CBS News anchor Margaret Brennan attempted to set a trap for Secretary of State Marco Rubio, demanding to know why the United States had only moved against Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro while other wanted narco-terrorists were left in power.
Rubio, who made several Sunday morning appearances across multiple media networks, walked Brennan through the strategy behind taking on one mission at a time — all while also pointing out the fact that the media reaction to a broader mission would have been much more dramatic: &#8220;Imagine the howls!&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Secretary of State Marco Rubio just took CBS’ Margaret Brennan to the woodshed on live TV over the Maduro raid.
“I don’t know why that’s confusing to you.”
Brennan spiraled over the fact that the operation did not seize EVERY narco terrorist in Venezuela, but Rubio hit her with… <a href="https://t.co/6AtPJowG8A">pic.twitter.com/6AtPJowG8A</a>
— Overton (@overton_news) <a href="https://twitter.com/overton_news/status/2007844450509132161?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 4, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Referencing Maduro&#8217;s arrest on Saturday, Brennan noted that President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration had left a number of others — who had also been designated as narco-terrorists — holding power of some sort in the Venezuelan regime.
&#8220;The defense minister, who has deep ties to Russia, $15 million price on his head. He is still in place,&#8221; Brennan said. &#8220;I’m confused. Are they still wanted by the United States? Why didn’t you arrest them if you are taking out the narco terrorist regime?”
&#8220;You’re confused? I don’t know why that’s confusing to you. I mean, it’s very simple,&#8221; Rubio pushed back, but Brennan interrupted.
&#8220;They’re still in power!” she protested.
“You’re not going to go in and &#8230; you&#8217;re going to go in and suck up five people?” Rubio&#8217;s tone was incredulous. “They are already complaining about the one operation! Imagine the howls we would have from everybody else if we actually had to go and stay there four days to capture four other people.”
“We got the top priority,&#8221; Rubio continued. &#8220;The number one person on the list was the guy who claimed to be the president of the country that he was not, and he was arrested along with his wife who is also indicted.”
“That was a pretty sophisticated and frankly, complicated operation,&#8221; Rubio said, and Brennan voiced her agreement as he explained, &#8220;It is not easy to land helicopters in the middle of the largest military base in the country. The guy lived on a military base. Land within three minutes, kick down his door, grab him, put him in handcuffs, read him his rights, put him in a helicopter and leave the country without losing any American or any American assets.”
“That’s not an easy mission and you’re asking me why didn’t we do that in five other places at the same time?&#8221; Rubio asked. “I mean, that’s absurd!”

CBS News

Rubio Runs Circles Around CBS Anchor On Venezuela: ‘I Don’t Know Why That’s Confusing’

Rubio Runs Circles Around CBS Anchor On Venezuela: 'I Don't Know Why That's Confusing'

Global Politics

Marco Rubio

Margaret Brennan

narco-terrorism

Nicolas Maduro

Venezuela

Vice President JD Vance argued on Sunday that Senate Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), were more interested in holding the federal government &#8220;hostage&#8221; than in negotiating an end to the ongoing government shutdown.
Vance, speaking with CBS News anchor Margaret Brennan, said that Democrats did not want to talk about health care — what they wanted was to use the shutdown to make demands until the White House and Republicans in Congress simply capitulated and gave them everything.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
When pressed on why President Trump hasn’t met with congressional leaders at the White House to negotiate a deal to reopen the government, Vice President JD Vance tells <a href="https://twitter.com/margbrennan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@margbrennan</a>: “This isn&#8217;t a deal-making. This isn&#8217;t a negotiation. This is hostage-taking.”
“If Chuck Schumer… <a href="https://t.co/Io73ycakfW">pic.twitter.com/Io73ycakfW</a>
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) <a href="https://twitter.com/FaceTheNation/status/1977385857335140403?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 12, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;When I pressed Leader Schumer on this program just last Sunday about this, about reopening the government, and he said it&#8217;s going to take getting everyone in the same room with the President of the United States — only the five people including the president can solve it,&#8221; Brennan recalled, asking Vance why President Donald Trump has not demanded that congressional leaders return to Washington in order to get that done.
&#8220;Well, as Chuck Schumer said, it&#8217;s not all lawmakers, it&#8217;s the Senate leadership that really is driving this shutdown,&#8221; Vance replied, noting that the Republican-led House had already passed a Continuing Resolution that would reopen the government, at least temporarily.
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&#8220;But the president says he&#8217;s a deal-maker,&#8221; Brennan interrupted. &#8220;Why doesn&#8217;t he force a deal here?&#8221;
&#8220;Margaret, it&#8217;s a totally fair question, and the answer is because this isn&#8217;t a deal-making. This isn&#8217;t a negotiation. This is hostage-taking,&#8221; Vance declared. &#8220;Chuck Schumer has not said to us, &#8216;This is what we need,&#8217; he&#8217;s said, &#8216;Unless you give us what we need, we&#8217;re going to shut down the government. That is a totally different thing.&#8221;
&#8220;If Chuck Schumer wants to come into the Oval Office or come to my house, he is welcome to talk about how to fix health care policy for Americans,&#8221; the vice president added. &#8220;But you don&#8217;t come into the Oval Office and say, unless you, the president of the United States, give us everything that I want, I&#8217;m going to shut down the government.&#8221;
Vance echoed the sentiments expressed late last week by CNBC anchor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cnbcs-joe-kernen-blisters-hakeem-jeffries-over-democrat-fueled-shutdown">Joe Kernen</a>, who challenged House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries directly about the demands Democrats were making.
&#8220;There was an election, and the Republicans were put in a position where they were able to pass the Big Beautiful Bill, or as you call it the ‘Big Ugly Bill.’ To then say, ‘We don’t like any of that, so we’re going to shut down the government until you take back all the things that you duly passed through legislation …&#8217;” Kernen began, arguing that if the shoe were on the other foot, Democrats would be angry — and rightfully so.
“If Republicans had tried to do that to the Inflation Reduction Act or the — any of the acts that Biden and that administration have passed — if they said we’re going to shut down the government because we don’t like any of those things you did, ‘we’re not going to pay our military, we are going to not allow the government to reopen until you do what we want’ – after an election where the American people put Democrats in power – you’d be going crazy!” he said.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY)

Vance Torches Margaret Brennan Over Schumer Shutdown Narrative: ‘This Is Not A Negotiation’

Chuck Schumer

Government Shutdown

JD Vance

Media

Politics

Secretary of State and National Security Adviser Marco Rubio delivered a stern retort on Sunday to CBS News journalist Margaret Brennan after she pressed him on whether the United States lacked intelligence on Iran&#8217;s supreme leader ordering weaponization of its nuclear program.
&#8220;That&#8217;s irrelevant,&#8221; Rubio declared in a &#8220;Face the Nation&#8221; interview conducted after President Donald Trump ordered strikes on three of Tehran&#8217;s nuclear facilities this weekend to prevent the Iranian regime from obtaining nuclear weapons.
&#8220;It doesn&#8217;t matter that the order was given. They have everything they need to build nuclear weapons. Why would you bury things in a mountain, 300 feet under the ground? Why do they have 60% enriched uranium? You don&#8217;t need 60% enriched uranium. The only countries in the world that have uranium at 60% are countries that have nuclear weapons because they can quickly make it 90,&#8221; Rubio said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
MUST WATCH: <a href="https://twitter.com/SecRubio?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SecRubio</a> schools Margaret Brennan on the Iranian regime&#8217;s nuclear program.
&#8220;Why do they have 60% enriched uranium? &#8230; The only countries in the world that have uranium at 60% are countries that have nuclear weapons because they can quickly make it 90%!&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/XO8ol5jBIn">pic.twitter.com/XO8ol5jBIn</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1936797923267809774?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 22, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
He continued: They have all the elements — why do they have a space program? Is Iran going to go to the moon? No. They&#8217;re trying to build an ICBM [intercontinental ballistic missile] so they could one day put a warhead on it.&#8221;
Brennan said that is a question of intent and claimed that an intelligence assessment found that Iran wanted to be a &#8220;threshold state&#8221; and use its leverage.
&#8220;How do you know what the intelligence assessment says?&#8221; Rubio asked.
After Brennan insisted that information came from an intelligence assessment in March, Rubio shot back.
&#8220;That&#8217;s an inaccurate representation of it. That&#8217;s not how our intelligence is read. That&#8217;s not how intelligence is used. Here&#8217;s what the whole world knows — forget about intelligence — what the IAEA knows,&#8221; Rubio said, referring to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
&#8220;They are enriching uranium well beyond anything you need for a civil nuclear program,&#8221; Rubio said. &#8220;So why would you enrich uranium at 60% if you don&#8217;t intend to one day use it to take it to 90 and build a weapon? Why are you developing ICBMs? Why do you have 8,000 short-range missiles and 2-3 thousand mid-range missiles that you continue to develop? Why do you do all these things?&#8221;
Brennan said she &#8220;understood,&#8221; but Rubio was not done.
&#8220;They have everything they need for a nuclear weapon,&#8221; Rubio said. &#8220;They have the delivery mechanisms, they have the enrichment capability, they have the highly-enriched uranium that is stored — that&#8217;s all we need to see, especially in the hands of the regime that&#8217;s already involved in terrorism and proxies and all kinds of things. They are the source of all instability in the Middle East.&#8221;
Brennan said &#8220;no one is disputing&#8221; what Rubio was explaining. She noted that Iran was censured by the IAEA for its uranium enrichment and violating their nonproliferation agreements. She then stressed that she was &#8220;simply asking&#8221; if the United States had intelligence that there was an order to weaponize.
&#8220;We have intelligence that they have everything they need to build a nuclear weapon and that&#8217;s more than enough,&#8221; Rubio said.

Secretary Of State Marco Rubio

‘That’s Irrelevant’: Rubio Shuts Down Margaret Brennan On Iran Nuclear Ambitions Intel

Iran

Nuclear Weapons

U.S.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent challenged CBS journalist Margaret Brennan on Sunday over the potential inflationary impact of President Donald Trump&#8217;s tariffs.
In a &#8220;Face the Nation&#8221; <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/scott-bessent-treasury-secretary-face-the-nation-06-01-2025/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview</a>, Brennan insisted &#8220;the reality is there will either be less inventory or things at higher prices, or both.&#8221; Bessent shot back, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/scott-bessent-treasury-secretary-face-the-nation-03-02-2025/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">alluding</a> to a previous conversation they had in March, days before Trump unleashed his &#8220;Liberation Day&#8221; tariffs upon the world.
&#8220;Margaret, when we were here in March, you said there was going to be big inflation. There hasn&#8217;t been any inflation,&#8221; Bessent said. &#8220;Actually, the inflation numbers are the best in four years. So why don&#8217;t we stop trying to say this could happen, and wait and see what does happen.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/SecScottBessent?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SecScottBessent</a>: &#8220;When we were here in March, you said there was going to be big inflation. There hasn&#8217;t been any inflation. Actually, the inflation numbers are the best in four years. So why don&#8217;t we stop trying to say this COULD happen — wait and see what DOES happen.&#8221; 🔥 <a href="https://t.co/1LeTZf2UX1">pic.twitter.com/1LeTZf2UX1</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1929188418249965629?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 1, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Earlier, Brennan told Bessent that when he was on the program in March, the two of them were &#8220;trying to gauge&#8221; how American consumers might be affected by the tariffs. She then asked the Cabinet official where he is anticipating price increases.
&#8220;We wanted to make sure that there aren&#8217;t price increases, Margaret. And thus far, there have been no price increases. Everything has been alarmist,&#8221; Bessent said, adding that the &#8220;inflation numbers are actually dropping.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/SecScottBessent?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SecScottBessent</a>: &#8220;We wanted to make sure that there aren&#8217;t price increases, Margaret — and thus far, there have been no price increases. Everything has been alarmist. The inflation numbers are actually dropping. We saw the first drop in inflation in four years.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/asuc8YnHYZ">pic.twitter.com/asuc8YnHYZ</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1929187165830869432?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 1, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
A couple of weeks ago, the Labor Department <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/inflation-hits-lowest-point-in-over-4-years-as-april-report-better-than-expected" target="_blank" rel="noopener">released</a> data showing that inflation hit its lowest point — 2.3% — in four years, as Trump pursues trade deals with China and other countries hit by tariffs.
Brennan pressed Bessent on retailers such as Walmart, Best Buy, and Target <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/31/trump-tariffs-here-are-the-retailers-raising-prices.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">raising prices</a>. In response, Bessent noted that other companies, including <a href="https://www.axios.com/2025/05/20/home-depot-stock-prices-tariffs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Home Depot</a> and Amazon, have taken a different tack. And he pointed out, &#8220;I know what the South China Morning Post wrote within the past 24 hours that 65% — 65%! — of the tariffs will likely be eaten by the Chinese producers.&#8221;
&#8220;So are there five or eight areas that you have identified, as you said back in March, where American consumers will be able to have lower prices, or should be warned of higher prices?&#8221; Brennan asked.
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&#8220;Well, a lot of it&#8217;s already working its way through the system,&#8221; Bressent replied. &#8220;So we&#8217;ve seen a substantial decrease in gasoline and energy prices. So that&#8217;s down 20% year over year. We&#8217;ve seen the food prices go down, these notorious egg prices. Through the good work of President Trump and [Agriculture] Secretary [Brooke] Rollins, egg prices have collapsed. So we&#8217;re seeing more and more.&#8221;
He added: &#8220;And what we want to do is even that out across all sections of the economy. So inflation has been very tame. Consumer earnings were up 0.8% last month, which is a gigantic increase for one month. So real earnings minus low inflation is great for the American people, and that&#8217;s what we&#8217;re seeing.&#8221;
Brennen also questioned Bessent about the &#8220;One Big, Beautiful Bill&#8221; that passed through the GOP-led House and is now under consideration by the Republican-controlled Senate.
&#8220;In it is increase or suspension to the debt limit that you need delivered on by mid-July. How close of a brush with default could this be, given how massive some of the Senate changes are expected to be to the other parts of the bill?&#8221; Brennan asked.
&#8220;Well, first of all, Margaret, I will say the United States of America is never going to default. That is never going to happen. &#8230; We are on the warning track and we will never hit the wall,&#8221; Bessent said, adding later, &#8220;We don&#8217;t give out the X date because we use that to move the bill forward.&#8221;
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Scott Bessent &quot;confident&quot; U.S.-China trade details &quot;will be ironed out&quot; when Trump, Xi talk" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jTK0fDt9K78?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent Interview

Treasury Secretary Busts ‘Alarmist’ Inflation Predictions

Economy

Inflation

Scott Bessent

Tariffs

Treasury Department

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Sunday shut down attempts by a journalist to demonize President Donald Trump&#8217;s immigration policies, noting that he was complying with federal law.
Noem made the remarks on CBS News&#8217; &#8220;Face The Nation&#8221; with Margaret Brennan when asked about separating illegal alien families — which is done to ensure that children are not being trafficked.
&#8220;The administration has revived this policy of detaining migrant families, parents with children, in ICE detention centers,&#8221; Brennan said. &#8220;Bush did it. Obama did it. Biden did not.&#8221;
&#8220;Have you seen these Texas facilities where children are being held with their parents?&#8221; she asked. &#8220;Are you comfortable with it personally?&#8221;
After a brief exchange, Noem noted: &#8220;I don&#8217;t know that we&#8217;re actually reviving it.&#8221;
&#8220;It&#8217;s that President Biden didn&#8217;t follow the law,&#8221; she said. &#8220;He didn&#8217;t follow the law, in the fact that it&#8217;s always been equally applied until his administration, and then he made decisions to ignore federal law in how he handled immigration and enforcement within our borders.&#8221;
&#8220;Today we&#8217;re expanding our team at ICE, and we&#8217;re going to have an acting director in Todd Lyons, who has a long history with (border czar) Tom Homan,&#8221; she continued. &#8220;They have worked together to build on these enforcement operations. We&#8217;re also naming a deputy secretary in Madison Sheahan. That was going to be another expansion of this team.&#8221;
&#8220;They have done incredible work cleaning up our communities and making them safer,&#8221; she concluded. &#8220;Adding more people to the team, with Todd and with Madison, is going to allow us to partner with local law enforcement officials to make sure that we truly are following through on enforcing the law. And, if you break our law, then there&#8217;s going to be consequences.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/Sec_Noem?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Sec_Noem</a> shuts down the Fake News&#8217; attempt to pin &#8216;family separation&#8217; on President Trump: &#8220;I don&#8217;t know that we&#8217;re actually reviving it, it&#8217;s that President Biden didn&#8217;t follow the law. He didn&#8217;t follow the law in the fact that it&#8217;s always been equally applied until his… <a href="https://t.co/vWlaopl7ZJ">pic.twitter.com/vWlaopl7ZJ</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1898767374880481533?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 9, 2025</a></blockquote>

Kristi Noem

Kristi Noem Shuts Down Attempt To Demonize Trump Immigration Policy

Donald Trump

Immigration

CBS News host Margaret Brennan seemingly advocated for Democratic governors to push back on President Donald Trump over the weekend while interviewing New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D).
The moment on &#8220;Face the Nation&#8221; happened when Brennan asked Hochul about a contentious interaction that Trump had with Maine Governor Janet Mills (D).
Trump and Mills had the following interaction at the White House last week:
<blockquote>DONALD TRUMP: Is Maine here, the Governor of Maine?
GOVERNOR JANET MILLS: Yes, I&#8217;m here.
TRUMP: Are you not going to comply with it?
MILLS: I will comply with state and federal laws.
TRUMP: Well, I&#8217;m – we are the federal law. Well, you better do it. You better do it, because you&#8217;re not going to get any federal funding at all if you don&#8217;t.</blockquote>
&#8220;That was about transgender athletes on girls sports teams,&#8221; Brennan said about the exchange.
&#8220;Are you Democratic governors going to start to work together on this?&#8221; Brennan pressed. &#8220;Is there legal pushback?&#8221;
Hochul responded by claiming that Trump was &#8220;flooding the zone.&#8221;
&#8220;They&#8217;re attacking California when it comes to FEMA dollars,&#8221; she said. &#8220;They&#8217;re filing lawsuits in Illinois. They&#8217;re going after Maine on this, and they&#8217;re coming after programs that have been duly put in place in the state of New York.&#8221;
&#8220;What they&#8217;re trying to do is create this theater of all kinds of activity that is trying to be a distraction to us,&#8221; she continued. &#8220;And when someone floods the zone in a football game, what you need to have is the defenders be very disciplined, smart, but also stand their ground. And that&#8217;s exactly what New York governors, the governor of New York will do, in cooperation with our governors.&#8221;
She claimed that Democrat governors would not &#8220;sit idly by and let our rights be attacked.&#8221;
&#8220;We&#8217;ll work with you when there&#8217;s common ground, no doubt about it,&#8221; she continued. &#8220;Let&#8217;s build great projects and infrastructure. There&#8217;s areas where we&#8217;re going to work with you on immigration and getting the violent criminals off our streets. We do not dispute that. But don&#8217;t think that you can just come in and bully us around and not expect a reaction from governors.&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul says she will cooperate with other Democratic governors to push back on the Trump administration&#8217;s efforts to target some of their policies.
&#8220;We&#8217;re not going to sit by and let our rights be attacked,&#8221; she says.
&#8220;Don&#8217;t think that you can just come in… <a href="https://t.co/xP1o5Jkbx6">pic.twitter.com/xP1o5Jkbx6</a>
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) <a href="https://twitter.com/FaceTheNation/status/1893694742770127032?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 23, 2025</a></blockquote>

CBS Host Margaret Brennan Seemingly Urges Democrat Governors To Fight Trump In Courts

Kathy Hochul

Margaret Brennan, the host of “Face the Nation,” must have skipped basic World War II history wherever she went to school. It’s hard to fathom any other explanation for the indefensible <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/cbs-host-blasted-bonkers-claim-110009274.html?guccounter=1&amp;guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&amp;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAADK89IUcImGk1CrzoyQDLZccqWrRkEJnE-20e6ra9rUwvHv7TEmGpUUphNaxHdos_ma3LvO08Gduee51bRmZKYJYQ7_PZ0PuTmHtNcxxWvGu7RxIoSUVdaVfiDCadd_qpzOyTz7iDto-xOE9Sjx2I5Qv6rFXbe9v486BIckLtmF5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claim</a> she made about freedom of speech while she was debating—sorry, “interviewing”—Secretary of State Marco Rubio about Vice President Vance’s deserved chastisement of European governments for their censorship regimes.
Brennan’s claim that free speech in Europe is dangerous because in Nazi Germany it “was weaponized to conduct a genocide” is so historically wrong as to be laughable.
Brennan believes that free speech existed in Nazi Germany? Really? I know that’s untrue not only from history, but from the experiences of my own mother and grandmother, who filled my youth with stories of the government oppression they saw and experienced in the 1930s in Nazi Germany.
Secretary Rubio quickly hit back, correctly observing that “free speech wasn’t used to conduct genocide. The genocide was conducted by an authoritarian Nazi regime.”
Brennan obviously does not seem to understand the difference between censorship and propaganda. Free speech swiftly disappeared in Germany after the Nazi Party took control of the country, and propaganda—not free speech—began spewing out of the government as well as the newspapers, radio stations, and “journalists” that the Nazi Party controlled under its new “Reich Ministry of Enlightenment and Propaganda.”
Perhaps CBS should give Brennan an all-expense-paid trip to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. As their <a href="https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/nazi-propaganda-and-censorship" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Holocaust Encyclopedia</a> explains:
“When the Nazis came to power in 1933, the German constitution guaranteed freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Through decrees and laws, the Nazis abolished these civil rights…. Starting in 1934, it was illegal to criticize the Nazi government.”
The Nazis closed down or took over anti-Nazi newspapers. In another move to control communications, the Nazis passed the Schriftleitergesetz (also known as the Editorial Control Act) in 1933, a law that required all journalists to be licensed by the government to practice their profession. As the <a href="https://arolsen-archives.org/en/news/nazi-germanys-schriftleitergesetz-the-end-of-freedom-of-the-press/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Arolsen Archives</a> at the International Center on Nazi Persecution explains, anyone expressing anti-Nazi views would not be licensed and those who received licenses were “directly subordinate to the Ministry of Propaganda and accountable to the Ministry—instead of their publishers.”
The censorship regime didn’t just apply to the media of the time, newspapers and radio stations. It applied to ordinary Germans, too. Germans like my grandparents quickly learned that any criticism of the regime, any disagreement with the propaganda being taught to students in the public schools—even just a joke about Hitler—could lead to swift arrest and punishment.
Brennan apparently is unaware that the first German concentration camps were not set up when World War II started; they were opened almost as soon as Hitler and his party took over in the 1930s. Dachau, the <a href="https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/concentration-camps-1933-39" target="_blank" rel="noopener">first</a> such camp for political prisoners and anyone else who criticized or opposed the government, Hitler, or the Nazi Party, opened on March 22, 1933.
Dachau and the other camps <a href="https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/concentration-camps-1933-39" target="_blank" rel="noopener">were used</a> to “imprison and intimidate the leaders of political, social, and cultural movements that the Nazis perceived to be a threat to the survival of the regime.”
Freedom of speech used to “weaponize genocide”? Wrong! Freedom of speech disappeared into Dachau and the <a href="https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/concentration-camps-1933-39" target="_blank" rel="noopener">numerous</a> other camps set up throughout Germany.
In fact, these camps, whose purpose was to suppress free speech and all opposition to the Nazi’s hideous regime, “became the model for the Nazi concentration camp system” during the war that was used to murder millions of Jews and others whom the Nazis considered “subhumans,” and to imprison Nazi opponents like Lutheran Minister Martin Niemöller.
Niemöller famously <a href="https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/martin-niemoeller-biography#:~:text=Then%20they%20came%20for%20me,imprisoned%20for%20opposing%20Hitler's%20regime." target="_blank" rel="noopener">criticized</a> himself and others for not speaking out sooner about the suppression of the Nazi regime, including its censorship, saying, “Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”
What JD Vance did at the Munich Security Conference was to speak up for those Europeans whose freedom of speech is being violated today and for the vital importance of preserving that right. He was dead-on in criticizing countries like Germany and the United Kingdom, using specific <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/02/18/vance-speech-munich-full-text-read-transcript-europe/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">examples</a> such as the German government going after individuals who post “anti-feminist” commentary online or the British government convicting an Army veteran of the “heinous crime” of silently praying close to an abortion clinic, if you can call 50 meters close.
Or the Swedish judge who commented on the recent criminal conviction of a Christian activist, saying that the country’s laws protecting free speech don’t extend to speech that risks “offending the group that holds that belief.” That is a perilous view that short circuits the ability of anyone to say anything critical about any belief because it might “offend” someone who holds that belief.
Vance admitted, “in the interest of truth,” that this was happening in our country, too. The Biden administration “threatened and bullied social media companies to censor so-called misinformation,” opinions that our own government disagreed with or didn’t like. But then Margaret Brennan probably sees nothing wrong with that either, since she believes freedom of speech can be weaponized if it allows unwoke, politically unacceptable opinions to be expressed.
Probably the most disappointing aspect of this whole affair—other than Margaret Brennan’s profound ignorance and apparent disdain for the First Amendment—is the hostile reception of European leaders to Vance justifiably calling them out.
The most important part of his presentation was the offer he made to cooperate with them in order to stop this type of misbehavior. “Just as the Biden administration seemed desperate to silence people for speaking their minds,” he said, “so the Trump administration will do precisely the opposite, and I hope we can work together on that.”
“We may disagree with your view, but we will fight to defend your right to offer it in the public square, agree or disagree,” said Vance.
For the citizens of Europe, including the members of my extended family who are still there, I can only hope that these EU governments finally start taking the same attitude as JD Vance towards their own citizens and stop raiding, arresting, investigating, and punishing them for expressing views that those governments disagree with or don’t like.
* * *
Hans von Spakovsky is a Senior Legal Fellow in the Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Fact-Check For Margaret Brennan: Free Speech Did Not Exist In Nazi Germany

Germany

Nazi Germany

Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) said over the weekend that changing the power dynamic in Ukraine is critical to forcing Russian President Vladimir Putin to the table and bringing the war to an end.
Crenshaw made the remarks during a Sunday interview on CBS News&#8217; &#8220;Face the Nation&#8221; with host Margaret Brennan when asked about what continued role the United States would have in backing Ukraine.
He said that the Trump administration wants lasting peace in Ukraine, which means that security assurances must be put in place to prevent future wars from erupting.
&#8220;I think the Europeans have to play a huge role in that,&#8221; he said. &#8220;One of the things that gets talked about a lot is European forces actually acting as a peacekeeping force.&#8221;
&#8220;The Ukrainians clearly have a seat at the table and then the United States will be the intermediary as we try to establish a peace deal,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;But the Europeans need to demand a seat at the table by being uncomfortably aggressive, which is something they haven&#8217;t done. You should be threatening things to Putin that actually make you uncomfortable because that&#8217;s the only language Putin speaks is power.&#8221;
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He said that America&#8217;s message to Europe was that if they wanted to win, they needed to bolster their defense spending and not rely so heavily on the United States.
&#8220;You need to be talking about where you&#8217;re going to be putting actual troops on the ground,&#8221; he added. &#8220;Stop following our lead and actually take the lead. Let us be actually holding you back. That would be an ideal situation and vastly change the power dynamic when dealing with Putin.&#8221;
WATCH:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Extended interview: Crenshaw says Europe should be &quot;uncomfortably aggressive&quot; to counter Russia" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/N0VgEZ7UD9U?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Dan Crenshaw

Dan Crenshaw: Europe Needs To Be ‘Uncomfortably Aggressive’ Toward Russia To End War

Congress

Face The Nation

Russia

Ukraine

Ukraine-Russia War

Vladimir Putin

CBS News host Margaret Brennan faced intense backlash on Sunday after she claimed during an interview with Secretary of State Marco Rubio that &#8220;free speech was weaponized&#8221; to cause the Holocaust.
Brennan made the comment during an interview on &#8220;Face the Nation&#8221; while talking about Vice President JD Vance&#8217;s speech to European leaders last week in which he called them out for abandoning values like free speech.
“He was standing in a country where free speech was weaponized to conduct a genocide,” Brennan said while talking about Vance&#8217;s speech in Munich, Germany.
Brennan was met with instant pushback online over her claim, including from top elected leaders.
Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) posted on X: &#8220;Free speech caused the Holocaust is an insanely stupid take.&#8221;
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&#8220;I&#8217;m glad Margaret Brennan blamed free speech for the rise of the Nazis,&#8221; said columnist John Podhoretz. &#8220;It&#8217;s always a virtue when a person in a position of authority and influence who was elevated beyond her station reveals her ineptitude and folly&#8211;so that the world can see her clearly henceforth.&#8221;
&#8220;This bonkers,&#8221; said Red State writer Bonchie. &#8220;Like pull her off the air bonkers.&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
This is the first time I’ve heard the theory that the Holocaust wasn’t conducted with gas chambers but with free speech zones. <a href="https://t.co/mpWm6UH2F4">pic.twitter.com/mpWm6UH2F4</a>
— Michael Brendan Dougherty (@michaelbd) <a href="https://twitter.com/michaelbd/status/1891206009508536367?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 16, 2025</a></blockquote>
Radio host Erick Erickson posted on X: &#8220;Can we just talk about how a prominent American news anchor actually believes Nazi Germany had free speech and that supposed free speech is to blame for the Holocaust? That&#8217;s both deeply arrogant and deeply ignorant.&#8221;
Columnist Karol Markowicz posted on X: &#8220;It’s wild that this is how far the left has fallen. Free speech caused the Holocaust, you guys.&#8221;
&#8220;This is absolute lunacy from Margaret Brennan,&#8221; wrote journalist Andrew Kerr.
&#8220;I legitimately don&#8217;t know how ignorant you have to be to claim the holocaust happened as a result of free speech,&#8221; said Meghan McCain. &#8220;This woman doesn&#8217;t deserve to host this show and Republicans should stop rewarding this s*** by going on it.&#8221;

Margaret Brennan Slammed Over Claim That ‘Free Speech Was Weaponized’ To Cause The Holocaust

Free Speech

Holocaust

A guest on CBS News&#8217; &#8220;60 Minutes&#8221; attempted to claim on Sunday&#8217;s broadcast that despite reports of pre-dawn raids and the confiscation of electronics, German citizens really do enjoy free speech — until they say something that law enforcement interprets as &#8220;hate speech.&#8221;
Dr. Matthäus Fink sat down with host Sharyn Alfonsi to discuss the topic, and he explained how the recent raids had played out.
&#8220;What&#8217;s the typical reaction when the police show up at somebody&#8217;s door and they say, &#8216;Hey, we believe you wrote this on the internet&#8217;?&#8221; Alfonsi asked.
Fink said that the initial reaction was typically disbelief — mainly because they believed they were entitled to freedom of speech: &#8220;They say — in Germany we say, &#8216;Das wird man ja wohl noch sagen dürfen.&#8217; So we are here with crimes of talking, posting on internet, and the people are surprised that this is really illegal to post these kind of words.&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
In Germany, posting hate speech online is illegal. The law is enforced with pre-dawn police raids. <a href="https://t.co/DNAJyNxILt">https://t.co/DNAJyNxILt</a> <a href="https://t.co/OHvWTVaRjQ">pic.twitter.com/OHvWTVaRjQ</a>
&mdash; 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) <a href="https://twitter.com/60Minutes/status/1891282394440732787?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 17, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;They don&#8217;t think it was illegal. And they say, &#8216;No, that&#8217;s my free speech.&#8217; And we say, &#8216;No, you have free speech as well, but it is also has its limits,'&#8221; Fink continued.
Fink also revealed during the interview that in addition to posting swastika images or any other Nazi symbols — and even denying the Holocaust – it was also illegal to insult another person in public.
&#8220;And it&#8217;s a crime to insult them online as well?&#8221; Alfonsi asked.
&#8220;The fine could be even higher if you insult someone in the internet,&#8221; Fink replied, explaining, &#8220;Because in internet, it stays there. If we are talking face to face, you insult me, I insult you, okay. Finish. But if you&#8217;re in the internet, if I insult you or a politician &#8230;&#8221;
The interview comes just days after Vice President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-people-have-a-voice-vance-warns-europe-about-censorship-the-threat-from-within" target="_blank" rel="noopener">JD Vance</a> spoke in Munich about the dangers posed by European nations like Germany when they policed the free speech of and even outright censored their people.
&#8220;Democracy rests on the sacred principle that the voice of the people matters. There’s no room for firewalls,&#8221; Vance said. &#8220;You either uphold the principal or you don’t.&#8221;
It also comes just a few hours after &#8220;Face the Nation&#8221; host claimed — during an interview with Secretary of State Marco Rubio — that the Holocaust had been caused by the fact that &#8220;free speech was weaponized.&#8221;
Rubio quickly shut Brennan down, explaining that censorship had been one of the hallmarks of the Nazi regime.

GERMANY-AUSTRIA-POLITICS-MIGRATION-BORDER-POLICE

Guest On ’60 Minutes’ Claims German Citizens Have Free Speech — ‘But There Are Limits’

Guest On '60 Minutes' Claims German Citizens Have Free Speech — 'But There Are Limits'

CBS News host Margaret Brennan claimed during an interview over the weekend that the Holocaust was caused because free speech was &#8220;weaponized.&#8221;
The left-wing host made the highly controversial remarks during an interview with Secretary of State Marco Rubio while talking about Vice President JD Vance&#8217;s speech in Europe last week where he criticized the continent&#8217;s leaders for abandoning certain values, like free speech.
&#8220;What did all of this accomplish, other than irritating our allies?&#8221; Brennan asked.
&#8220;Why would our allies or anybody be irritated by free speech and by someone giving their opinion?&#8221; Rubio responded. &#8220;We are, after all, democracies. The Munich – Munich Security Conference is largely a conference of democracies, in which one of the things that we cherish and value is the ability to speak freely and provide your opinions.&#8221;
Rubio said that a lot of things that Vance said &#8220;needed to be said&#8221; and that it was perplexing that anyone &#8220;would be upset about it.&#8221;
&#8220;People are allowed – you know, you don&#8217;t have to agree on someone&#8217;s speech,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I happen to agree with a lot of what he said, but you don&#8217;t have to agree with someone&#8217;s speech to at least appreciate the fact they have a right to say it and that you should listen to it and see whether those criticisms are valid.&#8221;
Brennan responded: &#8220;Well, he was standing in a country where free speech was weaponized to conduct a genocide.&#8221;
&#8220;And he met with the head of a political party that has far-right views and some historic ties to extreme groups,&#8221; she claimed. &#8220;The context of that was changing the tone of it. And you know that, that the censorship was specifically about the right.&#8221;
Rubio fired back: &#8220;Well, I have to disagree with you. I have to disagree with you.&#8221;
&#8220;Free speech was not used to conduct a genocide,&#8221; he noted. &#8220;The genocide was conducted by an authoritarian Nazi regime that happened to also be genocidal because they hated Jews and they hated minorities and they hated those that they – they had a list of people they hated, but primarily the Jews.&#8221;
&#8220;There was no free speech in Nazi Germany. There was none,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;There was also no opposition in Nazi Germany. They were a sole and only party that governed that country. So that&#8217;s not an accurate reflection of history.&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
This is the first time I’ve heard the theory that the Holocaust wasn’t conducted with gas chambers but with free speech zones. <a href="https://t.co/mpWm6UH2F4">pic.twitter.com/mpWm6UH2F4</a>
— Michael Brendan Dougherty (@michaelbd) <a href="https://twitter.com/michaelbd/status/1891206009508536367?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 16, 2025</a></blockquote>

Margaret Brennan Claims ‘Free Speech Was Weaponized’ To Cause The Holocaust

Left-wing host <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/margaret-brennan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Margaret Brennan</a> was forced to pivot during an interview on Sunday after a guest she demanded evidence from provided evidence that shut down her line of questioning.
The moment happened when Brennan interviewed Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, during a Sunday interview on CBS News&#8217; &#8220;60 Minutes.&#8221;
Mast said that he supported the &#8220;purging of people throughout the State Department&#8221; and &#8220;other agencies where we&#8217;re freezing aid,&#8221; which he said were &#8220;very important and necessary steps to make sure that we secure America.&#8221;
&#8220;You want to authorize purging of State Department personnel?&#8221; Brennan asked. &#8220;What does that mean exactly?&#8221;
&#8220;Well, if you want to take a look at the State Department, where DEI has been a priority over, let&#8217;s say, diplomacy, in many accounts, I can give you hundreds of examples of where they were authorizing&#8211;&#8221; Mast began to say before Brennan cut him off.
&#8220;What proof do you have of that?&#8221; she asked.
&#8220;Sure. Let&#8217;s list them off. Half a million dollars to expand atheism in Nepal, $50,000 to do, let&#8217;s see, a transgender opera in Colombia,&#8221; he said. &#8220;$47,000 to do an LGBTQ trans comic book in Peru. $20,000 a pop to do drag shows in Ecuador. Shall I continue with more examples of where DEI was the priority?&#8221;
Brennan responded by saying that the government could just have &#8220;a review of things&#8221; and that foreign aid only comprised &#8220;less than 1% of the entire federal budget.&#8221;
&#8220;So we&#8217;re talking small amounts of money by comparison,&#8221; she claimed.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
Margaret Brennan, who recently got humiliated in her interview with VP Vance, gets humiliated again when she asks for examples of DEI waste in foreign aid the US gives.
Rep. Mast came with the receipts and owned Brennan.<a href="https://t.co/7LBWGbKmdT">pic.twitter.com/7LBWGbKmdT</a>
— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) <a href="https://twitter.com/Bubblebathgirl/status/1886140418359693320?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 2, 2025</a></blockquote>

Margaret Brennan Pivots During Interview After Brian Mast Shows Evidence Of Wasteful Spending

Brian Mast

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

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