On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room,” Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) blasted the Trump administration’s rationale for the Soleimani strike as an “insult to the Constitution.” And stated that in the briefing with the administration, he “didn’t learn anything…that I hadn’t seen in a newspaper already.”
Paul said, “It’s an insult to the Constitution. The Constitution said the power to declare war was to be given to Congress. They specifically did not give that power to the president. In the briefing, and in public, this administration has argued that the vote to topple Saddam Hussein in 2002 now applies to military action in Iraq. That is absurd. Nobody in their right mind, with a straight face, with an ounce of honesty, can argue that when Congress voted to go after Saddam Hussein in 2002, that that authorized military force against an Iranian general 18 years later.”
He added, “I think that, constitutionally, presidents need to ask for permission to go to war, and I think killing a major general of another country is an act of war.”
Paul later said, “There was no specific information given to us of a specific attack. Generalities, stuff you read in the newspaper was given to us. I didn’t learn anything in the hearing that I hadn’t seen in a newspaper already. And none of it was overwhelming that x was going to happen.”
Paul also responded to Senator Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) criticism of him and Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) by stating, “I think it’s sad when people have this fake sort of drape of patriotism, and anybody that disagrees with them is not a patriot. … He hasn’t even read the history of the Constitution. The Constitution specifically says that the war-making power is — resides in Congress. He believes in this unitary theory of the executive that presidents can do whatever they want, and the only way you can stop them is by defunding a war.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.