Washington D.C. – Today, House Foreign Affairs Committee Lead Republican Michael McCaul (R-TX) appeared live on Fox News’ “Outnumbered Overtime with Harris Faulkner” to discuss the recent attacks on Saudi oil fields and potential responses. He also discussed Special Envoy Robert O’Brien’s appointment to National Security Advisor. Key highlights below:

Fox News’ “Outnumbered Overtime with Harris Faulkner”

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On President Trump’s decision so far: “I was in the White House when the President was trying to decide how to respond to the U.S. drone being shot down, and he exercised great caution and restraint in the matter. He doesn’t want to escalate this. The President has no appetite to start a new war in the Middle East—I heard him say that publicly and personally. I don’t think that’s really the case here. We aren’t going to ‘bumble’ into a war. We are going to do this very thoughtfully. The Pentagon is doing an assessment. We are going to make the case to the United Nations and the world court of opinion on this. But I do believe that Iran was behind this, and it was unprovoked, and it does deserve a response.” 

On how the United States should respond to the attacks on Saudi oil fields: “They did not attack a U.S. military asset—that’s important here—it’s Saudi. It hit 50% of their production, 5% global supply of energy. That does impact the world. I would argue that I agree with many points that [Senator Romney] said. We shouldn’t go alone on this, neither the United States or Saudis should go this alone. I signed off personally on a weapons sale to Saudi Arabia to help them better defend themselves in the region, so we don’t have to get involved in all of these conflicts in the Middle East. I think the administration right now is playing it right. Mike Pompeo is over there right now talking to the Saudis about getting our European partners to join us in a maximum pressure campaign, which is obviously working right now because Iran is so crippled they are getting very desperate.

On President Trump’s decision to name Robert O’Brien as the new National Security Advisor: “I think the timing is very good. [Robert O’Brien] dealt with the United Nations Special Envoy to Return Hostages. I’ve met with him in my office last month. [O’Brien is] a very impressive man who has a lot of experience in the State Department and in the United Nations, which actually, given the events of the day, may turn out to be a very wise choice.”

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