Scarborough defends Trump's decision to strike Iran, suggests other presidents would have done the same
"I said on Thursday or Friday, the president had no good options. What would Monday look like if he hadn't have moved? If Iran wasn't already at 60% and an ability to create nuclear weapons in a short matter of time, right?" Scarborough began. "I find it hard to believe that Bush 41, Bush 43, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, you know, go down the list, any presidents, wouldn't have felt compelled to take that strike."
Scarborough, a former GOP congressman and longtime critic of the president, asked Washington Post columnist David Ignatius, about Trump's decision during "Morning Joe."
"I'm not championing either side of this. Although I ask you, David, how difficult would it have been for any president to not take that shot if they knew that Iran was even being attacked by the United Nations?"
Ignatius said that past presidents have also considered this scenario.
"Three previous presidents have considered precisely this scenario. They're the ones who developed the weapons and the battle plan. This was something inherited by President Trump. And each of them pulled back because of the uncertainties associated with the action. They decided it just wasn't worth doing," he said.
"If President Trump decided last Friday, there is no chance that the negotiated settlement that I want to resolve this is going to work, the Iranians are jamming me, they're just pushing me along, they're stonewalling, is the word that J.D. Vance used. He, in a sense, did have no choice but to move it on to a different terrain," Ignatius said.
He warned that the U.S. just doesn't know what might come of the move.
"The problem is on that different terrain. We just don't know what's ahead. But I take your point, right. It's his choices were debased at the moment he had to make the decision," Ignatius said.
Scarborough noted that past presidents didn't have Iran in a degraded and "cornered" position.
He said Iran was "even getting condemned by the United Nations for how quickly they were moving towards developing a nuclear weapon."
MSNBC contributor Katty Kay agreed with Scarborough and said Iran had been weakened over the last year, putting Trump in a unique position.
"You look at the situation with Hezbollah being degraded, the situation with Syria and Assad falling, Hamas being degraded in Gaza, all around the region, Iran has suffered blows over the past year, not just the past week, and so gave Donald Trump a different set of circumstances in than those three previous presidents have faced," she said.
Trump earned praise from other prominent critics as well, including former National Security adviser John Bolton, who said on Sunday, "President Trump made the right decision for America."
"It was a decisive action. It was the right thing to do. I thought somebody should do it for a long time. But better late than never," Bolton told CNN's Kasie Hunt.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hill
3 minutes ago
- The Hill
House throttled by Epstein drama
A HOUSE COMMITTEE voted Tuesday to subpoena convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein 's longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell, as the groundswell from Republicans demanding transparency derailed the chamber's business for a second consecutive week. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee voted to authorize the subpoena following a motion put forward by Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), even as President Trump urges his party to drop the topic and move on. Republicans on the House Rules Committee adjourned Monday night without completing their work in order to dodge Democratic threats to stage additional votes to compel the release of new Epstein documents. So far, Trump's move to authorize the Department of Justice (DOJ) to release grand jury transcripts from the Epstein case has failed to quell demands from Republicans on Capitol Hill for more transparency. Two federal judges on Tuesday asked the DOJ for more information before deciding whether to unseal the transcripts. Meanwhile, the DOJ said it planned to meet with Maxwell, who was convicted in 2021 on sex trafficking charges and sentenced to 20 years in prison. 'I anticipate meeting with Ms. Maxwell in the coming days,' Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche posted on X. 'Until now, no administration on behalf of the Department had inquired about her willingness to meet with the government. That changes now.' Trump on Tuesday said he wasn't following the new developments but that the DOJ's move 'sounds appropriate.' Republican leaders on Capitol Hill are caught between Trump's insistence that there's nothing more to uncover and demands from the rank-and-file to release all government files on the case. The turmoil stems from a DOJ report released earlier this month that determined Epstein did not keep a 'client list,' which many on the right believed would include the names of powerful people implicated in Epstein's crimes. To date, Maxwell is the only person to have been convicted in the case. Epstein died by suicide in a jail cell in 2019 as he was awaiting trial. Tensions are running hot on Capitol Hill, with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) swiping at Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who cosponsored a measure with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) that would force a vote on releasing more Epstein documents. 'Bless his heart,' Johnson said when asked if he'd support Massie's reelection bid. Massie has repeatedly broken with Trump over spending and been a thorn in the side of GOP leaders. Trump has threatened to back a primary challenge against Massie. In an interview with NBC News, Massie said that move would 'backfire tremendously.' 'They're trying to beat up on me in order to keep everybody else in line here,' he said. But Johnson is also dealing with a revolt from other members. 'I led Republicans in a serious resolution — that protects victims — to expose the truth about the Epstein files, just like President Trump promised. But leadership is stalling,' Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) posted on X. 'The American people deserve action, not excuses. Let's vote on it before August recess and get it DONE!!' Johnson said this week the House would not vote on a resolution calling for the release of some Epstein documents, saying he wanted to give the DOJ 'space' as it seeks to unseal grand jury testimony. The Speaker on Tuesday said he supports 'maximum transparency' but is concerned about releasing information about Epstein's victims. 'Some of them were minors, some of them were not,' Johnson said. 'When the Epstein records are turned over to the public, which we must do as quickly as possible, we have to also be very judicious and careful about protecting innocent.' The House will adjourn a day earlier than scheduled this week, with lawmakers leaving town Wednesday. They'll return in September.
UPI
4 minutes ago
- UPI
NPR news chief Edith Chapin to exit job
On Tuesday, NPR Editor-in-Chief and Chief Content Officer Edith Chapin said she's leaving the news agency after nearly 13 years only days after congressional Republicans axed federal funds for public broadcasting entities NPR and CPB. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo July 22 (UPI) -- NPR's Editor-in-Chief Edith Chapin said Tuesday she's leaving the news agency after nearly 13 years just days after congressional Republicans axed federal funding for public broadcasting. "It's not a good time to do it, but it's never a good time," Chapin told NPR of her decision to step down from her editor role and the position of acting chief content officer, admitting her choice was not driven by recent events in Congress. Chapin, who joined NPR in 2012 from CNN, said she informed NPR CEO Katherine Maher about two weeks ago and broke the news Tuesday to colleagues. She plans to stay until September or October, but "needed to pick a date and share my decision." "Edith has been an indispensable partner during my first year at NPR, a steady leader for a large part of this organization, and a fantastic collaborator as a member of the executive team," Maher wrote in a staff memo thanking Chapin for her work. The recently passed GOP-led rescission bill supported by U.S. President Donald Trump took back some $9 billion in federal funds that drastically reduced foreign aid. It reclaimed more than $1 billion for public broadcasting entities NPR and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Meanwhile, reports suggest the pending Republican cuts to public broadcasting entities is already hurting largely rural U.S. regions. Chapin was given the acting role of NPR's new chief content officer in 2023 by then-NPR CEO John Lansing after it combined its reporting, shows and other podcast series. "I have had two big executive jobs for two years, and I want to take a break," Chapin stated Tuesday. "I want to make sure my performance is always top-notch for the company."
Fox News
4 minutes ago
- Fox News
Huckabee hits back at Western countries for ‘siding' with terror group Hamas
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee lashed out at almost 30 Western countries who on Monday called for Israel to end the war in Gaza, saying in a post on X that "when Hamas thinks you do good work, you are doing evil." "How embarrassing for a nation to side w/ a terror group like Hamas & blame a nation whose civilians were massacred for fighting to get hostages released," wrote Huckabee after Hamas – whose Oct. 7, 2023, mass terror attack on Israel sparked the ongoing war in Gaza – said it welcomed "the contents of the joint statement issued by the United Kingdom Government along with 25 other countries, calling for an immediate end to the war on the Gaza Strip." The U.S. and EU-designated terror group also reiterated its claims that Israel was carrying out a "policy of starvation" on the coastal enclave amid unverified reports that people have died due to hunger-related reasons. Fox News Digital has not been able to independently verify such reports. STUDY CLAIMS US NEWS OUTLETS SERVED AS 'MEGAPHONES' FOR HAMAS IN GAZA WAR "The statement's condemnation of the killing of over 800 Palestinian civilians at the gates of U.S.-Israeli-controlled aid checkpoints underscores the brutality of this mechanism," Hamas wrote following a statement issued by the U.K. Foreign Office and U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy. "The suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths," read Lammy's statement, which was also signed by the foreign ministers of 28 countries. "If Hamas embraces you – you are in the wrong place," Israel's Foreign Minister Gidon Saar responded on X. "Hamas's praise for the statement by the group of countries is the best proof of the mistake they made – part of them out of good intentions and part of them out of an obsession against Israel." Since launching a new model for food aid distribution in the war-torn strip in early May, Israel and the U.S. have come under fire from the international community over near-daily reports of people dying while attempting to receive aid or not receiving any aid at all. Israel has refuted claims that there is hunger in Gaza or that it is using starvation as a tactic of the now 22-month-old war. Rather, officials have said they are working to prevent Hamas from stealing aid being distributed by veteran, mostly U.N.-run, humanitarian agencies and sold for exorbitant prices in a bid to continue funding terror operations. US-BACKED GAZA AID GROUP LAUNCHES BOLD NEW SYSTEM TO DELIVER FOOD DIRECTLY TO FAMILIES Israel, which is tasked with securing routes to four aid centers run by the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Fund, has also denied that its soldiers intentionally kill Palestinian civilians but is rather issuing warning shots as a measure of crowd control. The GHF has so far delivered some 85 million meals since it started its aid operation in May. U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said on Monday that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres "deplored the growing reports of both children and adults suffering from malnutrition and strongly condemned the ongoing violence, including the shooting, killing and injuring of people attempting to get food." "As someone who has spent over 40 years in Israel's Security Establishment – both as IDF Chief of Staff & Minister of Defense, I can say this unequivocally: Not only has Israel never starved or targeted civilians, but it goes above and beyond to protect civilians in the most complex of war zones like Gaza," Israeli opposition leader Benny Gantz wrote on X. "We must be clear – culpability for harm inflicted to civilians rests on terrorist Hamas and Hamas only," he added. HAMAS LOSING IRON GRIP ON GAZA AS US-BACKED GROUP GETS AID TO PALESTINIANS IN NEED On Tuesday, Dr. Mohammed Abu Salmiya, director of Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza, said in a statement that "twenty-one children have died due to malnutrition and starvation in various areas across the Gaza Strip." "Every moment, new cases of malnutrition and starvation are arriving at Gaza's hospitals," he said. Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv who has been monitoring the situation in Gaza closely, told Fox News Digital that he was "not aware of a single official report that people died because of starvation or hunger." "I'm not familiar with any such report, but I am familiar with many warnings that were published by international organizations about the catastrophe that exists in Gaza and how in two months or so, 40 or 50,000 people will die because of hunger, but nobody has died because of hunger, because there is no hunger," he said, adding, "if there are some local problems of supply, it is because of Hamas – not because of the IDF." Michael, who is also a fellow at the Misgav Institute in Jerusalem, pointed out that Hamas "loots, robs and steals the humanitarian aid, partially for themselves, to feed themselves and the rest is sold in very high prices to the local population in order to make money." CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Israel's goal of weakening Hamas's grip on the Strip – and on aid agencies – appeared to be working on Monday, with The Washington Post reporting that the terror group "is facing its worst financial and administrative crisis in its four-decade history" and is struggling to find the resource it needs to continue fighting Israel or rule Gaza. Quoting a former high-level Israeli intelligence officer, and current Israel Defense Forces officers, the report said that Hamas could no longer pay its fighters or rebuild its underground terror tunnels, where it is believed to be holding some 50 hostages, both alive and dead, who kidnapped during its Oct. 7 attack.
