Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy (Conn.) on Thursday attacked both President Trump and former President Obama for their approaches to the conflict in Syria, arguing the former's recent military strikes on a Syrian government airfield were "illegal."
Murphy, appearing on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," emphasized his belief that Congress must approve military actions and made clear his opposition to the U.S. military's missile strikes last week.
"The fact of the matter is, this strike was illegal," Murphy said.
Last Thursday night, Trump authorized the military to fire 59 cruise missiles at an airfield in Syria, from which the U.S. believes the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad launched a chemical weapons attack on civilians two days earlier.
"Morning Joe" co-host Willie Geist acknowledged the senator's legal question but asked if it was right to strike the Assad regime in retaliation for using chemical weapons.
"I don't think it was, in part because you cannot be adding to the chaos inside Syria when you have a policy of locking those same children inside," Murphy responded in an apparent jab at Trump's travel ban.
Co-host Mika Brzezinski then asked Murphy, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, if he has confidence that Trump's foreign policy team could "deal with the inevitable."
Murphy said he has more confidence than he did a few months ago, before adding that neither Trump nor his predecessor have had a "workable policy" for Syria.
"President Obama did not have a workable policy inside Syria and President Trump doesn't have a workable policy," Murphy said. "That's all in part because of a general hubris that both administrations have had about our ability as Americans to affect the balance of power on the ground."