Iranian terror leader Qassem Soleimani is dead, thanks to the leadership of President Trump. He ordered the airstrike that killed Soleimani last month after being briefed about the blood on his hands, as well as the blood that was about to be on his hands. According to U.S. intelligence, the terrorist was planning more attacks on Americans.
Still, the Democrats were more preoccupied with how Trump circumvented Congress to use his military might. The Senate voted 55-45, with eight Republicans joining the Democrats, to approve a new War Powers Resolution that would limit Trump's military authority in Iran. The measure, in part, would ban the president from ordering any new offensive strikes against Iran. But since it did not receive as least two-thirds support, Trump can use his presidential veto to cancel it.
The White House released a report Friday morning outlining their justifications for striking Soleimani. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Eliot Engel, who read the report, claims that it contained no mention of any imminent threat.
Hse Foreign Affairs Cmte Chair Engel says Congress just got admin's rpt outlining authority for killing Soleimani. "The administration’s explanation in this rpt makes no mention of any imminent threat and shows that the justification..was false, plain and simple."
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) February 14, 2020
"This official report directly contradicts the president's false assertion that he attacked Iran to prevent an imminent attack against U.S. personnel and embassies," Engel said.
His conclusion is in contrast with Republican senators who attended the Senate military briefing last month.
"If the president of the United States is presented with information that there is an imminent and credible threat that could cost the lives of potentially hundreds if not thousands of American servicemen and women, and other personnel in the region, the President has an obligation to act," Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said. "Any President would have an obligation to act. And this President did.”
I chatted with some of Democratic presidential campaigns in New Hampshire after the ABC News debate last week over whether their candidates would have ordered the strike. Former Mayor Pete Buttigieg was dragged on Twitter for saying he would not have given the green light, and his team tried to spin the story to claim Trump did more harm to our soldiers than Soleimani had.
Yeah, not kidding.
Mayor Pete’s team trying to explain his Soleimani answer after I mentioned the terror leader was plotting more attacks on Americans. #DemDebate pic.twitter.com/XmsyQlp0q2
— Cortney O'Brien (@obrienc2) February 8, 2020
As a reminder, as the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ Quds Force, Soleimani was responsible for hundreds of U.S. deaths. If not for last month's strike, it could have been hundreds more.