The Takeout with Major Garrett

It's our first interview with a (declared) candidate for the 2024 presidency! Vivek Ramaswamy, a political outsider and bio-tech multi-millionaire, announced his bid for the GOP presidential nomination on February 21. Ramaswamy tells Major that he threw his hat in the ring because he believes America is in the middle of a "national identity crisis." He's authored several books including his latest...

Author Chris Whipple got extraordinary access to the Biden White House for his latest book, "The Fight of His Life," a look at the first two years of the Biden presidency. Whipple interviewed the president and nearly every senior officials advising him day-to-day, including now former White House chief of staff Ron Klain. Major and Whipple explore the high points and low points of the Biden presid...

As lawmakers debate the merits of reforms to programs like Medicare and changes to federal voting laws, we look back at the legacy of President Lyndon Johnson and why he's relevant today. This year marks the 50th anniversary of his death. Johnson signed into law some of the most consequential legislation in U.S. history - the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act and bills that created Medicare,...

Former acting Defense Secretary Christopher C. Miller has a message for Washington: cut the defense budget “dramatically” and stop making China a bogeyman. Miller served in the waning days of the Trump administration and recently released a book “Soldier Secretary.”  Major sits down with Miller at Kilroy's in Springfield, VA. Join us!

Smithsonian Secretary and founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture Lonnie Bunch joins Major for lunch at the museum's cafeteria, Sweet Home Cafe. Bunch, an accomplished historian, explains the some of the museum's vast offerings and tackles contemporary issues like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' push to eliminate a black history course in his state's high sc...

Major sits down with Colorado’s Democratic Governor Jared Polis at the statehouse in Denver. Polis gives his take on the classified documents saga, his presidential aspirations, 2024, Colorado’s permissive drug policy, housing shortages and immigration reform. Stick around for the Takeout Outtake Especial and Polis’ surprisingly good Yoda impression. Join us!

There's a debate roiling Washington right now over how much the federal government should be allowed to borrow to pay its bills. Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee Patrick McHenry is at the center of that often heated discussion. The right flank of his party wants spending cuts in exchange for raising the borrowing limit while the Biden White House insists it should be raised witho...

This week's guest is House Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Jordan who told Major the committee will investigate how the Justice Department handled two classified records cases involving presidents.  Jordan told CBS News his panel will probe the department's investigations into classified materials found at former President Donald Trump's Florida home and those found at Joe Biden's private office...

In his first interview since leaving government service, Dr. Anthony Fauci explains why the latest COVID variant, XBB.1.5, is spreading so rapidly and why China is facing an explosion of COVID cases. Fauci also responds to Twitter owner Elon Musk, who earlier this week said he would release the "Fauci Files," thought to be internal Twitter documents, though their precise content or relevance is un...

The great Mo Rocca is back on The Takeout with the low down on season three of his hit podcast “Mobituaries.” Mo looks back on the lives of John Denver, Loretta Lynn, TV terrier Wishbone and many more. Join us for a belt-busting spread of Italian cuisine at Trattoria Dell’Arte in midtown Manhattan.

It wouldn’t be Christmas at The Takeout without friend of the show and comedian Frank Caliendo. Frank is back with a few new impressions and all the classics. Happy Holidays from Major and Team Takeout.

Major sits down with colleagues Cara Korte and Bo Erickson, the creative forces behind "Missing Justice," a new CBS News podcast that delves into the missing and murdered indigenous peoples crisis in the United States. The podcast focuses on Christy Woodenthigh, a mother and member of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe in Montana, who died in March 2020. Korte and Erickson explain why her family and frie...

Former U.S. ambassador to Russia John Sullivan joins Major at Yours Truly DC, a hotel in Washington, DC’s West End. Their discussion focuses on Russia’s war in Ukraine and Sullivan’s dealings with President Vladimir Putin. Join us for coffee and bagels from Call Your Mother. This episode was recorded Wednesday, December 7th.

Brad Raffensperger and Jocelyn Benson have both faced violent threats since the 2020 election. They join Major to talk about the 2022 midterms, election denialism and Donald Trump’s persistent influence on American politics. Recorded at Fontana at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, FL. Join us.

CBS Mornings co-host and former NFL wide receiver Nate Burleson joins Major for breakfast at Junior’s in New York City. Come for a great discussion, a delicious breakfast and stay for Nate’s explanation of what it’s like to return a punt in the NFL. Happy Thanksgiving!

"Joe Biden was right, and I was wrong, and most people were." The president's pollster, John Anzalone, joins Major this week to discuss the key takeaways from the 2022 midterm elections. He believes Democrats showed surprising strength in races across a "toss-up nation," thanks in part to late-breaking independent voters who couldn't stomach voting for "extreme candidates on the right." Looking ah...

We're recapping the results of the 2022 midterm elections with North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, the head of the Democratic Governors Association. Cooper believes Democratic governors defied expectations this cycle, thanks in part to campaigning on the Biden administration record. Does the governor think Biden should run for re-election in 2024? "I expect him to...if he makes that decision, I'm for...

Major met California Governor Gavin Newsom in Santa Fe, New Mexico, for this week’s episode of The Takeout. What’s the governor, who’s up for re-election himself, doing in New Mexico a few days before the midterms? Great question. Major attempts to answer that and whether the trip is a precursor to a run for higher office. Plus, Newsom’s sharp critiques of his own party, what he thinks of Kevin Mc...

This week, a January 6th rioter convicted of brutalizing former Washington, DC metropolitan police officer Michael Fanone was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison. Fanone was dragged, beaten and tased by rioters on the West side of the Capitol that awful day and, as a result, suffered a heart attack and traumatic brain injury. He shares that story in his new book "Hold the Line," and in t...

Less than three weeks until Election Day, longtime anti-abortion rights activist Marjorie Dannenfelser says Republican candidates should be leaning into abortion as a winning conservative issue — not running away.  A raft of Republican candidates, many of whom won primaries touting support for the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision have moderated their positions in the general election or de-emphasize...

Cecile Richards, the former head of Planned Parenthood, isn’t sure what impact the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade will have on the midterm elections, but says the long-term abortion debate in a post-Roe world is just at the “tip of the iceberg.”  Richards, now co-chair of American Bridge, told Major, “The midterm election is only one measure of what's happening in the country. But...

Residents of Southwest Florida will be cleaning up the devastation wrought by Hurricane Ian for months to come. What made the storm so intense? How did meteorologists track the hurricane? What sorts of warnings kept the loss of life and property from being even worse? Major puts those questions to Dr. Rick Spinrad, administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. We’re at Cafe...

Your esteemed host Major Garrett is this week's guest alongside co-author and executive director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research David Becker. David and Major's new book, "The Big Truth: Upholding Democracy in the Age of “The Big Lie,” just hit shelves and they're here to share why we should be celebrating the execution of the 2020 election, not undermining it. CBS News congress...

Republican congressman Chip Roy, whose district stretches from Austin to San Antonio, joins Major for a conversation before a live audience at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin, TX. Roy dishes on the Trump documents investigation, immigration policy, The Big Lie and Republican prospects in the 2022 midterms. Join us for all that and more!

This week, Major's got Steven Law, president of Senate Leadership Fund, the SuperPAC working to elect Republicans to the US senate. The group will spend more than $200 million this fall and it's Law's job to figure out how best to do that. Law weighs in on competitive races in key states and the merits of this much money in our political system. We're at Dirty Habit in DC's Penn Quarter. Pull up a...