May 31, 2026 / 11:38 AM EDT
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The following is the transcript of the interview with Sen. Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on May 31, 2026.MARGARET BRENNAN: And we're back now with Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Murphy. He is the author of a new book, Crisis of the Common Good: The Fight for Meaning and Connection in a Broken America. He joins us from Hartford, Connecticut. Good morning to you, Senator.SENATOR CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): Good morning.MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to talk about your book in a moment, but just to pick up on where we left it with President Zelenskyy, do you believe that there is enough bipartisan support to press the Pentagon to reallocate some of these patriots, so he can take down all the incoming Russian missiles?SEN. MURPHY: Yeah, I doubt it. Unfortunately, I think the story here has been pretty simple from the start. Donald Trump does not want to do what is necessary to support Ukraine, and the Republican Party will always follow his lead. We've had a bipartisan sanctions bill sitting on the Senate floor for a year and a half that would tighten the screws on the Russian economy, make it harder for them to fund the war. Donald Trump has basically had a veto on that bill. He won't allow Senate Republicans to bring it forward. He's been sitting on $400 million that Congress allocated to help Ukraine. He hasn't spent a dime of it, despite protests loudly, publicly and privately, from Senate Republicans. So I just think ultimately Donald Trump has decided he does not want to help Ukraine, and there doesn't seem to be enough courage in the Republican caucus to fight back. I mean, I hope I'm wrong about that. This is obviously a critical moment where Ukraine actually looks like it is about to be able to take a real offensive position, and so I'm rooting that they will finally stand up to the President on this.MARGARET BRENNAN: To your point, on the 400 million, Hegseth, the Secretary of War said that that was to be released, but we haven't seen anything more. I know you sit on the Appropriations Committee, so you have a chance to ask some of these questions, potentially of Secretary Rubio, when he sits before you on, I believe, Wednesday, asking for $33.6 billion budget. What's the top priority when you do get to ask questions of the secretary?SEN. MURPHY: Well, the top priority is ending the war in Iran. This has been an absolute disaster for the United States. Obviously, the primary impact is here at home, as families and businesses are being ruined by gas prices. They're $6 a gallon in some places, but it's just been a humiliation for the United States, and it's made Iran more powerful. Of course, there's an impact in Russia as well. We've had to suspend sanctions on Russian oil in order to get their oil on the market, so the consequence of the Iran war is not just that Americans are dying, the prices are going up, but Russia is also getting more powerful. We're literally funding their war effort, so we need the Iran war to end. There's been this talk of a deal for months and months and months. I think the terms of the deal are pretty humiliating in and of themselves, but we just need this war done, no matter the terms, at this point.
