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. MARGARET BRENNAN: 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. Why, in the book, do you argue that those two things are connected?
BRETT MCGURK: Well, first, Margaret, it's great to be here. And I try to just tell this history. It's chronological, but I really try to bring the reader into the 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. 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. 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.
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. And on October 6, you're right, I had a Saudi delegation in my office with Princess Reema. Tony Blinken was about to go to the Middle 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. But it was definitely- it was moving in that direction, and we were quite confident. 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.
What happened just a few hours later obviously knocked that issue off- off the agenda and everything else. 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. 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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