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Transcript: Reps. Josh Gottheimer and Mike Lawler on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” May 24, 2026

2026-05-24T11:51:11-0400 / CBS News

The following is the transcript of the interview with Reps. Josh Gottheimer, Democrat of Maine, and Mike Lawler, Republican of New York, that aired on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on May 24, 2026.

NANCY CORDES: We go now to a bipartisan pair of representatives. Josh Gottheimer is a Democrat from New Jersey, and Mike Lawler is a Republican from New York. Congressmen, welcome. Thank you for joining us.

REP. MIKE LAWLER: Thanks for having us.

REP. JOSH GOTTHEIMER: Thanks for having us.

NANCY CORDES: Sure. Congressman Lawler, I want to start with you and get your take on this memorandum of understanding that appears to be taking shape between the US and Iran. We’ve already seen some blow back from some of your fellow Republicans. South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham said, if the reports on the deal are accurate, “it makes one wonder why the war started to begin with.” Congressman, do you share his view?

REP. LAWLER: No, and I think it’s important that we actually get all of the details, number one. Number two, if you look at what took place during the kinetic activity, what did they do? They focused on the ballistic missiles program, the drone capabilities, the naval fleet, and seizing control of Iran’s airspace. They were able to do that. Iran retaliated with a blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, and President Trump blockaded that, which caused great harm to Iran’s economy, stopped the flow of oil to China, and so there’s been immense pressure for everybody to reach a deal, but the bottom line is the objective is to ensure that Iran does not possess a nuclear weapon, and that is what President Trump has been clear and consistent on from the very beginning. And so, I think it is imperative, before everybody rushed to, you know, get to the microphone, that they actually understand the terms of the agreement that is being proposed, and specifically with respect to the enriched uranium.

NANCY CORDES: So, you like what you’re hearing?

REP. LAWLER: Look, I’ve been in touch with the administration. I serve as chair of the Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee on the Foreign Affairs Committee. I think on the whole, what the administration has been able to do for the first time in 47 years has forced the remnants of this regime into a negotiation, a real negotiation. The fact is, the JCPOA, from over a decade ago, was not a negotiation, it put Iran on the glide path to a nuclear bomb. We are trying to stop that, and the president took decisive action to do it.

NANCY CORDES: Congressman Gottheimer, you’ve been pushing to get a war powers resolution passed. You’re getting closer to doing it. If the nuclear decisions get pushed off, but the Strait of Hormuz does get reopened more quickly, is that a win for American taxpayers?

REP. GOTTHEIMER: Well, I think the good news here, and as Mike said, we’re still getting details. The good news is the Straits will be back open, if that’s true, and that will mean gas prices will go down for Americans, and that’s good news. The news is bad news, in my opinion, is, and this is where it’s unclear, is the initial objectives had to do with enriched uranium and making sure that from a nuclear capability. Iran, which I think is a clear adversary to the United States under banners of death to America, and I believe the Iranian regime should be crushed, but part of that is making sure that we diminish their nuclear capabilities. So, they can’t make the jump to having a nuclear weapon. That we significantly diminish their ballistic military capabilities, their missile capabilities, and of course their drone activity, and then with all the dollars that have gone historically to terror programs and their proxy programs, Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Those are all questions that are out there, and it’s unclear if we’ve made any substantial progress there, and I think you know, if the end to point of Senator Graham, if you look back at this and say, okay, we’ve made huge investments, and we’ve had a clear goal along, which is to crush Iran and reduce their ballistic and missile program, their nuclear program, their terror program, and all we got was actually something that was never on the table, a reopening of the Straits of Hormuz. That to me, in the end, will not be reaching the goals initially set forth here, and so that’s-that’s the big question. If we’ve just really gotten nothing and kind of run in place.

NANCY CORDES: Congressman Lawler, the President made a high-profile visit to your district on Friday. He campaigned for you because you represent one of just three Republican-held districts in the US that Kamala Harris won in 2024. How are you explaining to your constituents this new settlement that prevents the IRS from auditing any Trump family documents prior to this year?

REP. LAWLER: Well, I think when it comes to any agreements that the president has made with the IRS, from my vantage point, you know, I think looking back at what the Biden administration did, they certainly weaponized the government and were targeting the president, and I think he obviously had claims that he brought against the government as a result of that. From the standpoint of the president, you know, I was happy to welcome him to my district, just as I did Joe Biden when he was president. Joe Biden came three years ago to my district, and I showed up. President Trump was here. We had over 5,000 people show up in my district to hear directly from the President on the issues most acutely impacting them, including my ability to deliver on lifting the cap on SALT. The President also announced bestowing the Presidential Medal of Freedom on one of my constituents who died on 9/11, Wells Crowther, the man in the red bandana, who saved 18 lives. And we also heard from the Gorman family, their daughter Sheridan Gorman, was brutally murdered by an illegal immigrant who was allowed into this country under Joe Biden’s open border policies, and then arrested in Chicago, released under cashless bail and disastrous pro-criminal policies in the city of Chicago, and murdered this 18 year old girl who had her whole life ahead of her, and so hearing from her family was paramount. So, I was happy to have the president there.

NANCY CORDES: Understood. I do want to get to the issue of antisemitism, because we wanted to have you both on together, because you are working together on ways to address the rise in anti-Semitism in the US. Congressman Gottheimer, I understand the value in lawmakers drawing attention to some of the really vile incidents that we have seen in this country lately, the stabbing of a Jewish man on the streets of New York, the shooting at the Capitol Jewish Museum here in Washington, but what can Congress realistically do about this problem?

REP. GOTTHEIMER: Well, we know since October 7 in the Hamas terrorist attacks, anti-Semitic incidents in the country are up 70%. Mike and I- both our states have some of the top anti- numbers of antisemitic incidents in the entire country. It’s totally unacceptable. And what’s happening now is it’s far too often in our politics on both sides, right? Whether it’s Hasan Piker, who’s a streamer on the left, or Candace Owens on the right, who were campaigning with candidates around the country, actually encouraging some of the most vile anti-Semitic language, like Hassan Piker, who calls Jews pigdogs, Candace Owens, who denies the Holocaust. We’ve got candidates on both sides who’ve embraced them, who’ve made insane comments, like the woman in Texas this past week, a Democratic candidate who said that Jews should be in camps. You’ve got Bilzerian, Dan Bilzerian in Florida, who said we should exterminate Jews. None of this should be acceptable. And- and Mike and I, whether it’s through the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act, which we passed out of the House last Congress on defining anti-Semitism, and introduced again this Congress, or both of us condemning Piker and Owens in legislation, both of us believe deeply that we need to stand up to this. And Mike’s been very outspoken, as have others, and our leadership on both sides needs to make it very clear time and again that- that you don’t stand with these- with people like Owens and Piker, and they’re not welcome in our districts, and none of this language is acceptable either. I think it’s very important.

NANCY CORDES: Congressman Lawler, why do you believe that fringe candidates, like the one that Congressman Gottheimer just mentioned, sense that there is a market for that sort of hate to begin with? Is there some kind of permission structure that has been created in both of your parties?

REP. LAWLER: I don’t think there’s any question that anti-Semitism has been condoned by folks across the political aisle, and from my vantage point, it is something that all of us have a responsibility to push back against, regardless of party. These candidates are coming forward. They feel it is okay to blame Jews for whatever ills there are in the world. Obviously- you know, I experienced just last week Rand Paul’s son screaming at me in a bar because he thought I was Jewish, when in fact I’m Irish, Italian, Catholic, and regardless of whether I was or I wasn’t Jewish, the idea–

NANCY CORDES: — He has apologized for that–

REP. LAWLER: — For him to feel it is okay to engage in that. He did ultimately, but the idea that people feel it’s okay to engage in that type of conduct is shameful. And I think what Josh and I are trying to do in putting this resolution forward is to say enough, and to say to both parties, we have to police our own. We cannot allow this. We cannot support candidates who engage in rank, vile anti-Semitism. You know, the Jewish population is about 2% of the United States, and meanwhile it’s over 50% of the hate crime. Times that are experienced, something’s got to give.

NANCY CORDES: Got it. Congressman Lawler, Congressman Gottheimer. We appreciate both of you coming on. Thank you so much. And we’ll be right back.