South Carolina senator on Putin and Justice Department

(CBS, KYMA/KECY) - Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) spoke with Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation Sunday about Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Brennan referenced her previous interview with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Ambassador Steve Witkoff when she asked Senator Graham if President Putin is playing for time, and if he's playing U.S. President Donald Trump, and Graham said:

"I don't know yet, but I do know you played President Trump at your own peril. What Trump did to get Ukraine at the table was tough, and it worked. So if Putin is sincere about wanting peace, accept the ceasefire on the same terms as Ukraine and quit trying to mix the two: ceasefire and peace deal. What I would advise the Trump administration to do is to tell Putin, are you going to accept the ceasefire on the same terms as Ukraine, or not? If you're not, go back to maximum pressure. I have legislation that will overwhelmingly pass the United States Senate that will crush the Russian economy, and I'm willing to move forward if I have to, but we're talking about ceasefire, and we're talking about peace. We weren't talking about that in the last administration. But to me, Putin's a predator. The best way to judge Putin is not in a three hour meeting, but 30 years of action, and I see no indication that he's going to stop being a predator against Ukraine until the pain is too large...So if he refuses the ceasefire, that tells me all I need to know."

During the interview, Brennan and Graham talked about the Justice Department.

In January, about a dozen Justice Department employees, who worked for former Special Council Jack Smith on the investigation and prosecution of Trump, were fired.

The federal prosecutors were informed of the decision to terminate their positions by email after department leadership determined they were unable to carry out Trump's agenda.

Brennan said President Trump signed more executive orders "targeting some of the country's most prominent law firms, including Paul Weiss."

She adds that the president "wants to restrict business activities of the firm, despite a federal judge ruling in a different case that it's unconstitutional," and that he stripped clearances from the aforementioned law firm as well as stripping clearances from lawyers over at Covington & Burling because of them representing Smith.

When asked if he supports this, Graham said:

"Yeah, I think all of these things...I think Jack Smith was politically motivated. I think the Russian hoax, a lot of people should have gone to jail, and they didn't. I think the idea that President Trump was an agent of Russia was manufactured. The Steele Dossier was based on lies and falsehoods coming from a source that said he never meant it to be used in the fashion it was used. I think Jack Smith's effort to prosecute President Trump for January 6 was politically motivated, and people who engage in trying to destroy President Trump, I don't mind him going after them in a lawful way."

Graham also added, "Private business aided government power in a fashion to destroy Donald Trump's life. You know...our people believe that the Justice Department was used as a weapon to destroy Trump's campaign and his business interests and to ruin his family...that they made up bogus charges and they proceeded in a fashion that was designed to destroy him, politically and personally. I believe that. If these people involved pay a price, they got nobody but themselves to blame, that's what I believe."

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