Rep. McCaul will retire, but GOP hawk worries about World War III after
Russian escalation
[September 15, 2025]
By NICHOLAS RICCARDI
Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, one of the GOP's most prominent foreign
affairs hawks, announced on Sunday that he'll retire, while warning
that, with Russia's escalation of its invasion of Ukraine, “we got to be
very careful not to be on the precipice of a World War III.”
McCaul made his statements to ABC News as he discussed this past week's
incursion into Polish airspace of Russian drones, which led to NATO
scrambling jets to intercept them. Russia said the intrusion was an
error, but Poland and other European countries said they had no doubts
it was intentional. President Donald Trump said it “could have been a
mistake.”
McCaul said the incursion was cause for alarm. “We’ve never seen
anything like this in recent times,” the congressman said. “And so, what
I’m concerned about is that the escalation here and the temperature
rising, we got to be very careful not to be on the precipice of a World
War III.”
McCaul has long pushed Trump to take a tougher stance on Russia and its
invasion of Ukraine and he said he thinks the president is “waking up”
to see that Russian President Vladimir Putin “is not negotiating in good
faith.”
Trump has repeatedly praised Putin over the years and moved to cut off
military aid to Ukraine, though he's reversed course and supported a new
increase. He invited Putin to Alaska for discussions last month about a
ceasefire in Ukraine, but the Russian president has yet to commit to
one.
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House Committee on Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas,
presides over a House Committee on Foreign Affairs hearing on
Capitol Hill, in Washington, Sept. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey,
Jr., File)
"I think he’s manipulating the president as a KGB officer would,”
McCaul said of Putin, who used to work for the Soviet intelligence
service. “The more Putin irritates the president, I think the better
we are in terms of defending NATO and Ukraine.”
A former anti-terrorism prosecutor and past chairman of the House
Homeland Security and Foreign Affairs committees, McCaul, 63, is
part of an older generation of foreign policy hawks who've tried to
counter a younger crop of Republicans who are more skeptical about
U.S. intervention elsewhere in the world.
McCaul becomes one of at least 10 House members leaving the chamber
without seeking higher office, a tally that includes fellow GOP hawk
Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, who's been increasingly critical of
Trump's response to Putin.
McCaul said he would finish his term but not seek reelection next
year. “I’m looking for a new challenge in the same space that would
be national security, foreign policy, but just in a different
realm," he said.
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