Sen. Mark Warner, Rep. Brian Mast, Sen. Bernie Sanders
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I'm Margaret Brennan in Washington, and this week on Face the Nation, President Trump picks a terror fight with America's top trade partners. Federal workers brace for another tumultuous week. And the fallout continues from Mr. Trump blaming diversity policies for the mid-air collision of an Army Blackhawk and a passenger jet.

Washington and the rest of the world are waking up to what feels like a new reality show as President Trump continues to make good on his campaign promises, despite the confusion and controversy surrounding some of them. We'll talk with the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Virginia's Mark Warner, Vermont Independent Bernie Sanders, and the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Republican Brian Mast.

On the good news front, American Keith Siegel has a happy family reunion following his release from Hamas captivity. It's all just ahead on Face the Nation.

Good morning and welcome to Face the Nation. One of the president's biggest campaign promises was to enact steep tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China. Saturday night, he did just that. And the move has already sparked international backlash and sent chills through the financial world. We begin with senior White House and political correspondent Ed O'Keefe, who is traveling with Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Panama.

Margaret, good morning. These are sweeping tariffs. The president using a 1977 law to suggest there is now an extraordinary threat from fentanyl and illegal immigration and that all three countries are failing to address those challenges. So, starting Tuesday, there will be 25% tariffs on all Mexican exports.

25% tariffs on most Canadian exports, 10% tariffs on Canadian energy exports, and 10% tariffs on all goods from China. This morning, the president acknowledged this could lead to higher prices, writing, Will there be some pain? Yes, maybe, and maybe not, he wrote on his social media platform. But we will make America great again, and it will all be worth the price that must be paid.

This has triggered a trade war. Canada's prime minister announced tariffs on American beer, bourbon, wine, lumber, fruits, clothing, appliances. So, Ed, what else should we expect is coming that could hurt American consumers?

Well, we should anticipate there could be a tit-for-tat here because the orders that the president signed Saturday night give him the authority to keep raising tariffs on the three countries if they respond in kind. And that could contribute to an uptick in inflation, which we've seen in recent weeks. Now, the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke directly to Americans last night, warning the tariffs, quote, will put your jobs at risk, potentially shutting down American auto assembly plants and other manufacturing facilities.

And he said Canada's planned dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs will raise American grocery and gas prices. And while President Trump accused Mexico of having an alliance with drug cartels, President Claudia Scheinbaum said if such alliances exist anywhere, they exist in the U.S. gun shops that sell high-powered weapons to criminal groups. And China says it firmly deplores and opposes this move and will take necessary countermeasures to defend its legitimate rights and interests. It is planning to protest these tariffs to the World Trade Organization.

Ed, what's on Secretary Rubio's agenda in Panama? Yeah, well, you know, Rubio, of course, the first Latino secretary of state, so he is taking his first overseas mission here to Central America and the Caribbean to reiterate President Trump's concern that China now has too much influence over the Panama Canal. The Panamanians insist they have full control. Margaret. Thanks, Ed.

We go now to Virginia Democratic Senator Mark Warner. He is the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and joins us from Palm Beach, Florida. Good morning to you, Senator. Good morning, Margaret. Do you have any sense yet what the cost of these tariffs could be for Virginia, which does have a wine industry, for example? Yeah.

Well, first of all, Margaret, I think we might want to call this the Donald Trump Super Bowl tax with the big game coming next week. If you, you know, avocados, tomatoes, beer from Mexico, price is going to go up. The question around cars, I've read already about $3,000 of additional price on cars up to $10,000 on trucks because we've actually integrated very well our auto production with Canada and Mexico.

I think it's well about the fact that for years we've been encouraging businesses to leave China and near shore to a place like Mexico. Now that is going to end up costing consumers more. And for industries like ours, like the wine industry, where we are growing rapidly in Virginia, those folks are going to get socked as well. So this is, remember Donald Trump got hired trying to lower, saying he was going to lower grocery prices. Right. Two weeks in, he's doing something that's going to do the absolute opposite.

Well, we will track the impact of this trade war. Senator, I want to switch topics. You are, as we said, the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. We watched that hearing this week for Tulsi Gabbard. She had two particular exchanges with Republican senators, Todd Young and James Lankford, who pressed her to say that Edward Snowden was a traitor. Lankford said it was a softball, but listen to what happened.

Did he betray a duty? Did he betray the trust of the American people? Which is according to Merriam-Webster, that's the definition of a traitor. Edward Snowden broke the law and he released this information in a way that he should not have.

He also acknowledged and exposed information that was unconstitutional. Was he a traitor at the time when he took America's secrets, released them in public, and then ran to China and became a Russian citizen? Senator, I'm focused on the future and how we can prevent something like this from happening again. You've worked closely with these senators. I know they're Republicans and you're from a different party, but...

When you speak to them privately, do you think they can get over that, her refusal to call him a traitor and actually vote to confirm her or even move her out of committee? Listen, Margaret, Edward Snowden released more information, probably did as much damage to our intelligence community as anyone in history.

And the fact that Ms. Gabbard, who actually had legislation to pardon Edward Snowden, she called him a brave whistleblower, couldn't bring herself to call him a traitor, I think is disqualifying just on plain judgment. What would that, what signal, if she got in, would that send to the IC workers or contractors? Is she going to suddenly enforce the law if she called Snowden a brave whistleblower? And what I'm particularly concerned about, Margaret, is

Our sharing of information with our allies, that's not written into law. That's based on trust. Will they really trust to share their intelligence with us if she can't call out one of the worst traitors in recent American history as such, as a traitor? Do you think she can even make it out of committee and make it to a full vote on the floor of the Senate?

I know there are a number. Our committee is historically the most bipartisan. We check our partisan hats at the door. There is enormous MAGA pressure that, as we've seen, put on senators who are willing to stand up. We'll know this coming week. But it's not just Snowden. It was America's most powerful intelligence tool is a law called something we call Section 702. She left us totally confused on our views on that. And as well,

her lack of judgment, whether it's going to visit Assad when he was head of Syria, whether it was taking trips paid for by sketchy groups or echoing Putin's comments that somehow NATO started the war in Ukraine, that is not the judgment of somebody that would run 18 intelligence communities, agencies.

We will watch to see those Republican senators. I wanna ask you as well about what's happening at the FBI and the Justice Department. President Trump, he campaigned on this promise to restructure the government, seems like he's implementing that this week. So far between the FBI and Justice Department, we've seen at least 20 terminations. Some are calling this a purge, but is it overstating it if we're seeing 20 people lose their jobs?

Well, if you were suddenly taking out the most experienced folks at Justice or at the FBI, how does that make us stronger? And what he's saying is every FBI agent that somehow touched the January 6th investigation, that was a comprehensive investigation. I've been told there were almost half of all the FBI agents at least had some involvement. Remember, this was a case that was taken up against these investigators.

rioters all across the country. If you're suddenly gonna get rid of all those, that could be thousands. What does that mean for our cybersecurity? What does it mean for our trafficking and stop against fentanyl and other drugs? What does it mean in terms of serious crime investigations? This would be devastating.

Well, that's what our reporting is that the order was for a list to be drawn up of those 1500 or so people who worked on those cases. We're going to try to get to the bottom of whether they're actually going to be fired or not. That's not clear. We've seen.

But we've seen you get your name on these lists. It's like it's like Trump's potentially illegal offer to buy out all the federal employees where we have no money in the budget for. But we had a great tragedy this week in D.C. with the air, the crash. Yeah, we are already short air traffic controllers. If suddenly two or three thousand air traffic controllers were to say, hey, I'm going to take this buyout. Our airspace couldn't operate.

And yet he's doing this so recklessly. Is it being offered to them? Without legal authority. Pardon me? Is that open? Say again? Is it being offered to air traffic controllers?

All federal employees, my understanding, went out to 2 million federal employees. This offer, which again, OPM does not have that authority to start with. That was who it came from. But it is, I can tell you, with lots of federal employees, we got chaos on steroids going on. And we had heard from Trump's supporters, the OMB director, for example, that he wanted to traumatize federal workers. Well, that is happening. And these workers are the folks that inspect our fruit, our milk, our eggs, our

You know, what happens if they all quit? -I want to ask you -- and I know many of those people live in the state of Virginia. They are your constituents. I want to ask you about your former partner on the Intelligence Committee, Marco Rubio, now Secretary of State. He told a podcaster this week the president made the decision to cancel security protection for Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who served during the first term, because he looked through a threat-versus-cost risk assessment.

I know you're briefed on intelligence. Did the threat from Iran to assassinate former U.S. officials go away? No. I've seen no intelligence that would indicate that that threat has been diminished. But Secretary Rubio endorsed this. Listen, I have not seen any intelligence. And here I agree with my partner, Tom Cotton, the now chair of the intel community. We've seen nothing.

to indicate less threat and also taking out, for example, down the security detail for former general chief of staff Mark Milley. This is all about retribution and he's putting people's lives in danger, which is just unbelievable. And I wish more people would stand up. Senator, thank you for your time this morning. Thank you, Margaret. Face the Nation will be back in a minute. Stay with us.

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And we're joined now by Florida Republican Congressman Brian Mast, who is the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, which has oversight over the State Department and its programs. He joins us from Fort Pierce, Florida. Good morning to you. Good morning. I want to start first on the tariffs that were announced overnight by President Trump. You know there is a free trade agreement with Mexico and Canada.

President Trump negotiated during his first term. The tariffs may violate that deal. If he's invoking tariffs on a national security basis, can you explain the threat posed by Canada?

Yeah, and he was predestined at Trump, that is to say, was very specific in his executive order outlined that it's specifically related to fentanyl. It's specifically related to human trafficking. And there's a trust but verify situation that has to go on here through Canada as well. Absolutely. Fentanyl through Canada, human trafficking through Canada, also with China in that mix for fentanyl as well. That was specifically outlined in it. And until that comes to an end,

This is what's going to be on the table. And bear in mind as well that USMCA reauthorization is coming up in the coming up months and years. So you don't believe that this violates the trade agreement?

The violation has been to the United States of America. It's been to our sovereignty. It's been to our people. Right, but Congress votes on these things. And I will make sure, certainly as the Foreign Affairs Chairman, that we give every single authority as we go through State Department reauthorization to make sure that this moves forward, as well as purging of people throughout the State Department, other agencies, where we're freezing aid. These are all very important and necessary steps to make sure that we secure America, and we're going to support that.

I'm sorry, can I follow up on what you just said there? You want to authorize purging of State Department personnel? What does that mean exactly? Well, if you want to take a look at the State Department where DEI has been a priority over, let's say, diplomacy in many accounts, I can give you hundreds of examples of where they were authorizing. What proof do you have of that?

Sure, let's list them off. Half a million dollars to expand atheism in Nepal, $50,000 to do, let's see, a transgender opera in Colombia, $47,000 to do an LGBTQ trans comic book in Peru, $20,000 a pop to do drag shows in Ecuador. Shall I continue with more examples of where DEI was the priority? It certainly seems like there could be a review of things. Foreign aid, as you know, is less than 1% of the entire federal budget. So we're talking...

small amounts of money by comparison. We're still talking about tens and tens of billions of dollars. And if you want to go to somebody else on the other side of the aisle, Samantha Powers, she had a worthy goal, although it was a stupid goal. She said she was hoping to get the amount of foreign aid, U.S. aid dollars that go to actual aid up

to 30 cents on the dollar from 10 cents on the dollar. That's a major problem that we have this agency that that's all that goes abroad when it's the American workers' dollar. I think now you're talking about the USAID, the aid agency, which is separate from the State Department currently and has about

$40 billion worth. Which is likely going to be rolled more closely under Secretary Rubio. Yeah, tell me about that because that's where I was going. Has the Trump administration informed you of plans to dismantle or significantly shrink this agency? This is something that I'm working on very specifically in conjunction with Secretary Rubio to make sure that there's the appropriate command and control of these agencies. We're, again, to make that same point right now. They already report to Secretary of State. Maybe 10 to 30 cents

But 10 to 30 cents on the dollar is what actually goes to aid. So there's not the right amount of command and control that's going on with the way that it's set up currently. Congress authorizes and earmarks funding. Most of these dollars that go out of U.S. aid, 70 plus percent, don't come from U.S. growers, U.S. farmers, U.S. ranchers, or go through U.S. ports. And that's another big problem for America. So I'm sorry, Congress already authorizes and earmarks the funding. Just to be very clear.

You're not endorsing getting rid of USAID as a separate department, which already reports to the Secretary of State, are you? I would be absolutely for, if that's the path we go down, removing USAID as a separate department and having it fall under one of the other parts of United States Department of State because of its failure. I just went over the numbers twice with you in the amount of aid that actually

actually makes it into the hands. I mean, you could almost say this is a little bit hyperbole, but there's probably more dollars that go towards state dinners around the DC beltway than what actually goes into rice and beans abroad. That's the state of what's going on with USAID. And Samantha Power said no less herself.

I think every single administration authorizes reviews, could increase efficiencies. There are plenty of people who propose bringing it more under the authority of the State Department. Madeleine Albright tried to do that. That's not a new MAGA idea. I think the question here, though, is about how you do it. Do you still believe that in the law signed in in the 1960s that Congress has to sign off

on any changes to USAID? Or do you think President Trump can just make all of this happen through executive order? So all of those examples that you just gave of those historical figures, the difference is now the job is going to get done. It's going to be 99.99% of cents on the dollar actually go towards what it's intended instead of people around the beltway. That's what's going to happen. That's the change. Efficiencies and aids versus restructuring. So let me ask you about that.

Well, that requires restructuring 100 percent. You can't create that efficiency just by wishing it into existence. You have to restructure where the failures are and put the right things in place. Of course. But what we're hearing from many of these aid organizations and officials is that.

Can you restructure after you finish the review and not freeze funding now immediately? I spoke to former USAID global health head Atul Gawande yesterday. He told me this isn't a pause in foreign aid. It is a demolition of USAID. As he put it, you can't pause a flight in midair. That's what's happening. This immediate freeze in funding is stopping agencies in the field from being able to do the work they do.

Let's say why that is so important. And let's talk about the real facts on the ground. The Trump administration comes in or representatives like myself that do oversight. The agencies will literally not tell us what they are writing grants for literally, or they will lie about it, or they will tell the new political appointees under the Trump administration.

I'm just not going to tell you that. Those are real things that have happened. So the way that you make them come and answer for where they are actually sending dollars is to say, we're freezing that. We're putting it on hold. You need to come to us and explain what it is you're doing, why you're doing it, and where it's actually saving life. And guess what? When they don't come explain something, that also begs the question, why were they doing it in the first place?

is the contractors have to front the cash then go to the U.S. government for reimbursement. So when you put in an immediate freeze, that means drugs don't get delivered. That means they don't get distributed. That means bomb disposal units don't get to go out there in places like Cambodia and remove ordinance or provide help to people who receive it. That's the pushback from aid organizations who are saying they're going to have to carry out layoffs in the thousands of

in the coming week. Does that concern you at all? - They will have an opportunity. It doesn't concern me because of the grift that has been going on to the American taxpayer, the American worker. That's what needs to be answered for. And so you look at this, let's use PEPFAR as an example. You were talking about drugs going to individuals.

There was a release of that hold that was authorized, but it shouldn't be the case that the American people fund HIV and AIDS drugs for 20 million people across Africa, where many of these countries are working very directly with our adversaries like China. That is an example of them taking us for granted. We need to be asking the question, should they be weaning off of this?

Should we be paying for these very expensive HIV and AIDS drugs? Should the American worker be footing the bill for that? Those are real questions. Yeah, real questions. But in the meantime, people need their drugs while you ask those questions. So that's where the disagreement is with the aid organizations. But let me ask you about air traffic controllers and what's happening here at home. Not with all the leaders of other countries, though. I believe I saw the leader of Kenya as one step up and say, hey, this is an example where we need to step up for ourselves and show how we can take care of ourselves. And I believe that was the president there.

I want to ask you, as I was saying about another committee you sit on, Transportation Committee, the FAA hiring policy for air traffic controllers, including under the first Trump administration, offered equal opportunity to those with targeted disabilities, including, as the president read, hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, severe intellectual disability, excuse me.

The president singled this out, this policy, as a contributor possibly to the crash. Do you agree with the diversity policy or do you agree with the president? I know you lost two limbs serving this country in Afghanistan. Do you hear those words and take offense to them?

No, no offense. Let's unpack it. Number one, I'll use myself as an example, right? There are things that I am suited to do, no doubt, but flying an aircraft to stick with the subject at hand would not be one of them. I could fly a personal aircraft, but to put me in charge of 50 or 150 lives, that would not be the right case for me personally, given my...

physical disabilities and foot pedals on an aircraft. To go to the diversity side of it and the actual crash, yes, there were very real errors that took place both in the air traffic control tower and with the helicopter pilots, it seems. But more systemically, is there a big hiring problem across all federal agencies to include the FAA where they made the priority diversity and inclusion?

instead of excellence and performance. Yes, that's the case. They made the priority appearance and lifestyle and not the big deal. Congressman, thank you for your time today. We go now to independent Senator Bernie Sanders from Burlington, Vermont. Good morning to you, Senator. Very quickly, do you have a sense of the impact of these tariffs on your state? Well, it's going to be very severe, but this is not the only thing that worries me.

Margaret, we are living in an unprecedented moment in American history. We're looking at a rapid growth of oligarchy.

We're looking at a rapid growth of authoritarianism. And I fear that we're looking at a rapid growth of kleptocracy as well. And I'm going to do everything I can to work with my supporters all over this country to stand up and fight back, to make sure we have an economy that works for everybody, not just Elon Musk, and that we maintain American democracy. Difficult times.

Senator, I'm going to have to ask you more about what you mean by that on the other side of this commercial break, because I have to take it. Stay with us. We hope all of you will as well. We'll be right back with a lot more Face the Nation. Stay with us.

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Welcome back to Face the Nation. We return to our conversation with Vermont Independent Senator Bernie Sanders. Senator, thank you for sticking with us through the break. I want to ask you about some of the

rather fiery hearings you were a part of this past week, in particular with the potential Health and Human Services Secretary-to-be, RFK Jr. You told CBS in December you think he's right about the food industry and obesity and what he says about high prices for prescription drugs. But during the hearing, you had some sharp exchanges. Are you, at this point,

decided on your vote? Will you cross over and help Republicans confirm him? Margaret, I have up to now voted for some Trump appointees, a few. I voted against most, and I'll make my decisions next week. Where Kennedy is right is we are an unhealthy society, a point I've been making, many others have been making for a long time. One of the things that concerns me very much, and Kennedy mentioned it, is our life expectancy. How long our people live is five years less than

than other wealthy countries. And if you're working class in this country, you live six or seven years lower than if you are rich. It is an issue we have to deal with. And I think the kind of addictive and poisonous food that the food industry is providing our kids is one of the factors, not many. But when you have Kennedy come forward and saying he cannot, he believes, continues to believe that

that autism is caused by vaccines despite the fact that there have been a dozen studies over the years which disprove that when he has other conspiracy theories when he cannot acknowledge that if you're going to make America healthy you've got to guarantee health care to all people. He was not clear about the need to take on the greed of the pharmaceutical industry and lower prescription drug costs. So I was not particularly happy with his presentation.

On the autism point, there is no established cause of autism spectrum disorder, but one in 36 children have been identified with it, according to the CDC. There is concern in this space, including from your Republican colleague, Cassidy. He is a medical doctor. He said he's struggling with the nomination because he fears Kennedy may undermine faith in vaccines. Take a listen.

I recognize, man, if you come out unequivocally, vaccines are safe, it does not cause autism, that would have an incredible impact. That's your power. So what's it going to be? Will it be using the credibility to support lots of articles, or will it be using credibility to undermine? The senator seemed to be saying, if you want my vote, answer the question.

You said you haven't decided on RFK and how you're going to vote. Is this a red line for you? I don't want to. Margaret, what I'm saying is I just don't go around making these announcements. I will vote when I'll vote. But anybody who watched that hearing understands my deep concerns about Kennedy. But I got to tell you, the conspiracy theories that he is throwing out is not unlike what we're hearing all over the Trump administration.

And to me, what is most important in terms of what's been happening since Trump has been president is not just him having the three wealthiest people in the country stand behind him. And by the way, anybody, any working person in this country should understand what that means. It means that you can have a government working for the very rich, not for the working class of this country. But the movement toward authoritarianism. Yeah, go ahead. I'm sorry. No, no, I want to ask you about that. But just to paraphrase.

To push you on this point, because it's not just a matter of a vote, like what you are saying is that someone at the top of the health department who is rejecting science or rejecting data that says there's no linkage here, no proven linkage here, by not being clear and saying that's a red line, doesn't that lend itself to misinterpretation? Why won't you say that's disqualifying for him?

Because I have not said to anybody how I will vote. It doesn't matter. I will vote when I'll vote. But let me just tell you. Because Republicans were hoping you would help them. That's why I'm asking you. Well, I know they hope for a lot of things that just may not happen. Go ahead. I'm sorry.

The bottom line is we have a health care crisis in America. We're the only major country not to guarantee health care to all people. We pay by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. Our life expectancy is shorter than other countries. Yes, we've got to deal with it in a very direct,

and forceful manner. You've got to take on the insurance companies. You've got to move to Medicare for all. You've got to lower the cost of prescription drugs. We have to understand why our life expectancy is low. And by the way, it's not just health care. It's the fact that so many of our working people are stressed out by inadequate incomes.

that that's having an impact on not only their lifespans, but their well-being. Those are issues we've got to address. During the campaign, then-candidate Trump and Vance, they were very much championing working-class people, as you have through the years. They said they support unions, they don't want to tax tips, they want child care tax credits, they're pro-worker. Do you see any opportunities to work with them on specific policies, and if so, where?

Well, if they were telling the truth, then they will go forward in trying to stand up for the working class. Of course I will work with them. But I've got to tell you, just last week, what Trump did is essentially neuter the National Labor Relations Board. This is something that Bezos wanted. It's something that Elon Musk wanted. What that means, if you are a worker right now, and there are millions of workers...

who want to join a union because they know unions will give you better wages and better working conditions, better benefits. What they have done is new to that, so right now

Union busting corporations like Amazon and others can do what they do against workers with impunity. That is not standing with workers. We need to raise the salvation minimum wage, which is now seven and a quarter an hour to a living wage. I've not heard one word from the Trump administration about that.

Well, they want to leave that up to states and corporations as well to make a decision. That ain't going to do it. Vice President Vance told us last Sunday, despite those big tech CEOs giving money to the inauguration for Donald Trump, he still believes they have too much power in big tech and that he says, you know, they're still very much on notice in regard to his past warnings. They could be broken up.

Is that a place you are also concerned and could work with him on?

Well, I think Lina Khan, the former head of the FTC, did a great job. And if Vance wants to work with us on that, he's right. You have right now not only more income and wealth inequality in this country than ever before, more concentration of ownership in the tech industry and in other industries. Do I think we should start breaking up some of these large corporations? Absolutely, I do, and we'd be happy to work with them if they're serious about that.

Senator Bernie Sanders, independent from Vermont, thank you for joining us. The FBI is without a permanent director at this point, although Mr. Trump's nominee, Kash Patel, could get a vote as early as this week. We turn now to Frank Figaluzzi. He is a former FBI assistant director for counterintelligence who joins us from Houston.

Also here is CBS News justice correspondent Scott McFarland. And you cover justice and FBI, a lot happening in both of the departments. And I want to bottom line first with Frank, if I could, digging into your experience here. If you can help us understand the reporting from our Andy Trier and Pat Milton that the executive assistant directors, those in national security, cyber, criminal divisions are being forced to resign, retire or face termination.

What does it mean to have those positions forced out? Yeah, when you combine that essential layer of leadership, executive assistant directors control multiple operational divisions. So at least a half a dozen of those reportedly are gone. And then you get down to the level of at least two or three special agents in charge in the field, including Miami, Washington field office.

you are starting to lose too much experience. And if this plays out next week, as reportedly it might with regard to dismissing

hundreds or thousands of special agents in the field who have touched January 6 cases or Trump related cases. This makes America less safe. This is not reduction. This is not efficiency. It makes America less safe when you lose that much expertise this quickly. Okay, just to follow up there, Scott McFarland, what Frank was referring to is the list that was requested.

CBS's Rob Laguerre actually obtained the memo from acting Deputy Attorney General Emile Bove, who was previously the personal attorney for Donald Trump. He ordered the acting director of the FBI to compile everyone who was an employee who was assigned to the 1,500 January 6th cases. There were also eight executives pushed out.

Is this a legal and lawful order? Are FBI officials going to actually fire the people on these lists? The list is required and must be produced by 12 p.m. Eastern time Tuesday, according to our latest reporting. Whether it is produced is a different question.

The bottom line here is that such a list, Margaret, would include FBI employees from every FBI field office across the country. This is not just a Washington investigation. The January 6th cases went nationwide. What's more, a lot of the names that are going to be on this list, according to my reporting, are already public domain. They're in the court filings. They're in the court docket. They're already out there. So it's going to be difficult to mask information.

anybody's name or anybody's identity. Whether this is legally permissible, that's a different question. Whether these firings are legally permissible is a different question. We know the acting FBI director. In a memo sent to his employees, he emphasized that there are robust protections. His word is robust protections for FBI agents against employment actions. Feels to me like there is a galvanization of FBI employees if they want to fight this to try to

make some effort to push back. Whether they do so, it's a different question. That's why I was asking, is it actually going to be firings or is this actually just going to be a

You can't do what the president's team is pressing to do. Brian Fitzpatrick, you know him from covering the Hill. He's a Republican from Pennsylvania, used to be an FBI agent, gave CBS a statement I want to read here. He says he wants to emphasize to the administration line level street agents have little to no control over the

Frank, I know you know this, but that is a Republican explaining the basic function of how law enforcement works. It sounds like there's going to be pushback on the potential of these firings.

Yes, indeed. It's been reported by multiple media outlets that the acting director pushed back very hard and very loudly against the DOJ request. And reportedly, he may have been threatened with termination himself. Interestingly enough, both the acting director and acting assistant director would be on that list. They both worked Jan 6 related cases or Trump related cases. So we've got a potential standoff.

that's here. But yes, line agents did nothing outside of the law or attorney general guidelines. They simply worked criminal cases in many cases gained convictions and guilty pleas. And if they were literally all to be pushed out the door, we would be talking about thousands of FBI agents. There's only 14,000 agents in the field and we'd be talking close to 6,000 of them who worked such cases.

And Scott, we were just talking about Kash Patel, the boss, isn't in place yet. He was asked under oath before Congress if he knew of some of these actions that were underway, literally as he was testifying. He said he didn't know anything about the firings. Is this going to, is it credible and is it going to be a problem for his confirmation? This might have been simultaneous, Margaret. These questions, including from Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, were happening. It's a lot of this communication, right?

was going back and forth over terminations, resignations, retirements. Kash Patel has been on a trajectory towards confirmation as the next FBI director, almost from the jump. The one vote I've been watching closely, Tom Tillis, the North Carolina Republican, up for reelection in 2026. He introduced Kash Patel and validated him. It seems nobody has jumped up this weekend to say, I'm now opposed.

Scott McFarlane, it's going to be another interesting week in Washington. Thank you for bottom lining it. We'll be right back. Prepare to be entertained. Gladiator 2 is now streaming on Paramount+. You hear that crowd? It's ferociously entertaining. I'm just here for the games. And an absolute triumph. Take your father's strength. His name is Maximus. Paul Meskel, Pedro Pascal, with Connie Nielsen and Denzel Washington.

Strength and honor. Strength and honor. Gladiator 2, directed by Ridley Scott. Now streaming on Paramount+. Rated R. Let the bodies hit the... Think about how screwed up we would be if we had survived a plane crash only to end up eating each other. The only way to truly be safe is to be the only one left. You really are insane. Yellow Jackets, new season, streaming February 14th on the Paramount+, with Showtime Plan.

The temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is still holding, and three more hostages were released yesterday, including American-Israeli dual national Keith Siegel. His niece, Hannah Siegel, is here with us this morning.

Good morning. You've been waiting for this for over 400 days. How is your uncle doing? First, thank you for having me. I've been dreaming about being here today. He's doing okay. He's lost some weight. He's pale, but he's strong. And he's

He's doing okay somehow. We're incredibly grateful. I mean, we've seen the video and the images of him being reunited with family members. Will your father, his brother, see him soon? Yes, he's on his way. We've been staggering the family visits so as not to overwhelm him. But yes, we are all going to see him. And actually, his youngest daughter, Shere, got engaged a month before October 7th.

And so the wedding planning began and then abruptly came to a stop as both of her parents, Keith and my aunt Aviva, who was released in the November 2023 deal, were taken hostage. So what we've talked about is that, you know, someday we're all going to get together and throw an absolutely epic wedding. And that's what we're looking forward to now.

So you've been an advocate for the family here in Washington, both with the Biden and the Trump administrations. In your view, do you think this deal, this hostage release would have happened without American pressure? No, definitely not. And I do want to say so the Biden team, Jake Sullivan, Brett McGurk, President Biden, Secretary Blinken, Bill Burns, they were strong.

so tireless in their commitment to get this deal done. But the really amazing thing is that the minute that President Trump was elected, his team started working hand in glove with the Biden administration. We felt no break in the commitment to get Keith Holm, Steve Witkoff, and Adam Bowler, along with President Trump, started working hand in hand with the Biden team. And I don't know what other issue you can say that about with these administrations. The Trump team really did push it over the finish line.

And we're incredibly grateful, incredibly grateful to all of them for the work that they did. I also just want to say the Qatari negotiators, mediators who were part of the November 2023 deal were also instrumental. And then what I've learned in this completely bizarre experience is that there is a whole...

industry of people, NGOs who work on hostage negotiations on behalf of families. We worked with Global Reach, Mickey Bergman, Stacia George, and Eric Lebson. They're a nonprofit. We would not have gotten Keith home without them. So it was just a tremendous group effort across the board, across political lines, and that's heartening. You told us back in April on this program that you were worried about

"It's not arguably in Prime Minister Netanyahu's political interest to close a deal." And you were worried he was going to sink it. He's announced phase two of the hostage framework begins getting negotiated tomorrow, Monday. Do you think he's incentivized now to actually see this deal through?

I think that the Trump team has done a really tremendous job of putting serious pressure on him and that that is making a difference. I think that he, you know, we're ecstatic that Keith is home, but it took almost 500 days. And that is in part because of Netanyahu. This deal was available for months. The Biden team was working on it. And, um,

And he wouldn't come to the table often. I mean, there are, this is such a complicated issue, but I am worried. I think this is a really fragile deal as we all understand. And so, you know,

You know, I have a lot of faith in the Trump team and in all of the people working on this to put serious pressure on him to see it through. I think what we've seen is that diplomacy and political agreement is the only way to get all of the hostages home. And, you know, we're one of the lucky ones, but there remain five American citizens and dozens of other hostages who still need to come home. And the remains of some of those Americans wouldn't come through until phase three. In phase two, we know...

Idan Alexander, a uniformed IDF soldier who is a US citizen. Yes. The deal would have to continue to work to actually bring him home. Sige Chen, we're waiting on him to be released as well. Exactly.

So I emphasize that because when we talk about deals and diplomacy, these are lives at risk. And if the deal doesn't continue to stay in place, they may be at risk. And these are Americans. These are Americans who need to come home. Hannah, thank you. Thank you so much, Margaret. And congratulations. Thank you. It's great news. Thank you for having me. We'll be right back.

Before we go, CBS Evening News co-anchor and presidential historian John Dickerson has some thoughts on the tone of those Oval Office moments following tragedy. After the deadliest air crash in 20 years in America, President Trump responded as presidents have before. I speak to you this morning in an hour of anguish for a nation. In moments like this, the

Differences between Americans fade to nothing compared to the bonds of affection and loyalty that unite us all. Differences fade because we are all reminded of the basic truth that we are all human and life is fragile. In such rare moments, a president can transform private grief into public meaning. These presidential moments live in our collective memory. Ronald Reagan addressing the nation after the Challenger disaster. We will never forget them.

nor the last time we saw them this morning as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God. George W. Bush at Ground Zero. The nation sends its love and compassion. Barack Obama singing at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. Amazing grace.

In speech, by bullhorn, in song, and now by executive memorandum. That's how Donald Trump used the Oval Office where Reagan had eulogized the Challenger astronauts.

Though the president had earlier declared an hour of anguish for our nation, for him the hour only lasted a few minutes. He spent much of the remainder of this unique moment distributing blame. I put safety first. Obama, Biden and the Democrats put policy first. And they put politics at a level that nobody's

ever seen. The starkest claim? The one behind the Oval Office signing ceremony, that diversity programs had caused the crash that killed 67. We have a presidential memorandum titled "Immediate Assessment of Aviation Safety."

in light of the damage done to aviation safety by the Biden administration's DEI and woke policies. When asked what proof he had that diversity was the culprit, the president said he had no proof but didn't need any. I'm trying to figure out how you can come to the conclusion right now that diversity had something to do with this crash. Because I have common sense.

Okay? And unfortunately, a lot of people don't. The president's certainty about the crash, despite the lack of proof, suggested for many Americans that the common sense he was referring to was that diversity means things automatically go wrong when people of color are in charge.

In one press conference, he traveled the entire length of the emotional register from asserting that the differences between Americans fade to returning the focus to those differences.

That's it for us today. Thank you for watching. Until next week. For Face the Nation, I'm Margaret Brennan. Today's guests were Virginia Democratic Senator and Vice Chairman of the Intelligence Committee, Mark Warner. Florida Republican Congressman and Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Brian Mast. Vermont Independent Senator, Bernie Sanders. Retired FBI Assistant Director for Counterintelligence and author of The FBI Way: Inside the Bureau's Code of Excellence, Frank Figluzzi.

and the niece of freed hostage Keith Siegel, Anna Siegel. The executive producer of Face the Nation is Mary Hager. This broadcast was directed by Shelley Schwartz. Face the Nation originates from CBS News in Washington. For more Face the Nation, we're online at facethenation.com and on YouTube.

Face the Nation is also rebroadcast on our CBS News 24-7 streaming network at 12.30, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. on Sundays. It's available through our apps, CBS News and Paramount+.

Streaming on Paramount+. Everyone who comes into this clinic is a mystery. We don't know what we're looking for. Their bodies are the scene of the crime. Their symptoms and history are clues. You saved her life. We're doctors and we're detectives. I kind of love it if I'm being honest. Solve the puzzle, save the patient.

Morris Chestnut is Watson. Now streaming on Paramount Plus and new episodes return Sunday, February 16th on CBS.