Sophomoric and utterly unconvincing
Top Trump stooges “briefed” members of Congress today, leaving them underwhelmed.
The quartet of US secretary of state Mike Pompeo, the still relatively new defense secretary Mark Esper, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff Mark Milley and the historically-controversial CIA director Gina Haspel strode across Capitol Hill today to brief members of Congress on the Iran issues.
It would be like being briefed by the Marx Brothers, but less fun.
Senior Democrat and chairman of the House foreign affairs committee, Eliot Engel, who was deeply involved in the Trump impeachment inquiry, was unimpressed.
Democrat Pramila Jayapal said of the administration’s stated justification for assassinating Iranian general Qassem Suleimani in the Baghdad area last week: “There was NO raw evidence presented that this [Suleimani plotting against US] was an imminent threat.”
Now about that War Powers Act…
US Democrats, who dominate the House of Representatives, are still furious that they were not consulted or even notified before Donald Trump took unilateral action late last week to assassinate senior Iranian general Qassem Suleimani as he was being driven away from the Baghdad airport in Iraq.
Presidents aren’t supposed to do things like that. Trump thinks he has infinite powers, but he’s wrong, but he refuses to learn otherwise.
It may be no more than a democratic gesture (given that the Republicans dominate the Senate and are foursquare behind their president, Trump) but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has announced the introduction of legislation to curb the president’s war powers, and it will come up for voting tomorrow.
Even some Republicans are not impressed by the briefing.
Republican maverick Senators of the day, Rand Paul of Kentucky, and Utah’s Mike Lee, are also exasperated.
Lee told Fox News that the congressional briefing was “lame” and that it was “wrong” for the senior Trump administration briefers – the secretary of state, defense secretary, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and director of the CIA – to tell GOP members of congress that there must be “no dissension” in the ranks over any warlike actions from Donald Trump.
It seems the members were given very luke warm, unreassuring assurances over whether Congress would be involved in any near future further actions of aggression towards Iran.
Lee called it the worst briefing he’d ever heard in his nine years in the Senate.
Fewer and fewer people are willing to work for Trump, so what’s left is the dregs. Dregs don’t do good briefings.
No dissent, no debate. Are they taking their lead from the TRAs, or vice versa?
As for justifying the assassination, I read somewhere earlier this week (The Independent, if memory serves) that one of Trump’s lackies claimed that the intelligence services had provided them with ‘exquisite’ evidence of Suleimani’s plans against the US. Exquisite, I tells ya. Ya can’t argue with exquisificated evidence now, can ya?
Senators should not be told by the President, even of their own party, what they can think or say. They are not children to be instructed; they are supposed to be mature, capable adults who are a major part of the decision making in this country.
Only…the bulk of the Republican party is the exact opposite of mature, capable adults. They are whiny children who only want to score one for the team.
Speaking of the Marx Brothers….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mEsXz-Bpog
Your placement of Cory Booker’s tweet under Even some Republicans are not impressed by the briefing might make it look like Booker is a Republican. Hint: No!