Maryland senator on Israel-Hamas ceasefire, Russia and more

WASHINGTON (CBS, KYMA/KECY) - Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) spoke with Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation Sunday about the Trump administration's stance on relocating Palestinians out of Gaza.

Brennan referred to her earlier interview with Steve Witkoff, U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East, where Witkoff said "it is not realistic to have Palestinians remain in Gaza while it is rebuilt," but Brennan said, "Egypt and Jordan are working on plans for that to be possible," prompting her to ask if the proposal has any chance of surviving, "or is this idea of moving them away for 15 years going to happen," to which Senator Van Hollen said:

"The good news in what Steve Witkoff said was that he expected us to get to phase two of the discussions. The very bad news was he did not disavow this outrageous idea that Donald Trump put on the table of cleaning out two million Gazans. That is ethnic cleansing by another name, and Arab countries are right now working very hard to put together a plan to show that you can deal with governance, security and reconstruction, and that you don't need to have two million people pushed out of Gaza in order to do it. It is tough. It will have to be done in stages, and they have identified areas in Gaza, few areas in Gaza that have not been obliterated, where you could begin to phase the reconstruction and at least get people housing, temporary housing, as you rebuild in other areas."

Brennan and Van Hollen also talked about the Trump administration working on a deal to end the war between Russia and Ukraine, with Brennan saying President Donald Trump is "closing in on this deal with Ukraine in regard to its mineral resources that can be used for all sorts of valuable technology."

When asked what security guarantees is Van Hollen comfortable with the "U.S. giving to Ukraine as part of any of this," Van Hollen said:

"I think this is all negotiable, but what you should not do...is begin your negotiation with Putin by number one, adopting the Putin narrative, saying that Ukraine started this war, which is just a big lie, and you shouldn't begin by giving up certain key cards. So, for example, American guarantees, or a future for Ukraine in NATO. However you settle this in the end is a matter of negotiation, but it's terrible negotiating to give up those cards right up front, as Trump has done...I would just say that this is not 'America First.' This is America in retreat, and China and Russia and our adversaries are celebrating every moment of this as our allies are scared to death. And this is not just rhetoric. This is reality."

During the interview, Brennan and Van Hollen talked about DOGE and the email sent to federal employees to reply by end of day Monday with five bullet points of what they accomplished last week.

Brennan asked Van Hollen if "people working at the State Department feel safe" for not responding to the email, and if they're "putting their jobs at risk," and Van Hollen said:

"I don't think so, because what we are witnessing are illegal actions by Elon Musk and a number of courts...have issued temporary restraining orders on their efforts to seize important private information, but also on their overall conduct. So what the head of management at the State Department said is, Elon Musk doesn't have the authority to require State Department employees to answer these questions."

To watch more of Brennan's interview with Van Hollen, click here.