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Transcript: Sen. Mark Warner on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” April 12, 2026

2026-04-12T12:02:58-0400 / CBS News

The following is the transcript of an interview with Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia that aired on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on April 12, 2026.

MARGARET BRENNAN: We turn now to Senator Mark Warner. He’s the top Democrat on the intelligence committee, and he joins us from Charlottesville, Virginia. Good morning to you, Senator.

SEN. MARK WARNER: Good morning, Margaret.

MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to pick up where we just left off with the ambassador when he was talking about his country’s intelligence estimates versus ours. He said he was in that room that day when Prime Minister Netanyahu pitched President Trump on this war that the U.S. is now in. He said these press accounts were wrong. In your understanding of U.S. Intelligence. Is it true? The CIA disputed the Mossad’s assessment as farcical.

SEN. WARNER: Well, Margaret, I was not in that meeting. I know two things. One, having seen all the intelligence, there was no imminent threat from Iran against the United States. And two, I take my former colleague, and now Secretary of State Marco Rubio, at his word when he publicly said, well, we knew the Israelis were going to strike Iran, so we felt we needed to go ahead and strike first, since Iran would attack us. So we are where we are, but let’s- no American should forget this is a war of choice, chosen by the president, and if we just quickly look at the goals regime change, frankly, the new leadership is more radical getting the enriched uranium out would require 10,000 troops minimum, guarding a perimeter around a bunker where our troops would have to go in and get this very volatile uranium out. The Ukrainian- I’m sorry, the Iranians could bomb that. We- we’ve taken down a lot of their ballistic missiles whether to be seen. They still have many left shooting down our planes. Thank God our military is world class and got those pilots out, but they literally have thousands of drones left. And this question about what the president is going to do with closing the Strait of Hormuz. The Iranians have hundreds of speed boats where they can still mine the strait or put- put bombs against tankers in closing the strait. How is that going to ever bring down gas prices?

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, two things on that. Just to follow up, that 10,000 troop requirement, is that an official government estimate, and is that in the midst of combat, or is that with Iranian government permission to have boots on the ground?

SEN. WARNER: This has been- this has been known for. There is a reason, the Iranian regime is awful. I agree with the ambassador on that they’ve been awful for 47 years. But there was a reason why previous presidents, including President Trump in his first term, didn’t choose to go to war, because this is extraordinarily complicated, the fact that the president acts like he’s surprised the Iranians closed the strait or would attack our Gulf allies. Anybody would have read the intelligence would’ve known that was first. The ability to protect our soldiers would require every estimate, I’ve seen at least 10,000 troops guarding a perimeter, sending troops into these bunkers for days on end. Very vulnerable. The Iranians still have ability to bomb their own bunkers. That is again a reason why I think action like this has not been taken before.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So CNN is reporting that- and the New York Times, that China is set to deliver new air defense systems to Iran within the next few weeks. The Israeli ambassador previously has acknowledged that China was considering helping- helping Iran. How significant would you describe Beijing’s support at this point?

SEN. WARNER: I would describe it as significant, but they try to hide themselves. China says, well, this is their private sector. We all know there is no such thing as a true private sector in China. Every company in China has to have its first loyalty to the Communist Party. But what we have done, let me also point out Margaret, by the Trump administration releasing sanctions on Russian oil. That’s $10 billion to Putin. More crazy is by releasing sanctions on Iranian oil at sea, we have literally funded the Iranian government $14 billion that they’re using to buy from China and elsewhere weapons to attack our troops. That is insanity in my mind.

MARGARET BRENNAN: But you’re talking there about President Trump’s efforts to try to, you know, lower oil prices through those measures. I want to ask you, though, on the broader point in our polling, we see broad dissatisfaction with how the administration is handling the war. But as for you know, the aspirations, Americans broadly support them. Eighty seven percent say strait of Hormuz needs to be reopened. Eighty one percent want to ensure freedom for the Iranian people. Seventy six percent want to permanently stop Iran’s nuclear program. Fifty five percent want the current leaders ousted before we end the war. Do you sort of want to see us finish what America has started here? Can you really just hit the brakes?

SEN. WARNER: Margaret, I agree with all of the goals of the American people. But when you take- ask the next question, are you willing to put your sons and daughters in a ground war in the Middle East to get that enriched uranium out? I’ve not found any volunteers on that. The Strait of Hormuz was open before this war started, gas in Virginia was $2.81 40 days ago, it is over $4 now. Even if president declares victory tomorrow, those high gas prices will be with us for months, and it’s natural gas, not just gasoline. Asian countries are shutting down their economies one day a week because the price of oil has skyrocketed so much. We buy a lot of stuff from Taiwan, South Korea and countries around Asia. All those prices are going up.

MARGARET BRENNAN: And we’re going to talk about that with the IMF director later on. But just to put a fine point on it, does this mean you would not vote for a supplemental funding request if the president needs more money to finish what he started?

SEN. WARNER: I’ll take a look at anything. I want to make sure our troops, who’ve done magnificently, but this president should have come to the American people and Congress first and say, I’m going to choose to go to war. Here’s what I want to try to accomplish. Those four goals of regime change, uranium, missiles, and the Strait of Hormuz. We only got those goals about 10 days into the war, and on any honest assessment, I don’t think we’ve accomplished any of them so far.

MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to ask you on another topic, and that is basically congressional inaction. We’re on day 58 of the shutdown of Homeland Security, in terms of this standoff in regard to funding. Republicans are preparing a plan to fund ice and to fund a CBP on a party line vote through a process known as reconciliation, Democrats had the standoff to demand policy changes that never happened here. What did Democrats actually get out of this?

SEN. WARNER: Well, Margaret, what we got out of it, at least in the Senate, is we got 100-0 vote saying, let’s fund all of the rest of DHS, except for ICE that should have- we assume you had every Republican senator vote for that, and then the Speaker of the House, who can’t seem to decide what he wants, rejected it. I am glad that the president has gone ahead and paying the salaries. But I think if you ask your same poll questions, do the American people want ICE running around cities, frankly, arresting not only undocumented, but Americans, and putting Americans’ lives in jeopardy, as we saw in Minneapolis. I don’t think they want that going on as well.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay, Senator, I have a hard break I got to take care. Thank you very much for joining us. We’ll be right back.