Trump, at Ohio rally, says Democrats would have leaked Soleimani attack plans
By: Gregg Re
Flush with campaign cash and facing down a possible Senate impeachment trial, President Trump headlined his first major rally of the election year Thursday in Ohio -- and almost immediately, the president capitalized on his order to take out Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani after the military leader was said to have orchestrated an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Iraq.
In unequivocal terms, Trump slammed House Democrats' nonbinding War Powers Resolution, which passed earlier in the day in a rebuke to the Soleimani strike. Trump went on to suggest that Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and "little pencil-neck" House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., would have tipped off the media about the operation had they known about it.
"They're saying, 'You should get permission from Congress, you should come in and tell us what you want to do -- you should come in and tell us, so that we can call up the fake news that's back there, and we can leak it,'" Trump said. "Lot of corruption back there."
The president added that it would have been impractical to have alerted Congress, given the "split-second" nature of the decision to kill Soleimani.
Separately, Trump said he hoped former Vice President Joe Biden would become the Democrats' presidential nominee, and pledged he would highlight what he called the Bidens' corruption all throughout the campaign.
"He will hear, 'Where's Hunter?',' every single debate nine times at the podium," Trump vowed, in reference to Biden's son, who largely has stayed out of public view after it emerged that he held lucrative overseas board roles while his father was vice president.
Republicans have accused Hunter Biden, who recently was determined to have fathered a child with an Arkansas ex-stripper, of selling access to his father.
Trump was speaking before a packed crowd in Toledo after apparently pulling back from the brink of war with Iran earlier this week, and just hours after officials announced that Iran likely shot down a civilian airliner carrying dozens of Canadians, apparently by mistake. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suggested the U.S. might bear responsibility, and he declined to condemn Iran.
For the most part, the rally focused on the Iran strike and the response to it from the political left.
"The radical left Democrats have expressed outrage over the termination of this horrible terrorist," Trump said. "Instead, they should be outraged by Soleimani's savage crimes and the fact that his countless victims were denied justice for so long."
Trump said he had acted swiftly after the earlier attack at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and essentially overruled a commander who said the military response would not arrive until the next day. The situation, Trump said, easily could have become "another Benghazi" -- a reference to the deadly 2012 attack at the U.S. consulate in Libya.
"I said, 'nope, get in the planes right now, have them there immediately!'" Trump said. "And, they got there immediately. ... If you dare threaten our citizens, you do so at your own grave peril."
Former President Obama, Trump added, had erred by giving billions to Iran as part of the mostly defunct Iran nuclear deal, including a massive cash payout loaded onto U.S. aircraft.
"By subsidizing Iran's maligned conduct, the last administration was leading the world down the path of war," Trump said. "We are restoring our world to the path of peace, peace through strength."
The campaign event offered Trump an opportunity to spotlight before a friendly crowd his decision to order the deadly drone strike against Soleimani, while keeping the U.S. -- at least for the moment -- out of a wider military conflict.
Trump also emphasized the booming economy, including a strong stock market and historically low unemployment rates.
"Unemployment has reached the lowest level in over 51 years," Trump said. "African-American, Hispanic American and Asian American unemployment have all reached the lowest rates ever, ever, ever recorded. Wages are rising fast, and the biggest percentage increase -- makes me happy -- are for blue-collar workers. Forty million American families are now benefiting from the Republican child-tax credit, each receiving an average of over $2,200 a year."
Trump added that getting rid of "job-killing regulations" had helped spur the industrial sector. He later invoked the destructive and widespread "yellow vest" protests in France, which had started out of frustration with high taxes on gas.
"If you dare threaten our citizens, you do so at your own grave peril." — President Trump
"America lost 60,000 factories under the previous administration ... They're all coming back," Trump said. "And, right now, just in a very short period of time, we've added 12,000 brand new factories and many more are coming in."
The United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement [USMCA], Trump said, would improve the economy further and make the U.S. automobile industry in particular more competitive.
The Democrats' policies, Trump argued, have produced chaos and poverty. Trump specifically ripped Pelosi, D-Calif., for living in a mansion in San Francisco, even as her "disgusting" district filled with homeless people defecating on the streets.
Trump additionally touted the recent appellate court ruling that green-lit funding for his border wall, slammed "late-term abortion and ripping babies right from the mother's womb right up until the mother's womb," and highlighted Obama's broken promise to ensure Americans could keep their doctors under his health-care plan.
"We will protect patients with preexisting conditions, and we will protect your preexisting physician," Trump vowed.
The president's reelection campaign already had used Facebook ads to highlight Trump’s decision to strike Soleimani, regarded as Iran’s second-most-powerful official.
"We caught a total monster, and we took him out, and that should have happened a long time ago,” Trump said before departing Washington earlier in the day.
Last week’s killing of Soleimani brought long-simmering tensions between the U.S. and Iran to a boil. Iran, in retaliation, fired a barrage of missiles this week at two military bases in neighboring Iraq that have housed hundreds of U.S. troops. But, with no reported injuries to U.S. or Iraqi troops, Trump said he had no plans to take further military action against Iran and instead would enact more sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
The Iran crisis, which momentarily overshadowed Trump's looming impeachment trial, also has opened a new front in the 2020 presidential campaign for Trump, who in 2016 campaigned in part on a promise to end American involvement in "endless wars."
Trump entered the election year flush with over $100 million in campaign cash, a low unemployment rate and an unsettled field of Democrats seeking to challenge him. Yet, polling showed he remained vulnerable.
Back in December, an AP-NORC poll showed Trump's approval rating at 40 percent. No more recent major polls have emerged to gauge support for the president in the wake of the targeted killing of Soleimani, though opinions of Trump have changed little over the course of his presidency.
Trump has never fallen into historic lows for a president’s approval ratings, but Gallup polling showed his December rating registered lower than that of most recent presidents at the same point in their first terms. Notably, approval of Trump and Obama in the Decembers before their reelection bids was roughly the same.
For Trump to win reelection, securing Ohio's 18 electoral votes will be critical. He won Ohio by eight points in 2016, after Obama held the state in 2008 and 2012. The visit to Toledo marked Trump's 15th appearance in Ohio as president.
Trump has anchored his reelection messaging around a solid national economy with an unemployment rate of 3.5 percent. But, people in parts of the industrial Midwest have said they've been left behind, especially as the manufacturing sector has struggled over the past year in response to slower worldwide economic growth and trade tensions with China.
Labor Department figures showed construction and factory jobs slumping in Ohio. In nearby Michigan, manufacturers were shedding workers as well, but so were that state’s employers in the health care, education and social assistance sectors.
But, the Toledo area pointed at an even more alarming trend in an otherwise healthy economy. The Glass City has shedded over 6 percent of its white-collar jobs in the professional and business services sector over the past year, causing the total number of jobs to slump slightly from a year ago.
As an incumbent, Trump has been able to use his position to build a massive campaign cash reserve at a time when Democrats have been raising and spending theirs in a competitive primary. Although many White House hopefuls, most notably Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, have pulled in massive sums, there has been no clear front-runner, and many party officials have been girding for a protracted contest that could further bleed the eventual nominee of resources.
Trump, meanwhile, raised $46 million in the final quarter of 2019 and had over $102 million cash on hand at the end of the year. The Republican National Committee [RNC], which hasn’t faced as strict a set of contribution limits as the candidate, raised even more. Under the current rules, the RNC won’t have to release its December fundraising numbers until the end of the month.
Asked how much he was willing to spend on his reelection, Trump said, "I literally haven't even thought about it." He added: "I will say this: Because of the impeachment hoax, we're taking in numbers that nobody ever expected. You saw the kind of numbers we're reporting. We're blowing everybody away."
Fox News' Andrew O'Reilly and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
In unequivocal terms, Trump slammed House Democrats' nonbinding War Powers Resolution, which passed earlier in the day in a rebuke to the Soleimani strike. Trump went on to suggest that Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and "little pencil-neck" House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., would have tipped off the media about the operation had they known about it.
"They're saying, 'You should get permission from Congress, you should come in and tell us what you want to do -- you should come in and tell us, so that we can call up the fake news that's back there, and we can leak it,'" Trump said. "Lot of corruption back there."
The president added that it would have been impractical to have alerted Congress, given the "split-second" nature of the decision to kill Soleimani.
Separately, Trump said he hoped former Vice President Joe Biden would become the Democrats' presidential nominee, and pledged he would highlight what he called the Bidens' corruption all throughout the campaign.
"He will hear, 'Where's Hunter?',' every single debate nine times at the podium," Trump vowed, in reference to Biden's son, who largely has stayed out of public view after it emerged that he held lucrative overseas board roles while his father was vice president.
Republicans have accused Hunter Biden, who recently was determined to have fathered a child with an Arkansas ex-stripper, of selling access to his father.
Trump was speaking before a packed crowd in Toledo after apparently pulling back from the brink of war with Iran earlier this week, and just hours after officials announced that Iran likely shot down a civilian airliner carrying dozens of Canadians, apparently by mistake. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suggested the U.S. might bear responsibility, and he declined to condemn Iran.
For the most part, the rally focused on the Iran strike and the response to it from the political left.
"The radical left Democrats have expressed outrage over the termination of this horrible terrorist," Trump said. "Instead, they should be outraged by Soleimani's savage crimes and the fact that his countless victims were denied justice for so long."
Trump said he had acted swiftly after the earlier attack at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and essentially overruled a commander who said the military response would not arrive until the next day. The situation, Trump said, easily could have become "another Benghazi" -- a reference to the deadly 2012 attack at the U.S. consulate in Libya.
"I said, 'nope, get in the planes right now, have them there immediately!'" Trump said. "And, they got there immediately. ... If you dare threaten our citizens, you do so at your own grave peril."
Trump is right. Democrat congressional leadership is not to be trusted with intelligence and national security issues much less top secret time sensitive military missions vs enemy combatants.
But it's just fine with you if Trump gives classified information to Putin.
"Party over country" people disgust me. I can't understand how anyone can be so anti-American.
Tell it to the Dems in the House. It's been party over country for over 3 years and one could almost go back even farther for an exhibition of "ideology spoiling the view" Thanks to my friend Hallux for the phrase.
Trump is President. Part of a President's job is deciding what is classified and what is not.
If the information that Trump received from Putin (of course we don't know what that was, because the leaker was only interested in 1/2 the story) was of equal value; then it was worth it.
If you want "party over country" then look no further than the Democrats in the House and Senate. Talking impeachment before Trump even took office. Then conducted a very biased one sided investigation restricting the Republicans from calling witnesses, and even asking questions. We have elections for a reason; but it seems the Democrats aren't willing to abide by a fair and open election deciding things.
If you had no problem with Obama not telling Congress, our allies, or even Pakistan when he sent in Navy SEALs to take out Bid Laden- then why do you have a problem with Trump do the same for a known terrorist.
Good call. That should leave a mark but instead, I am sure that any response other than mine will be filled with "but Obama" bullshit when indeed it is pretty damned equivalent..
Is this along the same lines of Russia Russia Russia?
I'm not even asking you for proof of your claims. I'm sure it was on a episode of the dingbat Rachel Madcow.
Here is what the panties in a wad brigade is referring to............
The city may not have been a very good idea but, if we know of operations that should concern other countries, wouldn't we want the same courtesy from another country to reciprocate? No one, as far as I know, is exempt from the fury of ISIS and their ideology.
It's not true that you're fine with it? Or not true that he did it?
"This is code-word information," said a U.S. official familiar with the matter, using terminology that refers to one of the highest classification levels used by American spy agencies. Trump "revealed more information to the Russian ambassador than we have shared with our own allies."
When did I ever say I had a problem with Trump taking this guy out? Hint: Never.
yea. stick your fingers in your ears, that'll change things.
But all is okie dokie if a Republican discloses to Putin though.
Still waiting on proof of that.
Discloses what to Putin exactly?
""This is code-word information," said a U.S. official familiar with the matter, using terminology that refers to one of the highest classification levels used by American spy agencies. "
Are you talking about the same classification that was found on Hillary's unsecure and unauthorized server?
No.
My mistake. She must have had some other code word classification on her emails
Yep.
Again, NO. There was NO code word classified information in Clinton's emails.
Eric Ciamerella.
Tell you what Xx. How about you post some EVIDENCE that a Democrat in the gang of 8 ever leaked intelligence or national security information.
If you can't, your comment is utter bullshit.
Does seem that Trump is the biggest leaker in his administration.
Adam Schiff is a master leaker.
Another unfounded and unsubstantiated proclamation Xx.
You are on a roll.
Unfounded, unsubstantiated and now irrelevant.
The trifecta of BS, well done.
[Deleted]
Everyone quit attacking each other--both directly and indirectly.
Your comment doubles down on it all by making it personal, well done.
8 members support that BS and not one of them can prove it.
It’s all true and actually it’s 10 members now. KAG!
Nope, your comment is false Xx. You've had 2 days to post evidence and failed. No surprise.
Oh and yes, I know you count your tulpa Xx.
A rally? Doesn't he have work to do?
It's been a great week for the President.
He punished Iran without going to war (as progressives had hoped). He is placing new sanctions on Iran as well. (to be announced on Wednesday)
Speaker Pelosi will have to back down on her demands of the US Senate and she will hand over the Articles of Impeachment within 7 days.
On Thursday the President unveiled regulatory changes tied to the 50-year-old National Environmental Policy Act
The Bureau of Labor Statistics at 8:30 a.m. will report on U.S. employment in December. The nation in November saw the lowest level of unemployment since 1969, and labor conditions are expected to look similarly upbeat as 2019 ended.
He had a lot to crow about last night!
Keep Winning!
As usual, this 'president' hasn't accomplished shit.
That seems like an empty statement, yet I can see how provocative it is. How many would respond and get deleted?
[Deleted]
Liberals feed off of all that Trump has accomplished
how accurate and prophetic.. this is the NewsTalkers speak your mind way...
I wonder how this 'president' would feel if America's top general was assassinated?
Are you comparing American Generals to a terrorist?
Another statement deleted by the author. It's hard to speak from the heart when you see what it sounds like?
YUP!
Talking to yourself now?
Just watching in awe as the comments go up and quickly disappear
So sorry that you have nothing better to do.
As somebody famously said only yesterday: "I'm not the topic here"
Which has what to do with my comment?
Sure is, state of lunacy when our soldiers are compared to terrorist. Unfortunately it is what these people have become. The terrorist sympathizers have come forward.
Correct, and they dare not express their true feelings!
“I think it is too soon to be drawing conclusions” and assigning blame, Trudeau says when asked if U.S. might be at fault for these deaths.
In other words, Trump is at fault because Iran shot down an airliner over their own territory.
"A professor at Babson College was fired Thursday after sharing a Facebook post that suggested that Iran should make a list of American cultural sites to bomb."
"The Massachusetts college announced the termination of adjunct professor Asheen Phansey Thursday."
Good for the college, but I am surprised he didn't get a promotion.
Babson is a small college right down the lane from Wellesley College. Babson is the less egregious, more modest of the two.
[Deleted]
One man's terrorist is another's freedom fighter.
Correct. Which term is applied depends on which side the speaker is on. If you're on the American side, Solemani was a terrorist. If you're on the Iranian side, he was a freedom fighter. Which side are you on?
Yeah it takes a brave freedom fighter to oppress women and literally shoot dead hundreds of unarmed Iranians in their streets.
Are these the people you admire?
So it would seem.
I tend not to 'take sides'. Not even sure what the sides are anymore.
What do you think George Custer was famous for?
I guess history has to be viewed from multiple perspectives before there is a teachable moment, eh?
So the Iran regime assassinating their own people is a teachable moment to you.
Good grief.
what if i have stereo speakers...?
From what ive read and watched, he was a terrorist that deserved to die.
But
do you think we are some sort of picture of innocence in this mess...? Cause i can assure you, we, as in the United States, certainly are not.
Which side was Custer on?
When I was a child he was a hero.
When I was educated and became schooled by an AI I began to see their point of view that he was an inhuman terrorist
who killed women and children as a tactic.
The British promised to hang the Founding Fathers as traitors.
Good thing the terrorists like George Washington & Frances Marion prevailed in that war eh?
As the seeder I have flagged nothing on this seed. For the record.
If you see something you think is nefarious, don't be shy about reporting it to TiG or Perrie.
While I did not observe any thing amiss here ( so far) I did see a whole block of 27 comment disappear yesterday from a
different seed and if there is something afoot, TiG needs to know where to look as soon as possible.
This site only works if we cooperate and report glitches.
Thanks in advance.
I guess I outgrew moral relativism after high school but please provide evidence that the English considered George Washington a terrorist and what they based it on.
Here's a good article summing up what the English actually thought of Washington:
Good for you Sean.
Why? I did not say that did I ?
Thank You. Nice snippet of an obscure 18 yer old scholarly paper, Troy's written two books since, but Washington was not the topic of either one.
Moral relativism, lol.
To the British all rebels were traitorous scum not deserving the treatment of POWs.
To the Americans they were patriots & heroes
That is indeed relative.
Good grief indeed,
It is only a teachable moment for the Iranian regime.
I see wha you mean. 5.1.1 is missing and it’s author may have deleted it in the 10 minute window while you were typing a reply to it. I’ve had that happen before.
Otherwise known as moral relativism.
Why? I did not say that did I ?
did you not understand what you wrote? Or is your own personal opinion that George Washington was a terrorist.
of an obscure 18 yer old scholarly paper,
do you want me to dumb it down for you? some click bait site with flashing lights?
Troy's written two books since, but Washington was not the topic of either one.
that might be the irrelevant response to a source I’ve ever seen. Do you imagine that somehow makes what he wrote wrong?
if you have am actual substantive response to the article, please make it, but attacking it as scholarly and written by an author who wrote book about other things might be the weakest ad hominem attack I’ve ever seen,
To the British all rebels were traitorous scum not deserving the treatment of P
I provided specific evidence , the English didn’t think Washington was a terrorist. Your source doesn’t rebut that. Try again.
You provided an 18 year old opinion Sean.
it certainly doesn't make it right , does it?
Yes the British press loved Washington because he was a French & Indian War hero, gentleman and landowner.
The Brits actually have a small bust of George in Trafalgar Square, no mean fete back in the day.
Most of the internet references I can find in English that declare George a terrorist are by nut cases like the BLM or Bill Ayers
but they all point out one thing. He fits the current FBI profile for a terrorist,
and people around the world in different cultures see him as either a traitor/terrorist or a patriot/hero.
Have a great weekend, friend. Cheers
I take comfort int he fact that Iran doesn't blame the U.S., they blame tRump.
Whoever resides in any tRump properties should vacate, including the White Trash White House Mar-A-Lago. It would be the wise thing to do. Iran did say they were going to target tRump properties.
They should really hurt his wallet.
You mean progressives blame Trump, right?
Sane people blame tRump.
Your definition of what is sane differs from mine. Tell us, since you know what is sane, what the President should have done when an American was killed by Iranian proxies?
Why, many on the left believe we should have done what we have done before--ignore it and "hope and pray" it doesn't happen again?
Remember what Kerry said when they grabbed American sailors?
"Secretary of State John Kerry thanked leaders in Iran on Wednesday for what he called a “quick and appropriate response” to return 10 American sailors back to the United States."
When they were kids, these are the ones who paid the bully on the corner the 25 cents to get to school.
Fly his body home as if he was an active duty service member and make damn sure Lockheed fulfills the contract he signed and make sure his family gets his SS survivors benefits in days not years.
That would be a decent start.
No, sane people as in real Americans blame the Iranian regime.
insane people blame Trump.
You mean the whining left blame the President. That seems to be the only ones blaming him.
They blame him for wage increases, low interest rates, low inflation, low unemployment, stock market records, and so much more..like killing three terrorist leaders.
Because he is taking away their base. He's coming through on promises that they have failed to do for decades.
Iranian Presidential Adviser Hints At Attack On Trump’s Real Estate Empire
One of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s suggested this week that retaliation against the United States for the killing of the country’s top military general could come in the form of attacks on President Donald Trump’s personal properties, according to The Daily Mail .
Hesameddin Ashena shared a link on social media to a Forbes article highlighting Trump’s properties across the globe, including those in New York, Florida, and the UK.
In particular, Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach was mentioned in the article — the place the president was staying when he ordered the hit on Major General Qassem Soleimani.
Ashena also issued a tweet insisting that Iran does not have a problem with the American people in general, noting that deals had been reached with previous administrations, but that Trump is the county’s “sole problem.”
“In the event of war, it is he who will bear full responsibility,” Ashena wrote.
Tehran previously promised to pursue “forceful revenge” following Soleimani’s death.
Likewise, the American president has issued similar threats, suggesting that the U.S. might target sites of cultural significance to Iranians if the country retaliates.
When tweets like this are repeated on other social media sites, it shows how much the left is hoping and praying that Iran carries out attacks on Trump properties.
I can guarantee that if that happened, loony leftists in this country will be rejoicing, no matter how many people might be killed.
Even though the 3 days of official liberal mourning are over for the dead terrorist, they still are holding onto their own form of mourning.
They should vacate the tRump properties to be safe.
They should target tRump properties.
Why do you give aid and comfort to the enemy?
[deleted]
People will be injured or die if Trump properties were destroyed or seriously damaged in an attack by Iran or its terrorist proxies. Why advocate for them being attacked?
Any enemy of Trump foreign or domestic is no enemy to American progressives.
Evidently there are certain questions that can't be answered.
And some that can’t be asked...
I decided to do a little mini research assignment for myself.
I googled the same question twice, but in each search, I simply switched some names.
In the first search, I asked "Media and Republicans enraged Obama killed bin Laden".
The only thing that popped up that would remotely support this search is an article by the NYT on McCain and Romney saying Obama approved the operation simply for a photo op of a photo of Obama and part of his cabinet in the situation room watching the raid go down. Everything else focused on how the country, for a brief moment, came together to support the decision.
In the second question, I asked, "Media and Democrats enraged Trump killed Soliamani (sp).
There are literally hundreds upon hundreds of pages of democrats, liberals and the media fully criticizing, if not hating, on Trump for his decision.
This is what supports the correct notion that democrats, and the media by default, mourned the killing of the terrorist.
Absolutely anything to hate Trump pops up, you can be sure democrats and the media will be in unison with that hatred.
And now that the protests in Iran are directed at their own regime instead of President Trump the democrats except Biden and Klobuchar are silent . No messages of support for the Iranian demonstrations from congressional Dems either. If the Oranian people won’t blame Trump, the Dems don’t care about them or their protests.
Because by showing support for the Iranian people, they default show support for Trump and what he tweeted.
Can't have that, now, can we?
Here’s what we can have!