June 28, 2026 / 1:05 PM EDT
/ CBS News
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The following is the transcript of an interview with Sen. Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on June 28, 2026.MARGARET BRENNAN: We turn now to Virginia Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, who joins us from Brussels. Good morning to you, Senator.SENATOR TIM KAINE: Great to be with you, Margaret. Thanks.MARGARET BRENNAN: Because you are in Europe, I want to ask you about exactly what is going on with the U.S. Army Europe General Chris Donahue. We know he was ordered by Secretary Hegseth to turn in his retirement papers, he's going to relinquish command July 2, relinquish NATO command July 9. Do you have any indication why this very well-respected general is getting pushed out the door?SEN. KAINE: Margaret, I am in Europe with a bipartisan delegation of senators visiting NATO allies and our troops, talking primarily about NATO summit next week and support for Ukraine. I will say on General Donahue, a lot of questions and very few answers. He was very well regarded in the Armed Services Committee, where I sit, both sides of the aisle thought really highly of him, and so the news that he was being ushered out caught us all by surprise, and we don't yet have good answers from the Pentagon.MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, it's part of a bigger question as to the changes Secretary Hegseth is making at the Pentagon. Retired Admiral Bill McRaven, people know him from commanding the raid to take out Osama bin Laden. He wrote a piece in The Atlantic, raising concerns about the exit and the firing of at least 12 other high-ranking military officials. He explained officers need to be "brutally candid" in order to give good advice. He said "these recent firings raise a real risk senior officers will be overly cautious about providing their best advice, and therefore the chance for military miscalculation will grow dramatically." How concerned are you? Can Congress intervene and do anything here?SEN. KAINE: Well, I don't think that concern is misplaced. We're worried about the same thing. Are you- are you pushing out the truth tellers to surround yourself by yes-men, and in particular, it looks like the secretary is coming down hardest- coming down hardest on the Army. He served in the Army, he felt like he wasn't treated well by the Army, that's a grudge he's carried that he's described publicly. And so, when you see Army officers forced out, you got to wonder, is this a personal thing, or is it really what's best for the nation? So we are working on the defense bill right now. We've- we voted it out of the Senate Armed Services Committee. There's nothing in the bill at this point that would address this situation, but when we bring it up on the floor, I think by then, we'll have some of our questions answered, and if we need to go farther to put some guardrails in place, you'll probably find bipartisan support to do that.
