The next is the transcript of the interview with Sen. Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, that aired on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on March 1, 2026.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Becoming a member of us now’s Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, good morning.
SEN. CHRIS MURPHY: Good morning.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You could have referred to as for Congress to return to Washington and to vote on whether or not to attempt to basically halt this navy motion. No Warfare Powers Decision has ever overcome a presidential veto. Why do you suppose you want to take one?
SEN. MURPHY: Properly, no person on this nation is asking for battle with Iran. Similar to months in the past, nobody on this nation was asking for battle with Venezuela. This President is deliberately tanking our financial system. He is essentially the most corrupt president within the historical past of our nation, and Individuals need him to give attention to the crises right here at house. As a substitute, he’s busy getting us concerned in quagmires abroad that already have gotten lethal to American troopers. This can be a catastrophe. It’s unlawful, and the President is obligated underneath the Structure to come back to Congress and ask for an authorization of navy drive. He would not get that authorization if he requested for it. Congress would not vote to present him the permission to do it, however he is obligated to come back to Congress.
MARGARET BRENNAN: The administration would argue Venezuela was a restricted navy operation. They see- They are not explaining to the general public but, past that Twitter video, precisely what the plan is right here, however the President has tweeted, in a manner, describing this as an open ended battle till peace is achieved. You might be utilizing the time period battle. You do think about this to be a battle?
SEN. MURPHY: Oh, in fact, we’re engaged in common, ongoing navy strikes which have, that has already killed American troopers with the purpose of regime change. If that isn’t battle, what’s? Now, the president has stated that the purpose is regime change, and the purpose is to get rid of Iran’s missile program and their nuclear program. He’s not going to achieve both of these endeavors. His intelligence businesses have already informed him that the most definitely final result is that hardline members of the IRGC change the present management. So we’re not going to get a democracy. We’ll get a fair worse Iranian management. We already know you could’t bomb their nuclear program out of existence. He informed us final yr that he had obliterated this system, after which apparently, over the course of the final yr, they’d gotten again to inside every week. So we’ll have Individuals dying, and the tip result’s going to be onerous line management continues in Iran and we do not do away with their nuclear program. That is an ethical and strategic catastrophe for the nation.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Properly, you are summarizing the administration’s views in maybe a extra succinct manner than they’ve, as a result of we’ve not even heard a transparent public accounting of the state of their nuclear program. Rubio stated they weren’t enriching, Witkoff stated one thing else. However I wish to ask you about one thing in regard to the Senate International Relations Committee the place you sit, the State Division has issued a worldwide warning alert to all Individuals. They’ve arrange a job drive that they are saying they’ll strive to determine learn how to assist the Individuals who’re trapped within the Center East and all through the world. However the US embassy in Israel stated they’re closed and so they can not help evacuate. When you’re an American overseas or a member of the family, what do you have to be doing proper now?
SEN. MURPHY: Properly, I believe you possibly can name your member of Congress or your senator. We are going to do no matter we are able to to assist. Nevertheless it’s no secret that this administration has no plan for the chaos that’s unfolding proper now within the Center East. These scenes that you simply confirmed at the start of this system are horrifying. Violence just isn’t contained simply to the Center East. It is spilling over into Pakistan and different components of the world, and it is no secret that our allies within the area, except for the precise wing authorities in Israel, had begged us to not take this motion, as a result of they knew that the spillover, which is now wanting like regional battle, was the doubtless final result. So once more, what are we getting out of this? We’re not getting regime change to a democracy. We’re not going to get rid of their nuclear program. We’re going to have regional battle breaking out. It will not be the billionaire children of Donald Trump and his buddies that die. It will be the kids of center class and poor households all throughout this nation who’re going to die for a battle of alternative, a battle of vainness, an unlawful battle.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Properly, we’re going to hope for extra briefings to Congress or engagement with the press to clarify a few of these issues. Once we are speaking in regards to the Individuals although world wide proper now. There’s additionally from the FBI and homeland safety concern about cyber vulnerabilities and potential threats to infrastructure, they put out alerts about this. Given the present state of affairs, Republicans are calling on Democrats to think about stopping the place you’ve got taken, which is to halt some funding to Homeland Safety. Do you are feeling you want to rethink this place?
SEN. MURPHY: So the Republicans are saying that as a result of they launched an unlawful, disastrous battle in Iran, we should always give them permission to proceed utilizing ICE to homicide Americans, to permit them to get the funding to tear gasoline colleges? No, we have to arise for the Americans that ICE is murdering, the children that they’re terrorizing. They need to cease this unlawful battle, and they need to cease ICE from terrorizing our communities. We must always demand that they do each issues.
MARGARET BRENNAN: The administration would say they’ve adjusted a number of the manner they’re finishing up insurance policies inside DHS.
SEN. MURPHY: They’ve, they haven’t. I imply, simply because a number of the world’s and the nation’s consideration has turned away from Minneapolis, that does not imply that they don’t seem to be nonetheless brutalizing Americans. We simply found final week that they’d left a Burmese immigrant for useless, 5 miles from his house, blind and disabled, this brutality is continuous within the nation. We will do two issues directly. We will demand that ICE cease murdering Americans, and we are able to demand that the administration not ship our youngsters to die for a battle that we do not want.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So that you consider that with the present funding Homeland Safety has that they can shield the homeland in an sufficient vogue? That is what I hear you saying.
SEN. MURPHY: Pay attention, I consider that the administration ought to make a dedication to legally prosecuting the legal guidelines of this nation. I haven’t got any obligation to fund a Division of Homeland Safety that’s violating the regulation day-after-day, similar to I haven’t got any obligation to assist this battle that’s unlawful as effectively.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So three weeks and counting, it sounds just like the standoff just isn’t ending?
SEN. MURPHY: Properly, if they comply with begin adhering to the regulation on the Division of Homeland Safety, they’re going to have the votes instantly. However pay attention, that is what the folks need. The folks need ICE to start out behaving legally, and so they don’t need wars abroad. So I believe this can be a fairly clear case of Democrats standing with the American folks relating to home crises and worldwide crises.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So again on Iran. If there had been a briefing, if there had been full disclosure of the state of negotiations or an evaluation of Iran’s nuclear program, would Democrats have been persuadable to assist navy motion? I ask that as a result of the Biden administration initially had reached out to Iran to attempt to get to a negotiated deal, and so they weren’t in a position to get one. Partially as a result of they weren’t prepared to carry sanctions off of the IRGC so, in different phrases, are we simply in a spot the place navy battle or confrontation was inevitable, and it simply occurred to land on Donald Trump’s watch?
SEN. MURPHY: No. Donald Trump precipitated this disaster, proper? He inherited a nuclear settlement that was working, that had put Iran greater than a yr away from a nuclear weapon–
MARGARET BRENNAN: –The JCPOA.
SEN. MURPHY: The JCPOA. Towards the recommendation of his advisers, he tossed that settlement out, which introduced us to this second.
MARGARET BRENNAN: It will have expired by now.
SEN. MURPHY: And there- proper, however I believe Iran would have definitely been prepared to increase these provisions if we had been nonetheless within the settlement. However second, there isn’t any historical past, there isn’t any expertise that exhibits an air marketing campaign alone will end in optimistic regime change. In reality, there’s not a single instance of it within the entirety of American historical past. An air marketing campaign with out not less than the specter of a floor invasion, which the administration is ruling out, by no means ends in a democratic rebirth in an authoritarian nation. So the plan they’ve laid out, sustained air strikes and not using a floor invasion, is destined to fail. All that can occur on the finish of this, most definitely, pay attention, I am rooting for democracy in Iran, however the most definitely final result right here is that arduous liners take over the federal government. They restart their missile program, they restart their nuclear program, and we’re excellent again at bombing them once more and placing American lives and regional lives in danger once more in a yr or two.
MARGARET BRENNAN: All proper. Senator Murphy, thanks. Thanks on your time this morning, and we’ll be proper again with much more Face the Nation. Stick with us.
