>> i'm jane pauley. please join us he trumpet sounds again, next sunday morning. washington and this week on "face the nation" president-elect trump selects a, quote, warrior to lead the fbi. and rattles top trading partners

with threats of tariffs. the drum beat continues from mar-a-lago as president-elect trump announces plans to nominate loyalists who have more than once lashed out at the agencies they hope to lead. we will hear from two enators who will be evaluating these cabinet picks, texas republican ted cruz and california democrat alex padilla. plus, as americans kick off the busiest shopping season of the year, it's crunch time for retailers and a window into the economy at large. questions loom over the future of american consumers as the incoming president threatens across the board import tariffs. we will look at the impact with cbs news business analyst jill schlesinger. then with just weeks to go until he leaves office, president biden is notching a few hard-fought victories overseas, securing the releelsz of americans wrongfully held in china and a ceasefire deal between israel and hezbollah. could a deal between israel and

hamas be next? we will talk unfinished business with white house national security adviser jake sullivan. finally, a conversation with author and historian h.w. brands his latest book "america first" examines the debate over isolationism in america ahead of world war ii. it's all just ahead on "face the nation." ♪ ♪ good morning, everyone. welcome to "face the nation." as we put the final touches on this long holiday weekend and the leftovers that go with it, the economy and border loom large as the nation and world anticipate a second trump administration. meanwhile, president biden tries to secure last-minute diplomatic breakthroughs, congress tackles unfinished business and retailers slash prices to launch the holiday shopping season. in this final month of 2024.

but we begin this morning with the latest on the trump transition with senior white house correspondent weijia jiang. >> reporter: kash patel's pending nomination for fbi director embodies president-elect trump's desire to disrupt federal law enforcement agencies. >> i would shut down the fbi hoover building, on day one, and reopen it the next day as a museum of the deep state. >> reporter: patel rose to prominence during trump's first term when he helped lead the charge against the doj's investigation of russia meddling in the 2016 election. >> and kash patel is here, one of our real warriors. >> reporter: the current fbi director, christopher wray, who was appointed by trump in 2017, has three years left on a ten-year term. he would have to resign or be fired to create an opening. the fbi says director wray's focus remains on the men and women of the fbi. the people we do the work with and the people we do the work

for. trump also announced he has selected son-in-law jared kushner's father, charles kushner, to serve as the next u.s. ambassador to france. kushner was pardoned by trump in 2020 after serving time in prison as part of a two-year sentence on federal criminal charges. as trump fills his administration, he's also meeting with world leaders. canadian prime minister justin trudeau had dinner with trump at mar-a-lago on friday, then posted, i look forward to the work we can do together again. but trump's threat to impose a 25% tariff on canada and mexico remains, unless he, he says, the countries take action to stop migrants and drugs from entering the u.s. border. both north american allies say they are preparing retaliatory tariffs on u.s. exports. now trump has issued a new threat against a group of nine countries, including brazil, russia and china.

he says if they try to shy away from the u.s. dollar on international trade, he would impose a 100% tariff on their goods. major? >> weijia jiang in palm beach, florida, thank you. we turn to texas republican senator ted cruz who joins us this morning from houston. senator, good to see you. good morning to you. let's pick up this thread on tariffs. i remember covering your presidential campaign in 2016 and you were a skeptic of tariffs then. i note the politics around tariffs have changed. president-elect trump has done that. but have the economics changed? >> well, i will tell you what hasn't changed is the importance of leverage and i've got to say you look at the threat of tariffs against mexico and canada, immediately has produced action. we've seen the presidnt of mexico stand up and promise that she is going to work hand in hand with the president of the united states, president trump, to secure the border. i will tell you representing texas, we've seen four years of an invasion at our southern

border. and let me ask you, major, why wasn't joe biden done this. why wasn't joe biden used leverage to secure the border? the reason is joe biden and the democrats wanted this invasion to happen and i've got to say this is a promise that i believe president trump is going to deliver on and deliver quickly. we are going to secure the border. this is about using leverage to get mexico and canada to cooperate. and i will tell you, major, i think one of theerirst bills we're going to take up in the senate, vote on and i hope pass is my legislation, the justice for jocelyn act, that is a response to the horrific rape and murder of jocelyn, a 12-year-old girl in houston, texas, killed by violent criminal illegal aliens released by joe biden and the democrats. this is a promise the president needs to deliver on, i think he's going to. >> so when you think about tariffs and president-elect trump, you don't take them seriously as an economic matter, you take them seriously only as a diplomatic lever? >> well, look, i think the

president was explicit with mexico and canada. he said he will impose these tariffs, unless they secure the border. it was explicitly leverage. by the way, that is the same way that president trump negotiated the remain in mexico agreement. if you remember during his first term president trump threatened tariffs against mexico and then the president of mexico, he was incredibly scared and concerned, he was scared of trump, and he ended up signing the remain in mexico agreement which produced the lowest rate of illegal immigration in 45 years. it was incredibly successful. what did joe biden and the democrats do when they came in? the very first week in office they ripped up that incredibly successful international agreement. i expect we will once again enter into remain in mexico and we are going to see -- i'm going to make a prediction right now -- we will see the numbers plummet of illegal immigration coming into this country not in a year, not in six months, but in january and february because we will have a president who will vigorously enforce the law.

>> on that point, senator cruz, you would concede in the last three or four months numbers have gone down already, have they not? >> they have ticked down slightly. we have still seen over these four years the highest rate of illegal immigration in our nation's history. 12 million illegal immigrants have come into this country and i have to say in a state like texas, you want to see the consequences? this last election was an incredible landslide for president trump. he won all seven of the swing states and in texas president trump won hispanic voters in texas, i won hispanic voters in texas. i won statewide by a million votes, nine points, and south texas, the rio grande valley has literally spent over 100 years as a bright blue democrat bas bastion. this cycle south texas flipped republican and it is amazing what having 12 million people invade your home can do to change people's voting behavior.

i think the president has a mandate to deliver on securing he border and i look forward to working hand in hand with him to deliver on that promise. >> kash patel suggested by president trump as the new leader of the fbi. how enthusiastic are you about that? >> listen, i think kash patel is a very strong nominee. i think the entire slate of cabinet nominees, president trump has put forward, is very strong. i believe every one of these cabinet nominees is going to be confirmed by the senate. i think kash patel is going to be confirmed by the senate. you look at his background, he has a serious professional background. he was a prosecutor, he was a public defender, he was a senior intelligence staffer on capitol hill, he was a senior intelligence staffer in the white house. he was the chief of staff of the department of defense. he was the deputy director of national intelligence. and i've got to say all of the weeping and gnashing of teeth, all the people pulling their hair out are exactly the people

who are dismayed about having a real reformer come into the fbi and clean out the corrupted partisans who sadly have burrowed into senior career positions at the fbi. the fbi and the department of justice have two institutions incredibly important to the rule of law in the united states, i revere both, and one of the most tragic consequences of four years of joe biden and kamala harris is both doj and the fbi have been politicized and weaponized and i think kash patel is a very strong nominee to take on the partisan corruption in the fbi. >> as you know, senator, there isn't a vacancy at the top at the fbi. what should become of christopher wray, appointed by president trump? >> well, i think he will make a choice. i think either he will resign or president trump will fire him, but it's no secret to anybody, including chris wray, that he is not going to continue to serve as the head of the fbi under donald trump. listen, if you look at james

comey and chris wray, there has never been a period in our nation's history where the fbi has suffered a greater loss of respect, where more americans doubt the fundamental integrity of the fbi, and it's because james comey and wrist wray presided over allowing the fbi to become a partisan cajole to be used to target parents at school board meetings, to be used to target people who chose not to take the covid vaccine, to be used to target president trump and to target the political opponents of joe biden and the white house. it is tragic, that is not what the fbi is for, that is not what the doj is for. i've got to say pam bondi and kash patel, i think together, are a very strong slate of nominees to go and restore integrity to both institutions. >> how do you place that up against the prosecutions of bob menendez, a congressman, a democrat from texas and hunter biden? are those political prosecutions as well or not? >> well, first of all, let's be

clear, bob menendez was literally caught with gold bars and a stack of cash and his fingerprints taking bribes. at that point the evidence was overwhelming. look, major, i wrote an entire book entitled "justice corrupted: how the left has weaponized the legal system." it broke down -- it started, sadly, and you barack obama where he began using the federal government to target his political opponents. it details how many of those partisans burrowed into senior career positions during the trump administration. they waged war against president trump during his first term and now under joe biden they have been open and brazen and i think it has done unbelievable damage to the integrity of the department of justice and the fbi. i think mirror rick garland will go down in history as the most partisan attorney general our nation has ever seen and i've got to say i hear regularly from prosecutors, from fbi agents who

are deeply dismayed about the institution they devoted a lifetime working for. listen, i don't want a republican department of justice, i don't want a democrat department of justice. i want a department of justice and an fbi that enforces the law regardless of party. sadly, we haven't seen that these last four years. >> what can you tell us about the three americans released by china who were in san antonio? have you been in touch with them and do you have any concerns about the contours of that swap? >> well, at this stage we don't know all of the details of the contours of the swap but i will tell you i am celebrating the return of three americans, especially mark swidan. he is a texan from houston, his mom katherine is from texas. i've talked with katherine many times. i authored and pass address pollution in the senate that passed unanimously calling for mark swidan's return to america. he spent 12 years unjustly imprisoned in communist china. i will tell you i have raised it directly with the foreign

minister of china, i've raised it with president biden, i've raised it with secretary of state tony blinken and i will give them credit on this. tony blinken two years ago was the most recent time i spoke with him about mark swidan and the administration suppressed the chinese government and mark swidan is back home with his mother who has prayed for him and loved him. mark, welcome home. katherine, congratulations. i told you this day would come. this is a day when all texans and americans should be celebrating. >> i also know you care about the case of austin theis. do you have any thought that the rebel gains will unlock austin's freedom? >> i don't know. i certainly hope and pray. austin needs to come home and i hope and pray -- listen, there is a combination of two things working, one is joe biden is in the process of transitioning out, any outgoing president is looking to try to get some final wins. i would encourage him and i'm

sure he is doing everything he can to bring austin theis home and to bring the hostages in gaza home, both the israelis and the americans, bring them home in this window. i also think president trump coming into office on january 20th, the enemies of america i think are afraid of president trump. that is a moment i hope we have a moment right now that is very much like the end of the jimmy carter administration, right before ronald reagan came in. we saw on january 20th our hostages in iran released, i think in significant part because the ayatollah was afraid of reagan. i think a similar dynamic is playing out. if we can see more hostages come home, that would be cause for enormous celebration. >> republican senator ted cruz of texas. thank you. good morning. we will be back. with "face the nation" in just one moment. please stay with us. empowers post-9/11 veterans and their families with life-changing programs and services. i realized i could be successful in a civilian career. we stand by warriors and advocate

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senator, good to see you. let's start with kash patel. your reaction to that nomination or that suggested nomination from president-elect trump? >> good morning. great to be with you. look, this announcement that kash patel is going to be nominated for a high-ranking position at the fbi, very key to the department of justice, raises a lot of the same questions that other announcements and other nominations raise. are they going to go in there and do the job of -- that the department of justice calls for, to truly be independent of the president of the united states, or is he going in there to do trump's bidding? that's the big question here. is it a genuine legitimate appointment or a political appointment to politicize the bureau and the department in trump's -- in trump's favor? that's just the beginning of the questions that we expect to raise in the confirmation hearings that will begin in january. >> do you expect that the

current fbi director who has three years remaining will just have to resign? >> that's going to be a personal decision for director wray who the public should remember was a trump appointee to begin with. so he's got three years left, it's up to him to resign or not. your prior guest suggested that trump may very well fire him, which is just par for the course. anybody who recalls the first trump administration, recalls a whole lot of cabinet officials being named, being confirmed, and being sold as the greatest thing since sliced bread and as soon as they lose favor with trump, as soon as they don't do 100% of what he is demanding, all of a sudden they're fired, a lot of times by social media posts, and so who knows what donald trump is going to decide to do, whether it's with director wray, kash patel or any of his other nominees this coming term. >> during the first trump

administration california fashioned itself the resistance state. some democrats in the legislature have already begun to describe that as a cliché and say they don't know what that means anymore. what does it mean? >> look, i think there's a lot of reason for concern of the second trump administration. if the first administration is any indicator. i think as the governor as other legislative leaders and even the congressional delegation have said, if the federal government will continue to support california in its leadership in so many policy areas, there's a lot of good work to be done there, but donald trump has made it no secret that he has it in for california, whether it's the withholding of disaster funds, i mean, a lot of fema dollars that donald trump tried to keep from not the state government of california but from california families simply because it's a state that did not vote for him in the presidential election. we're trying to inoculate ourselves from those types of threats. there's also a lot of good that

can be finalized before the end of the biden administration, whether it's environmental protection agency waivers that will allow california to continue to grow our economy, while tackling climate change aggressively. waivers that health and human services that would give california a little bit of flexibility with our medicare dollars to be able to also treat behavioral health issues, mental health issues of californians because when we know that treating the whole body is good for both physical and mental health. we're trying to make sure those waivers are locked in before the end of the biden administration. >> and where do you stand with the biden administration on that, senator? are they going to be responsive? >> they've been very encouraging that the technical work can and should be done before the end of the term, but we will know when there's signatures on the documents that we need. but, again, these are just examples of we want to lock into place before president trump comes into office and then can use it as a threat, as a

punishment or as senator cruz mentioned in the prior segment simply leverage to get other things he may want out of california. >> you know president-elect trump has promised mass deportations. you also know in california there is a state law that tells local law enforcement not to participate and cooperate with i.c.e. agents in deportation or identification processes. the incoming trump administration border czar, tom homan, has said any law enforcement who don't cooperate will be prosecuted under federal law. how is this going to be resolved? >> yeah, well, i think there is an important distinction here. no state government, not texas, not california, not any state in the nation has a constitutional authority to impose federal immigration law. that is the responsibility of the federal government. some states like texas want to push the envelope and try to find a way to assist, but there's no obligation to do so.

and that's what california leaders and municipal leaders throughout the state are saying. you know, we're not going to utilize state and local resources to do the federal government's job for them. number one. i think there's a long history of this being smart public safety policy as well. california is the most populous state in the nation, the most diverse state in the nation, home to more immigrants than any state in the nation and the last thing you want to do is have immigrants who are victims of crime afraid to come forward to report that crime. the last thing you want a immigrants who may be witnesses to crime to be afraid to come forward and share any information that they have in the investigation and prosecution of crimes. that's what we're talking about here. let the federal government do the federal government's job, but have state and local officials do the state and local officials' job. there doesn't have to be a conflict unless that's what trump wants. >> the governor has called a

special session that will convene this week to set aside money to battle the trump administration. will some of that money also be set aside to protect migrants and undocumented immigrants in california as they seek either legal advice or continue legal financial backing to support their efforts to stay within california and the united states? >> again, if the first trump administration is any indicator, we know that there will continue to be a lot of fear in communities and communities that deserve to know what their rights are and what their rights are not. so if it's legal assistance, legal advice, legal support, that's just the california way. we embrace our diversity, our diversity is what has made our communities thrive and our economy thrive. so we will assist families against the threats of the trump administration. if we want to sort of cut to the chase, we're hearing a lot of bombast from trump and his

allies about the biggest deportation operation in our country's history on the one hand, versus a -- maybe a focus on violent criminals on the other. nobody disagrees with a focus on violent criminals, democrats, republicans agree, but that's very different than millions and millions of people being deported indiscriminately, not just tearing families apart, tearing communities apart, but tremendous damage to our economy that that would create. >> senator alex padilla, democrat from california, we thank you for your time this morning. and we will be back right away. a lot more "face the nation." i invite you to please stay with us. .

be sure to tune into cbs news on january 20th for full coverage of donald trump's inauguration here in washington, d.c. you can watch live on cbs, on paramount plus or on our cbs news app.

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