California representative on Kilmar Abrego Garcia, Iran talks and electronic tariffs pause
(CBS, KYMA/KECY) - Representative Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) spoke with Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation Sunday to discuss Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland father wrongfully deported to El Salvador.
Brennan reported Garcia's arrest was a result of an administrative error, and the Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration has to "facilitate getting him back, but they didn't actually rule on whether he was a gang member or not," and "the Justice Department can't substantiate it."
This prompted her to ask Rep. Khanna why he brought up the case, he answered saying, "It just shows that this administration is taking actions that are unconstitutional. Look, Vice President Vance said [Garcia] was an M-13 gang member with no legal rights here, and the Supreme Court said, well, we don't know, and he does actually have legal rights. And so similarly, you now have an administration that is using the military for domestic enforcement, which is illegal. And I believe that even this Supreme Court, a conservative Supreme Court, would rule it's unconstitutional."
During the interview, Brennan and Khanna talked about the negotiations between Iran and the United States.
Iran and the United States will hold more negotiations next week over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program, Iranian state television reported Saturday at the end of the first round of talks between the two countries since President Donald Trump returned to the White House.
Iranian state TV also said U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi "briefly spoke in the presence of the Omani foreign minister" at the end of the talks, marking a direct interaction between the two nations locked in decades of tensions.
The two sides spoke for over two hours at a location on the outskirts of Oman, ending the talks around 5:50 p.m. local time. The talks began at around 3:30 p.m. local.
The White House said Witkoff was joined by U.S. Ambassador to Oman Ana Escrogima for the talks, which it described to be "very positive and constructive."
When asked if he believes President Trump "would need congressional approval to carry out a strike, even if it was just in support of Israel leading that attack on Iran," Khanna said:
"Absolutely, and almost a third of our B-2 bombers are there. Look, it's unconstitutional what they're doing in Yemen. I said it was unconstitutional when Biden made those strikes...They need to come to Congress. And look, the President was elected by the American people saying we don't want our tax dollars going for more bombing in the Middle East, for more wars in the Middle East. I think he's ignoring the base that actually elected him, that does not want more of these strikes with...in the case of Yemen, the Saudis had war there for almost 10 years, and though it didn't do anything to address the situation with the Houthis. The President campaigned on diplomacy. He hasn't done that, and what we're seeing is escalation."
Later in the interview, Brennan and Khanna talked about Trump's attempt to bring manufacturing back to the United States.
"If [manufacturing] moved, it would probably move to Malaysia or Vietnam. So they suddenly reverse. They exempt all of electronics manufacturing, which is about a third of our trade deficit. And I'm here at the Cleveland City Club to say, if you want to have electronics manufacturing here, the way to do it is not blanket tariffs. You have to create an electronic manufacturing hub, the kind we did with the CHIPS Act. That means investing in tool engineering and workforce. It means having investment tax credits. It means having government buy things from the United States. The President has no plan of how to actually have high end advanced manufacturing in the United States."
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.)
To watch more of Brennan's interview with Khanna, click here.
