Bloomberg Hits Sanders: ‘Outrageous’ to Call Soleimani’s Death an ‘Assassination’

FAYETTEVILLE, NC - JANUARY 03: Democratic Presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg address
Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images
Hannah Knudsen

Presidential hopeful Michael Bloomberg (D) said it is “outrageous” to describe the death of Iran’s top terror chief as an “assassination” — a description used by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).

Bloomberg last week took issue with Sanders describing the elimination of Iran’s top general, Qasem Soleimani, an “assassination,” telling reporters that it is an “outrageous thing to say.”

“Nobody that I know of would think that we did something wrong in getting the general,” the billionaire said:

His remarks followed the Sanders campaign’s statement, describing the terrorist’s death as an “assassination”:

Sanders said in a video statement that he would “do everything that [he] can to prevent a war with Iran” and added that he apologizes to “no one” for his position:

Bloomberg, however, took a more measured approach, stating that Soleimani had the “blood of Americans on his hands.” While he took shots at Trump in his statement and questioned his judgment, he did not outright condemn the action:

Nonetheless, Sanders was not the only figure to describe the elimination of the terrorist, who was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Americans and actively planning further attacks on U.S. service members and American diplomats, an “assassination”:

Rep. Mark Green (R-TN) took issue with the description of an “assassination.”

“#Iran attacked a U.S. embassy. This is sovereign U.S. territory, and @realDonaldTrump took out the guy who planned the mission,” he wrote on Monday.

“This was not an ‘assassination’. These soldiers are there under Congressional authority,” he continued. “The War Powers Act has nothing to do with this”:

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