The CBS host has also battled with Lindsey Graham and VP Vance in recent weeks
CBS host claims 'free speech was weaponized' by Nazi Germany
CBS' Margaret Brennan pressed back against Vice President JD Vance's speech at the Munich Security Conference criticizing European allies for censorship.
CBS News' Margaret Brennan continues to make headlines over her clashes with prominent Trump administration officials on her Sunday show, "Face the Nation," with her most recent one being with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Rubio tussled with Brennan after she suggested that free speech had been "weaponized" to bring about the Holocaust in Nazi Germany.
The CBS host regularly interviews Republicans on her show and also had some recent confrontational moments with Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., as well as Vice President JD Vance.
Brennan highlighted Vance's speech to the Munich Security Conference in Germany during her show on Sunday, which criticized European allies for adopting a "Soviet"-style approach to censorship and asked Rubio to explain what the speech accomplished besides "irritating our allies."
CBS host Margaret Brennan says free speech caused the Holocaust. (CBS News screenshot)
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"Why would our allies or anybody be irritated by free speech and by someone giving their opinion? We are, after all, democracies," Rubio said. "The Munich Security Conference is largely a conference of democracies in which one of the things that we cherish and value is the ability to speak freely and provide your opinions. And so, I think if anyone's angry about his words, they don't have to agree with him, but to be angry about it, I think actually makes his point."
Brennan pushed back, "Well, he was standing in a country where free speech was weaponized to conduct a genocide."
"He met with the head of a political party that has far-right views and some historic ties to extreme groups. The context of that was changing the tone of it. And you know that," she said.
Rubio then disagreed with Brennan, and said, "Free speech was not used to conduct a genocide. The genocide was conducted by an authoritarian Nazi regime that happened to also be genocidal because they hated Jews and they hated minorities and they had a list of people they hated, but primarily the Jews."
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio gives a joint news conference with Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader at the National Palace in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, Pool)
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Brennan was called out for the claim, specifically by Vance, who called the comments "crazy."
"This is a crazy exchange. Does the media really think the Holocaust was caused by free speech?" Vance wrote on social media.
During an interview with Vance in January, the anchor clashed with the vice president over unvetted refugees in the country.
Vance referenced a recent example of an Afghan national in Oklahoma who was accused of planning a terrorist attack in October. He originally came to the country in Sept. 2021 after the United States withdrawal from Afghanistan and went through multiple vetting processes.
"I don't want my children to share a neighborhood with people who are not properly vetted. And because I don't want it for my kids, I'm not going to force any other American citizens' kids to do that either," Vance said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, R-Fla., left, and Vice President Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, walk together after leaving Vance's former office on Capitol Hill, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Brennan said his example was "a very particular case," adding, "It wasn't clear if he was radicalized when he got here or while he was living here."
"I don't really care, Margaret," Vance replied. "I don't want that person in my country, and I think most Americans agree with me."
Brennan cut Graham off during a testy exchange regarding FBI director nominee Kash Patel on the day before Trump's inauguration.
"I'm ready to vote for him because I know him too. See [you] never asked about the Russia hoax that he exposed," Graham said after Brennan had read an excerpt from Attorney General Bill Barr's book, which argued that Patel had no experience that would qualify him to head the FBI. "People on the right believe that he was part of the solution, not the problem."
"You shouldn't worry about Kash Patel," Graham responded when Brennan asked about Patel "going after journalists."
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., waits for the arrival of President Joe Biden and the University of South Carolina Gamecocks Women's basketball team in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, for an event to welcome the and celebrate their 2023-2024 NCAA championship season. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
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"You should worry about reporting the news fairly, which you don't do when it comes to everything Trump," Graham added.
The senator began to talk about this situation in the Middle East and its relation to the "world stage" when Brennan quipped that Grahama took the conversation from Patel to Israel.
The CBS host then reminded Graham he is a guest on the show because "we wanted to hear you out," before cutting to a commercial break.
Brennan also hosted the vice presidential debate between Vance and former Vice President Kamala Harris' running mate, Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn., alongside former CBS host Norah O'Donnell. Brennan was panned after she issued a notable fact-check against Vance, despite CBS announcing beforehand that they would not allow live fact-checking during the debate.
JD Vance (R-OH), and Democratic vice presidential candidate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, participate in a debate at the CBS Broadcast Center on October 1, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) (Getty Images)
The CBS host noted that the town of Springfield, Ohio, had "a large number of Haitian migrants who have legal status, temporary protected status," during the debate.
However, Vance pushed back and pointed out CBS News' rules.
"And since you are fact-checking me, I think it's important to say what's actually going on," he said.
While explaining the process of obtaining legal status and tying it to a Harris-backed immigration policy, the moderators again spoke over Vance, thanking him for "describing the legal process" before they cut off his microphone as Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz attempted to argue with him.
After President Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt prior to the election in July, Brennan, while reporting on the attempt on his life, said that Trump's statement did not call for "lowering the temperature."
A day later, Brennan attempted to clarify her statement.
"Mr. Trump issued a statement after his traumatic experience, and I noted that his statement did not include a call to lower the temperature. It was not meant as a critique, but rather an observation I made in the moment of that breaking news," Brennan said.
Fox News' Anders Hagstrom and Joseph Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
Hanna Panreck is an associate editor at Fox News.
