The following is the transcript of an interview with Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia that aired on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Jan. 18, 2026.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We go now to the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mark Warner, who joins us this morning from Virginia. Senator, we have had some extraordinary news this week on the national security front, two of America’s closest allies, NATO and Canada. Canada signed a trade deal with China. The Prime Minister of Canada, Mark Carney, said the US is undercutting the international world order. In the past 24 hours, President Trump seemed to start a trade war with our closest European allies, saying he put tariffs on the UK, France, Denmark, until they agree to hand over Greenland. Will there be now any checks and balances from Congress when it comes to the president’s use of tariffs in this way?
SEN. MARK WARNER: Well, Margaret, that’s the question of the hour. I would hope so. We thought when the president took on the independence of the Federal Reserve, Congress might stand up. We thought when the president sent 20% of our fleet down off the coast of Venezuela, Congress might stand up. We would get a- we got a vote on the War Powers Act. Then the administration rolled back the Republican votes. Now the question is, when the president is taking on, potentially a new tariff war with our NATO partners, with threatening Greenland. Will my Republican friends beyond saying quietly to me, Mark, this is crazy, will they say that publicly and stand up against the president that has brought chaos to the international order, and got to tell you, is not making Americans safer when you- when you threaten, for example, the security of NATO, the most successful alliance in modern history. The only country that is, frankly, benefiting the most from this chaos are both Russia and China.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And I’m going to get to some of that in detail with Congressman Mike Turner shortly. But just on this point, there is an effort by some Republicans. Lisa Murkowski is one of them. She and Jeanne Shaheen are working on a bipartisan bill called the NATO Unity Protection Act to prohibit the use of federal funds to blockade, occupy, annex, conduct military operations against or assert control over the territory of a NATO state. That is extraordinary that that is being put forward as a bill. Would you vote for it?
SEN. WARNER: Of course, I would. But remember–
MARGARET BRENNAN: Will it ever see the light of day?
SEN. WARNER: — the only security threat- I don’t know, but let’s be clear about this there currently and as Vice Chair the Intel Committee. I am very familiar what’s going on. There is no current security threat from Russia or China to Greenland. The only security threat to Greenland right now is the United States. I’ve been in touch with the bipartisan delegation who’ve met with the Danes, who are over there now the Danish people, frankly, are flipping out that their longest ally, America is now threatening to invade part of their territory, those other countries that Trump is now threatening with additional tariffs. Remember, the European Union’s already got a 15% tariff. The French, the Germans, the Norwegians, have all put small numbers of troops in Greenland to help protect it, but also send a signal that if America attacks, they’re attacking our closest allies. And I would also point out, you know, America used to have 17 military bases in Greenland. We decided we didn’t need them all. We’re down to one military base, and on that base there are more Danish partners on the base than American military. The Danes have made very clear that if we want more military bases, if we want more ability to extract critical minerals, they would welcome that. But it ought to be done in partnership, and it ought to be done with the NATO allies and and I just point out Margaret, when we- these are all tied together, this craziness around NATO weakens our ability to have the world rally against the Iranian regime right now, which has been brutal to its people. One of the reasons the president couldn’t take military action against the Iranians was because the aircraft carrier that would normally be there to prevent to help our help our forces was off the coast of Venezuela. So all of this international chaos ties itself together, making America less safe. And when you see the Canadian Prime Minister in effect saying, you know, China may be a more dependable partner. If that doesn’t bring us all back, I’m not sure what would.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, the president is moving on the Iran front. Is moving an aircraft carrier from the Pacific to CENTCOM to that Mideast region where there hasn’t been an aircraft carrier. He also told Politico Saturday, it’s time to look for new leadership in Iran that doesn’t kill people by the thousands in order to keep it under control. It was reported that the head of the Mossad, David Barnea, was down in Miami meeting with Steve Witkoff. Do you know the focus of those meetings? Is the United States working with Israel on a plan for what happens next in Iran?
SEN. WARNER: I can’t talk about anything specific, but what is in the public domain is that Israel, as well as all of our allies in that region, were concerned about a strike in terms of Iranian reprisals, and the fact that we don’t have all of our forces there, because part of our forces are off the coast of Venezuela, make us less of a threat. And there is a real question, what would you bomb? And is there a chance that that kind of kinetic action might make more support for the regime a rally around the flag. That doesn’t mean that we couldn’t be doing more cyber it doesn’t mean- and I say, I’ve got a lot of concerns with Elon Musk, but his Starlink operations are brilliant. We should be able to get more Starlink into- into Iran so the Iranian people can get reconnected to the internet and our ability, for example, in a normal course, we would be rallying all of our NATO allies to also put pressure, because they have relations with Iran. But most of our NATO allies are concerned about Americans’ potential military action in Greenland and the threat of additional tariffs. So the ability for America to bring a concerted worldwide confrontation to this awful Iranian regime, and the Iranian people are extraordinarily brave to stand up. We need to do more, but some of our options are limited because of the chaotic approach that the president is taking around the whole world.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, let me ask you about Venezuela, because you are chair- ranking member on the Intelligence Committee. The CIA director, John Ratcliffe, was down in Caracas on Thursday to meet with the interim President Delcy Rodriguez. A US official described it as intending to improve the relationship between the two countries. Are you comfortable with the administration’s plan and what the director has explained to you is the intention to basically coerce them into compliance?
SEN. WARNER: Well, let’s- let’s look the what the American military did in Venezuela was extraordinary. Nobody else could do that, and the president’s goal, which he’s made clear, was mostly about oil, not about the Venezuelan people. It will take years for the Venezuelan oil fields to get up back operating to anything close to efficiency. Maduro was awful on that, but our ability to strangle off and keep the choke hold on the Venezuelan regime keeps that fleet blockading Venezuela. Are we going to keep that fleet- 20% of our fleet, off the coast of Venezuela for the next three years–
MARGARET BRENNAN: I think it’s like 14% now–
SEN WARNER: –is that really in America’s longterm–
MARGARET BRENNAN: Have you asked the administration that?
SEN. WARNER: We have asked, and they- we have not gotten a response on how long the fleet will be there. And one thing that I would also point out, and let me be clear, the Biden administration screwed up in 2024 when the Venezuelan people voted overwhelmingly to throw out Maduro, and we didn’t push him out. But to suddenly say the to the leader Machado, who was leader of the Venezuelan opposition, who got the Nobel Prize- I mean, does President Trump not realize he looks kind of silly taking that prize from her as she tries to basically suck up to him? And the fact is, what she has said, and again publicly, is that, yes, you got rid of Maduro but the same people who tortured and imprisoned the Venezuelan opposition are still in control of the regime. Where does that lead the Venezuelan people? And where does that lead us to a better relationship, frankly, a partnering relationship with Central and South America and not a colonial relationship, which is again to seem what the president seems to be intending.
MARGARET BRENNAN: All right. Senator Warner, a world of problems to talk to you on that front, but I got to leave it there. Thank you for your time today. We’ll be back in a moment.
