June 7, 2026 / 12:05 PM EDT
/ CBS News
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The following is the transcript of the interview with Rep. Ro Khanna, Democrat of California, that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on June 7, 2026.MARGARET BRENNAN: But we begin this morning with Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna of California. Good to have you here in person. REP. RO KHANNA: Good to be back.MARGARET BRENNAN: You're just back from Maine, and on Tuesday, there's a primary there for Democrats. It will help to determine who is going to challenge Susan Collins for her seat. She is the longtime Republican senator who has held on to it. This is all ultimately about who is going to control Congress, control the Senate. There's been a lot of excitement around Graham Platner, who we mentioned there, right at the top. He's a veteran, an oyster man with this anti-establishment progressive message. Why are you still campaigning for him after all of these questions about action, comments, activity in his personal life.REP. KHANNA: Well we had a rally planned, and I want to be clear: his actions were misogynistic, they were shameful, they were wrong, but they didn't come as a surprise to a lot of the folks in Maine. People in Maine knew that he had had two tours of duty in Iraq. He came back broken in a dark place. That doesn't excuse his behavior, but they knew this. He was in Washington, and then he went back to Maine, and he started an oyster farm. He took accountability. He himself has said it was shameful, and he had redemption. And now he's running on a platform of national health insurance when Susan Collins is voting to cut it. He's talking about taxing billionaires. Susan Collins is for tax breaks to billionaires, and he's opposed to this foreign war where Susan Collins supported the war in Iran, and that's why I'm still supporting him.MARGARET BRENNAN: But I want to go through some of what we're referring to here in specifics. The campaign acknowledged a candidate sent sexually explicit texts to multiple women while he was married, quite recently. He's acknowledged he had a tattoo with Nazi symbols that he's since covered up, but he claimed he didn't know the linkage and the symbolism, and he's had social media posts insulting rural people downplaying sexual assault. He has apologized or said he regrets some of that behavior. As you just alluded to, he has also referred to the fact he has dealt with PTSD and some alcohol issues. Are you confident all the damaging info is out?REP. KHANNA: That's what he says. My sense is, before the primary, a lot of this has come out. Obviously, look, if there was evidence of violence. I would not support him. If there was evidence of sexual assault, I'd have zero support for him. He acknowledges that he was misogynistic, it was shameful. One thing I want to make very clear, we should not be attacking the women who came forward. We should not be attacking the journalists. Some people have been attacking the New York Times journalists- they're- they did their job. We should focus on acknowledging it was misogynistic, acknowledging it was wrong, moving on with redemption, and then focusing on his issues, which are stopping the war, taking on the billionaire class.
