Transcription: Michael McCaul rep.

The following is the transcription of an interview with the representative Michael McCaul, Republican of Texas, which was broadcast on “Fac The Nation with Margaret Brennan” on June 29, 2025.

Margaret Brennan: And now we are accompanied by the Texas Republican congressman Michael McCaul, good morning to you.

REP. Michael McCaul: Good morning. Thanks for inviting me.

Margaret Brennan: then, his republican colleagues in the Senate have been working hard to try to gather this bill, and they will probably pass it.

REP. Michael McCaul: Correct.

Margaret Brennan: But that is even with Republican legislators like Thom Tillis saying that they cannot bear what this is going to do to Medicaid, an estimated of $ 930 billion in cuts. That is more significant than everyone had voted in the camera. Are you going to vote again for the final passage if it looks like this?

REP. McCaul: No, I’m going to vote for it for this reason. I think these numbers are waste, fraud and abuse in Medicare, Medicaid. So vote is a border security measure, $ 80 billion, $ 12 billion to reimburse states such as mine. I am voting for $ 150 billion that will go to our Department of Defense at a time when we saw Iran, it is desperately necessary. The world is in flames, Eastern Europe, Indo-Pacific. And then the tax cuts. I mean, if we do not extend these tax cuts, it will be the largest increase in taxes in US history for those three reasons. I am a yes. I think everyone in the camera knows the danger they are in if they do not vote on this.

Margaret Brennan: What do you mean with the danger they are?

REP. McCaul: I think, first, it is good for the nation. Second, they know that their work is at risk. Not only from the president, but of the vote, the American people. Our return home will not re -elected us if we vote not about this.

Margaret Brennan: But is it re -election, or is it about policies, right?

REP. McCaul: No-No. It is, it is, it is great for the country, and I have outlined the three main points.

Margaret Brennan: But to help me understand then, he has such narrow margins in the camera, and observes these like the committee projections for a responsible federal budget, they say that it violates the instructions of the camera of $ 500 billion or more, which the Senate has just gathered here, and that the deficits could increase more than $ 3 trillion. How do you overcome it when you have conservative fellow fellow who are tax hawks and say I can’t get this, like Chip Roy?

REP. McCaul: Do not enter the weeds of the economy, but the Congress Budget Office does not take into account the dynamic score. That means that when you reduce taxes, you really get higher income for treasure. And that is something we saw under President Kennedy, under President Reagan, and under President Bush.

Margaret Brennan: Chip Roy and some of these other fiscal conservatives will come for the trip?

REP. McCaul: Well, I think at the end of the day, I think they will vote for it.

Margaret Brennan: You do. Let’s talk about some of the threats mentioned there, at home and abroad. They have informed you about the actions against Iran. The director of the OIEA told us here that Iran has capacities and could be in operation in a matter of months. Do you think it is an exaggeration of the White House or an error to declare the mission fulfilled?

REP. McCaul: Well, first, I respect the OIEA. His work is to inspect not to be an intelligence agency, so they really do not have the clear intelligence analysis that would attribute to our intelligence community such as CIA. We meet with director Ratcliffe. It wasn’t just his decision. These are career and intelligence officers who have been in the CIA for more than 30 years that did this evaluation that was severely damaged and returns a program to a matter of years. In any case, the world and the Middle East are safer today than seven days ago, a week ago. That stands out for the fact that the proxies do not light up. Russia did not come to your help. China basically ran to collect. Iran is alone and psychologically is very damaged. Dysmasion is real. The damage is real. This is a masterful military operation, as I have not seen since my father’s war, World War II.

Margaret Brennan: Then, in the front of the homeland, then do you discard these concerns about threats? You have the national terrorism advice system that says that there is a high threat atmosphere in the United States. After the strikes, there were federal agents that arrested 11 foreign citizens of Iran, including one that had ties with Hezbollah. Have you seen specific evidence of some kind of threat here in the United States, or is it, as you say, just do and more?

REP. McCaul: No, I have it. We collected 11 Iranians, one of a sniper, one IRGC, another, an alleged known terrorist, right in recent days.

Margaret Brennan: Were they planning to do something, or simply had those alliances of the past?

REP. McCaul: You know, I don’t know all the details, but I will tell you that the FBI informed me in defensive information after Soleimani was killed. I was part of that

REP. McCaul: -in 2020–

Margaret Brennan: – That he was under accusation in Iran and that he was on that Target Target list. So, you know, is it imminent? I don’t know. We have to take seriously that there could be sleeping cells in the United States, who could persecute people like Mike Pompeo, John Bolton, you know, you and others who were involved in that decision making and including the president of the United States. We know it has been attacked.

Margaret Brennan: When it comes to migrants detention here in the United States, there are 59,000 high detainees, according to Ice. However, 47% of them lack criminal records, less than 30% have been convicted of crimes. It does not show that the numbers are not the worst.

REP. McCaul: Yes, I was federal prosecutor for many years. CONTRIERRORISM. You have to prioritize, right? I would prioritize aggravated criminals that let my greatest, challenging federal law. He was arrested. He said, he can stop them and let them out to the streets. I would do it, I would prioritize that first.

Margaret Brennan: Then, I would prefer that national security prioritize them and not upload the numbers as they are in this,

REP. McCaul: I think they are executing the numbers because 15 to 20 million people were under the Biden administration, and are trying to involve some sanity in the United States. And I think the deterrence is the key here. And Margaret is working. You know, the apprehension rate on the border, and Texas is the largest, has dropped to almost zero. I mean, the border is almost safe, capture and liberation have ended, and threats will disappear.

Margaret Brennan: Mike McCaul, congressman, thank you very much for your ideas today.

REP. McCaul: Thank you, Margaret, thanks for inviting me.

Margaret Brennan: and we will return more to the nation. Stay with us.

• International Atomic Energy Agency