On this “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” broadcast, moderated by Margaret Brennan:
- New York Gov. Kathy Hochul
- Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s Middle East envoy
- Sen. John Curtis, Republican of Utah
- Sen. Chris Van Hollen, Democrat of Maryland
- Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former FDA commissioner
Click here to browse full transcripts from 2025 of “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.”
MARGARET BRENNAN: I’m Margaret Brennan in Washington.
And this week on Face the Nation: The president’s mission to shrink the federal work force intensifies and his foreign policy dealmaking reaches a critical juncture.
Speaking before a crowd of conservative supporters this weekend, President Trump touted his dramatic efforts to reshape the federal government.
(Begin VT)
DONALD TRUMP (President of the United States): It’s all about common sense. Over the past month, we have confirmed an all-star team of warriors, patriots, visionaries and put the America first agenda into action.
(End VT)
MARGARET BRENNAN: Late Friday, the purge of the federal work force struck the Pentagon at the top during a critical moment for our national security, as the new administration seeks peace talks to end Russia’s war in Ukraine and as a fragile truce between Israel and Hamas hangs in the balance.
We will speak with Trump’s top negotiator and envoy Steve Witkoff.
Meanwhile, here at home, the president takes aim at Democratic governors who oppose his agenda.
(Begin VT)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: You better do it because you’re not going to get any federal funding.
GOVERNOR JANET MILLS (D-Maine): We will see you in court.
GOVERNOR KATHY HOCHUL (D-New York): New York hasn’t labored under a king in over 250 years.
(CHEERING)
GOVERNOR KATHY HOCHUL: We are not – we sure as hell are not going to start now.
(End VT)
MARGARET BRENNAN: We will ask New York Governor Kathy Hochul how she’s picking her battles with the new administration.
Plus:
(Begin VT)
WOMAN: the People would like to know, what you, Congressman, and your fellow congressmen are going to do to rein in the megalomaniac in the White House.
(CHEERING)
(End VT)
MARGARET BRENNAN: Lawmakers facing some heat from voters over Trump’s push to slash the federal work force led by Elon Musk.
Maryland Democrat Chris Van Hollen and Utah Republican John Curtis will be here.
And, finally, with bird flu measles and other illnesses on the rise and big changes ahead for America’s public health agencies, we will get a reality check from former Trump FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb.
It’s all just ahead on Face the Nation.
Good morning, and welcome to Face the Nation.
Millions of federal workers are waking up to renewed pressure this morning. Elon Musk ordered them late Saturday to describe the top five things they accomplished last week, or risk losing their jobs. That demand was issued formally in an e-mail yesterday from the Office of Personnel Management.
But top leaders in agencies such as the FBI and the State Department have instructed their staff to avoid responding for now. Just a day earlier, the Trump staff shakeup hit the Pentagon with the ouster of the nation’s highest-ranking military officer, General C.Q. Brown, and other senior leaders at the Navy, Army and Air Force.
For more on that impact of the shakeup, we begin this morning with our senior national security correspondent, Charlie D’Agata.
Charlie, so it’s the president’s prerogative to choose his advisers, sure, but what’s the impact of firing his top adviser? And when will we get a new one?
CHARLIE D’AGATA: Well, Margaret, you, first of all, have to look at what’s going on at the moment right? What’s the immediate impact?
This position as the chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff is in charge, as it sounds, of everybody and planning forward. We have the crisis in the Middle East that’s still unfolding. We have got the crisis at the border where more and more active-duty troops are being sent to. Guantanamo is getting built up.
And then you have got Ukraine and the future of NATO. So this comes at a critical time. And the dismissal of C.Q. Brown will have immediate ramifications. In terms of how long it’s going to take to replace that, well, there will be a sort of Senate hearing. A person has already been put forward, as we’re about to speak about.
But, in addition to that, the other top head to come out of that was Admiral Lisa Franchetti. She’s CNO, chief naval officer, in charge of the Navy. That’s a big one.
MARGARET BRENNAN: The highest-ranking woman.
CHARLIE D’AGATA: The highest-ranking woman, and unprecedented in that role. And she was the first to become a fleet commander. There are many firsts in Admiral Franchetti’s career. And we have profiled her when she became fleet commander.
Very highly thought of among her – among personnel at the DOD, including young women who aspire to those sort of levels. C.Q. Brown, again, very highly regarded. They – there was no reason given for the dismissal of these two individuals.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.
CHARLIE D’AGATA: We do know that Secretary Hegseth has actually name- checked C.Q. Brown, saying that he’s criticizing him for his DEI programs and saying that…
MARGARET BRENNAN: Right. .
CHARLIE D’AGATA: … was he given that promotion because he was black? He says, we will never know.
He also took aim at Admiral Franchetti, suggesting she is a DEI hire herself, by virtue of the fact that she is a woman. Also, in addition to that, there’s a – the state in command of the Air Force who was also removed, so a lot of changes.
And you mentioned the word purge.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.
CHARLIE D’AGATA: And that’s exactly what it is at the – from the very top.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, who is this nominee, or I guess, of – in the process of becoming the nominee, to step into the role?
CHARLIE D’AGATA: It’s a good question. And there are a lot of people inside the DOD who are asking who this nominee is, retired Lieutenant General Dan Caine.
He just retired recently as a three-star rank. That’s kind of important, because this is the first time, at least in my knowledge – it might be corrected – the first time a three-star general was promoted to that position and kind of…
MARGARET BRENNAN: Right, and not the head of a combatant command.
CHARLIE D’AGATA: Exactly, not the head of a combatant command, like CENTCOM or EUCOM, not in charge of one of the armed services branches.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Big promotion.
CHARLIE D’AGATA: Well, yes, some might call it a leapfrog.
If he is to be accepted into this role, he will automatically be given that fourth star. But, more importantly, there are certain rules and regulations, that he would have been the first, because he didn’t have that combatant command and because he wasn’t in charge of one of the armed forces.
But from – we have been asking around. And I know people who know him personally. They say, look, he’s a stand-up guy, nicest man you want to meet. There had been some questions about whether or not he was sort of political. I know that President Trump had said that he had met the guy and said that he loves him, as in he loves Trump.
According to my sources, that conversation didn’t take place. He doesn’t own a MAGA cap. He didn’t put one on. So he’s been described as apolitical. And he’s somebody who may not have the experience, but has the character to lead the force.
But I think what we have to look at here, right…
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.
CHARLIE D’AGATA: … we have got Defense Secretary Hegseth, and then we have this individual, two relatively inexperienced people at the very highest level of the DOD.
MARGARET BRENNAN: At a time of global instability and a lot of change here at home.
Charlie, thank you.
CHARLIE D’AGATA: Thank you.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We turn now to Trump’s clash with Democratic governors.
Joining us now from Albany, New York, is the governor, Kathy Hochul, good morning to you, Governor.
GOVERNOR KATHY HOCHUL (D-New York): Good morning.
MARGARET BRENNAN: I know you were just here in Washington, and you met privately with President Trump. In the past, you’ve said the relationship doesn’t have to be adversarial. Was your meeting with him adversarial? And what was your top message?
GOVERNOR KATHY HOCHUL: It wasn’t an adversarial meeting, but I was very clear, especially after I found that the Trump administration had ended a program that was put in place, congestion pricing, by the duly elected members of our legislature, representing the voice of the people, and with a tweet, he claims that he is the king, and, therefore, he has the power to destroy it.
And I have a problem with that characterization, because we labored under a king 250 years ago, and, as I said, we’re not going back there. So I wanted to take my case to him directly and let him see the benefits of this program, because our city is paralyzed with gridlock. And we had a path forward to be able to make the city move again, and it’s working.
I wanted to just have that opportunity to convey that. But I don’t know that we’re very persuasive on that front, but that’s OK. The people in my state need to know I’m willing to take the fight wherever I have to.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So, just to explain for our audience, congestion pricing, you’re talking about this $9 toll you put on people driving into Lower Manhattan below 60th Street.
Your fellow Democrat Phil Murphy of New Jersey says he doesn’t like this policy, actually asked President Trump to stop it. President Trump’s office says this is discriminatory against working-class people. How do you respond to that?
GOVERNOR KATHY HOCHUL: I respond this way. With all due respect to the state of New Jersey, they do not tell us in New York what to do, nor does Washington, when it comes to policies that we believe are going to reduce congestion, move along vehicles. Emergency vehicles are moving faster. Air quality is improving.
So I have arguments that are important, but no one else should be able to second-guess us, because that’s not how our system of laws and states was set up. I’m the governor of New York. I will deal with the internal issues before me without interference from New Jersey or, indeed, the federal government.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So this is going to the courts?
GOVERNOR KATHY HOCHUL: Oh, yes, it’s going to the courts, and I believe we will be victorious in the courts, and this program will continue.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You know, this is not the only standoff between the state and federal government and the tension here.
I know you were in Washington with other governors who were meeting with the president this week. Federal funds account for about 40 percent of your state’s budget. President Trump is threatening to withhold federal funds to governors in order to force compliance with his agenda.
Here’s what he said to the governor of Maine. Take a listen.
(Begin VT)
DONALD TRUMP (President of the United States): Is Maine here, the Governor of Maine?
GOVERNOR JANET MILLS (D-Maine): Yes, I’m here.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Are you not going to comply with it?
GOVERNOR JANET MILLS: I will comply with state and federal laws.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, I’m – we are the federal law. Well, you better do it. You better do it, because you’re not going to get any federal funding at all if you don’t.
(End VT)
MARGARET BRENNAN: That was about transgender athletes on girls sports teams.
Are you Democratic governors going to start to work together on this? Is there legal pushback?
GOVERNOR KATHY HOCHUL: What he is doing is – they’ve described it as flooding the zone.
They’re attacking California when it comes to FEMA dollars. They’re filing lawsuits in Illinois. They’re going after Maine on this, and they’re coming after programs that have been duly put in place in the state of New York.
What they’re trying to do is create this theater of all kinds of activity that is trying to be a distraction to us. And when…
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