South Carolina senator on expanding the Abraham Accords and Bill Pulte

(CBS, KYMA) - Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) spoke with Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation Sunday to talk about expanding the Abraham Accords.

Sen. Graham said there was going to be an announcement of a framework to have Saudia Arabia join the accords prior to the October 7, 2023 attack in Israel, which the senator said "created a real problem."

"Donald Trump is going to empower me and others to jump-start...an effort to get Saudi to join Israel. There will be accommodations made by Saudi and Israel. To Saudi and Israel, you have no better friend than Donald Trump. To Bibi, Donald Trump stood by you when other people wouldn't. I'm not asking you to do anything to jeopardize the future of Israel's security, but I am asking you to be open to expanding the Abraham Accords and finding a solution to Palestinians that are good for Israel, and quite frankly, good for the world. To Saudi Arabia, now is the time to open negotiations yet again for you to expand the Abraham Accords, for you to join. I think this is going to happen in 2026...and it can't happen until Iran's in a box. If we get a deal, if we get a deal, Iran will be in a box. If we don't get a deal, Iran will be in a box. To Lebanon, to the people in Lebanon, help is on the way. Hezbollah has been terrorizing your country for a long time. That's about to end."

During the interview, Brennan and Graham talked about Bill Pulte, who has been serving as the Acting Director of National Intelligence since June.

The president has said Pulte will not be named director of national intelligence permanently, which would require Senate confirmation.

Pulte will remain director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

According to Brennan, Trump reportedly appeared to sabotage his own nominee, Jay Clayton, who was going to have a confirmation hearing last week to be the DNI, by telling him not to show up, leaving Pulte in charge.

When asked if he's comfortable with giving Pulte, who Brennan said has no prior intelligence background or security clearance, the keys to the 18 agencies, the senator said:

"I think what we had in place should happen. I think Clayton should be the new DNI. President Trump was told that Democrats were not going to support FISA reauthorization, and he got mad and pulled out of the agreement. They will. Mark Warner told me that there are enough votes to get FISA reauthorized, and I would urge President Trump to let Clayton testify. And if we nominate Clayton and get him affirmed as the new DNI, we don't want FISA to go dark. There's too many threats to our country for 702 to go down. Anybody who owns the shutting down of 702 under FISA will own a future attack against the United States. We're playing with fire here."

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