Transcript: Rep. Jim Himes on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” June 7, 2026

The following is the transcript of the interview with Rep. Jim Himes, Democrat of Connecticut, aired on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on June 7, 2026.

MARGARET BRENNAN: We now turn to the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, Representative Jim Himes, who joins us this morning from Greenwich, Connecticut. Welcome back to Face the Nation.

REP. JIM HIMES: Good to have you, Margaret.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Congressman, President Trump has nominated the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Bill Pulte, to be the next Director of National Intelligence. The President said that it is temporary, but even in that holding role, he can stay in it for more than 200 days, and it will pass the approval of Congress. Pulte himself had been confirmed by the Senate for housing. Three Democrats voted for him. Do you know if you have security clearance to do intelligence work?

REP. HIMES: Well, that’s a very small question, Margaret. I heard the senator say he doesn’t have security clearance, but that’s beside the point, isn’t it? He doesn’t have a national security clearance, and the president is putting him in this very sensitive position, and you know, he’s revealed that he’s been certified for some kind of mysterious job by the Federal Housing Finance Agency. This was before he used that job to try to go after the president’s political enemies, Adam Schiff and Letitia James. So now we have more information about Bill Pulte, and the reason this is controversial is because we know that’s his defining characteristic. He will do whatever he believes is in line with the president’s politics, and there is no way that the authorities and assets of the intelligence community can be in the hands of someone who has shown that his only reason for being in Washington is to do the president’s political laundry.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, the president said he wants Pulte to find out more about the 2020 election. In the meantime, is there anything Congress can do to stop him from taking this position?

REP. HIMES: You know, you haven’t asked about it, but you know about this appointment of Pulte, which has caused bipartisan outrage. He saw the public comments of his Republican colleagues. The president did this 10 days before the expiration of our most important and most controversial collection authority, which is FISA 702, right? I mean, I just heard Senator Warner describe it as throwing a bomb in a very critical situation, so, no, I can- I mean, can Congress do anything to stop this? It’s not, but the President is questioning with this appointment that one of the most important intelligence gathering tools, at a time when the Iranians, you know, are thinking about conducting operations abroad, maybe in the United States, I mean, you couldn’t come up with a worse time for what might be the worst appointment in the intelligence community that I’ve ever seen.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, this has been a controversial endorsement. You were hard at work trying to convince Democrats and Republicans to extend it, even before Bill Pulte was elected. We know yesterday, the Republican chairmen of the Senate Intel and Judiciary sent a letter to the White House saying they expect a deadline to expire on the collection of foreign intelligence this week. So, how do you go about this? Because it sounds like something is being planned for this important surveillance tool that you say is too important not to exist.

REP. HIMES: Yeah, no, I saw the letter from Tom Cotton and Chuck Grassley, and look, I think on one level they acknowledged the truth, which is that Pulte’s nomination took the reauthorization of 702 off the table. You know, we voted in the house and passed the bill with 42 Democrats. I’ll tell you that at least half of those Democrats are gone, because they’ll say, ‘look, I wasn’t comfortable with this authority to begin with,’ and we don’t need to get into why it’s controversial, but it’s controversial, but with Bill Pulte, you know, who’s totally dedicated to harassing the authorities, no, I’m not there. So you saw in the Senate yesterday the failure to proceed with the reauthorization. So the only right answer here, Margaret, the only right answer, and I don’t have a lot of confidence that it’s going to happen, is for the President to say, you know, ‘oops, that was a mistake,’ and he pulls the nomination of Bill Pulte in favor of someone else who will not only give the Democrats, but everyone more confidence that this is someone who has some information who will not abuse the intelligence authorities. That’s the only way out of this mess, and you know President Trump can do that right now.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, it sounds like you’re saying that Democrats are going to withhold votes until Pulte’s nomination is voted on. The President often does not back down, as you know. Is the White House, is Marco Rubio, who was on Capitol Hill a few days ago, working in any way with the Democrats to find an acceptable alternative here to Bill Pulte?

REP. HIMES: Well, remember two things. Number one, where I serve in the House of Representatives, we have already passed the FISA reauthorization bill. So the question you ask is a Senate question. I think the Senate would–

MARGARET BRENNAN: Right, but it’s something that stands in the way of what you’re saying, right?

REP. HIMES: All right- the Senate needs to pass the bill or pass the House bill, of course. My point is that the House has passed the bill. Now, by the way, if we were to pass another bill in Bill Pulte’s context, I don’t think we could, but you know it’s not Marco Rubio. He said, is Marco Rubio working with Democrats to find an alternative to Bill Pulte–

MARGARET BRENNAN: I know.

REP. HIMES: –that’s- that’s not how this works, is it? The President needs to calm down and realize that this appointment is in, you know, you know, in the basket of the worst positions he has set up, this is probably the worst and the most dangerous. So, I mean, I hope he can find a way out, because you’re right, he doesn’t like backing down, but he also won’t like the terrorist attacks that could happen if there’s no mandate for the 702 collection, because look, you know, Tom Cotton can try to say that this is the only Democratic issue that he wants, but the nomination of Bill Pulte, you know, is tightly integrated.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes, but to be clear, you are saying that the Senate should vote on the bill sent by the House. If they make any changes, will you still vote for FISA reauthorization if Pulte is there?

REP. HIMES: So the only way, so the House passed the bill, 42 Democrats supported it, that wouldn’t be true today, so you know, I think–

MARGARET BRENNAN: Would you hold your breath at this point?

REP. HIMES: –I don’t think it’s possible. Well, well, and, this is it, the ball is in the Senate’s court.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Right.

REP. HIMES: The house is gone. I don’t think, look, if I had to vote on this thing again, knowing Bill Pulte’s background experience and what he’s done in this obscure federal agency, I don’t think I could look in the mirror in the morning and say, yes, this is the man who should, you know, have control and access to this authority. And look, I think- I think a lot of Democrats and Republicans feel that way.

MARGARET BRENNAN: I reached out to you wanting to talk to you about Ukraine before this controversy erupted here with Bill Pulte. You were just there, meeting with President Zelenskyy. In the past few days, Ukraine has carried out very deep strikes. Petersburg, others, which is about 600 kilometers to the territory of Russia. How do you judge where the war is at this time? Is Russia still winning?

REP. HIMES: No, Russia doesn’t win, and I mean that’s the title, right? Ukraine is now winning by any standard, right? On a net basis, you know, the front lines are moving a few square miles here or there, but on a net basis, the Ukrainians are now taking over. Ukrainians are responsible for a staggering number of Russian deaths. You know, for every square mile the Russians marched, they killed 250, 300 Russian men. You know, Russian casualties are like 30,000 a month. It’s just amazing. I mean, it’s like- it’s like Vietnam every two months for the Russians where, and as you said, the Ukrainians are now striking deep into Russian territory in a way that has endangered, you know, 30% or more of the ref- of Russian refining capacity. So make no mistake, the Ukrainian people are winning this war.

MARGARET BRENNAN: In Israel and Iran, there are reports, both in the New York Times and on another television network, that the US has increased its threat against Israel. Another thing that is clear about them is spying on American officials. Is that accurate? Has the US raised its intelligence threat level against Israel?

REP. HIMES: Well, I can’t really comment on what we’re doing in terms of counterintelligence, but you have to think about the fact that you see a difference now between US policy and Israeli policy. I wasn’t on the phone, so I can’t confirm that it happened the way it was reported in the press, but the press reported that President Trump was shouting abuse on the phone to Prime Minister Netanyahu, because the President, of course, is very motivated to end this conflict. He knows the effect of a $1.50 increase in gas prices on his political fortunes and the fortunes of his political party. So, you know, we- Israel is not, even though it’s an ally, they’re not a member of the Five Eyes agreement, where we agree not to spy, and that kind of thing. So, again, without answering your question, what I can do–

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.

REP. HIMES: –you know this is a time when the President is at odds with the leader of Israel.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, we’ll continue to follow that story. Jim Himes, thank you for your time this morning. Face the Nation will be back in a minute. Stay with us.