Pelosi: Trump’s action on Syria ‘above the law’
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi accused President Trump of acting “above the law” Sunday, saying that he has not asked for needed congressional approval for military action in Syria.
After a weekend news conference about tax reform at the San Francisco Labor Council, Pelosi decried Trump’s use of escalating force against Syrian President Bashar Assad without the authorization of Congress. On Friday night, the United States — along with France and Britain — bombed the country over Assad’s suspected use of chemical weapons such as chlorine and sarin on citizens.
The attack came one week after Syria’s alleged use of deadly gas in Douma, a suburb near Damascus, killing at least 40 children and adults. The bombings were aimed at a storage facility, a research center, and an equipment facility and command post associated with Syria’s chemical weapons program.
Trump tweeted that it was a “perfectly executed strike” that “could not have had a better result.” The tweet, posted Friday, ended with: “Mission Accomplished!”
But Pelosi said Trump was misusing a measure passed by Congress in 2001 authorizing the president to use force against terrorists. Before the bombings, members of Congress appealed for a classified briefing, she said. It didn’t happen.
“We must have that debate, Congress must act, and the president cannot feel that he has free rein in that regard,” Pelosi said. “What was the mission, and what did he accomplish? The point is, we want to know what happened there.”
She added, “He doesn’t know. It’s not unusual for him to talk about things he doesn’t even know about — and this is the commander in chief.”
On Saturday, Pentagon spokesman Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie told reporters that the attacks dealt a “serious blow” to the chemical weapons program, hitting the “very heart” of it. But those strikes did not take out all of the facilities, and Assad could still use the deadly chemicals.
Trump’s actions angered Russian President Vladimir Putin, who said that they could have a “destructive effect on the entire system of international relations,” according to Russian news agencies.
Nikki Haley, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said at an emergency meeting Sunday that Trump told her that if Assad uses the chemical agents again, he is “locked and loaded” to act.
“When our president draws a red line, our president enforces a red line,” she said.
But Trump’s actions could be outside of his constitutional authority, Pelosi said.
“Show us what happened there, what the consequences were, what the risk was,” she said of Trump’s failure to inform Congress of his decisions. “Not only do we risk the lives of our troops, but also collateral damage.”
No American troops were injured in the attack, but it is unknown whether any Syrian civilians were harmed or killed.
Pelosi also addressed rumors that Trump had plans to fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who is overseeing Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s federal investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
That would also be acting “above the law,” she said.
“It’s curious to me that the president of the United States has not fired one but two directors of the FBI and now threatens to fire the deputy attorney general,” Pelosi said. “Firing Rosenstein is the exact equivalent of firing Mueller. It is the same thing. It is obstructing the investigation. It is the declaration of the president that he is above the law and an assault on our democracy.”
On Sunday, Trump tweeted that former FBI Director James Comey — whose book on his experiences in government comes out Tuesday — was “slippery” and “a man who always ends up badly and out of whack (he is not smart!), will go down as the WORST FBI Director in history, by far!”
“I think that the tweets the president has been making are so far beneath the office of the president,” Pelosi said. “He makes the case as to why this investigation must continue.”