Fox News Interview - Transcript
Interview
Fox News Interview - Transcript
FOX News Channel Interview with REP. Michael Mccaul (R-TX)
Subject: Guantanamo Bay Interviewer: Gregg Jarrett
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MR. JARRETT: A Congressman fighting the closing of the Guantanamo Bay prison, questioning Secretary Napolitano on that very subject this morning, Republican Michael McCaul of Texas, took a tour of Gitmo this past Monday, the ranking member on the Homeland Security Intelligence Subcommittee and joins us now. We should also note the Congressman is a former federal prosecutor who was a chief of counterterrorism at the U.S. Attorney's office before running for Congress successfully.
Congressman, thanks very much for being with you.
So on the closing of Gitmo, what did you ask her? And what kind of an answer did you get?
REP. MCCAUL: Well, I think - she is a former U.S. Attorney and gets it, I think, as well or she should understand the grave threat that it would pose. We need these terrorists to be out of the country and out of the business of terrorism.
I'm very concerned about the idea of closing this facility down. We were the first congressional delegation to go down to Guantanamo since the executive order was signed into law, and the conditions I observed was far better than any federal prison than I had seen in the United States, and indeed, the Pentagon report that the president ordered recently came out saying it was in full compliance with the Geneva Convention.
MR. JARRETT: Yeah. I got you. Let me stop you there, Congressman, because, look, her boss wants to close Gitmo and says he's going to do it, and you know, she may appreciate the seriousness of this and how evil and heinous these terrorists are and the threat that they pose, but she's got to agree with her boss or her job is going to be at risk. So what does she say is going to happen with these people and the risk they pose to Americans?
REP. MCCAUL: She's in a very difficult position as a former Justice Department and U.S. Attorney. I emphasized to her the danger that would come to this country if we bring these terrorists into the United States to stand trial. We went into the most classified facility. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the top al Qaeda leadership are literally down there. If we bring them into the United States to stand trial under the federal rules of evidence, it's very likely that some of this evidence can come into trial and a federal judge could release these detainees, these enemy combatants into the United States.
MR. JARRETT: Yeah, but they would be immediately deported because they're not American citizens, right?
REP. MCCAUL: Possibly. The idea of releasing them into the United States - our goal is no matter what happens if it does shut down is not to bring them into the United States. These are very, very dangerous terrorists and they're a real threat to the United States.
MR. JARRETT: And 61 of them who were released over the last several years according to the Pentagon have returned to terrorism, right? So the likelihood of the remaining prisoners is pretty high that they do the same thing.
REP. MCCAUL: The 60 that were released were captured later on on the battlefield in Afghanistan. Another one caught in Iraq, killing American soldiers. Again, the idea of bringing in the top al Qaeda leadership and 250 terrorists into the United States who could be released on the streets, I think, we need to stop that. That's an absurd result.
MR. JARRETT: How are you going to stop?
REP. MCCAUL: I do think -
MR. JARRETT: The president, you know, he's very popular, he can do what he wants. He's already ordered the closing of it. How in the world can you stop it?
REP. MCCAUL: Well, again, the conditions we observed and what the Pentagon issued was that there were no human rights violations. There was no evidence of torture. There was no waterboarding, in fact, they're treated better than prisoners in federal penitentiaries here in the United States.
So I think this review committee needs to take a really hard look at this before they act too abruptly.
MR. JARRETT: In the end, it was an executive order, an executive fiat that established Gitmo and it can be executive order that abolishes it.
We're out of time. Congressman McCaul, thanks so much for being with us.
REP. MCCAUL: Thank you.
MR. JARRETT: Appreciate it.
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