Counselor to President Trump Kellyanne Conway blasted Democrats Monday for their "reflexively" negative reaction to the airstrike that killed top Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
“This is a town now that is so incredibly partisan when it comes to President Trump. They are presumptively negative and reflexively critical, even when he’s taking out a terrorist who was caught in the act,” Conway told “Fox & Friends,” claiming that the killing of Soleimani prevented the deaths of Americans in the region.
“This president put a stop to that,” Conway added.
Conway's comments came after days of harsh criticism of Trump's decision, including by the top contenders in the 2020 presidential field. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said the strike "tragically" will put the U.S. on the path to another war, while Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said the strike did not make the country safer. Former Vice President Joe Biden called the move “an enormous escalation."
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In an interview Monday, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg said the administration has shown no evidence that they have "really thought about the consequences" of the strike.
"Having known what it's like to be on the inside of one of those airplanes, you need to be able to trust that everybody up your chain of command has thought through what's ahead, and we're just not seeing a lot of indications of that," he said, warning that Iran appears poised to move ahead with its nuclear program and the Iraqi government may now try to expel U.S. troops.
"So, if they were thinking about this in terms of the 3D chess it is and not checkers, we've not seen evidence of why they felt this was the only or best decision."
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Conway said the Trump administration will not be "lectured" by Democrats who supported former President Obama's Iran deal and overall "weak" foreign policy.
"I’m disappointed but not surprised the Democrats would see in this moment of Soleimani’s death some kind of partisan political opportunity for them, but I think it doesn’t play well with Americans. They see that [ISIS leader] al-Baghdadi and Soleimani are now where they belong and they can no longer kill Americans and other people around the world," she added.
Fox News’ David Aaro contributed to this report.