The following is the full transcript of the interview with Brett McGurk, who served as a top Middle East adviser to former Preident Joe Biden, a portion of which aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on Oct. 4, 2026.
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portion → follow → Oct.
So, October 6th, 2023, Saudi Princess Reema Bandar shakes hands with you on a deal meant to normalize relations, or start normalizing relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, create a pathway for the Palestinians, give Saudi the civilian nuclear deal, and within hours this incredible attack happens in Israel.
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attack → shake → Israel
Why, in the book, do you argue that those two things are connected?
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things → argue → book
And I try to just tell this history.
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I → try → history
It's chronological, but I really try to bring the reader into the room.
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I → try → room
And the book starts about three days into the Biden administration, President Biden asked me to go see the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia about some significant changes we were going to make in Saudi policy, including cutting off various weapons systems and a number of steps.
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we → start → steps
And the Crown Prince in that meeting kind of put on the table the possibility of recognizing Israel, a kind of big, you know, breakthrough possible deal.
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you → put → deal
And we didn't really pick that up until about a year and a half into the administration, and I describe, I think, that was lost time and unfortunate.
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that → pick → administration
But once we did pick it up, we made some real progress on it, and we had a package of agreements, including the Palestinian Authority was working with us on this deal.
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Authority → pick → deal
And on October 6, you're right, I had a Saudi delegation in my office with Princess Reema.
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I → have → Reema
Tony Blinken was about to go to the Middle East.
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Blinken → go → East
And we had mapped out- I still can't say if not for what happened a few hours later, we definitely would have gotten the deal.
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we → map → deal
But it was definitely- it was moving in that direction, and we were quite confident.
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we → move → direction
And Reema and I shook hands on by the end of the year, really, to have this in place, and then talk about the- the rollout of it in the first quarter of 2024.
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Reema → shake → 2024
What happened just a few hours later obviously knocked that issue off- off the agenda and everything else.
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happened → happen → agenda
I think it's- it's tragic because I think that deal, when you step back, if you look at what was happening just a few weeks before the events of October 7th, we're now the third anniversary, you had things happening that had not happened in 55 years.
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that → think → years
You had a senior Saudi official visiting Ramallah in the West Bank to see the Palestinian Authority, first time since 1967.
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official → have → 1967
You had Israeli officials in Israel- or Israeli officials in Saudi Arabia, and- and I think a package that would have set the foundation for what is now in a UN Security Council resolution, Margaret, a credible pathway to Palestinian state determination and statehood.
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what → have → determination
That's what we were talking about.
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we → talk → what
Hamas, of course, does not recognize Israel, wants to destroy Israel, and I would not be surprised if one of the motivations on October 7th was to knock this agenda off the table.
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one → recognize → table
Do you believe that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar knew that there were these plans for a Palestinian pathway and normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia, and that factored into his thinking?
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that → believe → thinking
We never saw anything to tie a direct connection.
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We → see → connection
I never saw anything to tie a direct connection, but certainly it was known that this deal was moving in that direction.
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deal → see → direction
Mohammed bin Salman said it in September.
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Salman → say → September
It's like a- one of the biggest deals that- could be one of the biggest deals since the Cold War--
MARGARET BRENNAN: --Transform the Middle East if it had happened.
BRETT MCGURK:
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it → happen → East
But I think October 7th had been planned, from what we later learned, for a period of years, and this was not something that just suddenly put together.
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that → think → years
But I learned about the attack that night around midnight from Mike Herzog, the Israeli ambassador.
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I → learn → Herzog
I got a call from the Situation Room, also.
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I → get → Room
It was rocket attacks and then cross-border attacks, and, you know, events kind of unfold- I describe it in the book of, as a crisis unfolds, you- you learn and you- you see jagged pieces.
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you → know → pieces
And it still wasn't clear even by daybreak, when I was at the White House, and eventually saw President Biden later that morning, just the scope of the scale of- of what was underway.
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what → see → scale
Well, you wrote that the U.S. "had no clear warnings; nor did the Israelis, from what they told us."
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they → write → us
But you leave open the idea that there were missed signals.
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you → leave → idea
I think, Margaret-
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I → think → ?
So we have really looked, we did not have any- anything in our system that would have been a warning and indicator.
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that → look → system
I can't speak to whether the Israelis- the Israelis still have to this day not had a commission of inquiry.
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Israelis → speak → inquiry
We had a 9/11 commission that I think made a number of reforms that have helped keep our country safe since 9/11.
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that → have → 9/11
The Israelis still have not done that.
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Israelis → do → that
I think they have to, they should do that.
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they → think → that
But from what I, in dealing with all these guys in Israel, security echelon, political echelon, I think they had an assumption that was deeply ingrained that Hamas was deterred, assuaged, and was not about to do something massive on any- any scale like this.
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Hamas → deal → this
I think that was a false assumption in their system, a failure of imagination, and it was tragic.
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it → think → imagination
…and 691 more, not listed.
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