Transcript: Sen. Lindsey Graham on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” Jan. 19, 2025 | USAEMALL.com

The following is the transcript of an interview with Sen. Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that aired on Jan. 19, 2025.

MARGARET BRENNAN: We’re going to turn now to Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who joins us this morning from Seneca, South Carolina. Good morning to you, Senator.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM: Good morning.

MARGARET BRENNAN: I imagine you are supportive of this ceasefire and Mike Waltz’s pledge to see it through?

SEN. GRAHAM: Yeah. I very much appreciate what Brett and Steve Witkoff have done. Let me just say this, these people would not be coming out if Donald Trump had not demanded they be out. Everything Brett said about pressure on Hamas and Iran is true, but the game changer of when Trump said, I want them out, all hell will be to pay. Now here’s what I’m hoping, they come out, the deal holds, but what does the end of the war look like? I want to reinforce something to you, this war will never end with Hamas in charge of Gaza–

MARGARET BRENNAN: –Right–

SEN. GRAHAM: –politically or militarily. Their days are numbered. And the next question for the world is, what do we do about the Iran nuclear program? That’s where we’re going to move to next. There’s diplomacy. There’s a one in trillion chance you’ll degrade the Iranian nuclear program through diplomacy. There’s a 90% chance you’ll degrade it through military action by Israel, supported by the United States. So the next topic I will be engaging in with President Trump is to take this moment in time to decimate the Iran nuclear program because they’re so exposed–

MARGARET BRENNAN: –What does that mean?

SEN. GRAHAM: Help Israel deliver a knockout blow–

MARGARET BRENNAN: What does that mean?

SEN. GRAHAM:  It means giving Israel the capabilities–

MARGARET BRENNAN: What does that mean? You’re going to urge him to have Israel bomb Iran’s facilities that are underground and that will require U.S. military support to actually have be effective?

SEN. GRAHAM: I’m going to urge the decimation of the Iranian nuclear program. I don’t think diplomacy works. Brett will tell you what they have done to Hezbollah and Hamas has been amazing. The proxies are incredibly weakened. Israel can go anywhere they want to go. This is a relig- religious Nazi regime. They want to destroy the Jewish state. They want to purify Islam and drive us out of the Mideast. It would be like negotiating with Hitler. I am hoping there will be an effort by Israel to decimate the Iran nuclear program supported by the United States, and if we don’t do that, it will be a historical mistake.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Lindsey Graham, I have a lot to get to on the domestic front, but that is quite a marker to lay down. I want to ask you about what you are working on domestically with Stephen Miller, Trump’s Homeland Security Advisor–

SEN. GRAHAM: –sure.

MARGARET BRENNAN: On border security, and I understand its part of the massive Republican reconciliation bill that’s being put together. Do you have a top line number yet on how much this is all going to cost?

SEN. GRAHAM: Yes, $100 billion for border security through reconciliation would be enough to hire ICE agents, create new detention beds and finish the wall and put technology in place over four years. 200 billion will be given to the military to make it more capable of deterring China. 100 billion for border, 200 billion for the military. I met with Mike Johnson yesterday. He’s a dear friend. I admire him greatly. He has a political problem in the house. He wants to do one big, beautiful bill. I’ve never been more worried about an attack on our homeland than I am now, with the rise of ISIS in Afghanistan and wars all over the world, I think the number one priority for the Republican Party should be to secure that border. You need new money to do it, and if we don’t, we’re playing Russian roulette with our own national security. Border first. Military funding first. Get the tax cuts and spending reductions put together later on. You need to secure that border like our life depended on it.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, this bill is going to be bigger than the $300 billion you just laid out. What’s the timetable on that? Because Johnson says–

SEN. GRAHAM: –it’s gonna be a lot bigger–

MARGARET BRENNAN: Memorial Day.

SEN. GRAHAM: Well, I hope we can get there, but to those who want to reduce spending, I’m giving you an opportunity to come meet me next week. You’ve got to cut spending. That’s reconciliation compliant, and we’ve got enough votes to reduce spending. So can we do two and a half trillion dollars over 10 yard- 10 years? Let’s give it a try. I want to do two things, cut spending and make the tax cuts permanent. The Secretary of Treasury Steve Bessent said, if the tax cut expire, it will be a catastrophe for our economy. I don’t believe there’s one Republican out there, if they were pushed, would let the tax cuts expire, because that’s a four and a half trillion dollar tax increase. I want to cut spending, but my number one priority is to secure that border quickly.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, we will watch the politics of the possible with the very complicated Caucus in the House. Let me ask you about the Senate, though, because you are on the Judiciary Committee. Kash Patel, the pick to run the FBI, doesn’t even have a hearing scheduled yet. In his 2022 memoir Bill Barr said of Kas Patel, “he’s someone with no background as an agent, would never be able to command the respect necessary to run the day to day operations of the Bureau. He has virtually no experience that would qualify him to serve at the highest level, the world’s preeminent law enforcement agency… The idea of moving him into a role like this showed a shocking detachment from reality.” Was Attorney General Barr wrong then and wrong now?

SEN. GRAHAM: Yeah, he was wrong then, and he’s wrong now. And I take my advice on Kash Patel from Trey Gowdy, dear friend from South Carolina who worked with Kash. Kash was a public defender. He was a prosecutor. He worked with Trey Gowdy about the Russia hoax. So I do think he has the experience. He has the trust of the President, and we’ll see how this plays out. But Trey Gowdy is enthusiastically supporting Kash Patel, and that means a lot to me.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well- okay. But he’s got a list he’s published Kash Patel has. He published it in a book of enemies. It includes people like the FBI director, Defense Secretary Austin, Bill Barr, former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, former CIA director Gina Haskel, the head of CENTCOM. I mean, do you take him at his word here? That these are an enemy’s list and you’re going to put him in a law enforcement role to go after him?

SEN. GRAHAM: I believe the hearing will expose him to be a very qualified man of the law. He wrote a book. He’ll have to answer questions about what’s in the book, but I’m ready to vote for him, because I know him too. See, you never asked me about the Russia hoax, that he exposed. People on the right believe that he was part of the solution, not the problem. You asked a good question of Brett, has Israel suffered because of this war? They went too far on the world stage. Here’s what’s happened on the world stage. The International Criminal Court is going to be sanctioned by the Congress Republicans and Democrats because they’re trying to prosecute the prime minister of Israel-

MARGARET BRENNAN: —  Lindsey- Lindsey Graham, this is a far cry from the question about Kash Patel. You took me all the way to Israel from Kash Patel. Are you-

SEN. GRAHAM: — Yeah lets get back to Kash Patel–

MARGARET BRENNAN: — You’re committing to vote for him no matter what? —  

SEN. GRAHAM: — Yeah–

MARGARET BRENNAN: — You are going to vote for Kash Patel?–

SEN. GRAHAM: I won’t say no matter what. But I- yes, I am ready to vote for Kash Patel, because you will never ask me the role he played in exposing the darkest moment of the FBI since Edgar- J Edgar Hoover. That’s why I trust him.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay. Ask him about going after journalists, which he’s also said, I’m interested in the answer to that question. We’ll be right back–

SEN. GRAHAM: — I’m sure Democratic friends will ask him. And you shouldn’t worry about Kash Patel. You should worry about reporting the news fairly, which you don’t do when it comes to everything Trump.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Lindsey Graham, your guest on this program because we wanted to hear you out–

SEN. GRAHAM:– So anyway, thanks–

MARGARET BRENNAN: — And we welcome you back–

SEN. GRAHAM: — Well good. Thank you–  

MARGARET BRENNAN: — As we often do, anytime, to legacy media–

SEN. GRAHAM: — I’ll be back. I’ll be back.–

MARGARET BRENNAN: We’ll be right back.