Steve Scalise on Soleimani: ‘You Can’t Have 535 Commanders-in-Chief’

“You can’t have 535 commanders-in-chief,” said Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA)  of Democrats’ criticisms of President Donald Trump’s directive to eliminate Islamic terrorist Qasem Soleimani, offering his remarks on Tuesday’s edition of SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Daily in an interview with Alex Marlow.

Scalise said, “You’re talking about somebody who was directly responsible for killing over 600 service members, had killed thousands of others, [and] was planning on killing more Americans. I mean, at what point do you say, ‘Enough is enough and we’re going take this guy out,’ when he not only threatens to kill more Americans but has already, for decades, had a history of killing Americans?”

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“Whose side are you on if you’re going to criticize an American president for taking steps that will save American lives against a person who had a long history — a decades-long history — as a terrorist?” asked Scalise. “[Qasem Soleimani was] not just somebody who was part of a military unit of a foreign government that we’re at war with, but this is the head of a terrorist organization.”

Scalise continued, “By the way, don’t just take our word for it. This is Obama’s administration that deemed him a terrorist, and you go back to Osama bin Laden’s killing. When President Obama… gave the order to do [kill Osama bin Laden], we commended President Obama for doing it. It was the right action, and when the president takes the right action — clearly we disagreed with Obama on many, many things — but on that, he got it right, and we commended him for it.”

“For whatever reason, no matter what President Trump does, whether it works, [Democrats] find a way to criticize him,” added Scalise. “We’ve got the hottest economy in the world, and they still criticize the very tax cuts that they voted against where more Americans have opportunities than at any time in our history.”

Scalise remarked, “Here, you’ve taken out one of the most brutal terrorists in the history of America, and [Democrats] can’t find the time to say, ‘Okay, you know what? We might disagree with President Trump on other things, but he got this right.’ They can’t even do that, and I think that hurts their credibility, because people look at this and go, ‘Wait a minute, nobody wants to be in the middle of a war. We don’t want to go to war with Iran, but if Iran’s going to bring it to us, we’ve got to defend America,’ and we’ve got a president who’s willing to stand up and do that in Donald Trump.”

“I wish the previous administration would have done it, but they didn’t,” Scalise continued. “They appeased Iran. They gave Iran the pathway to a nuclear weapon, along with billions of dollars in cash to go with it, and what do we have to show for that? Is that the great diplomacy that John Kerry would talk about, and then they turn around and kill more Americans? Enough is enough.”

Scalise went on, “President Trump gave… multiple opportunities for Iran to become part of the rest of the world, the civilized world, and they’ve chosen not to, and so this is the only action that it seems they pay attention to.”

Marlow stated, “I can’t think of one [Democrat] who thinks this is a good move.”

Scalise replied, “[Qasem Soleimani] has maybe killed more Americans than [Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi]. One of the telling signs… go look at what Elizabeth Warren first said just a few days ago. Elizabeth Warren’s first communication about this was positive, talking about how bad Soleimani was, and the left jumped all over it.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) later criticized Trump’s directive to eliminate Soleimani as “reckless” and as an “escalation” of conflict with Iran.

The Trump administration understands the limits of diplomacy in addressing American’s adversaries, estimated Scalise.

“You’ve seen Secretary Pompeo and President Trump working overtime to try to reach out to a lot of thugs around the world [with diplomacy],” said Scalise, “and not just in Iran, you see it in North Korea, you see it in China, and yet, there are some countries who don’t see that in any other way than as a sign of weakness, and so with countries like Iran, it seems that strength is the only thing that they respond to.”

Scalise stated, “So you saw a display of strength, and it was overwhelming, and the president has made it clear if they try to attack America again they’re going to get an overwhelming response, as well. We don’t want to be in that position, but at the same time, appeasement doesn’t work with them, either. So put all options on the table, hope that this works out, hope that Iran realizes if they come back at us in any kind of way, we’re going to come back with an overwhelming response, and so that in and of itself should be a deterrent.”

Scalise recalled, “I wasn’t notified in advance of the bin Laden attack, and you know what? I’m okay with that. I’m just glad that they took him out. Why, again, why don’t you celebrate the result? You can’t have 535 commanders-in-chief. You have one. And at the same time, the law still says that Congress has to be notified within 48 hours as the War Powers Act, and that law was complied with.”

“The law was followed,” said Scalise of Trump’s directive to eliminate Soleimani. “If we’re attacked, the president has the authority to respond immediately. He doesn’t need an act of Congress to go and defend this country. To declare war is another story, but we’re not at war. We were responding to an imminent threat of attack on our country, and it was dealt with… The president ought to have that authority, whether it’s a Republican or Democrat president.”

Marlow said, “This is interesting, because Nancy Pelosi is basically suggesting that the president is not entitled to do anything militarily without her permission, and she’s saying that the Senate is not allowed to do [its] job without her permission. She will not transmit the articles of impeachment. So she controls… every branch of government. Maybe she’ll take over the Supreme Court, next. Just her, it’s her world.”

Scalise concurred, “The thirst for power is never-ending on the left.”

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