Face the Nation: Kaine, Salazar

[0:01] Welcome back to Face the Nation. We want to take note of something that President Trump told the New York Times last week as we move on to a discussion of the international challenges that the country faces. He was asked in a wide ranging interview if there were any limits on his global powers. And Mr. Trump said, yeah, there is one thing, my own morality, my own mind. It's the only thing that can stop me. [0:29] One test looming large at the moment is in Iran, where the death toll from violent protests is growing as the government intensifies its crackdown. And at this point, there is no alternative government standing by if this regime should fall. MTS Tayyip has the latest reporting from London. [0:49] They chant death to the dictator as unrest across Iran only intensifies and as the death toll rises. International rights groups say at least 190 demonstrators have been killed and more than 2300 arrested as security forces continue to crack down hard. [1:11] Cell phone videos show government buildings on fire and even a mosque. Scenes once unthinkable as symbols of the theocratic regime are targeted by protesters. [1:25] These videos verified by CBS News and other media outlets using satellite imaging, GPS codes and sources on the ground show anger that began over rising inflation and a collapsing currency has morphed into something more explosive. [1:40] Open defiance of the repressive state, including in Mossad, Iran's second largest city, where thousands flooded the streets overnight and blocked roads with some chanting long live the king. [1:55] While in the capital, Tehran, this video shows a mass protester holding up a photo of Reza Pahlavi, the U.S.-based son of Iran's last shah, who was ousted in 1979. [2:08] A divisive figure with no organized movement inside Iran. [2:12] But for some protesters, Pahlavi has become shorthand for anything but the Islamic Republic. [2:19] America has already lost the game. [2:22] Iranian state TV has accused the U.S. of being behind the unrest and aired images of pro-government rallies. [2:29] But scenes like this continue to tell a different story as Iran's leadership only tightens its grip, including imposing a sweeping communications blackout that has seen the internet cut and international calls blocked. [2:43] President Trump has warned Tehran against killing protesters. [2:46] If they start killing people like they have in the past, we will get involved, we'll be hitting them very hard where it hurts, and that doesn't mean boots on the ground. [2:55] As President Trump pledges to support the protesters, a senior U.S. official has confirmed to CBS News the president has been briefed on new options for military strikes in Iran. [3:05] And in his first public remarks since the protests have intensified, Iran's president, Massoud Pazeshkian, accused the U.S. and Israel of, quote, [3:18] sowing chaos and disorder by ordering what he described as riots. [3:23] He also promised to address the economic crisis that triggered the unrest. [3:27] The question now is whether Iranians believe him or whether it's already too late. [3:32] Margaret. [3:32] M.T.A.S., I know you've been covering Iran for a long time, including on the ground. [3:38] There have been protests before that have been just brutally suppressed. [3:43] What's different this time? [3:47] You know, Margaret, on the one hand, this feels very familiar, and on the other, it feels very different. [3:52] Iran, as you've mentioned, has seen major uprisings before, the 2009 Green Movement, the 2019 Fuel Protests, and 2022's Women's Life Freedom Movement. [4:01] Each had its trigger, each was met with brutal force, and each was eventually crushed. [4:07] What's new now is the layers of crises facing the regime. [4:11] Iran has a collapsing currency. [4:13] There are chronic power and water shortages. [4:15] It faces punishing sanctions, and it's still absorbing the aftershocks of last year's 12-day war with Israel. [4:22] I was in Iran right after that war, and people were already quietly questioning the regime's competence and its vulnerabilities. [4:29] Now those vulnerabilities are loudly being tested in the streets. [4:34] And there's another crucial difference here, symbolism. [4:37] We've seen statues of the supreme leader set on fire, surveillance cameras ripped down, as well as chants for the monarchy. [4:44] This is not nostalgia. [4:46] This is a rejection of the Islamic Republic, and the danger for the leaders in Tehran is simple. [4:52] Once the fear breaks, it's very hard to put back. [4:55] MTSA will continue to track these protests. [4:59] Thank you, MTSA. [5:01] We go now to Richmond, Virginia, where we find Senator Tim Kaine, who has oversight in foreign relations and other key committees. [5:09] Senator, we know the president has been briefed on military options, but our reporting is no decision made, no military assets put in place to execute anything. [5:19] And yet, there aren't even any aircraft carriers in the Mideast region at this moment in time. [5:25] Would you support military action? [5:30] Margaret, U.S. military action in Iran would be a massive mistake. [5:34] It would have the effect of giving the Iranian regime the ability to say, it's the U.S. that's screwing our country up. [5:44] Right now, Iranians are blaming, appropriately, the regime for screwing up the country. [5:50] This Iranian regime has spent years focusing outside its borders on fomenting terrorism and aggression in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Gaza, [6:01] instead of listening to the needs of its own citizens, and much like Syrian citizens finally threw off the yoke of Bashar al-Assad [6:11] and that brutal regime without U.S. military intervention, it looks to be that Iran's doing the same. [6:17] So let's celebrate their freedom-loving spirit. [6:20] Let's keep up the sanctions pressure, which helped in Syria and is helping, I think, dramatize the misdeeds of this regime. [6:29] But U.S. military action would just bring back the painful history of the U.S. toppling the Iranian prime minister back in the 1950s [6:38] and would give the regime the ability to blame their own failures on the United States. [6:44] You mentioned Syria there. [6:46] There was some, you know, covert U.S. support. [6:49] There was something in the beginning, at least, with that kind of uprising. [6:53] Would you support any kind of help? [6:56] I mean, the president's saying we're going to help the protesters. [6:59] What does that mean, or what should it look like? [7:02] Well, I think, again, let's use sanctions. [7:04] In Syria, the Caesar sanctions that we put in place in 2019 to punish Bashar al-Assad for war crimes [7:12] had a real effect on the Syrian energy, construction, and other sectors. [7:17] And when Syria chose to go a new path, President Trump, with the support of a bipartisan Congress, [7:24] has reduced those sanctions to open up a new chapter in life for Syria. [7:30] That's the right answer. [7:31] But military action, we did not take military action against Bashar al-Assad. [7:35] We have been engaged militarily in Syria to fight ISIS because ISIS was part of al-Qaeda. [7:41] There's a military authorization for use of U.S. force against ISIS. [7:46] We've worked with other nations to reduce them. [7:49] But we didn't use military action against Bashar al-Assad, [7:53] and we shouldn't use military action against the Iranian government in this protest moment. [7:59] Let's support these brave freedom fighters in other ways through sanctions, [8:04] but not use our sons and daughters in the military to do so. [8:07] Just very quickly, when you mentioned there was authorization for force in Syria and ISIS, [8:12] I assume that means you support the military strikes that took place yesterday against 35 targets in Syria. [8:20] This was in response to the killing of those two U.S. soldiers and American interpreter. [8:24] That's valid, in your view? [8:25] Yeah, it is legally valid that it has long been held that the 2001 congressional authorization against al-Qaeda [8:34] includes the ability to go against groups that have come out of or have affiliated with al-Qaeda [8:40] that mean harm to the U.S. troops. [8:43] And in this instance, ISIS is still a threat to U.S. troops. [8:46] There is a legal authorization for the U.S. of force, [8:49] which is what makes this so different than the use of the military force against Venezuela [8:54] or Greenland or Cuba or wherever the president wants to take us to war next. [9:00] Well, you're taking me to the next topic, which is this effort you led. [9:04] You got about five Republican senators to join your effort in this procedural vote to restrict the president's actions. [9:11] He would require new congressional approval before new military action in Venezuela. [9:17] Do you think the Republicans who were with you on this vote will stay with you, [9:23] given that the president has openly threatened them? [9:27] Margaret, I think they will, and I think more may join. [9:30] The five Republicans who voted with me, let's be clear what they were voting for. [9:35] The Trump administration has waged war first against Venezuelan votes in international waters, [9:40] then covert action in Venezuela, and now an attack on Venezuela, to depose its leadership, [9:46] to establish a new government that we chose, not that the Venezuelan people chose, [9:51] to seize Venezuela's economy and even say, [9:54] we're going to set the terms of economic and political transition for the next few years. [10:00] What my Republican colleagues voted for is, let's get this out of the classified [10:05] and put it before the American public and actually debate this use of the U.S. military [10:10] on the floor of the United States Senate. [10:13] Four months into it, hundreds of Venezuelans dead, American troops injured. [10:18] Let's finally debate this publicly. [10:20] That's all they voted for. [10:21] And the fact that the president is going against them just for wanting to have this debate before the [10:26] public shows how nervous the president is about both his legal authority, [10:31] but also the wisdom of what he's doing. [10:32] Yeah, he said publicly they should not be re-elected because they issued this call for congressional review. [10:41] You brought up Greenland. [10:45] This is the territory that Denmark has, broad governance over Denmark being a NATO ally. [10:53] World leaders take President Trump's remarks seriously. [10:58] We take him seriously. [10:59] And they should. [10:59] And literally, and to that point, Denmark's prime minister publicly warned that it would [11:05] mean the end of the NATO alliance if he carries out what he said, which as recently as Friday, [11:11] he said, I want to make a deal for Greenland the easy way. [11:16] But if we don't do it the easy way, we are going to do it the hard way. [11:21] Is there anything to stop the president from doing it, quote unquote, the hard way, [11:26] which sounds like military force? [11:27] Margaret, I think Congress will stop them, both Democrats and Republicans. [11:34] This would be disastrous. [11:36] It wouldn't just be America first. [11:38] It wouldn't just be the end of NATO. [11:40] It would be America alone. [11:42] If we take our best allies, and Denmark has been an ally for a very long time, and we decide that we [11:50] have the military ability to seize territory for them, you will see the United States, instead of being [11:55] the world's chief diplomat and a leader in the world, you'll see the United States isolated as a pariah. [12:02] And I've talked to my Republican colleagues. [12:05] They watch what the president has done in Venezuela. [12:08] They hear the threats against other nations. [12:10] I can tell you this. [12:11] We will force a vote in the Senate about no U.S. military action in Greenland or Denmark. [12:18] If we need to, we will get overwhelming bipartisan support that this president is foolish to even suggest this. [12:26] We're not going to do it the hard way, and we're not going to do it the easy way either. [12:29] We're going to continue to work with Denmark as a sovereign nation that we're allied with, [12:36] and we're not going to treat them as an adversary or as an enemy. [12:39] We will watch for action in Congress on that front. [12:43] Senator Cain, thank you for your time today. [12:45] We'll be right back. [12:49] We turn now to Florida Republican Congresswoman Maria Alvira Salazar, who joins us this morning from Miami. [12:56] Congresswoman, welcome to Face the Nation. [12:58] Thank you for the opportunity. [13:00] You are one of Maria Corina Machado's top allies in Congress. [13:05] You've said she is coming to Washington this week. [13:08] President Trump said maybe Tuesday, maybe Wednesday. [13:10] Details still being worked out. [13:12] Why is it important for her to get in front of the president of the United States, [13:18] who is backing Maduro's number two as the current president of that country? [13:23] Okay, well, I don't think that the president is really backing anyone that is related to the Maduro regime, [13:29] but concentrating on Maria Corina Machado, she earned it. [13:33] She was the one who put together this. [13:36] She proved to the international community that they, the opposition forces, had won the election. [13:42] She was able to somehow create the tallies and prove to the Trump administration [13:49] that they had won 70 by 230. [13:52] Remember that Maduro did not give her the opportunity to be the presidential nominee [13:56] because he did not like her, because he knew that he was going to lose against her. [14:00] So she has earned it. [14:02] And I am sure that she will have a very good, long, solid conversation with the president. [14:08] She knows the story better than anybody. [14:09] I was in touch with her during the 16 months that she was hiding in a tunnel [14:14] because the Maduro forces were looking for her to kill her. [14:17] So she has earned it. [14:19] So I think we are going to welcome her in Congress. [14:21] And I'm sure that the president Trump is going to be highly, highly pleased with that meeting. [14:27] You heard the energy secretary here say it could be, it could be years before we get to a transition. [14:34] The president did say democracy is something he hopes for in Venezuela. [14:39] Does that mean that she should go back, that the United States should guarantee [14:45] Maria Karina Machado security to return? [14:48] I mean, how can the opposition go back for an election right now? [14:51] Well, you know, she was planning to go when we met in Oslo when she received the Nobel Peace Prize. [14:56] She was saying to everybody that she was ready to go back when on January 3rd, we took Maduro out. [15:04] They, I love what Secretary Rubio is expressing and the plan that we have as a country of stabilize, recover and transition. [15:15] I think that if you think about it, the Trump administration is creating a blueprint, [15:19] a new groundbreaking new model for foreign policy when he, vis-a-vis the Western hemisphere. [15:25] So Maria Karina and the opposition forces fall in that three planned layout that we have, [15:34] that Rubio has created and Trump has blessed. [15:37] So she is part of the transition. [15:39] And I am sure that they will be able to, to reorganize themselves. [15:44] She has hundreds of thousands of people in Caracas and in Venezuela [15:48] that will help us to put together this electoral system. [15:53] So I, I know that you support the Trump administration's policy, [15:56] but Secretary of State Rubio really, really bristled when I asked him [16:01] why they didn't arrest the Minister of the Interior, the Estado Cabello, who remains in power. [16:07] You have been very, very clear in your statements that you think the United States should arrest him. [16:13] We went back and look, CBS Miami's Jim DeFede reported in 2017 [16:17] that Cabello had tried to assassinate Senator Rubio. [16:22] Can you help people understand why perhaps people in Florida should be concerned [16:28] or other Americans about this man remaining in control of security forces? [16:32] Well, you know, I know that Justado is probably worse than Maduro and worse than Del C. [16:38] They're all Alibaba on the 40 thieves. [16:41] Let's don't make any, let's make sure for your international audience that, [16:45] but, but I am very reassured the fact that we have taken the oil [16:49] and the resources away from them, that Diosdaro Cabello, who is a thief, [16:53] I repeat, does not want to fall into where Maduro has fallen into. [16:58] And they will cooperate and somehow, because we have created this, [17:02] this new type of model that they will work with us. [17:06] They do not have their resources. [17:08] Now they know that we're going to go into this recovery [17:11] and that, and that somehow they are going to definitely participate [17:15] and work with the American forces. [17:18] They know better. [17:19] And like I said, this is impressive what's happening [17:22] because we have not seen this before in 250 years of history. [17:26] And Diosdaro, I repeat, is, is definitely someone who was indicted. [17:29] And one of the sources, I have some sources that say that, that we were not able to locate him. [17:37] But at this hour, I would say that, that everything is really falling into place. [17:43] Well, he controls the prisons. [17:45] And there are at least five Americans in those prisons. [17:48] With Del C. With Del C. [17:49] Del C is the one who is really in charge of the secret police and the repressive apparatus. [17:53] And Diosdaro Cabello was in charge of the military, who was part of the Suns cartel, along with Maduro. [18:00] But do you know why the Trump administration isn't publicly demanding the release of the Americans that are being held? [18:07] Listen, maybe, maybe we do not know some things that are happening. [18:11] And Rubio said it the other day. [18:13] I do understand, and I am sure, Rubio knows the area very well. [18:18] And he knows who the characters are. [18:21] And we are definitely taking this with solid, in a solid, with solid steps. [18:29] We do not want to make any mistakes. [18:31] And, and I am sure that the political prisoners will be coming out [18:34] and that we, that we're not giving them, meaning Diosdaro and Del C., [18:40] any type of, of leeway for them to really run the country. [18:43] We will see, like it happened. [18:45] It happened two, three weeks ago. [18:47] Let's give them a little bit more time before we see more results. [18:50] Very quickly, the president tweeted today, Cuba gets no more money, no more oil. [18:55] The CIA assessment is that that regime in Havana is not necessarily in peril, [19:01] even though the president's saying they are. [19:03] What are you hearing? [19:06] Well, look, I, I represent the city of Miami, you know, [19:09] the heart of the Cuban exile community. [19:12] And those words are like magical. [19:15] It's been 65 years, you know, Cuba is, is really a center of, of power for our enemies, [19:24] Iran, Russia, China. [19:27] And, and now I think they are, they're, they're getting the memo. [19:32] And, and, and Cuba, it's, it's, it's hanging by a threat, by a threat, I should say. [19:39] Because the threat that Cuba has represented to the United States has been immense. [19:43] They have no water, they have no electricity, they have no food, they have nothing. [19:48] So if, if you think the Maduro was weak, Cuba is even weaker. [19:52] And now they do not have one drop of oil coming from Venezuela. [19:55] So that could be the beginning of the end. [19:57] Well, Mexico stepping up and providing them some, we're going to have to watch what happens [20:01] there next. [20:01] And that is a very big mistake. [20:02] Very big mistake from, uh, Madame Chamberlain. [20:05] All right. [20:05] Thank you very much, Congresswoman. [20:07] We'll be back in a moment. [20:08] This past week marked five years since the January 6th attack on the Capitol, but honoring the [20:18] first responders who protected the Capitol building that day from a pro-Trump mob has [20:22] been neither quick nor easy. [20:24] A law passed by Congress in 2022 required the architect of the Capitol to produce a plaque [20:30] paying tribute to law enforcement and give it a permanent location on the Capitol's west [20:35] front within one year. [20:37] Produce it, they did. [20:38] Photos obtained by CBS News' Scott McFarlane last year show the plaque itself, but more [20:44] than five years later, the plaque has not found a permanent home on Capitol Hill. [20:49] The delay is owed in part to House Speaker Mike Johnson, whose office says the law is, quote, [20:55] not implementable because the law called for a tribute to law enforcement members, while [21:01] the plaque itself honors whole departments rather than individual officers by name. [21:06] North Carolina Republican Senator Tom Tillis paid tribute to the actions of law enforcement [21:12] on that day, calling it a wonderful stress test for democracy. [21:16] We heard thousands of people stormed this Capitol. [21:20] People died. [21:21] Police officers were injured, hospitalized. [21:24] One died shortly after January the 6th. [21:27] A lot of people said that was a dark day for democracy. [21:30] I would leave you with this. [21:32] It was a great day for democracy because of the law enforcement officers, the people that [21:37] kept us safe, because you know what we did when confronted with thousands of thugs storming [21:43] this building? [21:44] We took a brief recess. [21:46] We got ourselves together. [21:49] The Capitol was secured. [21:50] And before we left this compound, we came back and completed our constitutional duty to [21:56] certify the election. [21:58] At Tillis' urging, the Senate voted by a procedure known as unanimous consent to make any changes [22:04] needed to the original law in order to get the plaque installed once and for all. [22:09] Not a single senator objected. [22:12] The plaque is expected to find a temporary spot in the Senate in the coming days, while the [22:17] architect of the Capitol identifies a more permanent home.