Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., told Newsmax on Tuesday that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., shouldn't let a lack of support from the White House and Beijing's attempts at intimidation stop her from going ahead with a proposed trip to Taiwan.
''Under no circumstances should any American, especially the American that's third in line to the presidency, be told by [Chinese President] Xi Jinping, where they can travel to, what embassies they can correspond with or anything else,'' he said on ''The Record With Greta Van Susteren.'' ''I would hope that we would see full support from the White House, though we are not, for Nancy Pelosi's trip.''
CNN reports that President Joe Biden said that the U.S. military thinks that a visit to Taipei by the 82-year-old speaker was "not a good idea right now."
"I think what the president was saying is that maybe the military was afraid of my plane getting shot down or something like that,'' Pelosi reportedly said in a seemingly tongue-in-cheek reply. ''I don't know exactly."
Following reports of Pelosi's plans, China's Foreign Ministry said last Tuesday the country would take "resolute and forceful measures" if the trip actually occurs.
''I hope that she decides to bring former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo,'' Mast said. ''I think that would be a much better choice than bringing, say, [Secretary of State] Antony Blinken or somebody else, but I don't think that's likely to happen.''
On Sunday, Pompeo tweeted an offer to travel to the communist nation with the House speaker.
"Nancy, I'll go with you,'' the former secretary of state said. ''I'm banned in China, but not freedom-loving Taiwan. See you there!"
Though Pelosi, a Democrat, and GOP members of the House generally don't see eye-to-eye most of the time, Mast said he hopes that she travels to the island nation and that the trip ''is a great success, because there's a lot of things that need to happen there.''
''I would say, number one, for Taiwan is this: Their number one trading partner is also their biggest enemy: that is, China,'' Mast said. ''They face the same thing that everybody else needs to do, which is wean themselves off of China for the sake of national security.''
Mast, who has represented Florida's 18th Congressional District since 2017, is seeking reelection in the state's 21st Congressional District. He faces Jeffrey Buongiorno, Melissa Martz and Ljubo Skrbic in the Aug. 23 GOP primary.
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