Rep. Katherine Clark (D-MA) suggested to CNN on Monday that President Trump's orders to kill Qassem Soleimani, the leader of Iran's Quds Forces who is responsible for many American deaths, as another reason to support his impeachment.
In addition to over 600 U.S. service members' deaths, Soleimani is responsible for thousands of civilian deaths in the Middle East. He was killed by a U.S. airstrike while he was in a car at Baghdad's International Airport. The Pentagon said Soleimani was in the country to carry out more attacks against Americans in the region, including the attack at the American Embassy in Baghdad.
"You know, I think that the two are linked by the fact that both highlight we have a dangerous president," Clark told CNN's John Berman. "We have a dangerous president, who is unpredictable, who acts out of his own self-needs and ego wants, and not those of the security of the country and of the American people. And when you combine that with a dangerous and unpredictable world, we have a threat to our security and to Americans here and abroad. This situation, we really can’t emphasize that the reckless nature..."
Berman then asked Clark if she believed Trump ordered the strike for personal gain.
"I think that he is obsessed with how he is viewed worldwide," Clark replied. "We don’t know exactly why he did this, because the White House is not being forthcoming. And this president and his administration do not exactly have a deep well of credibility either with the American people or abroad. What we’ve seen is a continuation of reckless action that now is already having very, very dire impacts."
In contrast, Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) praised Trump for the strike in a released statement.
"This is very simple: General Soleimani is dead because he was an evil bastard who murdered Americans," Sasse said. "The President made the brave and right call, and Americans should be proud of our servicemembers who got the job done. Tehran is on edge - the mullahs have already slaughtered at least a thousand innocent Iranians - and before they lash out further they should know that the U.S. military can bring any and all of these IRGC butchers to their knees."
