Ex-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy warns of potential terrorist ‘sleeper cells’ in US after Hamas massacre in Israel and claims Biden’s southern border crisis is helping bolster their numbers

Former Speaker of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy has warned that there could be potential terrorist ‘sleeper cells’ in the US due to heightened tensions following the Hamas massacre in Israel.

Ousted Republican McCarthy, 58, claimed President Joe Biden’s southern border crisis is helping to increase the number of terrorists entering the US, with 18 people on the FBI watch list arrested last month.

He said bringing home the American hostages trapped in Gaza is a top priority and that Israel “should have all the resources they need to defend themselves.”

McCarthy told NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday: “If you simply look at what the chaos is right now, a wide open southern border.

“I’m concerned about a cell that’s in America today.

In the photo: Migrants entering the US from Mexico are met along the Rio Grande with concertina wire. A total of 169 people on the FBI’s terror watch lists have been apprehended at the southern border over the past 12 months, according to Customs and Border Protection.

“We just caught 18 people on the FBI’s terrorist watch list crossing our border last month. This year, more than 160 have done so.

“If we look at the Middle East and the uprisings that are emerging in Europe and other countries, they could be sleeper cells in America right now.

“But this administration (hasn’t done anything) to change what’s happening at the southern border. We got government funding that meant our troops wouldn’t get paid for a month while they were here.

“Tom Emmer has been part of our successes, not only by winning the majority, but also by being in the room to help us pass a border security bill to make us energy independent, the Bill of Parents’ Rights to Stand Up When Democrats Wanted to Defund the Police’ and decriminalize some of those laws.

“And he’s been successful. This is not the time for a learning experience as a speaker.”

A total of 169 people on the FBI’s terror watch lists have been apprehended at the southern border over the past 12 months, according to Customs and Border Protection.

That’s an increase in the number of terrorists attempting to enter the U.S. through the southern border in the last six fiscal years combined.

Speaking about his upcoming plans to help in the Middle East, McCarthy said he is going to help destroy Hamas and get all the American hostages home.

He said, “I am still a member of Congress and I will help lead the effort to protect America in any capacity I can.

‘I’m going to work to secure our border. I’m going to work to stop inflation. I will ensure that war does not break out in Israel and that Israel has all the resources it needs to defend itself.

‘But the most important thing is that I am going to put pressure on this government.

“We must destroy Hamas, but you cannot do that without confronting Iran. They need to change their policies. When Iran took office, Iran had only $4 billion in foreign exchange. They now have $70 billion.

“Iran was only producing 400,000 barrels of oil per day when Biden took office. They now produce three million. They get billions of dollars to fund terrorism around the world.

National Guard members watch as migrants try to find their way past barbed wire in Eagle Pass, Texas

People stand among the rubble of a building destroyed by airstrikes in the town of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip

The U.S. Border Patrol boat passes a large group of migrants waiting to cross the barbed wire barrier into the United States, in Eagle Pass, Texas

“And you can’t stop Hamas, you can’t get the American hostages back without confronting Iran. And they cannot make the same mistake they made in Afghanistan.

‘We have to be very clear. Every American needs to come home. No one will be left behind. And I can do that as a member of Congress. I can do that as a citizen.

“And I will do it and stand up for the American people.”

On October 17, Republican Representative Jim Jordan suffered a disastrous loss in his first bid to become Speaker of the House of Representatives, in even more chaotic scenes from Congress.

Twenty colleagues voted against the fierce GOP member, damning his opening shot at the top spot. Now the House of Representatives is in recess while Jordan meets with Republican backbenchers to try to get votes for the judge.

The House is expected to take the second vote on Tuesday. Jordan can cast as many votes as he wants and it is not clear that he will abandon his bid for chairman at any point. Kevin McCarthy went on fifteen ballots before becoming speaker.

Jordan and the number two House Republican, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, met after the failed vote, according to a source familiar with the matter. Jordan asked Scalise for help in securing moderate votes, and Scalise reportedly did not oblige.

A spokesperson for Scalise has walked back this characterization of the meeting, arguing that Scalise has been the “only candidate during this process who has publicly stated that he will support whoever the conference nominates as chairman, and that his position is not changed.’

When Scalise won the vote at the internal Republican Conference, DailyMail.com reported that Jordan had publicly pledged to support him but had taken few steps to urge his supporters to vote for the majority leader.

Jordan quickly lost the support of four Republican lawmakers just minutes after voting began — Reps. Don Bacon, Mario Diaz-Balart, Jake Ellzey and Anthony D’Esposito — clinching his first bid as speaker.