the legendary bob woodward of the "washington post." dan klaidman, national political correspondent for the "daily beast." "washington post" columnist david ignatius. and our own john dickerson. it's summertime in washington, and the temperature's rising because this is "face the nation." captioning sponsored by cbs from cbs news in washington, "face the nation" with bob schieffer. >> schieffer: and good morning again. well, it is the weather again, violent tornadoes and storms claiming 12 lives and at least 100 were reported injured this weekend as a result of the violent storms and tornadoes in the midwest and the south. most of the fatalities occurredded just outside oklahoma city where a tornado killed nine people along interstate 40 friday night. we're going to start this week exactly how we started last week with the governor of oklahoma, mary fallin. she joins us this morning from el reno. governor, i must say, we didn't think last week we'd be talking to you again this week, but oklahoma, just when we thought the bad news was pa

bob woodward who along with karl bernstein drove the watergate story for the "the washington post." comparisons to the irs right now, mr. woodward, are there any? >> independent agency is absurd. when george schultz was the treasury secretary for knicks and the irs commissioner at the time johnny walters came to see schultz and said the white house wants me to audit this list of democrats, you know what george schultz did? he said if they want me to do that they can get a new treasury secretary. they refused to do it. clearly in the pipeline. lots of people knew some of this or should know it and i agree, this needs to be investigated. but you know who should lead the investigation? president obama. and the white house put out his version of all of these things. i have found in recent weeks they still respond to questions. you say they aren't answering this question about the 157 visits by the irs commissioner. they should. they should get on top of this story. >> bill: sure, we all know that that would go a long way to stop wasting taxpayer time and government money, i should say an

bob woodward, this is pretty special. >> but it shouldn't be turned into a circus where we are chasingn in his white bronco. the real question here is whose interests are being served by these leaks? we don't know frankly. it is clearly a serious matter. there has been no demonstrated abuse that somehow this administration the nsa had was used in a way that is illegal or inappropriate. so there is a lot we should focus on here. over 40 years i have had six cases of people coming in like snowden. sometimes they had stories that were important to print. a number of times they had stories that should not be printed. and bradley the editor decided not. i have not heard a good answer. we will i think in time whether we really needed to know all of this. i know at the washington post they are careful about all of it. there are elements of it that are not out. the public does not know. there are elements of it that snowden may not know. he may not understand what he has unleashed here. so we ought to focus on those things rather than what airplane he is getting on. >> let me just ask you beca

bob woodward writes all of his books because he has access to confidential sources. if it that's -- by the way osama bin laden big fan of bob woodward's books. recommended them. i'm not even making that up. >> john: since you're the guy who wrote the book on manning quite literally what do you think was his motive for releasing this information? we should point out he offered it to the "new york times" and "washington post" first. what do you think was behind his actions? >> it is a political motive. he wanted people to see the truth. let's not forget that this was a private, neck deep in the worst foreign policy disaster since vietnam. he saw what a complete mess it was. and he thought other people should know, too. the most famous of the leaks that helicopter video which you've probably seen. collateralmurder.com. that was not even classified, by the way but the government didn't feel like letting people see it. it is important that people see what our wars are really like. the decision to go to war is very serious. to stay at war, also very serious. it should be a

now we know that bin laden has also recommended bob woodward books and reads the new york times this is of no consequence whatsoever he probably had dr seuss. in his compound so that sort of argument means that any source communicating sense of inflation to the media can be prosecuted for aiding the enemy and as a result. sentence to this julian while we've got you on the line really it's the end of national security journalism united states if the president is established what we call you only part one of the attack sorry sergeant we want to go about thirty seconds left before we lose a lot of just wanted to ask you about you still hold up in the ecuadorian embassy given the clampdown that might come down now whistleblowers after what we've seen over the last couple of days what do you think your personal chances are not walking free any time soon what keeps you going. what keeps us going is the worldwide support that we have which is really quite extraordinary yes which it has a banking blockade it's cut out about ninety five percent of its finances but we have world wide support s

terms of release of classified information although even there it's pretty hazy because look at bob woodward's books for example i mean that's all based on people leaking classified information to him and nobody gets prosecuted they only get prosecuted when it's something embarrassing to the u.s. government something that they want to keep from us something that they want to hide from us so even there you know it would be a kind of selective prosecution that's why a lot of people have criticized president obama for being the for having used the espionage act. you know now the eighth time twice as many as all previous presidents combined in the prosecution of whistleblowers so these are some of the issues here and it's really you know what really gives any country good reason to give asylum. snowden is that they're using the espionage act at all let me ask you this question clearly he did not engage in espionage ok go ahead this is crosstalk are you going to jump in let me ask you this question. let me ask you this question mark if if edward snowden is really standing on principle and i don't k

well that you know and some like a bob woodward to say this people to say it's like it is like nixon and jay carney . to ensure that the emergence of broad national security and not leaked because the consequences can be severe i think it is absolutely right about that i agree with jay carney and i was defending well i think so but again the a.p. narrative doesn't really match up to what he's saying because the a.p. did not publish classified information they actually work for the government and i was most journalists do i think when when asked not to breach security so i think jay carney's point is well taken the problem is the administration itself has had some problems on this larry with with releasing operational details after bin laden was killed they came out that next day and rushed out to tell what happened in the compound room time oh gosh larry hold on that me why. why. do you think. obama's doing this human or do you think they're doing it well i don't think we know i don't think we know i mean it's really the most it seems reason to write it's not well i don't know i mean

well that you know and some like a bob woodward to say this people to say it's like it is like nixon and jay carney . to ensure that the emergence of broader national security not leaked because the consequences can be. oh i think it is absolutely right about that i agree with jay carney and i was defending well i think so but again the a.p. narrative doesn't really match up to what he's saying because the a.p. did not publish classified information they actually work for the government and i was most journalists do i think when when asked not to breach security so i think jay carney's point is well taken problem is the administration itself has had some problems on this larry with with releasing operational details after bin laden was killed they came out that next day and rushed out to tell what happened in the compound room oh gosh larry hold on let's that me. why why do you think. obama is doing this you know why do you think they're doing it well i don't think we know i don't think we know i mean they're most it seems regions where it is not well i don't know i mean i think to j

now we know that bin laden has also recommended bob woodward books and reads the new york times this is of no consequence whatsoever he probably had dr seuss. in his compound so that sort of argument means that any. communications and information to the media can be prosecuted for aiding the enemy and as a result. sentenced to this. and that's that really it's the end of that for security journalism united states if the president is the bush just wanted to ask you about you still hold up in the ecuadorian embassy given the clampdown that might come down now when whistleblowers after what we've seen over the last couple of days what do you think you'll personally chances are not walking free anytime soon what keeps you going what keeps us going is the worldwide support that we have which is really quite extraordinary yes which leads to the banking blockade it's called at about ninety five percent of its finances but we have worldwide support so even five percent is. five percent is not nothing the u.k. government has admitted that they've spent five million dollars in the past ten mon

. >> reporter: general james cartwright, former vice chairman of joint chiefs, dubbed bob woodward of having most favorable general status at the white house during the president's first term. the justice department is investigating him for his alleged role in top secret cyber attacks on iran's nuclear facility. >> we have mechanisms in place where if we can root out folks that have leaked, they will suffer consequences. >> reporter: the investigation began a year ago, after "the new york times" reporter david sanger published confront and conceal, obama's secret war and surprising use of american power, a book outlining the collaboration between the nsa and israel to launch the worm to destroy iranian centrifuges and stop iran's nuclear program. he was described as architect of the program. cartwright's lawyer issued the following statement. general jim cartwright is an american hero who served his country with distinction for four decades. any suggestion that he could have betrayed the country he loves is preposterous. june 1st last year, "the new york times" published an excerpt fr

we'll advance the story tonight with bob woodward. >> this is not a political pursuit. >> bologna.f it is not political why are only conservative groups being targeted? >> good question. how the press will likely cover the unfolding situation. >> he is still making up things. >> bill: is that a fair assessment of white house

. >> i look forward gregory asking bob woodward if he aided and abetted deep throat.hould be charged. markos moulitsas always a pleasure having you, thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> john: we'll go to alaska where a current heatwave is having no affect on the cold, cold hearts of the current politicians. stick around. we have a big big hour and the iq will go way up. (vo) current tv gets the converstion started weekdays at 9am eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. (vo) tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >> you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. just be grateful current tv does not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv. >> john: this week on our continuing wtf america series, we finally visit the great state of alaska. so of course you know, we have to talk about that crazy alaskaening that we all know and love, and i'm talking about current alaska governor sean parnell who just signed a bra

political analyst, and for the associated press, and bill kristol from the "weekly standard" and bob woodwardm the "washington post" today. what are they saying? they sought the extradition from hong kong authorities and they said the papers were in order and they let him go, reportedly on this flight to now. >> so, officials are obviously in close contact with officials in hong kong. what i would point out yesterday we had a stern warning from a senior as official saying if hong kong did not quickly extradict edward snowden to the under it wrote complicate the bilateral relationship and raise questions about their commitment to the rule of law and i talked to a senior official who says this raises concerns in the united states about hong kong and their involvement and i talked to the lawyer for wikileaks in the united states who says that organization is working with ed snowden and he said that we should not focus on tradition treateds because you can have a treaty and claim a political exception for snowden so this talk about extradition treaty is more complicated than that. >>chris: bill?

bob woodward from the washington post.ulie, as the white house correspondent for a.p., what are they saying about the extraordinary developments? they sought the extradition of edward snowden from hong kong authorities. they said the paperers weren't in order and they let him go reportedly on the flight to moscow. >> right. officials are obviously in close contact with officials in hong kong. one thing i would point out is yesterday we had this stern warning from a senior administration official saying if congress long didn't quickly extradite edward snowden to the u.s. it would complicate the bilateral relationship, raise questions about hong kong's commitment to the rule of lou. i talked to an official who said it raises concerns in the u.s. about hong kong and their involvement in the situation. i talked to the lawyer for wikileaks in the u.s. who said the organization is working with edward snowden. he didn't have details where edward snowden is going but said we shouldn't focus on extradition treaties. a country can h

we'll advance the story tonight with bob woodward. >> this is not a political pursuit. >> bologna.olitical why are only conservative groups being targeted? >> good question. how the press will likely cover the unfolding situation. >> he is still making up things. >> bill: is that a fair assessment of white house

the government actually, you know, is responsible for a lot of leaks to people like bob woodward and others and they accept the idea that journalists will try to get leaks from the government. now the obama administration is trying very hard to clamp down on leaks but i think that the context that's being missed is we're seeing more leaks because people are more and more upset that the government seems to be improperly keeping too much secret. >> rose: one final note: n.s.a. is -- how would you characterize n.s.a., siobhan? >> well, they certainly have more information than any other institution in the world. one of the things the n.s.a. has had real challenges with over time is making sense of the information it has. increasingly it's had better tools to make sense of more and more of the information it collects, but historically it's had a very difficult time managing it. it doesn't know what it knows in many ways. >> rose: what's going to happen to julian assange? he faces some serious legal questions in sweden. >> that's the question. i mean, julian assange is now -- he has sough

we'll advance the story tonight with bob woodward. >> this is not a political pursuit. >> bologna.s not political why are only conservative groups being targeted? >> good question. how the press will likely cover the unfolding situation. >> he is still making up things. >> bill: is that a fair assessment of white house

. >> imagine if deep throat showed up in moscow 24 hours after bob woodward broke watergate. >> can i take the other side. there's something inherently human about the guy, sort of an underdog appeal. i think you're kind of tempted to root for him, and when you hear him talk about a subject we've known literally nothing about up until a week ago. it's terrifying. talking about turn key tyranny. he's well spoken and timed this thing perfectly. he should get into a career of media strategy if he has his freedom after this. >> the fbi says they are going after him and will try to prosecute him. >> of course they are. >> given the fact that he boosted these documents on an elementary thumb drive of all things, plugged it into his computer. >> more opportunity than manning because they planned this thing so carefully and he's seeking political refuge. >> why do you have sympathy for him? >> look, i think it's -- it's the ultimate david versus goliath. i mean, he's revealing this kind of stunning set of information. if you listen to him or len greenwald who broke the story for "the guardian

effect it's created an entire surveillance industry around itself is deep throat famously told bob woodward and carl bernstein follow the money so who benefits from all this military industrial security complex provided support equipment and consultants to d.h. as as now become a trillion dollars for profit industry this is not good for the united states. when the worst abuses of the old east german stasi become the standard policies of what thomas jefferson once called the world's last best hope it is time for a change because as jefferson's fellow ben franklin said those who sacrifice a little necessary liberty for a little necessary security deserve neither let's repeal the patriot act disband the department of homeland security and return to sanity and let's rumble. it's friday or are ready to rumble join me for tonight's big picture rubble are francesca chambers editor and publisher of red alert politics nicole williams democratic strategist and attorney and tim cook executive editor at the daily caller welcome to all of you and i'm really going out on a limb here i think the d.h. has

>>brian: bob woodward actually said it is up to president obama to get answers on this.'s got to lead. >>steve: good luck. yes, he does. here's an outraeupbl for you. -- outrage for you. a judge yesterday said me dahl hassan will be able -- said nidal hassan will be able to represent himself in courts. he has an office, staff. the people he was not able to murder, he's going to be able to question them, harass them in court. >>anna: the very people he was shooting at. a lot of people are saying too this has given him quite the platform, and could he really be even hurting emotionally the families of these victims as well? this is all supposed to get going on july 1, but he has asked the judge for a delay, a three-month delay so he can prepare his own defense. how many times is this thing going to be delayed? this has been since 2009. remember when he grew the beard and said it was for religious religions and there was a big -- religious religions and there was a big delay. >>brian: he said by going to afghanistan he was protecting muslim soldiers because muslims, they we

. >> brian: bob woodward came out yesterday and here is what he said about the president, what he shoulde irs, benghazi and this together and what you've got is a feeling that no one is coming clean, that we aren't getting straight talk. and this goes to the president obama, he's got to find a way to unravel this. we live in an age of distrust. i think it's more severe now. he has to come, find some way to clean this up and say, this is what happened. this is what it means. so people will say, ah, remember at the beginning of his administration he got -- a mistake, senator daschle. barak obama as president came out and said, i screwed up. if that's happened, we need to hear it again. >> brian: we haven't heard that since. should he now? >> well, oftentimes it's good when you make a mistake to apologize. i'm not a big believer in apologizing. but i like to try not to make too many mistake in all fairness. but oftentimes, and i see it all the time, where people apologize. sometimes i think people apologize publicly too much. i see them apologizing for everything and i watch and i say why a

guests, john mccain and jack reid and "the new york times" editor jill abramson and bob woodward of "e washington post." >>> violent unrest for the second day in turkey. police used teargas and water canons preventing thousands of protesters from reaching istanbul square. they protested that it should be protected and not turned into a shopping mall this is growing anger against turkey's prime minister, seen as becoming increasingly increasingly increasingly totalitarian. >>> and we have good news on medicare. here is nancy cordes. >>. >> reporter: the news provides some solace but not much. trustees say medicare's life expectancy has grown by two years, from 2024 to 2026. after that benefits cut to 87% of the full level. >> looking forward to this and then not knowing if it's going to be there, it doesth thbother me. >> reporter: the administration credits savings from obama care but it could be a by product of the recent recession slowing the rise in health care costs. jack lew, treasury secretary, admitted it's far from enough to put medicare on strong financial footing. >> this is

i knew bob woodward. we went back to school together way back when and i had to agonize through some conversations on some evenings about what was going on, how the builders of the government seemed to be shaking and might come down. so much of that originate in sort of the tensions, the hatred, the animosity, the paranoia if one may call it that towards the press. and one of the reasons that jerry ford was important was he called off at war. because he did have a very different view what democracy is about. and understood, of course when government there are times when you're angry about the leak. of course, some these leaks endangered nashe security, but if you look at the balance, the need for the government to have secrecy versus the imperatives of the first amendment and having a free society, that balance is often struck in the wrong place. we were going through a period now in which it appears to many of us at the balance has been struck in the wrong place. and we have to first stand up and say wai

yesterday, on one of his sunday programs, bob woodward, the famed writer who got with the nixon scandal and other issues over the years-said this, quote when you pass complicated legislation and no one has really read the bill, the outcome is absurd. close quote. i think that's too true. unfortunately. senator reid said many times we have to pass this bill by july 4th. got his decision to make, other senators' decisions to make, so to accomplish that goal he assigned cloture medley on this new substitute bill. he filed it to shut off debate and that the effect of what we are doing here. so, why is there such urgency to pass legislation of this importance by friday? i'm not aware we have any big business happening july 4th july 4th recess. we can stay here until the july 4th recess for that matter. as bill crystal, the writer and commentator noted yesterday on one of the programs, quote, there's no urgency. can we at least let people read it for a week, close quote? well, the last thing i think the loyal opposition should do, would be to be enablers for the majority plan to rush through

a new bob woodward.gonizing conversation some evenings about what was theg on, i did pillars of government seemed to be shaken. and might come down. so much of that originated in the president -- tensions of towardty and paranoia the press. one of the reasons that jerry ford was important was he called off that ward. he did have a different view about what democracy is. and understood, of course when you're in government, there are times when you're angry about the leaks. some of these endangered national security. if you look at the balance of the need for the government to have secrecy versus the imperatives of the first amendment and having a free society, that is often struck in the wrong place. we are going through a time now in which it appears to many of us that the balance has been struck in the wrong place. we have to stay up and say, wait a minute. the press is important. we all live better off when we have a watchdog in the press. we do need watchdogs. we don't need rottweilers. it can go too

way to think about it is think about bob woodward. we all know him. today he writes books and as you go through his book and if you haven't i do the same, that is in the book. so i have an eye for the little bit more than the average person. i countered all the pages in 70% of them and leaks of classifieclassifie d information. what the government does on one hand is in order to get its point of view over and get support for it is include this classified information. so on the one hand, the government needs to use the weeks in order to get support for its position. as we speak, with respect to this. on the other hand there are leaks from those lower down the damage national security. why is it that we don't prosecute bob woodward, but we prosecute the people that are being prosecuted today? obama has indicted more people than any other president. there are six of them. but there is no rational answer. so you're sitting there at "the new york times" and its lands in your lap. we have something where classified information has come into the possession a

just yesterday on one of the sunday programs, bob woodward, the famed writer who dealt with the nixon scandal and other issues over the years, said this, quote: when you pass complicated legislation, and no one has really read the bill, the outcome is absurd, close quote. i think that's too true, unfortunately. senator reid said many times we have to pass this bill by july 4th. why is that? got big decisions to make. the senate has decisions to make, so to accomplish that goal he has filed cloture immediately on this new substitute bill. he filed it to shut off debate, and that's the effect of what we're doing here. so, why is there -- the past legislation of this importance by friday? i'm not aware we have any big business happening july 4 recess. we can stay here until the july 4th recess for that matter. and a writer noted yesterday, quote, there's no urgency. can we at least let people read it for a week? close quote? the last thing i think the loyal opposition of the run republics would be to be enablers in the majority plan to rush through the bill before people know what is in

just yesterday on one of the sunday programs, bob woodward, the framed writer who dealt with the nixon scandal and other issues over the years said this -- quote -- "when you pass complicated legislation and no one has really read the bill, the outcome is absurd" -- close quote. i think that's that's too true, unfortunately. senator reid said many times we have to bass past this bill by july fourth. why is that? is that his decision to make? is it the other senators' decisions to make? so to accomplish that goal, he has filed cloture immediately on this new substitute bill. he filed it as soon as it was filed to shut off debate. and that's the effect of what we are doing here. so why is there such urgency to pass legislation of this importance by friday? i'm not aware that we have any big business after the july fourth recess. we could day here through the july fourth recess, for that matter. as bill kristol noad noted yesterday, -- quote -- "there's no urgency. can we at least let people read it for a week" -- close quote. the last thing the loyal opposition the republicans should do,

i knew bob woodward. we had gone to school we back land. and we have agonizing conversations on what's going on, how the pillars seemed to be shaping and might come down. but so much of that originated in the tension, the hatred, the animosity, the paranoia if one may call in that towards the press. one of the reasons that he was important is that he called off the war because he did have a very different view of what democracy is about. and he understood of course when you are in the government there are times that you are angry about the leak and course some of these endangered national security. but if you look at the balance of the need for the government to have secrecy versus the imperatives of the first amendment and having a free society, that balance is often struck in the wrong place. we are going through a period now in which it appears to many of us the balance has been struck in the wrong place. we have to stand up and say wait a minute, the press is important. we all lived better off when we have a watchdog in the press. if we

i knew bob woodward. we went to school together.onversations on evenings about what was going on. of the pillars government seemed to be shaking and might come down. so much of that originated in -- thensions and hatred the press.ward one of the reasons that jerry ford was important because he caught off that war. because he did have a very different view of what democracy is about and understood when you are in government there are times when you're angry about the leaks leaks. of course some of these leaks endangered national security. if you look at the allen's for the need -- a balance for the government to have security against the first amendment, that balance is often struck in the wrong place. we are going to apo now -- isiod now where the bounce been struck and the wrong coverage. we have to stand up and say wait a minute, the press is important. we all live that are off when we have a watchdog in the press. we do need watchdogs. [laughter] it can go too far. we do need watchdogs. all of our freedoms are protected when we h