i'm jane pauley. please join us when our trumpet sounds again next sunday mo morning. ♪ i'm margaret brennan in washington, and this week on "face the nation," president trump's national security team takes his maga movement to europe. we'll talk to secretary of state marco rubio in his first sunday show interview since taking off.

trump officials took the president's shock and awe tour overseas last week. in munich, the vice president blasted some of america's closest allies about their style of democracy. >> the threat that i worry the most about vis-a-vie europe is not russia, it's not china, it's not any other external actor. what i worry about is the threat from within. also on the agenda, pushing those same alelies to make euroe again to step up efforts to protect ukraine and the administration will begin direct talks with russia to end the war. secretary of state marco rubio joins us from israel as the negotiations with hamas to end that conflict enter a crucial stage. back home, more pink slips for federal employees go out, and the scrutiny of lelon musk' role as the hatchet man goes up.

and meanwhile, inflation is up. it's all just ahead on "face the nation." ♪ ♪ good morning and welcome to "face the nation." we want to begin today with secretary of state marco rubio, who is in jerusalem on the second leg of his trip through europe and the middle east. mr. secretary, i know it a es the evening hours there, and you have had a long day. we appreciate your time. you've got quite a busy schedule. you met earlier with prime minister netanyahu. he said he's lock step with the trump administration, but he can't share details on "when the gates of hell will be open if all of our hostages are not released." did he tell you he wants to keep talks going to get to phase two

of this hostage deal? >> well, i think we share a common goal. we want to see every hostage released. frankly, and the president has said this, we want to see them out as soon as we can. and certainly, you know, the world has watched these images of people, and it's just heartbreaking to remember some of them have been there for almost two years. so coordinated very close work with them. we share the goal that every hostage needs to come home without delay. obviously, there are details tht we're not going to share publicly, because we don't want to endanger this process or the hostages. but if it was up to us, every one of these hostages would be home right now and we want it to happen as soon as possible. >> okay. so the deal stands? >> again, we want every hostage out as soon as possible. and we want to see them home. there are some that are -- there's a deal that some are supposed to be release coming up

next weekend. we expect that to happen, but we would hike to see them all come out. we're not in favor of waiting weeks and weeks. that may be the process in place, but we would like to see them all out as soon as possible, and we continue to coordinate. that's what we would like to see in the outcome. who wouldn't want them all home? >> understood. i want to ask you about iran, as well. president trump says he wants a diplomatic deal with iran. are you reaching out to them along side that, does the u.s. support a preemptive strike on iran by israel to take out their nuclear program? >> israel will always have to act in their national interest. i don't want to speak about their strategies on this or any other topic. we don't have any outreach from iran and haven't seen any. we have seen in the past that iran has undertaken have only been about how to extend the time frame but continue to

enrich and in addition to sponsor terrorism, in addition to building long-range weapons and to sew instability throughout the region. but there's been zero interest to date from iran about any negotiated deal. i would love to wake up and hear that iran decided not to sponsor terrorism and reengage in the world as a normal government. we have had no indication of any of that. not just now but for 30 years. >> so you head from israel to saudi arabia next. we have learned that saudi arabia is trying to facilitate this diplomacy with russia about ukraine. which russian officials do you expect to meeting with, and what will the focus of your talks there be? do you actually believe vladamir putin is ready to negotiate and make concessions? >> here's what i know. i know president trump spoke to vladamir putin last week, and in

it, vladamir putin expressed his interest in peace, and the president expressed his desire to see an end to this conflict in a way that was enduring, and that protected ukrainian sovereignty, and that was an enduring peace. that's a good call. it has to be followed up by action. so the next few weeks and days will determine whether it's serious or not, ultimately. one phone call does not make peace or solve a war as complex as this one. but donald trump is the only leader in the world that can potentially begin that process. other leaders have tried. they have not been able to do so. when he ran in his campaign and elected as president, one of his promises was that he would work to bring an end to this conflict in a way that's sustainable and fair. obviously, you know, this is the first step in that process, but we have a long ways to go. again, one call doesn't make it, one meeting wouldn't make it. there's a lot of work to be done. but even the longest journey begins with a first step. so we'll see what happens from

here. hopefully good things. >> who will you be meeting with? >> nothing's been finalized yet. i was scheduled to be in saudi arabia anyway. we announced that trip a week and a half ago. ultimately, at any point in time there's an opportunity to continue the work that president trump started last week, to begin to create an opening for broader conversation that it would involve ukraine and our allies all over the world, particularly in europe, we're going to explore it if that opportunity presents itself. i don't have any details other than to say we stand ready to follow the president's lead on this and begin to explore ways as those opportunities present itself to begin a process towards peace. a process towards peace is not a one-meeting thing. this war has been going on for a while. it's difficult, bloody, costly. so it will not be easy to end this conflict. there are other parties that

have opinions in this. the ukrainians have fight thing war, they're on the frontlines. so one meeting isn't going to solve it. but i reiterate, the president made clear he wants to end this war and opportunities present themselves, we're going to take them. we'll see what happens over the next few days. >> but to be clear, keith kellogg, the envoy appointed to help with these talks, says these are going to be parallel negotiations, meaning the ukrainians and russians aren't talking to each other yet. when you meet with your russian counterpart, are you going to be sit thinting there arguing ukra position? >> first of all, we have to understand right now there is no process. what we have right now is a call between putin and president trump which both sides expressed an interest in end thing conflict. i imagine there will be followup conversations to talk about a process about what that looks like. so it's a bit premature.

i know there's been a lot of reaction it to, because there's been no serious conversation about it. president trump is clear, he thinks this war needs to end. if he sees an opportuity to end it, whether there is an opportunity or not, we're going to pursue it. ultimately, it will reach a point if it's real negotiations, and we're not there, but if that were to happen, ukraine would have to be involved. the europeans will have to be involved, because they have sanctions on putin and russia, as well. and it contributed to this effort. we're just not there yet. but hopefully we will be, because we would like to see this war end. is >> no doubt. the last administration had contact through the intelligence agencies with russia, but they didn't believe there was any proof that vladamir putin was interested in talks. you know the history with vladamir putin. he likes to use diplomacy as a cover to distract while he continues to wage war.

do you trust that this time is different? >> yeah, i don't think in geopolitics anyone should trust anyone. these things have to be verified through action. peace is not a noun, it's a verb, it's an action. what i can tell you is, i know of no better negotiator in american politics than president trump. i think president trump will no very quickly whether this is a real thing or whether this is an effort to buy time. but i don't want to prejudge that or foreclose the opportunity to end a conflict that's cost the lives of hundreds of thousands and continues every day to be increasingly a war of attrition on both sides. i think everyone should be celebrating the fact that we have an american president seeking to promote peace in the world, not start wars but end them in a way that's enduring. that's something we should be happy about. we're certainly willing, but it's not entirely up to us. but we'll find out. >> you did speak in a phone call with russia's top diplomat, sergey lavrov.

the russian side claimed that you discussed restoring trade, which seemed to be a nod to easing restrictions on diplomats and other gestures like a high-level leaders meeting. are you actually considering -- is the trump administration considering lifting sanctions on russia? >> well, the phone call was to establish communications that are consistent with the call the president made last week with vladamir putin, because if there is going to be the possibility of progress here towards peace, we are going to need to talk to the russians. that is going to have to happen, and we have to do it across our channels. we didn't go into any details. what we discussed is basically the ability to begin communicating. i've never spoken to mr. lavrov in my life, so it was an opportunity to open that channel of communication. which, again, if there's the potential of peace, that's a channel that has to exist. i also raised the issue of our

embassy in moscow, which operates under very difficult conditions. i raised that, because it's important. it's going to be very difficult to engage in communication with russia about anything if our embassy is not functioning. and he raised concerns about his diplomatic mission in the united states. so on a basic level, there is going to be an opportunity here to pursue peace by engaging with the russians. we're going to need to have functional embassies in moscow and washington, d.c., and that's certainly something that will be talked about. >> i want to ask you about what happened in munich, germany, at the security conference. vice president vance told the u.s. allies that the threat he worries about the most is not russia, it is not china, he called it the threat from within, and he lectured about what he described as senatorship, focusing though on including more views from the right. he also met with the leader oh of a far-right party known as the afd, which, as you know, is under investigation and monitoring by german

intelligence because of extremism. what did all of this accomplish, other than irritating our allies? >> well, why would our allies or anybody be irritated by free speech? we are after all democracies. the security conference is largely a conference of democracies, which one of the things we cherish and value is the ability to provide your opinions freely. if anyone -- they don't have to agree with him, but to be angry makes his point. i thought it was a pretty historic speech. whether you agree or not, the points he's making to europe is we are concerned that the true values that we share, the values that bind us together with europe are things like free speech and democracy and our sharedis t history in winning t world wars. and in that cold war we fought against censorship and oppression. when you see black sliding and

raise that, that's a valid concern. he simply expressed in a speech his view, and a lot of people share. i thought he said a lot of things in that speech that needed to be said. honestly, i don't know why anybody would be upset about it. you don't have to agree with someone's speech. i happened to agree with a lot of what he said. but you don't have to agree with someone's speech to appreciate the fact that they have the right to say it and listen to it and see whether those criticisms are valid. i assure you the united states has come under withering criticism from many leaders in europe, and we don't go around throwing temper tantrums about it. >> well, he was standing in a country where free speech was weaponized to conduct a genocide. and he met with the head of a political party that has far-right views, and some historic ties to extreme groups. the context of that was changing the tone of it.

and you know that -- >> i have to disagree with you. free speech was not used to conduct a genocide. the genocide was conducted by an authoritarian nazi regime that happened to also be genocidal because they hated jews and hated -- they had a list of people they hated. there was no free speech in nazi, germany. there was also no opposition in nazi, germany. they were the only party that governed that country. so that's not accurate. i think it's wrong -- again, i go back to the point of his speech. the point was basically that there is an erosion in free speech and intolerance for opposing points of view within europe, and that is eroding -- it's not an erosion of the military capabilities or erosion of your economic standing. that's an erosion of the actual values that bind us together in that transatlantic union everybody talks about. i think friends and partners that have worked together should

be able to speak frankly with one another without being upset. i spoke to foreign ministers in multiple countries in europe, and they were continuing to engage with us on all sorts of issues that unite us. again, at the end of the day, i think that people -- that is a forum which you're supposed to be inviting people to be give speeches, not a chorus where everyone is saying the same thing. that's not always the case when it's a collection of democracies, where leaders have the right and privilege to speak their minds. >> mr. secretary, i'm told we are out of time. we appreciate you making time today. >> yeah. we'll be back in a minute. i.

we want to turn now to the economy and inflatio we turn now to the economy and inflation, which ticked up 3% last week. kevin haset joins us now. good morning, director.

>> good morning. >> so i don't have to tell you, but the rest of the country saw egg prices go up. we're now at record highs due to the bird flu outbreak and labor costs, and that's contributing to food costs overall. when will the administration get that outbreak under control? >> right. well, what's going on as you know is that there is an inflation problem that's very large. we saw the consumer price index come out and we found out that the stagflation that was created by the policies of joe biden was way worse than we thought. of the last three months across all goods, including eggs, the average inflation rate was 4.6% and acceleration at the end of the biden term. this is really not just us, you can look at jason fuhrman, other economic advisers who kept saying don't do this, you will cause massive inflation. jason fuhrman has a thought-provoking piece calling

the biden economic record a tragedy. this is them, not us. so we've got a -- >> you're talking about fiscal spending there? >> well, where did this inflation come from? so we've got really a multifaceted plan to end inflation, and i'll go quickly, because i want to end with what we're doing with egg prices. we're going to have a macro economic change that has supply side tax cuts, so more supply and reduce government spending through congressional action and what dog is e is doing. so that's a good thing. then we're going to have a lot of energy production, a lot of de-regulation. and finally, when needed, we're going to focus on the individual thing by thing pieces. so for example, you mentioned avian flu. joe biden didn't have a plan for avian flu. well, we've been working with all the best people in government, including academics around the world to have a plan ready for the president next week on what we're going to do

with avian flu but the final thing, and i'll give it back to you. why did we do this? that's what everybody is talking about. but the thing i start with when i look at what the president wantstous do, why did they do that? and there are too many times where it feels like nobody thought about this in the press -- >> oh, gosh. >> why did they do that? why did biden print so much money and cause so much inflation? >> we talk about that on "face the nation" quite a lot. >> good for you. >> next week we'll see the plan on how to get bird flu -- >> i could talk about it right now. what is is the plan? what are you going to do? >> again, the biden plan was to just kill chickens. and they spent billions of dollars just randomly killing chickens within a perimeter where they found a sick chicken. so i just went to the grocery store. and there were no eggs at the store yesterday. just a few. and so that happened because

they killed all the chickens. so what we need to do is have better ways with biosecurity and medication and so on to make sure that the perimeer doesn't have to kill the chickens. they have a better, smarter perimeter. so having a smart perimeter is what we're working on and finalizing the ideas how to do that with the best scientists in government. that's the kind of thing that should have happened a year ago. if it had, egg prices would be better than they are now. but the avian flu is a real thing, and it's spread mostly by ducks and geese. so think about it, they're killing chickens to stop the spread, but chickens don't really fly. the spread is happening from the ducks and geese, so why does it make sense to have a perimeter of dead chickens? >> well, the department of agriculture policy had been to kill those chickens, as you know. but we'll watch for the details of that. >> sure. >> but let's get back to something the president said. higher interest rates are part of that battle against inflation that the federal reserve has

been waging, but this past week, the president called for interest rates to be lowered. why does he think that will lower your grocery prices? >> well, first of all, i want to say that i just this weekend have arranged to begin once again regular lunches with jay powell at the federal reserve. we have a long relationship, and i'm going to go over there with him and the other governors and talk about our views about what's going on and listen to him. i think that -- jay's going to -- he's an independent person. the fed independence is respected, and the president's opinion also can be heard. he's the president of the united states. but if we get inflation under control, then that takes the pressure off the fed. and one way to tell whether markets think are we getting inflation under control is to look at longer term interest rates that the fed doesn't

af affect >> okay. the president's statement contradicts -- >> no, inflation rates are -- the interest rates are already lower by 40 basis points. the one that matters is the five or ten, and those are down already. >> before we run out of time, i want to get to you on tariffs. there's concern that will add to prices, because it will be added to consumers and what they pay. how are these resip a call tariffs going to work? >> we're talking to countries, and i was talking to minister

reynolds from the you can about this matter. but right now, u.s. companies are paying foreign governments about $370 billion a year in tax, and foreign companies are paying the u.s. government about $57 billion in tax. a lot is because of that. but if we didn't have to pay the foreign government's tax, over ten years, it would be about $5 trillion that taxes u.s. citizens don't have to pay. that would more than pay for the tax cuts that we're debating right now. so if we get some of that money back through tariffs and if they reduce the tariffs, that's good for americans. it's going to put more money in their pockets, and that's what president trump is trying to do? >> i would like to have you come back, sit at the table and talk through this in more detail at another time. we ave to leave it there for today. >> thank you. happy to be here. >> a lot more "face the nation" in a moment. a moment. ® tri-zone. i got the power of 3. i lowered my a1c, cv risk, and lost some weight.

in studies, the majority of people reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. i'm under 7. ozempic® lowers the risk of major cardiovascular events such as stroke, heart attack, or death in adults also with known heart disease. i'm lowering my risk. and adults lost up to 14 pounds. i lost some weight. ozempic® isn't for type 1 diabetes or children. don't share needles or pens, or reuse needles. don't take if you or your family had mtc, men 2, or if allergic to it. stop taking and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or any of these allergic reactions. tell your provider if you plan to have surgery or a procedure, are breastfeeding, pregnant, or plan to be. serious side effects may include inflammation of pancreas, gallbladder problems, or changes in vision. call your prescriber if you have any of these symptoms. taking with a sulfonylurea or insulin may increase low blood sugar risk. common side effects include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain, constipation. some side effects lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems.

living with type 2 diabetes? ask about the power of 3 with ozempic®. flu. avian flu. . avian flu. avian flu. avian flu. flu. . 7 million us businesses rely on tiktok to compete. within a week of posting, i had over $25,000 in sales. i don't have a million dollars to put towards marketing and branding. tiktok was the way and it saved my company. we had a video do really good this week. sales were up 29%. about 80% of my business right now is from tiktok. small businesses thrive on tiktok. tiktok brings in so much foot traffic. i need tiktok to keep growing. we have so much more work to do. [cheerful music] [phone ringing] not all multimillionaires build their wealth the same way, you have... the fearless investor. the type a cpa.

the boot strapper. the boot maker. hee-ha. but many do have something in common. we all trust schwab with our wealth. thanks to our award-winning service, low costs and transparent advice, every day, over a million multi-millionaires, trust schwab with more than three trillion dollars of their wealth. ♪♪

wounded warrior project 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 for their needs going forward. they were by my side in the hospital, and they're still with me today. through our programs, community and advocacy, we're proving anything is possible. learn more at wounded warriorproject.org/connect >> we'll be right back with a

lot more of "face the nation." here at home, seven federal prosecutors resigned on principle last week. we'll tell you why. stay with us. stay with us. (wife) this is the place we chose for our honeymoon? (husband) well, the listing says it's a “modern rustic haven in a quaint rural setting.” plus, we got it for a steal! (wife) maybe 'cause it's a barn? (burke) if it's important, it's not worth compromising. which is why with farmers, you don't have to compromise quality to get great savings on your insurance.

i saw a nice hotel down the road. little less pungent. (wife) yeah. (burke) shall we? ♪ >> the pbr has circled back to circle city for its yearly visit. so expect a bonanza of bullish activity inside if game bridge fieldhouse. the kansas city outlaws pla b