Good question:
Two Democratic lawmakers asked President Donald Trump on Thursday to explain how it was legal for him to bomb Syria last week without first getting congressional authorization.
“We share your outrage and disgust at the horrific use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime,” reads a letter from Sen. Tim Kaine (Va.) and Rep. Adam Schiff (Calif.). “However, the legality of military action is not a secondary consideration ― it is a central question of vital importance under our Constitution and our system of checks and balances.”
The two also pushed for Trump to release a memo that is apparently floating around within the administration that lays out a detailed legal justification for taking military action in Syria. The problem with not releasing that memo, they argued, is that it could be used as precedent for the Trump administration to take additional military action against other countries without Congress’ approval.
Kaine and Schiff wrote a similar letter to Trump a year ago, asking how it was legal for him to launch 59 Tomahawk missiles on a Syrian government airfield in April 2017 ― the first-ever direct military strike by the U.S. against President Bashar Assad’s regime. They never got a reply.
It’s not just Democrats insisting that the president has to come to Congress before taking military action against Assad’s regime. Hours before Trump bombed Syria on Friday, dozens of lawmakers in both parties said he needed to get signoff from them.
Congress is constitutionally required to authorize any sustained military action. A president can only use his or her authority as commander in chief to order U.S. forces into military action if the safety or strategic interests of the United States are threatened. Neither was the case last week, nor last year.
It’s important to have guys like Kaine and Schiff grill Trump on his foreign policy. Meanwhile, Kaine’s GOP opponents are all trying to prove who can bear hug Trump the most:
The trio of Republicans vying for the chance to challenge U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine spent nearly an hour in harmony with President Trump and each other until two of the contenders veered off into sharp personal attacks.
Asked at a debate about a variety of Trump’s domestic and international policies Thursday, Corey Stewart, Nick Freitas and E.W. Jackson had the president’s back. Border wall? Check. Threatening to scrap a nuclear deal with Iran? Check. Russia investigation?
“Fishing expedition,” said Stewart.
“Major fishing expedition,” said Freitas.
“They’re trying to overthrow the president,” said Jackson.
Their steadfast support for the president suggests that no matter who wins the June 12 primary, Virginia’s Republican candidate for U.S. Senate will run hand-in-hand with Trump, who polls poorly in Virginia but remains popular with the GOP base. That represents a sharp turn in strategy from last year, when Republican Ed Gillespie tried to keep the president at arm’s length in his unsuccessful bid for governor.
Let’s keep up the Resistance against Trump. Click below to donate and get involved with Kaine and Schiff’s re-election campaigns:
Tim Kaine
Adam Schiff