Politics

Kentucky Republicans Paul And Massie Slam Trump For Naval Strike Against Syria

Kerry Picket Political Reporter
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Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul and Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie spoke out against the U.S. Naval strikes Thursday night.

“While we all condemn the atrocities in Syria, the United States was not attacked. The president needs congressional authorization for military action as required by the Constitution, and I call on him to come to Congress for a proper debate,” Sen. Paul said in a statement. “Our prior interventions in this region have done nothing to make us safer, and Syria will be no different.”

Rep. Massie showed his disapproval in several tweets:

Massie and Paul are among a group of libertarians within the Republican Party in Washington who often warn their colleagues and the executive branch over military interventionism. They believe the president cannot unilaterally, under the Constitution, attack a foreign nation without the approval of Congress.

Rep. Massie, who voted against Syrian intervention in 2014, told CNN on Wednesday he did not believe Bashar al-Assad’s regime was behind the chemical attacks in Northern Syria Tuesday.

“Frankly, I don’t think Assad would have done that,” Massie said. “It does not serve his interests.”

“You’ve got a war going on over there,” Massie said. “Supposedly that airstrike was on an ammo dump, and so I don’t know if it was released because there was gas stored in the ammo dump or not — that’s plausible.”

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