CNN "Erin Burnett Outfront" - Transcript:

Interview

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BURNETT: Joining me now, the chairman of the House Homeland Security, Republican Congressman Michael McCaul.

Good to have you with us.

REP. MICHAEL MCCAUL (D-TX), HOUSE HOMELAND SECURITY: Thanks, Erin.

BURNETT: Every Qatari I spoke to yesterday in Doha said literally, what's the big teal? The Taliban is already here. They already live here. Everything is fine. So, what? Why are you guys making a big deal of it?

You know, it was interesting, because they were welcoming them, and not necessarily in a political way, just as a matter of fact. You know, yes, they're here, why do you guys care?

Obviously, that doesn't mean that the Qatari government will let those former Taliban commanders attack America again. I mean, do you trust the company of Qatar?

MCCAUL: Well, look, Qatar -- I just returned from the region recently, the UAE, Saudi Arabia. Qatar is one of the largest financers of terrorism in the world from not the government itself, but by some of the royal family. That concerns me.

I've looked at the documents coming out of the White House. I do know that they are monitored and under surveillance. But they are free to roam the country. And as like Adam Schiff, my colleague, I am concerned about their ability to make contact with the terrorists.

And remember, one of the five has already announced, Noori (ph), that he is intent on returning to Afghanistan and killing Americans. And that gravely concerns me.

BURNETT: You know, the Secretary of State John Kerry just spoke with our Elise Labott.

You know, he said that officials are going to be monitored, right? He tried to assuage some of the concerns you are raising, that Adam Schiff is raising. Here is how he expressed it.

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JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: Well, they're not the only ones keeping an eye on them.

ELISE LABOTT, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIR REPORTER: The U.S. is going to be monitoring them?

KERRY: I'm just telling you they're not the only ones keeping an eye on them and we have confidence in those agreements. If they're violated, then, we have the ability to do things.

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BURNETT: Do you have any idea what he is talking about, what things the United States has the ability to do? MCCAUL: I do. I'm probably not at liberty to discuss a lot of

that. But I'll tell you --

BURNETT: Are they meaningful, though?

MCCAUL: Well, let me tell you, they know how to communicate without cell phones. They know how to communicate without being intercepted. And my biggest concern is, look, we just let out of Gitmo the top five Taliban leaders with the strongest links to Osama bin Laden. This is the minister of intelligence, defense. These are the top five leaders that the Taliban wanted. The Haqqani Network, which is al-Qaeda affiliated, we've negotiated with the terrorists here. We've only empowered and emboldened our enemies by doing this.

And I'm gravely concerns what that means now as the NATO forces now wind down Afghanistan, what kind of climate, what kind of vacuum are we going to leave when we actually withdraw out of Afghanistan?

BURNETT: There has been, you know, some hoe when they hear the argument you're making, they said, look, these guys have been out of the flow, the terror flow for more than a decade. But they're not -- they're not in the center of things anymore. And therefore, their ability to come back and strike at the United States or become commanders again would be extremely limited and unlikely. And that's part of the reason why the Obama administration said let them go.

Do you buy that?

MCCAUL: I don't buy that at all, given their past history to Osama bin Laden who was the perpetrator of 9/11. How can we possibly ever trust them?

And I think that Mullah Omar stated it best. He is the head of the Taliban in Pakistan, hiding out. I've been to Kandahar. He is hiding in Quetta.

He basically said this is a huge triumph. This is a colossal victory in his words.

Now, when you the head of the Taliban saying this is a colossal victory, how can that possibly be in the best interests of the United States of America? I'm concerned about how he get out of this, and the safety of our soldiers over there. But as the chairman of homeland security, the safety of the American people.

When I was over there, I met with the ambassador and General Dunford. The ambassador told me my greatest fear, Erin, he said that I'm concerned when we withdraw, there will be a vacuum, and we will get hit again.

BURNETT: The administration has said they worked on this deal. They were supposed, obviously, to notify you, and they give you 30 days to discuss it. They didn't do that. And there's has been Democrats and Republicans who are equally angry about this.

But, you know, the White House has said, look, we didn't tell you guys because you guys can't be trusted, you're going to leak.

Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff said that's a load of -- a load of lies, that the leaks are coming from the administration, not from Congress. But to be fair, it was Senator Dianne Feinstein who confirmed for the first time a deal for Bergdahl was even on the table back in 2012. She did speak to the press at that time.

Because of that, can you see the president's point?

MCCAUL: Look, the law requires notification to Congress. I chair a national security committee. I was not notified of this. And the law is the law.

And I believe they flagrantly disobeyed the law. And that law is there for a purpose, because we want the right policy for the United States. I happen to agree with Adam Schiff that that should have been done in this case and unfortunately it was not.

BURNETT: So, what are you going to do about it? That's what I keep wondering. I mean, you all are angry. But what action can you take against the White House?

MCCAUL: Well, you know, there are a lot of things we can do if the president technically violates the law we need to look at that. We have the National Defense Authorization bill going through the Congress. What stricter procedures can we put in place?

I think this is all part of his effort to close down Guantanamo Bay. And I think that's very clear and self-evident that right now in Guantanamo is the worst of the worst left. And I'm concerned what this president is going to do with the remaining detainees, the remaining terrorists who are at Guantanamo.

So, I mean, the law is there for a purpose. I think he violated that law. He circumvented the Congress. And he should have done a better job.

And, Erin, this is not a partisan issue, this is a bipartisan issue. We feel like we did an end around.

Let me say this -- that 90 people in the administration knew about this. And officials in the Qatar government knew about this. But members of Congress didn't know about this? That's wrong.

BURNETT: All right. Chairman McCaul, thank you very much really appreciate you coming on the show tonight

MCCAUL: Thank you.

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