Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Texas, said Monday he was briefed about the strike that took out Iranian Gen. Qassam Soleimani, and there was an "imminent threat" that required President Donald Trump to take action.
"The fact that there was an imminent threat, that I've been briefed on by both the Vice President [Mike Pence], when I got the briefing of the strike, [and] the national security adviser," McCaul told Fox News' "Outnumbered Overtime." "This threat was imminent, and we stopped it by taking out Soleimani."
Further details about the threat are in the "classified space" as for now, said McCaul, adding National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien and Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff "who I've known for a long time" presented "clear, unambiguous intelligence" on Soleimani.
He added, many Americans were not aware of Soleimani's actions until the airstrike, but "he's been the architect of terror in the Middle East, the mastermind, if you will, for the last several decades. Killing hundreds of Americans."
Trump also would have been "negligent" if he did not act with the facts before him, as attacks have been growing, including the raid on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad last week, McCabe said.
He added, he does not know who else had been briefed, including Democrats, who have claimed Trump violated the War Powers Act by not informing Congress first about his plans.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., have called for the authorization to take out Soleimani be declassified, and McCaul said he does agree some of it could be declassified.
However, he said he would argue, as Secretary of State Mike Mike Pompeo did over the weekend, about releasing information that could put U.S. intelligence assets in danger.
"Remember, the Iranians have called for attacks on 35 of our military installations, and so we don't want to give away the intelligence that we have or clear them, if you will, to attack those very officers that gave us the intelligence, which was exquisite, to take out Gen. Soleimani," McCaul said.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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