It would be a "bit of a bold statement" if former President Donald Trump announces himself as the presumptive 2024 GOP nominee this coming weekend during CPAC, as he did "a lot of damage to his legacy" in his last month, Rep. Michael McCaul said Monday.
However, the Texas Republican told CNN that four years is a "long time" in political years, and it's not known this early who else could pop up as a nominee, but when that time comes, he'll support who Republican voters pick.
"I think there were some good things about the Trump presidency to carry forward, the tax cuts and JOBS Act, which created a great economy, standing up to China," said McCaul. "I think that crushing ISIS and the caliphate, I think Operation Warp Speed was a miracle of science ... I think we take the good things from the administration and perhaps leave behind the not-so-good things. That will be the party moving forward."
Trump, he added, "squandered a lot of those achievements" with his fight about the election results.
Meanwhile, McCaul said his pending bill on domestic terrorism "has a very good chance of passing" after the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.
"I don't know how a member of Congress will argue that somehow doesn't fit within the definition," said McCaul. "I believe it does and all it simply does is adds charges and penalty provisions similar to the international terrorism bill in it. I worked very closely with the FBI on this. I want to do this right."
Further, the protesters who turned violent on Jan. 6 are "not the Republican Party I know," said McCaul.
"I believe they were domestic terrorists," he said. "We did condemn QAnon on the House floor, along with far-left and far-right extremist groups. I think that's where America is going now. I think it's important to note that the FBI, even when I worked counterterrorism cases back in the day, would open some cases as domestic terrorism cases. They just simply can't charge them as domestic terrorism and we think it's another tool in the toolbox they can use moving forward to add additional charges to an indictment."
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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