“We didn’t have time to call up Nancy [Pelosi], who is not operating with a full deck,” President Trump told a crowd at Toledo’s Huntington Center, hours after the House of Representatives passed a resolution aimed at limiting his power to use military force against Iran.
Nearly 8,000 supporters cheered him on.
The vote
The House voted 224 to 194, mostly along party lines, to cease military operations against Iran. The vote came days after Trump approved the US drone strike that killed Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani. The resolution now goes to the Senate, where its fate is uncertain. It does not need the president’s signature, and its practical effect, if it passes, is uncertain.
It would require a declaration of war by Congress for any future military action against Iran, unless the use of force is “necessary and appropriate to defend against an imminent armed attack upon the United States, its territories or possessions, or its Armed Forces.”
Trump’s speech did not mention that exception. The administration has said Soleimani was targeted to head off an “imminent” attack but has given few details.
Trump mocked the whole idea of consulting lawmakers. “You should get permission from Congress,” he said. “You should tell us what you’re going to do so we can call up the fake news and we can leak it.”
Attacks on critics
He saved particular mockery for Rep. Adam Schiff, the California Democrat who leads the House Intelligence Committee and managed the impeachment inquiry. “He buys the smallest shirt collar you can get and it’s loose,” Trump said. He also went after Sen. Bernie Sanders: “Crazy Bernie has condemned the U.S. military strike on Soleimani, the world’s top terrorist.”
The Senate is due to take up its own war powers resolution next week. That one would require Trump to wind down military action in Iran in 30 days unless Congress authorizes it.
His account of the strike
Many Democrats say the strike has brought the US to the brink of war. Trump defended it by saying Soleimani was planning attacks on several US embassies. “He was looking very seriously at our embassies and not just the embassy in Baghdad,” he said, “but we stopped him very quickly and we stopped him cold.”
He described his response to the mob attack on the US Embassy in Baghdad as a complete success. “This was the anti-Benghazi,” he said. “We got there very quickly.” He recalled telling his generals to send forces at once: one general said troops could be there the next day, and “I said, no, get them there immediately.”
Voices in the crowd
Phillip Sellati, a retail manager from Lima, Ohio, said he was glad “they got that general.” Calling the situation “kind of a quagmire,” he said Trump had the right approach: “There’s only one way to beat a bully and that’s to beat him down.”
Craig Pencheff, who owns a car wash in Sylvania, did not think Trump had broken his promise to end America’s “endless wars.” “As long as he didn’t put boots on the ground, I don’t think he’s going to break the promise,” he said.
Pelosi is expected to send articles of impeachment to the Senate as early as Friday, setting up a trial that could end in Trump’s removal. Pencheff did not like that prospect. “If Trump gets removed from office, there’s going to be hell to pay, I’m telling you right now,” he said.
