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Transcript: Sen. Thom Tillis on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” Oct. 6, 2024
The following is a transcript of an interview with Sen. Thom Tillis, Republican of North Carolina, on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that aired on Oct. 6, 2024.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We’re joined by North Carolina Republican senator Thom Tillis, his state is among six recovering from Hurricane Helene, and he joins us from Charlotte. Senator, I am sorry for the losses that you have experienced. 116 dead, your state hit the hardest here. What does North Carolina need?
SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): We- we need increased attention. We need to con- continue to increase the surge of federal resources. I’m glad to see, finally, we’re getting movement out of Fort Liberty and out of Kentucky with the 82nd Airborne, 101st. This- this is unlike anything that we’ve seen in this state. The scope of it is the size of the state of Massachusetts, and we need all hands on deck.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Senator, I want to talk in depth about exactly what you need on the other side of this commercial break. Stay with us.
(ANNOUNCEMENTS)
MARGARET BRENNAN: Welcome back to “Face the Nation”. We continue with North Carolina Republican senator, Thom Tillis. Senator, before the break, you were telling us that you had finally seen some movement from the 82nd Airborne. I know President Biden had approved 1000 U.S. Army personnel to support the National Guard. What is happening as of today? Are those resources reaching who needs them?
SEN. TILLIS: They are beginning to move. I think they’re moving a little bit more slowly than I’d hope. That’s why we have- while we’re working with the ground, I want to thank all the local, state, federal responders out there. They’re doing extraordinary work. But we’ve got to plus up the resources out there into some of the hardest hit areas, areas that we haven’t even reached yet. And I for one, think that can be done through the- through the leadership of an active duty DOD personnel working with the state and- and with the National Guard. We just need to surge more resources. We’ve got to clear roads. Most roads, you still have to assume, are closed in western North Carolina. I’ve been out there twice this week. I’ll be out there every day- last week, every day this week. But just the basics of debris removal for rescue operations, things that the Department of Defense, the 82nd Airborne, the 101st, are accustomed to doing in battle situations are exactly what we need in western North Carolina.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So you would prefer the military be in the lead and not FEMA? Is that right?
SEN. TILLIS: What I believe is that it has to be a coordinated response, and FEMA knows how to do this well. They’ve done it in other major disaster events. The- the American people and people in North Carolina need to understand, the scope of this storm is more like Katrina. It may look like a flood to the outside observer, but again, this is a land mass roughly the size of the state of Massachusetts, with damage distributed throughout. We have to get the maximum resources on the ground immediately to finish rescue operations and then, sadly, be there for recovery and rebuilding.
MARGARET BRENNAN: I noticed that a state senator in North Carolina named Kevin Corbin had been posting on Facebook asking people to stop “conspiracy theory junk,” as he called it, including claims the government’s controlling the weather or stealing donation money. Who or what is fueling that kind of misinformation? And do you think it’s harming recovery efforts?
SEN. TILLIS: Well, Margaret, one- one people- I’ve been involved in a number of storm responses, and this is when I believe discipline is absolutely essential. Kevin is a friend of mine, and he’s right to call out people. Many of these- these observations are not even from people on the ground. I believe that we have to stay focused on rescue operations, recovery operations, clearing operations, and we don’t need any of these distractions on the ground. It’s at the expense of hard working first responders and people that are just trying to recover their lives. So I think they should listen to Kevin’s advice and do the same. Look, if there are any challenges, call my office. We’ll track them down if there are real issues. But quite honestly, most of what I’ve seen out there is a distraction and not helping the core of the effort right here, which is to save lives and- and start rebuilding.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Former President Trump claimed the federal response in North Carolina was terrible, and emergency funding is being spent on immigrants. Do you know what he’s talking about?
SEN. TILLIS: Well here, let’s- let’s- let’s stipulate the fact that–
MARGARET BRENNAN: Is he right?
SEN. TILLIS: I think that the President is right to say that billions of dollars is being spent as a result of Biden’s failed immigration policies and border policies. However, we have the resources that we need, we’re going to have to go back and pass more resources. We could have a discussion about the failure of this administration’s border policies and the billions of dollars it’s costing. But right now, not yet is it affecting the flow of resources to western North Carolina.
MARGARET BRENNAN: It is not an effector, to be clear? Okay.
SEN. TILLIS: Not at this time.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay. Homeland Security is projecting that FEMA can meet the immediate needs, but they’re not sure if we can make it all the way through hurricane season without more federal help. You’re asking for federal help, but the Speaker of the House is- has said he’s not calling people back early to vote to approve it. Are you going to try to persuade him otherwise when he comes to North Carolina this week?
SEN. TILLIS: Well, I think we have to look at it, because Margaret, we’ve got a storm that’s about to hit Florida that’s going to have additional FEMA surge resource requests over the next week or so. I mean, we’re talking about a major rain event that’s forming down in the Gulf Coast that’s supposed to hit the- two thirds of the state of Florida. Other events could actually draw those funds down. I’m in the camp of, let’s go back. We already know that we need additional resources. Let’s make sure that there’s never a second- there’s never attention drawn to whether or not they can move accounts around to respond to all these floods, not just in North Carolina, but the storm event. So I’m in the camp of, let’s go provide some certainty, then we can come back and do more after the election.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well that election is coming soon, and it’s not the federal government that administers it, as you know, but we do know in your state, there are some concerns that Helene could impact the ability of North Carolinians to either vote in person or via absentee ballot. What is the state doing at this point? Does there need to be more attention to that?
SEN. TILLIS: The state’s doing a great job. I’ve spoken with Leader Berger and Speaker Moore and- and others in the legislature. They’re coming back this week. They’re taking lessons from Louisiana, a number of other states who have had to provide ballot access and voting access in difficult situations like this. They’ll be passing legislative matters this week to address it. I think that North Carolina will be prepared to make sure that everybody who wants to vote will have access to the ballot and vote before Election Day or on Election Day.
MARGARET BRENNAN: All right, Senator, a developing story we’ll continue to track. We’ll be right back.
Roger Carstens, the Biden administration’s top official for freeing Americans held overseas, on Friday arrived in Damascus, Syria, for a high-risk mission: making the first known face-to-face contact with the caretaker government and asking for help finding missing American journalist Austin Tice.
Tice was kidnapped in Syria 12 years ago during the civil war and brutal reign of now-deposed Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. For years, U.S. officials have said they do not know with certainty whether Tice is still alive, where he is being held or by whom.
The State Department’s top diplomat for the Middle East, Barbara Leaf, assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs, accompanied Carstens to Damascus as a gesture of broader outreach to Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, known as HTS, the rebel group that recently overthrew Assad’s regime and is emerging as a leading power.
Near East Senior Adviser Daniel Rubinstein was also with the delegation. They are the first American diplomats to visit Damascus in over a decade, according to a State Department spokesperson.
They plan to meet with HTS representatives to discuss transition principles endorsed by the U.S. and regional partners in Aqaba, Jordan, the spokesperson said. Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to Aqaba last week to meet with Middle East leaders and discuss the situation in Syria.
While finding and freeing Tice and other American citizens who disappeared under the Assad regime is the ultimate goal, U.S. officials are downplaying expectations of a breakthrough on this trip. Multiple sources told CBS News that Carstens and Leaf’s intent is to convey U.S. interests to senior HTS leaders, and learn anything they can about Tice.
Rubinstein will lead the U.S. diplomacy in Syria, engaging directly with the Syrian people and key parties in Syria, the State Department spokesperson added.
Diplomatic outreach to HTS comes in a volatile, war-torn region at an uncertain moment. Two sources even compared the potential danger to the expeditionary diplomacy practiced by the late U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, who led outreach to rebels in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012 and was killed in a terrorist attack on a U.S. diplomatic compound and intelligence post.
U.S. special operations forces known as JSOC provided security for the delegation as they traveled by vehicle across the Jordanian border and on the road to Damascus. The convoy was given assurances by HTS that it would be granted safe passage while in Syria, but there remains a threat of attacks by other terrorist groups, including ISIS.
CBS News withheld publication of this story for security concerns at the State Department’s request.
Sending high-level American diplomats to Damascus represents a significant step in reopening U.S.-Syria relations following the fall of the Assad regime less than two weeks ago. Operations at the U.S. embassy in Damascus have been suspended since 2012, shortly after the Assad regime brutally repressed an uprising that became a 14-year civil war and spawned 13 million Syrians to flee the country in one of the largest humanitarian disasters in the world.
The U.S. formally designated HTS, which had ties to al Qaeda, as a foreign terrorist organization in 2018. Its leader, Mohammed al Jolani, was designated as a terrorist by the US in 2013 and prior to that served time in a US prison in Iraq.
Since toppling Assad, HTS has publicly signaled interest in a new more moderate trajectory. Al Jolani even shed his nom de guerre and now uses his legal name, Ahmed al-Sharaa.
U.S. sanctions on HTS linked to those terrorist designations complicate outreach somewhat, but they haven’t prevented American officials from making direct contact with HTS at the direction of President Biden. Blinken recently confirmed that U.S. officials were in touch with HTS representatives prior to Carstens and Leaf’s visit.
“We’ve heard positive statements coming from Mr. Jolani, the leader of HTS,” Blinken told Bloomberg News on Thursday. “But what everyone is focused on is what’s actually happening on the ground, what are they doing? Are they working to build a transition in Syria that brings everyone in?”
In that same interview, Blinken also seemed to dangle the possibility that the U.S. could help lift sanctions on HTS and its leader imposed by the United Nations, if HTS builds what he called an inclusive nonsectarian government and eventually holds elections. The Biden administration is not expected to lift the U.S. terrorist designation before the end of the president’s term on January 20th.
Pentagon spokesperson Pat Ryder disclosed Thursday that the U.S. currently has approximately 2,000 US troops inside of Syria as part of the mission to defeat ISIS, a far higher number than the 900 troops the Biden administration had previously acknowledged. There are at least five U.S. military bases in the north and south of the country.
The Biden administration is concerned that thousands of ISIS prisoners held at a camp known as al-Hol could be freed. It is currently guarded by the Syrian Democratic forces, Kurdish allies of the U.S. who are wary of the newly-powerful HTS. The situation on the ground is rapidly changing since Russia and Iran withdrew military support from the Assad regime, which has reset the balance of power. Turkey, which has been a sometimes problematic U.S. ally, has been a conduit to HTS and is emerging as a power broker.
A high-risk mission like this is unusual for the typically risk averse Biden administration, which has exercised consistently restrained diplomacy. Blinken approved Carstens and Leaf’s trip and relevant congressional leaders were briefed on it days ago.
“I think it’s important to have direct communication, it’s important to speak as clearly as possible, to listen, to make sure that we understand as best we can where they’re going and where they want to go,” Blinken said Thursday.
At a news conference in Moscow Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he had not yet met with Assad, who fled to Russia when his regime fell earlier this month. Putin added that he would ask Assad about Austin Tice when they do meet.
Tice, a Marine Corps veteran, worked for multiple news organizations including CBS News.
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