Sen. Lindsey Graham, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Sen. Rand Paul

23:18Margaret Brennan:Welcome back to Face the Nation. We return to our conversation with Senator Maria Cantwell. Just to pick up where we left off in talking about how to at least warn people further in advance of potential weather-related disasters. You know, there is still no Senate-confirmed head of NOAA. You did go through with a hearing on the committee very recently, and the nominee, Dr. Jacobs, told you that the main mission will still be preserved under this administration. Do you feel comfortable in the potential leadership of Dr. Jacobs? Will you vote to confirm him? I haven't decided yet. I have to see for the record.

24:00He did say some very positive things that he wanted a NOAA organic act. He wants the weather act that Senator Cruz and I have proposed. He said he wanted some other resources there. I got to drill down on exactly what he thinks is going to happen on the science mission and how we're going to preserve that. Because the nation is now spending billions of dollars on storms. In fact, Susan Collins and I had a report from GAO a few in the last year that showed how much we were spending on the impacts of of climate and extreme weather. So the point is, it's a minuscule investment to keep some of these science research functions at NOAA to help them better prepare people for hurricanes, for tornadoes and floods.

24:44It's a minuscule amount of money. And so we want to be smarter about it. And the more you can move people and resources out of the way of a storm, the more you can predict what might happen, the better prepared we're going to be. And that's going to help us save lives and certainly save dollars. So I want to I want to get from him exactly how he thinks that this is going to work. But he did say some positive things about the structure. People don't understand. But Noah is really a science arm of our government to make all of this for the nation and the weather service. So they literally have to fund the hurricane hunters.

25:23Those are the planes that fly into a hurricane. And we've helped support that in the past in a bipartisan way. It basically funds these the research that really, I think, probably where Europe is right now is they just do better analysis of the data. They're not doing anything extraordinarily better than us. They're probably just spending more time. And if that is a few million dollars and supercomputing time, we should do it.

25:48Margaret Brennan:Speaking of Europe and the trade conversation the president has renewed just on Saturday, saying he's going to put tariffs on the European Union and up them on Mexico as well by August the 1st. You know, there's been a lot of concern about what it would do to the economy. The stock market seems to be brushing off the impact. Out in your state, Boeing, a huge contributor to the U.S. economy, is headquartered there. In fact, they had a 27 percent increase in airplane deliveries in June, eight to China because there's been this sort of cooling off with them. If that's on the back burner, are you less concerned about the trade war?

26:26Oh, no, no, no. I'm very concerned we're in an endless summer of trade war tariffs and chaos. I'm very concerned about this. It is impacting our businesses. We are one of the most trade dependent states in the nation, but it's impacting our ports. I mean, literally, trade with our ports is, you know, at least 20 percent down over last year, the month of May from the previous year. The Association of Washington Businesses is releasing a study that they've previewed with us. And of their membership, 75 percent of them have said they already are impacted by the tariffs.

27:04Margaret Brennan:So like medium sized businesses or? Yes, they're probably a few would define as large. But they're they're saying that 30 percent of them are saying that they basically have already raised costs in some way. And 15 percent of them said we've either laid off people or are planning to lay off people in the future. So for us, we are seeing the economic impacts of this and our competitiveness, even though people have planned with storing a lot of material, you know, getting supplies and trying to prepare for this. this up and down, you know, is really having an effect on costs. So it sounds like you're saying at this point, we haven't yet seen fully or felt fully the economic impact.

27:48Margaret Brennan:So for the market to be betting that the president's either going to back down or that this isn't as hurtful as some predicted, you're saying just wait and see. Oh, I think the market has been very clear when he says he's going forward with tariffs. They don't like it, and you see a drop. And when he takes a pause, but that's not the issue. The issue is small businesses. We have, you know, 75 % of jobs are created by small businesses, and those small businesses don't have the same flexibility that a big company does to move out of the way of a supply chain that is now being disrupted. Or, you know, there was a Japanese company, big supplier to U.S.

28:27auto manufacturers that went out of business. So we now have aluminum prices that affects everything from our transportation infrastructure investment to, you know, I heard on Amazon that tea kettles went up, you know, like 40 or 50 percent in cost. So it's affecting all sorts of products. And, you know, while we may not see all of that at this moment, I guarantee you as the next quarter results come in, I'm sure we will see some effects of these tariffs. So let's get back to using our alliances to create. Why aren't we working with Europe right now to counter Russia instead of being in an argument with them on some of these issues that could be resolved in a different form?

29:06We will see if an agreement is reached before August the 1st.

29:10Margaret Brennan:Senator, thank you very much for joining us today. We go now to the chair of the Homeland Security Committee, Senator Rand Paul, who joins us from Bowling Green, Kentucky. Good morning to you, Senator. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Today is that one year mark since then candidate Trump was shot at in Butler, Pennsylvania. You have released an accountability report. We've had a look at it and it details that assets were requested by the Secret Service, including requests made over the phone and they were denied. You also say that the former Secret Service director made false claims under oath when Kimberly Cheadle said there were no denials.

29:53Margaret Brennan:Was she misled or are you accusing her of lying?

30:00She did not tell the truth. She said that there were no assets that were requested in advance. We found at least four occasions, actually maybe five occasions, where requests were made. The primary request that was made by both Trump's Secret Service detail as well as his campaign was for counter snipers. Counter snipers were denied until Butler. So thank God on that day in Butler County, Pennsylvania, that was the first time he was allowed counter snipers. If he had not had counter snipers, that assassin would have popped up again. He did pop up again to continue firing, and that's when he was taken out.

30:36But thank God we had the counter snipers there, but why were they denied for months and months? When they finally did ask for them, they mysteriously, magically appeared. They found them where they needed. They just weren't trying hard enough. So it was a cascade of errors. It was just one error after another. When we talked to the people in charge of security, everybody pointed a finger at someone else. We said, who was responsible for that roof? The roof where the assassin lay with a direct sight line. Nobody wanted responsibility. Everybody said it was somebody else. There was plenty of time to take him off the stage.

31:10The suspicious person with the rangefinder who became the shooter, many times he was spotted by police with suspicion. That should have been enough to take the president off the stage. Even with him on the roof, there was about a three-minute period when he could have been taken from the stage. And yet no one was fired. Some of these people could be in charge of security for another presidential candidate. And really, that's a danger that some one of the people that were in charge at Butler could be in charge again. That's not right.

31:41Margaret Brennan:Well, the president of the United States has said he is satisfied with the answers he's received in regard to what went wrong. But back on the point about not telling the truth to Congress, the report found that there were 10 occasions where resources were requested and denied or not filled. And in fact, when it came to Butler, the counter surveillance drone request was made over the phone. So when you say someone was not telling the truth, is it that there was no record of requests and denials? Was this knowingly misleading Congress or was this like a culture of cover up within the agency? I think it was a cultural cover up for the agency.

32:21They did not want to assess blame. They did not want to look internally. and they wanted to discount any of their actions that might have led to this. This was a cover your ass sort of moment. And I do believe that they did know there's no way that the director of Secret Service, that she did not know that these requests have been made. And so, yes, it was a huge failure. And if you talk to the current head of the Secret Service, who was Trump's lead detail, and Trump has a great deal of confidence in, he'll admit that these failures existed. But even the disciplinary action that they finally took, they only took because I subpoenaed.

32:56I wanted to know who was disciplined. We weren't going to release the names, but I wanted to know who was disciplined and what the discipline was. They refused for a year to tell me that. They told me that a week ago. You saw the news reports. But some of the people were just disciplined two weeks ago. So they weren't going to discipline anybody until I subpoenaed and asked them what they had done. But in the end, no one was fired. The supervisor who heard about the person on the roof who did not tell the detail immediately to take the president off the stage, there was a several-minute delay there, he stayed in his job.

33:28He did retire recently, but stayed in his job. So, no, I think even the investigation by the Secret Service was inadequate, but that's why we need to have congressional oversight.

33:37Margaret Brennan:Are you going to request that all requests for assets be made in writing and not over the phone so people can deny that they were ever asked for help? Yeah, I think they were made in writing as well, and I think some were made by phone, but I think the ones that made by phone were following up on things they made in writing. Somebody was just begging for assets. And think about it. President Trump has had extraordinary rallies. No matter what political perspective you come from, he has extraordinary rallies which have extraordinary risk, much better, much greater risk than having 200 people in an auditorium where everybody's thoroughly screened and the location is secure.

34:15These things really take a lot of detail. But when we asked the Secret Service, who was in charge of that roof? How could you walk through at 3 o 'clock in the afternoon and see that roof? Nobody walked through. Nobody was in charge. Everybody said, oh, she was in charge of the roof or he was in charge of the roof. No one would actually admit to be in charge of security for Butler.

34:35Margaret Brennan:So the big, beautiful bill that the president asked for gives$1.2 billion to the Secret Service. Does money fix that? and what do you say to the family member of the gentleman killed that day? Are we ever going to know the motive of the shooter?

34:55You know, I think we aren't going to know the motive, and I take that at face value. I know a lot of times when we don't get something and we suspect something, we think government's lying to us. And look, I have my doubts about government on many levels, but I think on this level they've tried their best, and I don't think there's a secret answer that they're not revealing to us. I think they just don't know. What we do know is the failures in security and that Corey Camparatari could have possibly been saved by having better security that day. And this boy was seen four hours before the shooting.

35:26He was seen again 45 minutes before. Three minutes before the shooting, the crowd is chanting, man on a roof, man on a roof. 45 seconds to go as he's assembling his gun. 45 seconds is a long time. Nobody told them to take the president off the stage. Inexcusable, terrible security. But whoever's in charge should have been fired and really should never be in charge of this type of or have this type of responsibility again.

35:52Margaret Brennan:On the question of forewarning, but on a different topic, this Friday is the deadline for both the Senate and House to vote on a plan to claw back about nine billion dollars for foreign aid, including also support for NPR and PBS. Some of your fellow Republicans like Rounds, like Murkowski and Collins have said they are worried about cuts to local radio and public broadcasters in their areas. We looked and in your state of Kentucky, public broadcasters provide critical emergency warnings for the government. If there's a storm, for example, are you concerned that these kind of cuts are going to endanger people?

36:36You know, I got my start on public television, KET, in Kentucky, being a commentator for my taxpayer group that I started. So, you know, I am not an enemy of public TV, but at the same time, we have a$2 trillion deficit. And what we'll be presented with is a$9 billion cut in spending. And can we and should we at least start cutting$9 billion? Yes. If I had my druthers and I could plan it and I could present the package, I like the idea of across the board cuts of a smaller percentage. So instead of taking 100 % of public TV, what you do is you take 6 % of everything. But the only way that works is you literally have to take 6 % of every dollar and then you have to figure out how to make it work so it's not absorbed by the poor or the needy in our country.

37:21And you could do that. With a penny plan, you can balance your budget within five years. but it takes a real 6 % cut of everything. But I think people are more willing to accept a haircut on things they like if everybody is accepting the same sort of level of cut.

37:36Margaret Brennan:So are you saying there that you are still going to vote for this? Are there 51 Republicans who are going to vote to cut all this funding and pull it back? I suspect it's going to be very close. I don't know if it will be modified in advance, but I can't really honestly look Americans in the face and say that I'm going to be doing something about the deficit if I can't cut$9 billion. Even though there are people who make arguments for it, and I can make an argument for a different way to cut it, we're going to be presented with a$9 billion cut and a$2.2 trillion deficit. So we have to cut spending, absolutely have to cut spending.

38:16Margaret Brennan:And a record boost to the debt ceiling that just happened in the bill you did not vote for, but Republicans did. Senator Paul, thank you for your time today. We'll be right back. We go now to Congressman French Hill. He is the chair of the House Financial Services Committee. Welcome back to the broadcast. Your ears must have been ringing with the two senators who started the program because they were talking about grabbing some of those frozen Russian assets. You moved a bill and gave the president authority to actually seize them during the last administration under the REPO Act, the U.S. has never before seized central bank assets from another country.

39:00Margaret Brennan:Do you know if the Treasury Department is going to do so now?

39:06Well, Margaret, it's good to be with you. Yes, I certainly worked very hard with former Foreign Affairs Chairman Mike McCall and others to put that in our 2024 national security package during the Biden administration because we wanted another arrow in the quiver for the president to not just seize those assets but to convert them to the benefit of Ukraine. But we could never get consensus between the United States and Europe for doing that despite a unanimous vote of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe supporting it. So I continue to urge President Biden to do that. We got the interest off those frozen assets to benefit Ukraine.

39:45But I think it's time for the president to convert those seized assets to a trust account for the benefit of Ukraine. I'm glad to hear both Senators Blumenthal and Graham support that idea. It's time to do it. And I've encouraged Secretary Besant that this should be a priority for President Trump.

40:04Margaret Brennan:On another topic, because you have some oversight in the financial space, I want to ask you about comments made in regard to Fed Chair Jerome Powell. The president says the economy is in good shape, but he still complains about the head of the central bank, says he's doing a terrible job because he's not lowering interest rates. On another network today, the president's top economic advisor said the White House is looking into whether the president has the authority to fire Chair Powell. Do you believe the president has the power and authority to fire the Fed president?

40:41You know, Margaret, I don't, and I believe President Trump has spoken about this several times over the past few years, including recently. Mr. Powell's governorship, his chairmanship, is up next spring. The president has vacancies coming up on the Fed board where he could name another governor. But look, just because Congress created the Fed and that we believe that it should be independent in the setting of monetary policy, it doesn't mean that it's immune from criticism. And every president since World War II has had choice words for the Fed chair when they've not been in sync with the direction of the president.

41:23So look, the Congress continues to do oversight. I set up a special task force to oversee the Fed's decision making since the 2008 financial crisis. We have that investigation, review and oversight underway and we'll continue it.

41:37Margaret Brennan:I think you'd acknowledge that most presidents might have had those choice words behind closed doors, not on social media posts on a regular basis, Congressman. been. But on crypto, I want to ask you, crypto has been the Wild West, right, in many ways, because they don't have the same kind of regulation in the digital asset space that there does exist for banks and financial services. You've got a few measures coming up this week. How do you make sure, as you put these regulations in place that kind of help crypto become more mainstream, that it doesn't also benefit some of those on the black market, for example, who use this to evade oversight.

42:25Exactly. Well, in the work in the Senate led by Bill Haggerty and Tim Scott and Cynthia Lemus on the Genius Act to create a dollar-backed stable coin, we've heavily influenced that legislation over the two years of previous work by the House, and our Clarity Act, which sets up the rules of the road for what's a commodity, what's a security, how to use digital assets, how to store them, how to custody them. These are the rules that will protect consumers, will limit access to our market and our investors from entities outside the United States trying to influence the crypto markets. We have none of that today.

43:04What we've had is a mismatch of rules by enforcement in the Biden administration. And I believe the bills we'll have on the House floor this week will protect investors, consumers, and make America, as President Trump wants, a leader in financial technology and crypto and digital assets innovation.

43:22Margaret Brennan:You know, sir, that the concern is that this is the patina of protection of consumers without actual muscle behind it. It was interesting to see, and many Americans who hold mortgages might have noticed, that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were buying some mortgages. The head of the agency, the Federal Housing Agency, Bill Pulte, told them they'll have to prepare a proposal to review crypto as an asset on mortgage applications. Given the huge taxpayer stake in Fannie and Freddie, are you comfortable with people using crypto, something that isn't really tangible in many ways, to pay for a down payment on a house?

44:07Well, look at Bitcoin, for example. One can now buy Bitcoin. It is a commodity. It's been determined that it's a commodity by the CFTC and the SEC. see. One can hold it in their brokerage account through an exchange traded product, an ETF, ETP. It's now an asset for millions of Americans and it certainly could be treated like a stock or a bond or cash as a contribution to someone's net worth to qualify for a mortgage. And if we pass clarity this week, which I expect we will on a bipartisan basis, and we craft a dollar back stablecoin like genius offered by Senator Haggerty will have the rules of the road it won't be a patina of consumer enforcement it will be real consumer enforcement investor protection down payment for the CFTC the SEC and the bank and the bank regulators well look again Bitcoin is an asset you can determine if you think it's going to go up in value or down in value just like stocks and bonds or other investments that people have on their financial statement to secure their financial statement for net worth purposes or to liquidate for a down payment.

45:28So I think it's a financial asset. Our bills will make it a more secure one and one that's better for, I think, all households and businesses.

45:36Margaret Brennan:I'm out of time, so I'm going to have to leave it there. Thank Thank you, Congressman. We'll be back. That's it for us today. Thank you all for watching. Until next week. For Face the Nation, I'm Margaret Brennan. Today's guests were South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, Connecticut Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, Washington Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell, Kentucky Republican Senator Rayanne Paul, and Arkansas Republican Congressman French Hill. The senior executive producer of Face the Nation is Mary Hager, and the executive producer is Anne Hsu. This broadcast was directed by Shelley Schwartz.

46:11Margaret Brennan:Face the Nation originates from CBS News in Washington. For more, we're online at facethenation.com and on YouTube. We're also rebroadcast on our CBS News 24-7 streaming network at 12.30 on Sundays. And we're available through our apps, CBS News and Paramount Plus.