Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) doubled down on her criticism of President Trump’s response to recent attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil supply, insisting that he doesn’t have the power to use the U.S. military to serve Saudi Arabia’s interests.
“The Constitution does not give the president the power to unilaterally use our military for Saudi Arabia’s interests to go to war nor does it give him the power to do so without the express consent of Congress,” the 2020 White House hopeful told Hill.TV on Tuesday.
“If I were president now, I would make very clear that we will not use our military to further the interests of Saudi Arabia or any other country,” she added.
Gabbard, a member of the National Guard who served in Iraq, went on to emphasize that there needs to be concrete evidence before the U.S. takes any military action against Iran.
Her latest comments come after she made headlines by accusing the president of trying to “pimp out” the U.S. military over a drone strike on two Saudi oil refineries.
Trump tweeted over the weekend that the U.S. is “locked and loaded depending on verification” of who is behind the Saudi oil attack. Trump has also said that he would “like to avoid” a military conflict with Iran.
The Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen have claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Trump administration has blamed Iran.
Tehran, meanwhile, has denied any involvement.
Gabbard did not meet the criteria for making the stage of last week’s Democratic debate, but hopes to raise her polling numbers and compete with the other candidates in the next debate in October.
—Tess Bonn
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