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

of hurricane helene. she made landfall in florida early friday and swept through southeastern states. the damage has been enormous in terms of the death toll and loss of homes and businesses. fema administrator deanne criswell joins us for an update on the recovery efforts. thanks for being here. what can you share about the latest death toll from this devastating hurricane? >> hi, good morning, robert. right now i'm here in florida and i believe yesterday as i traveled with the governor to assess damages there, he accounted for 11 deaths here. i would refer to the states for the specific numbers, because they are the ones that are tracking this. what i can tell you is we are getting reports of multiple fatalities across the five states. >> which regions have been hardest hit? >> so this has been, robert, a true multistate event. we have seen -- i have seen, my team on the ground has seen significant impacts in florida,

georgia, south carolina, north carolina, and tennessee. i saw the impacts here in florida yesterday. i'm traveling to georgia today so i can see the impacts firsthand there. i'll be in north carolina on monday so i can assess the impacts there. but we're hearing significant infrastructure damage to water systems, communication, roads, critical transportation routes, as well as several homes that have been just destroyed by this, so this is going to be a really complicated recovery in each of these five states that have had these impacts. >> and where has the flooding be worst? where do you see real problem areas still at this moment? >> well, here in florida, they had up to 15 feet of storm surge in taylor county which is where i was at with the governor yesterday. these are record storm surges across the big bend area. i heard reports of up to nine feet of storm surge in the st. pete beach area. in north carolina, we're still

in active search and rescue mode. they're still having flooding issues and landslides and we're still actively working on search and rescue missions up in north carolina. we've had significant wind and flooding damage, again, in all five of these states. >> was north carolina in particular prepared for this level of flooding? have they ever dealt with anything of this magnitude? >> this is really, robert, historic flooding up in north carolina and especially this western part of north carolina. i don't know that anybody could be fully prepared for the amount of flooding and landslides that they are experiencing right now. we have had teams in there for several days. were sending more search and rescue teams in there. water is a big concern right now as well and so we have sent bottled water in, but we also have the army corps of engineers that's getting ready to start assessments today to see what we can do to help get those water systems back online quickly and

we're also moving in satellite communications, starlink satellites into the area to help facilitate the lack of communication that that part of the state is experiencing. sdpls what are you seeing in terms of health consequences from this hurricane, water quality, access to food, access to medicine? >> all of it is having really significant impacts. many health care systems have been impacted and so we also have health care assessment teams that are assessing the hospitals and the ability to support the people that are experiencing impacts from this storm. there are multiple boil water notices across all five states and so that's why we're bringing in teams to help assess those water systems to get them back online as quickly as we can but we're bringing in the commodities. >> how do you conceptualize this storm in the broader question of

climate change? >> i think what we're seeing, robert, this storm took a while to develop, but once it did, it developed and intensified very rapidly. that's because of the warm waters in the gulf. so it's more storms that are reaching this major category level than we've seen in the past. it's also creating greater amounts of storm surge in the coastal areas and greater amounts of rainfall as it moves up north. in the past when we looked at damage from hurricanes it was primarily wind damage with some water damage. now we're seeing so much more water damage and i think that is a result of the warm wters which is a result of climate change. >> and here in washington the question now turns to resources does fema have to deal with what he needs with this kind of hurricane? >> we absolutely have enough resources from across the federal family, fema is one part

of the team and we have the ability to bring in all of our team members from many other federal agencies to support this response. as we move into recovery we can pivot those resources to help support that recovery portion, recovery can be complicated. these five states will have complicated recoveries but we will continue to bring those resources in to help them, technical assistance as they're trying to identify the best ways to rebuild. >> administrator criswell we appreciate your time and best wishes to all of those helping those in need in this area of the country. a tough moment. we'll be right back. nothing comes close to this place in the morning. i'm so glad i can still come here. you see, i was diagnosed with obstructive hcm. and there were some days i was so short of breath.

i thought i'd have to settle for never stepping foot on this trail again. i became great at making excuses. but i have people who count on me so i talked to my cardiologist. i said there must be more we can do for my symptoms. he told me about a medication called camzyos. he said camzyos works by targeting what's causing my obstructive hcm. so he prescribed it and i'm really glad he did. camzyos is used to treat adults with symptomatic obstructive hcm. camzyos may improve your symptoms and your ability to be active. camzyos may cause serious side effects, including heart failure that can lead to death. a risk that's increased if you develop a serious infection or irregular heartbeat or when taking certain other medicines. so do not stop, start or change medicines or the dose without telling your healthcare provider. you must have echocardiograms before and during treatment. seek help if you experience new or worsening symptoms of heart failure. because of this risk, camzyos is only available through a restricted program. before taking camzyos, tell your doctor about all of your medical conditions, including current or planned pregnancy. today with camzyos, i don't lose my breath as often.

my symptoms have improved, helping me go from expecting less to experiencing more. my name is mike. and this is my camzyos moment. call your cardiologist today and see if a camzyos moment may be in your future too. we're joined by retired lieutenant general h.r. mcmaster who served as national security adviser in the trump administration but has not endorsed either candidate this time around. he's a cbs news contributor and author of a book "at war with ourselves." good morning, general. thanks for being here. >> great to be with you.

>> you heard from retired general mcchrystal who has made an endorsement. you have not. why not? >> i respect his ability to make that decision, and right to make that decision, but what concerns me these days is the military is getting drug in to partisan politics and you hear really both parties trying to involve the military. of course general mcchrystal is endorsing vice president harris as an individual but sometimes it's difficult to differentiate between an individual endorsement and the military getting drug into partisan politics. you hear narrative from some on the far right the military is woke or the far left the military is extremist. the military is not woke or extremist. the military is doing its duties under the constitution and for whoever is elected commander in chief. that's been a big part of my reticence. the other reason is, i don't think anybody needs me to tell them how to vote. in the book and other venues i lay out of it out the good, bad,

ugly of the trump administration, but i do so in context of the eight obama years that followed it and the -- that preceded and the four biden ars that followed it. i think voters should make their own decisions and what i try to do is help inform voters no matter which way they're leaning. >> let's turn to the middle east. what's your view? you heard from senator cotton and you heard from general mcchrystal, how do you see a possible war on the horizon, if any, between israel and iran or is there something that can be done especially by the united states to contain what is happening? >> robert, i would say there is a war between israel and iran and it's a war that iran has been waging for four-plus decades. nasrallah who was there at the beginning of hezbollah, who was there when they killed 241 marines in beirut and began a campaign against not only who nasrallah called the cancerous boil of israel but the great

satan of the united states. nasrallah, remember what his catch phrase was at the end of almost -- end of many speeches he gave which was "the jews are vulnerable because they love life. we can take the away from them. we will win because they love life and we love death." and so the israelis have had really no choice. remember, right after the heinous attacks of october 7th, that's when hezbollah launched rockets at israel in solidarity with hamas. that resulted in the evacuation of 10% of israel's territory, about 70,000 israelis are out of their homes, and so i think israel is taking the right approach to escalate against an enemy who has been able to escalate really on their own terms with impunity and i think increasingly the united states has to act like we know what the return address is in iran. now is the time to double down on the pressure on iran, to dry up the cash flow.

>> what does that mean, though? just in terms of financial action or do you expect there might need to be a u.s. military role down the line for the united states and the middle east? >> well, there already is. >> in terms of ground troops or air strikes? >> i think both. all of this should be kind of on the table and i think we should act like we know where those rockets are coming, from the 150,000 rockets that hezbollah has pointed at israel, the 40,000 or so members much iran's proxy army in syria, the palestinian with jihad and hamas in the west bank, what remains of hamas in gaza, those were all trained, equipped, supplied by iran to create this ring of fire around israel and to destroy israel and kill all the jews. the precursor to that is to act against us. robert, 175 attacks against u.s. forces and u.s. installations by iranian proxies since october

8th of last year. >> you say the united states and israel should be in lock-step or aligned as they move forward. the pentagon, the biden administration has said they were not informed about these attacks ahead of time. what does that say about the state of play between israel and the united states? >> i think what israel has determined is that it had to protect its security and secrecy around this operation. if you think about the blows that they delivered to hezbollah in the past week, ten days, it's unprecedented. just killing so many of them, with the beepers and walkie-talkies and when they couldn't talk they met at a location in beirut, struck that target. so nasrallah has been taken out but so has all the cadre around him. these are decades long of relationships and knowledge. now is the time to put on the financial sanctions. why did the biden administration not enforce the trump era sanctions against iran and allowed about $100 billion flow

to that dictatorship. now is the time to reverse that policy. >> israel has taken out military targets. lebanon is saying that many civilians have been killed. what should the u.s. do in terms of protecting civilian deaths moving forward? what needs to be done on the civilian front? j you need fire power to overwhelm this enemy. >> is that being done? >> it depends on the calculus at the time. the brng in which nasrallah was several stories underground underneath an apartment complex and so it's hezbollah -- remember he said we love death. remember what hamas leadership said. just before the october 7th attacks. the purpose, one of the purposes of that attack, was to get some of their own people killed so they could use that against israel. so it's really important, i think, at this stage to continue to impress on the israelis apply fire power with discrimination, but also, to recognize that

these terrorist organizations are the principle causes for the violence and des sti tution and the suffering of the people in gaza and the people in lebanon. look at the great promise of lebanon. it's a beautiful country. look at what hezbollah has done to that country. with their alliance with the syrians in the 2000s. we had the revolution in 2006 after hariri's assassination. the lebanese people are destitute in large measure because of hezbollah. >> finally, former president donald trump who you know well met with president zelenskyy in recent days. he keeps talking about being able to broker something between zelenskyy and putin. do you buy it? >> i don't buy it in terms of 24 hours. i think it's a real myth, misunderstanding of war. to assume that you can get a favorable political outcome without a fi vorble military outcome. that's never really happened in war.

i think the right course of action is if you want to accelerate toward progress toward a settlement is to convince putin that he's losing the war. i think that's the only way you get a favorable settlement. how do you do that? you demonstrate our resolve to continue to support the ukrainians as they defend themselves against this continued onslaught by the russians. that's how you get to maybe favorable conditions for negotiation. >> general mcmaster we appreciate you coming on "face the nation." thank you very much. >> thank you. >> we'll be back in a moment.

we turn now to the former republican governor of maryland larry hogan. governor hogan, thank you for being here. >> thank you for having me. >> one of the key senate races in the country. you are not running alongside former president donald trump in your race, but he's front and center. how are you able to distance yurself if at all in such a contested heated political environment? >> i think i've been one of the my party for quite some time and continuing to do that. we're actually running 20 or 30 points ahead of donald trump in our state, and, youknow, i think i have a completely separate identity after, you know, being governor for two

terms in the bluest state or one of the bluest states in america, you know, we have a separate, you know, identity. i stand up to him probably more than just about anyone and i'll continue to. >> he's endorsed you, but it's not like you've welcomed that endorsement. when you go in that voting booth, i know it's private, who you going to vote for? >> i've said neither one of the two candidates earned my vote and the voters in the country will be able to make that decision. >> there's no chance you vote for trump? >> i'm not going to. i didn't vote for him in 2016 or 2020. i'm not running just for the republican party or -- it's not just about red versus blue, what my opponent wants it to be about. i'm concerned about the red, white, and blue and willing to put country over party, and i'm hoping that the voters will be with willing to do the same thing. >> i asked retired general mcchrystal this, about former president donald trump, who in recent days on the campaign trail has attacked vice president harris and he's said

she has mental issues. he has said thing after thing, questioning her intelligence, her ability. do you believe former president donald trump is fit for office or not? >> i think all of that is outrageous and unacceptable and i've' already called him out when he had the one interview he was questioning her racial identity and now he's questioning her mental competence and i think that's insulting not only to the vice president, but to people that actually do have mental disabilities and, you know, i've said for years that trump's divisive rhetoric is something that we could do without. i think he's his own worst enemy and i think, you know, i'm very concerned about the toxic and divisive politics that seems to continue really back and forth. it's what people are so fed up with. it's why they want to change washington and it's why i'm running. >> when you were governo you have often said you did not try to go against abortion rights in any significant way. the u.s. senate is a totally

different place than being governor as you know. >> yes. >> if you're elected to the united states senate would you support eliminating the filibuster to secure abortion rights? >> i'm going to on day one support the compromised bill to secure roe and protect abortion rights across the country so no one ever comes between a woman and her doctor. i'm not -- i don't agree with both my opponent and donald trump about trying to do with away with the filibuster so we can jam things on a partisan basis on one vote, have the pendulum and create more divisiveness. we need to find buy-in and bipartisan cooperation, just as i did in a state that has a 70% democratic legislature. we did things like cut taxes and lower the cost of health care and to, you know, pass a criminal justice reform act. we got to find a way to get people in washington to stop just name calling, stop trying to jam things through on the left or the right, and the filibuster allows -- it requires

bipartisan cooperation and consensus and that's exactly what i think we desperately need in washington. >> what do you say to that blue, that democratic voter in maryland, who says i liked you as two terms as governor, i'm a democrat but voted for you, but need you to go further on abortion rights saying i'm not going to touch the filibuster. >> i'm not sure there are many of those. i'm very supportive of women's right to make those decisions not to come between a woman and her doctor, sponsor a bill on protecting roe, sponsor a bill on ivf, ran for governr promising i would not change -- that i would not do anything to limit access to abortion. i kept that promise for eight years and promising again i'm going to fight for that when in the united states senate. >> if you are in the united states senate what kind of republican party would you be part of? you have cast yourself in our conversations as a traditional republican. you've praised former president ronald reagan. it's trump's party. >> well, you know, that's one of the reasons i'm running.

i think we need to get the country back on track. i'm standing up. i'll stand up to the current president, the former president, or the next president when i think they're wrong. i'll work with them when i think they're right. i'll stand up to the democratic party and the republican party. it's what i've done my entire career. i've been a leading voice in america to try to do something about this, you know, very divided country where all we do is fight with one another and nothing ever gets done. i'm a guy that likes to get things done. i'll work across the aisle in a bipartisan way as i did for the past eight years and i think that's what we really need in washington. i think it's what most people want. >> is it possible? looking at your own record you thought about flirted with a possible no labels or independent run for president over the past year or so and former congresswoman liz cheney from wyoming a republican who has broken with trump recently suggested as i'm sure you heard it might be time for a new party. do you believe that's right? is it maybe time for the traditional republicans, the

nontrump republicans to say, enough, time for something new? >> well i'm not willing to give up. i really believe a healthy and competitive two-party system is important for our country. i'm very concerned that i believe my -- both parties are way off frack what they're kind of base core values used to be. i think the democratic party is moving too far to the left, the republican party has become more of a trump party, but i'm not willing to give up and it's why i'm running and stepped up. i got in this race when the bipartisan deal fell apart to secure the border, supply support and funding for israel, ukraine, and taiwan, and people voted against it because they didn't want to give a bipartisan win. my whole emphasis has been about how we find consensus, find common ground for the common good, and that's what i based my whole career on. and so i'm hoping that the voters will actually want that kind of leadership in

washington. if they decide another partisan rubber stamp politician they just want to vote based on red or blue i'm not going to be in the senate. if they want to change washington, i think i'm exactly the kind of person that can make a difference. >> if former president donald trump calls you up on the phone in the next few weeks and says larry, i would like to go to an orioles game with you and have a campaign rally would you appear with trump in maryland. >> i don't think he's going to spend much time in maryland. he's down by about 30 points and not really campaigning in maryland. he should go watch a game some time yeah sure. >> you have no interest in appearing with him at all? >> no. >> and you've served with, finally here, all looking forward to seeing margaret do the vice presidential debate with norah on tuesday night on cbs. you know governor tim walz. you were governors together. >> yeah. >> is he a strong debater and are looking forward -- >> i've never seen him debate. everybody is going to be interested to tune in.

i'm hopeful in this debate we can have a real healthy debate on the issues that people care about. people are concerned about the economy and inflation and affordability. they're concerned about crime and the border. hopefully those candidates will talk about it instead of typical politics. >> governor larry hogan, thank you for being here. running for senate in maryland. we'll be right back. thank you. ♪ maybe i'm foolish, maybe i'm blind ♪ ♪ thinkin' i can see through this and see what's behind ♪ ♪ 'cause i'm only human after all ♪ ♪ i'm only human after all ♪ ♪ oh, some people got the real problem ♪

♪ some people out of luck ♪

that's it for today, but before we go, we want to say happy birthday to former president jimmy carter who will turn 100 on tuesday and also on tuesday, cbs will host the vice presidential debate moderated by margaret and norah o'donnell. make sure to tune in to cbs for the pregame, the debate, and the after debate analysis. for "face the nation," i'm robert costa. thanks for joining us.

♪