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Two U.S. officials confirmed to CBS News on Wednesday that senior Russian military officials discussed in mid-October how and when they might use nuclear weapons on the battlefield in Ukraine. The intelligence concerned U.S. officials because the relevant discussions came not long after Putin, seeing Ukrainian forces claw territory back from his troops, hinted that he could resort to nuclear weapons. The discussions among Russian officials, first reported by the New York Times, were not detailed by the U.S. officials who confirmed the intelligence to CBS News. In a statement shared with CBS News, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby...

A balanced focus group on CBS's "Face the Nation" Sunday morning surely didn't go quite as producers expected when the Democrat and the independent voter both found themselves agreeing with the Republican on key issues, including "woke culture" in schools. The discussion, moderated by anchor Margaret Brennan, started off pretty tame and predictable, with participants describing the effects of a sputtering economy, inflation, and high gas prices on their own lives. But when the topic turned to raising children in America, even Brennan seemed surprised by the level of agreement. What are your biggest concerns about raising children in America...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Sunday said the midterm election fight should be focused on cost of living rather than the global problem of inflation. “When I hear people talk about inflation… we have to change that subject. Inflation is a global phenomenon,” Pelosi said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” with Margaret Brennan. “The EU, the European Union, the UK, the British, have higher inflation rate than we do here… The fight is not about inflation. It’s about the cost of living.”

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), a member of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, said Sunday that deleted Secret Service texts sent the day before and day of the insurrection will be turned over to the panel by Tuesday. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) alleges that messages from Jan. 5 and Jan. 6, 2021 were erased as part of a planned system migration. “You can imagine how shocked we were to get the letter from the [DHS] Inspector General saying that he had been trying to get this information and that they had,...

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) — the guy who is, unfortunately for the country, the head of the House Intelligence Committee — appeared on “Face the Nation” on Sunday with Margaret Brennan.Brennan asked Schiff about the FBI raid on President Donald Trump and she asked a terrific question, the same question that so many of us have been asking — if this was truly the “national security” issue they are trying to portray it as now, why did they wait 18 months? I’d even add another point to that — why did they wait three days after they got the warrant...

Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that the Justice Department “appeared to be investigating the fake elector plot” because Rep. Scott Perry’s (R-PA) cell phone was seized by the FBI. Anchor Margaret Brennan asked, “We learned this past week that your colleague, Congressman Scott Perry, who leads the Freedom Caucus- the Justice Department seized his cell phone as part of their investigation into the attempts to overturn the election results in 2020 and that slate of fake electors. The committee looked into his actions and the slate of fake electors. We heard during the public...

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), a member of the House select committee investigating the Jan 6, 2021, attack at the Capitol, said on Sunday that he believes the Department of Justice (DOJ) should investigate former President Trump for his actions on that day. “If the department were now to take the position that you can’t investigate or indict a former president, then a president becomes above the law. That’s a very dangerous idea that the founders would have never subscribed to,” Schiff said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “Even more dangerous, I think in the case of Donald Trump. Donald Trump...

On Sunday, former Obama administration Attorney General Eric Holder called for former President Donald Trump to “be held accountable” for the January 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol. CBS “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan asked Holder if he thought current Attorney General Merrick Garland was being aggressive enough in prosecuting riot participants and Trump.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Sunday said the draft Supreme Court opinion that shows a majority of justices favor overturning Roe v. Wade “slapped women in the face.” “Here we are on Mother’s Day, a week where this court has slapped women in the face in terms of disrespect for their judgment about the size and timing of their families,” Pelosi told moderator Margaret Brennan on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

Representative Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that history will not judge people who believe then’President Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election well. Anchor Margaret Brennan asked, “A lawyer for Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene said this week she was not a participant in the January 6 violence. She was a victim. There were text messages revealed this week in which she was discussing martial law with Mark Meadows, then chief of staff. Do you need to ask her a few questions?”

Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) on Sunday said millions of vaccine doses will expire if Congress does not pass additional COVID-19 funding. “We are going to lose millions of doses of vaccine that will expire,” Coons told moderator Margaret Brennan on CBS’s “Face the Nation” when asked if vaccines will go bad should Congress not approve more funds.

A Senate Democrat said that the U.S. needs to discuss sending American troops to Ukraine — arguing that Vladimir Putin “will only stop when we stop him.” Appearing on Face the Nation Sunday, Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) was confronted by CBS’s Margaret Brennan about comments he made earlier in the week in which he argued the U.S. needs to figure out when it would be willing to send armed forces to Ukraine. “We are in a very dangerous moment where it is important that on a bipartisan and measured way we in Congress and the administration come to a common...

Ukrainian police posted on Facebook that they had conducted a “clearing op” in Bucha the day before videos emerged showing dead bodies scattered around the settlement, as the war of words over the alleged “war crime” continues. NATO powers and pro-Ukraine commentators have seized upon the alleged atrocity in a bid to escalate the war, with MSNBC hosts and guests even asserting that it justifies directly attacking Russia and putting American boots on the ground in Ukraine. MSNBC host Ali Velshi demanded “direct military involvement,” something that would almost inevitably kick off World War III, in response to the alleged...

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on Sunday that he has not made a final decision on whether he will vote to confirm President Biden's Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. CBS's "Face the Nation" host Margaret Brennan asked McConnell how he was leaning with regards to Jackson's nomination, noting that he had previously voted against her for a previous appointment. While he has praised Jackson's credentials, McConnell has so far remained coy as to how he will vote.

After Joe Biden’s first year in office, NOT ONE participant in Face the Nation’s focus group believes America is in a better place. CBS host Margaret Brennan was stunned when the entire panel of six participants, including Biden voters, said America is on the wrong path. “During the course of the pandemic, “Face the Nation” has been listening to Americans, through Zoom, to get their thoughts on COVID, the economy and how the government is handling it all. On Friday, we checked back in with six of them,” host Margaret Brennan said. “Who feels like we are in a better...

During a portion of an interview aired on Monday’s “CBS Evening News,” Vice President Kamala Harris said that the healthcare system is prepared for the Omicron variant and declined to place blame on unvaccinated people by stating it’s not the time “to talk about fault. It is no one’s fault that this virus hit our shores or hit the world.” CBS host Margaret Brennan asked, “Medical experts are projecting that we could see as many as a million infections per day because of this new Omicron variant. Is our healthcare system prepared for what’s coming?”

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, in a wide-ranging interview that aired Sunday said the political attacks against him are nothing more than "nonsense" and "noise." "So anybody spins lies and threatens and all that theater that goes on with some of the investigations and the congressional committees and the Rand Pauls and all that other nonsense, that's noise," Fauci said during an appearance on CBS News' "Face the Nation." Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican, in October called for Fauci to be fired, claiming he lied to Congress about US-funded...

Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday that Republicans like Sens. Ted Cruz and Rand Paul criticizing him were “lying” while he is “saving lives.” MARGARET BRENNAN: There’s a congressional act with your name on it, literally. FAUCI: Yes, exactly. And it’s just a lot of- well, anyway — Finish the thought. FAUCI: No- no. There’s a lot of politicization of that, a lot of misinformation, disinformation and outright lies about that. You’re angry about it. FAUCI: My job is to do what I can as a scientist to preserve and protect the health of the American public and in many respects,...

Washington — Tens of thousands of Afghans who worked alongside the U.S. during two decades of war and reconstruction may be at high risk in Taliban-run Afghanistan, according to a group of international advocacy groups including Amnesty International, Oxfam, Freedom House and nearly 100 other organizations. In a letter to several senior U.S. officials, the groups expressed frustration with the Biden administration's failure to evacuate at-risk Afghans more quickly. "We call on the Biden Administration to prioritize their safe evacuation before it is too late," the letter warned. "Some of these individuals assisted U.S. and allied armed forces. Others worked...

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said during a CBS News interview on Sunday that the problem with Democrats’ $3.5 trillion social spending bill is that people keeping talking about how expensive it is. “The head of your caucus, the progressive caucus, was on another network this morning and Rep. Jayapal said $1.5 trillion is just too small,” host Margaret Brennan said. “That’s the number that Senate moderates, Joe Manchin in particular, want to get down to. President Biden, according to our reporting from Ed O’Keefe, our correspondent, says you’re going to have to settle for about $2 trillion. Is that an...