President Donald Trump has long-term goals where Iran is concerned, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Friday, adding that he won't second-guess the president's decision to pull out of military strikes after an unmanned drone was downed earlier this week.
"Remember what the president has done," the California Republican told Fox News' "Fox and Friends."
"He rebuilt our military, struck in Syria. "He has been very strong against Russia with the sanctions...he has a long-term game plan here. It doesn't mean that you have to act within a few hours. What the president is trying to do here is achieve something very large."
McCarthy was in the situation room at the White House for a meeting with Trump and other leaders, and said the president has an "amazing team," including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who "graduated from West Point, graduated number-one in his class."
He also disagreed with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who was also in the situation room meeting and said after that he fears the Trump administration may "bumble into a war."
"Not at all," said McCarthy. "Iran goes and bombs tankers. It was American intel that actually showed that happening to the rest of the world."
McCarthy appeared on the network before Trump announced through Twitter that he'd pulled the plug on the strikes 10 minutes because he'd learned from a general that 150 people would die as a result. The congressman said Trump has a long-term plan that is "different" and that any response will be "measured" and "it will achieve a goal."
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.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.