After being pressed by co-host Meghan McCain during a Tuesday appearance on ABC’s “The View,” Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren said that Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani was a terrorist.
Warren’s original statement called him a “murderer” and subsequently referred to his killing as an “assassination.”
McCain said Soleimani is “a man who obviously is responsible for hundreds of American troops’ deaths,” so she didn’t “understand the flip-flop.”
She asked Warren — who served in the Senate with her father, himself a prisoner of war — to explain “why it was so hard to call him a ‘terrorist.’”
Warren said there was no “change” between her two public assessments, adding that “they’re true.” Warren said that the question should be, “What is the response that the president of the United States should make and what advanced the interests of the United States of America?”
Since Soleimani’s death, concerns over Iranian retaliation or further destabilization of the Middle East have caused conflict between politicians and pundits who are either praising or condemning Trump’s choice.
“Is he a terrorist?” McCain asked
After some back-and-forth, Warren said: “Of course he is.”
Check out the exchange below:
Asked by @MeghanMcCain if Gen. Soleimani was a terrorist, Sen. @ewarren says, “Of course he is. He’s part of a group that our federal government has designated as a terrorist. The question, though, is what’s the right response?” https://t.co/jhLJCNiPuo pic.twitter.com/Ywg8XEKc68
– The View (@TheView) January 7, 2020