President Barack Obama should not be trusted to make a deal on the Iranian nuclear program without congressional input because the rest of his Mideast policy has not shown he knows what he is talking about, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Sunday on
"Face the Nation."
Obama told the American public in the 2012 re-election bid that al-Qaida was on the run, then, just a year ago, called the Islamic State (ISIS) a jayvee squad, neither of which has turned out to be true, McCarthy said.
In September, Obama pointed to Yemen as a foreign policy success in the fight against Islamic terrorism. Just weeks ago, the United States was forced to close its embassy in Yemen after a Muslim extremist takeover of the government.
Now, Obama wants the public to trust him to get a deal with Iran that will not make it able to obtain a nuclear weapon," the California Republican said.
"I believe the administration has misinterpreted the entire Arab spring," McCarthy told "Face the Nation."
The authorization for use of military force proposal Obama sent to Congress constrains the military even further to combat ISIS, McCarthy said. "He has more authority today than what he's asking going forward."
McCarthy also said Obama should not be making his disagreement with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu personal.
"It's not about him. It's not about the administration. This is about the mutual concern we have for Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon," McCarthy said. "I will tell you that the special relationship that America has with the Israeli people transcends any of the politics. This administration should be better than this."
Turning to the controversy over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's private email server, McCarthy said the House wants Clinton to turn the server over to a third-party, but only to find emails relevant to its Benghazi investigation.
"We're not interested in her private emails," McCarthy said. "We're not even interested in her emails regarding Russia and the reset or Syria and Assad and the chemical weapons, only those pertaining to Benghazi."
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