The following is a transcript of an interview with Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that aired on Aug. 25, 2024.

MARGARET BRENNAN: We go now to Republican Oklahoma governor, Kevin Stitt from Oklahoma City. Good morning to you. Governor.

GOV. KEVIN STITT: Hey, good morning. Good to be with you.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So, one of the biggest drivers of inflation right now are shelter costs. And I know in a previous life, you founded a mortgage business, so I want to tap into something that’s also a problem in Oklahoma, and that is the housing shortage. Donald Trump was asked earlier this week, when he was out campaigning in Nevada, his plan, and he said he would like to release more federal lands to allow homes to be built. Is that sufficient?

GOV. KEVIN STITT: Well, first off, thanks for- thanks for having me on. You know, I’ll tell you this, as a businessman, before I became governor, I was in the mortgage business. And the last thing that you want to do is the Vice President Harris plan, which is to put $25,000 more into every single person’s pocket for the purpose of buying houses, because if you increase demand without fixing– 

MARGARET BRENNAN:– That’s for first time home homeowners– 

GOV. KEVIN STITT: — For first time homebuyers, that’s correct. But if you throw the demand side up without fixing supply, what happens to pricing? You’re actually exasperating the problem, prices for housing goes up. So, the solution that President Trump’s talking about is the correct solution is to eliminate permitting reform. Get permitting reform. Make it easier for developers. Make it easier for people to develop and build houses. Get rid of regulations. That’s the- that’s the free-market principles that we believe in and we know are the correct way to do it. I mean, when you think about it, listen- go ahead. 

MARGARET BRENNAN: Sorry. The vice president said she also wants to create 3 million homes, so she is talking about adding to supply. But on that the Republican Party platform, because we went to look at it, it says that Republicans will reduce mortgage rates by slashing inflation. That’s really a Fed decision, right? But also open portions of federal lands to allow for new home construction, sounds very much the same as the Harris plan, and then promote home ownership through tax incentives and support for first time buyers, also sounds very similar to the Harris plan. So, what’s different?

GOV. KEVIN STITT: Well, first off, there are so many first-time homebuyer programs right now, and my question to you, and this is a great question for Vice President Harris, who’s going to build the 3 million homes? I mean, basically, we believe either in a free-market system or we believe in government intervention, and so the bottom line is, you’re going to drive up the cost. The reason we have 20% inflation under a Biden-Harris administration right now is because of all of the attacks on energy, for example, the bureaucracy we need permitting reform, we need deregulation. We need to unlock American businesses to meet the needs of Americans. Basically, when you have municipalities stopping new developments for lot sizes and for first time homebuyers. That’s the things you need to do. By increasing and throwing more money and giving- like think about it for a second, this ticket, and I know Governor Walz, I’m friends with him in the National Governors Association. He’s a nice guy. I’ve met, I’ve met Vice President Harris a couple times. She seems like a nice person, but if you think about the Democratic ticket, they’ve never worked in the private sector. They’ve- so their policies are showing that. You can’t give every single first-time home buyer $25,000 and expect the prices of houses to come down. That’s just not the way the economy works. That’s socialism. That’s- that’s communism. 

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well- yeah, it’s not clear what the Republican platform means when they say tax incentives and support for first time buyers. So it’s not- it’s not clear to what their detailed option is when they say, also helping those first time buyers. But on the economy, your state has a law that prohibits an increase of more than 10% for the price of goods and services during emergencies. The Harris campaign wants federal restrictions on those kind of price jumps. Why do you oppose it at the federal level, if you have something at the state level?

GOV. KEVIN STITT: Well, what we’re talking about on the state level, if we have a natural disaster, for example, if there’s a tornado that comes through one of our communities, we don’t want out-of-state people coming in and price gouging as far as roofing materials. So, when I declare a national- an executive order and say, this area of the state has been hurt, it’s for a short period of time. It’s maybe for a month, and that’s just to protect the people from really- people coming in to try to make money off of this disaster. So that’s totally different than what I see this administration that Vice President Harris recommending. So, she’s saying, here’s -here’s the problem that doesn’t make sense to the American people, and you need to question her on this. Okay- She’s going to tell grocery stores that the maximum you can pay for milk and charge for milk is $1.99. But what happens to the farmers if the costs are more than that– 

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah. 

GOV. KEVIN STITT: Okay, what are they saying they’re doing?

MARGARET BRENNAN: I would love to put those questions. 

GOV. KEVIN STITT: What’s price control then? 

MARGARET BRENNAN: I got you for a question. You are backing President Trump. Early on, you had supported the governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, and he had warned Republicans about this.

[START SOUND ON TAPE]

GOV. RON DESANTIS: You’re not going to be talking about the border, you’re not going to be talking about the economy. You’re going to be talking about all these things to make the election a referendum on Donald Trump, whereas, if I’m the nominee, we’ll be solely focused on the issues that matter to the American people.

[END SOUND ON TAPE]

MARGARET BRENNAN: Is President Trump getting in his own way on his own messaging?

GOV. KEVIN STITT: You know, I’m not going to defend what Vice President Harris said in the convention against President Trump, or what President Trump is saying this. This is not about winning an argument. And I think the American people are really tired of that. Let’s- we have to get back to asking questions about policy. And Vice President’s Harris ‘ policies have led to a 20% increase in inflation. And I think the American people at the end of the day, when they- when they ask themselves, were they better off when President Trump was in office? The answer is going to be yes, and so President Trump’s the nominee. He has the best policies, and I believe he’s going to win in November. 

MARGARET BRENNAN: Governor. Thank you for joining us. We’ll be back in a moment.

The following is a transcript of an interview with H.R. McMaster, former National Security Adviser, on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that aired on Aug. 25, 2024.

MARGARET BRENNAN: And we are joined now by CBS News Foreign Policy and National Security Contributor, retired Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster. He has a new book out, “At War With Ourselves: My Tour of Duty in the Trump White House,” about his service there as National Security Advisor. Welcome back to the program. Just on the news of the moment, CENTCOM has about 40,000 U.S. troops in the region, this real muscular show of force. How concerned are you about miscalculation and blowback to those U.S. forces?

LT. GENERAL H.R. MCMASTER: Yeah. Well, what I’m- what I’m concerned about, Margaret, is that those forces will be constrained in what they’re able to do in response. I think what we’ve seen is a reluctance to act like we know what the return address is for- for this violence. And of course, the return address is- is Iran. And I think all Americans–

MARGARET BRENNAN: What does that mean, exactly?

LT. GENERAL H.R. MCMASTER: Well, what it means is–

MARGARET BRENNAN: What do you want to do to Iran?

LT. GENERAL H.R. MCMASTER: Iran is pursuing a strategy that- in- in which it is willing to expend every Arab life, every Palestinian life, every Lebanese life, in pursuit of its objective of destroying Israel. Meanwhile, Iran is continuing to funnel weapons, not only into southern Lebanon, but to essentially a proxy army in Syria, into the West Bank. And this is why the Philadelphi Corridor so important to Israel, is to keep Hamas isolated from a resupply from the Iranians as well. At the same time, Iran is racing to produce a nuclear device. So I think what we have to recognize is this horrible situation in the region that’s been going on for 40 years, right? It’s important to remember that Shukr, the- the- the Hezbollah commander, who was- who was killed, and- and- who the- the Hezbollah is now trying to launch these attacks in retribution for that. I mean, he was responsible, in part, for the 1983 bombings that- that killed 241 Marines, so- in 1983. So this has been going on for decades. And I think that the narrative that you constantly hear about turning down the temperature, escalation management, the reluctance, really, to confront Iran directly and impose costs on Iran, that actually gives Iran license to escalate on their own terms, with impunity. 

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, this is just one of many extremely serious situations that the next commander in chief will be walking into. It doesn’t go away in January. And that’s why I want to get to some of what you wrote about in your book. You had this front row seat. You advised Donald Trump on very sensitive national security matters. You write, he found it difficult to distinguish, quote, “between those who brought him sound analysis and those, real or imagined, who brought him hackneyed bromides.” He’d say outlandish things, like, go “bomb the drugs” in Mexico, or, “why don’t we take out the whole North Korean army during one of their parades?” If Trump wins re-election, will he be able to recruit high quality advisors who can actually help him make sound decisions?

LT. GENERAL H.R. MCMASTER: Margaret, I think so, especially in confirmed positions. And if it’s a Trump administration–

MARGARET BRENNAN: Because Congress would stop him from putting someone who isn’t quality? Is that what you’re saying?

LT. GENERAL H.R. MCMASTER: Well, yeah, I think so. You know, I think so. And- and there are people who are willing to serve, who can help do what we tried to do in that first year. And you know, the- the narrative around that first year was all about chaos, but we got a lot done. In fact, the story is largely about overcoming that kind of infighting, that- that war with ourselves, to produce policy outcomes that advanced America’s interests. One of those was a dramatic reversal of the Obama administration Iran policy, which, sadly, the Biden administration has put back into place.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, Iran continued with its nuclear development after Trump exited the- the nuclear deal, against the advice of his secretary of state and his defense secretary. So– 

LT. GENERAL H.R. MCMASTER: I’m talking more about, like, the sanctions relief, Margaret, and the degree to which not enforcing the Trump era sanctions had really resulted in about $100 billion transferred to the Iranians, which they’ve used to intensify their proxy wars in the region, from Iraq, to Yemen, to Syria, to Lebanon, and obviously to Gaza, with the October 7 attacks.

MARGARET BRENNAN: You detail specific examples of China’s Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, even Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, manipulating Donald Trump, and you saw it as it happened. You wrote that, “Trump’s lack of historical knowledge made him susceptible to Xi Jinping’s efforts to generate sympathy.” So what is the scenario you fear? That in a second term, Donald Trump pulls U.S. troops out of Asia, or that he brokers a transaction to give up Taiwan?

LT. GENERAL H.R. MCMASTER: Right. Well, I write in the book, Margaret, about this dissonance, you know, that- that Donald Trump carries with him, these opposing ideas that sometimes he finds it difficult to reconcile. And that’s why I think it’s important that he has a competent team around him to help him identify his own agenda. I mean, the story in “At War With Ourselves,” is in large measure, my effort to guard his independence of judgment, because in any administration, there are people who try to manipulate a president into decisions. They don’t want to give a president options. What my experience was, during that first year period in which we put into place a lot of these big shifts in policy, is, if you give him best analysis, if you give him multiple options, it’s in the comparison of those options that- that he can consider the long term costs and consequences and make sound decisions. Also in the book, though, Margaret, I write about at times, he finds it tough to stick with those decisions, because people know kind of how to push his buttons, especially buttons associated with maintaining the complete support of his- of his political base.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Manipulate him. You- you also wrote a specific example where Trump wrote a flattering note to Vladimir Putin in 2018 and it happened to be the same time that this poisoning had happened on the soil of a U.S. ally by Russia.

LT. GENERAL H.R. MCMASTER: Right.

MARGARET BRENNAN: When you got home, you said to your wife, “After [over] a year in this job, I cannot understand Putin’s hold on Trump.” How do you explain that now?

LT. GENERAL H.R. MCMASTER: Well, I explained it in the book. I try to place the president’s belief that he could have a good deal with Vladimir Putin in context of the two previous presidents who thought that they could have a good deal with- with Putin. But also, you know, President Trump, and people know this, he- he likes big splashy deals. He liked- he was pursuing that with Putin. He was pursuing that with Xi Jinping. And of course, Putin is the best liar in the world. And so I struggled, Margaret, should I write about how Putin tried to manipulate President Trump, or not? And I thought, well, Putin knows how he was trying to do it. So maybe in writing about how Putin was trying to press Donald Trump’s buttons, that will make a future President Trump, if he’s elected, less susceptible to those kind of tactics. 

MARGARET BRENNAN: Because he, on the campaign trail, argues these counterfactuals, that Putin was afraid of him, that Putin wouldn’t have invaded Ukraine if he had been President. 

LT. GENERAL H.R. MCMASTER: Well, he has a point in a couple of areas. In that first year of the Trump administration, I tell the story of how we imposed more sanctions on Russian entities in that one year than the previous eight years of the Obama administration. And the really critical decision, though, Margaret, I think, was to provide Ukrainians with defensive capabilities, especially in the form of Javelin missiles. But in the area of inconsistency, I also tell the story about how that support was suspended, you know, to get- to get, you know, evidence of- of the Biden family’s corrupt activities in Ukraine.

MARGARET BRENNAN: The grounds for impeachment. 

LT. GENERAL H.R. MCMASTER: Right, absolutely.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Which basically, you’re saying, were justified.

LT. GENERAL H.R. MCMASTER: So- so there is, there’s an element in the story about how he can make really sound decisions and disrupt things that need to be disrupted in terms of foreign policy, national security, but oftentimes struggles to hang on to those decisions and- and see them through.

MARGARET BRENNAN: H.R. McMaster, thank you. It’s an interesting read.

LT. GENERAL H.R. MCMASTER: Thank you, Margaret.

MARGARET BRENNAN: We’ll be right back.