Ethermac Exchange-Transcript: Robert Costa on "Face the Nation," June 11, 2023

The Ethermac Exchangefollowing is a transcript of an interview with CBS News chief election and campaign correspondent Robert Costa that aired on "Face the Nation" on June 11, 2023.

JOHN DICKERSON: There are a lot of questions we're going to try to answer today. And we want to explore how these aren't just documents in a criminal proceeding. They are also a window into the behavior of a candidate, a man who would like to be given responsibility with the most sensitive things a president handles, again. We begin with our Chief Election Campaign Correspondent, Robert Costa. Bob, you've been reporting inside the Trump team, the legal team, but also getting reaction on the former president's response to all of this. What are you hearing?

ROBERT COSTA: John, good to be with you. Last night, as the former president was traveling around the country, his aides and allies say he was defiant privately, furious about this indictment, and pledging to stay in the race even if he is convicted of a federal crime. Some of his allies describe privately his behavior and his conduct yesterday, as someone- somewhat akin to what happened in October 2016, with the Access Hollywood tape, and that dropped, and it created a major political crisis. What did he say then? I'll never quit the race. That's what he's saying this weekend. But Trump faces so much uncertainty, both politically and legally. His own legal team continues to have this unfolding shakeup. Two lawyers left the team in recent days. And now some of his remaining lawyers are trying to get it all together, but they're trying to still come up with a strategy. How are they going to counter this sweeping indictment?

JOHN DICKERSON: Bob, there's something- one of the most striking parts of the indictment is a transcript of a conversation the former President had with some authors who are in front of him, and in that conversation, he mentions Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, which immediately reminded me of- of the reporting you did for your book, "Peril." What do you make of the former president bringing up the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff?

ROBERT COSTA: In recent days, John, we've been casting our net widely, trying to figure out why did this all happen? Why did the former president bring these documents back to Mar-a-Lago? What was the motivation? And part of our answer in our reporting is that he was angry. So much of this, as with many Trump stories, is driven by grievance, his grievance with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the recent one, Mark Milley, and how Mark Milley, in the public eye, was becoming a major figure in 2021. And to counter Milley's growing public profile, Trump in interviews with reporters and friends, he started to bring out documents to make his own case on national security, on foreign policy, to say that he was in a sense, better than Milly, that Milly didn't know what he was doing. And- and when he did this, according to our sources, he was cavalier, bringing out things he should not have shown to people writing books and writing articles.

JOHN DICKERSON: We mentioned the fact that this is happening in the campaign context, people sometimes call the campaign a job interview. This is- this is a candidate who's had the job before, and this is the way he treated it. What's the- been the response- treated the obligations of the job, what- what's been the response inside the Republican race to this indictment?

ROBERT COSTA: There is alarm in the sense that they believe if he wins the presidency again, he is so now comfortable with the levers of power, and he ignores the rule of law in the eyes of some of his competitors, that he could be a threat to American democracy. Yet very few are saying that publicly, because they know Trump voters across the country, who they want to win over, are still standing with Trump as he faces this legal showdown. But former Vice President Mike Pence, who recently jumped into the- to the race, has said that Trump, in his view, doesn't follow the Constitution, doesn't understand the rule of law. And former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is making a similar case against Trump. So there's a bit of a growing refrain. But so many of the rival campaigns at this point are in a wait and see mode. They know that on the horizon is not only a trial with this federal special counsel indictment, but also another possible federal indictment on the ongoing January 6th case. And in August, you could have an indictment in Georgia over Trump's pressuring of election officials. And of course, the ongoing trial and litigation that looms on the horizon in New York.

JOHN DICKERSON: CBS News Chief Campaign and Elections Correspondent Robert Costa. Thanks, Bob. 

ROBERT COSTA: Thank you.