White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham called out the media and Democratic Party on Friday over the way that they responded to the Trump-approved airstrike that killed Iranian terrorist Qasem Soleimani.
Soleimani, leader of Iran’s Quds Force, which is a designated terrorist organization, was killed on Thursday in an airstrike as he was traveling in an convoy as it was leaving Baghdad International Airport.
Grisham, who made the remarks on Fox Business Network’s “Lou Dobbs Tonight” with host Lou Dobbs, called out The Washington Post and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer.
WATCH:
.@PressSec: "The media and the Democrats aren't happy along with the rest of this country that our president [@realDonaldTrump] took the bold action to kill a murderer. We should all be very proud today, and we should all be very happy that American lives were saved." pic.twitter.com/jZBSHr9WzM
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) January 4, 2020
Transcript from White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham’s interview:
Dobbs: Good to have you with us. The president is to be congratulated, the administration, and the national security team in particular for taking out a man who is responsible for hundreds and hundreds of American lives being lost in Iraq and the spread of state-sponsored terrorism from Iran. Your thoughts tonight, the mood in the White House and within the administration.
Grisham: Well, certainly it’s a great day for our country, because of the president’s decisive action thousands more American lives and other lives will be saved. This man, this terrorist was brutal, and not only was he responsible for hundreds of deaths of Americans, but thousands of horrible injuries to Americans and others. He wasn’t going to stop targeting Americans. That’s something to think about. The president, you know, he knew there was imminent danger. We had good Intel that there was imminent danger and that Americans were going to be killed and so he took the bold and often times hard action that he had to as president knowing that he was going to save lives and save lives then and in the future too.
Dobbs: And to hear the Democrats, at least many of them, tell it, this was an imposition on a stable world order in the middle East that only President Trump seems to be able to affect. I mean, it’s outrageous what I have heard today in the course of the morning, earlier, from the Democratic leadership. It’s as if they are completely unhinged.
Grisham: Well, they are. You know, I continue to be so disappointed by these Democrats. No matter what this president does, it is not good enough. The Democrats should be happy along with the rest of this country that American lives were saved, and instead they were complaining that they weren’t notified. You know, time is of the essence when things like this are going down and the president does have constitutional authority to protect Americans when they are in danger. Also, I would say that, you know, Schumer was complaining that he wasn’t briefed, and then when he got briefed today, he was complaining that it wasn’t good enough and he still had questions.
Dobbs: I think Chuck Schumer was born complaining and I wouldn’t expect any quick change in his behavior. It is also I think a good case could be built, it would be utterly irrational of the Trump Administration to brief the very people who are trying to unseat him, remove him from power, to overthrow his presidency and to have done everything in their power to do so. I mean, I just can’t understand why a neutral voice in this — say in the national media — isn’t saying what are the Democrats talking about? And why would they expect anything other than to be found untrustworthy by the president of the United States?
Grisham: Well, I’m going to say because there is no mutual voice in the media right now. You know, the Washington Post talked about Soleimani as the most revered military leader. Again, we’re getting into, you know, he was a terrorist. He was a murderer. Watching cable news today, it was like they were hoping for retaliation. You know, they are like scaring the American public for ratings. I don’t understand why, again, the media and the Democrats aren’t happy along with the rest of this country that our president took the bold action to kill a murderer. We should all be very proud today, and we should all be very happy that American lives were saved.