Face the Nation: Cooper, McCaul, Himes

and we go now to the governor Roy Cooper of North Carolina a Battleground State he joins us from rally good morning to you Governor Margaret good morning uh vice president Harris will be in your state Thursday uh we know this is a consequential week debates can be catastrophic they can be inconsequential do you anticipate the average North Carolinian is open to persuasion or even watching what happens on that debate stage this week There's no question about it it's close here in North Carolina it always is this was Biden Harris's closest loss in 2020 only 1.3% so the fact that KLA Harris as Vice President of the United States has been to North Carolina 17 times shows that she cares about our state she knows that we are in play and she knows that if she wins North Carolina she is the next president of the United States because Trump has no other way is it winning or is it just reducing the amount by which they lose rural voters you have a very large rural population in your state and you know things that the Biden Harris Administration has done has helped our rural population I've been able to expand Medicaid here in North Carolina that's helped working rural North Carolinians we're getting highspeed internet all across our state that's something that people are beginning to find out about and she's got a plan she's got a plan to lower costs for North Carolinians particularly in this child care Arena drug pricing we're excited about the economic plan that she has and I think North Carolinians will respond to it well I want to ask you more about some of that because our uh latest CBS polling shows it is a very very tight race and it is the issue of economy and inflation that is weighing the most on voters so we're going to talk about that in a few minutes when we take this break and we'll come back to finish it with you Governor stay with us welcome back to Face the Nation we continue our conversation with the Democratic governor of North Carolina Roy Cooper uh Governor our CBS polling shows this is still a competitive race for Donald Trump largely because of those voters who just don't think they are better off financially right now uh their incomes are not keeping up with inflation this is especially true among non-oled and white and workingclass voters how did Democrats change this perception well I think that same poll Margaret said that people had more trust in kamla Harris to help the middle class and as she spends time getting out her economic plan of Shifting the tax burden here we need to make sure that billionaires and corporations pay their fair share and that everyday people uh and small businesses get the tax benefits as she talks about her child care plan and providing child care tax credits you've got Donald Trump who clearly doesn't understand the problem you got JD Vance who's saying well you should get your grandparents or your aunts or uncles to look after children completely clueless when we continue to get this information out to the American public and to people here in North Carolina that KLA Harris has an economic plan that's going to help lower the cost for everyday people that's going to help families Thrive that is going to protect women's reproductive freedom I think at the end of the day that's going to be what works here well you got a short period of time to to do that sir in this uh election um one of the things that we did hear about from uh the vice president this past week was her endorsement of a less dramatic increase in the capital gains tax rate than what Joe Biden had proposed um this is a tax on assets owned for more than a year on on households bringing in over a million dollars in income now the vice president hasn't said whether she supports Biden's proposal to tax unrealized gains that's getting a lot of focus from Republicans I I'm just wondering though is this announcement positioning really just an attempt to appear more moderate to appear more Pro bus is it just a political Ploy I think what KLA Harris found out in the period of time the three and a half plus years that she's been vice president that you have to achieve consensus to get things done and that's exactly what she's been able to do overall what she wants to do is to shift the burden here clearly the billionaires are not paying their fair share we've got to figure out a way to make sure that we can get them to do that while easing the burden on the middle class and the way you do that is to try to find consensus because as you know it's very tough to get legislation through both the house and the Senate and that will continue to be a challenge but she's shown that she's got the ability to help do that Tim walace was in this was in the Congress so he's got the ability to help push legislation that helps shift this balance so I'm excited about the potential for them being president and vice president of the United States well and having to work with Congress um I want to ask you about guns we saw this horrific shooting in Georgia this past week and the father of that shooter is facing second deegree murder and other charges because he gave his son that AR-15 style weapon that was used you're a former State Attorney General and I I wonder what you think of this this precedent of Prosecuting parents do you think it's effective in dissuading gun violence I think we have to do everything we can to reduce gun violence particularly gun violence in our schools and I think that that is appropriate but we also know that these military style assault weapons are being used by lots of people they can kill multiple people we don't need to have them on the streets look you can't be tough on crime if you're weak on gun laws vice president Harris and I here in North Carolina as a gun owner as the supporter of the Second Amendment support stronger background checks red flag laws and banning these military style assault weapons we shouldn't even have them available for people to use in these mass murders that are occurring I'm tired of seeing texts from children in a school telling their parents that they're afraid and that they love them we cannot normalize this JD Vance says this is just a fact of life no it's not he said it's not he said he regrets that it's become a fact of life um but but you do agree then with Prosecuting parents is what I understand from what you just said there look if the if if the evidence is there yes okay that we we need to make sure that people are responsible if you're giving a 14year old and I don't know what all of the evidence is here obviously you got to wait until the court but if you're giving a 14y old particularly one who said that they're involved are like mass shootings and you giving that 14y old an an AR-15 as a birthday present that is a problem would you serve perhaps as attorney general in a future Harris Administration look I'm going to I'm going to be involved in some kind of Public Service I'm running through the tape as Governor it's a lot for me to do going to work to make sure that we elect toml Harris as President elect Democrats in North Carolina then we'll see all right Governor thank you for your time we'll be right back we're back with the chairman of the house Foreign Affairs committee Republican Michael McCall of Texas Congressman good morning thanks for having me I have a lot to get to with you I want to quickly ask you about uh what we heard from the justice department on Friday in regard to this massive Russian scheme influence the upcoming election back in the spring you took some heat after you said Russian propaganda had infected a good chunk of your party's base and you blamed right-wing media it seems like you're being Vindicated here but Donald Trump said yesterday at a rally he seemed to dismiss all of it I don't know what it is with poor Russia do you have any reason to doubt what the justice department and intelligence Community said well Russia has been trying to do this U you know many years so is China so is Iran for that matter um and it's intensified and I think um I didn't blame anybody for it I blame Russia for putting disinformation in the United States that does get picked up by people unwittingly in many cases I think uh in this particular case the owners of the company knew they were dealing with a Russian disinformation campaign and if that's true should be indicted um but it's a problem with China they're involved in my election just like Nikki talked about her election uh Iran under indictment there so I mean this is um Russia China Iran North Korea I I want to put that aside for a minute and delve into your investigation you've been on this program a number of times um over the past three years investigating the US withdrawal from Afghanistan your report comes out tomorrow um explain the timing because it's in election season a day before the presidential debate your ranking member colleague is saying that this is politically motivated and they didn't even get a copy of the report why is that they're getting a copy of the report today as his secretary blinking as is the white house uh and um is this politics though in an election year no it's taken me two years to get to this point because of the obstruction I've had to serve subpoena after subpoena move to compel threaten to you know hold the secretary in contempt to get information like after action reports all these documents testimonies that we finally got to why is it important right now Margaret because the foreign policy is at stake what happened after Afghanistan impacted the world why because Putin responded by invading Ukraine two months after Afghanistan fell chairman she Putin made Unholy Alliance in Beijing threatening the Pacific now and then the Ayatollah reared his ugly head in the Middle East and we're seeing this finally this is really important the B prisons Unleashed thousands of Isis K prisoners that went to the coron region eight of those and that's who we know about have been detained by the FBI in the United States that got in through the Southwest border this is a failed foreign policy colliding with a failed border policy all at the same time I think it's very relevant lastly my investigation will go well after the election where does it go next we have a lot of unanswered questions regarding the dod you know what happened on the ground uh why were these snipers left uh basically unprotected where was the surveillance uh equipment that was videotaping why don't we have one video of the suicide bomber going off well there's a GoPro camera that you document that did film it and there was a Reaper drone I believe that started filming 3 minutes after the explosion after but but are you implying here some kind of conspiracy I mean you can't be saying that the Pentagon wanted I'm not a conspiracy guy I'm a prosecutor this was done very methodically i w looking for press clippings I did this uh facts evidence I didn't reach any conclusions but the fact is typically they do multi- attacks at the same time we know that the Isis suicide bombers Who attack and that's their that's their modus operandi that's how they conduct these things we do know that all the video was destroyed after uh what we know from the the Marines on the ground yeah is that shots were coming from the Taliban and some of the Marines were actually hit by bullets according to their testimony it's the best evidence we have because the videos were destroyed well General McKenzie in a briefing in 2022 said that that was ball bearings that came from the suicide bombers explosion and there was some dispute very well may be the case but I guess why I'm asking is there have been multiple centcom investigations a State Department investigation do you not accept the findings of those investigations if it wasn't for my investigation ccom NE never would have reopened an investigation it was this you know very brave sniper that came forward you know Tyler Vargas Anders they came forward and said I had the suicide bomber in my sights I asked for permission to engage permission was denied sencom denies that that happened they denied it happened I want to know where they got the picture is that a picture of the bomber at the site at hkaya or where do they get that picture we just don't know uh h k being the the airport I I want to ask you though um 11 Marines one sailor and one soldier lost their lives at abig gate when it that suicide bomber detonated um on Tuesday the speaker of the house is presenting award to the family members the Fallen that's also debate day I think you would agree all gold star families need to be respected in this country more than 2400 Americans were killed in Afghanistan 45 combat deaths under Donald Trump why aren't all of them being honored why only these 13 well this was one of the deadliest days in Afghanistan it could have been prevented if the state department did its job by law and executed the plan of evacuation they did not do that until until the day the Taliban invaded and overran Cabell by that time it was too late they left these 13 service men and women hanging out to dry 170 Afghans killed 45 service members and Afghans injured as a result of the I'd say moral negligence on the part of the administration allowing this to happen I think it's totally appropriate to honor them it was never done with the intention of it being on the same date as a debate that was not a coordinated effort really to my knowledge it was not um General McKenzie who was the sencom commander in 2021 said the Trump era Doha agreement was one of the worst negotiating mistakes ever made by the United States it was the operational mechanism that killed Afghanistan that destroyed the government of Afghanistan did you identify Mistakes by the Trump Administration well we identify z kza uh the mistake here negotiator yeah with Doha was the fact that he negotiates with the Taliban and leaves out the Afghan government right that was a slap in the face to them uh and it was not good for morale having said that the Taliban that was the Trump policy yeah and the Taliban was in violation of Doha that's why Trump left 25 200 troops when President Biden came into office it was very clear go to zero in fact his press guy said it's immaterial Doha agreements immaterial to us going to zero we're getting the hell out of there irrespective of conditions on the ground both presidents agreed with getting out it was the military that opposed well the Trump administration had conditions I don't think I don't think we can speculate one thing's for sure Biden had an agenda on day one to get out um I have so many more questions for you sir but I'm told we're out of time and we have to to leave it there uh Mike McCall chairman of the house Foreign Affairs committee we'll be back in a moment nice work joining us now is the ranking member of the House intelligence committee Democrat Jim heims of Connecticut Congressman good morning to you thanks for having me Margaret uh a lot I want to get to with you but I did want to offer you a chance to respond if you care to to uh Congressman McCall I know you and most Democrats supported President Biden's decision to withdraw from Afghan although I think you'd agree the exit was one of the darkest days of of his presidency to date what do you make of the Republican argument that this reflects on vice president Harris's abilities to serve as commander-in-chief well you're right Margaret when you say that that was a very dark day anytime we lose service members it's a very dark day and the 13 that we lost at abig gate are are rightly remembered and you know how you remember them best you remember as you pointed out in your interview with with chairman McCall that there were also almost 20 500 others killed in Afghanistan over a 20-year period what chairman McCall is going to offer to the American people though is and and you said it right it's going to be about uh vice president Harris it is a politicized cherry-picked uh report designed to do one thing not shed light on a tragedy which by the way I would support 100% uh and and by the way let's also look at the 20 years and the four presidents that double down on Afghanistan policy it is going to be a nakedly partisan campaign thing chairman McCall said it uh at the end there uh you know what the military issues that he was Raising you know he didn't mention the fact that when he said that the that President Biden came with an agenda to withdraw from Afghanistan President Biden did not come with an agenda he came with a binding agreement negotiated by President Trump who also released 5,000 Taliban and by the way and here's the key point that didn't come up who also left President Biden with 2500 troops in Afghanistan Margaret when we were attacked on January 6 on the capital in the days after we had more than 2500 National Guardsmen guarding the capital that's the tools and that's the agreement that Donald Trump left President Biden with and there were thousands more NATO troops as well so the 2500 is a little bit misleading but let's put that aside um just to honor our allies there that I sure surely you know about um I want to ask you about the Isis threat um on Friday it was disclosed that a 20-year-old Isis supporter was apprehended 12 miles from the US Canada border the FBI said the individual was a Pakistani citizen residing in Canada who was planning a mass shooting attack in New York City on or around October 7th to kill as many Jews as possible do you have any insight into whether this individual was self-radicalized was he directed what is the threat picture here yeah um you know we've been out of session for some time so I it's been a little while since I've had a classified briefing so I I probably can't specifically answer the question about that individual what I can tell you uh is two things number one uh Isis is dedicated as is by the way Iran and any number of other groups to trying to strike the United States that is a fact and that is why it is so important the the work of the intelligence community in the FBI to stop that stuff and they're pretty good at that you saw the arrests of course of the eight people uh who were affiliated with uh with with terrorist groups um they're very good at what they do it's very hard for them to be perfect but it's also important that we not ere exaggerate the threat here we have come a very long way I'm actually uh just back from a 911 ceremony on the 23rd anniversary celebrating uh or memorializing that uh that That Hideous attack uh the intelligence Community the military the FBI have come a long way since 911 and as a consequence we learn about these things and hopefully we'll be in a position to obstruct uh as many of them as possible um Fair Point uh I want to switch gears if I can um and uh you are right to remind us all that we are coming up on that 911 anniversary um and Memorial to all of those um on the question of election interference we got these disclosures from the intelligence Community this week and the justice department this was a sophisticated scheme to interfere in the election by setting up fake news sites paying $10 million to a Tennessee based company to launder moscow's propaganda they used podcasters they used well-known personalities on YouTube to trick American voters in swing States according to the doj how effective has this campaign been well it that that's a really hard question to answer Margaret because that gets into the question of you know gosh are these crazy wi websites and right-wing journalists who evidently their money came from Russia are they actually having an impact on the election it's sort of hard to believe in a 50-50 election that's going to be played out in sort of four or five states that it's not going to have some impact on the margin which is why two things are really important number one back to the FBI back to our intelligence Community they need to double down on identifying naming and shaming those countries that are doing this and chairman McCall was right it's primarily Russia Russia has really pulled out all the stops but it's also China it's also Iran there's even some other countries that are thinking about it but Margaret I feel very passionately about this they can only succeed if American citizens hand over their autonomy their sovereignty their critical thinking abilities to the Russians or to the Chinese and so what I always tell my constituents if you're looking at some random social media site and you are getting hotter and hotter and angrier and angrier and people who disagree with you are not just the opposition but they're traitors you know what you're doing you are being manipulated and it may just be by Facebook's algorithms but there's some chance it might actually be the Kremlin or the Chinese or the Iranians who are manipulating you and if you're going to be manipulated that easily guess what this country is going to get the Democracy that we deserve Vladimir Putin publicly said he was endorsing uh vice president Harris uh this past week um us intelligence though assesses that it is Donald Trump that is in fact moscow's preferred candidate do you know whether Putin is directing this particular campaign well um I will tell you that super sensitive things like meddling in US elections you you know the nature of the Kremlin and of Putin and of his uh autocracy nothing serious happens in Russia without Vladimir Putin uh signing off on it so precisely how he involved he is uh is is an open question but believe me yes he would like and look you know we the whole uh you know I'm endorsing Harris thing uh all you need to do is listen to the way the two candidates talk about Russia and Ukraine and you can develop a pretty independent sense of what Putin would like to see happen on Election Day you said earlier this week that banks are required to research their clients when you were being asked about this case of a Tennessee based company that CBS is reporting is is tenant um media that was being manipulated by the Russians what is the principle you're asking to be applied here well I guess and and I'm not talking about legal compulsion necessarily here although banks are required to know their customers it's nice to imagine that you know massive social media platforms or massive media platforms like tenet might actually do a little research to try to figure out where their money is coming from frankly the people who look at their media have a right to know where that money comes from so you know at a minimum check this stuff out because you may not want to be complicit in a Kremlin operation congressman thank you for your Insight we'll be right back that's it for us today thank you for watching until next week for Face the Nation I'm Margaret Brandon [Music]