Transcript: Maryland Gov. Wes Moore on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," April 5, 2026 - CBS News

## Summary
MOORE : No, I disagree, because I think the president still does not have a full articulation as to why gas prices are going up in the first place, or what's going to be necessary or required to be able to bring them down. Because I do believe that we need to give the middle class a little bit of extra relief now, and we ask the wealthiest of Marylanders to be able to invest a little bit more, so we can do things like having the rising, you know, increases in reading and math scores like we're seeing in Maryland, and the fact that Maryland now has amongst the fastest drops in violent crime anywhere in the United States of America. That we had a president of the United States talk about the military success that we have seen thus far, while still acknowledge- without acknowledging the fact of the long road ahead and no one understands or can art- has been articulated to us, what exactly it is that we are doing, or what success looks like. You know, I look at the fact that we're fighting this- this- this- this war in Iran, and one of the things that- there's three things you always hope for as a soldier, right?

## Article Content
The following is the full transcript of an interview with Maryland Democratic Gov. Wes Moore that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on April 5, 2026, moderated this week by
senior White House and political correspondent Ed O'Keefe
. The interview was taped on April 3, 2026.
ED O'KEEFE: Well, Governor, thank you for joining us. We appreciate it. We're meeting amid an ongoing war that is having a bit of an effect on the economy. Rising gas prices, inflation keeps creeping up. It was a decent jobs report on Friday, but mortgage rates are climbing and mortgage applications are down. You observe this as a governor, and you know that residents in your state are feeling the economic pinch. What can you do as a governor to address all of this?
GOV. WES MOORE: Well, we are feeling it, and it is true that, you know, a governor does not control the fact that energy prices have spiked over the past year. You know, my, my mom's energy bill in March of last year was $140. It's now creeping close to $500. Governors don't have full control over that. Governors can't control the fact that gas prices have gone up now over $1 because we decided to enter into another war of choice, that governors cannot control the fact that we are continuing to watch homes become more difficult and more expensive. But the thing we can do as governors is we can make sure that even though I don't control the price of food, that I can make sure that we're not doing price manipulation, and that these big corporations aren't gouging our customers, as we're doing here in the state of Maryland. You know, that I can make sure that even though we are watching energy prices rise, that we can hold these data center companies accountable and also making sure we're giving a rebate and giving something back to the people of the state of Maryland, which we're doing here.
ED O'KEEFE: Even your approval rating appears to have taken a hit in recent days, at least in one survey, and among those who disapproved, they cited raising taxes and fees. There's been some conversation in this state, at least, about possibly waiving the gas tax for a little while. It is one of the higher ones in the country. You say governors can't do much about the gas price, you could conceivably establish a gas price holiday, no?
GOV. MOORE: Yeah. I mean, the best thing that we could do to be able to address gas prices is by stop fighting foreign wars and stop watching gas prices jump up over $1.
ED O'KEEFE: So you agree with the president's theory that it will go back down once the war is over?
GOV. MOORE : No, I disagree, because I think the president still does not have a full articulation as to why gas prices are going up in the first place, or what's going to be necessary or required to be able to bring them down. You know, I think about what we've done here in Maryland to address that, where we've actually given the middle class in Maryland a tax cut. Because I do believe that we need to give the middle class a little bit of extra relief now, and we ask the wealthiest of Marylanders to be able to invest a little bit more, so we can do things like having the rising, you know, increases in reading and math scores like we're seeing in Maryland, and the fact that Maryland now has amongst the fastest drops in violent crime anywhere in the United States of America. And we ask the wealthiest of Marylanders to be able to do more to participate in that.
ED O'KEEFE: So gas tax holidays off the table, then, in your view?
GOV. MOORE: Yeah, I think we need to stop fighting these, these forever wars. And, you know, and I think about the fact that we are, we are very dangerously- we're lurching again into another forever war. And this is a forever war that is very similar to the one that I fought in, where I led soldiers with the 82nd Airborne Division in Afghanistan. And I know that the United States was in Afghanistan for 20 years, that it cost this country over two and a half trillion dollars, that we lost over 2,400 American lives. And we did it because we said we wanted to change the Taliban. And 20 years later, you know who's in charge of Afghanistan? The Taliban. And so I feel like we are lurching into another one of these forever wars that we're asking the American people to pay for, but we have still- but the president of the United States and the commander in chief has still yet to articulate what exactly it is that we're doing.
ED O'KEEFE: As we meet here, there are search and rescue operations underway now inside Iran because a U.S. fighter jet has been shot down. In recent days, the president suggested this operation will be done in two to three weeks. That doesn't seem to sit with you.
GOV. MOORE: It's- this is sitting horribly with me, because I'm thinking about these families. I'm thinking about the families of our service members, who right now who are afraid to pick up the phone because they're afraid to hear what is on the other end of the line. That we had a

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## Expert Analysis

### Merits
- That we had a president of the United States talk about the military success that we have seen thus far, while still acknowledge- without acknowledging the fact of the long road ahead and no one understands or can art- has been articulated to us, what exactly it is that we are doing, or what success looks like.
- And let's be clear, let's not confuse military success with the United States military with strategic success.
- MOORE: Well, I- I think the U.S. relationship with- with Israel is- is an important relationship.
- But I think with any important relationship, there needs to be accountability.

### Areas for Consideration
- Governors can't control the fact that gas prices have gone up now over $1 because we decided to enter into another war of choice, that governors cannot control the fact that we are continuing to watch homes become more difficult and more expensive.
- I was sent because I was angry, because I was frustrated, because I had a difficult childhood, and that place helped to save my life.

### Implications
- You say governors can't do much about the gas price, you could conceivably establish a gas price holiday, no?
- I mean, the best thing that we could do to be able to address gas prices is by stop fighting foreign wars and stop watching gas prices jump up over $1.
- ED O'KEEFE: So you agree with the president's theory that it will go back down once the war is over?
- And we did it because we said we wanted to change the Taliban.

### Expert Commentary
This article covers gov, moore, keefe topics. Notable strengths include discussion of gov. Areas of concern are also raised. Readability: Flesch-Kincaid grade 0.0. Word count: 2275.