CNN "The Lead with Jake Tapper" - Transcript: Interview with Michael McCaul

Interview

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TAPPER: All right. Thanks to everyone on the panel.

Let's talk now to Republican Congressman Mike McCaul from Texas.

He's the ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He's also a member of the Homeland Security Committee in the House of Representatives.

Congressman, good to see you.

President Biden says that he's not going to extend the withdrawal deadline from Afghanistan. It's August 31.

You have said that he has blood on his hands because people will die, people will be left behind. So, when do you think the U.S. should pull out?

REP. MICHAEL MCCAUL (R-TX), HOMELAND SECURITY CMTE.: Well, I think we should be talking to the G7 or NATO allies. We know the Brits, the Germans do not want us to evacuate on August 31. They would prefer we extend that. I think what the President's done now, by solidifying this in stone, this is the absolute last day. I can tell you we had our classified briefing with the Secretary of State, Defense, Chairman, the Joint Chiefs. We don't even know how many Americans were in there. They can't even give us a precise number. And many Americans don't register with the State Department.

But one thing is clear, there's no way, in seven days, we can remove all American citizens, much less our Afghan partners. You and I have talked about the interpreters for many months now. And when that door shuts, I still stand by my statement, he will have blood on his hands, because they will execute them upon our withdraw.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Do you think that the U.S. should stay at the airport until every special immigrant visa applicant, every Afghan ally, who has applied to get into this program is out?

MCCAUL: Well, that is what the Secretary of State told us, it's classified briefing, so we're going to get them all out. That's obviously not going to happen with August 31st deadline. I've always thought, Jake, it should not be timetabled, but rather mission-based. If the mission is to remove and get all American citizens out, which should be the case, not leaving at the hands of the Taliban. And, you know, these interpreters, they have a bull's eye on their back, it should be mission-based not on a timetable.

Seven days, Jake, even the retrograde itself, they'll be lucky to get that done in seven days. They're going to leave all these people behind. And it's really hard to watch this.

TAPPER: As you know, Biden is concerned, I'm sure we all are, about losing any more American service members in Afghanistan, the idea of extending the duration of time under which the United States presence would continue in Kabul, that would exacerbate the risk. You've heard Jake Sullivan, the National Security Adviser, talk about the real terrorist threats that they're picking up, especially when it comes to ISIS-K, which is in Kabul and Afghanistan. What do you say about that?

MCCAUL: So I think that's real. ISIS-K is real, the Taliban really doesn't control them. When I was chairman of Homeland Security, ISIS- K, one of the biggest external operation groups. Now they're going to thrive in Afghanistan.

You know, my point is that, why are we letting the Taliban dictate the date that we evacuated out of Afghanistan. It should be the other way around. But now, I think, because they didn't plan, they didn't have a strategy, there's so much chaos at the airport.

Jake, I'm getting, you know, we're having a clearing house, the Foreign Affairs Committee, getting thousands of these people out of there. But sadly, a lot of the interpreters that have their SIV documents, get to the airport, the Taliban apprehends them, sends them back to their home, executes their children and family and then they execute them. And I've heard countless stories of this happening, the airport is a absolute disaster. When the Taliban is controlling the gates, these people are being turned away, they're being killed. This is not the American way. And I think, you know, we should have had a strategy here, but since we didn't, and now we're worried about ISIS- K, we're going to let the Taliban dictate our foreign policy. TAPPER: Let me ask you because you've been talking about this issue of the Special Immigrant Visas for years. And you and I have been talking about it on this show for months. There are a number of other voices in the Republican Party that are already, whether on television or on tweets, or whatever, starting to talk about, starting to demonize Afghan immigrants, starting to talk about this is Biden's plan to put more Muslims in the country, starting to insinuate that these are bad people, they're terrorists, et cetera, et cetera, really rank bigotry. What's your reaction when you see it because it is -- I wouldn't say it's the prevalent voice in the Republican Party, but it's getting louder.

MCCAUL: Well, look, all Afghans will go through a screening, vetting process at a country and I think that's very important, when the Syrian refugee crisis was happening. We didn't have a databases, Jake. We didn't know who they were. We didn't have intelligence. Jay Johnson Secretary told me that. I was very much against that. This is a very different situation, particularly, when we talked about the interpreters.

Talk to any veteran who worked with an interpreter. They were one of their own. They put their lives on the line against fighting the Taliban with our U.S. soldiers, our special forces.

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You talk to any of our special forces, any of our veterans, they're like brothers. They were vetted to become a part of the unit themselves, put their lives on the line. And for God's sakes, if you're going to do that with our American troops, and we made a moral obligation promise to them, promises made, promises kept. And now with this August 31st, that promise will be violated and that sends a really bad message across the world.

TAPPER: Republican Congressman Mike McCaul from Texas, I know you're working hard to get a lot of these Special Immigrant Visas as well as American citizens and green card holders out and to safety. Best of luck with that and thank you for joining us today.

MCCAUL: Thanks so much, Jake.

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