The following is the transcript of an interview with Democratic Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado that aired on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Aug. 17, 2025.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And we’re joined now by Colorado Democratic Congressman Jason Crow. Good to see you in person. Before we start talking about Ukraine, I want to pick up on something, since you sit on the Intelligence Committee. The Secretary of State just said that lawmakers had come to the Trump administration with information that they’ve been granting visas to individuals with ties to Hamas, or with organizations with ties to Hamas. That’s a pretty stunning accusation. Israel controls who enters and exits Gaza. The United States screens all visas. So, is there really a blind spot that you are aware of?
REP. JASON CROW: I’m not aware of that. But if that’s true, actually, that is concerning. That would be a problem. I mean, Hamas is a brutal terrorist organization. They should not be traveling anywhere. So, if that’s happening, it should be stopped immediately. And, you know, the Intelligence Committee has a role to play in that.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But the Intelligence Committee wasn’t behind the information presented to the Secretary of State.
REP. CROW: I have not been briefed on that. I have no information about it.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay, on Ukraine: You know that the U.S. intelligence assessment is that the battlefield is turning in Russia’s favor, despite the fact that Putin has to rely on Iran and North Korea to keep this thing going. If neither President Biden nor President Trump were ever willing to commit troops, doesn’t the secretary have a point that it has to be hammered out at the negotiating table?
REP. CROW: You know, this absolutely will end at a negotiating table, like most conflicts will. But what happened on Friday was a historic embarrassment for the United States. There’s no other way to put it. Right? You listen to what Marco Rubio and the president have said. They keep on saying they’re dedicating time. They’re making it a priority. They’re focusing their attention on it. In any negotiation, when you’re trying to end an armed conflict, there’s nothing more important than understanding what motivates your adversary. What is making Vladimir Putin tick, in this instance. Vladimir Putin does not care about the amount of time that we’re nego- we’re allocating to this, does not care about a B-2 bomber flyover, does not care about a lineup of F-22 fighters rolled out. He doesn’t care about any of that. What Vladimir Putin cares about is basically three things. He cares about economic pressure in the form of sanctions. He cares about political, diplomatic isolation, being a pariah state. And he cares about military defeat. Those are the three things that will end this conflict if he feels pressure on all of those three fronts. And this administration continues to be unwilling to do anything to assert pressure in any of those three areas.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, they have put in place some secondary sanctions, at least on India here, and they haven’t pulled back. They need Congress to help them repeal a lot of these sanctions. But bigger picture, in hindsight, do you think the United States to date has been too hesitant to actually help Ukraine win this war? President Obama did not send offensive weapons to Ukraine. President Biden was criticized for being perhaps too slow in delivery of certain weapons.
REP. CROW: There’s no doubt. As you know, I was one of the members of Congress that, on a bipartisan basis, pushed really hard in the first two years of this war, under the Biden administration, to do more, to do more quicker. And I was concerned that we were doing just enough to prevent Ukraine from losing and not doing enough to help them win. And I do believe that had we done more, and we had done it faster, and that we were willing to be more aggressive in providing aid and support for Ukraine, then they would be in a different position on the battlefield today. But compare that to what this administration has done, which has relieved almost all pressure. Like look at what happened on Friday. U.S. military personnel in uniform, literally, were on their hands and knees, rolling out a red carpet for the most murderous dictator of the 21st century. Somebody who has kidnapped and is holding prisoner tens of thousands of Ukrainian children. Somebody who started this whole war, right? This both-sides-ism that the administration is engaging in, that both sides need to come to the table and negotiate. Ukraine is the victim. They are the victim. They didn’t start this war. Russia did. And somehow we keep on acting like Vladimir Putin deserves to be brought out into the open like any other head of state. This is a historic embarrassment and defeat for U.S. foreign policy.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You have served this country in uniform. I wonder, since you sit on the Armed Services Committee, how comfortable you would be with the United States giving this, whatever the Article Five-like security guarantee would look like. Is that something you should see boots on the ground to do?
REP. CROW: I don’t think boots on the ground would be the way to go. But, certainly, the United States has assets and capability that I think are essential to any type of security guarantee. I think Europe has to come forward with the forward presence of military. But we can provide intelligence. We can provide economic support, diplomatic support. One of the most important things that we can do right now is actually seize Russian assets. This would be huge. This would be a game-changing thing that put pressure on Vladimir Putin. And actually create security guarantees and reconstruction for Ukraine. There’s over $150 billion of seized Russian assets, and the United States could lead a coalition to seize that money. Allocate it towards reconstruction, allocate it towards security, allocate it towards the building of a Ukrainian military that could actually resist Russia going forward. But this administration is unwilling to do it.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Last administration was too, they–
REP. CROW: –That’s right.
MARGARET BRENNAN: They did agree to the legislation. But on the immigration front, you and your fellow Democratic lawmakers are now trying to challenge the Trump administration’s policy that requires notice to be given before you visit an immigration facility. You just did visit some. What did you see, and how does that compare to the last visit?
REP. CROW: Well, there’s an ICE detention center in my district, in Aurora, Colorado. I have visited that center 10 times now over the last five years, six years. And oversight of federal facilities is one of the most important things that any member of Congress does. Air Force bases, military bases, VA hospitals and ICE detention centers. This administration just tripled the budget of ICE. Made it the largest federal law enforcement agency in the history of the United States. Bigger than the FBI, ATF, DEA, all others combined. And they are putting in roadblocks to prevent oversight, to prevent transparency because they were trying to hide what they are doing. That is unacceptable. So we filed a lawsuit to force them to abide by federal law that guarantees us access.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And we’ll see where that heads next. Jason Crow, thank you. We’ll be right back.
