Rep. McCaul: Putin 'Calling Checkmate' on US With Assad Meeting

Russian President Vladimir Putin is "calling checkmate" on the United States with his surprise meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, House Homeland Security Chairman Mike McCaul said Wednesday.

"This is a big power play," McCaul, a Texas Republican, told Wolf Blitzer on CNN. "The president hasn't had a policy — a strategy, a failed foreign policy.

"Russia's filling the vacuum now," he added. "It's a big geopolitical power grab."

Assad flew to Moscow for a meeting late Tuesday with Putin, the Syrian leader's first foreign trip since the conflict broke out in his country in 2011. He last visited Russia in 2008.

Putin pledged to continue to support Damascus militarily, while calling for a political solution involving all groups to try to end the war, the Kremlin said Wednesday.

McCaul told Blitzer that Putin's influence in the region is being heightened as more factions become involved in the Syrian conflict.

"We're seeing Iran now through the Shia militias in Iraq. We're seeing Iran in Syria, we know the Quds Force is in there," he said, referring to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

"This is changing the whole geopolitical balance in the world right now," McCaul added. "And I believe that we're losing.

"He's calling checkmate on us."

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