CNN’s Anderson Cooper Torpedoes Trump ‘Unconditional Surrender’ Claim: ‘Keeping Them Honest-‘

CNN host Anderson Cooper torpedoed President Donald Trump’s claim that his Iran deal is equivalent to an “unconditional surrender” by the Iranians.

Hours after the text of the deal was released, Trump signed the Iran memorandum of understanding at the Palace of Versailles. The 14-point plan was met with derision from across the political and ideological spectrum.

But in an interview with Axios, Trump made the stunning claim that the deal “really probably is unconditional surrender” for Iran.

On Thursday night’s edition of CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360,

ANDERSON COOPER: Good evening from the Newsroom. Topping our CNN Global War coverage, the President defends his agreement with Iran and now suggests Iran has made an unconditional surrender. In his first interview since signing the Memorandum of Understanding last night in Versailles, where Germany once signed the terms of its surrender after World War I, the President spoke with AXIOS Marc Caputo. Here’s some of that conversation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARC CAPUTO, REPORTER FOR WHITE HOUSE IN THE AXIOS: What have you learned about not just the exercise of power, but the limits on your power as a result of the conflict?

DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: There are no limits.

CAPUTO: No limits.

TRUMP: No, I haven’t learned that lesson yet. I know there are, but you know, there are no limits. We defeated them totally militarily. I did a naval blockade where not one ship was able to get through. Some tried, they didn’t, you know, didn’t last very long.

CAPUTO: And it certainly brought Iran to the table more than before. However, beginning of conflict, you had talked about. You only wanted unconditional surrender. The MOU doesn’t look like unconditional surrender.

TRUMP: Well, it really probably is unconditional surrender.

CAPUTO: Yes, I think so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: It really is. He probably is, he says. Keeping them honest, the agreement he signed and the Vice-President, Vance, will sign in Geneva tomorrow, along with Iranian officials, contains 14 conditions. In other words, 14 ways that this is not unconditional. As for surrender, conservative pundit Erick Erickson is calling the preliminary deal, quote, “an American surrender.”

But set aside the whole question of who, if anyone, is surrendering here under the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding, the two sides now have 60 days to come to a final agreement for settling their differences. They can extend, by mutual agreement. That clock began ticking today, according to the Vice-President, who spent some of the day in the White House Briefing Room defending that MOU in a pretty remarkable way, namely by saying it doesn’t really matter what’s in the thing, nor does it matter, he says. What the two sides have agreed to and what some administration officials have been calling gentleman’s agreements, which is in and of itself a strange phrase calling the leaders of the Iranian regime gentlemen. a regime whose founding principle is “Death to America.

Still, a regime which has slaughtered and imprisoned and tortured and executed countless men and women, not to mention Americans.

The President has recently used other surprising words to describe the members of this regime. By the way, he’s called them smart, very rational people. He’s even said that they are, quote, “far less radicalized in the end, Vice-President Vance says there’s one thing that matters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE (R), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Theres a lot of discussion. The MOU, the gentlemen’s agreements, the final deal. Words don’t matter, ladies and gentlemen, we’re about verification.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Verification of any agreement is, of course, essential. The very technical means of verifying Iran’s nuclear capabilities, those have been left to future negotiations.

Watch above via Anderson Cooper 360.

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