The following is the transcript of an interview with Republican Rep. Mike Turner of Ohio that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on August 2, 2026.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And we're back with Ohio Republican congressman Mike Turner. He joins us this morning from Dayton. Good morning to you.
REP MIKE TURNER: Good morning, Margaret.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You serve on the Armed Services Committee. Back in March, the Republican chair of it said the administration is not giving enough detail. That was March. It's now July. Are you satisfied with what you're being told? Excuse me—It's August.
REP MIKE TURNER: Yes. The administration could be sharing more with Congress. I don't think anybody is satisfied with the level of information we're receiving, although it is a dynamic conflict. Both the House and the Senate have registered that the Pentagon needs to be sharing more information with Congress.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, on Friday, out at Camp David, it was all on camera, the president's team gathered. They talked about initiatives they're working on and all praised him. Secretary Hegseth said Iran has shown no willingness to honestly negotiate. Here's what President Trump said.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I'm losing faith in them because they do lie and they do misrepresent. Well, the other day, the five missiles we shot, we knocked them down. But we were in the midst of the negotiation. They always want to talk but they break their word so often. They've been very dishonest, very dishonorable to deal with but that makes no difference.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So that was the president laying out why he doesn't trust diplomacy with Iran. Last night, he said there's a diplomatic opening and a deal may be within reach. Will you support it sight unseen? Are we at risk of the president cutting a flawed deal just to end this unpopular conflict?
REP MIKE TURNER: I don't think it's cutting a flawed deal. This is part of a process, obviously, where Iran has to abandon their nuclear ambitions and restart their nuclear enrichment programs and address the issues of an open Straits of Hormuz so that commerce and the flow of oil and natural gas can resume.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So the war should continue until there is some diplomatic deal regarding the nuclear program, because right now they're just talking about the Strait.
REP MIKE TURNER: This began with Epic Fury, which we described as an inevitable conflict, as a result of where Obama left us, watching until Iran began to get closer to enough nuclear material for a nuclear weapon. The International Atomic Energy Agency said they were weeks away as a result of where they were left before Epic Fury. Then we have—
MARGARET BRENNAN: In terms of enrichment capacity. Not weaponization.
REP MIKE TURNER: Yes. They would have the opportunity to do so. With the straits closing, we had the Memorandum of Understanding where it looked as if they were going to come to a deal. Now the president has been trying to enforce the opening of the Straits. If Iran is in a position where they have to come to the table, whether it's economics, energy production, or the loss of military capabilities, all metrics show a declining capability to continue. They will have to concede to the opening of the straits and returning to commerce.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, we'll see. The president said there are parameters of a possible deal, but we'll track that diplomacy. Let me ask you about what's happening on U.S. soil. The FBI warned cyber actors are attacking water utilities in at least seven states. CBS is reporting that U.S. officials are probing to determine whether it's Iranian hackers behind it. They've done something similar back in 2023. President Trump was asked, and here's what he said.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: You know who's behind it? Minnesota, because they're grossly incompetent. I think the Governor's behind it. I don't think there was an Iranian cyber attack.
MARGARET BRENNAN: I know it takes a while to officially attribute an attack, but has Congress at least been told which states are impacted? Is Ohio? And is this an attack on U.S. soil amid a war?
REP MIKE TURNER: We have not been informed at this time. Iran has attacked our critical infrastructure previously. Our adversaries—Russia, China, North Korea, Iran—look at critical infrastructure that supports our civilian infrastructure, like water, as valid military targets. These need to be monitored and hardened. Iran has been doing this well before this conflict, and we need to be aware of it.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, we are at war now.
REP MIKE TURNER: We need to be diligent. We are certainly in a conflict where we would expect that they would continue what they were doing.