Crucial voters before they have agreed to faceoff in the first debate of 2024. But will it be enough to turn out voters. Well talk to j. D. Vance, a possible running mate and one of the republicans who showed up in new york where he faces charges ever falsifying Business Records to pay off an adult film star. And well hear from gary peters who is in charge of defending the democrats slim majority. And what do we need to know about foreign interference and the dangers of a. I. Well get the latest from chris krebs. And then russias advance on ukraines second large efrt city of kharkiv marks one of moscows biggest gains to date. Oksana markarova will join us with the latest. Finally, robert gates once led the cia and the defense department. Well get his thoughts on the state of u. S. National security and the 2024 election and more. It is all just ahead on face the nation. Good morning and welcome to face the nation. With election day less than six months away, President Biden is navigating a host of challenges at home and abroad. His National Security adviser is in israel today for talks with embattled Prime Minister netanyahu as the war in gaza enters the 8th month. Netanyahu is facing a ultimatum from benny gans who is threaten to quit government unless a post car plan is delivered by june 8th. This week the defense minister questions netanyahus strategy and that conflict over seas is making waves at home. Voters dissatisfaction with President Bidens hanling the war with gaza is overshadowing his commencement address in morehouse in atlanta this morning where some have protested his appearance. The speech is just one of the stops this weekend aimed at shoring up support from black voters. Recent polling suggests hes falling behind his opponent in key states. A new cbs poll shows the president trailing trump by five points in arizona. Despite biden winning that state in 2020. And in florida, trump is up by nine after winning that state in last two cycles. We begin this morning with Nikole Killian who is in atlanta. Reporter protesters greeted President Biden outside of morehouse ahead of his commencement address at the all mail black college. We want to remain conscience of what is going on in the world but there is a time and place for everything. Reporter hundreds of morehouse students and faculty petitions College Leaders to rescind bidens invitation arguing his support in war in gaza goes against the legacy of social justice. I think it is an important speech and an opportunity for biden to come out and talk about what hes done for the black community as well as address young people and voters of color disdain for the actions in gaza. I think it is an opportunity for him to win us over. The fact is that this election has a lot at stake. Reporter saturday he stopped by a popular black owned restaurant in atlanta, continuing his push with black voters as recent polls show him trailing former President Trump in several key battlegrounds including the peach state. You hear about how were behind in the polls. So far the polls havent been right once. I think youre a rebellious bunch. But lets be rebellious and vote this time, okay. Reporter in texas, the former president picked up an endorsem from the National RifleAssociation Encouraging gun owners to come out and teasing a third term which is barred by the constitution. We won in a landslide. That is the expression, too big to rig. Reporter back here at morehouse some of the students and faculty are holding a silent protest wearing palestinian scarves or the color of the flag. President biden will keep making his case to black voters heading from here to detroit to speak at an naacp dinner later today. Margaret. That is nicole killon in atlanta into and were joined by republican senator j. D. Vance. Good morning. You were at maralago recently and in new york at the manhattan courtroom and you were in ohio alongside donald trump at a fundraiser. You keep getting asked whether or not youre going to be Vice President or not. And you said you havent spoken to him about it. Sure. But were also looking at a pretty tight race in the senate. So do you think youre more helpful to him in the senate or in the white house. Well ill let him make that decision. I think he knows how to best run his campaign. I think it is best way to help the people of ohio and im interesting in helping in other ways if that is what matters. Because we have to reelect donald trump as president. The contrast is so extraordinary between higher inflation at home and war overseas, that is the biden record. And the trump record of peace at home and prosperity, that is a incredible thing to run on and it is an incredible thing to deliver for our country. So i think we need to help donald trump get across the finish line that is why ive spent the past couple of weeks to help him raise some resources and showing up for support in new york. It is all about getting elected president. I dont care who the Vice President is because trump is going to govern. You call yourself one of the most pro labors in congress and you were out there with them striking a while back and youre broadly supportive of tariffs. Why are you opposed to President Biden putting tariffs on batteries and electric vehicles an other technology from china. That seems inconsistent. There are two Different Things here. Many of the tariffs that joe biden has endorse ready tariffs that he ran against in 2020 but now that he sees that donald trump is leading in the polls hes adopting the donald trump agenda. That is smift shifting on politicians because youre about to lose. Well he targeted these directly. And bidens entire agenda has been about protecting Green Energy Jobs at expense of the industrial heartland. If you were in wisconsin, michigan or pennsylvania, you are not being empowered orren rif or enriched. But does it help steel makers or natural gas workers or heart of the American Economy . The answer is no which is another reason why donald trump will make a much better president. It is china electric vehicles are less than 2 of the market. But point here is all tariffs though, but to your point, all tariffs, you seem to be in favor of. Theyre inflationary. So how is the trumpvance idea going to make it more affordable for people if youre putting on taxes theyre buying from overseas. If you apply tariffs, youre saying were going to penalize you for using slave labor in china and importing it into the United States and you make more stuff in america in pennsylvania and that did not happen in the Trump Administration. It did happen in the Trump Administration . You had significant on shoring and increases in people investing in factory construction. But it takes time, margaret and that is one of the things, run of the reasons why i think we need a second term of President Trump. This stuff is not going to happen overnight. The heartland was not destroyed in four years and it will not be rebuilt in four years but you need to double down on bringing back jobs to the heartland and making stuff in america. We have to be selfreliant as a country. We havent heard a lot of specifics. There is a range of 50 tariffs. Do you know what the plan is . Im not going to speak for donald trump. But we need tariffs on goods coming in from china. Not just solar panels anz evs. The reason china beats us, it is not because they have better workers, theyre willing to use slaves to make things there. With state funding. We want American Workers to make stuff with good wages. I want to ask you about what youve said about american interviews. You said the closest conservatives has gotten to dealing with the left wing domination of universities is Viktor Orbans approach in hungry and his way has to be the model for hum. Not to eliminate the universities but to give a choice between survival and taking a much bias approach to teaching. He put them in foundations that were then run by his allies. Is that what youre advocating being done in the United States . What youre seeing in the United States is that universities are controlled by left wing foundations, not controlled by the american taxpayer and yet the american taxpayer is sending hundreds of bmss of dollars. I dont want taxpayers controlling education. Is that what youre advocating for, federal government . What im advocating for is for taxpayer to say in how their money is spent. Universities are part of a social contract in this country. They educate our children and they produce important intellectual property and they get a lot of money because of it and if theyre layering the next generation down in mountains ever student debt, then theyre not meeting their end of the bargain. There needs to be a political solution. And american universities still attract talent from around the world as you went to the very top schools. But there are still good things about american universities but it is going in the wrong direction. But victor orban, he neutered the courts and tried to control the media. These are not conservative principles so why would you want to mimic him. Im not endorsing every single thing that victor orban has ever done. But on the university principle, the idea that taxpayers should have some influence in how their money is spent at universities, it is a totally reasonable thing and i do think that hes made some smart decisions there that we could learn from in the United States. He was just welcomed at maralago and leader mcconnell just spoke out on the floor of the senate this week as xi jinping visited hungary. Theyre brokering trade deals with russia and with iran. Orban, because of this, should be a red flag for anyone seriously concerned about competition with china. So why take any policy cues from a man who is cozying up to adversaries. America is a nation of 330 Million People and the most important economy in the world. We shouldnt take every cue but where is victor orban getting closer to china because American Leadership is not making smart decisions. Were pushing other nations into the arms of the chinese because we dont make enough stuff, because we pursue a ridiculous foreign policy. We have to be more selfreliant. I dont like china and they have stolen a lot of american jobs. The reason theyve done it is because American Leadership has made bad decisions. That is our fault and that is smag that we could fix as americans. Youve talked about the need for the United States to pivot to asia and let the europeans focus on europe. But xi jinping is focusing on europe. Why would you seed influence . Because youve really been opposed to helping ukraine in its fight. Youve said a lot of things that are suggesting that you just want to pull back. Let me address that point. I think the reason that we have to be smart in ukraine is we dont have a strategy. What is joe biden tieing to do . What is 60 million accomplishing that previous money hasnt. 80 funds the Defense Industrial base and in europe and china and the intertwine between the two. The reason europe has become weaker is because they are deindustrialized because they pursued a generation that empowers china and russia. We need to acknowledge it is our decisions that making these countries stronger. We feed to fix that, not whine at countries that have 10 Million People. But people look for cheap stuff. They love that cheap energy in europeaner europe and they dont have it because of the policies. President trump lhas adopte the position that states should control abortion access. You said back in 2022, that after 15 weeks of pregnancy is something that you would support and some minimal National Standard. What is the minimum National Standard that you want the federal government to have on abortion . Look, margaret, i think that first of all, we have to acknowledge that political reality is motivating a lot of these considerations. What donald trump is said, which is very consistent with what i said during my own campaign, is the gross majority of abortion policy is made at the state level and i think if you compare his view of saying, look, this is a tough issue, we need to let people debate and decide this very tough issue in this new environment where it is kicked back to. But you want a minimum foreman standard. Compare this to the Biden Administration approach is we want christians to perform abortions and we want american taxpayers to fund lateterm abortions. That is not true. That is it is prohibited under the hyde amendment. So you dont have a minimum National Standard. What ive said consistently is the majority of the policy is set by states. Im prolife, i want to save as many babies as possible and lateterm abortions should not happen with reasonable exceptions. Bup think trumps approach is trying to settle a tough issue and actually empower the American People to decide it for themselves. Senator vance, thank you for joining us today. Thanks, margaret. We turn now to gary peters. Good morning to you, senator. Well good morning to you. Well you just heard us run through a whole bunch of these at theistics with our polling data and you are in charge ever helping to defend the slim democratic majority in the senate. Are you still confident that you could pick up a seat in florida and are you bullish that you will actually be able to pull off a win in arizona . I am. Im still very confident. We have all of the pieces in place to be successful. And basically it is very similar to how we were successful in the last cycle. When folks thought that was not possible if a midterm with a party in power in the white house, we did, we made history last cycle. Were going to do it again. And it is primary because of candidate quality. We have outstanding Democratic Candidates and incumbents who have served their state against deeply flawed republican candidates, so im confident were going to be able to win. So just to put up on screen because i dont think we do that. The candidate in arizona was talking about Ruben Gallego is leading kari lake by 13 points. That is pretty stark. Yeah. So are you confident . Yeah. The lead is great. But i take every poll with a grain of salt. We still have a tough race. Were still going to be focused on arizona to make sure that ruben wins. But if you look at the contrast, his service to the state of arizona through his work in congress, first there is kari lake who is an election denier and traveling around the country, not in arizona. People of arizona want someone who will be there fighting for them and that is what they have in congressman but that is what is happening down ballot. But President Biden in the state of arizona is down five points versus donald trump. So what is what are they missing at the top of ticket here . Well, im still confident that joe biden will win in arizona as well. The election will continue to play out. These are going to be close races. As i said, with his lead, i always take these polls with a grain eof salt. These are competitive battleground states and by definition they will be close. And well going to win not just because of the candidates but our ability to run better campaigns and reaching out to voters and getting them engaged and to the polls and that is how you win the close races and that is what well do this year at election time. Well in florida and in arizona, we polled in both of those states, by almost 3 to 1 voters say President Trump will woe better for their finances than President Biden and in arizona he has a ten point advantage on who cares about people like you a lot. And the economy, again, and again, number one issue. What can President Biden do to fix that . Well, President Biden has been focused on the economy and actually if you poll folks about their individual view about themselves, polls are pretty consistent. They feel good about what is happening in their family. And it is about focusing on that aspect. Ask people about yourself and are you better off. But certainly President Biden as well as democrats in the senate have been looking to reduce costs, for example, prescription drugs bringing down the price of prosecutor drugs for families. It is a focus of the president that will continue and you have to look back at the previous administration, folks forget that when the former president was there, we were in a pandemic and he just mishandled that pandemic in spectacular fashion. That is why and caused so much hardships for people. That is why it is so stark when people say they think he is better for think financing. That is pretty stunning frankly. On the issue of the border, we know just on the facts that the number ever migrants crossing the southern border has actually been declining for past few months. And the Biden Administration has talked about new efforts underway here. But it is not showing up in any sort of better reviews for the president s border policy. That is so essential for support in state of arizona. Hes trailing by five points. What does he have to do on the border that will help stop the bleeding . Well, as you said, the numbers are getting better. Theyll continue to get better. And President Biden and his administration has been focused on th