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CBS News
29 minutes ago
- CBS News
Transcript: Fiona Hill on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," Aug. 17, 2025
The following is the transcript of an interview with Fiona Hill, former senior director for European and Russian affairs on the National Security Council, that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on Aug. 17, 2025. MARGARET BRENNAN: Welcome back to Face the Nation. Fiona Hill served as the Senior Director for Russia and European Affairs on the National Security Council during President Trump's first term. She joins us now from Waterville, Maine. Good morning to you. FIONA HILL: Good morning, Margaret. MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, Fiona, you were an advisor during that infamous Helsinki summit in 2018. You've spoken about that in the past. I wonder what you think about how this Alaska summit compared? HILL: Well, obviously quite different in many respects. Part of it was the fact that they decided to skip the one-on-one meeting and the lunch. I mean, these are usually part of the sort of set of summits like this. And the press conference, obviously, was more of an announcement, or a set of announcements- presentations by both leaders. Much more by President Putin, and more of a commentary by President Trump. So there wasn't that free-for-all of press questions, which I'm sure was a bit disconcerting for you and others who were present there, at Alaska. But the optics weren't exactly great, as Congressman crow has laid out for the United States and for President Trump, again, I mean, again, different, but although it was presented as perhaps a show of power by being at a US Air Force base with the fight passing of the B-52s and other fighter jets, it did certainly look much more like a show of appreciation for Vladimir Putin. And so, the optics were really much more favorable to Putin than they were to the United States. It really looked like Putin had set the agenda there, the narrative and, in many respects, the tone for the whole summit meeting. MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, saying that, you know, the President has a team of advisers around him, and in a traditional administration, those advisers would be setting the policy, they would be planning the optics, and they would be thinking through that. Do you think that the President's team set him up for success here? HILL: Well, look, it may well have been that one of the demands, because we've heard from Secretary Rubio, which I have to say, I think was a very fair assessment of where things are. So it may well have been that one of the demands by the Russians to make any progress in moving further forward was to actually have that kind of show of pomp and pageantry, that basically marks Putin's re-entry into international affairs. Maybe the Russians said to them in Moscow, either to Steve Witkoff or to Secretary Rubio, or to anybody else, that basically they wanted to have a major US-Russia, bilateral summit appearance before they would move on to the nitty-gritty of anything else in Ukraine. That's to give them- them all the benefit of the doubt there. But, it all now depends on what comes out of this. And I think again, Secretary Rubio made it very clear that it's not going to be easy. He was certainly downplaying any expectations of a major breakthrough. But he did say that there was something that might be possible. I think that's what's going to be the proof of whether this was actually worth all the effort that they went to in Alaska or not. And as Congressman Crow said, there's a pretty high bar here, because what Putin is doing is pretty brutal, and he's not showing, right now, any signs whatsoever of giving anything up. MARGARET BRENNAN: The United Kingdom's Defense Secretary has said that they would be willing to put boots on the ground in Ukraine to help oversee a ceasefire. When you hear these security guarantees being talked about, and the Secretary said he is going to negotiate that tomorrow, what should we think- what form is that going to take? What do you think that should look like? HILL: Well, look, I think he actually laid this out, and you did too in your questions. And I think Congressman Crow made it very clear as well. It has to be a combination of all of the things that we've already heard discussed on the show today. You have to be able to have some boots on the ground. Congressman Crow that it doesn't have to be the United States. That's actually the case. But, it actually has to be some commitment from the United States to enable European forces to actually hold that territory and to provide some security guarantees for Ukraine. The United States is key in terms of its intelligence, in terms of enabling equipment, and the information and the data that we would need for all of this to make a security intervention mean something. And it's also essential in terms of all kinds of other forms of equipment and defensive weaponry. We've already heard, of course, about Ukraine needing all kinds of equipment, from javelins in the past, to patriots, now, in terms of an integrated missile defense system that Ukraine desperately needs. So there's a lot there that we all know needs to be done, and what we really need to see, I think, in these meetings that will take place on Monday and moving forward, is a real commitment to the United States, to work with Europeans, and to work with Ukraine to make this happen. Look, this is existential, also for European security. So, minimizing the real role of Europe here, be it the United Kingdom, be it Poland, be it Finland, be it France, be it Germany, is not the way to go. Europe has to have an equal say in all of this. This is about Europe's future and the future of European security, not just about Ukraine's. MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to ask you about the dynamic between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. You know both men. You've written biographies of Vladimir Putin, and of course, you served under Donald Trump. In one of the FOX interviews that President Trump did, he said that he spoke about mail-in voting in the United States with Vladimir Putin, and during that press address, Putin also claimed that the war wouldn't have happened at all if Donald Trump had been President. I mean, that's a counterfactual, but that something Trump often says on the- on the trail, why would those things be discussed at all if this was about Ukraine? HILL: Exactly. Well, look, this is Vladimir Putin, as usual, trying to manipulate U.S. domestic politics. I've seen him do this over and over again, including at Helsinki when he set the president off, not in the press conference, but before that, in a whole diatribe against his political enemies, because Putin deliberately asked him about this. So Putin knows that President Trump wants to have an acknowledgement of his self-assertion that the war wouldn't have happened had he not- had he been in the presidency. And so, Putin is giving him something that plays well for President Trump in his own domestic environment. It doesn't play well in the international environment, where people know things are much more complicated, but it's basically a gift and a concession to President Trump himself. And Putin wants to sow chaos in the American electoral system ahead of the midterms. So, of course, he's led into this whole issue of mail-in voting. And President Trump asserted in his Fox News interview that there are no countries in the world that allow mail-in voting. Well, Russia allows mail-in voting, and if everybody wants to go out and look, they can look for themselves. In 2020, President Vladimir Putin signed into law Russians being able to vote by mail and also on the internet. And more than 30 other countries also allow some forms of mail-in voting. So, it's just not true that other countries, including Russia, don't use this. It's a pure, blatant piece of manipulation, and that's the kind of thing that Putin likes to do. MARGARET BRENNAN: And, of course, I don't think you would endorse the outcome of that voting system and that those elections are rigged in Russia. Correct? HILL: Of course. And I mean, basically, Putin wants to see us tie ourselves up in knots between now and the midterms. He's trying to sow chaos, and he's just basically used his time with President Trump to push that along. It's, again, it's a diversion, it's a distraction, really, from the negotiations on Ukraine, because Putin doesn't really want to give anything up, so he gives up, basically, something that plays well in the political arena for President Trump and something that actually plays very badly for the United States in its own political arena, which is the mail-in voting point that he made. MARGARET BRENNAN: Fiona Hill, always appreciate your analysis. Thank you for joining us today. We'll be right back.
CBS News
29 minutes ago
- CBS News
Transcript: José Andrés on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," Aug. 17, 2025
The following is the transcript of an interview with Chef José Andrés, founder of World Central Kitchen, that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on Aug. 17, 2025. MARGARET BRENNAN: We turn now to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry reports that the total number of starvation-related deaths has now risen to 250, including 110 children, seven of those deaths in the last 24 hours. World Central Kitchen founder José Andrés joins us this morning from Jerusalem. He visited Gaza late last week. Good morning. It is rare to get a look inside of Gaza. The IDF does not allow journalists in to freely report, but they let you in. What did you see? JOSÉ ANDRÉS: It was a day trip. I was able to go early in the day and leave before sunset, and I visit our main- one of our two main kitchens inside Gaza in Deir al-Balah. And I was able to visit the few warehouses we have there, the bakery, the kitchens, and spending a day trying to see what else the teams need, what else we need to be doing, how we are going to be increasing the hot food and bread that we are producing right now. So this was a day, again, to show support, to see on my own and assess the situation of our own kitchens. And that's what I have to report about that. MARGARET BRENNAN: The U.N. says that there is starvation happening in Gaza, Israel's Prime Minister says there is no starvation. What's real? ANDRÉS: Obviously, there is always a gray area, but we are making boxes for children that we know they are in very- a special need situation. I saw those boxes being made with the name of every one of the children. We need to remember that during many weeks, no food was going inside Gaza, and this is two- two million people. So in the places we know we are feeding, we are doing around 200,000 meals a day, but this is only 10 percent of the need. That's what we are trying to increase. I can say that where we are, obviously, people are- are being fed at the bare minimum. It's not everything they should be receiving, but at the very least they're receiving a piece of bread and a piece of food. But we need much more aid. We need to make sure that the aid is never interrupted again. We need to make sure that the flow of trucks keeps happening. We need to make sure that we have safe roads so those trucks can reach their intended delivery place. We need to make sure that all the NGOs that are actively trying to do the best they can to take care of people inside Gaza- and this is beyond food, obviously, medicines, etc., etc. We need to make sure that the aid is massive enough that we don't get to those moments where- in some areas, like in the north, that is still very difficult to reach, that we know that people are desperate for food. MARGARET BRENNAN: You mentioned for many weeks no food was allowed in. That was a government policy. There was a blockade for many months. That is now lifted officially. But as you say, your organization wants to scale up. You are trying to produce one million meals a day in Gaza. Can you get the fuel in to do that? Can you get the food in? Are Israeli officials giving you a green light? ANDRÉS: Well, it's a million because we are an organization that we specialize in emergencies and in food, but obviously we are requesting that all the NGOs that are participating in feeding are given more access, including us and other organizations like Anera, which was one of the organizations we work with that they've been in Gaza for many, many decades- and many others. We need to make sure that everybody has access. For that, we need a lot of things, the trucks inside Gaza. We need to remember that the trucks come from outside Gaza, and there they are put aside. And then we need to reload the trucks that are inside Gaza. This takes time. We need more trucks inside so the trucking company can have enough people and enough trucks to have a constant flow. I have to report that, yes, I saw a good flow of trucks going in. I don't- around 150 to 250 trucks are going in every day. But even I will say that this is not enough. We need to make sure that we massively increase- that we massively make sure that nobody has to be walking for miles to try to reach a place where they can find a plate of food or use a bag of rice. We need to make sure- like what World Central Kitchen does, at one moment we had, you know, 100, 200 kitchen partners. We need to make sure that we are cooking where people live. We need to make sure that we are feeding them where people are, so the people don't have to be, again, leaving their neighborhoods, leaving their tents and walking for hours back and forth only to try to bring little bit of food back home. MARGARET BRENNAN: In terms of walking to designated areas for food, you're referring to the model that the Israelis have set up with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. You are saying that their preferred method of feeding people is not sufficient. ANDRÉS: Well, it takes a village, right? To feed 2 million people and more in a- in a situation like the people of Gaza are facing. That's why the model we are- we are pushing for is the more kitchens we have, the better. Right now, we have 80 partner kitchens on top of the two main World Central Kitchen kitchens, but that's not enough. We need to make sure that we increase the numbers of World Central Kitchen, the big ones that people can see on the webpage of World Central Kitchen or in my Twitter account. We need to make sure that our partner kitchens, that they produce between 500 and two, three, four thousand meals each. We need to make sure the bakeries are fully loaded with bread. We need to make sure that we have the fuel. That's why we need to be bringing pellets, because we have hundreds of kitchens firing up every day. We need the fuel to be able to cook the food. The big bakery we have, a bakery that was in partnership with the Kingdom of Jordan that is doing almost 50,000 loaves of bread a day. We need diesel to make sure that we are able to move the machinery to be very effective, but that's only one bakery doing 50,000 pitas a day. We need many more bakeries to make sure that we are able to- to cover the demand of 2 million people. MARGARET BRENNAN: Before I let you go, I have to ask you about an incident that happened a few days ago. World Central Kitchen issued a statement saying the Israeli government told you armed people were posing as workers for your organization. Is that the first time that you've heard bad actors are trying to pose as humanitarian workers? Have you experienced exploitation by Hamas? ANDRÉS: Obviously, World Central Kitchen, we are a young organization. Gaza is a very complicated place. I know this is still kind of under investigation on our side and everybody else. But doubly, we are there to be next to the people of Gaza, next to the Palestinians. At the end, what we have is Palestinians feeding Palestinians. Only in our kitchens, we have around 600 Palestinians doing amazing work just trying to feed their fellow citizens, and that's what we plan to continue to make sure that Palestinians feed Palestinians, that Palestinians take care of themselves, and we're going to be giving them all the support we can to achieve that. MARGARET BRENNAN: And I understand you met with a former hostage while you were in- in Israel, whose brother is still being held in Gaza. What did you learn? ANDRÉS: Yeah, I've been- I've been- I've been- I've been meeting with- with different- but these- I met with Iair Horn. His brother is still in Gaza. You know, we had a two hour conversation. You know, was hard to listen to the story. Obviously, he wants his brother- his brother out. Today is a very massive strike in- in Israel, and everybody is asking for the return of the hostages. That's what should be happening. That's what should be- let's hope that this happens, obviously, alongside of a cease-fire, of peace, where nobody is under bombs, where nobody has their loved ones away, where nobody is losing their loved ones in the middle of- of- of this- of this war, where everybody is fed, where we can start the reconstruction of Gaza, where every children can receive a plate of food that they can go back to school, where, obviously, the hostages are released, where the people of Palestine and Gaza can live in peace and where the people of Israel can live in peace. What is good for you must be good for me. Let's hope that you at least will cover the basic minimums right now of feeding everybody, hopefully also the hostages being released as soon as possible. MARGARET BRENNAN: José Andrés, thank you very much for your time this morning.
CBS News
an hour ago
- CBS News
Protesters in Israel conduct nationwide strike to demand ceasefire and release of hostages from Gaza
Protesters in Israel participated in a nationwide strike on Sunday to demand a deal that would result in a ceasefire with Hamas and the release of hostages who remain in Gaza. The "day of stoppage," which blocked roads and closed businesses, marked an escalation in the population's growing frustration after 22 months of war. Police responding to Sunday's demonstrations blasted crowds with water cannons and made dozens of arrests. In one instance, officers stopped several protesters from trying to break into the central Ayalon highway in Tel Aviv, leading to a confrontation between them during which a protester was forcibly arrested, CBS News learned. Police also confiscated the protesters' equipment. The "day of stoppage" was organized by two groups representing some of the families of hostages and bereaved families, weeks after militant groups released videos of hostages and Israel announced plans for a new military offensive in some of Gaza's most populated areas. Protesters, who fear further fighting could endanger the 50 hostages believed to remain in Gaza, only about 20 of whom are thought to be alive, chanted: "We don't win a war over the bodies of hostages." Protesters gathered at dozens of points throughout Israel, including outside politicians' homes, military headquarters and on major highways, where they were sprayed with water cannons as they blocked lanes and lit bonfires that cloaked roads in smoke. Some restaurants and theaters were closed in solidarity. Police said they had arrested 32 as part of the nationwide demonstration — one of the fiercest since the uproar over six hostages found dead in Gaza last September. "Military pressure doesn't bring hostages back — it only kills them," former hostage Arbel Yehoud said at a demonstration in Tel Aviv's hostage square. "The only way to bring them back is through a deal, all at once, without games." "Today, we stop everything to save and bring back the hostages and soldiers. Today, we stop everything to remember the supreme value of the sanctity of life," said Anat Angrest, mother of hostage Matan Angrest. "Today, we stop everything to join hands — right, left, center and everything in between." Protesters at highway intersections handed out yellow ribbons, the symbol that represents the hostages, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which organized the stoppage, said. Even though Israel's largest labor union, Histadrut, ultimately did not join Sunday's action, strikes of this magnitude are relatively rare in Israel. Many businesses and municipalities decided independently to strike. Still, an end to the conflict does not appear near. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has demanded the immediate release of the hostages but is balancing competing pressures, haunted by the potential for mutiny within his coalition. Netanyahu addressed the protests on Sunday at a cabinet meeting, saying they were benefiting Hamas. "Those who are calling today for an end to the war without Hamas' elimination are not only hardening Hamas' position and delaying the release of our hostages, they are also ensuring that the horrors of October 7 will repeat themselves and that we will have to fight an endless war," the prime minister said. Far-right members of his cabinet insist they won't support any deal that allows Hamas to retain power. The last time Israel agreed to a ceasefire that released hostages, they threatened to topple Netanyahu's government. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Sunday called the stoppage "a bad and harmful campaign that plays into Hamas' hands, buries the hostages in the tunnels and attempts to get Israel to surrender to its enemies and jeopardize its security and future." National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, in a statement, accused protesters of trying to "weaken Israel." Like Smotrich, he said the strike "strengthens Hamas and delays the return of the hostages." Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry reported that 47 people were killed and at least 226 were wounded across the territory in the last 24 hours alone. Meanwhile, hospitals and eyewitnesses in Gaza reported at least 17 aid-seekers had been killed by Israeli forces on Sunday, including nine awaiting aid trucks close to the Morag corridor. The death toll among Palestinians waiting for food and other aid in Gaza has climbed this summer, sparking outcry around the world as starvation and malnutrition run rampant in the enclave. Hamza Asfour said he was just north of the corridor, awaiting a convoy, when Israeli snipers fired, first to disperse the crowds, then from tanks hundreds of meters away. He saw two people with gunshot wounds — one in the chest and other in the shoulder. "It's either to take this risk or wait and see my family die of starvation," he said. "There is no other option." The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which runs the distribution points, said there was no gunfire Sunday "at or near" its sites, which sit at the end of aid truck routes. Israel's military did not immediately respond to questions about strikes in the three areas. Israel's air and ground war has already killed tens of thousands of people in Gaza and displaced most of the population. The United Nations is warning that levels of starvation and malnutrition in Gaza are at their highest since the war began. The Hamas-led attack in 2023 killed around 1,200 people in Israel. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed 61,897 people in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry, which does not specify how many were fighters or civilians but says around half were women and children. On Sunday, two children died of malnutrition-related causes in Gaza, bringing the death toll from such causes over the last 24 hours to seven, according to Gaza's health ministry. The total number of deaths related to starvation has risen to 251, including 110 children, said the health ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. The U.N. and independent experts consider it the most reliable source on casualties. Israel disputes its figures but has not provided its own. While demonstrators in Israel demanded a ceasefire, Israel began preparing for an invasion of Gaza City and other populated parts of the besieged strip, aimed at destroying Hamas. The military body that coordinates its humanitarian aid to Gaza said Sunday that the supply of tents to the territory would resume. COGAT said it would allow the United Nations to resume importing tents and shelter equipment into Gaza ahead of plans to forcibly evacuate people from combat zones "for their protection." The majority of assistance has been blocked from entering Gaza since Israel imposed a total blockade in March after a ceasefire collapsed when Israel restarted its offensive. Deliveries have since partially resumed, though aid organizations say the flow is far below what is needed. Some have accused Israel of "weaponizing aid" through blockades and rules they say turn humanitarian assistance into a tool of its political and military goals. Israeli airstrikes hit Yemen's capital on Sunday, escalating strikes on Iran-backed Houthis, who, since the war began, have fired missiles at Israel and targeted ships in the Red Sea. Both the IDF and a Houthi-run television station in Yemen announced the strikes. Al-Masirah Television said they targeted a power plant in the southern district of Sanhan, sparking a fire and knocking it out of service, the Yemeni station said. Israel's military said Sunday's strikes targeted energy infrastructure it claimed was being used by the Houthis, and were launched in response to missiles and drones aimed at Israel. While some projectiles have breached its missile defenses — notably during its 12-day war with Iran in June — Israel has intercepted the vast majority of missiles launched from Yemen. The U.S. Department of State on Saturday announced that it would stop issuing visitor visas for people from Gaza. "All visitor visas for individuals from Gaza are being stopped while we conduct a full and thorough review of the process and procedures used to issue a small number of temporary medical-humanitarian visas in recent days," the department wrote in a social media post. Some humanitarian groups have condemned the pause because those visas may be issued to people in need of medical treatment abroad, CBS News partner BBC News reported. The nonprofit organization Palestine Children's Relief Fund said in a statement to BBC News that the decision "will have a devastating and irreversible impact on our ability to bring injured and critically ill children from Gaza to the United States for lifesaving medical treatment."
