The Islamic State uses "Mafia-style financing" to fund its operations, and it's important to choke off its funding, Rep. Michael Waltz said Wednesday.
"These groups preach like pure jihadis, (but) ISIS, the Taliban, they run themselves like the Mafia," the Florida Republican, a combat-decorated Green Beret and Afghanistan war veteran, told Fox News' "Fox and Friends." "I dealt with this on the field. Black market oil. Counterfeit cigarettes. Stolen car rings."
But the United States knows that the way to deal with that kind of "Mafia-style financing" is to "choke it off," said Waltz.
His comments came after President Donald Trump's revelations that during the raid that killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, intelligence was discovered revealing ISIS donors.
The lawmaker also said he's glad Trump is holding French President Emmanuel Macron "accountable" after the president asked Macron if he'd allow some French ISIS fighters to return to their homeland.
"We also need to hold the British and the Germans accountable," said Waltz. "A number of these key ISIS fighters are European citizens that went to Syria. They are key commanders and facilitators and fundraisers, and now it's basically on the United States and the Kurds to detain these guys and the Europeans need to step up and do their support."
Waltz also spoke out against the House's failure to pass funding for the U.S. military.
"For the first time in 58 years, we do not have a defense authorization," said Waltz. "You will hear the term from the Democrats called a continuing resolution that keeps the lights on but it doesn't allow the Pentagon to buy anything new...the Chinese aren't funding their military this way. They are tripling their funding."
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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