Biden fires back at Trump over Iran: Quit blaming Obama
Former Vice President Joe Biden called on President Trump to ‘stop blaming President Obama for his failures’ after Trump alleged that the missiles used in the airstrike were funded by the Obama administration; Fox News contributor and Wall Street Journal editorial page deputy editor Dan Henninger reacts.
Wall Street Journal deputy editorial page editor Dan Henninger said on Thursday that former Vice President Joe Biden “keeps wrapping himself in Barack Obama as something of a security blanket.”
Henninger made the statement on “America’s Newsroom” responding to Biden calling on President Trump to stop "blaming President Obama for his failures" after Trump alleged that the missiles used in the assault on two U.S. military bases in Iraq in a Tuesday night airstrike were funded by the Obama administration.
Biden tweeted on Wednesday hours after Trump addressed the nation about Iran’s retaliatory missile attacks to the killing of top Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani last week.
"I'm thankful no one was hurt in last night's attack," Biden wrote. "But we're only in this mess because Donald Trump pulled out of the Iran Deal (which even his advisors said was working), turned his back on our allies, and had no strategy for what comes next."
“Instead of using his statement today to lay out a coherent strategy on Iran, Donald Trump used it to mislead the country on the Obama-Biden record. He's been President for three years. It's time he stops blaming President Obama for his failures,” he continued.
TRUMP: IRAN MISSILES FIRED AT US WERE PAID FOR WITH MONEY RELEASED BY OBAMA ADMINISTRATION
When Trump addressed the nation on Wednesday morning, he took direct aim at former President Obama, blaming the last administration for giving Iran money that he claimed was then used by Tehran to pay for the missiles that were aimed at U.S. troops in Iraq.
“The missiles fired last night at us and our allies were paid for with the funds made available by the last administration,” Trump said from the White House, referring to settlement money the U.S. paid to Iran in 2016.
Reacting to Biden’s response to Trump’s comments on Wednesday, Henninger said, “Eventually, he’s going to have to start proposing his own candidacy rather than Obama's candidacy. I think there may be a political reason for this.”
“Joe Biden's currently running in the primaries, he has a lot of support from black Democrats, he has to win the South Carolina primary. We get that,” Henninger said.
BIDEN ON IRAN RESPONSE: TRUMP NEEDS TO STOP 'BLAMING PRESIDENT OBAMA FOR HIS FAILURES'
“But there's a point beyond which Joe Biden has to be running his own campaign and engage with President Trump on the substance of what is going on in Iran and I don't think there's any question that the Iranians use the money from the Iran deal that the Obama administration sent them to buy and develop these missiles.”
He added that the destabilization that has been going on in the Middle East came in the wake of the Iran nuclear deal.
"So Joe Biden," Henninger said, "at some point, is going to have to talk about what President Trump is actually doing.”
Biden has steadfastly defended the nuclear deal, or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which placed restrictions on Iran to limit nuclear proliferation.
Trump pulled out of the deal in 2018 and imposed hefty sanctions on Iran that has crippled its economy and further stoked tensions between Washington and Tehran.
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“It's clearly not the case as of yesterday that there is no plan,” Henninger said on “America’s Newsroom” on Thursday.
“The president addressed the nation. He said he's going to talk to the Iranians. The foreign minister [Javad] Zarif himself responded that the missiles that they had sent over there was a proportionate response. So it looks like we are at the brink here of a possibility of a negotiation. That is a strategy and Joe Biden’s got to start talking about that.”
Fox News’ Vandana Rambaran and Adam Shaw contributed to this report
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