Newsmax host Rob Finnerty straight-up told House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY) on Wednesday that he doesn’t believe President Donald Trump’s claims about Cuba, telling the congressman the administration’s hawkish posture toward Cuba seems “like a false flag.”

Comer joined Finnerty to discuss, among other topics, the administration’s recent actions surrounding Cuba. Wednesday saw Secretary of State Marco Rubio release a five-minute video addressing the Cuban people and their increasing difficulties in relation to Trump’s oil blockade on the country. Hours later, the Department of Justice indicted former Cuban President Raúl Castro for the alleged murder of American citizens in relation to the downing of two planes near the Cuban coast in 1996.

Finnerty mentioned these actions before pressing Comer on why the administration was focusing on Cuba while Americans were struggling at home.

“I get it. The ayatollah is gone. Nicolas Maduro is in jail. But now Cuba, I just– look, I think people struggle with how this is America First when gas is $4.55 a gallon right now,” he said.

Comer defended the administration’s actions, using the line repeated by many in Trump’s orbit that the country poses a national security threat to the U.S. Finnerty pushed back strongly, pressing the congressman over whether he genuinely believed the words he was saying while telling Comer directly that it sounded like “we’re just trying to make the case to attack Cuba.”

Read their exchange below:

COMER: It is, and you’re absolutely right. But at the end of the day, Cuba has always been a national security threat. And as you said earlier, we’ve been negotiating with Cuba since before I was born. I’m fifty-three years old, so the negotiations have gone nowhere. Cuba’s leader is at the end of his lifespan. The Cuban people, clearly, unlike maybe the Iranian people, the Cuban people clearly want a regime change in Cuba. It’s just, you know, minutes away from Miami and Florida and the United States. So it’s a strategic problem for the United States, and–

FINNERTY: But do you really think they’re a threat, Mr. Chairman?

COMER: –if Cuba falls into the wrong hands.

FINNERTY: Do you really think that Cuba’s a threat?

COMER: If some country went in and loaded Cuba with the same drones that Iran had when we first started bombing Iran, then yes, I think it could be a threat. I don’t think that’s there. I know John Ratcliffe has been on the ground. The CIA– he’s on the ground as we speak, talking to the Cuban officials. I really don’t think, Rob, it’ll get to any type of military action, but the president is threatening that. […] But, at the end of the day, I think that we’ve got to be on guard because of the new types of warfare that’s out there with these new drones–

FINNERTY: Well, I get it–

COMER: –we’re seeing play out in Iran.

FINNERTY: I understand that. Axios had a report this week that the U.S. is concerned, I’m sure you saw this, about a possible Cuba drone strike on Florida. And I’ll be honest, Mr. Chairman, I know that you’ve got the security clearance to know more about this, but to me, this just sounds like we’re trying to make the case to attack Cuba. I don’t buy it. It sounds like a false flag operation. Would you support military action in Cuba if it came to that? And I guess, more importantly, do you buy this report in Axios?

COMER: I know that I’ve been one of the biggest critics of our intelligence over the past ten years. They’re usually wrong. They usually do everything they can to get us to the point of warfare because that’s what they like to do, apparently. But at the end of the day, I don’t think anybody right now supports an invasion of Cuba or anything else. We’re hoping that this can turn diplomatically.

Watch above via Newsmax.

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