Maryland senator on Gaza humanitarian foundation, American’s credit and more
WASHINGTON (CBS, KYMA/KECY) - Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) spoke with Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation Sunday about the conflicts in the Middle East and talked about a Gaza humanitarian foundation which is being set up.
"President Trump was in the region and really did nothing, said virtually nothing about what's happening in Gaza, which is on fire. We're in 77th day of a full blockade. Two million Palestinians are starving. This is collective punishment that is clearly illegal under international law. And this other idea that's been cooked up, either by the Israelis or by the Trump administration, is clearly not fit for purpose when it comes to trying to address this burgeoning famine. And all it will do is further allow food to be used as a weapon of the war. So I hope the United States will back off this plan. None of the credible international organizations have said that they will participate because it violates, you know, international norms and how it's structured. And so I hope the United States will back off and immediately call today to allow the trucks right now that have food to be able to come, provide food to starving people. These are provided by international aid organizations."
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)
During the interview, Brennan and Senator Van Hollen talked about about America's current credit and upcoming bills.
On Sunday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he's dismissing news regarding "Moody's credit rating agency downgraded America's credit," prompting Brennan to ask Van Hollen what's going to happen on Capitol Hill, if this is going to be much of a fight and if anyone going to be pushing back because of this, to which the senator said:
"What you're seeing is the Republican plan, the Trump plan is essentially to give these huge tax cuts to very wealthy people and corporations at the expense of everybody else. They're going to cut Medicaid, they're going to cut food and nutrition programs, but even after those cuts...it's in their current House bill. They have $700 billion in Medicaid cuts and 300 billion in food nutrition programs in the House bill now. I mean, they can always change it. But even after that, they're going to- this will result in a huge spike in the national debt. And so that's why Moody's is warning people that we're going down this road, and it will have a direct harmful impact on every American, because what it will do is drive up interest rates. Right? Just like the Trump across-the-board tariffs are raising prices, so will these big deficits and debts they incur."
Later in the interview, Brennan and Van Hollen talked about the release of the full audio of Special Counsel Robert Hur's two interviews with former President Joe Biden on classified docs in October of 2023.
According to Brennan, while no charges were brought, the audio obtained by Axios shows the then-president "halting at times."
Because of this, Brennan said Hur described Biden as a "sympathetic, well meaning, elderly man with a poor memory" while the Democrats pushed back at Hur's assessment.
This prompted Brennan to ask Van Hollen if the Democratic Party, in hindsight, was too willing to look the other way, to which Van Hollen said, "Hindsight is 20/20. We know a lot more now than we knew then. I can just say personally, I had limited interactions with President Biden at the time. He came to the Key Bridge in Maryland when it collapsed, and we had a good conversation. So hindsight is 20/20. Obviously, if we could redo this tape and play it over again, we would do things differently."
To watch more of Brennan's interview with Van Hollen, click here.
