Transcript: Kevin Hassett on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” May 3, 2026

The following is the transcript of an interview with White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett that aired on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on May 3, 2026.

MARGARET BRENNAN: We start this morning with the director of the White House Economic Council. Kevin Hassett joins us from Los Angeles. Good morning to you.

KEVIN HASSETT: Oh yeah, hello.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well Director, President Trump sent a letter to Congress on Friday saying a few things. One is that the conflict with Iran, the ceasefire has been extended. He also said that the wars are over. He also said that the threat posed by Iran remains significant, and the power situation will continue to be reviewed. Then overnight, we saw the President say that Iran has not paid a big enough price for what they have done to humanity. What exactly is the message to the market?

KEVIN HASSETT: Right. However, I think the market has been consistent. The truth is that what the President sees is that the ban is working. It’s putting a lot of pressure on Iran, and Iran’s threats to put mines in trouble have made it so that the humanitarian aid that, of course, we’re going to send to Iran, that there are a lot of those ship captains who are wary of going to Iranian ports because they’re worried about where the Iranians are going to put the mines. And then, you know, I go down to the living room several times a week and find out about what’s going on in Iran, and the economy is on the verge of a really big crisis. They have high inflation. They are starting to get hungry. The important thing is that the pressure is on the American people, because of these people who are really determined to destroy America and Israel with nuclear weapons. Finally, Margaret, I don’t know if you’ve seen it, but the UN Human Rights people came out this week criticizing Iran because they’re killing people who are trying to resist this regime which is probably, you know, causing starvation and even starvation.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So, you said the ban is still going on. Prohibition is an act of war. Are we at war with Iran?

KEVIN HASSETT: Iran covered the issues. Iran blocked these issues, and the only thing they would allow was Iranian ships, and President Trump didn’t think that was acceptable.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So, we’re still at war with Iran?

KEVIN HASSETT: You know what – I don’t know what the meaning of war is if we’re not shooting and we’re negotiating and they’re under a lot of pressure. There is no reason, I think, right now, to do anything other than what we are doing. The truth is that that regime has destroyed the country. Let me put it in perspective. In 1978 before the Ayatollah came in, the GDP per capita in Iran was about the same as that of Japan and Italy. Now it is almost the same in Honduras. So they run that country into the ground, and that’s before the roads are closed. So, indeed, the land on the rocks.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Absolutely and we’re interviewing them. But then we’re going into week 10. I wonder what economic modeling you have done here, because the President had said at the beginning that the war would last four to six weeks. We are now averaging a national gas price of $4.45 a gallon. Can we end the conflict without taking back the Strait of Hormuz?

KEVIN HASSETT: Well, what’s happening right now is we’re doing all of the above to get energy from the American people and increase energy production around the world–

MARGARET BRENNAN: — That takes time–

KEVIN HASSETT: — And I think if you look into the future, what people are saying- No. So for example, we’re giving up on the Jones Act. The US price is $10 a barrel lower than the world- and world exchanges and the whole west coast was buying world oil prices, but now they are buying US oil prices. Therefore we have implemented a large number of measures to reduce short-term disruptions.

MARGARET BRENNAN: The Bank of America came out with a report this week that says rising gas prices cost consumers $19 billion. They say fuel prices have canceled out about half of the expected increase in tax revenue. Goldman Sachs agrees, saying the deduction would take away benefits from the tax bill the White House championed. Do you agree with that analysis?

KEVIN HASSETT

No, that analysis is incorrect. Like, think of it this way, 153 million people already file taxes, and the average tax refund is $3,600. 53 million people benefited from not paying tip tax, overtime tax, Social Security tax. With tax-free tips and Social Security freeing up between $7,000 and $8,000 in taxes for those individuals and overtime income tax, it’s closer to $5000. So these are really big numbers, and when people look at their gas bills, of course, they’re high, and we’re doing everything we can to make the short-term increase as small as possible. But finally, there is the economic growth component. Real incomes are increasing, and real incomes, when adjusting for inflation, including the price of energy, real incomes decreased for about eight years under Obama, decreased under Biden, and are increasing now despite the temporary increase in gas prices.

MARGARET BRENNAN

Well, we saw an increase in PCE. But simply clarifying the tax law signed by the President does not remove taxes from Social Security. It offers seniors an enhanced standard deduction until the end of 2028. But let me ask you about the news at Spirit Airlines–

KEVIN HASSETT: But that makes a lot of people not covered- Yeah, I want to talk about the Spirit. I’m just saying that makes a lot of people less likely to face a tax increase. So you are right. It’s a technical issue, but it has the effect we discussed.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Spirit Airlines went out of business, as we mentioned at the beginning of the program. I know the White House was trying to do an 11th hour rescue plan. What happened, and do you have a sense of the wider economic impact?

KEVIN HASSETT: Oh, absolutely. You know, it’s something I was very involved in. We knew that, because the merger between JetBlue and Air was unceremoniously canceled by the Biden administration, that Air, unfortunately, was on the ropes when we looked at their books, that in fact, the debtors were going to liquidate them and try to sell their assets to get some of the money they had borrowed. And there were authorities that were examined to see if we could help them get the rope of life. And finally, the legal guys decided that those authorities wouldn’t work in this situation. In the meantime, while that was being investigated, Secretary Duffy and I talked to other airlines to make sure they were helping stranded people get home and getting home basically at a much lower cost than what they would normally charge.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So the company–

KEVIN HASSETT: – In fact, American and United and Southwest have all said they will help Spirit passengers get home.

MARGARET BRENNAN: You talked about past financial problems, no doubt, Spirit has had for many years, but they had that restructuring deal with the bondholders back in March. In this statement, the vent explained why they are closing it, they said, citing, “The sudden and continuous increase in fuel prices in recent weeks, has left us with no other option.” Are other industries also at risk of collapse, or other large companies due to this energy shock?

KEVIN HASSETT: Well, don’t forget, Spirit Airlines went to Chapter 11 twice because it actually didn’t—

MARGARET BRENNAN: I agree with that.

KEVIN HASSETT: -had a business model that worked. That’s right. Some airlines are still operating. I just flew out here to discuss these issues at the Milken conference in LA, you know, at United Airlines and you know, other airlines are working, what they did is because they thought more ahead than Spirit management had to tie up their jet fuel purchases and so on. So those short-term energy shocks don’t have a big impact on their business. Sure, it will affect airlines’ profits for a quarter or so, but they’re in pretty good health right now.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Kevin Hassett, we’ll let you go back to work. Thanks for joining us this morning. Face the Nation will be back in a minute.