The following is the transcript of the interview with Sen. Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, that aired on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Sept. 28, 2025.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We turn now to Virginia Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, who joins us this morning from Richmond. Good morning to you, Senator.
SEN. TIM KAINE: Good morning, Margaret.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You have what, 140,000 federal civilian workers in your state, one of the highest numbers in the nation. How concerned are you that you will see mass layoffs if we go into the shutdown that the White House says they are preparing for?
SEN. TIM KAINE: Well, and I think your reporter Robert Costa said they’re even welcoming it. We are really worried about it, Margaret. When Ted Cruz forced a shutdown of the government in October 2013, it hurt Virginia pretty bad. And when Donald Trump forced a shutdown of the government in late 2018, early 2019 it hurt Virginia pretty bad. And this one would be the same. The only thing about the President’s threat to fire more people is he’s already doing it, and instead of threatening, he should just be meeting to negotiate. We came near shut down deadlines during the Biden administration, but we never shut government down because the President would sit down with congressional leaders of both parties and would find a path forward. And that’s what we’ve been asking for since the Democrats put an alternate plan on the table on September 18, just sit down and talk with us, and finally, he has agreed to do that tomorrow. But if you’re reporting, is to be believed, he’s sort of going into it, setting reducing expectations improperly. He should be doing what presidents do and saying, we’re going to find a deal to keep the government of the greatest nation on earth open.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Is it enough of a deal to say, take the short term, seven week funding deal, and we’ll continue to talk about these health care subsidies that Democrats say they are so concerned about. I mean, is it really worth the risk?
SEN. TIM KAINE: Here’s, here’s my thought about this, Margaret. And this is my personal view. We’ve got to solve this health care issue. And Republicans are saying the same thing. Mike Johnson has said it. Senator Cornyn has said it, Senator Hawley has said it. Senator Murkowski has said it. We’re asking to fix a problem that even Republicans want to fix. I don’t think we have to have every detail pinned down with all the Is dotted and Ts crossed in order to do a short term extension, but I do want to see that Republicans are saying, You’re right. We can fix this, and here’s the path to finding a fix. And the second thing we need, which is so reasonable, we’re just asking, if we do a deal, please don’t, Mr. President, sign the deal, and then immediately the next day start, starting to take away funds, rescinding agreements that you just made yesterday. A deal should be a deal, and we should all agree that Americans should not see their health care suffer, their premiums spike, and people lose insurance and providers close. We’ve already had providers in Virginia announce that they are closing their doors because of the bill that the Republicans passed in July, and this is happening all over the country. Let’s just do what’s right by our constituents and fix it.
MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to ask you another question specific to Virginia, and that is, what is going on inside the judicial system. Back in August, it was the US Attorney for the Western District of Virginia, Todd Gilbert, who suddenly resigned. Then earlier this month, the US Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia, Eric Siebert resigned after failing to bring a case against New York’s Attorney General, Letitia James. What is going on here in the Virginia court system? Margaret?
SEN. TIM KAINE: It’s pretty darn plain the President nominated two U.S. attorneys in Virginia, both with Republican bona fides. Todd Gilbert in the Western District, had been the Republican Speaker of our house of delegates. He resigned as a legislator to take the Trump appointment. President Trump’s team interviewed these candidates, approved the candidates, nominated the candidates, and then even appointed them into the interim position. But both were forced out because they said their integrity as prosecutors would not allow them to genuflect to Donald Trump. And in Todd Gilbert’s case, they wanted to force him to demote a long time career member of the Western District of Virginia who had served under multiple administrations and presidents. He refused to do so. And in Eric Siebert’s case, he refused to bring a criminal charge against a perceived Trump political opponent when there was no evidence to support the charge. President Trump is spending time going after enemies, trying to figure out a way to give $20 billion to a friend, the Argentine Government, instead of dealing with the challenges we elected him to confront. Food prices are going up. Building supplies are going up. School supplies are going up. Energy costs are going up, health care costs are going up, and Donald Trump seems to be focused on a retribution campaign. You got to focus, man, this is an important job. It’s time to focus.
MARGARET BRENNAN: When it comes to those Virginia cases, have you talked to Siebert, have you talked to Gilbert to understand why they felt they had to resign?
SEN. TIM KAINE: I have talked to each of them after the resignations were done. These were individuals I knew both. I knew Todd Gilbert because of his legislative role, and I knew Eric Siebert very well by reputation. And again, this was the prosecutor Margaret, who, when the Biden administration transitioned to the Trump administration, the Trump administration DOJ put him in the role as an interim even before we recommended him, along with our republican governor, Glenn Youngkin, as you mentioned. So after they had been fired, yes, I did call and say I’d like to understand why you were forced out, and they shared thoughts with me without getting into anything about particular cases or particular communication they’d had with Trump administration officials. But I am convinced, and Virginians are convinced. I traveled around the state this week. People are talking about this. Both of these individuals had a backbone. They wouldn’t genuflect to Donald Trump, and they wouldn’t bring baseless cases, and we shouldn’t see that in any district in this nation. And it’s sad that President Trump is more focused on retribution than serving his constituents.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, that Eastern District did come forward with this, this indictment of former FBI Director James Comey. Yes, it was just a two page indictment, no evidence presented publicly here, but it was convincing enough to 14 of 23 people sitting on a grand jury. Can you really say there’s no there there?
SEN. TIM KAINE: Well, a bare majority, as you know, Margaret, there’s 23 people on a grand jury. They need at least 12 votes to get an indictment, and yes, they got their finger over the bar with 14, although the four- the 23 wouldn’t agree on one of the charges that the US attorney was pushing. So we will see what this case is about. It is odd that the indictment has so few facts, and I found it very odd. I used to practice in this court, and when the Attorney General put out a press statement after the indictment and said, we will follow the facts in this case. What prosecutors follow the facts before they indict, they don’t indict, and then say, well, let’s see what the facts are. I think she even revealed that this is a weak case, which everyone in her office was telling her it was a weak case.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You in your armed services role. I want to quickly ask you, you have said you are supportive of the creation of a Palestinian state, and we saw at the UN this past week, a large number of members just simply walked out when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke, it was a statement tomorrow he’s going to be at the White House ahead of that meeting, President Trump said this:
VO SOT PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I’m not allowing Israel to annex the West Bank. There’s been enough. It’s time to stop now, okay?
MARGARET BRENNAN: That’s a strong statement. Do you know how the United States should enforce that? How do you force Israel to step back from annexation?
SEN. TIM KAINE: Well, I was very heartened that the President said that, and you’re right. I support what the United States voted for in the UN in 1947 a state of Israel and a state of Palestine. One of those promises has been met. One hasn’t, and we need to be on a path for a Palestinian state that’s demilitarized, where Hamas plays no role in its governance. And until we find that path forward, we’re going to have continued cycles of violence that are bad for Israelis, bad for Palestinians, bad for the region. So I hope the president, who, by all accounts, has a strong relationship with Prime Minister Netanyahu, makes plain that we are, we are against annexation, and this 21 point proposal that the President has on the table, which is pretty similar to the New York dialog being led by the French and the Saudis. They’re different efforts, but they’re trying to reach the same point, a future state for Israel and Palestine, where both can live in peace, and creating stability in the region instead of the cycles of violence. So I hope the president leans into that at the meeting tomorrow. I was heartened by his comment. It would be a big mistake for the Prime Minister Netanyahu to look at all of these nations that have been allies, saying you need to change course, and for him to just pull his head in the shell and turn inward and continue to isolate Israel, rather than move forward toward peace and more stability in the region.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Senator Kaine, thank you for your insights today. We’ll be back in a moment.
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Open: This is “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” Sept. 28, 2025
