The following is the transcript of an interview with Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona that aired on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Aug. 10, 2025.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We go now to Arizona Democratic Senator Mark Kelly, who joins us this morning, from Tucson. Senator, President Trump could lift some, but not all, sanctions on Russia, unless Congress agrees to do it. Is there any appetite to lift them?
SEN. MARK KELLY: I don’t have an appetite to lift them. Putin continues to execute an illegal war where he is intentionally killing women, children, old people. I visited Ukraine several months ago, went to a veterans hospital where nurses there just witnessed horrible atrocities. So, I think, if anything, Margaret, we need to continue to put the pressure on Putin, on Russia. Make them pay for this illegal war, attacking our NATO ally. And I’ve got to say, I know you talked to Mark Rutte earlier, and the ambassador about the visit on Friday in Alaska. And, Margaret, I hope we got something out of this. Putin is a war criminal. This is not a show of strength to allow him to fly into the United States, to land here, to negotiate with our president. I don’t know for certain- I don’t know what was the ground rules that were set for this negotiation, but I would expect that this administration should have extracted something for this visit.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And we’re trying to seek those details ourselves. Multiple intelligence officials have told my CBS colleague Jim LaPorta that there was a US directive in recent weeks that all Russia-Ukraine peace negotiation information should not be shared with our partners who are part of the Five Eyes. Countries like Australia and the UK that share information with us. You sit on the Intelligence Committee. Were you aware of that directive, and what does it indicate?
SEN. KELLY: I was not aware of it. We have a special relationship with those Five Eyes partners, and I think that relationship makes all of us collectively safer. So, if it was up to me, we would continue to share that information with those allies. Restricting information about Russia-Ukraine, about the situation in Iran, about what’s going on in Gaza or the Western Pacific with, you know, China just makes us all less safe. So, I was not aware of it, but it does not seem like an appropriate thing to do.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Senator, I have more to talk to you about in regard to immigration and other domestic matters. We’re gonna have to take a break and come back to do that. Stay with us.
[COMMERCIAL BREAK]
MARGARET BRENNAN: Welcome back to Face the Nation. We return to our conversation now with Arizona Senator Mark Kelly. Senator, I know you were at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility last week, and you posted about it, including a meeting you had with a detained woman who I understand has a son who is United States Marine, and she had been in the US for two decades, was babysitting her grandson on her son’s base when she was detained. Are you asking or somehow managing to get her to be an exception to the rule to allow her to stay in the United States?
SEN. KELLY: Margaret, I spent about three hours or so over at the Eloy Detention Center and met with two- two women. One was Maria, the one you just mentioned, whose son was a US Marine, whose daughter in law was a US Marine, and the daughter in law needed to have an operation. So she came from New Jersey. She’s lived in the country for 20 years, and then she winds up in CBP custody. I asked her about when her son graduated from boot camp, and how that made her felt. She started crying and said it was so proud. She was so proud that her son was a US Marine. He’s about to re-enlist. This woman is no threat to society. I also met a- met a business owner who’s been in the United States for over 20 years. She’s got 70 employees. She’s got three restaurants. She’s about to open another one. Again, this is a mom. Her daughter’s a US citizen, her mother’s a US citizen. Sisters, a US citizen. Husband is a US citizen. Neither of these women are a threat to society. And what I saw at Eloy were a lot of moms and grandmothers who could be out with their families, who could be going to work as they go through whatever immigration process they’re in. And for Maria, the mom of the Marine, there is a process that, for a somebody on active duty, that their parents have a process to become a permanent resident and eventually a US citizen. And this, this is not where we should be, and I don’t think this is what the American people wanted. Margaret, the border security issue under President Biden, was not working, and I pushed the administration on that. But we have now swung drastically in another direction, and I don’t think this is what the American people want either.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, to your point, though, President Trump won your state by almost six points in November. And you know, immigration was one of his top promises to go ahead with this crackdown. And you did say you want more done. Is there a benefit to Arizona that just came from this massive infusion from taxpayer dollars into mass deportations, or are you saying here that these, these personal cases show that the entire process is flawed?
SEN. KELLY: I think right- right now, the- there’s, I think you have to draw a distinction with what is going on at the border, and enforcing border security and making sure fentanyl isn’t coming through our southern border, but also the smuggling of migrants. That wasn’t working, but rounding up people in their communities and mass deportation and ICE agents showing up masked at schools. I’ve been trying to help out a kid that’s in detention. He was 14 years old. He lives in Chandler, Arizona, and he was picked up going to school. I had another situation here with a kid who was on his little league trip in a baseball tournament. Border Patrol pulls over the vehicle, identifies the brown kid. He winds up in lock up for a week now, we were able to get him out. He was 13 years old on a baseball trip. This isn’t what the American people wanted, and I don’t think it’s consistent with our values.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, Senator, this is a really important and emotional issue, and we’re going to have to leave it there for today.Â
