Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday that reports Gen. Qassem Soleimani was on a diplomatic mission when he was killed are "fundamentally false" and asserted that the president's actions that led to his death were both legal and appropriate.
As tensions continue to rise in the Middle East, Pompeo answered questions from reporters at the State Department after making remarks on issues that included turmoil in Venezuela and the Australian wildfires, for which he offered his condolences.
Pompeo, the former C.I.A. director, declined to provide evidence of what has been repeatedly described by the White House as an "imminent" threat from Iran that led to the assassination. He further said the timing of the attack was less important than the fact that American lives were threatened.
"If you're looking for imminence, you need to look no further than the days that led up to the strike that was taken against Soleimani," he said.
An American contractor was killed late last month in a rocket attack by an Iran-backed militia in Iraq. After the U.S. ordered a retaliatory missile strike, protesters stormed the embassy in Baghdad on New Year's Eve. Some Pentagon officials have said intelligence did not show an imminent attack.
He added, "And then you, in addition to that, have what we can clearly see were continuing efforts on behalf of this terrorist to build out a network of campaign activities that were going to lead potentially to the death of many more Americans."
"It was the right decision, we got it right," and U.S. intelligence supported that conclusion, Pompeo claimed, defending both the president's authorization of the strike and the broader Iran policy.
Pompeo said the U.S. would also abide by international law. On Monday, Defense Secretary Mark Esper acknowledged that striking cultural sites is a war crime, despite the president tweeting about such potential targets in Iran. When questioned on the subject, Pompeo said "let me tell you who's done damage to the Persian culture. It's not the United States of America. It's the ayatollah."
Meanwhile, U.S. forces were placed on high alert in the Middle East amid military intelligence suggesting Iran is moving equipment to launch drone strikes.
Pompeo said the president had acted in an "entirely legal, appropriate" way that was "perfectly within our strategy," which he described as a "pressure campaign we have in place … diplomatic component, economic component, and military component."
"In the event that the Iranians make another bad choice, the president will respond in the way he did last week," he said.
Last week, President Trump authorized the airstrike killing Soleimani and his adviser Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis at the Baghdad airport, angering Tehran for killing the high-profile commander of the Quds Force and frustrating some American politicians who feel he took his power too far.
The president ordered the strike without giving notice to Congress, seemingly conflicting with the War Powers Act of 1973. Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she will hold votes this week when the House of Representatives is back in session to limit the president's ability to act unilaterally. A Senate vote is expected as well.
Markets were pointing mostly lower to end the week as investors reacted to the threat of a Covid resurgence in Europe. Jeff Schulze, Investment Strategist at ClearBridge Investments joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss Friday's pre-market activity.
A federal judge tossed out a lawsuit against financial services platform Robinhood following the meme stock saga that swept the investment world. The judge said it found no wrongdoing on Robinhood's part after the platform halted trading on popular meme stocks Gamestop and AMC.
Jill and Carlo are back to cover the latest in the Rittenhouse trial, new information on the origins of Covid, return-to-office and more.
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The U.S. Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against Uber after it was discovered that disabled people were being disproportionately affected by extra “wait time” fees. Attorney Jonathan Bell joined Cheddar to discuss.
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has been accused by the EU of manufacturing a migration crisis along his border with Poland. But, even as tensions appear to be stabilizing at the moment, Ali Noorani, the president and CEO of National Immigration Forum and the host of the "Only in America" podcast spoke to Cheddar about the ongoing danger to the migrants who hail from countries like Iraq and Afghanistan. "What is going to happen to folks who are in Belarus who came from these countries? Is Lukashenko going to provide them asylum and protection in Belarus, or are they going to continue to be political pawns in a geopolitical battle," he said. "Real people's lives are being put at great risk."
A group of crypto investors has come together to raise millions of dollars in the hopes of owning a rare piece of the U.S. Constitution. According to the crypto group, "Constitution DAO" It is time to put the constitution in the hands of the people. CEO and Founder of Metaversal Yossi Hasson, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
Polarization is among the defining traits of American politics in the 21st century. Sometimes it seems like the only thing we can all agree on is the fact that we don't really agree on anything. But those divisions don't just stop at whether you vote red or blue.
A new survey from the Pew Research Center finds that rather than just two political buckets, we have nine. The "2021 political typology" as it's called distinguishes between different ideological subsets in the Democratic and Republican party. It encompasses everyone from the loudest revolutionary lefties, to the loudest insurrection apologists on the right.
Andrew Daniller, research associate at the Pew Research Center, joins None of the Above to discuss.
Tanya Snyder, transportation reporter at Politico, joins None of the Above with J.D. Durkin to discuss the bipartisan infrastructure law, what it means for the electric vehicle industry and whether Democrats will be able to capitalize on the legislative victory ahead of the 2022 midterms.
Heading into 2022, the eyes of political nerds like us are fixed on statehouses across the country. State legislatures are in the process of taking the data from the 2020 census and using it to draw new congressional districts. The process has major implications for midterms, as Republicans could retake the majority just by gerrymandering enough seats into their column. In Maryland, state level Democrats are considering several maps, one of which would completely draw out the only Republican from the state in Congress.
Bruce DePuyt, senior reporter at Maryland Matters, and Helen Brewer, legal analyst at Princeton's Electoral Innovation Lab, join Cheddar Politics to discuss.
