Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., has accused the Trump administration of withholding information from the American people, after top officials delivered yet another closed-door briefing about the ongoing war with Iran to members of the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday.
As the war stretches into its fourth week, Duckworth blasted defense and intelligence officials over their failure to appear publicly in front of Congress. “We’ve had many briefings, but this administration continues to classify those briefings as top secret, even though so many of the details are actually out in the public,” the senator told MS NOW’s Alicia Menendez.
“Listen, I served in Iraq,” said Duckworth, who was a Black Hawk helicopter pilot. “That was another endless war, but at least that one, at some point, had an administration going in front of Congress, debating the war and having a vote on it.”
“That’s what we’re demanding here in the United States Senate, that Trump and his administration come forward and tell us and the American people what exactly he’s trying to do here and why it was justified and how does it plan on ending this,” she added.
The Illinois Democrat said the American people deserve to see top administration officials, such as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine, come before her committee and testify on the record.
“This is a deeply consequential moment for our military and our democracy,” she said, “and Secretary Hegseth and Secretary Rubio want to hide behind closed doors when they attempt to justify putting our troops in harm’s way.”
Duckworth said the administration, even behind closed doors, has failed to provide a rationale for the military operation and has not shared an exit strategy. “Trump can’t articulate a justification for a war that has already killed 13 of our troops and put thousands of Americans in danger and sent costs through the roof here at home,” she told MS NOW. “All Donald Trump has done has actually immersed us in yet another unending war,” she said, calling the conflict “unnecessary” and “incoherent.” “This is the so-called America First president,” Duckworth said. “Well, that’s baloney.” You can watch Duckworth’s full interview in the clip at the top of the page.
Allison Detzel is an editor/producer for MS NOW. She was previously a segment producer for “AYMAN” and “The Mehdi Hasan Show.”
Recommended
