Transcript: Sen. Lindsey Graham on “Face the Nation,” June 9, 2024

The following is a transcript of an interview with Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, on “Face the Nation” which aired on June 9, 2024.

MARGARET BRENNAN: We turn now to Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. He joins us from London. Good morning to you, senator.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): Thank you.

MARGARET BRENNAN: I know you were at those D-Day celebrations earlier in the week and you also met with President Zelensky. He asked for more training for his forces and for this to happen more quickly and within Ukraine. Do you support the US doing this?

SEN. GRAHAM: Yes, I support our in-country training. You know, the delay in arms because of the House’s inaction, we lost momentum. But from the start, the Biden administration did not impose pre-invasion sanctions to deter Putin. They didn’t give Ukraine weapons from the beginning to deter Putin. And now we have the opportunity to restart this war, because they have the weapons. Here’s what he wanted most: for us to go after Russian assets around the world, take the money from Russia’s sovereign wealth funds and give it to Ukraine. There are 300 billion dollars in Europe from Russian sovereign wealth, assets that we should confiscate and give to Ukraine. We have Russian money in America that we should take advantage of. We should make Russia a state sponsor of terrorism under US law. When I suggested this to President Zelensky, he lit up like a Christmas tree. Making Russia a US State Sponsor of Terrorism under US law would be a major blow to Russia.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Right. I don’t know if the Biden administration would approve this, but in terms of what you just mentioned, with–

SEN. GRAHAM: They won’t.

MARGARET BRENNAN: –with the assets, President Biden said this morning that he had reached an agreement with President Macron of France on using the profits from those frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine. I know that the Europeans didn’t want to go ahead and confiscate assets because that would hurt their banks.

SEN. GRAHAM: Well, they want to use the interest to help people either we’re going to help Ukraine or we’re not. Now it’s time to give them the F-16s, let them fly the planes, long-range artillery to hit targets inside Russia. Go after Putin’s assets, wherever they are, all over the world. Go on the offensive. I think that this summer Ukraine will regain military momentum. Everything we did with Ukraine was slow. He’s been undecided. But if we went after the assets that Putin has around the world, took the money that was stolen from the Russian people and helped the victims in Ukraine, I think that would go a long way toward ending this war.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Your Republican colleague, Senator Tommy Tuberville, last week said on Steve Bannon’s show that Volodomyr Zelensky is a dictator and unconstitutional. And he said this about Vladimir Putin.

START SOUND ON TAPE

SEN. TOMMY TUBERVILLE (R-AL): He doesn’t want Ukraine. He doesn’t want Europe. Hell, he has enough land of his own. He just wants to make sure he doesn’t have US weapons in Ukraine pointed at Moscow.

END OF SOUND ON TAPE

MARGARET BRENNAN: That echoes some Russian talking points. Senator, I wonder if these comments from your fellow senator represent the Republican Party?

SEN. GRAHAM: No, it represents him and him alone. If you spent 15 minutes studying Putin and what he wants, he wants to recreate the Russian Empire. He won’t stop in Ukraine. We celebrated the 80th anniversary of D-Day. It was a failure. It was the unnecessary war described by Winston Churchill. We had a dozen chances to stop Hitler. This is not about NATO. This is not about American weapons in Ukraine. It’s about a megalomaniac who wants to create the Russian Empire by force of arms. If you don’t stop him, there goes Taiwan. Therefore, we have been extremely slow to help Ukraine, but Senator Tuberville’s analysis really ignores what Putin intends. He’s an outsider, I think, in the Republican Party. I like him personally. But what did Trump do to make the guns flow? He created a loan system. They own between 10 and 12 trillion dollars worth of critical minerals in Ukraine. They could be the richest country in all of Europe. I don’t want to give that money and those assets to Putin to share with China. If we help Ukraine now, they can become the best business partner we ever dreamed of, and that 10 to 12 billion dollars worth of critical mineral assets could be used by Ukraine and the West, not given to Putin and to China. It is very important how Ukraine ends. Let’s help them win a war we cannot lose. Let’s find a solution to this war. But they are sitting on a gold mine. Giving Putin 10 or 12 billion dollars for critical minerals that he will share with China is ridiculous.

MARGARET BRENNAN: And- I want to go to the Middle East with you too. Later today, Benny Gantz, one of the ministers in Prime Minister Netanyahu’s war cabinet, is expected to announce his resignation, which he previously said would happen if he was not handed in a day after the plan. The Minister of Defense also said that there is no planning for the day after the incident. Where will this lead?

SEN. GRAHAM: I think Mr. Gantz will withdraw from the war cabinet, but Bibi will still have the majority. I like Benny Gantz. Here’s what I discovered on my last trip to Israel a few days ago. There is universal opposition to the creation of a Palestinian state at all levels of Israeli society if it is seen as a reward for the terrorism of October 7th. The day after the plan, when Hamas is militarily destroyed and can no longer threaten Israel, there needs to be a negotiation between Israel and Saudi Arabia and the UAE to present a plan for Gaza and the West Bank, to give the Palestinians hope. and a better life and protect Israel. That’s the only plan I see working. You cannot – Israel cannot, in my opinion – permanently occupy Gaza. This will be a disaster for Israel. So hope for the next day–

MARGARET BRENNAN: But Prime Minister Netanyahu has not yet said this clearly, that he would not try to occupy…

SEN. GRAHAM: I just… he’s coming. It will come on July 24th. I spent a lot of time with Bibi. He is right to want to ensure that this war will not end until Hamas is militarily destroyed and cannot threaten another October 7th. I have had very detailed discussions with the Prime Minister and the Crown Prince and this administration. I believe–

MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to talk to you–

SEN. GRAHAM: -there will be training next time–

MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to talk to you more about this–

SEN. GRAHAM: There will be a plan in place.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay, but we have to talk more about this on the other side of the commercial break. So give me a minute or two and we’ll be right back.

(ADVERTS)

MARGARET BRENNAN: Welcome back to “Face The Nation.” We now return to our conversation with South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham. Senator, thank you for staying through the break for us. Before we begin, you said, by July 24th, when the Prime Minister of Israel is here in Washington to address the joint session of Congress, you expect a plan for the next day. Do you hope, given the limited time left, that there will be normalization with Saudi Arabia and that Congress will be able to vote before the elections?

SEN. GRAHAM: I think it’s still possible. But the administration spent months negotiating the defense deal between Saudi Arabia and the United States, holding it above Israel’s head over Rafah. I think we’re almost there. One thing I learned on this trip was that they still don’t have the necessary weapons in Israel to put an end to Hamas. So they’re going to send me a list of weapons that are slowly being worked through. So I’m going to bring this up. But yes, I think we can still do this. July 24th will be here before you know it, we hope that the major military operations against Hamas will end if we give Israel the weapons it needs, and we can sit down and talk about a vision for Gaza and the West Bank that will give Israel security , hope and prosperity for the Palestinian people, with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates involved. So that’s my hope, that’s my belief, and I want to help wherever I can.

MARGARET BRENNAN: We’ll see if that vote can be held. But sir, you just mentioned US military aid. Our poll today shows that the majority of Americans, 61%, say the US should not send weapons to Israel. Six in ten say Israel should stop or reduce its military actions in Gaza. Isn’t it time for this war to end now, given that the tide of public opinion is turning against Israel?

SEN. GRAHAM: I think that would be the biggest mistake we could make. I criticized Senator Tuberville for his views on Ukraine. Let me be frank with you. Hamas would kill everyone here if they managed to get here. Israel is not our enemy –

MARGARET BRENNAN: They can’t.

SEN. GRAHAM: –they are our allies. Well, they can’t, because they’re stuck there. I want them destroyed so they can never come back to harm Israel or us. Hezbollah is alive and well. So for those Americans who believe that shutting down Israel now makes us safer, you have missed a lot. Radical Islam wants to cut the throat of every Jew, and his throat too. So no, I want to give them weapons, weapons they need. The retention of weapons by the administration. O-Trump was a great ally of Israel. If he wins this election, he will have another great ally. I appreciate what President Biden is doing, but it has been very slow. So if you don’t know, Iran, here’s the big takeaway from my trip. The head of the IDF told me that he has never been as worried about a nuclear leak in relation to the Iranians as he is now. He thinks we’ve lost deterrence. He calls for joint military operations with the United States to convince Iran not to move toward a nuclear weapon. These are the most dangerous times since the 1930s. Don’t make the mistakes of the 1930s. Senator Tuberville said: give Putin what he wants. Well, that’s what we did in the ’30s. That didn’t work. Shut down Israel. This didn’t work in World War II. It won’t work now.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Very quickly, before I let you go, last year the Biden administration deported, expelled or repatriated more than 740,000 people, which they say is more than any year since 2010. You said this week that there needs to be mass deportations. Aren’t these numbers mass deportations?

SEN. GRAHAM: Well, look. They had 10 million people come to this country illegally. It is the highest level of illegal illegal immigration in the last three years in the country’s history. We have gone from the lowest level under Trump to the highest in recorded history. They’ll never stop coming until…

MARGARET BRENNAN: During COVID.

SEN. GRAHAM: –they see people leaving. On day one, day one, President Trump will deport people here legally by the tens of thousands. Then, and only then, will it stop, and Biden will never do that.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, you also know that Congress would have to provide the resources to do this to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and they say they don’t have the manpower or the money to do any of this on this scale.

SEN. GRAHAM: Well, if- if Trump is president- if Trump is president, his top priority will be- sealing that border, deporting people here illegally. We are living on borrowed time when it comes to another 9/11. if you are looking for someone to fix a broken border and keep us safe, Donald Trump, I believe, is your best choice. And if you don’t believe that, after the last three years, you’ve made a big mistake.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Senator Graham, joining us from London today. Thank you for your time, sir.