Free Republic

The ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee suggested Friday that China will launch an invasion of Taiwan sometime after next month’s Winter Olympics in Beijing. “I do think after the Olympics — China has gotten so provocative, so aggressive in the South China Sea, that you are going to see the CCP, the [Chinese] Communist Party invading Taiwan,” Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) told reporters on a conference call. McCaul argued further that resident Biden’s botched messaging on the ongoing Ukraine crisis sent a signal of weakness to America’s adversaries, which McCaul believes they will look to exploit. ......

A top House Republican revealed Sunday the investigation into the man who took four people hostage at a Texas synagogue on Saturday has gone international. What are the details? Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), the ranking member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told CNN host Jake Tapper on "State of the Union" there is "something more" to the case than a lone actor. In fact, McCaul disclosed that the FBI's investigation now extends to London and Tel Aviv. "I know the FBI has now fanned their investigation out to London and Tel Aviv. So this has now turned into an...

(CNN)Multiple lawmakers angrily stormed out of a classified briefing with members of the Biden administration on Afghanistan on Wednesday morning, according to three sources familiar with the briefing. The Republican and Democratic lawmakers grew frustrated after State Department, Pentagon, Department of Homeland Security, and Office of the Director of National Security officials failed to answer their basic questions during the briefing for members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the sources told CNN.... ...Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told CNN's Jake Tapper on "The Lead" on Wednesday that "everybody walked out"...

NAIROBI — The disappearance of a young intelligence officer in Somalia has led to a rapidly escalating power struggle between the president and prime minister ... Details of what happened to Ikran Tahlil Farah, a 25-year-old cybersecurity analyst, are still murky. But her abduction led President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed on Thursday to suspend the powers of the prime minister, who has accused him of obstructing justice in Tahlil’s case. The political showdown risks becoming a security crisis, experts say, and has blown up any pretense that Somalia’s federal government is functioning.... ...Rep. Michael McCaul (Tex.), the ranking Republican on the...

...The White House and State Department have maintained that they hold leverage over the Taliban... but a senior congressional source told CBS News that the Taliban is basically holding the planes "hostage" so they can "get more out of the Americans."... ...Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Tex.), the ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, agrees. He told Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday that he's concerned that U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad will come away from the talks recommending that the Biden administration acknowledge the Taliban as the legitimate government...

Dems divided as anti-Israel flank grows more vocal Democratic leaders convinced their colleagues on Tuesday to drop an effort championed by the party’s left flank that would have delayed U.S. military assistance to Israel as the country battles Iranian-backed terrorist groups. Rep. Steny Hoyer (D., Md.), the House’s second-highest-ranking Democrat, told reporters that after pressure from leadership, Rep. Gregory Meeks (D., N.Y.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC), abandoned efforts to delay over $735 million in arms sales to Israel. The Jewish state has used such weaponry during the past two weeks to battle Hamas terrorists as they...

ORLANDO — Former President Donald Trump may be one of the most important influencers in the 2022 election, but House Republicans are huddling without him in his home state of Florida as they craft a message that can help them win back the majority next year. Lawmakers gathered in Orlando beginning on Sunday for an annual, three-day issues conference to help chart a course on messaging and policy priorities for the next 18 months. There will be no pep talk from the former GOP president, who helped create a schism within the party on what role, if any, Trump should...

Cheney, the No. 3 Republican in the House, was one of only a handful of Republicans who voted to impeach Trump over his role in inciting the Capitol riot. More than a majority of GOP House members have since indicated they'd support ousting Cheney from her leadership spot, while at least two other Republicans have lined up to replace her, Politico reports. At least 107 House members — more than half the caucus — privately support removing Cheney from power, multiple GOP sources involved in the effort told Politico. Meanwhile New York Reps. Elise Stefanik and Lee Zeldin, who defended...

(CNSNews.com) – Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that there was a “bicameral, bipartisan effort” to look at censuring President Donald Trump, which she said would hold him accountable and prohibit him from holding office again, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) wouldn’t bring it up for a vote. “Well, one of the things, one of the options that was on the table last week when we were going through the impeachment, getting up to D.C. for that, was that there was a bicameral, bipartisan effort to look at censure as an option. That would...

“The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) frequently pressures and coerces U.S. companies to conform to its political values and foreign policy. Because of China’s market size, individual companies often feel as though they have no option but to comply with CCP demands.” The following list was originally released by the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, compiled by ranking member Michael McCaul (R-TX) and his team. It is reproduced with permission. 1. Tiffany & Co. (October 8, 2019) Tiffany & Co. removed a tweeted advertisement featuring a Chinese model wearing a Tiffany ring and covering her right eye with her right hand,...

Any ranking of congresspersons’ national-security expertise would put Michael McCaul near the top. A Republican who represents the 10th District, an area spanning from Austin to the Houston suburbs, he served as a deputy to future U.S. Sen. John Cornyn when he was state attorney general. After 9/11, the Dallas-born McCaul became chief of the Terrorism and National Security Section of the west Texas federal attorney’s office. In 2004, the prosecutor won his seat in the U.S. House where he chaired the Homeland Security Committee for the full term limit of six years; he is now the ranking member of...

House Republicans delivered a point-by-point rebuttal Monday to Democrats’ impeachment efforts, claiming in their own report that the evidence collected in the inquiry to date does not support the accusations leveled against President Trump -- or rise to the level of removal from office. “The evidence presented does not prove any of these Democrat allegations, and none of the Democrats’ witnesses testified to having evidence of bribery, extortion, or any high crime or misdemeanor,” Republicans said in a 123-page report, timed to be made public ahead of the majority Democrats’ impeachment report. The dueling narratives are emerging following two weeks...

Here is a Republican House member who is unafraid to speak the truth. – Texas Congressman Michael McCaul, who has represented Texas’s 10th congressional district since 2005, appeared this morning on Fox News for an interview with Bill Hemmer. This interview is well worth the watch just because of who McCaul happens to be. As you watch the clip below, and/or read the transcript that follows, keep in mind that Rep. McCaul is a man who is currently the ranking GOP member on the House Homeland Security Committee. From 2012 through 2018, McCaul served as the Chairman of that committee....

President Donald Trump's staunchest allies voiced outrage Monday after he suddenly declared that U.S. troops would allow Turkey to attack Syrian Kurds who have fought as U.S. allies for years to tamp down the Islamic State. The president later threatened to destroy the economy of Turkey, a NATO member, if it goes too far against the Kurds. But that did little to mollify concerns overseas or in Congress after Trump announced that the U.S. would withdraw troops and get them out of the way of Turkish forces. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas said it would be "disgraceful if we sat...

The top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee joined Democrats Saturday in criticizing President Trump’s failure to send a report to Congress on the murder of Saudi Arabian dissident and journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas said he is “deeply troubled” by the administration’s failure to meet the deadline on Friday for submitting a report on the slaying that is linked to the Saudi royal family. The White House said in a statement that Congress can’t force the president to act. “Consistent with the previous administration’s position and the constitutional separation of powers, the president maintains his...

House Homeland Security Committee chairman Michael McCaul (R., Texas) on Monday called for the publication of the classified documents that served as the basis of a Republican memo accusing federal law enforcement officials of abusing surveillance tools to spy on a former Trump aide. Republicans allege the four-page memo released Friday shows the Justice Department and FBI failed to disclose critical information to federal judges when applying for a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance warrant to wiretap onetime Trump campaign adviser, Carter Page. Democrats, who are pressing for the release of their own counter memo, say the Republican document cherry-picked facts from...

The Talk Shows May 22nd, 2016 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas; Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.FACE THE NATION (CBS): Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.THIS WEEK (ABC): Sanders; Reps. Ed Royce, R-Calif., and Adam Schiff, D-Calif. STATE OF THE UNION (CNN): Sanders; Reps. Peter King, R-N.Y., Xavier Becerra, D-Calif., and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.

This week, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz joined an amicus brief on behalf of 22 members of the Texas congressional delegation in support of private landowners along the Red River. The Bureau of Land Management has recently made waves by claiming thousands of acres of privately owned Texas land along the Red River. It has done so by utilizing — in apparent violation of a nearly 100-year-old Supreme Court precedent and tradition — an arbitrary and bizarre gradient boundary survey method that has adversely impacted private landowners. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) joined Cruz in the brief...

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, says "an increase in funding" is needed to protect the United States in the aftermath of the Paris terror attacks. Appearing on ABC's "This Week," McCaul was asked by host Martha Raddatz, "What about here in the homeland...what do we really have to do?" [...] Appearing with McCaul, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, agreed that "we certainly have resource challenges, but we are fortunate that we don't have anywhere near the number of foreign fighters to track that Europe does." ...

What do we need in this country right now? If you’re a Senate Democrat, you might think the answer is more Muslims. On Thursday, a group of Senators made the case for increased refugee resettlement, posing it as a moral obligation. “While the United States is the largest donor of humanitarian assistance to Syrian refugees, we must also dramatically increase the number of Syrian refugees that we accept for resettlement,” said 14 lawmakers headed by Dick Durbin of Illinois and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota. The UN has been trying to get the United States to take in more refugees from...