Issa: We Need to Boot Russia’s Embassy Staff over Detained WSJ Reporter, ‘Most of Them Are Spies’

On Tuesday’s broadcast of the Fox Business Network’s “Kennedy,” Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) called for the expulsion of half or all of Russia’s embassy staff over the nation’s detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and stated that “most of” the staff are spies.

Issa said, “Well, the chief diplomat, Antony Blinken, is just that, he’s a diplomat. He can negotiate. He can talk. At the end of the day, the commander-in-chief is the one who has to give him the power to say, we won’t tolerate it and we will take action that Russia will regret. The last time they did this with — obviously, with a sports figure, we could have taken half or even all of their embassy staff and kicked them out. And most of them are spies. We — certainly, they could have retaliated. But does Russia really want to break off diplomatic relations with the United States, have no one be able to get a visa? Of course not. So, the fact is, if you’re going to have this fight, the secretary of state may be the one to deliver it, but the president has to approve it. And this president has not been willing to take Russia on in an appropriate fashion any more than he has China, that’s the reason that China is sitting in France now trying to pick off another one of our allies.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett