Transcript: Utah Gov. Spencer Cox on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," Sept. 13, 2026

The following is the transcript of the interview with Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on Sept. 13, 2026.

WEIJIA JIANG: We turn now to Utah Republican Governor Spencer Cox. His new book is titled "Off Ramp: How to be a Peacemaker in an Age of Contempt." He joins us from Salt Lake City. Good morning, Governor Cox.

GOV. SPENCER COX: Good morning, Weijia. It's great to be with you again.

WEIJIA JIANG: Thank you for being here. Let's start with AI because just this morning, House Speaker Mike Johnson said we don't need everyone to panic and Congress should resist jumping in and imposing some sort of moratorium. But I wonder what role does the federal government need to be playing right now?

GOV. COX: Well, a much bigger role than the role that they're actually playing. I don't think the speaker has to worry at all about Congress not acting. That's kind of all they do. They're- they're very good at that, and I think this is- this is a very important moment for- for all of us. We've seen the reports. We know what's possible. The Hugging Face incident that you've already talked about should be very concerning to- to everyone, and- and the people that know the most about this are- are the most concerned right now. And I think that- that means that Congress actually should get together and at least have a conversation. I'm- I'm embarrassed by the- the response from Congress to just about everything in our country right now.

WEIJIA JIANG: And have you spoken to any members, any Republicans, about this lack of urgency?

GOV. COX: Yeah, so in the past- just in the past 48 hours, members of my team have reached out to a couple members of our delegation who share our concerns. We're- we're looking at, of course, at what- what Dario and and- and Sam and Elon have- have all been saying now, just in the last 24 hours. I think our thinking on this is- is kind of moving for sure. But it's very clear, and we've known this now for- for a little while that- that the possibility of an existential event happening is- is growing and growing much more rapidly than anyone projected, and it's- it's really important that- that the government gets involved. And we- we can do this in the right way. I'm not saying a moratorium. I'm not saying shutting things down. Government doesn't get this right often either, but we should be at the table working together, and that's what we've done in Utah. We have a pro-human AI approach. We actually have these companies at the table with government working together on making sure we protect the public.

WEIJIA JIANG: Governor, we have so much more to talk to you about, but we have to take a quick break. We will be right back on Face the Nation.

WEIJIA JIANG: Welcome back to Face the Nation. We return to our conversation with Utah Republican Governor Spencer Cox. Governor, I want to turn to the midterm elections because we are still waiting for a final decision from the Supreme Court that could have a huge impact on mail-in ballots.