On this “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” broadcast, moderated by Margaret Brennan: 

• U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz

• Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina

• Democratic Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado

• Anthony Salvanto, CBS News director of elections and surveys 

• A panel with Amos Hochstein, former White House adviser on global infrastructure and energy security, and Kevin Book, managing director of ClearView Energy Partners

• Click here to browse full transcripts from 2026 of “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.”   

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MARGARET BRENNAN: I’m Margaret Brennan in Washington.

And this week on Face the Nation: Vice President Vance kicks off historic talks with the Iranians over the nuclear issue. But the Trump administration is finding that their path to peace is complicated.

Saying he wanted to avert economic catastrophe due to the shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz, the president negotiates an agreement with Iran that’s far short of the goals he set in the nearly-four-month conflict. Did Mr. Trump wind up with the short end of the deal? Some friends and foe alike say he did.

Tensions are also high between the U.S. and the Netanyahu government over Israel’s attacks on Lebanon, as the Trump administration issues unprecedented public criticism of one of our closest allies.

(Begin VT)

DONALD TRUMP (President of the United States): You can do a little softer touch, Bibi. You don’t have to knock down a building every time somebody walks into it that’s from Hezbollah.

J.D. VANCE (Vice President of the United States): You can’t just kill your way out of solving every single national security problem that you have.

(End VT)

MARGARET BRENNAN: Politically, the president is also getting heat from key Republicans upset about his backtracking on Iran having ballistic missiles and other concessions. One Republican senator calling this the worst foreign policy blunder in decades.

Others are also unhappy.

(Begin VT)

SENATOR TED CRUZ (R-Texas): I do not want a theocratic lunatic who wants to kill us to have weapons to enable him to kill us.

(End VT)

MARGARET BRENNAN: We will talk with U.N. Ambassador Mike Waltz, South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, and a key Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Colorado’s Jason Crow.

It’s all just ahead on Face the Nation.

Good morning, and welcome to Face the Nation. The first face-to-face meeting between the U.S. and Iran since President Trump agreed to a truce. Now the 60-day window to reach an agreement on Iran’s nuclear program has begun, and the challenge for these talks is daunting.

(Begin VT)

J.D. VANCE (Vice President of the United States): What the president has asked us to do is turn over a new leaf to transform our relationship with the people of Iran and to extend an outstretched hand that says to the people of Iran that, if your leadership is willing to give up being a driver of regional instability, if they are willing to give up nuclear weapons ambitions for the long term, then the United States is willing to fundamentally transform our relationship with that country.

(End VT)

MARGARET BRENNAN: Our CBS News poll out this morning shows that more than three-quarters of Americans want to end the conflict now, with 69 percent saying the conflict with Iran was not worth the costs.

More than half, 57 percent, say the president’s war with Iran created more problems than it solved. And two in three believe that the administration reached agreement with Iran mainly because it wanted the conflict to be over.

We’re joined now by U.N. Ambassador Mike Waltz, who joins us from New York.

Good morning, and happy Father’s Day.

MIKE WALTZ (U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations): Hey. Good morning. Thank you. And happy Father’s Day to all the great fathers out there. Strong men make strong families. Thanks.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, Ambassador, the war is unpopular, as you just heard, but how it ends matters, as you know.

CBS’s Olivia Gazis is reporting that senior members of Trump’s national security team, including Secretary Rubio, remain doubtful Iran will comply with this deal’s terms. The CIA director presented Trump with intelligence indicating inconsistencies with Iran’s commitments.

So, if even the president’s own team doubts this is a win, how do you sell this to the public?

AMBASSADOR MIKE WALTZ: Well, Margaret, I will go back to other polling that shows that the American people absolutely agree with President Trump that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon.

Of course, we all want lower gas prices. They are lower, below $4 and falling, with more work to do. They’re cheaper than under the Biden administration. We’ll remember just a few months ago, when analysts were saying oil would be upwards of $150 to $200 a barrel. And it is not. It’s now under $80.

Of course, everyone wants cheaper energy, but what President Trump is doing is striking that balance with also ensuring that a genocidal regime that none of us trust can never have a nuclear weapon, and that process is under way right now as we speak.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, the American people also don’t want Iran to have a nuclear weapon. We see that in our polling, but they’re unconvinced that this interim agreement achieves that.

But to the point you were just making about the regime, the vice president is sitting right now behind closed doors face to face with Speaker Ghalibaf. This is a man who oversaw the missile program in Iran when he was a commander in the IRGC’s Air force.

He has bragged, there are recordings of him doing so, about his own role in cracking down on protesters, describing how proud he was about having personally beaten them with wooden sticks. So, we went from President Trump telling protesters that help is on the way to now sitting across negotiating with one of the men who beat them.

Aren’t we offering the regime a lifeline?

AMBASSADOR MIKE WALTZ: Well, number one, this is a step forward that no other administration has ever been able to do, and that’s have direct talks.

None of these senior members of this genocidal regime are good guys, by any means. They certainly wouldn’t pass an FBI background check. No one expects that. But, at the end of the day, the administration, our administration, is taking a pragmatic approach.

This is who the regime has put forward to deal with. And they remain and we remain focused on the goal of no nuclear weapons, period. And what we’ve seen in the past is policy drift in terms of what our aims are. The president is laser-focused. The American people, and not just the American people, the entire world, with U.N. Security Council resolution after U.N. Security Council resolution for decades saying Iran can’t have a nuke.

And we need to give this process a chance. We need to give peace a chance and, as the vice president has said, perhaps we can finally turn the page to a new Middle East, like President Trump did with the Abraham Accords his first term.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.

AMBASSADOR MIKE WALTZ: Let’s give this a chance his second term.

But, Margaret, I want to be very clear. As Secretary Rubio said, we know the type of people that we’re dealing with. We have condemned them for killing 40,000 to 50,000 of their own citizens in just a weekend.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.

AMBASSADOR MIKE WALTZ: They hold Americans hostage. They’ve never returned the remains of Bob Levinson, a former contractor from 20 years ago. We know who we’re dealing with, eyes wide open.

MARGARET BRENNAN: They have six Americans hostage right now.

AMBASSADOR MIKE WALTZ: But the difference with – but the difference with the Obama administration is going to be all about verification, no trust, and all verify whatever they put down on paper.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.

AMBASSADOR MIKE WALTZ: And we know – and the other piece too is, it’s backed by credible military force…

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well…

AMBASSADOR MIKE WALTZ: … that the previous administrations took off the table, removed their leverage. We are going in with a devastated Iranian economy, a devastated Iranian military, and perhaps with some carrots…

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well…

AMBASSADOR MIKE WALTZ: … that will be verified and pay for performance, that we’ll see a better deal this time.

MARGARET BRENNAN: I know the families of hostages appreciate you mentioning them. Many were disappointed that their families were not included in any kind of goodwill gesture. There are six Americans being held.

But back to the deal, the vice president indicated some of the…

AMBASSADOR MIKE WALTZ: But, Margaret, I’m sorry. That’s…

MARGARET BRENNAN: Go ahead.

AMBASSADOR MIKE WALTZ: I’m sorry. That’s a very important point.

And I want those families to know their loved ones are not forgotten, and this president’s record in getting Americans home is unparalleled from any president in modern American history. So, I just want them to hear that loud and clear. This president has his eye on the ball.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well…

AMBASSADOR MIKE WALTZ: Sometimes, these talks handle – are handled out of the public eye.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Senator Tom Cotton said this will allow Iran to sell its oil. Based on prewar production levels, it will get between $150 and $200 million every single day, up to $6 billion per month. What do you think these guys are going to spend that money on?

AMBASSADOR MIKE WALTZ: Well, first, it’s – that money is not going into some kind of slush fund.

MARGARET BRENNAN: That’s oil revenue.

AMBASSADOR MIKE WALTZ: It is going to places that we can still – we can still monitor.

If it’s not going to the places that were agreed upon, we can absolutely turn it back off. The president can put the blockade back in. He just said this morning, if Iran doesn’t get Hezbollah under control to stop attacking Israel, that will be a violation, and he will go back to – again, the key point here is, we have that military option and all options on the table.

Biden, Obama, none of the predecessors have that in a very credible way like President Trump does.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, but the president himself says he wants to avert economic disaster, and that we’re weeks away from a fuel shortage.

AMBASSADOR MIKE WALTZ: Of course.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So he seems to be saying that he wouldn’t necessarily want to return to conflict, if that’s the cost of it. So, the credible use of force seems in question.

AMBASSADOR MIKE WALTZ: Well, but there are some – but – no, but there’s some nuance there, Margaret, that in the United States, we are producing more than we ever have. Venezuela is now producing.

Countries like Guyana in South America have whole new finds that we’re now helping. So, we’re actually getting more oil and gas on the market. But some of our allies absolutely have been affected, particularly in Asia.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.

AMBASSADOR MIKE WALTZ: And the president has that in mind, as he’s negotiating. But he also has seen, in the U.N., for example, the entire world condemning this regime, a U.N. record 143 countries, for its illegal mining of the straits…

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.

AMBASSADOR MIKE WALTZ: … and for its attempt to hold the world economy hostage. So they’re diplomatically isolated. They’re economically devastated. They’re militarily…

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well…

AMBASSADOR MIKE WALTZ: … devastated. And despite what you read in the headlines or some prognosticating, we are going into these negotiations from a position of strength.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, the vice president described rapprochement this morning, and he indicated that some of the details of what was agreed to are not written down. He referred to a gentleman’s agreement.

That phrase was also briefed to reporters by an administration official. And here is what the president said:

(BEGIN VT)

DONALD TRUMP (President of the United States): If they don’t honor the agreement – or some things aren’t even mentioned in the agreement. It’s a memorandum of understanding, but we have an understanding of certain things without writing it.

(End VT)

MARGARET BRENNAN: Are there classified annexes or portions of this that have not been made public, and will they be shared with Congress?

AMBASSADOR MIKE WALTZ: Margaret, not – not to my knowledge. And I will just go back to your point on…

MARGARET BRENNAN: What’s the gentleman’s agreement?

AMBASSADOR MIKE WALTZ: … what’s on paper and what’s being discussed.

This is – this is an ongoing negotiation that we’ve never before had directly with the Iranians. And I will just say this from a lot of – from a lot of the doubts that you played in your opening. This is the same team that got all of the hostages out of the tunnels of Gaza that nobody said could be done.

They got a cease-fire in place, not perfect, that no one could – said could be done, that took care of the Maduro regime. He’s in jail right down the street here in New York with – with no casualties, and Venezuela now on a better track.

So, I wouldn’t doubt this president or this team. And there’s going to be some bumps in the road, for sure. No administration has been able to get this far from a position of strength.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.

AMBASSADOR MIKE WALTZ: And so, you know, I have full confidence that we’ll get to a deal and, as the vice president said, perhaps, perhaps give this a chance, and we can have a transformed Middle East.

No one would have thought, even a year ago that you’d have Israel and the UAE working together militarily to defend each other as a result of the next evolution of the Abraham Accords.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, they were kind of forced to. But also…

AMBASSADOR MIKE WALTZ: So, but let’s – we’re in day one of the technical talks.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.

AMBASSADOR MIKE WALTZ: And – and, Margaret, by the way, there are – there are technical experts from the Department of Energy that are sitting down right now to get to the bottom of the downblending, the moving of the uranium, the highly enriched uranium, and how that will technically be done. So we have to give that process a chance as well.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, that’s good to hear that the U.S. has its own nuclear experts on site. The White House hadn’t said that. Is there anything else you can tell us?

Who’s going to keep talking for 60 days? Vance says he has to come home.

AMBASSADOR MIKE WALTZ: Well, again, these are – these are – these are our Department of Energy experts, our Ph.D.s in physics, a lot smarter than – that I am, that are getting into those nitty gritty details.

And – but the big picture is the president’s focus on Iran not having a nuclear program. And, right now, it’s destroyed. And if they – and we’re going to keep it destroyed…

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well…

AMBASSADOR MIKE WALTZ: … and have it permanently destroyed, as opposed to the past, where it was ongoing, and we were basically bribing them to not continue.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well…

AMBASSADOR MIKE WALTZ: It’s a totally different negotiation dynamic.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, that stockpile was shipped to Russia in the JCPOA. There were limits. We want to see what limits these U.S. negotiators are actually able to secure, and we’ll watch that diplomacy.

Thank you very much, Ambassador Waltz.

We want to turn now to South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, who joins us from Seneca.

Good morning to you, Senator.

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-South Carolina): Good morning. Good morning.

MARGARET BRENNAN: There’s a lot that still hasn’t been figured out here in this deal.

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: Right.

MARGARET BRENNAN: But you wrote nine days ago the idea of a U.S. plan with partners to create a fund of at least $300 billion – this is point six in the memorandum – is “tone-deaf” and it’s “akin to a Marshall Plan for Germany with the Nazis still in charge.”

Why did you change your position…

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: It would be…

MARGARET BRENNAN: … and now you support it?

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: Because, before, I thought the money was coming from the West. If the West funds Iran, I think that would be a Marshall Plan with a Nazi still in charge for Germany. If the plan envisions…

MARGARET BRENNAN: You’re OK if it doesn’t come from the U.S.?

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: … the Sunni Arabs – yes, if the Sunni Arabs do it.

Can you imagine if Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates invest $300 billion in Iran? That would tell me that Iran has changed. To all the experts out there, do you think Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates are going to invest in Iran with a theocracy bent on destroying Sunni Islam?

So, think – think it through. If the money comes from the Sunni Arab world…

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: … I hope it happens. It would mean that the Sunni Arabs believe that Iran has changed to the point they want to be a business partner. I pray that happens. I doubt if it will.

MARGARET BRENNAN: You doubt if it will.

Well, I want to ask you about some of the criticism of the agreement from your fellow Republican colleagues. Take a listen.

(Begin VT)

SENATOR TED CRUZ (R-Texas): If we give billions of dollars to Iran, that money will be used to murder Americans, and so I don’t believe we should do that.

SENATOR JOHN CORNYN (R-Texas): They’ll use the money that is being released to rebuild their – their ballistic missile arsenal and begin to enrich again, and that’s going to be a continuing danger.

SENATOR TOM COTTON (R-Arkansas): That money, Brooke, we know is not going to go to build new hospitals or day cares, it’s going to go to replenish their drone stockpiles, their missiles, to support terrorists like Hezbollah and Hamas.

SENATOR BILL CASSIDY (R-Louisiana): We have 13 Americans dead. We spent anywhere from $25 to $100 billion in munitions. And it turns out we’ve lost the credible threat of attacking them again. So, there’s a lot of stuff in there that’s bad.

(End VT)

MARGARET BRENNAN: All of those Republicans are seriously doubting the president here, Senator Graham. Do you agree with their concerns?

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: No, I don’t.

We’re not giving any money to Iran that can change the course of history to try diplomacy. Is the MOU problematic? Yes. I would rather try diplomacy than take it off the table. The money Iran gets is not going to change the future of Iran.

It’s not enough to reconstruct the country. If you don’t have a diplomatic path through the MOU, then you have to go to war or some other form of coercion. Let’s try this. Let’s try a diplomatic solution. I think it’s going to fail.

What happens next? I spent 4.5 hours with President Trump Friday. Here’s what I think will happen next. If this deal fails, President Trump is going to take the Strait of Hormuz over by force. The United States will control the Strait of Hormuz. We’ll charge a fee for all those who go through – through to pay for the operation.

And we’re going to expand the Abraham Accords in calendar year 2026. We’re going to get Saudi Arabia to join the Abraham Accords, and – which is the biggest change in 5,000 years in the Mideast. And if Iran contests control of the Strait of Hormuz by the United States, we will obliterate them.

So, to all the people listening, if this diplomatic effort fails, President Trump is going to take the Strait of Hormuz.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: We’re going to run it. We’re going to try to get Saudi Arabia to join the Abraham Accords to end the Arab-Israeli conflict in 2026.

And if Iran continues to attack Israel and Lebanon, the new policy will be we’ll hit Iran. So, to the Iranians, if you’re listening, when you use Hezbollah to attack Israel, I think the new policy will be, we will attack Iran.

MARGARET BRENNAN: You have just laid out how you could turn what you think is a flawed document into an opportunity.

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: Right.

MARGARET BRENNAN: But you’re also suggesting there that you can get Benjamin Netanyahu or whoever is the next prime minister of Israel to recognize the Palestinian state, which is the price of normalization with Saudi Arabia. How could you do that on the brink of an election?

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: Well, for – for about two years, Margaret, in case you missed this, I went to Riyadh and Jerusalem, working on normalization with President Biden.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: We were going to announce a framework to have Saudi join the Abraham Accords and – at the end of October in 2023. Iran attacked on October the 7th.

That created a real problem. The Arab world is very upset about Gaza, and everybody in Israel is very upset about October 7. But we’re going to pick up where we left off. And Donald Trump is going to empower me and others to jump-start what we – an effort to get Saudi to join Israel.

There will be accommodations made by Saudi and Israel. To Saudi and Israel, you have no better friend than Donald Trump. To Bibi, Donald Trump stood by you when other people wouldn’t. I’m not asking you to do anything to jeopardize the future of Israel’s security, but I am asking you to be open to expanding the Abraham Accords and finding a solution to Palestinians that are good for Israel and, quite frankly, good for the world.

To the – to Saudi Arabia, now is the time to open negotiations yet again…

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: … for you to expand the Abraham Accords, for you to join. I think this is going to happen in 2026…

MARGARET BRENNAN: Wow.

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: And it can’t happen until Iran’s in a box. If we get a deal, if we get a deal, Iran will be in a box. If we don’t get a deal…

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: … Iran will be in a box.

To Lebanon, to the people in Lebanon, help is on the way.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Senator…

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: Hezbollah has been terrorizing your country for…

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: … for a long time. That’s about to end.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Senator, I have other questions I need to get to based on your responsibilities in the Judiciary – in the Judiciary Committee.

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: OK.

MARGARET BRENNAN: President Trump appeared to sabotage his own nominee, Jay Clayton, who was going to be the nominee with a confirmation hearing last week to run the Director of National Intelligence.

He told him not to show up at his hearing. So that left Bill Pulte, this controversial head of the Federal Housing Agency, who has no prior intelligence background or security clearance, in charge. Are you comfortable with giving Pulte the keys to the 18 agencies?

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: I think what we had in place should happen. I think Clayton should be the new DNI. President Trump was told that Democrats were not going to support FISA reauthorization, and he got mad and pulled out of the agreement.

They will. Mark Warner told me that there are enough votes to get FISA reauthorized. And I would urge President Trump to let Clayton testify. And if we nominate Clayton and get him affirmed as the new DNI – we don’t want FISA to go dark. There’s too many threats to our country for 702 to go down.

Anybody who owns the shutting down of 702 under FISA will own a future attack against the United States. We’re playing with fire here.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Did you – you said you spent time with President Trump this past week? Did he say to you that he will do what you just laid out?

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: I will – I will let – I will let him speak for himself.

But I told him that any Democrat that shuts down FISA at a time of great peril for the United States is making a huge mistake.

MARGARET BRENNAN: But…

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: The same would be true of the Trump administration. We need FISA up and running.

So, here’s what I hope will happen, that Clayton will appear before the committee, we’ll get him confirmed, and we’ll get FISA reauthorized, as the original plan was. I think the Democratic votes are there.

MARGARET BRENNAN: OK.

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: We’re playing with fire here, no matter what side does it.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: America needs FISA up and running.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, this – you’re talking about the surveillance tool that allows for foreigners of concern abroad to be…

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: Yes.

MARGARET BRENNAN: … monitored there.

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: Yes. Yes.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Bill – Bill Pulte went after the president’s perceived political enemies and is accused of using private mortgage data and weaponizing it.

Mark Warner told us on this program last week, because he’s so ignorant, he could do damage. He’s on the job right now. Is he a risk?

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: Yes, I’m fine right now, but I won’t be fine much longer if we don’t get FISA up and running. And I think Clayton’s the perfect pick.

MARGARET BRENNAN: OK.

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: Clayton has got the confidence of both sides.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: Let’s get him in a job that really matters. And I thought it was an outstanding…

MARGARET BRENNAN: OK.

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: … choice by President Trump.

And let’s get this…

MARGARET BRENNAN: OK.

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: … back on – on track.

We can’t – you know…

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: … we got to – we got to realize…

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes, I got to…

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: … that there are people who want to blow us all up and kill us. And they’re coming if we don’t stop them.

MARGARET BRENNAN: I got to wrap this. OK.

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: And if we don’t get Iran in a box, we’re in trouble. So, let’s do it.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Senator…

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: Let’s stop talking and get it done.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Senator Graham, thank you very much. Got to go to a break.

We’ll be right back.

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MARGARET BRENNAN: Welcome back to Face the Nation.

We go now to Colorado Democratic Congressman Jason Crow.

Happy Father’s Day to you.

REPRESENTATIVE JASON CROW (D-Colorado): Thanks, Margaret.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Congressman, you’re on Armed Services and you’re on the Intelligence Committee, so I want to get to some of your responsibilities here, particularly on the intel front.

We were just speaking with Senator Graham about what’s happening at the top of the Office of National Intelligence and the lapse of the surveillance authority. Right now, Bill Pulte is the acting director of national intelligence. He is someone who has been accused of using mortgage information to go after the president’s political enemies.

I know that’s under investigation currently by the GAO. But the fact that he’s in the role right now, what harm can be done, if any? And do Democrats have any power to stop that?

REPRESENTATIVE JASON CROW: Well, I’m obviously concerned that this is somebody who’s a political attack dog, and his single biggest qualification is that he’s loyal to Donald Trump and is willing to go after Donald Trump’s enemies.

But my more immediate concern is the fact that this is a really important position. This sits atop our intelligence agencies. And, by law, Congress mandated that this person have significant intelligence experience, because they have to make sure that we’re keeping Americans safe, which is not what Bill Pulte is capable of doing.

So, I’m just more worried day to day that Americans are at risk because we have someone who’s incompetent at the head of this agency.

MARGARET BRENNAN: But will Democrats actually still reauthorize FISA?

You heard Senator Graham again link the two issues here and said that’s really the bigger risk, the lapse of this key surveillance authority. I know, when this was up for a vote in front of the House, you were proud of having voted against reauthorization of this surveillance tool.

REPRESENTATIVE JASON CROW: Yes.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Do you think your party miscalculated here?

REPRESENTATIVE JASON CROW: No, not at all.

I mean, I have always voted for FISA before. I’m on the Intelligence Committee. I know how important it is. But I’m unwilling to trade Americans’ constitutional rights, privacy, and essential civil liberties for temporary extension to this program.

I’m just unwilling to do it, right? That’s what this administration is asking us to do. They say, give up your constitutional rights, give up Americans’ rights and privacy, and we’ll just make sure we keep you protected.

I mean, that’s what autocracies say. I’m not going to do that. I’m willing to have a discussion about what checks we need to put in place, a short- term extension. I’m not going to give them a three-year runway on this program.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well…

REPRESENTATIVE JASON CROW: What about this administration would give us confidence that they’re going to follow the law? Short-term extensions. Then we can talk.

MARGARET BRENNAN: But the chair of the Intelligence Committee, in terms of the Democratic leadership there, Jim Himes, said he hadn’t seen violations. You’re saying that the Trump administration is doing that? I mean, you’re disagreeing with your own Democratic leadership.

REPRESENTATIVE JASON CROW: No, I’m not disagreeing with Jim. Jim and I talk frequently, and we’re aligned on this.

There are sig – there are public reports, many public reports of potentially thousands of violations. And, to be more specific, these public reports allege that the Trump administration is using a filtering tool – again, this is all public – a filtering tool to bypass the checks and the warrant requirements that would normally be in place to prevent the violation of privacy rights and civil rights of Americans.

Now, we’ve gone to the Trump administration and said, tell us this is wrong, show us why this is wrong, and if we have confidence, then we can kind of move forward to figure out what we need to do. They have not responded to us at all.

So, why would we sit here with no response, all of these allegations, numerous public reports of violations, and just vote blindly to extend this program? It would be absurd for us to do that.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well…

REPRESENTATIVE JASON CROW: And we have the trust of our constituents and Americans, and we’re not going to violate that trust.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, on the Senate side, where the fight currently is, Senator Warner said he thinks Trump wants the expiration of this surveillance tool to stay, because he could then blame Democrats if some sort of attack happened here.

So, what do you make of that? And what will it take for you to reauthorize FISA? Because it does – I don’t hear a solution, from what you just said.

REPRESENTATIVE JASON CROW: Yes, well, first of all, I agree with Senator Warner. I don’t think Donald Trump cares about Americans’ national security and safety.

I think he has shown very clearly over the years his willingness to weaponize national defense, the military, the intelligence community, the Department of Justice against his enemies to score political points, at the jeopardy of American citizens.

I mean, hell, the guy tried to put me in prison back in February simply because I told soldiers that they have to follow the law and obey – obey their oaths. So, that is true.

What we need to do is, we need very specific guarantees from this administration. I want the facts. Are they violating the law? Are they skirting around the requirement, number one?

Number two, additional safeguards. The last time we reauthorized this program, we put 55 additional safeguards in place. We’ve learned between now and then there are more safeguards that are necessary.

MARGARET BRENNAN: This all takes time.

REPRESENTATIVE JASON CROW: And, number three, a shorter-term extension, a shorter-term extension.

No, it wouldn’t take that much time. In a matter of days, they could give us that information, we could figure that out, we could vote on something, and we could get it done.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Let me ask you, because there was other news this week on the Armed Services Committee.

Secretary Hegseth announced the U.S. is going to conduct a six-month review of U.S. force posture in Europe. He threatened to cut American dues to NATO if European nations don’t boost military spending. He said NATO reluctance to assist in the American strikes on Iran seem to be linked here to a potential reduction of U.S. forces in Europe.

Have you received any information on what this means, where the troops would be pulled from? What does this look like?

REPRESENTATIVE JASON CROW: Well, this administration is going to have a heck of a time in front of the bipartisan Armed Services Committee, which, in an overwhelming bipartisan manner, has said very clearly no troop withdrawals or changes from Europe unless they come to the committee and explain why that’s in our national security interests.

Over and over, we’ve done that. And we just did that last month when we marked up the annual defense budget.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.

REPRESENTATIVE JASON CROW: So they haven’t come to us. They haven’t given us any – any of those details.

I’m not presumptively against troop changes, but what I am against troop changes is when they’re not tied to our national security.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.

REPRESENTATIVE JASON CROW: You know, if they want to move troops around Europe, fine. Let’s have that discussion. But pulling them out of Europe would actually be detrimental to Americans.

MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to ask you about Iran.

The delegation that arrived in Switzerland was on board a plane that had painted on the side the word “Minab 168.” That’s a reference to the bombing that killed 168 people, most of them schoolchildren.

The U.S. military is still investigating, but what can you tell us about American culpability and that probe?

REPRESENTATIVE JASON CROW: Yes, unfortunately, not very much.

I have been pushing extremely hard CENTCOM, Central Command Commander Admiral Cooper, and others for facts on this. This could be the large – single largest civilian casualty incident in U.S. military history. We need facts. We need to make sure that we own up to it, that we take accountability, that we make it right.

And, you know, as the founder of the Protection of Civilians in Conflict Caucus…

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.

REPRESENTATIVE JASON CROW: … I actually have done work for years around protection of civilians in conflict, because my own time at war taught me the devastating effects, not just morally, but to our national security, when we kill innocents.

We need answers to this. And they’re clearly slow-rolling us, right? This administration has no problem putting – posting videos…

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.

REPRESENTATIVE JASON CROW: … of strikes, posting videos of operations when they want us to see it. And then, when they don’t want us to see it, they slow-roll it.

That’s clearly what’s happening here.

MARGARET BRENNAN: OK.

REPRESENTATIVE JASON CROW: So, we’re going to push hard to – get to get answers.

MARGARET BRENNAN: All right, we’ll be tracking it.

Jason Crow, congressman from Colorado. Thank you very much.

We’ll be right back.

(ANNOUNCEMENTS)

MARGARET BRENNAN: There’s been a big focus on Washington landmarks in recent months, but this weekend marks the opening of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago.

Last Thursday, all the living former presidents and first ladies gathered for the dedication ceremony at the center on Chicago’s South Side to honor and celebrate the legacy of the nation’s first black president.

(Begin VT)

WOMAN: Please help me welcome President Barack…

(End VT)

MARGARET BRENNAN: In his remarks, former President Barack Obama spoke of America’s resilience and urged them to reject division and recommit to each other.

(Begin VT)

BARACK OBAMA (Former President of the United States): For us to give in now, after all this country’s been through, to cynicism and division would be a betrayal of our founding ideals.

(Begin VT)

MARGARET BRENNAN: The former president was visibly moved by a speech from former first lady Michelle Obama.

(Begin VT)

MICHELLE OBAMA (Former First Lady): Eight years in the crucible, and not once did you melt from the heat.

You were doing the people’s work, rescuing our economy, expanding health care, ending a war, ordering the bin Laden raid, saving an auto industry, winning a Peace Prize.

(CHEERING)

(End VT)

MARGARET BRENNAN: The Obama Presidential Center is somewhat of a departure from tradition. It was designed to be a place for the community to gather and includes a 19-acre park, a branch of the Chicago Public Library, and an NBA-sized basketball court.

(Begin VT)

(CHEERING)

(End VT)

MARGARET BRENNAN: And we’re joined now by our executive director of elections and surveys, Anthony Salvanto.

Good to have you here, Anthony.

So what has been the reaction to this agreement?

ANTHONY SALVANTO: Good morning, Margaret.

People want the war to end, but this doesn’t necessarily read as a satisfying end. Let me unpack that. Given the choice, yes, overwhelmingly, Americans say, try to end the war. They see the potential for gas prices going down now, and you will remember that’s been the chief domestic side complaint about the ramifications of all this.

When they look overseas, though, they see an Iran that they’re not convinced has permanently stopped its nuclear program. That’s number one. An Iran that Americans think will still probably threaten its neighbors in the region.

There are even other items that Americans have said ought to be U.S. aims, whether or not the administration has said that they are, like making sure the Iranian people are safe and free, like changing Iran’s leadership to be more pro-U.S., that are on the list of things Americans say are not done.

So, on balance, Americans, very few think that the U.S. is getting the better of this agreement. One might think that would be the benchmark. It’s at best even. They don’t see the war as having been worth the cost if it ends now.

MARGARET BRENNAN: They’re unconvinced by President Trump’s claim of victory here.

So why does the public think he made the deal?

ANTHONY SALVANTO: So they see a bit of expediency here, in the sense that, yes, they think the administration is making the deal mainly because it wants to end the war, not that it thinks the U.S. has necessarily met all of its goals.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Cutting its losses, essentially.

ANTHONY SALVANTO: And, at the same time, they suspect the administration didn’t quite judge the reaction of the world economy. That has the ramifications back for gas prices at home, of course.

And so that going forward says, OK, the people who say they have been most affected by gas prices are the ones who most want the war to end. And you see some of that reflected in the president’s approval ratings, which have been ticking down through the course of the war, but they have stabilized now, just up another point.

However, I should add, on – within the Republican base, the president’s base, which has and does back him on this, there’s a sizable 40 percent that say they think the administration should press on until Iran gives up more. So they see some unfinished business here. They’re more likely to say it’s not acceptable to leave the current Iranian regime in power and in the war.

They’re more apt to think that Iran, yes, will threaten its neighbors. That’s what I mean by that unfinished business. And, overall, the public still thinks that this conflict has created more problems than it solved.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Anthony Salvanto, big reaction to the big news.

We will be back in a moment.

(ANNOUNCEMENTS)

MARGARET BRENNAN: What impact will America’s negotiations with Iran have on gas prices?

We’re joined by energy analyst Kevin Book of ClearView Energy Partners and Amos Hochstein, a former Biden White House senior energy adviser and Middle East negotiator.

Good morning to you both.

This is probably one of the most central conversations, because the president made it very clear that the price of fuel was at the heart of some of his decisions. He said he doesn’t want economic catastrophe. We’re running out of these fuel inventories.

So, Kevin, when do we get back to prewar gas prices?

KEVIN BOOK (Managing Director, ClearView Energy Partners): It might be a while, Margaret.

So we have seen some downward travel rapidly in the gasoline price. We probably have another five to 10 cents per gallon coming, if the oil price holds. But we have some uncertainty about what’s coming next. And so to get all the way back to where we were before the war, we would need inventories to replenish.

We have drawn them down a lot, and it’s going to take a while. The International Energy Agency doesn’t expect to see a surplus before the end of this year, maybe next year. So refilling those inventories and coming back to that price might be a while.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So it’s not the quick fix that perhaps the president is hoping for here, Amos.

I mean, there are a lot of moving parts here. It’s confusing, because the IRGC yesterday was saying they control the strait. CENTCOM says that’s not true. We see reports that there are tankers moving through the Strait of Hormuz now. Does Iran control the strait? And is there a way the U.S. can do what Senator Graham proposed, which was just bomb our way to control of it?

AMOS HOCHSTEIN (Former Senior Energy Adviser to President Joe Biden): Well, first, yes, Iran controls the strait. And I have said this for weeks.

No matter what the agreement says, whatever the MOU says – and, by the way, the MOU hints at Iran having control of the strait in the future together with Oman in…

MARGARET BRENNAN: Point five there.

AMOS HOCHSTEIN: … inside the MOU, which is remarkable that we have essentially given that point away ahead of the negotiation.

But Iran is already saying it’s not – control is not just about a toll, a price, for now. It’s about I want 48 hours notice before you’re going to cross. Or they will say that ship from the company that I don’t like can’t cross today. You can cross tomorrow or never. Or if I don’t like Saudi Arabia or I’m upset with Kuwait, I can say your ships are not crossing.

Control means a lot of different things. But, effectively, they are planning for control with eventually a toll of some kind or a fee structure of some kind. That’s the world we’re going towards.

MARGARET BRENNAN: But a toll is a violation of international law. But the president is saying the U.S. will charge one if this doesn’t go our – how does that work?

AMOS HOCHSTEIN: Look, the president is saying if we – we will bomb it, we will take it, we will charge a toll, whatever. I put that as some of the bravado rhetoric that nobody’s paying attention to anymore.

The Iranians saying that it’s against the international law to charge a toll, I mean, the Iranians supporting terrorists in Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen, they’re doing a lot of things against international law. Charging a toll will be the least of it.

But what they’re basically telling the market is, do you want the strait fully open with a toll or do you want chaos where you never know what’s happening, without a toll? But they will have control. That is what they’re aiming for. That’s the result of this war.

MARGARET BRENNAN: You heard Mike Waltz, the ambassador, and other U.S. officials claim, Vice President Vance claim this was, like, a historic meeting, just the fact that they had the meeting.

For two years, the Obama administration negotiated with Iran. I covered it. You were part of it. When you hear these claims that this is somehow going to be better, based on the facts, what’s your biggest problem with this document, the MOU?

AMOS HOCHSTEIN: So, my biggest problem is that we have signed a document that says, Iran, you get money, control, access to unfrozen assets. We reverse the – we give a waiver on your oil and petrochemical sanctions, and all you have to do is open the straits and agree to talk to us about something they were already talking to us before the war.

We’re giving – that entire document is giving incentives to Iran. All they have to do is open the strait. That’s it. That is my problem. And we got out of the JCPOA, the 2015 agreement, because we said – what did Trump say at the time? You didn’t address missiles.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Right.

AMOS HOCHSTEIN: You didn’t address support for proxies.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Right.

AMOS HOCHSTEIN: We have now said it’s off the table. They have every – more than that, we have given them the right to have a ballistic missile.

This agreement made America less safe. We should never have gone to war, but we have now essentially surrendered.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, Kevin, you, in your analysis, went point by point comparing the memorandum to the interim agreement, the JPOA, as John Kerry used to call it, instead of the JCPOA.

And you, as an analyst, not as anyone with political ties here, say that the Trump deal is more lenient than the Obama deal in several respects. Can you break this down?

KEVIN BOOK: Sure.

The most obvious is that the old deal that preceded the JCPOA, the Joint Plan of Action, JPOA, limited Iran’s exports to 1.1 million barrels per day. There is no obvious limit in this deal. So, the MOU, to the extent that it corresponds to the JCPOA, is essentially saying that Iran can resume exports probably at the 1.6, 1.7 million barrels per day level it was exporting that before the war.

Now, would it return all the way to 2.5 million barrels per day? Probably not, because importing countries are going to have to have some confidence in the durability of this. And so I think, in that respect, it’s probably the biggest give relative to its predecessor.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, on this point, Vice President Vance was asked about Iran being able to sell its own oil again. And I want to read it to you, Amos.

He said: “By lifting the sanctions, letting them sell their own oil, we’re going to be able to see a little bit where their financial system actually sends money and receives money, and that’s a real benefit to the American people.”

(LAUGHTER)

AMOS HOCHSTEIN: I don’t under…

MARGARET BRENNAN: What do you make of that agreement?

AMOS HOCHSTEIN: I have no idea what he’s talk – I don’t – I have no idea what it means.

At the end of the day, they sell oil. By giving waivers, it means two things. One, it expands the number of customers they will have from just China, essentially. And, number two, they won’t be able to – they won’t get a dis – forced to sell their oil at a discount. They will get the full amount, because there’s no discount when there’s no sanctions.

So, instead of selling before the war, meaning in December, discount to $60, so $50-something a barrel, they will be selling it at about $75 to $80 a barrel. That means a billion a week in revenue. We have had years of them selling oil. We know how their financial system works. Treasury knows how their financial system works. The intelligence community does.

Why we’re giving – as Kevin just said, why we’re allowing them to get all the money up front and then expect them to make concessions, and the same concessions we could not get them to do during battle, during war, that somehow they will do while they’re making enormous amounts of money, and God only knows what they’re going to be spending this money on.

Again, I wasn’t for this war. I was against this war. And I’m glad the war is over. But how wars end matters. And this makes America less safe and the region.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So, Kevin, you hear from the administration, though, oh, but we’re energy-independent. Why doesn’t that argument work?

KEVIN BOOK: Well, we both import and export oil, Margaret. We’re connected to the global market, and so it matters what the price is for petroleum everywhere in the world.

And when it’s short, it affects us. It affects us not just because of the oil that we produce a lot of. And, frankly, U.S. exports have been a very big part of keeping the price down for everybody in the world. No, it’s also that because the products that are made from oil have been short.

The gasoline and diesel fuel that we use on American roads depend on import flows as well. And so for optimizing the efficiency of our system, we have both imports and exports. We would not want to live on an energy island. It would be a very expensive place.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Amos, I want to get to your expertise having handled Lebanon.

Point one in this deal says that there will be an immediate and permanent termination of military operations, including in Lebanon. Lebanon, Hezbollah, and Israel are not part of these negotiations. This seems to be a concession to Iran.

AMOS HOCHSTEIN: Well, it is, but it’s – it’s a very big one, because it’s more than what it just says.

The – what we have tried in successive administrations has been to say, Iran is not in control of Lebanon. Any decisions on Lebanon – you know I negotiated there for a long time – will be decided between Israel, the United States, and Lebanon, not Iran.

This essentially gives authority to Iran over what happens in Lebanon. And that is a huge concession to Iran and a big blow to the government of Lebanon. And it now – what’s happening is, it’s extending Hezbollah’s support among the political support in Lebanon, when it was reeling. The vast majority of Lebanese wanted Hezbollah out. They wanted this war over.

And the two things that have made Hezbollah popular is, one, Israel sort of overplaying its hand and occupying large parts and saying they will never withdraw from what’s called now the Yellow Line, and the United States saying that Iran is now in control of the fate of Lebanon.

MARGARET BRENNAN: And those talks here in D.C. scheduled still to take place this week.

Gentlemen, thank you.

We will be right back.

(ANNOUNCEMENTS)

MARGARET BRENNAN: Quick update from Congressman Crow that he says he meant modern military history, not U.S. military history.

That’s it for all of us. But, before we go, happy Father’s Day to my dad, my husband, my father-in-law, and all of you out there, for Face the Nation.

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