Khanna weighs Maine Senate race, AI oversight and intelligence shakeup

Margaret Brennan turned Sunday’s Face the Nation into a preview of several Washington fights that are already colliding in Congress and the White House. The hour linked President Trump’s intelligence pick, a Maine Senate primary, a Texas Republican civil war and a fast-approaching surveillance deadline, while also setting up a debate over how far Washington should go in policing artificial intelligence.

Brennan opened by saying Trump’s choice for national intelligence director had a chilling effect on the intelligence community and on Capitol Hill. CBS’s transcript said the administration had put Bill Pulte, the Federal Housing Finance Agency director, in charge of the intelligence community despite his lack of intelligence experience. Brennan said that controversy was spilling into Republican efforts to renew a surveillance program set to expire that week, sharpening the stakes around intelligence oversight just days before the June 12 deadline for Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

The Senate’s failure to advance a procedural vote to extend Section 702 added urgency to the segment. The law allows U.S. intelligence agencies to collect the communications of foreigners outside the United States without individual warrants, and lawmakers have warned that letting it lapse could open dangerous intelligence gaps. By putting that deadline next to the personnel fight over Trump’s intelligence team, Brennan drew a direct line from personnel politics to national-security policy.

Brennan then pivoted to the Democratic fight in Maine, where Tuesday’s Senate primary could determine who gets to challenge longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins. Her interview with Ro Khanna focused on Graham Platner, whom Brennan said was facing alarming allegations of past aggressive behavior. The race has become more than a state contest: it is now a test of how much risk national Democrats will tolerate in a contest they view as one of their best chances to flip a Republican-held seat.

Don Bacon’s interview carried a similar warning for Republicans. Brennan pressed the Nebraska lawmaker on Texas GOP Senate nominee Ken Paxton, noting that the state’s Republicans had backed a candidate who had been impeached by the Texas House on abuse-of-office charges, including bribery, and indicted in 2015 on securities fraud charges that were later dropped. Brennan also noted that Angela Paxton had filed for divorce on what she called biblical grounds because of adultery. Bacon said Donald Trump’s endorsement often carries the most weight in Republican primaries, called the Paxton decision a mistake and said it would leave the Texas seat more vulnerable against Democratic nominee James Talarico.

The broadcast also widened to the next policy fight: artificial intelligence. Chris Krebs and Ben Buchanan joined Brennan alongside Jim Himes and Rye Barcott, pointing to an emerging question for Congress and the White House alike. As AI systems spread faster than the regulatory response, lawmakers are already facing pressure to decide whether Washington will set tighter rules or let the market move first.