The following is the transcript of the interview with Sen. Mark Warner, Demcorat of Virginia, that aired on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on June 14, 2026.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We’re joined now by the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, Virginia Senator Mark Warner. It’s good to have you here.
SENATOR MARK WARNER: Thank you, Margaret.
MARGARET BRENNAN: As you heard from the Secretary, a lot of these very important details have to still be negotiated. What do you think, though, of the emerging ceasefire and agreement, because you favored diplomacy?
SEN. WARNER: Listen, if the President can declare victory, so be it. You heard Pete Hegseth’s pitch. Let’s look at the real facts. 107 days into Donald Trump’s war of choice, can anyone make the case that we, or our allies, are in a better spot than before this war? The regime’s leadership is more radical than ever. The ability for us to get the enriched uranium out, I believe, will require troops on the ground, which I don’t think America wants to do. The idea that we have a 60 day additional negotiation, where does that lead? We’ll be here 60 days, still won’t have access to it. Clearly, after Hegseth had said, “We’ve destroyed all their capabilities,” they still have plenty of missiles and thousands of drones, and the idea that the strait is suddenly going to be magically reopened. Look at the gas prices, they went from $2.80 to $4.20 and I believe they’ll go up more because the overall world reserves have all come down. How is that better for America or better for our allies?
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, it’s- there are a lot of details in here that, like I said, still have to be negotiated, and when we look at Congress’s role in terms of peeling back some of these sanctions, this was hugely controversial during the Obama administration. Do you think ultimately that whatever is hammered out by Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner and JD Vance, the Vice President, will come up for approval? Do you get any say?
SEN. WARNER: Well, first of all, the idea that these three gentlemen that have very little background in terms of negotiations or the technical nature of nuclear negotiations going against a hardened Iranian team that’s been doing this for decades. I wish we had some of our experts at the table as well, but I’m not sure any of this will be coming before Congress, and it should. I mean, if the President wanted to start this war, a war of choice, there was no imminent threat from Iran. Come to the Congress, come to the people, and lay out the case. He has not, and we have not done the kind of oversight that is required.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah.
SEN. WARNER: We are slowly moving along and getting additional Republicans to say stop on the War Powers Act, but Congress has failed miserably.
MARGARET BRENNAN: I- before I move on to other things, I just want to put a fine point on the U.S. intelligence assessment was not that Iran was creating a nuclear weapon, but that they wanted the possibility to make one in the future. Given what they have, the nuclear dust, the dirty bomb in the desert scenario, does that still worry you? How concerned should Americans be?
SEN. WARNER: Yes, I’m still worried. And for all his critique of JCPOA, we had international observers, we actually had an alliance there that included the Europeans, and Russia and China were all signatories. Now it is America going alone or going with Israel only, and that does not make us safer. And again, I will be happy to come back on the show and eat my words if the Iranians over the next 60 days give up that enriched uranium.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah, well, we’ll watch for whatever happens next. I want to ask you about surveillance here and the lapse of a key authority. On Thursday, the President did appoint Jay Clayton, he said, who will be the next Director of National Intelligence, instead of Bill Pulte, to who I know you oppose–
SEN. WARNER: Not only I oppose–
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah–
SEN. WARNER: –but all of the Republican senators who will know anything about national security opposed as well.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes, there are some pretty colorful statements, but Clayton is the current US attorney for the Southern District of New York, a former SEC chair. How quickly can he move into the role? I mean, he doesn’t necessarily have the kind of extensive national security background that–
(CROSSTALK)
SEN. WARNER: Law enforcement, he was head of the SEC, and as Southern District of New York, that’s where we pursue a lot of our terrorists. I know Jay. I think he’s got the right temperament. I’ve got a lot of questions, like who won the election in 2020, so he at least acknowledges that truthfulness. But remember, Margaret, this was totally caused by Donald Trump.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well–
SEN. WARNER: He could have nominated Jay Clayton a week ago–
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah.
SEN. WARNER: –and we wouldn’t have gone dark.
MARGARET BRENNAN: This is an extraordinary series of events that we have to take more time to talk about on the other side of the break. Let me take it, and we’ll finish it. We’ll be right back.
(ANNOUNCEMENTS)
MARGARET BRENNAN: Welcome back to Face the Nation. We return to our conversation now with Senator Mark Warner. Before the break, Senator, we were talking about the next Director of National Intelligence. The hearing for Jay Clayton is next week, this Wednesday, right? How quickly can he get confirmed, and what does that do in terms of blocking Bill Pulte from ever taking the job?
SEN. WARNER: Well, I’ve got questions for Jay, like, want to make sure that he’s going to maintain the integrity of our elections, not try to pull the things that Miss Gabbard did, where she was interfering in domestic election activities with the seizure of the ballots in Fulton County. My hope is, if we can get unanimous consent, we could even get him confirmed this week. I would hope that the President would then say to Tulsi Gabbard, who is going to stay till the end of the month, stay at least until Clayton is confirmed, or allow the number two to stay.
MARGARET BRENNAN: That’s a shocking statement from you, because you are a huge critic of Tulsi Gabbard.
(CROSSTALK)
SEN. WARNER: I am a huge critic.
MARGARET BRENNAN: How much damage could Bill Pulte actually do in a matter of days?
SEN. WARNER: Well, my fear is not so much the damage he could do on Section 702, which has a full audit trail. If he misuses that, we’ll figure it out, but having him exposed where he doesn’t even have a security clearance to all our nation’s classified programs, out of ignorance, he might give away information. I’ve had heads of our intelligence communities say to us they’re terrified of showing him information. I’ve had foreign governments express huge concern. The one thing we know about Bill Pulte is he will do whatever Donald Trump says. He was able to weaponize private mortgage insurance information, giving them the keys to the 18 intelligence agencies would be a disaster and a national security threat.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So, I’m understanding you will withhold your vote to reauthorize FISA based on this.
SEN. WARNER: Listen, we have to get FISA reauthorized. We were on a glide path–
(CROSSTALK)
MARGARET BRENNAN: This is a warrantless surveillance tool. This is a foreigner concern abroad.
SEN. WARNER: Foreigners listening in on foreigners talking to foreigners abroad. None of this needed to happen if Donald Trump had- he didn’t even come out in support of this tool until about six weeks ago. If he put forward Clayton or somebody else six weeks ago, if he would have done even Jay Clayton a few days earlier. I actually think Donald Trump wants this tool to expire because he would then try to blame Democrats if, God forbid, if anything happens. And the remarkable thing on this is normally we come on here and it’s Democrats versus Republicans–
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah.
SEN. WARNER: –this one is not. My Republican colleagues have worked hand in glove. If there is something that happens, God forbid, the responsibility lies with one man, Donald Trump.
MARGARET BRENNAN: That is a tremendous statement that you think the president actually wants this tool to not be accessible. I mean, it’s the congressional authorization expired on Friday. Your Republican counterpart, Senator Tom Cotton, described the consequences as severe, potentially fatal, considering all the mass gatherings in America right now. How vulnerable is the US right now? Have Google and Verizon and the rest said, if you come and ask me for information, I won’t hand it over?
SEN. WARNER: What has happened is those investigations that have already started continue.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay.
SEN. WARNER: Our ability to continue to listen to bad guys talking to bad guys abroad continues. The question is whether you can start new actions, and we are now, and I’ve not gotten a report yet whether the telcos and the Googles are going to continue to adhere or whether, because they don’t have the indemnification, they’ll stop participating. We don’t have, I don’t- as of Sunday morning, I don’t have an answer on that. I hope the Justice Department would use all the tools they can to try to encourage them to continue this program, for what will be, whether we like it now or not, a short-term lapse.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But Democrats are using their leverage here with FISA to force the president to change his nominees. He did that, so why do we have a Democrat standing up, and for example, blocking unanimous consent in regard to reauthorizing even a short-term surveillance too? This seems to be national security risk of huge proportion.
SEN. WARNER: National security risk caused because Donald Trump did not put forward Clayton or anyone else that was legitimate until the clock had run out. There is no question. If you got any of my Republican colleagues here, they would agree this was a White House-created problem. And finally, somebody got to Trump and said, “You got to put a rational person in, not this guy who’s not even got a national security clearance.” We will get Clayton, I hope, confirmed as quickly as possible. We will then move very quickly to get FISA reauthorized. In the interim, I hope the telcos will continue to cooperate with the government.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Senator Mark Warner, thank you for your time today.
SEN. WARNER: Thank you, Margaret.