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Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., defended President Donald Trump’s authority to order military strikes on suspected drug cartels Wednesday, slamming both Democratic and “some Republican” colleagues for creating chaos around the issue.
“They’ve been acting like Jack Nicholson in ‘The Shining’,” Kennedy told “Hannity.”
“I mean, they’re just hysterical. They’ve clearly exceeded the limits of their meds. They’re running around, they call the president a warmonger, they call the secretary of war a war criminal. They’re speaking directly to our folks in the military, telling them to disobey orders.”
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Kennedy’s remarks come amid a larger debate on Capitol Hill about presidential war powers, military obedience and the impact of drug trafficking on Americans.
The senator referenced the recent viral video of six Democratic lawmakers with military and intelligence backgrounds urging service members to refuse to obey “illegal” orders. Republicans have lambasted the video as a call to defy President Trump.
As the political crossfire roils on, Kennedy asserted that the president has not exceeded the scope of his presidential authority when it comes to boat strikes in the Carribean. Reports of a second strike on an alleged drug smuggling vessel have attracted scrutiny from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle and calls for greater oversight amid questions about the strikes’ legality.
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“First, legally, there is no question… that the president has the authority under the Constitution, Article II, to use military force without congressional approval. I mean, he’s the commander in chief,” Kennedy said.
“Every president since World War II [has done it]. I mean, President Truman dropped bombs on Japan. President Clinton bombed Serbia… George H.W. Bush went into Panama… none of the Democrats said a word when we bombed Iran and took them out. So, they’re wrong on the law,” the senator continued.
Kennedy added that his colleagues were confusing the issues of authority and morality.
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“The other question, of course, is a moral issue. Should the president be doing this to narco-terrorists, to drug dealers?” Kennedy asked.
“And I think if the president were here right now, Sean, he’d look you in the eye, and he would say, ‘These people are killing our children. We know who they are. We know they’re state-sponsored. I’ve declared them to be foreign terrorists, which gives me the right to use military force.'”
Kennedy also had a message for critics questioning how reliably boats can be identified as belonging to cartel operatives.
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“Well, they’re not out there fishing,” he remarked. “Our intelligence is extraordinary.”
“They’ve been declared foreign terrorists just like Osama bin Laden was… and you may disagree with it, but clearly under the Constitution, the president has the authority to use lethal military force against our enemies,” he said. “And the idea that these drug dealers and drug cartels are not trying to undermine the national security of the United States is ludicrous. They’re killing our children.”
Fox News’ Diana Stancy contributed to this report.
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