Washington, D.C. –Congressman Michael McCaul (R-TX), Lead Republican of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, appeared live on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” with Maria Bartiromo to discuss the latest news on the Syria-Turkey ceasefire and the secrecy surrounding Democrats’ impeachment probe.  Key highlights below: 

Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures”

Click to Watch

On the Syria-Turkey ceasefire: “Well we’re very concerned about Turkey’s aggressive behavior invading Syria. I did have a meeting in the White House, one that became very publicized where the Speaker walked out of that meeting and after she left we had a very civilized conversation with Democrats about moving forward. I’ve got assurances from the Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the President and the Secretary of Defense on a residual force. My biggest concern, Maria, is when Obama pulled out 10,000 troops out of Iraq, he created the space for ISIS, and then the formation of the so-called Caliphate. We do not want to see that same phenomenon happen in Syria, so we pressed very hard on the fact that we need a residual force in Syria, to first and foremost protect the homeland. So right now we’re in a five-day ceasefire after which it will become permanent and I talked to the Vice President about this ceasefire. We want to give this a chance to work, and I’m hopeful that it will, but if it doesn’t, we are prepared as early as next week to move forward at the committee level on very tough sanctions against Turkey if they continue to misbehave in the region.”

On the secretive nature of Democrats’ impeachment probe: “Going back to the impeachment hearings, I call it a star chamber. If you look at the definition of what that was back in the day, it’s a very powerful exclusive body that meets in secret without any openness to the public, no transparency. I talked to Ken Starr last night about this process. We need to follow the historic precedent of both the Nixon and Clinton proceedings here. This is not the right way to do it.”

###