescalate but take hezbollah to the mat. do you believe that's the right course for the united states in the days and weeks ahead? >> i spent a long time in counterterrorism, we killed a lot of people, and what i learned was unless you have an outcome, a political outcome, that is durable, that all of those kinds of activities don't last. so i would urge both sides, israel and hezbollah, to take a look at the far reach line. that's hard to do. once you've shed this much blood the emotion runs deep. you killed people's parents, children, brothers and sisters on both sides. i think where we are now is just spiraling the violence is unlikely to produce a good outcome, and yet i can sympathize with boat sides the

visceral desire to go after the other. >> what's your assessment of prime minister benjamin netanyahu, how he's handling this moment and his strategy? >> well, i think he's got a strategy to try to push iran into a corner, and he may be doing that, but the long-term outcome in palestine writ large is going to be from a statesman-like view. if he's taking a wartime view only, i think at some point he's either going to have to wide than aperture or take a longer view of it. >> ubl the israeli and prime minister netanyahu pushing iran into a corner does that mean war with iran between israel and iran is on the horizon potentially and what does that mean for the united states if true? >> i think anything is a potential on the horizon but i don't know. >> what are you watching to see if this -- this action with hezbollah assassinating nasrallah escalates into something far wider in the region? what are you watching? what are the key points? >> i think the key thing is the

more you press the fight, the harder you go for the jugular, the more you create scar tissue that's going to last for generations and that's a factor. >> you endorsed vice president kamala harris this week. you endorsed president biden in 2020. in your op-ed in "the new york times" you talk about character. what is it about her character versus former president trump that so convinced you to take this public stand and endorse her? >> i think character is what a person does when they're under pressure. it is a combination of their deep seated beliefs, the things, their core values and the discipline they have to execute those, to live up to them. so i think when we look at kamala harris we look at her history. she came up as a prosecutor, an attorney general, into the senate, she has lived a number of experiences that i think build in someone the kind of

character that's going to be necessary in the presidency. let's be sure. we don't elect a president based on policies. we shouldn't. we should elect them for the character because we don't know what's going to come up. we didn't know that one term congressman abraham lincoln was going to be able to lead the united states through the civil war. we never knew that clothing salesman harry truman was going to be able to make the decision to drop the atomic bomb or deal with the crisis in korea. those things come into a presidency in a way that tests the metal and the character of the person in that office. >> the presidency tests and can forge leadership over time. what convinces you now ahead of a possible presidency she's ready especially on national security and foreign policy areas you know well? >> yeah. what we know about anyone before a job like that. young president kennedy when he was elected was a young senator. he did pretty well. he struggled first through the bay of pigs and did pretty well

with the cuban missile crisis. donald trump had no background in it. what we've seen from kamala harris convinces me she has the strength, she has the values, to deal with the uncertain crises that are inevitable. >> what's your view of how she and president biden handled the withdraw from afghanistan? >> afghanistan is difficult. there was 20 years of american involvement in afghanistan and a lot of the bricks were put in place in the direction that that went. there had been a decision made with the doha courts in the previous administration that the biden administration had to make additions to deal with. i didn't like the outcome in afghanistan. i put a lot of my life there. the young americans who gave so much of themselves, i don't think did it in vain. i think they did it in a worthy effort that made afghanistan a better place. but things don't always turn out like we hope they will. >> you wrote in your op-ed it's mostly about character but connected in your piece character to policy. especially on america's role in

the world. do you believe that vice president harris is in a sense president biden's foreign policy in embrace of western institutions like nato traditional american alliances? is that one of the driving factors of your endorsement more than just her personal character? >> i think vice president harris's character will drive policies based on values but very common sense values. she's a practical person. i think that will come out. >> but the -- there's a real debate in this country about moeshg's role in the world. trump the former president costantly talks about america first has skepticism towards how nato functions in some respects. do you worry that if trump wins another term of the presidency that america's role in the world would change in a fundamental way? >> i think america's role in the world is critical. take, for example, the war in ukraine. you can make an argument that ukraine is not a strategic national interest for the united states. i cannot accept an argument that

europe is not. and yet, if ukraine falls to russian aggression, even a significant part of it, the baltic states and our nato alliance is going to be threatened and weakened and i think long term, that's much against our interests. >> is it credible as trump says that he could cut a deal to end the war in ukraine? >> i would doubt that. but if he has a deal -- >> he doesn't talk about details as we discussed with senator cotton, but he's claiming he could cut a deal. would vice president harris be able to end the war between russia and ukraine. >> i think it's going to be difficult to end this war. i think we need to support ukraine as strong as we can so that their sovereignty is protected as we come out. >> so many former military officials top leaders who have served men and women in uniform have come out against former president donald trump. there are those, of course, like retired general keith kellogg

who support former president trump. i think about general milley had concerns in the final days of trump's presidency how he was handling his work and you have concerns. you have endorsed vice president harris. it comes down to one core question here. general mcchrystal, do you believe former president donald trump is fit for office? >> i believe that vice president harris is fit to lead the country in the presidency. >> let's get to the question of trump. is he fit for office or not? a former top leader of the united states military supporting a presidential candidate. you have a former president now running for the presidency again. you seem to have core character questions. is he fit for office or not? >> bob, let's be honest. why would a retired military officer come on to endorse his opponent? >> you tell me. >> because i think character is very important. and so i'm voting for character. i'm voting for kamala harris. >> general stan mcchrystal, we appreciate you stopping by "face

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sometimes jonah wrestles with falling asleep... ...so he takes zzzquil. the world's #1 sleep aid brand. and wakes up feeling like himself. get the rest to be your best with non-habit forming zzzquil. ♪ ♪ we'll be right back with a lot more "face the nation," including the latest on the recovery from hurricane helene,

the death toll from that massive storm stands at 63 and the damages are staggering. we'll talk to the head of fema coming up. h.r. mcmaster and former maryland governor larry hogan he's now running for senate. stay with us.

welcome back to "face the nation." we turn now to the