"The Anwar Sadat of our country" — that's how Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., hailed President Donald Trump.
Speaking at Monday's Grand Strategy Summit of the Richard Nixon Foundation in Washington, Issa likened the president to the late Egyptian leader because, like Sadat, "Trump is a person who will go anywhere fearlessly."
"The fact is great people are not afraid to go where others say Oh, no. We've got to preclear this. It's got to be all perfect," Issa told journalist Matthew Foldi.
"Trump is willing to go someplace to have a summit that doesn't end up with what you want. He's willing to do that because he believes that meetings are held at high levels are not something you hold out until everything's been worked out and there's nothing left to do," Issa said.
Sadat stunned the world in 1977 by visiting Jerusalem and meeting with Israeli leaders, addressing the Knesset as a breakthrough gesture of peace.
Sadat signed the Camp David Accords with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin in 1978, marking the first mutual recognition between Israel and Egypt and formally ending their state of war.
Sadat was assassinated in 1981 by gunmen linked to the Muslim Brotherhood at a military parade in Cairo.
Issa also likened President Richard Nixon, a fellow Californian, to Sadat as a "risk-taker" in diplomacy.
He said: "Nixon knew, in many ways, that there was a great risk in going to China. Ultimately, the reward was the division that occurred — the incredible schism that happened between China and the Soviet Union that ultimately led to the Soviet Union's collapse.
"The Soviet Union would not have collapsed under [President Ronald] Reagan alone if in fact there had not been a China policy that pulled them away. When Nixon went to China, he was beginning that process."
Like Nixon, Trump "will go places others won't go," Issa said. "He'll do things others won't do."
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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