CBS’s Margaret Brennan suggests ‘free speech’ to blame for Holocaust

Brennan questioned Rubio about Vance’s speech in Germany, in which the vice president warned that censorship in Europe posed a “threat from within.” Brennan then appeared to challenge the idea of unrestricted speech by citing the historical events of World War II.

“Well, he was standing in a country where free speech was weaponized to conduct a genocide, and he met with the head of a political party that has far-right views and some historic ties to extreme groups. The context of that was changing the tone of it. And you know that,” Brennan said.

Rubio firmly rejected Brennan’s characterization, stating, “Free speech was not used to conduct a genocide. The genocide was conducted by an authoritarian Nazi regime that happened to also be genocidal because they hated Jews and they hated minorities and they hated those that they- they had a list of people they hated, but primarily the Jews. There was no free speech in Nazi Germany. There was none. There was also no opposition in Nazi Germany.”

He went on to argue that Vance’s speech was addressing the erosion of free speech and intolerance for opposing viewpoints in Europe, which he said threatens the values that bind transatlantic allies together.

“I think allies and friends and partners that have worked together now for 80 years, should be able to speak frankly to one another in open forums without being offended, insulted, or upset,” Rubio continued. “I spoke to Foreign Ministers from multiple countries throughout Europe. Many of them probably didn't like the speech or didn't agree with it, but they were continuing to engage with us on all sorts of issues that unite us. So again, at the end of the day, I think that, you know, people give all- that is a forum in which you're supposed to be inviting people to give speeches, not basically a chorus where everyone is saying the exact same thing. That's not always going to be the case when it's a collection of democracies where leaders have the right and the privilege to speak their minds in forums such as these.”

The exchange comes as Vance delivered his remarks at the Munich Security Conference on Friday, where he argued that Europe's biggest challenges are not just adversarial countries like Russia or China, but also mass migration and laws restricting free speech. Vance compared European censorship laws to Soviet-era policies, criticizing those who use terms like “misinformation” and “disinformation” when referring to “somebody with an alternative viewpoint” who is expressing a different opinion.

He also criticized European Union officials for censoring "hateful content" and called out the United Kingdom for what he described as a “backslide away from conscience rights.”