Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Rep. John James, David Becker

0:00Margaret Brennan:I'm Margaret Brennan in Washington and this week on Face the Nation, an update from Nepal following last week's devastating flooding and a look back at the chaotic withdrawal from the longest war in U.S. history. Four days after a glacier collapsed and triggered a cataclysmic flash flood in Nepal, we'll have the latest on the search for its missing victims, including nearly 100 Americans. And with the attacks on Ukraine and concerns about Russian aggression intensifying, we'll talk to Connecticut Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, who is just back from the region. Then the president hits the campaign trail and begs voters to make the elections a referendum on him.

0:43What I really want you to do is pretend, please, that I'm on the ballot.

0:48Margaret Brennan:Just come and vote. It's so important. Will that strategy help or hurt his party? We'll talk with Congressman John James, the Republican nominee for governor in Michigan. We'll also try to clear up the confusion over mail-in ballots and look at how those court cases could impact the midterm elections. Finally, five years after the catastrophic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, we'll share the story of a former Afghan general's dramatic flight from his country following the 20-year war. It's all just ahead on Face the Nation.

1:37Margaret Brennan:Good morning and welcome to Face the Nation. Search and rescue operations are underway for a fifth day in Nepal, where catastrophic floods from a massive glacier collapse wiped down entire neighborhoods, killing 788 people with thousands still missing. Foreign correspondent Remy Innocencio is in Kathmandu. Remy, what's the latest in the search and rescue? Margaret, yes. Well, so far, the Nepali army has rescued more than 7 ,500 people, but there is another number out there. Nearly 3 ,000 people are still missing someplace in the disaster zone. Earlier, we were at a Nepali army base, and that was a staging ground for operations for aerial search and rescue for helicopters taking off.

2:21An army official said that they're trying to get out 15 sorties back and forth flights every single hour for a total of about 500 every single day. But they said that because of the weather, they have had to suspend that at least twice.

2:35Margaret Brennan:There were nearly 100 Americans. What are their status? Yeah, this is something that no family wants to hear, Margaret. they are all still missing, 90 in total according to the latest State Department estimate. Now, the reason for this is because most of them were on the Tibetan side of the border, and they were either going to or coming from this sacred pilgrimage route up to the higher elevations in the high Himalayas to a mountain called Mount Kailash. The concern, the anxiety, the focus here is the immigration checkpoint on the Tibetan side of the border called Girong Immigration Checkpoint.

3:10we have seen already that that immigration checkpoint building had been obliterated in the matter of seconds when that avalanche of ice, glacial meltwater and debris just covered and buried that whole entire building. I've also been in touch with several American families in the United States, and they're all telling me the same thing, that they all lost touch with their loved ones, with their families, with their friends at about the same time, and that they are wondering out loud whether any of them could have survived.

3:43Margaret Brennan:How significant is the risk of continued flooding? The risk absolutely is there. When we look at the cause of this catastrophe, looking back on Wednesday morning, that was because of a glacier collapse. Now, scientists, officials aren't talking about that, but they are talking about the flooding risk of the river, the Trishuli River that surged in the north of Nepal. Right now, in fact, this morning, that river surged again because of these monsoon rains. And this is a race against time with all those thousands of people still missing. Ramey Innocencio, thank you for being there in Kathmandu. And we turn now to Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, who joins us from Westport, Connecticut.

4:25Margaret Brennan:Good morning to you, Senator. Good morning. Thanks for having me, Margaret. Well, I understand that there was the deadliest attack that we have seen so far this year in Ukraine. Their officials say Saturday, a Russian drone attack west of Kiev killed at least 38 people. You were just in Ukraine. I understand you went out east to Dnipro, close to the front lines. What can you tell us about the situation there? This trip was exhilarating because Ukraine is clearly making progress. It's turning the tide, but it was also heartbreaking to see the toll that this war is taking. The latest attack is only one of every night's bombardment of hospitals, homes, schools.

5:17Putin is killing Ukrainians in cold blood with his missiles and bombs. And I went to Dnipro, where I visited a military hospital where the most seriously wounded from the front were brought. I went back to Bucha, where at the very beginning of the war, Putin's army murdered hundreds of civilians and buried them in mass graves. And I visited with some of the children who had been abducted. But So President Zelensky had some priorities. I called it a homework assignment that he gave me. Number one, the Russian sanctions bill. Number two, air defense to protect against exactly the kind of bombing that you just mentioned.

5:59And third, Starlink, so that he can hit targets within Russia before they launch those deadly missiles and drones.

6:07Margaret Brennan:And we will see if the White House helps deliver on any of that. This past week, the president sent John Ratcliffe, the director of the CIA, to Moscow. And CBS has learned he told Russia not to attack NATO member states. Meanwhile, the prime minister of Poland is out there saying that NATO assesses Russia's about to escalate and he cannot rule out provocations from Russia against a NATO member state. Have you been briefed on this? What should we expect in the coming months? Without going into any classified information, I think the Radcliffe mission could well be empty and ephemeral unless it is backed with a real show of strength.

6:58Putin is a mob thug. He understands only force and strength. And so to send the CIA director, as President Biden did, Director Burns, to warn or try to persuade Putin with words, actions speak louder than words, largely going to be ineffective. And the Europeans understand that right now what's needed is more air defense, the Pac-3 interceptors, more long range artillery in the HIMARS and the kinds of aid that Ukraine needs to hit those launch sites and drone and missile manufacturing sites with Starlink that will really send a message to Putin that the United States and Europe means business.

7:48but they sense a danger of escalation that can't be met by just words and, in fact, is contradicted by Elbridge Colby's mission. He's the chief undersecretary for policy in the Department of Defense or war. When he went just last week and said, we're reducing our troop strength.

8:08Margaret Brennan:Right. Well, he hasn't revealed any details of what that reduction in presence could be. I understand there's a floor set about 76 ,000 troops, right? Otherwise, they have to get congressional permission. Is that happening? I doubt that Congress will approve at this critical moment reduction in force structure in Europe when Putin is more dangerous and threatening than ever. You mentioned Russia sanctions. You were part of that team alongside the late Senator Lindsey Graham pushing for that punishing package of financial measures against those who buy Russian oil. It passed through the Senate, but there are reservations, as you know, in the House, including from some of your fellow Democrats.

8:58Margaret Brennan:Greg Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said it's a Trojan horse for tariff authorities he has repeatedly abused. He's concerned about giving President Trump more power here. What's your message to these skeptics? First and foremost, this bill was the result of painstaking, sometimes painful negotiations with the U.S. Trade Representative, the White House, my colleagues in the House and Senate on both sides of the aisle. It passed the Senate 86 to 11. Not many measures doing that kind of successful passage these days. And it has increased authority for the president to impose scorching sanctions on the oligarchs, the financial institutions.

9:47It has measures to crack down on the shadow fleet. And it has tariff authority, but narrowly constrained to the five largest purchasers of Russian oil and gas. None of our European allies would be tariff. And here's the main point. It is a moment of extreme urgency for the reason that Putin may try to escalate, but also because Putin is on his heels economically. His economy is on the verge of major crisis. He has a deficit looming of$125 billion, 5 % of his GDP, an interest rate of 14 % on his national debt. And this kind of sanctions bill, throttling the flow of revenue to his war machine, could undercut completely his ability to wage this brutal, murderous war.

10:40Margaret Brennan:So you think you can get enough Dems in the House to move this through? I'm very hopeful, and I urge President Zelensky when we met to come to talk to members of Congress, just as he did in the Senate. And I'm very hopeful that he will, because he's Ukraine's strongest advocate. I want to ask you about what's happening in the state of Connecticut. Nationwide, ICE arrests have increased significantly in June and in July. This past week, the governor of Connecticut said despite President Trump saying to governors he would not send in ICE to cities that did not ask for help, they detained dozens of people in Danbury, Connecticut, in Bridgeport and Stanford.

11:18Margaret Brennan:ICE did not inform those cities in advance. You're seeing footage of some of those arrests. What have you learned? Has this operation concluded? How many people were arrested? And was it time to back to school, as your colleague, Senator Chris Murphy, alleges? We've learned nothing from ICE, but we know that probably about 100 were detained and arrested. Very few of them, only a fraction, maybe six or seven, have any kind of criminal history. So the administration saying that it's detaining the worst of the worst or deporting people with serious criminal history is absolutely belied by the facts.

11:59That's not what's happening. In fact, they are seizing people. Many of them have legal status in this country. They may have come here seeking asylum and they are doing it in a way that is repugnant and inhumane. The point is cruelty. They are trying to spread terror and sow fear in a way that is destructive of those communities. I'm going to be walking through Danbury tomorrow with the mayor, and I hope to have a forum. The Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation has been doing spotlight forums on these abuses by ICE. I hope to have one in Danbury or in Connecticut later in the week.

12:39Margaret Brennan:Okay. And Homeland Security hasn't provided detailed information to us about that. I want to quickly ask you about you have made this push for more online safety for kids. This past week, we saw Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram and WhatsApp. They agreed to pay$17 billion to the states that sued them to try to institute child safety measures. They want YouTube and TikTok to put the same measures in place. and they're being asked to turn off access at night. They said they'll have a two-hour daily time limit, notifications during school hours. Do these measures do enough to sort of obviate the need for legislation?

13:20Margaret Brennan:What do you make of this settlement? This settlement is a very commendable and welcome step forward, but it is incomplete, first because it covers only Meta, and Meta understandably wants YouTube and TikTok and all of social media to be covered by it. It limits only some of the addictive harmful features that are driving toxic content at kids. It lasts for only 10 years and it relates only to some of the addictive product design features that are so terrible and it will not keep pace with an evolving technology. So we still need the Kids Online Safety Act. In fact, more than ever, I'm going to be pushing with my partner, Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, who has been a staunch advocate with me, and we're hopeful that we'll get our bill through the Senate and the House.

14:18Margaret Brennan:We'll watch for that, Senator. Thank you for your time this morning. Base Nation will be back in a minute. Stay with us. And we're back with Michigan Congressman John James, who is also the Republican nominee for governor in his state. He joins us from Rockford, Michigan. Good morning to you, Congressman. Hey, Margaret. Good morning. Thank you so much for having me on. I'm really excited because in a state like Michigan, we have the most extreme ticket running with Abdel El-Sayed and Jocelyn Benson campaigning with people who said that we deserve 9-11. I say never forget. Wow. I want to ask you about some issues with your platform and the like, but never forget, of course, I'm sorry, did you just accuse Senate candidates of something to do with terrorism?

15:00Margaret Brennan:I'm not clear on what you just said. Yeah, they're campaigning with extremists who say that America deserves 9-11. And I think that coming up on the 25th anniversary of 9-11, these are statements that are way out of bounds and should definitely be clarified. Michigan is ground zero for this republic in this next election, and we need to make sure that we stop socialism and that we save the state of Michigan, because if we don't do it here, it's going to go to the rest of the country. Okay. I think you're talking about a supporter of a Senate candidate that that Senate candidate has started to distance himself from, and that influencer, Hassan Piker, has disavowed those past comments he made.

15:44Margaret Brennan:But let's put that aside because I don't want to get into that. I want to talk about you. You are an Iraq war vet. And we are now, given your time in uniform and your service to this country, I wonder what you think that we're now at the six-month mark of the war with Iran. We were told it was going to be four to six weeks. As you know, it's unpopular. 61 % of Americans, according to our polling, disapprove of it. It's driven up gas prices. It's affecting America's role in the world. I wonder if you agree with what appears to be a switch away from military force towards economic sanctions. And do you think your constituents deserve more of an explanation from the administration as to what they're doing?

16:25I believe very strongly when people say death to America, we should take them at their word. I graduated West Point in the class of 2004, and we took our oath of affirmation knowing that we would go to war. And as a result, the class of 2004 has suffered the most casualties of any service academy since Vietnam. We understand the cost of war. We hate war. And we want to use every method, diplomatic or economic, to make sure that we keep Americans safe and we keep our young military members out of war. I applaud the administration's effort to make sure that Iran has no nukes so they cannot threaten America and our allies.

17:02I applaud the administration's efforts to use every resource at their disposal to pursue peace. And these are the types of things that people want. But we also have a number of things in the state of Michigan that we can do to lower the cost of living, to increase affordability. And these are the types of things that I'm running to do as governor to reduce harmful regulations that will lower gas prices and will lower the cost of groceries. These are the types of things that Michiganders are talking about, increasing affordability, particularly with energy and housing and health care. And I'm excited to be able to do that here at home.

17:34Margaret Brennan:Okay. Okay. Well, Michigan in particular has a major reliance on trade with Canada, your neighbor to the north. Their prime minister said he's going to match the U.S. tariffs on Canada dollar for dollar starting September 8th. Do you have any idea what this trade war is going to cost Michigan? Absolutely. I am somebody who actually understands the automotive industry. I'm an automotive supplier. I have actually created jobs in the state of Michigan and I recognize how important and crucial our partnership with our friends and family in Canada is. But I also recognize how crucial it is that the status quo not continue.

18:14Michigan has lost over 300 ,000 manufacturing jobs since the 90s and that cannot continue. But at the same time, we need the negotiators to go back to the table, stop acting like children and negotiate a fair, mutually beneficial, reciprocal deal that that will benefit the United States of America and the state of Michigan. As a governor, I will be able to work with the president, be able to work with the prime minister to make sure that we can do this. Hopefully it doesn't take that long, but I stand ready and willing to assist to make sure that we have an economy that works for Michiganders and one that will continue to create prosperity in the state of Michigan.

18:49Margaret Brennan:So if you win, you would be Michigan's chief executive here. So January 1st, when you would be sworn in, is the very same date President Trump says He'll hit Canada with a 50 percent tariff on cars, trucks, auto parts and steel. Canada's prime minister said workers in your state rely on Canadian demand since they are the largest customer for autos. This is going to be a big blow on the first day of your administration. Would you ask the White House not to do this? Well, we're already talking with with members of the trade team and we're going to be continuing to engage with them so that we can avoid those things.

19:27Look, tariffs are not the objective. The objective is to protect Michigan jobs. The objective is to make sure that we deepen and continue our relationship with Canada. But it cannot be borne on the backs of Michiganders. Michigan is a state that relies on free and fair trade, but it cannot come at the expense of Michiganders. So, again, as somebody who's been in the automotive industry who understands this, the prime minister has also said that he's targeting politically sensitive states. he should not be bullying Michigan because the the negotiators can't come to a deal we need to stop the book president Trump said he was going to do terror in a room they should probably well well you know what I have kids and I recognize that when you have a people who are fighting you just want people to fix it yeah and these are adults the negotiators need to get back in the room and negotiate and not leave until they have a deal as a governor of the state of Michigan I will be uniquely situated to make sure that these these things don't happen we continue to grow jobs because the fact of the matter is Michigan is 42nd in the nation in infrastructure.

20:30We're 43rd in the nation in economy. We're 45th in the nation in education. We're 46th overall. Outside, people want to make this about the president. Democrats want to make this about the president, but there are 45 states doing better than Michigan, and we all have the same president. By having a governor who will work with everybody on both sides, and including Canada, to make sure that we grow our economy because the status quo isn't working. Michigan hasn't been hurt. We will continue forward to have a more prosperous future and affordable future for Michigan.

20:57Margaret Brennan:Okay, on that point, I want to ask you about your position on data centers. This is such a hot topic. You've said both that the decision to allow data centers should be left to local communities, and then the John James campaign said you support a moratorium on new data centers until there's a plan to protect local communities. Which is it? Yeah, they're not mutually exclusive. They're the same. My position is that we need to have a plan to protect our communities. Until we do, then we have to make sure that we have local control. Our electricity bills can't go up. We must protect our water. We have to prevent pollution.

21:34So hold off for now until there's a vote. That includes land, air, noise pollution. And then we need to make sure that we prioritize blighted and brown fields over productive green farmland. And then, of course, we all need to make sure that we have diverse growth in our economy. But Michigan is open for business but we are not for sale. We need to make sure that we are repealing Public Act 233 and Public Act 235 that give Lansing all the control and pursues these Green New Deal initiatives that are making everything more expensive from our gas to our groceries. You look at our prices from our taxes to our energy costs, we are the highest amongst other Midwestern states.

22:10So again, we need to have local control and we need to make sure we prevent pollution, make sure our electricity bills don't go up. We prioritize blighted brown fields over productive green farmland.

22:18Margaret Brennan:All right, John James, Congressman, thank you for your time today. We'll be right back.

22:48Margaret Brennan:often been accused of turning a blind eye to settler violence against Palestinians. But Netanyahu swiftly condemned yesterday's attackers, referring to them as rioters, and he called for an investigation. Earlier this year, crews from CNN and the AFP had similar incidents in the region. Worldwide, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 31 journalists and media workers have been killed thus far in 2026. Matching outfits, extravagant birthdays, many nicknames, a few classic moves of a dog-obsessed parent. At Ollie, they're obsessed with how obsessed you are with your pup, which is why they obsess over giving your dog the best.

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