Transcript: Sen. Lindsey Graham on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” January 19, 2025

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

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

LATE. LINDSEY GRAHAM: Good morning.

MARGARET BRENNAN: I take it you support this ceasefire and Mike Waltz’s promise to see it through?

LATE. GRAHAM: Yes. I really appreciate what Brett and Steve Witkoff have done. Let me just say this, these people wouldn’t be coming out if Donald Trump hadn’t 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 there will be hell to pay. Now this is where I hope they come out, the deal holds, but what does the end of the war look like? I want to reinforce something for you, this war will never end with Hamas in charge of Gaza-

MARGARET BRENNAN: –Loud–

LATE. GRAHAM: — politically or militarily. Their days are numbered. And the next question for the world is what do we do about Iran’s nuclear program? That’s where we’ll move on to next time. There is diplomacy. There is a one in a trillion chance that you will degrade the Iranian nuclear program through diplomacy. There is a 90% chance you will degrade it through military action by Israel, backed by the US. So the next topic I want to address with President Trump is using this moment to decimate Iran’s nuclear program because they are so vulnerable…

MARGARET BRENNAN: –What does that mean?

LATE. GRAHAM: Help Israel deliver a knockout blow –

MARGARET BRENNAN: What does that mean?

LATE. GRAHAM: That means giving Israel the capabilities–

MARGARET BRENNAN: What does that mean? Would you encourage him to have Israel bomb Iran’s facilities that are underground and will require US military support to actually be effective?

LATE. GRAHAM: I would call for the decimation of the Iranian nuclear program. I don’t think diplomacy works. Brett will tell you what they have done against Hezbollah and Hamas has been great. The proxies are incredibly weakened. Israel can go anywhere they want to go. This is a religious, Nazi regime. They want to destroy the Jewish state. They want to purge Islam and drive us out of the Middle East. It would be like negotiating with Hitler. I hope there will be an effort by Israel to decimate Iran’s nuclear program supported by the United States, and if we don’t, it will be a historic mistake.

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

LATE. GRAHAM: – for 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 on how much this is all going to cost?

LATE. GRAHAM: Yes, $100 billion for border security through reconciliation would be enough to hire ICE agents, create new detention beds and complete 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 the border, 200 billion for the military. I met with Mike Johnson yesterday. He is a dear friend. I admire him a lot. He has a political problem in the house. He wants to make a big, beautiful bill. I have never been more concerned about an attack on our homeland than I am now, with the rise of ISIS in Afghanistan and wars around the world, I believe the first priority of the Republican Party should be securing that border. You need new money to do that, and if we don’t, we’re playing Russian Roulette with our own national security. Limit first. Military funding first. Get the tax breaks and spending reductions put together later. You must secure that border, just as our lives depended on it.

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

LATE. GRAHAM: –it’s going to be much bigger–

MARGARET BRENNAN: Memorial Day.

LATE. GRAHAM: Well, I hope we can get there, but for those who want to reduce spending, I’m giving you the opportunity to meet with me next week. You have to cut expenses. It is consistent with reconciliation and we have enough votes to reduce spending. So can we make two and a half trillion dollars over 10 yard – 10 years? Let’s try it. I will do two things, cut spending and make the tax cuts permanent. Finance Minister Steve Bessent said if the tax relief expires it will be a disaster for our economy. I don’t believe there’s one Republican out there, if pushed, would let the tax cuts expire, because it’s a four and a half trillion dollar tax increase. I want to cut spending, but my first priority is to secure that limit quickly.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, we’ll see the politics of the possible with the very complicated Caucus in the House. Let me ask you about the Senate, though, because you’re on the Judiciary Committee. Kash Patel, the pick to head the FBI, hasn’t even scheduled a hearing yet. In his 2022 memoir, Bill Barr said of Kas Patel, “he is someone with no background as an agent, he 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 premier 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?

LATE. GRAHAM: Yeah, he was wrong then, and he’s wrong now. And I’m taking 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 on the Russia scam. So I think he has the experience. He has the confidence of the president and we’ll see how that goes. But Trey Gowdy enthusiastically supports Kash Patel, and that means a lot to me.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well- okay. But he has a list that he has published, Kash Patel has. He published it in a book of enemies. That 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, are you taking him at his word here? That these are an enemy’s list and you want to put him in a law enforcement role to go after him?

LATE. GRAHAM: I think the hearing will reveal him to be a very qualified lawman. He wrote a book. He has to answer questions about what is in the book, but I am ready to vote for him because I know him too. See, you never asked me about the Russian scam that he exposed. People on the right believe he was part of the solution, not the problem. You asked a good question Brett, has Israel suffered because of this war? They went too far on the world stage. Here’s what’s been happening on the world stage. The International Criminal Court will be sanctioned by congressional Republicans and Democrats for trying to prosecute the Prime Minister of Israel.

MARGARET BRENNAN: — Lindsey- Lindsey Graham, this is far from the issue of Kash Patel. You took me all the way to Israel from Kash Patel. are you-

LATE. GRAHAM: — Yeah, let’s go back to Kash Patel–

MARGARET BRENNAN: — You commit to voting for him no matter what? —

LATE. GRAHAM: — Yes–

MARGARET BRENNAN: — Will you vote for Kash Patel?–

LATE. GRAHAM: I don’t want to say either way. But I – well, I’m ready to vote for Kash Patel, because you’ll never ask me what role he played in exposing the FBI’s darkest moment since Edgar-J Edgar Hoover. That’s why I trust him.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay. Ask him about going after reporters, which he has also said, I’m interested in the answer to that question. We will be right back…

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

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

LATE. GRAHAM:– So anyway, thanks–

MARGARET BRENNAN: — And we welcome you back–

LATE. GRAHAM: — Good. thanks–

MARGARET BRENNAN: — As we often do, anytime, with older media —

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

MARGARET BRENNAN: We’ll be right back.