Transcript: Rep. Michael McCaul on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” June 29, 2025

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

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Margaret Brennan: And we are now joined by the member of the Texas Republican Congress Michael McCaul, hello to you.

REPRESENTATIVE. Michael McCaul: Hello. Thank you for doing me.

Margaret Brennan: So your republican colleagues in the Senate worked hard to try to bring this bill together, and they will probably pass it.

REPRESENTATIVE. Michael McCaul: right.

Margaret Brennan: But it is even with GOP legislators like Thom Tillis by saying that they cannot bear what it will do in Medicaid, $ 930 billion in cuts. It is more important than what you had all voted to do in the room. Are you going to vote again for the final passage if it looks like this?

REPRESENTATIVE. McCaul: No, I’m going to vote for this for this reason. I think these figures are all about waste, fraud and abuse in Medicare, Medicaid. What I vote is a border security measure, $ 80 billion, $ 12 billion to reimburse states like mine. I vote for $ 150 billion which will go to our Ministry of Defense at a time when we saw with Iran, is desperately necessary. The world is on fire, in Eastern Europe, in Indo-Pacific. And then tax reductions. I mean, if we do not extend these tax cuts, it will be the highest increase in tax in American history for these three reasons. I am a yes. I think everyone in the bedroom, they know the danger in which they vote without this thing.

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

REPRESENTATIVE. McCaul: I think, first of all, it’s good for the nation. Second, they know that their jobs are at risk. Not just the president, but the vote – the American people. Our base at the house will not re -election us to the office if we vot not on this subject.

Margaret Brennan: But does it concern re-election, or does it concern politicians, right?

REPRESENTATIVE. McCaul: Non. That’s about it – that’s about – it’s great for the country, and I described the best three points.

Margaret Brennan: But to help me understand then – you have such narrow margins in the House, and you look at these commission projections for a responsible federal budget, they say that it violates the instructions of the room of $ 500 billion or more, which the Senate has just gathered here, and that the deficits could increase more than $ 3 billion. How do you go through this when you have his conservative colleagues who are tax hawks and I can’t get with that, like Chip Roy?

REPRESENTATIVE. McCaul: Do not enter the weeds on the economy, but the dynamic rating is not taken into account here by the Congressional Budget Office. This means that when you reduce taxes, you actually get an increase in treasure income. And this is something we saw under President Kennedy, under President Reagan and under President Bush.

Margaret Brennan: Chip Roy and some of these other tax curators will come for the journey?

REPRESENTATIVE. McCaul: Well, I think in the end, I think they will vote for it.

Margaret Brennan: You do it. Let’s talk about some of the threats you have mentioned, in the country and abroad. You have been informed of actions against Iran. The director of the IAEA told us here that Iran had capacity and could be operational in a few months. Do you think it is an overestimation of the White House or an error to declare the mission accomplished?

REPRESENTATIVE. McCaul: Well, first of all, I respect the IAEA. Their job is to inspect that they are not an intelligence agency, so they do not really have the analysis of clear intelligence that I would attribute to our intelligence community like the CIA. We met the Ratcliffe director. It was not only his decision. The career and intelligence agents have been at the CIA for over 30 years that have made this assessment that he was seriously damaged and puts a program for years. Anyway, the world and the Middle East are safer today than seven days ago a week ago. This is highlighted by the fact that proxies do not come on. Russia did not come to their help. China has mainly run to hide. Iran is alone and psychologically, is very damaged. The deterrence is real. The damage is real. It is a masterful military operation, which I have not seen since the war of my father, the Second World War.

Margaret Brennan: So, on the front of the fatherland, do you then reject these concerns concerning threats? You have the National Council system on terrorism that says there is an increased threat environment in the United States. After the strikes, federal agents arrested 11 foreign nationals of Iran, including one who had links with Hezbollah. Have you seen specific evidence of all kinds of threat here in the United States, or is it, as you say, just finished and finished?

REPRESENTATIVE. McCaul: No, I have it. We picked up 11 Iranians, one of the elite shooters, an IRGC, another, a known suspicious terrorist, just in the last two days.

Margaret Brennan: Did they hear anything, or had they simply had these alliances from the past?

REPRESENTATIVE. McCaul: You know, I do not know all the details, but I will tell you that the FBI informed me in a defensive briefing after Soleimani was killed. I was part –

REPRESENTATIVE. McCaul:- in 2020–

Margaret Brennan: – That I was under the indictment in Iran and that I was on this higher target list. So, you know, he looks at? I don’t know. We must take seriously that there could be dormant cells in the United States, which could go after people like Mike Pompeo, John Bolton, you know-you know myself and other people involved in this decision-making and the President of the United States. We know it has been targeted.

Margaret Brennan: Regarding the detention of migrants here in the United States, these are 59,000 high prisoners, according to Ice. 47% of them, however, do not have a criminal record, less than 30% were found guilty of crimes. This does not show that the figures – these are not the worst.

REPRESENTATIVE. McCaul: Yes, I was a federal prosecutor for many years. Counter-terrorism. You have to prioritize, right? I would give priority to the aggravated criminals that my Mayorkas have let in disregard of federal law. He was detained. He said, can hold and let them out in the streets. I would do it, I would give priority to that first.

Margaret Brennan: So you prefer that domestic security prioritizes them and not increasing the figures as they are –

REPRESENTATIVE. McCaul: I think they direct the figures because 15 to 20 million people are noted under the Biden administration, and they are trying to involve a certain mental health in the United States. And I think the deterrence is the key here. And Margaret, it works. You know, the apprehension rate on the border, and Texas is the largest, fell to almost zero. I mean, the border is almost safe, capture and release are over, and threats disappear.

Margaret Brennan: Mike McCaul, member of the Congress, thank you very much for your ideas today.

REPRESENTATIVE. McCaul: Thank you, Margaret, thank you for making me.

Margaret Brennan: And we will be back with more face of the nation. Stay with us.