Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) was pressed on why she previously didn’t call Qasem Soleimani — the Iranian general killed in a U.S. drone strike — a terrorist.
During an interview on ABC’s “The View” on Tuesday, co-host Meghan McCain asked Warren why she called Soleimani a “murderer” and the drone strike an “assassination of a senior military official” but declined to call him a terrorist.
Warren responded by asking what the proper response to Iranian aggression is.
“The question is, what is the response that the President of the United States should make? And what advances the interests of the United States of America? Think about Sadam Hussein. You want to talk about a bad guy. However, going to war in Iraq was not in the interest of the United States. We lost thousands of American lives. It cost us here at home. It has cost us around the world.”
Watch her comments below:
Asked several times by @MeghanMcCain if Gen. Soleimani was a terrorist, Sen. Elizabeth Warren says, "Of course he is. He's part of a group that our federal government has designated as a terrorist. The question, though, is what's the right response?" https://t.co/tmqF9En73W pic.twitter.com/kr7By0AyEl
— ABC News (@ABC) January 7, 2020
Warren continued to say that the president has to have an “appropriate response” to Iranian aggression, and declined to call Soleimani a terrorist.
When she tried to change the subject, McCain pressed her again, asking, “Do you think he’s a terrorist?”
Warren responded, “He’s part of a group that’s been designated…”
Before she could finish her sentence, McCain interjected, “So, he’s not a terrorist?”
“Of course, he is. He is part of a group that our federal government has designated as a terrorist,” Warren said. “The question, though, is: What’s the right response? And the response that Donald Trump has picked is the most incendiary and has moved us right to the edge of war. And that is not in our long term interest.”
Republicans have criticized Democrats for not celebrating the death of Soleimani and accused them of “mourning” his death.
On Monday, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said, “The only ones that are mourning the loss of Soleimani are Democrat leadership and our Democrat presidential candidates,” as IJR has previously reported.
Haley continued to point out that other world leaders were not defending Iran or the actions of Soleimani because, as she says, “they knew that this man had evil veins.”
The day after the strike that killed Soleimani, Warren called him a “murderer” but voiced concern over the “reckless move” which she said “increases the likelihood of more deaths and new Middle East conflict.”