Senator Tim Kaine told the “Morning Joe” crew Tuesday that he has concerns over President Trump “unilaterally” taking military action against Syria.
“The president currently does not have any legal authority to wage war against nation states, missile strikes against Syria, for example, without coming to Congress,” the former vice presidential candidate stated. “I have been working very significantly with Senator Corker to try to come up with a proposal that will limit — rewrite and limit — the 2001 authorization and put more constraints on the when, where and who we are fighting against.”
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“That 2001 authorization is a complete blank check to the president, and it’s long past time that we impose some reasonable limitations.”
Kaine also told Mike Barnicle that he has grave concerns over President Trump launching another missile strike against the Assad regime.
“I voted in August of 2014 that the United States should take military action against Syria for gassing its own citizens. There needs to be a consequence for that, but it can’t be the president just deciding on his own without Congress,” he explained. “If we let President Trump unilaterally initiate a military campaign against Syria, what’s to stop him from doing it against North Korea or Iran or some other nation, particularly when he’s so stressed out and rambling and worryied about domestic investigation into the legitimacy of his presidency?”
“This is exactly the reason that Congress needs to quit acting like an Article 2.5 branch and start acting like an Article 1 branch again.”