Sanders criticizes Trump for 'misleading march to war'

Sen. Bernie SandersBernie SandersThe Hill’s 12:30 Report: Milley apologizes for church photo-op Harris grapples with defund the police movement amid veep talk Biden courts younger voters — who have been a weakness MORE (I-Vt.) issued a statement Friday calling Trump’s recent military actions against Iran a “misleading march to war.”

Sanders, one of the front-runners in the Democratic primary, said the intelligence the White House offered to justify the killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani was insufficient, even when it was presented in a classified setting.

“Once again, we see Trump making enormously consequential national security decisions based on his own personal political needs,” Sanders said in the statement. “As a United States Senator, I will do everything I can to rein in this reckless president and prevent a war with Iran. I call on my colleagues to do the same.”

The statement came shortly after The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times reported that Trump may have made the decision under pressure from Republican senators he sees as key allies as the Senate impeachment trial gears up.

Since the drone strike that killed Soleimani last week, Iranian forces have attacked U.S. bases in Iraq in retaliation, and according to some U.S. officials, may have been responsible for the Ukrainian passenger jet that crashed this week, killing 176 people.

“The two worst foreign policy blunders in modern American history, the war in Vietnam and the war in Iraq, were based on lies and misleading information,” Sanders said in the statement. ”And now, once again, we have a president who is pushing us to the edge of war based on false claims.”

It’s unclear how the Soleimani killing will sit with voters in the upcoming election.

According to a Politico-Morning Consult poll posted Wednesday, 56 percent of self-identified “evangelical voters” surveyed approve of the strike that killed Soleimani, with 50 percent of Americans polled saying they believe the strike makes the U.S. “less safe.”

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