Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, an Army National Guard veteran, accused the administration of hiding behind the military as it struggles to provide answers to justify President Donald Trump’s war in Iran.
On Tuesday’s “The Weeknight,” Duckworth told MS NOW that the White House’s strategy has put America’s troops in danger.
“What we have right now is a president who launched a war of choice without truly thinking it through and just threw our troops into harm’s way without any way of safeguarding them,” she said, adding that the administration had “no plan on what the next step is.”
Duckworth, who served as a Black Hawk helicopter pilot with the Illinois Army National Guard during the Iraq War, singled out Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for criticism.
“If Pete Hegseth actually paid attention in officer basic course, he’d know that any operations order ends with: What is the end state?” she said. “There is no end state here that they’ve been able to articulate.”
The Purple Heart recipient said that Trump officials are “hiding their incompetence behind the valor of our military men and women.”
“As if to say that questioning why we’re at war is to question the valor of our military — not at all,” Duckworth continued. “I know that our military will always do the best job possible, and that means that we are beholden, as legislators, to do our job before we ask the military to do their job.”
The Illinois Democrat also went after her Republican colleagues, who she said “need to put their oath to protect and defend the Constitution and their loyalty to this nation above their loyalty” to the president.
Duckworth said U.S. service members are “always going to sacrifice” and carry out missions “with the utmost patriotism and professionalism.”
“It’s our responsibility as senators to make sure that we don’t misuse them,” Duckworth said. “It’s our solemn responsibility to do that.”
You can watch Duckworth’s full interview in the clip at the top of the page.
Allison Detzel is an editor/producer for MS NOW. She was previously a segment producer for “AYMAN” and “The Mehdi Hasan Show.”