At CBS’s Deface the Nation, moderator got more than she bargained for during a discussion over the appointment of Kash Patel to lead the FBI with her guest, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC). Graham absolutely schooled Brennan over her (and by extension the “legacy media’s) coverage of the now-debunked and discredited Russia Hoax.
Watch the entire exchange (click “expand” to view the transcript):
Lindsey Graham RIPS CBS's Margaret Brennan: "You shouldn't worry about @Kash_Patel. You should worry about reporting the news fairly, which you don't do when it comes to everything Trump. pic.twitter.com/cLQOC3jPQx
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) January 19, 2025
CBS FACE THE NATION
1/19/25
11:07 AM
MARGARET BRENNAN: Let me ask you about the Senate, though, because you are on the Judiciary Committee. Kash Patel, the pick to run the FBI, doesn't even have a hearing scheduled yet. In his 2022 memoir Bill Barr said of Kash Patel, “...he's someone with no background as an agent, would never be able to command the respect necessary to run the day-to-day operations of the Bureau. He has virtually no experience that would qualify him to serve at the highest level of the world's preeminent law enforcement agency. The idea of moving him into a role like this showed a shocking detachment from reality.” Was Attorney General Barr wrong then and wrong now?
LINDSEY GRAHAM: I disagree with that. Yeah, he was wrong then and he's wrong now. I take my advice on Kash Patel from Trey Gowdy, dear friend from South Carolina who worked with Kash. Kash was a public defender, he was a prosecutor, he worked with Trey Gowdy about the Russia hoax. So I do think he has the experience. He has the trust of the president. And we’ll see how this plays out. But Trey Gowdy is enthusiastically supporting Kash Patel and that means a lot to me.
BRENNAN: But- but- okay. But he's got a list he's published, Kash Patel has, he published it in a book of enemies, it includes people like the FBI director, Defense Secretary Austin, Bill Barr, former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, former CIA Director Gina Haspel. The head of CENTCOM. I mean, do you take him at his word here that these are an enemies list and you're going to put him in a law enforcement role to go after them?
GRAHAM: I believe the hearing will expose him to be a very qualified man of the law. He wrote a book, he’ll have to answer questions about what's in the book, but I'm ready to vote for him because I know him, too. See, you never asked me about the Russia Hoax that he exposed. People on the right believe that he was part of the solution not the problem. You asked a good question of Brett, has Israel suffered because of this war? They went too far on the world stage. Here’s what's happened on the world stage: the International Criminal Court is going to be sanctioned by the Congress. Republicans and Democrats, because they're trying to prosecute the Prime Minister and Defense Minister of Israel-
BRENNAN: Lindsey, this is a- Lindsey Graham, this is a far cry from the question about Kash Pate. You took me all the way to Israel from Kash Patel. Are you- you’re committing to vote for him no matter what?
GRAHAM: Yeah. Well. let’s go back to Kash Patel.
BRENNAN: You are going to vote for Kash Patel?
GRAHAM: I wouldn't say no matter what, but, yes, I am ready to vote for Kash Patel because you will never ask me the role he played in exposing the darkest moment of the FBI since Edgar -- J. Edgar Hoover. That's why I trust him.
BRENNAN: Okay. Ask him about going after journalists which he has also said. I'm interested in the answer to that question. We will be right back.
GRAHAM: I'm sure Democratic friends will ask him. And you shouldn't worry about Kash Patel.
BRENNAN: Okay.
GRAHAM: You should worry about reporting the news fairly which you don't do when it comes to everything Trump.
BRENNAN: Lindsey Graham, you are a guest on this program because we wanted to hear you out and we welcome you back.
GRAHAM: Good. Thank you.
BRENNAN: As we often do…
GRAHAM: I’ll be back. I’ll be back.
BRENNAN: On legacy media. We’ll be right back.
The interview began with discussion of the Israel-Hamas hostage ceasefire, then progressed to talk of the upcoming reconciliation bill that aims to address much of the Trump agenda. There was a back-and-forth, but certainly nothing over the top.
It is at this point that the interview moves to Patel. Brennan begins by framing her question as an appeal to authority, citing former Attorney General Bill Barr’s published opinion disqualifying Patel from heading the FBI (Side note: Part of Barr’s argument against Patel is that he never served as an agent. An astute X commenter points out that neither was outgoing FBI Director Christopher Wray, something that never comes up in these discussions).
Graham counters Brennan’s appeal to authority with one of his own: former House Oversight chair Trey Gowdy, who worked with Patel. Brennan’s next pass at pressuring Graham is to cite Patel’s so-called “enemies list” as published in his book. But it was never published as such in his book Government Gangsters.
Kash Patel no more has an “enemies list” than the Florida legislature passed a “Don’t Say Gay” law. Both of these are narratives forwarded by the media with the intent of demonizing a particular individual target.
Graham cut through all of that by calling Brennan (and the media) out for suppressing the role Patel played in exposing the Russia Hoax. Brennan tried to brush it off, at which point Graham called them out for unfairly reporting all things related to President Donald Trump.
The whole episode demonstrates that the media remain hell-bent on derailing some of Trump’s most disruptive nominees, and that Trump Derangement Syndrome remains alive and well. The media never learn.
