Jeffries: ‘There’s No Circumstance Where U.S. Ground Troops Should Be Sent Over to the Middle East’

Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said there was “no circumstance where U.S. ground troops should be sent over to the Middle East.”

Partial transcript as follows:

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Now, I want to bring in the Democratic leader of the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries. Congressman, thank you for joining us this morning. Your reaction to these developments overnight?

JEFFRIES:  Well, I’m thankful that a second U.S. airman has been rescued heroically by our Special Forces. And we, of course, continue to pray for the safety, the health, the well-being of all of our men and women who are in uniform in a very dangerous theater of war. Of course, Donald Trump has gotten us involved in this reckless war of choice without any plan, any strategic objectives and no clear exit strategy. Instead, billions of dollars are being spent every day to drop bombs in the Middle East when Donald Trump, as a candidate, promised to never get us involved in this type of conflict.

STEPHANOPOULOS:  So, you’ve made it clear you’re opposed to the war, but what should the exit strategy be right now?

JEFFRIES:  Well, that’s the challenge that, of course, Donald Trump has gotten us into this reckless war of choice without ever clearly laying out the strategic objectives, the plan, how this is designed to actually make life better for the American people. We’ve seen the exact opposite, particularly as it relates to the dramatic increase in gas prices when we already are dealing with an affordability crisis here in the United States of America.

Donald Trump purported to deliver a speech to lay out a case to the American people a few days ago, but he failed dramatically.

STEPHANOPOULOS:  He is expanding. He’s threatening this morning to expand again. He says the Iranians are going to be living in hell if they don’t — if they don’t open up the Strait of Hormuz by Tuesday. Is that possible without U.S. ground troops?

JEFFRIES:  Well, certainly, there’s no circumstance where U.S. ground troops should be sent over to the Middle East. This war is already deeply unpopular for obvious reasons amongst the American people and the American people are not going to accept ground troops being put into harm’s way in this war of choice when there’s no clear evidence that it actually is designed to improve our national security interests. Instead, we see a war that continues to escalate. More than a dozen countries are involved and billions of dollars of taxpayer money are being spent overseas. The administration refuses to actually spend a dime to make life more affordable for the American people.

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