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Transcript: Sen. John Kennedy on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” Sept. 27, 2026

2026-09-27T11:56:46-0400 / CBS News

The following is the transcript of the interview with Sen. John Kennedy, Republican of Louisiana, that aired on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Sept. 27, 2026.

MARGARET BRENNAN: We turn now to Republican Louisiana Senator John Kennedy. Good morning to you, Senator. Senator, the president seems to be dangling some interest in diplomacy. The U.S. president also seems to be somewhat interested, but the Wall Street Journal is also reporting President Trump has a secret plan to restart the bombing campaign in Iran after the midterm elections. That’s 37 days from now. Is that renewed bombing something you support?

SEN. JOHN KENNEDY: Well, I don’t know. I haven’t seen the classified intelligence. Iran- Iran made an offer recently to the president. It was not a serious offer. The president’s not Bambi’s baby brother. He turned it down. We need to continue doing what we’re doing. The sanctions, the blockade. The truth is, if you- if you’re fair minded at all, Iran is a sucking chest wound and the world is safer for it. It’s public and private sector is held together with duct tape and spit. Now, there’s- there’s just one problem. The strait is at least partially closed, and it’s affected the price of oil and oil’s in everything, including gasoline. And- and it’s painful as- as hell. And we’ve got to either figure out a way to- to settle this thing, to get the strait open or to escalate. I would not send in troops. We could send in troops and we could open the strait. But once you send them in, you’ve got to leave them there. And that creates a whole new host of problems.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, and the broader question of to what end, since the president has said, you know, Iran is about to capitulate any day now. But when we look at the politics of this out in Iowa and Michigan, we’ve seen Republican candidates who are going to be on the ballot in November, call for an end to the Iran war. In the Senate, we’ve seen 14 votes to date, objecting to it- two passed. I mean, I know those are symbolic, but this is reflective of frustration within your own party here. Should the president be more aware of public opinion?

SEN. KENNEDY: Well, look, here’s- none of this is advanced calculus. Here’s- I’ve- I’ve- I’ve been to just about every battleground state helping my mates. Here’s what I’ve learned. When- when moms and dads lie down to sleep at night and can’t, they’re not lying there worried about whether the football coaches are happy or whether the press is biased or the other things that we’ve been talking about. They’re worried about the cost of living.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah.

SEN. KENNEDY: And- and they’re a little worried about Iran because they don’t understand why, but they know the two are inextricably linked. And we’ve got to be straight up and address those things. Here’s my prediction for the midterms, Margaret. The experts will be wrong. They almost always are. Not- not- none of these guys have ever run a campaign in their natural lives. It’s going to be close. It would help if the president would stay focused on cost of living. And I would like to see him give a nationwide address.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah.

SEN. KENNEDY: Or let Rubio and General Caine do it and explain why we went into Iran, why we’re winning, and how we’re going to get out.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah. You’ve been making that recommendation for some time. You did it last time you were with us over the summer. The White House has not to date, but–

SEN. KENNEDY: Well- well- well, the- the- the president doesn’t take orders from me. He barely takes suggestions. But I’m pretty persistent, and I’m going to keep recommending it.

MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to ask you about something else the executive branch just did without Congress. On Friday, the White House informed Congressional leaders that he, the president, unilaterally canceled nearly $1 billion in Congressionally approved funds and did it without Congress’s consent. You sit on Appropriations. The chair of that committee, Susan Collins, said this was the latest attempt to undermine Congress’s constitutional power of the purse, and that this is a clear violation of the law. She wants to take action against these illegal actions. Do you share her concern? Are you going to join her effort?

SEN. KENNEDY: I love- I love Susan like a taco, but she’s wrong. First, Congress didn’t approve this stuff. When Congress appropriates money, we do it in broad care- categories. For example, I’m making this up- $250 million to improve relations with sub-Sahara Africa. And then the money goes to the bureaucracy. And a lot of times the bureaucracy wastes it. Spending porn is what I call it. That’s how we ended up with millions of dollars for circumcisions in- in Zambia and electric buses in Rwanda.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So you’re okay with this?

SEN. KENNEDY: What- what the president- yeah, I’m fine with it. What- what- if you read what- what Russ Vought wants to actually cut, what he wants- what he wants to cut is aid to NGOs who support illegal immigration. And he also wants to cut some money that the bureaucracy has decided to give to help pay down, not our debt, but foreign debt. This stuff- spending porn. Congress didn’t approve it. Now Susan is worried about them doing this to the NIH grants. I don’t think they ought to do it to the NIH grants, but this is spending porn that they’re cutting–

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah.

SEN. KENNEDY: –and Congress ought to be- Congress ought to get up off its ice-cold, lazy butt and cut it itself. But since we’re not–

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah.

SEN. KENNEDY: –I’m glad- I’m glad that Russ Vought’s doing it.

MARGARET BRENNAN: You’re talking about concern about wasteful spending.

SEN. KENNEDY: Yeah.

MARGARET BRENNAN: You were very sharp in your questioning of then-Secretary Kristi Noem in regard to some ads that DHS had been running, using taxpayer money to bolster her public image. Our viewers are going to see a 30-second commercial on this program. It’s on all major networks, it’s on the cable networks as well. It prominently features President Trump, and there’s a voice praising him as, quote, “the toughest, most resilient person I ever met.” And at the end, it says “paid for by the U.S. government.” Is that the best use of taxpayer money?

SEN. KENNEDY: Well, first, as to Secretary Noem, what she did was master class dumb. she spent $220 million on commercials about her, and I called her out on it. Number two–

MARGARET BRENNAN: This looks like a commercial about President Trump.

SEN. KENNEDY: I don’t, I- I was just going to say, Margaret, I don’t think any public official, including President Trump or Kristi Noem or John Kennedy, should spend public money on- on private ads for themselves. Now, the White House sees it differently, but I don’t- I think there ought to be a rule that you can’t- well, there probably is a rule- you can’t spend public money to to promote yourself. I’m going to- I may end up with a sombrero on my head, but I also think that we ought to have a rule that no politician–

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah.

SEN. KENNEDY: –can have a building named after him while he’s alive. I think that would settle a lot of this controversy.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah.

SEN. KENNEDY: We have that rule in Louisiana. It works pretty well.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, we’ll watch, Senator, if you introduce that. Thank you for your time this morning. Face the Nation will be back in a minute. Stay with us.