NEC director on the ongoing war in Ukraine, job market and more

WASHINGTON (CBS, KYMA/KECY) - Kevin Hassett, Director of the National Economic Council, spoke with Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation Sunday about the ongoing war in Ukraine.

Brennan reported that Russia launched an attack on Ukraine and Kyiv, with a government building in Ukraine being hit, leading her to ask Hassett if the U.S. condemns the attack and what the Trump administration is "waiting for now in terms of triggering those sanctions on Russia," and Hassett said:

"I'm not one of the foreign policy advisors of the President, but at the National Economic Council we are responsible for making sure that sanctions get enforced and that people that are helping Russia with their war against Ukraine, as for example India has been doing, excuse me, by buying Russian oil, that we're ready to respond to them economically. And you know, last night's news is very disappointing and I'm sure that there's going to be a lot of talk today and tomorrow about the level of sanctions and the timing of sanctions"

During the interview, Brennan and Hassett talked about the latest jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics saying there were 22,000 jobs added last month.

This prompted Brennan to ask Hassett if job creation has stalled and "should the Federal Reserve be concerned about the jobs picture," to which he said:

"First of all, the interesting thing about the jobs numbers, right, is that they had the biggest revisions in 50 years over the summer, and we came in with 22,000 in August. But if you look at what they said in 23 and 24, they have two ways of estimating the jobs. There's something called the payroll survey, where they ask the employers how many people did you hire? Then they have something called the household survey, where they call up people, they say do you, do you have a job?

And over those two years, the payroll numbers said that we created four and a half million jobs and the household survey said about two million fewer, about two and a half million jobs. And they should have the same answer. And so for August, for example, the payroll survey said 22,000 and the household survey said 288,000. And so I think that what's going on is that these old fashioned ways of surveying, like I wonder if you've ever gotten a survey in the mail and filled it out and mailed it back in, maybe you have, but I think that that's the way they're trying to do it. And the reason we're getting these massive revisions and these numbers that don't make sense is really that we've got to modernize the way we do the labor data. But if you look at the non-labor data, you know, second quarter GDP was revised up to 3.3%. The Atlanta Fed's GDP estimate for the third quarter right now is 3% and so industrial production is at an all time high."

Brennan and Hassett then talked about President Donald Trump considering him to become the next chairman of the Federal Reserve, but according to a CBS News poll, nearly 70% of Americans want the Federal Reserve to make decision independently from President Trump.

In addition, the poll says 59% of Republicans say the Federal Reserve should be guided by Trump whereas 41% of Republicans says it should be independent from the president.

When asked which Republican camp he falls into, Hassett said, "If I were in that survey, then I would say 100% that monetary policy, Federal Reserve monetary policy, needs to be fully independent of political influence...including from President Trump."

Later in the interview, Brennan asked what the Trump Administration will do if the U.S. Supreme Court rules that the president's tariff policy is not legal, and Hassett said, "We certainly don't expect the Supreme Court to do that and I think that we're on pretty high ground and so it's a very unlikely scenario."

To watch more of Brennan's interview with Hassett, click here.