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.

The following is a transcript of an interview with Rep. Summer Lee, Democrat of Pennyslvania, on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that aired on Aug. 25, 2024.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Good morning to you, Congresswoman.

REP. SUMMER LEE: Good morning.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Our CBS polling shows that a majority of Americans, 59% of them, think the U.S. should encourage Israel to stop or decrease its military actions in Gaza. At the Democratic Convention. Vice President Harris received loud applause for these remarks:

VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: President Biden and I are working to end this war such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Now that is largely just restating existing U.S. policy. Do you think that’s sufficient outreach to those who felt the administration hasn’t expressed empathy,

REP. LEE: You know, I think that, you know, I think people who are experiencing this, right, who were- who were outside of the arena, who have been organizing since October, you know, that is a step, but I think that what they really were asking for was a, of course, the opportunity to speak for themselves. I think that, like all people, when you are experiencing something, you want to be able to tell your own story. And a lot of the people who are Palestinian, Palestinian-American, Arabs and Muslims, were asking for that opportunity. So while, you know, we all obviously believe that there should be a ceasefire immediately and permanently, and that Palestinians, just like Israelis, deserve the right to self-determination. We have to do more than just say that we believe that. We have to actually take steps that are going to evidence that take steps that are going to show that we’re willing to start to listen to people who have been outside of the political, I would say, conversation for so long, it’s been a third rail, and there’s going to be a lot more work that we have to do to show to this demographic that the Democratic Party is- includes them in its big tent, includes them in our foreign policy considerations, and also includes them in our conversations around humanity and human rights.

MARGARET BRENNAN: You’re talking about the decision at the DNC to deny anyone from the Uncommitted Movement or Palestinian-American to take the stage. Congressman Ro Khanna tweeted, “it was a tragic mistake perpetuating the erasure of the Palestinian story and voice.” Why do you think Democratic leaders resisted it, and is it a self-inflicted wound?

REP. LEE: I think that there has been, and I think that if you really look at this, long before October 7, it was almost taboo to talk about Palestinians, to talk about the experiences that they have and that they continue to have in our politics. And I think that this was a continuation of it. To put on stage, first of all, I think it’s important that we recognize that even the way we talk about the movement is in a way that sometimes is a little wide, it’s broad. It doesn’t always take into account what folks are arguing about. I think that whether it’s the Black lives movement or the movement for Palestinian rights, there’s always this rush to say that their movement, the ways that they protest, the tactics, the strategies, are inconvenient, and I think that that’s just the way that we’ve done it. Especially when we’re nervous about a presidential election that we all know is incredibly important. Defeating Trump is the top concern, but we can do that, and we can also give space, create space for people, voices that are marginalized. We missed an opportunity to do that here, and in doing so, what we are essentially saying is that every Palestinian thinks the exact same way, that all folks who are protesting, who are voicing their concerns are one group and not individuals, not all folks who are coming with different perspectives. I think that there was room and space to say that. There was room in the Democratic Party for that particular perspective as well. 

MARGARET BRENNAN: This was a historic nomination of Vice President Harris as the first Black, first South Asian nominee of a major party. She’s chosen, really, not to talk about the historic nature of that. Do you think that she should? 

REP. LEE: I think that it speaks for itself. You know, I think that there is, you know, zero chance that folks all across America do not recognize that she would be the first Black woman, the first South Asian woman in person, to be not just our party’s nominee, but hopefully our president. So to talk about it, it’s almost a filler. I think that what’s- I think that what they’re doing and what they should be doing is talking about the issues. Talking about the things that not are not just unique to women, Black women, Asian women, but actually the things that make her qualified for the job, her resume, the policies that that bring Democrats to- to vote, you know on November 5, those are the things we need to focus on, we all know there’s history here. 

MARGARET BRENNAN: Congresswoman, let’s talk about those things on the other side of this next break, stay with us. 

– COMMERCIAL BREAK –

MARGARET BRENNAN: Welcome back to Face The Nation. We’re continuing our conversation now with Congresswoman Summer Lee of Pennsylvania. Congresswoman, you were talking before the break about the need to focus on issues for- for the campaign. This past week, former Speaker Pelosi stated Vice President Harris will, quote, “have to” govern from the center, because “that’s where the public is.” I know you are a progressive Democrat. Do you think that this pivot to the center, particularly on issues like the border and immigration and crime, are they going to hurt support for the Harris-Walz ticket, or is it what’s required?

REP. LEE: Yeah, so I have to say, and I like to hope that we’re able to do this. I have to- I have to disagree a bit. I think that we have data, we have polling, we have anecdotal evidence from American- Americans all over the country, but especially out in Pennsylvania, in a swing state where we’re not actually asking for our candidates to run away from progressive ideals. We’re asking them- for them to run to them. You know, there’s this idea that to say that, you know, having health care or equitable education, or even talking about, you know, immigration reform and the border in a humane way is somehow to the left, but I think that that’s what the average American wants. And I think that in too many, in very many ways, we’ve ceded ground to Republicans, especially around immigration. They have the tendency of talking about it in an incredibly fear mongering and inhumane way. And I don’t think that it’s wise that we join them in that. I think people want to see us distinguish ourselves as a party. I think they want to see that we offer solutions for working class people, for marginalized people, and I think that we can do that vocally and proudly and still bring people to the party and not have them run away from it.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay, so that means you disagree with the Harris endorsement of the bipartisan border bill, which was a fairly conservative bill, and that’s the policy stated for what the Vice President would enact if she’s elected. 

REP. LEE: I think that what I like to hope- I hope that what I think so many of us want to see, and not just progressives, I mean, even just Democrats, is that we can recognize that we need comprehensive immigration reform. That there are millions of folks in America who are impacted by this, folks who want to come here for a better life, who are looking for opportunities, and they are finding that the pathway, the window to achieving those opportunities, is shutting, not opening. We know that in the past, there were systems in place that- that created an easier pathway for folks who attain citizenship, for folks to work, for folks to contribute, and that’s what people want now. And I think that we need to be real about the solutions. What’s driving folks to our border and what’s driving folks to want to make a life here in the United States at the same time. 

MARGARET BRENNAN: All right, Congresswoman Lee, thank you for your perspective.