CNN "Newsroom" - Transcript: Islamic State Strategy

Interview

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COSTELLO: So let's talk more about this with Republican Congressman Peter King. He's a member of the House Homeland Security Committee and chairman of the Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence.

Welcome, sir.

REP. PETER KING (R), NEW YORK: Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: Congressman, Americans were told we were going to conduct airstrikes against ISIS, but no one told us there was an imminent threat coming from this group called the Khorasan Group. Did you know?

KING: I have known for the last several months about the Khorasan Group. I first learned about it, I guess, three or four months ago. And basically this was kept top secret and classified. And the reason for that is basically we didn't want the enemy to know what we knew about them.

The Khorasan Group is an affiliate of al Qaeda, extremely dangerous and they do have bomb makers and other explosive experts and so I give the president credit for attacking them without giving any advanced warning to them at all.

COSTELLO: Did you know, though, that the United States was going to target this Khorasan Group in Syria?

KING: No, I do not know that. But I support the president doing it because they are affiliated with al Qaeda. And we are at war with al Qaeda. And this is a direct threat to the United States and to me the president has this power as commander-in-chief to carry out this type of attack.

COSTELLO: Wouldn't -- wouldn't it have been nice if you did know? Because let's say there's some other group, there's some other offshoot of al Qaeda within Syria or some other country. Couldn't the president just decide to conduct airstrikes without the approval of Congress and without the knowledge of the American people? Isn't that a concern?

KING: The president has the power as commander-in-chief. And people have known about it. We have been talking about the Khorasan Group. If word had gotten out, that would have given them an opportunity to get away, to disappear, to hide. And so no, this to me, the president's main job as commander in chief, it's to protect the American people.

I believe he has the absolute right to carry this out. Now later on, Congress thinks it was inappropriate, we can take action as far as cutting off funding. And you can't have 435 or 535 commanders-in- chief. And if they told too many people, I assume the speaker of the House was told, I assume that the majority leader of the Senate was told, and probably certain people at the very top of the intelligence committee, probably the -- you know, the chairs of both the House and the Senate.

But, no, I don't believe that even though it might be nice, it could also be very dangerous. And surprise is an element. We are at war with a deadly enemy. These people want to kill this. And I'm willing to give the president that power to kill them first.

COSTELLO: So you're willing to sit on the sidelines and allow the president to make these decisions?

KING: I'm willing to do what a member of Congress should do, that's to watch as carefully as I can. I'm on the intelligence committee. I'm not the Secretary of State. I'm not the president of the United States. I have -- my job as a member of Congress. The president at his job as commander-in-chief, and that's to protect the American people. And he's doing the right thing. And this has happened many times in our history.

Eisenhower sent troops into Lebanon for that. Harry Truman sent troops into Korea. This is something that the president has the right to do. Congress can take follow-up action if we oppose what the president is doing, we can cut off funding. We can take what action we think is necessary to them.

But we can't be up front with every attack as far as everyone being brought into it because in this case, the Khorasan group could have escaped and we could have had many Americans dead. So, that to me is a price I don't want to pay.

COSTELLO: Congressman Peter King, thanks so much for joining me this morning. I appreciate it.

KING: Thank you.

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