Transcript: Sen. Kevin Cramer on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” Oct. 18, 2026

October 18, 2026 / 12:48 PM EDT / CBS News

The following is the transcript of the interview with Sen. Kevin Cramer, Republican of North Dakota, that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on Oct. 18, 2026.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Welcome back to Face the Nation. We go now to North Dakota Republican Senator Kevin Cramer, who joins us from Bismarck. Good morning to you, Senator.

SENATOR KEVIN CRAMER (R-ND): Good morning. Good to be with you.

MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to ask you about Ukraine. I know you just recently traveled there. A number of your departing, some retiring, Senate Republican colleagues have made clear they were very upset with President Trump's decision to waive the Lindsey Graham sanctions off of Russia and buyers of Russian oil. Senator Cornyn said Lindsey would be appalled. Senator Tillis said it is beyond irresponsible, unconscionable to capitulate to Vladimir Putin. Where do you stand?

SEN. CRAMER: Well, Margaret, on this topic and a whole bunch of others, I think capitulating to a bully generally means they're going to make more demands going forward. That's the problem with taking sort of a business negotiation approach to negotiating with a thug, which is…

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