Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) told CNN’s Kasie Hunt on “The Arena” that President Trump is “lying” about holding discussions with Iran.
“He lied about Iran being an imminent threat to the United States. And Israel launched this strike. He lied about Iran being on the precipice of getting a nuclear weapon,” Van Hollen said. “We know that because Tulsi Gabbard just testified just the opposite recently. And yes, we know he‘s lying when he says that the Iranians are talking with us, and they‘re about to give Donald Trump everything he wants. Yes, that‘s a lie.”
Van Hollen went on to claim that the Trump administration’s potential actions in Iran constitute war crimes. “If the president just goes and targets Iran’s infrastructure, civilian infrastructure, there are very narrow circumstances where a country can target infrastructure for military purposes,” he said. “But the president has said here is unless you open the Strait of Hormuz, we’re going to blow up all your civilian infrastructure, which is clearly a violation of international law. And so the president should be held accountable in international tribunals or in the United States.”
“There are ways that people can bring cases, you know, against individuals in the United States who have committed war crimes. Obviously, while the president is in the white House, this Supreme Court has made it much more difficult to hold the president accountable,” the senator continued. “But when he leaves office, he could still be vulnerable to accountability through the courts and, obviously, international tribunals as well. But again, hopefully we won’t get to that point.”
