Rep. Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.) tweeted Thursday that President Donald Trump ordered a strike on Iranian general Qassem Soleimani to distract from other issues.
"So what if Trump wants war, knows this leads to war and needs the distraction?" the freshman Democrat tweeted hours after news broke of the successful strike on the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps's Quds Force.
So what if Trump wants war, knows this leads to war and needs the distraction?
Real question is, will those with congressional authority step in and stop him? I know I will. https://t.co/Fj9TMossEW
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) January 3, 2020
The freshman Democrat did not respond to request for comment. Omar's tweet came amid a flurry of tweets from left-wing activists and Democrats claiming Trump was trying to draw attention away from impeachment. Former Democratic Party chief Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D., Fla.) called the killing of one of the world's leading terrorists "outrageous."
"What I think is going on here, frankly, is that this action was taken more in President Trump's self-interest rather than our national interests," Wasserman Schultz said during an appearance on CNN. "That's outrageous and I think that has a lot to do with what this attack was about."
Let’s be absolutely clear on this: Trump ordered the assassination of Qasem Solemani to start a war with Iran and distract from his heinous undermining of our Constitution. This is a blatant attempt to further subvert the democratic process, no matter the cost to our military. https://t.co/8G8xVBRoj6
— Charlotte Clymer🏳️🌈 (@cmclymer) January 3, 2020
The US assasination of an Iranian general was absolutely an attempt to distract the country from impeachment, and yet just made the case for removing the president even stronger.
— francesca fiorentini (@franifio) January 3, 2020
I’m not saying Trump is definitely escalating the possibility of war with Iran in order to distract from his senate impeachment trial, I’m just saying that Donald Trump is EXACTLY the type of selfish petty nightmare of a President who would do something like that.
— Mikel Jollett (@Mikel_Jollett) January 3, 2020
Going to war with NO FRIENDS, no coalition, no plan, no exit strategy, no excuse and no end to the voluminous spending of dollars we will borrow at high interest, all so that jackhole can distract from being impeached.
Just when you think it’s impossible to loath him more 🤦🏽♀️ https://t.co/ZGEtzZBKCF
— Pam Keith (@PamKeithFL) January 3, 2020
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told CNN on Friday morning that Trump's decision "saved American lives" and was made in light of intelligence assessments indicating Soleimani was planning to "take big action, as he described it, that would have put hundreds of lives at risk."
As a member of the Revolutionary Guard, Soleimani was a leader of a U.S. designated foreign terrorist organization. In a factsheet explaining the designation, the State Department noted that Soleimani's Quds Force "has the greatest role among Iran’s actors in directing and carrying out a global terrorist campaign."