Yorba Linda, CA — Rep. Kevin McCarthy (CA-23) joined former National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien and Hugh Hewitt for a foreign policy discussion today at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library. See below for highlights:

‘A Weak Man … Embarrassed Us on World Stage’

“You know to be a successful president, you have to have the faith, the trust and the confidence of the American public. I think this president has lost that in so many different ways.

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“I watched the past administration and when conditions were broken — you cut it off, you punished them, so they learned not to do it…. This new policy under President Biden is like a weak man theory. He has already given into Putin … and he gave into China and the Taliban…. This goes against every doctrine that America has ever had … and has embarrassed us on the world stage.”

No Cash for the Taliban … We Must Get All Americans Out

“What is your plan if you knowingly left Americans? What is your plan to get all Americans out? That should be everybody’s mission. Secondly, where is the accounting of the weaponry we have left the Taliban? … Next is no cash for the Taliban … we should not recognize the Taliban.”

Biden Chose the Taliban Over Our Allies

“Our allies — France, Great Britain, Germany asked the president to extend this deadline. Why are they even there? Because America was bombed. Because America was attacked 20 years ago. They are risking their own lives to defend us. He chose the Taliban over them and kept the 31st [deadline].”

Border Security is National Security

“Look at his management — his first major crisis was the border. He first denied it was a crisis and when it became a crisis, he passed it off to somebody else. We have caught two people that were on the terrorist watch list from Yemen…. Not on the same day and not at the same place.”

“More than 100 different countries have been entering in the last seven months through here. Now you have people who are weaponized, who are out of prison and who live in the Middle East that know how to get here. That is a concern and that is something we focus on.”

To Our Veterans: Job Well Done

“It has been a tragic couple of weeks.… We have 13 more Gold Star families — we have thousands of women and men who have served us for the last 20 years in Afghanistan. My first message is to them — job well done. You did exactly what we asked — you kept us safe for the last 20 years.”