Transcript: Sen. Tim Kaine on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” June 28, 2026
The following is the text of the interview with Sen. Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, aired on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on June 28, 2026.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We now turn to Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, who joins us from Brussels. Hello to you, Senator.
SENATOR TIM KAINE: Good to have you, Margaret. Thank you.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Because you’re in Europe, I want to ask you about what’s going on with US Army Europe General Chris Donahue. We know that he has been ordered by Secretary Hegseth to turn in his retirement papers, he will step down from command on July 2, and step down from command of NATO on July 9. Do you have any clue as to why this highly respected general is being kicked out the door?
SEN. KAINE: Margaret, I’m in Europe with a bipartisan team of senators visiting NATO allies and our military, talking specifically about the NATO summit next week and support for Ukraine. I will say to General Donahue, too many questions and too few answers. He was very well-regarded on the Armed Services Committee, where I sit, both sides of the aisle thought very highly of him, so the news that he was being removed was a surprise to all of us, and we still haven’t had good answers from the Pentagon.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, it’s part of a larger question about the changes that Secretary Hegseth is making at the Pentagon. Retired Admiral Bill McRaven, people know him since he ordered the raid to take out Osama bin Laden. He wrote a piece in The Atlantic, expressing concern about the exit and firing of 12 other high-ranking military officials. He explained that officials must “speak brutally” in order to give good advice. He said “this latest firing risks senior officers being overly cautious in giving their best advice, so the chance of military miscalculation will increase dramatically.” How worried are you? Can Congress step in and do something here?
SEN. KAINE: Well, I don’t think that concern is wrong. We are concerned about the same thing. Are you pushing the truth tellers to surround yourself with yes-men, and especially, it looks like the secretary is going down a lot- down a lot in the Army. He served in the Army, he felt that he was not treated well by the Army, and he expressed his grievances publicly. So, when you see Army officers being sacked, you have to ask yourself, is this a personal thing, or is it for the best of the nation? So we are working on a defense bill right now. We voted it out of the Senate Armed Services Committee. There’s nothing in this bill right now that would address this situation, but if we put it on the floor, I think at that point, we’ll have answered some of our questions, and if we need to move forward to put guardrails in place, you’ll probably get bipartisan support to do that.
MARGARET BRENNAN: What are you hearing from your NATO allies there about American plans to reduce the presence in Europe?
SEN. KAINE: So it would be difficult to reduce the presence in Europe, based on some of the provisions of the NDAA that we have put in place for this kind of setting down in terms of US military power. And here is the good news, Margaret, both because of President Trump, but also, frankly, because of the actions of Vladimir Putin, European countries are increasing their investment in their collective defense. They see the need to do it, and they understand that the United States is right there with them. There is political turmoil, no doubt about it. European nations are not only worried about the rhetoric coming out of the White House, they see the chaotic tax policy harming their economy, but they also see the US continuing to invest heavily in the defense of Europe, the military presence. The Senate version of the Armed Services bill that we just passed has a lot of money to protect Ukraine, and I think you’re going to see some good from the NATO summit next week. That’s what I expect.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So, you just talked about a very important defense bill, and we looked, and you said that for the first time in your 13 years on the committee, you voted against it. I understand that you have objections to the Iran war, but given the significant military community that you have in Virginia, and the need that the military says we have, how would you defend that?
SEN. KAINE: Margaret, it was one of the hardest votes I’ve ever cast in 13 years in the Senate, but here’s why. President Trump wants at least a 40% increase in the defense budget in one year. He hasn’t really told us where that money is coming from. Does it come from education? Does it come from health care? And to vote for that kind of increase without knowing where we’re going to spend the money, during a war that I think is illegal, unnecessary, and stupid, and to support that kind of increase without being careful about how the money is spent, I couldn’t do it. Part of protecting our Virginia soldiers and beating them is making sure that when we use the military, especially when we go to war, we do it the right way, not the wrong way. Our military has deployed to the Middle East many times over the past 25 years, and an illegal war of the sort that is being blamed- that is not the way to conduct our military.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, I need to talk to you more about this, but I have to take a commercial break. So please stay with us, if you like. Senator Kaine, there in Brussels.
SEN. KAINE: I will.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We’ll be right back.
[COMMERCIAL BREAK]MARGARET BRENNAN: Welcome back to Face the Nation. We return to our interview with Democratic Senator Tim Kaine. Senator, I would like to ask you a little about what is happening here at home. There were three far-left candidates handpicked by New York City Mayor Mamdani, who won last week over a majority of candidates. Some look at that and say that the reach of the left wing of your party seems to be expanding, here’s what President Trump is saying. Listen.
[ SOUND ON TAPE BEGINS]DONALD TRUMP: Become a communist party. These are not social democrats, these are godless radical communists. They are godless communists. All communists are godless. They do not believe in God. This is the worst threat to our country since its existence.
[ SOUND ON TAPE ENDS]MARGARET BRENNAN: What did you do about that attack here? And are you concerned that the progressive platform of some party members will make it more difficult to win in other parts of the country as November approaches?
SEN. KAINE: Margaret, what the president said is just a salad of raw words. I’m not an expert on New York House races, I’m an expert on Senate races, and we have Senate candidates all over the country trying to change red seats by focusing on the president’s mismanagement of the American economy, families suffering from rising costs due to bad taxes, an illegal war and focusing on luxuries like ballrooms, arches, and arches. And in Virginia, in home races, I have four Democratic candidates running to turn red seats blue, who are focused on the kind of spending and spending agenda that led us to landslide wins in state races last fall. So, I can’t really describe, you know, what’s on the minds of the voters in the New York City congressional races, but I know what’s on the minds of the people of Virginia, and I think I know what’s on the minds of the people of America. Let’s focus on the economy and cutting costs, not stupid wars and chaos.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes, as Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan said, the party needs significant new leadership because the old models are not working, and she pointed to the leadership. Leader Jeffries, Leader Schumer, said they need to give room to others who can adapt if they can’t. Do you agree with his assessment?
SEN. KAINE: Well, I don’t know exactly in what situation he did it. Look, I think one of these elections can show that there is, there is a desire to burn, and it is a difficult place for those in office. And that I think works to help the Democrats in November. Remember, primaries are interesting, but where you really make a difference is not trading one Democrat for another or one Republican for another. Where it makes a difference is flipping a seat from red to blue, and it’s a challenging area for incumbents, but that will work to Democrats’ advantage in November.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So, you’re going to continue to support Chuck Schumer for president.
SEN. KAINE: Yes, there is. He was one of the best leaders we’ve had in a long time, and if he gets the chance, he’ll be a great leader going forward.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, just to read something that Senator Cassidy said, he was talking about access to health care. Is there a Democratic health care plan or chance to work everywhere?
SEN. KAINE: There is, and look, Bill has been a great chairman. I agree with him on many things. We have some disagreements, but he has been a good chairman of the Relief Committee, and we are working on some insolvency issues. For example, we have a bipartisan bill that stopped certain pieces, but we can do more to control drug costs through effective regulation of PBMs, pharmacy benefit managers. On the Democratic side, we want to reverse some of the dangerous Medicaid cuts that the Republicans made over the last year, and we’ve had some interest among some Republicans in that, but reversing those Medicaid cuts and the SNAP benefit cuts is something we feel very strongly about as Democrats.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Senator Kaine. Thanks for joining us this morning. We’ll have to leave it there.
