On this “Face the Nation” broadcast, moderated by Margaret Brennan:
- Sen. Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky
- Sen. Tammy Duckworth, Democrat of Illinois
- Sen. Chris Van Hollen, Democrat of Maryland
- Ret. Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster
- Rep.-elect Sarah McBride, Democrat of Delaware
Click here to browse full transcripts of “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.”
MARGARET BRENNAN: I’m Margaret Brennan in Washington.
And this week on Face the Nation: President-elect Trump makes a flurry of picks for top health and finance jobs. Will they pass muster with the Republican-controlled Senate?
The Trump transition team unveiled almost a dozen people selected to fill key Cabinet and White House roles. And as would-be nominees are whisked through Capitol Hill to meet with senators, there’s already been one major withdrawal, a quick replacement, and renewed scrutiny on some of the more controversial national security picks.
We will talk with two key senators, Republican Rand Paul and Democrat Tammy Duckworth. They will be questioning the president-elect’s choices on health, national security and more.
One of Trump’s national security advisers from his first term, retired Army Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster, will also weigh in.
Plus: As the conflict between Israel-Hamas and Hezbollah continues to rage, when can we expect a cease-fire? We will ask Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen, who has called President Biden’s handling of Israel shameful and a policy failure.
Finally, we will hear from representative-elect Sarah McBride on the challenges and opportunities facing her as she prepares to take office as the first openly transgender member of Congress.
It’s all just ahead on Face the Nation.
Good morning, and welcome to Face the Nation.
As we begin this holiday week, Americans are preparing to gather to give thanks for what has been and contemplate what’s to come. Our latest CBS News poll shows that 59 percent of Americans approve of how president-elect Donald Trump is handling the presidential transition.
Trump has kept up a steady drumbeat of staffing announcements from his Mar- a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.
And that is where we find our Nikole Killion this morning with the latest.
(Begin VT)
NIKOLE KILLION (voice-over): After Saturday lunch with one of the senators who will vote on his Cabinet picks, president-elect Donald Trump announced former domestic policy adviser Brooke Rollins for agriculture secretary.
One of his most highly anticipated selections was Scott Bessent for Treasury. If confirmed, the 62-year-old investor would be the first openly gay secretary to lead it and responsible for quarterbacking Mr. Trump’s proposed policies on taxes and tariffs.
DONALD TRUMP (Former President of the United States (R) and Current U.S. President-Elect): The most beautiful word in the dictionary is tariff.
NIKOLE KILLION: A new CBS News poll shows a majority of Americans support imposing tariffs on imported goods, and more have an optimistic view of the economy since the election.
Mr. Trump selected a pair of doctors to lead health agencies. Former Congressman David Weldon has promoted debunked anti-vaccine views and is being tapped to lead the Centers for Disease Control. Food and Drug Administration pick Martin Makary critiqued vaccine mandates during the COVID pandemic.
And Project 2025 architect Russ Vought plans to reprise his role as White House budget director, despite Trump’s disavowal of the conservative policy blueprint.
PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP: I have nothing to do with Project 2025.
NIKOLE KILLION: Our polling also finds many of the president-elect’s well- known designees have more support than opposition, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Tulsi Gabbard, and Pete Hegseth.
The former FOX News host picked to lead the Pentagon is drawing scrutiny over allegations of sexual assault in a 2017 police report.
Did you sexually assault a woman in Monterey, California?
PETE HEGSETH (U.S. Defense Secretary Nominee): I have – as far as the media is concerned, I will keep this very simple. The matter was fully investigated. And I was completely cleared. And that’s where I’m going to leave it.
(End VT)
NIKOLE KILLION: While president-elect Trump has filled out most of his Cabinet, a few economic positions remain up for grabs, including U.S. trade representative and small business administrator – Margaret.
MARGARET BRENNAN: That’s Nikole Killion in West Palm Beach, Florida.
We go now to Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul. He is set to chair the Homeland Security Committee next year, and he sits on the Health Committee.
Welcome back to Face the Nation, Senator.
SENATOR RAND PAUL (R-Kentucky): Good morning. Thanks for having me.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, you are a doctor by training.
I want to ask you about some of these health picks. I know that you personally said that you have vaccinated all of your children, but vaccination rates in this country, as you know, are on the decline.
Are you at all concerned that elevating individuals who have been publicly critical of some particular vaccines, RFK Jr. at HHS secretary, Dave Weldon to CDC director, that any of that will erode trust in vaccination?
SENATOR RAND PAUL: You know, I think all of us can agree that there’s an increase of vaccine hesitancy.
I think it comes from people not believing what the government is telling them. The fact that the CDC committee for vaccines and the FDA committee for vaccines said for COVID boosters that you should take a booster if you’re over 65, and yet the Biden administration and Rochelle Walensky actually politicized that, didn’t follow the signs and said you should boost your 6-month-old, and the American public is rejecting this.
Only about 20 percent of the American public of all ages is taking the COVID booster, because the government hasn’t been honest with us. That dishonesty has led to vaccine hesitancy.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, it’s vaccination rates in other – other vaccines as well, not just COVID vaccines. There’s concern about measles. There are concerns about other…
SENATOR RAND PAUL: Right, but people have to believe it. Exactly.
But people are doubting because they’re being told that. I will give you an example. Look, I think vaccines, smallpox, the story of smallpox vaccine, polio vaccine are some of the most miraculous discoveries in all of medicine. And I’m not against vaccines.
But, like, when my kids were little, the hepatitis B vaccine, they still want to give it to them as a newborn. I just – my baby is new and just, you know, come into the world, and you can see how a lot of reasonable people say, why do I have to do it as a newborn? Could I come back in three months or six months?
So, really, it’s about choice. It’s about getting rid of mandates. It’s about letting people participate, but it’s also about the government being honest. What are the risks and what are the benefits? And they haven’t been honest on COVID, because healthy children do not die from COVID, do not get seriously sick, and there’s no proof that the vaccine has any medical benefit for healthy children.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, we want to move on to other topics, sir, but we will continue to cover vaccination in this country.
I think what you said there is that you’re supportive of all those health nominees, from what I heard. You – you have been – I’m sorry. Did you want to say…
SENATOR RAND PAUL: I was just going to say, yes, I am supportive.
MARGARET BRENNAN: OK.
SENATOR RAND PAUL: But I wouldn’t describe them as the problem with vaccine hesitancy. I would describe the government misinformation as the problem with vaccine hesitancy.
MARGARET BRENNAN: OK. Messengers matter, though.
But you have raised concerns in your role on Homeland Security about the implementation of some of the promises Donald Trump made on the campaign trail. His mass deportation vow is very popular. Our CBS polling shows 57 percent of voters like the idea, but how it is implemented matters a lot to voters.
The vast majority prefer that federal law enforcement or immigration agencies carry them out. Just 40 percent say the U.S. military should be involved. The stated Trump plan is to use the military, military assets, deputize the National Guard, and have them act as immigration agents. Do you believe that is lawful?
SENATOR RAND PAUL: You know, I’m 100 percent supportive of going after the 15,000 murderers, the 13,000 sexual assault perpetrators, rapists, all these people.
Let’s send them on their way to prison or back home to another prison. So I would say all-points bulletin, all in, but you don’t do it with the Army because it’s illegal. And we’ve – we’ve had a distrust of putting the Army into our streets, because the police have a difficult job, but the police understand the Fourth Amendment. They have to go to judges. They have to get warrants. It has to be specific.
And so I’m for removing these people, but I would do it through the normal process of domestic policing. Now, I would say that the mayor of Denver, if he’s going to resist federal law, which there’s a longstanding history of the supremacy of federal law, if he’s going to resist that, it will go all the way to the Supreme Court.
And I would suspect that he would be removed from office. I don’t know whether or not there’d be a criminal prosecution for someone resisting federal law, but he will lose. And people need to realize that what he is – – what he is offering is a form of insurrection, where the states resist the federal government.
Most people objected to that and rejected that long ago. So I think the mayor of Denver is on the wrong side of history, and, really, I think, will face legal ramifications if he doesn’t obey the federal law.
MARGARET BRENNAN: All right, just context on those numbers you rattled off in terms of criminals, those numbers from ICE are accurate figures, but they’re over a 40-year period of time.
What we know now about the immigration authorities who would have to be charged with rounding these individuals up, there are just 6,000 agents, 41,000 detention beds to carry out the assignment of rounding up millions of undocumented people, potentially.
How do you suggest they implement it? And if this is a red line for you in terms of using the military, would you vote no on the DHS secretary, Kristi Noem?
SENATOR RAND PAUL: I will not support and will not vote to use the military in our cities. I think it’s a terrible image.
But I will tell you that, just in the last week, with the belief that a new administration will change things, there were four or five criminals arrested in the last week. And what would happen and I think what will happen under Donald Trump’s administration is, I don’t recommend to use the Army, but I would use the FBI, I would use ICE, I would use Border Patrol.
And they have a list now of 15,000. I don’t care if it came in over 40 years or 10 years. If you’ve got a list, you put these people on an all- points bulletin, these are the kind of people that are dangerous and that everybody needs to be the watch on, and they would go out and seek those people.
That – we have about 30,000 very dangerous people already convicted of crimes. That should be the first priority for all of this. Let’s go find those people. But it’s not about detaining them. In all likelihood, they should be going to a jail, either a jail here or in the country they came from.
So I think, if we did that, there will be a lot of unity. If they send the Army into New York, and you have 10,000 troops marching, carrying semiautomatic weapons, I think it’s a terrible image, and I will oppose that. But it’s not that I oppose removing people. I just…
MARGARET BRENNAN: Right.
SENATOR RAND PAUL: … object to what has been against the law for over 100 years, and that’s using the Army.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But deputizing the National Guard, that specifically is the…
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