CBS News
Transcript: Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” Sept. 1, 2024
The following is a transcript of an interview with Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that aired on Sept. 1, 2024.
NANCY CORDES: We’re joined now by Massachusetts Democratic Governor Maura Healey, who is joining us from Boston this morning. Governor Healey, welcome to Face the Nation. So good to have you. You know, there has been an assumption by many progressives when it comes to Israel that Vice President Harris is more sympathetic towards the Palestinian cause than President Biden is. But when she was interviewed this week, she said that actually, she is in lockstep with President Biden. She wouldn’t do anything differently. You are the governor of a state with a lot of colleges and universities. You know how young people in particular feel about this issue. Does she need to say more?
GOV. MAURA HEALEY: I think what she has said is exactly right, her statement last night, this morning, and what she said last week at the convention. I mean, she’s been very clear about the need for America to continue to stand by Israel, for the hostages to come home, for there to be a cease fire and a peaceful resolution here. And I think the way she has articulated this has been both with compassion and also with a very clear understanding about what needs to happen.
NANCY CORDES: You signed a big maternal health bill in your state last week. It would expand insurance coverage for pregnant women, for women who are struggling with postpartum depression. President Trump announced this week that he wants to require insurance companies to cover IVF treatments. Is that something that you and parents in your states would welcome?
GOV. MAURA HEALEY: Well, first of all, don’t believe anything that Donald Trump says. You know, as Attorney General, I had to sue him over 100 times for his lies. And as governor, I’ve seen the very real difference between a Trump administration and an administration that we’ll have with Kamala Harris. When it comes to health, women’s health, reproductive freedom. There can be no clear a difference in this in this election. Kamala Harris stands squarely for reproductive freedom. She supports women’s access to health care. She knows the importance of giving women the freedom and the resources to protect care. Donald Trump, remember, is the architect of the undoing of Roe. He has said just the other day he’s going to support the draconian abortion ban in Florida, the six week abortion ban. So, you know, I don’t think Donald Trump can spell IVF, let alone understand what it means, because his own project 2025, remember, which establishes a fetal personhood, would undermine and take away IVF treatment. In addition, Donald Trump is the person who tried to undo the Affordable Care Act time and time again. So don’t believe Donald Trump when it comes to women’s health, women’s reproductive freedom, and Americans’ access to health care. He doesn’t believe in or support any of it. Kamala Harris does. She’ll fight for it. She’ll protect it.
NANCY CORDES: But were you surprised to hear a Republican embracing what sounds like an insurance coverage mandate? Do you see that as a step in the right direction?
GOV. MAURA HEALEY: You can’t take this seriously. I mean, this isn’t just a Republican. This is and by the way, I work well with Republicans. This is Donald Trump, who will say anything and everything, depending on where the wind is blowing. He caught some heat the other day, you know, and so he comes out with a statement that, all of a sudden, he’s a believer in IVF. It’s just, it’s just patently false. It’s, it’s offensive. And I think, you know, what’s important is that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are out there day after day on offense. I mean, they’re, touching rural areas. They’re in red counties, they’re in red states. They’re all over. And they’re not just talking to Democrats, Nancy. They’re talking to Republicans, to independents, and to so many Americans who are just tuning in this Labor Day and haven’t made up their mind about who they’re going to vote for. And on issue after issue, protecting the middle class, a well functioning economy, standing up for reproductive freedom. These are all things that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz believe in and will fight for, and things that Donald Trump and JD Vance don’t know the first thing about and cannot deliver on.
NANCY CORDES: I want to turn to immigration, because last year, you blamed a, quote, federal crisis of inaction for the large numbers of undocumented migrants who were ending up in your state and other states. You even declared a state of emergency. Border crossings have come down pretty significantly over the past couple of months after the administration’s asylum restrictions went into effect. Is your state still at capacity or over capacity? Or has the situation improved?
GOV. MAURA HEALEY: You know, I’m glad you point that out, Nancy, because border crossings are actually below 2019 levels. Border crossings have come down as a result of President Biden’s executive action. What I have said and experienced as a governor in Massachusetts and I talked to colleagues around the country–This is the problem of Congress. Now, remember, months ago, we actually had a bipartisan deal on the table negotiated by Democrats and Republicans. It would have solved the border crisis. It would have put more agents down there. And as a former attorney general, I know the importance of securing the border, as does Kamala Harris. She’s been very, very clear about that to stop the trafficking of drugs and guns and human beings. Okay? Remember what happened? Donald Trump killed that deal and said he did not want a deal on the border. So the fault is Donald Trump right now when it comes to the border and what has happened. And the one thing that Kamala Harris was clear about last week, among other things, is that she would not only push for bringing back that bipartisan bill, she would fight for it and she would sign it into law as President. That’s what states like Massachusetts need.
NANCY CORDES: But if you think that this policy is working, do you wish that the administration would have put it into effect a lot sooner back when you and other Democratic governors first started sounding the alarm bells?
GOV. MAURA HEALEY: No I think the administration has handled this as best it could. Remember, you know, it’s it’s Congress that needs to act, and has needed to act on this both to give us the resources, the funding, and the reason for for our states who are dealing with this. But also for agents down on the border to stop the flow of fentanyl, to stop unlawful immigration into into America. So really, the fault is with Congress. And you know, unfortunately, Congress didn’t act. And they didn’t act because too many Republicans were kowtowing to Donald Trump. And you know, that’s why President Biden took the action that he did. I’m glad. And you know, I know it’s so important in this election to elect Kamala Harris, so we can deal with the border once and for all.
NANCY CORDES: Governor Healey, one more quick question before I let you go. You’re the former State Attorney General, and your name has been floated as a possible US Attorney General. If Vice President Harris is elected, is that a job that you’d be interested in?
GOV. MAURA HEALEY: I love being governor of this state. I love what we’ve been able to do, free community college, better access to health care, making sure that we do things to move forward economically. I’m a pro-growth Democrat, as is Kamala Harris. We just cut taxes here in the state, which is also something that Kamala Harris wants to do– cut taxes for the middle class. Donald Trump only wants to raise taxes for the ultra wealthy. So I’m focused, Nancy, on doing everything I can to elect Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in November. It will be good not just for Massachusetts, it will be good for America.
NANCY CORDES: Governor Maura Healey of Massachusetts. Thanks so much for joining us this morning. Really appreciate it.
The page cannot be found
The page may have been removed, had its name changed, or is just temporarily unavailable.
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
CBS News
Explosion kills 2 Mexican soldiers in suspected booby trap by drug cartel after troops found dismembered bodies
An improvised land mine apparently planted by a drug cartel killed two Mexican soldiers and wounded five others, Mexico’s defense secretary said Tuesday. Before the blast, the soldiers had discovered the dismembered bodies of three people, officials said.
Gen. Ricardo Trevilla acknowledged that the army had already suffered six deaths from such improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, between 2018 and 2024. But he didn’t specify whether those six had been killed by bombs dropped from drones, or by buried roadside bombs, both of which have been used by gangs in Mexico.
Trevilla said that devices like the one that exploded Monday were “very rustic,” and officials in the past have described them as similar to buried pipe bombs. There was no immediate information on the condition of the five wounded in the attack, which included at least one officer.
Trevilla’s description of the location where the two soldiers died Monday in the western state of Michoacan suggested that it may have been a sort of grisly drug cartel booby trap.
Trevilla said the army sent out a patrol to check on reports that there was an encampment of armed men in a rural area. The armed forces detected an area protected by stockades that appeared to be an encampment, but when soldiers approached in vehicles, they found the trail blocked by logs, so they descended and had to approach on foot.
While approaching, they spotted three dismembered bodies near the encampment, which appeared to be abandoned. But as they drew closer, a buried device exploded and struck the soldiers.
Trevilla blamed the blast on the United Cartels, an umbrella group that includes the local Viagras gang, which has been fighting bloody turf battles against the Jalisco cartel in Michoacan for years.
In August, the Mexican army acknowledged that some of its soldiers have been killed by bomb-dropping drones operated by drug cartels.
Previously, officials have said the army encounters far more roadside bombs than drone-dropped ones.
The Jalisco drug cartel has been fighting local gangs for control of Michoacan for years, and the situation has become so militarized that the warring cartels use roadside bombs or IEDs, trenches, pillbox fortifications, homemade armored vehicles and sniper rifles.
Nemesio Oseguera-Cervantes, also known as “El Mencho,” the leader of the Jalisco cartel, which the officials described as “one of the world’s most violent and prolific drug trafficking organizations.” The United States and the State Department has offered a $10 million reward for his capture.
In the only previous detailed report on cartel bomb attacks in August 2023, the defense department said at that time that a total of 42 soldiers, police and suspects were wounded by IEDs in the first seven and a half months of 2023, up from 16 in all of 2022.
Overall, 556 improvised explosive devices of all types – roadside, drone-carried and car bombs – were found in 2023, the army said in a news release last year.