Democratic Senator Rails Against ‘Bulls***’ Republicans-Only Briefing on Trump’s Boat Bombings
Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) unloaded after he and other Democratic senators were shut out of a Senate briefing on President Donald Trump’s bombing of boats in the Caribbean and Pacific.
Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth have defended the ongoing U.S. military strikes on vessels near Venezuela and Colombia. The administration claims the boats were carrying by “narcoterrorists” trafficking drugs, but the administration has provided no evidence for its claims. Even if this were the case, the bombings would be on extremely dubious legal grounds. So far, at least 57 people have been killed in the strikes, and the president has indicated that the U.S. may bomb Venezuela itself.
On Wednesday, Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee held a briefing on the bombings, but iced out their Democratic colleagues on the committee. Speaking at the Capitol on Thursday, Warner slammed the GOP-only briefing, calling it “bulls***:
If you’re sitting in this room getting clearly what had been prior Gang-of-Eight-level classified information, didn’t somebody raise their hand and say, “Well, holy crap, where are the Democrats?”
[…]
We got a ham-handed, “Oh, maybe you’re right. Whatever.”
I say bulls***.
Over in the House, the Armed Services Committee held a briefing on the bombings. Democrats attended, but were not pleased with the answers they received from the Trump administration.
“Am I leaving satisfied? Absolutely not,” Rep. Seth Moulton told reporters on Thursday. “And the last word that I gave to the admiral was, ‘I hope you recognize the constitutional peril that you are in and the peril you are putting our troops in.'”
Rep Jason Crow (D-CO) was similarly frustrated.
“What I heard here today was a tactical brief. I heard no strategy, no end game, no assessment of how they are going to end the flow of drugs into the United States, which needs to happen, by the way,” he said.
Watch above via CNN.
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