Dem Senator to MSNBC: ‘We Aren’t Trusting Assad, We’re Trusting the Russians’

Appearing on MSNBC with Andrea Mitchell, Sens. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) explained their opposition to President Barack Obama’s push for intervention in the Syrian civil war. They expressed their hope that the so-called Russian solution may avert a crisis. When pressed about the lack of enforceability or accountability of the Russian plan, Heitkamp said that the U.S. was not trusting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to make good on his word. “We’re trusting the Russians,” she explained.

“Why would you trust Assad,” Mitchell asked Heitkamp. “Assad has, until this initiative, denied there was an attack, denied he was part of it, denied he has chemical weapons. Why on earth would we trust this man to tell us he’s turned them all over to international monitoring and that he is signing a treaty that he’s never redesigned?”

“We’re not trusting Assad,” Heitkamp explained. “We’re trusting the Russians to come to the table…”

“Whoa,” Mitchell interjected. “You’re trusting the Russians?”

RELATED: CNN’s Arwa Damon: Russian Solution to

“We’re trusting Russia’s intent at this point to actually deliver the right set of circumstances,” Heitkamp clarified.

Manchin stepped in and clarified that the U.S. does not have a trusting relationship with Moscow, but the international community should back up the Russian proposal.

Heitkamp further explained that she does not believe “we should trust what anyone says,” but that “we should trust what they do.”

Watch the clip below via MSNBC:

[Photo via screen grab ]

— —

> >Follow Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) on Twitter