Meghan McCain had to ask Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren three times to admit that Qasem Soleimani was a terrorist.
Warren made an appearance Tuesday on ABC’s “The View” to discuss President Donald Trump’s authorization of the strike that killed the Iranian terror leader, and she attempted several times to evade McCain’s pointed questions on the subject.
WATCH:
McCain began by pointing out a few changes in Warren’s recent statements on Soleimani, saying, “You issued a statement calling Soleimani a murderer. Later, you issued a second statement saying he was, quote, ‘an assassination of a senior foreign military official.’ This is a man who is obviously responsible for hundreds of American troops’ deaths, carnage that we can’t imagine. The State Department has designated this as a terrorist organization.”
“I don’t understand the flip-flop. I don’t understand why it was so hard to call him a terrorist, and I would just like you to explain the change,” McCain continued.
Warren quickly changed the subject to compare the strike against Soleimani to the war with Iraq. “Think about Saddam Hussein. You want to talk about a bad guy, right? However, going to war in Iraq was not in the interest of the United States. We lost thousands of American lives. It cost us here at home. It has cost us around the world. It has been a part of this cost in the Middle East that has ended up with millions of people who have lost their lives, who have been injured, who have been displaced. The question for the president of the United States is to understand what’s going on, have an overall strategy and pick an appropriate response, and going back to Whoopi’s question, at an appropriate time. He’s part of a group that —”
“Is he a terrorist?” McCain asked directly. (‘Take Your Cheap Applause Line!’ Meghan McCain Squares Off With Sunny Hostin On Impeachment)
“He’s part of a group that has been designated …” Warren responded.
“He’s not a terrorist?” McCain asked again.
“Of course, he is,” Warren conceded, quickly qualifying, “He’s part of a group that has been designated a terrorist organization. The question though, is what’s the right response? And the response that Donald Trump has picked is the most incendiary, and has moved us right to the edge of war, and that is not in our long-term interests.”