The following is a transcript of an interview with House Foreign Affairs Committee chair Rep. Michael McCaul, Republican of Texas, on “Face the Nation” that aired on July 28, 2024.
ROBERT COSTA: Welcome back to Face The Nation. We’re now joined by the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Michael McCaul. Chairman, thanks for being here.
REP. MICHAEL MCCAUL: Thanks, Robert. Thanks for having me.
ROBERT COSTA: Pretty grim morning over in Israel in the fallout from the Golan Heights strikes. Secretary Blinken told reporters this morning quote ‘every indication’ is that indeed the rockets were from or- in some way related to Hezbollah. A U.S. official also tells CBS News there’s no real doubt this was Hezbollah. Have you been briefed on the situation in the Golan Heights and what can you tell us?
REP. MCCAUL: Yes, I have. And it did come from Hezbollah within the five mile range that the UN Security Council resolution says that Hezbollah cannot operate within this five mile zone, killing 12 children on a playground and it’s interesting they’re Arab Druze, a religious minority sect. It doesn’t make any sense to me why they would target those people. And now they’re claiming they had nothing to do with it. Perhaps that may be why.
ROBERT COSTA : So for someone who’s just kind of tuning into this issue, they hear about Israel’s war with Hamas, and they now hear about Hezbollah attacking in the Golan Heights. And you just heard Senator Lindsey Graham on Face the Nation. He warned of possible nuclear concerns here if this spills and spirals into a broader conflict. What’s the big picture here of the threat of this situation exacerbating in the coming days and weeks?
REP. MCCAUL: Well, we don’t want escalation for sure. I think it’s important to note that- that Hezbollah, Hamas, Houthi rebels were all proxies of Iran. They’re sort of like the tentacles of the head of the snake, if you will. And so they don’t operate without, you know, without Iran’s consent. And so what I think is happening, to be honest with you, as they debate the cease-fire, Iran doesn’t want normalization, and that is the process with Saudi Arabia and Israel that they were entering into prior to October the seventh. So it’s a very important point. Once Iran saw this I think that culminated in October the seventh. So it’s not in their interest to have any cease-fire, you know, agreement that would somehow keep- they want Sinwar to stay in power. They want Hamas to stay in power, otherwise, they lose power and the Saudis have made it clear, to get to the normalization peace process, Sinwar has to go. Hamas has to go. And we need a new form of governance for the Palestinian people.
ROBERT COSTA: The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the United States, this past week, what have you heard, what have you been told about his request to have more shipments of weapons delivered on a fast track basis?
REP. MCCAUL: Well I sign off on all foreign military sales, and I sign off on all the ones that have gone to Israel and also to Ukraine and Taiwan. And so the fact is, though, that these shipments have been delayed intentionally. The four corners, that being the Chair and Ranking Member of House Foreign Affairs and Senate Relations, we signed off on these weapons and for some reason the administration has withheld those weapons–
ROBERT COSTA: — What’s the reason?
REP. MCCAUL: I think maybe it gives them leverage over Israel and decision making processes. But when I talked to the Prime Minister and his office, this creates daylight between the United States and Israel. And I think it’s very dangerous, especially right now, for us to somehow put daylight between us and our most important U.S. ally democracy in- in the Middle East.
ROBERT COSTA: Let’s turn to the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. What is the role going to be you have going forward in a possible Task Force to investigate this assassination attempt? Have you spoken with Speaker Johnson about having some kind of role? Because not only do you focus on foreign policy, but also on homeland security. What do you want to do and what should happen now?
REP. MCCAUL: What I want to see is sort of like how I’ve conducted the Afghanistan investigation that we’re starting to wind up. We’ll have a report on the anniversary of the Abbey Gate bombing. Professional. That professionalism is very important. Experience. So you want people that either have, you know, special operators that know how snipers work, to federal prosecutors like myself that know how the process works. You know, I conducted national security events when I led the Joint Terrorism Task Force. And so I want it to be an experienced, but also done very professionally without a lot of theater, if you will. I think you want it to be credible–
ROBERT COSTA: Will you- will you be on it?
REP. MCCAUL:– more than anything it deserves that.
ROBERT COSTA: Will you be on a task force?
REP. MCCAUL: I have no idea.
ROBERT COSTA: Would you be willing to?
REP. MCCAUL: If asked I would serve but there are a lot of other very qualified people.
ROBERT COSTA: Is it feasible to get a report done on the assassination attempt by the end of this year?
REP. MCCAUL: I think so. I went out to the site. I went up to the rooftop. This individual should never been that close to the President of the United States. It was very, very close. And the fact he even got there in the first place was a failure. It should have been stopped. What’s interesting, Robert, is that he had a detonation device on him and two bombs in the car. What his plan was- was to assassinate the president, create a diversion by blowing up his vehicle on the other side of the property, and then he could escape.
ROBERT COSTA: Do you have confidence in the Secret Service to protect former President Trump and to protect President Biden and other protectees at this point? Yes, the director has just recently resigned. But former President Trump’s going back to Pennsylvania for rallies, the Secret Service is still with him. Do you have confidence in the Secret Service at this time?
REP. MCCAUL: You know, I chaired Homeland for three terms. And I have faith and confidence in them. I didn’t have confidence in their leadership. And I’m glad that Director Cheattle did the right thing and resigned, like President Reagan’s director of Secret Service did. Each time you have an attempted assassination, that is a failure. And she said that herself. I think the agents are good. The problem is the President is under a lot of threats, obviously. And one from Iran as well. They asked for additional agents, they were not given that. So if–
ROBERT COSTA: — Should Congress step in your view and provide more resources, more agents? Should- is there a congressional role in addressing the Secret Service issue?
REP. MCCAUL: Be happy to do that, but I think for the most part, they have the resources. It’s just this particular event and the Trump campaign itself, they were derelict in their responsibilities.
ROBERT COSTA: When you look at foreign policy, you also have issues with the border. What’s your assessment of where things stand with US border policy and the national security threats there, especially with this mounting number of arrests at the border in recent weeks?
REP. MCCAUL: Well, in addition to the aggravated felons and the fentanyl and I can go on and on about that, what I worry most about Robert is- look you had the fall of Afghanistan. Thousands of ISIS-K came out of those prisons in Bagram, end up in a region called the Khorasan region, which is Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, they make their way over. They come through Mexico and they enter into the United States. ISIS. When I chaired Homeland we worried about this, but we never actually saw it. Now we have ISIS in the homeland. Fortunately, the FBI has detained the eight individuals. But the question is how many more are here?
ROBERT COSTA: Chairman McCaul of Texas thank you for stopping by Face the Nation. We always appreciate your time–
REP. MCCAUL:– Thank you Robert —
ROBERT COSTA: — Thank you, and we will be right back.