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Transcript: Frank McKenzie on ‘Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,’ July 12, 2026

▶ Watch Video: Retired Gen. Frank McKenzie on the Trump administration’s options with Iran

The following is the transcript of an interview with retired Gen. Frank McKenzie, former commander of U.S. Central Command and president of The Citadel, that aired on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on July 12, 2026.

MARGARET BRENNAN: We go now to the former commander of the U.S. Central Command, retired General Frank McKenzie. General, welcome back. You know, I was just looking back at my last conversation on Face the Nation with Lindsey Graham, and the senator said, “If this deal fails, President Trump is going to take the Strait of Hormuz over by force. The U.S. will control the Strait of Hormuz.” That was three weeks ago. How does the United States end up controlling the Strait of Hormuz?

GENERAL FRANK MCKENZIE: Well, Margaret, we certainly have the capability to control the Strait of Hormuz if the president chooses to follow that course of action. Look, what he’s been trying to do is get to a diplomatic and a political solution here, which I applaud, and I think we should all want to see as the final end state. Nonetheless, the fact of the matter is the Iranians generally only respond to military force and to extreme pressure. Look, we’re not talking about regime change here. What we’re talking about is modifying the- the views and actions of an extreme hardli- hardline regime, that is possible. We have the capability to do that. That capability is resident in the U.S. military should the president elect to employ it. That would include opening the Strait of Hormuz, maintaining the Strait of Hormuz open, and in fact, seizing Kharg Island, should we elect to do that. And I would just say, as an aside, that’s something we should think about doing because possession of Iranian soil would be a significant factor in future negotiations with Iran. So all those options are on the table. I’m not sure where we’re going to go with this, but I do know we have these capabilities.

MARGARET BRENNAN: We have those capabilities, but the president has made clear he- he kind of just wants a- he wants a deal here. How do you explain to the layperson when the president says we control the Strait of Hormuz, but then CENTCOM says military forces are positioned to ensure freedom of navigation, which makes it sound it isn’t exactly free-flowing traffic here?

GEN. MCKENZIE: No, it’s not right now because we have not deployed all the capabilities that we have to open the Strait. We certainly can do that. It would require putting warships up into narrow waters. Look, the U.S. Navy doesn’t love to do that, but they’re very good at it, and if necessary, they can do it, and they can do it well. You got to go back to the basic principle of Iranian statecraft, which is regime preservation. If you want to gain concessions from Iran, you have to directly pressure the regime, and you have to do so in a way that perhaps is existential to them. We have those capabilities should the president choose to go that way.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Do those capabilities in- need to involve ground troops? And have you been at all surprised by the amount of pain that it appears the Iranian leadership is willing to take on here, while turning down all the financial incentives the Trump administration is offering them?

GEN. MCKENZIE: Margaret, given the history of Iran- Iran and their negotiation posture- negotiating posture over many years, I’m not surprised at all by- by the current Iranian posture. A former CENTCOM commander once said, “You know, Iran has never met a war they could win or a negotiation they could lose.” And that’s very true. What Iran wants to do is extend negotiations in time, arguing about the size of the table, who’s in the room, the font on the document, everything about- except the core issues. We need to recognize that, and we need to be prepared to pressure Iran to negotiate on the real germane issues. And by that, I mean opening the Strait of Hormuz, some movement on ballistic missiles, some movement on support for proxies. All those things are capable- we are capable of getting some form of movement on all those things. We just have to be willing to put pressure on Iran in order to achieve those goals.

MARGARET BRENNAN: I mean, Jordan said overnight three missiles fell into their territory, and there were no casualties, according to CENTCOM. But they’re- they’re firing off at Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman. They continue to be able to target American partners and places where American troops are. Does that surprise you? 

GEN. MCKENZIE: It does not surprise me at all. What surprises me actually is- not surprises me, but what gratifies me is that Iranian attacks have been- not been larger or more capable. Many years ago, when we war-gamed scenarios like this, we assumed the Iranian response would be more robust. The fact that it is not more robust is a testimony to Admiral Cooper and Central Command’s ability to- to go after these targets and make it hard for Iran to fashion, you know, cohesive large strikes against our forces. Now look, these strikes are going to continue. This is not a- this is not a bloodless endeavor we’re embarked upon– 

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah.

GEN. MCKENZIE: –and bases are going to be hit, and buildings are going to be destroyed, and tragically, people are going to die. And if we’re going to stay in this game and continue to confront Iran, which I believe is in our interest to do, we’ve got to be prepared for this.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Quickly, your thoughts on Senator Graham?

GEN. MCKENZIE: Senator Graham was a great representative of the state of South Carolina. In our nation, a great voice in the national security space, and a particular friend to the Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina. Over many years, he’s done a lot of great things for our school. In fact, he embodies the concept of the citizen soldier. The person who isn’t a professional military officer pursues a broad, deep, public professional career, and yet dons the uniform and serves his nation. That’s what we seek to produce at the Citadel. No better person to emulate than Lindsey Graham–

MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay.

GEN. MCKENZIE: –and we will miss him dearly.

MARGARET BRENNAN: General, thank you for your time. We’ll be right back.

Ohio Rep. running for reelection comes face-to-face in court with the senator whose daughter he’s accused of abusing

By CNN
Cleveland (CNN) — The senior US senator from Ohio sat with his daughter on a wooden bench in the hallway of the Cuyahoga County courthouse Wednesday, awaiting their turn as a judge in the room next door considered other domestic relations cases, then waiting again as that same judge swiftly declared a break in their case.Bernie Moreno had, for months, declined to wade publicly into the messy custody dispute that had consumed his family and threatened to upend the politics in his state. Now he sat in the thick of it, waiting to hear updates to a series of questions in the case, including whether a judge would grant a restraining order that his daughter’s lawyer had sought against his ex-son-in-law, the congressman Max Miller. Once the proceeding began, he moved to the wooden benches inside amid the press and other family members.Moreno’s daughter, Emily Moreno, was once married to Miller and has accused her now her-ex husband  of abuse, including an incident in which she says he held a gun to her. Miller has denied the assertions, saying his ex-wife is manipulative and suffers from mental illness. Her lawyer denies that.Their case might have been like any of the other domestic matters that went before Judge Debra Boros in the green-carpeted courtroom – except that Miller is also fighting for his political future in a reelection that has drawn national attention. Democrats are bullish they could flip the solidly red district, in part due to people like Moreno and Ohio’s other Republican senator – Jon Husted, who is also on the ballot in November – urging Miller to drop out.As the Morenos chatted on the bench, Miller walked by. The father and daughter bowed their heads.At issue Wednesday was a request not entirely at the heart of the matter.  Andrew Zashin, the lawyer for Emily Moreno, was seeking a restraining order, alleging that Miller grabbed him and another attorney’s bag last month after a hearing in their long-running legal battle. The attorney, filing on Emily Moreno’s behalf, said that it was the second instance in which the Congressman accosted his ex-wife’s legal team outside of court, something Miller’s team has denied.Ultimately the parties agreed to a mutual restraining order: Miller cannot speak to Emily Moreno’s lawyers outside of the court proceedings, and Emily Moreno cannot speak to Miller’s lawyers out of court proceedings.Both sides claimed victory.“What really happened here is their client left in a worse position than when she woke up this morning. When she woke up this morning, she didn’t have a restraining order prohibiting her from having any contact with counsel here,” Miller’s lawyer Larry Zukerman said, alleging that Emily Moreno “verbally attacked my co-counsel.”Emily Moreno’s lawyers deny that.“If that were the case, why didn’t they file something. Just more spin,” Zashin said, adding that he got the restraining order his team had sought.There was also a number of other matters to resolve, including whether an order would be issued in the case to keep court transcripts and depositions from being publicly available, and whether Miller’s private security would have to testify in the case. The judge punted both of those issues for a decision later.Boros was direct with those in the courtroom Wednesday, reminding all parties on two occasions that despite the emotions in the case, there was no excuse to violate court orders – an apparent nod to how the ordinary custody place is playing out in the national spotlight.Attention in the case intensified this month as more media outlets began reporting on allegations that had been part of court filings for months, and Miller faced increasing calls to drop his reelection bid ahead of a key deadline. President Donald Trump even privately told some allies that he didn’t believe Miller can win the race, given the accusations, one source familiar with the conversations previously told CNN.Miller, though, has remained defiant, insisting he would keep running even as the date for party leaders to replace him on the ballot passed. He previously told CNN that Trump had called him and relayed it would be a “tough race.” But Miller insisted he felt good about the decision to stay in.“My daughter is going to grow up one day, and she’s going to see all of this, and she’s not going to see that her father caved to political and social media pressures for something that he never did,” Miller said.After the court hearing on Wednesday, Miller’s attorney blasted the frenzy that has developed around the case, arguing it was unlike most of what he had seen in his time as an attorney.“They are making a political circus out of this,” Zukerman told CNN.The focus on Miller’s political and legal troubles, however, are far from over.After Miller asked the House Ethics Committee for an investigation that he said would clear his name, the committee announced it is “reviewing allegations that Representative Max Miller may have engaged in domestic violence and abuse or illegal drug use.”Miller, who worked as a White House staffer and served in the Marine Corps Reserve before joining Congress in 2023, admitted to last using illegal drugs “several years ago.” He denied currently using drugs but said he takes testosterone replacement therapy in a CNN interview earlier this month.Miller is also still contending with the fallout from his posting a link on social media to hundreds of messages, videos and images involving his ex-wife. While he framed the move as a bid to air out the facts and defend his daughter, the Dropbox folder that Miller shared with his nearly 60,000 followers included sensitive and unredacted details of his own family, including one image that depicted his toddler daughter nude. The photo was taken in the context of an inquiry into an injury the 2-year-old had suffered.Miller’s attorney Aaron Minc took responsibility for the disclosure publicly, and Miller called it “awful,” though he disputed the characterization of it as “shockingly reckless.”“My attorney took full responsibility,” Miller said. “There was never any intent to do that.”The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
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