New Hampshire senator on Russia sanctions, oversight in the Trump Administration and Signal chat leak

(CBS, KYMA/KECY) - Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) spoke with Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation Sunday to discuss sanctions on Russia.

According to Brennan, Senator Shaheen's colleague, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) posted to X saying he got nearly 60 co-sponsors for a sanctions bill while Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in her previous interview, said Russia's economy "is self-sufficient and sanctions don't matter."

This prompted Brennan to ask Shaheen if they are leverage at all, to which Shaheen responded saying:

"I think we ought to take up the Graham legislation, and we ought to pass it through both houses and put those secondary sanctions on Russia. And the fact is I've been watching Minister Lavrov for 16 years since I've been in the Senate, and he is very adept at talking a lot and saying nothing. And in [the] interview, as we know, he refused to acknowledge Russia's aggression into Ukraine. He refused to acknowledge that it's Russia that's firing on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, not the Ukrainians. He refused to acknowledge the children from Ukraine who have been disappeared into Russia, kidnapped there he does not. He's a an excellent prevaricator who never takes a position that is in opposition to what he believes is Russia's interest."

Brennan followed up by asking Shaheen if she thinks she could get the bill to be veto proof, which could force President Donald Trump to put sanctions on Russia "and get congressional leadership to actually allow you to vote in the first place," and Shaheen said:

"I do, and I think in fact, the administration has been working with Senator Graham, and certainly understands that this is legislation that is in the works and that there is some real benefit as Vladimir Putin continues to drag his feet, to do everything he can to play for more time, so that they're able to take more territory in Ukraine and to better advance Russia's position, this is something that can help slow them down."

During the interview, Brennan and Shaheen discussed discuss oversight within the Trump Administration.

According to Brennan, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced plans to reduce State Department staff by 15% and condense or eliminate certain bureaus, like the Office of Global Women's Issues.

This prompted Brennan to ask Shaheen if Secretary Rubio can eliminate it "with a stroke of a pen," to which Shaheen answered saying:

"I noticed that one of the things in [the CBS News poll] that people were not happy about was the actions by the administration without oversight and advice and consent from Congress. And this is what this administration is talking about, what Secretary of State Rubio is talking about. They're talking about going in, making these changes without really consulting with Congress. The reason we have an Office of Global Women's Issues is because what we know about foreign policy is that those countries that have women who are empowered are more stable. We know that women give back more to their communities, to their countries, to their families, than men do. And there's a good reason why we have an Office of Global Women's Issues, because it helps us as we think about our foreign policy, and it's been one of the advantages that the United States has had over our adversaries like China and Russia and Iran."

Later in the interview, Brennan and Shaheen talked about Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's chats on the Signal app.

The Pentagon Inspector General's Office said in a memo it will evaluate Secretary Hegseth's use of Signal to discuss strikes against the Houthis in Yemen last month.

This comes after reports of a second Signal chat leak where Hegseth texted sensitive military information to his wife and brother.

When asked if she any idea of when she will get a clear answer on whether it was classified, Shaheen said, "I don't. I think it's important that that's a bipartisan request to have that investigation done to see what was appropriate, and hopefully they will come out soon with recommendations."

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