Washington D.C. – Today, House Foreign Affairs Committee Lead Republican Michael McCaul (R-TX) appeared live on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” with Sandra Smith to discuss U.S. response to coronavirus and Super Tuesday. Key highlights are below.

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On coronavirus: “Well, this virus is highly contagious but not as fatal as previous epidemics we’ve seen. I think the President acted early on with travel bans from China. We’re now screening passengers from Italy and South Korea. He has taken very aggressive action. So I don’t think it’s time to politicize things at all. It’s Americans coming together to protect Americans from this virus. But to put it in perspective, there are 32 million cases of the flu this year, just up to this month. And almost 20,000 deaths from the flu. So I think it’s important to put it in perspective. However, it is an unseen threat that I think terrifies a lot of Americans and we are taking action with the medical kits, with the treatment and with the vaccine.” 

On preventative measures to protect Americans: “Well, I think the CDC is primarily responsible, pushing it out to the state public health centers, 15,000 of them. They’ll come up with 50,000 in the near future. And I think the treatment and the vaccine is critical here and the containment. I chaired the Homeland Security  for six years. They’re doing a good job with passenger screening and keeping threats out of the United States. This is a threat you cannot see. It’s an unseen threat.  I think that’s what’s causing some of this panic. I think people should calm down and put it in perspective. We are putting preventive measures in place now.”

On Super Tuesday: “Well, I saw Bernie Sanders came to Austin, Texas, my hometown. There were thousands of people who showed up. I think the contrast couldn’t be more stark: the difference between what Bernie Sanders is selling in terms of socialism versus what our party is selling in terms of results that we’ve achieved with the tax cuts and strong economy. We’re killing terrorists like Soleimani and al-Baghdadi. [America] is a safer place with a stronger economy. This guy wants to go down a path I don’t think most Americans are really in touch with and Super Tuesday is a third of the delegates. Whoever comes out the winner tomorrow is most likely to be the front runner and nominee.”

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