Dem rep: Trump not responding to questions on servicemembers killed is ‘pathetic’

Democratic Rep. Pat Ryan (N.Y.), an Army veteran, accused President Trump on Sunday of not looking out for U.S. troops, as three American service members have so been far been killed during the operation against Iran. 

Speaking to Kaitlan Collins on CNN, Ryan said Trump not answering questions from reporters at the White House on the three Americans killed is “pathetic.”

“For the president to not answer those questions, to have nothing to say to those family members, is pathetic. It’s pathetic. And it’s because he doesn’t have answers. There is not a plan here, if [there] is he’s not sharing it with the American people,” added the New York Democrat, who was an Army intelligence officer during the Iraq War.

Ryan later said the U.S. operation against Iran, which began in tandem with Israel early Saturday, harkens memories of “past ill-conceived, half-baked, regime-change wars that sound good until they start, and then all of a sudden no one knows what the heck is going on, and it’s young American men and women that pay the price, and that pisses me off.” 

U.S. Central Command said that as of 9:30 a.m. EST Sunday, three U.S. service members have been killed, five have been seriously wounded and “several” others have suffered minor shrapnel injuries or concussions as part of “Operation Epic Fury.” CNN reported Sunday that the three dead Americans were killed by a suspected Iranian drone strike in Kuwait. 

In response to U.S. and Israeli attacks, which resulted in the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and a host of other political and military officials in the country, Iran has launched strikes against U.S. bases throughout the region, including in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and against Israel. 

The president said Sunday that the three deceased service members were “true American patriots” and he sends “our immense love and eternal gratitude” to their families.

“Sadly, there will be likely be more, before it ends,” Trump remarked in a video on his Truth Social platform. “That’s the way it is. [There will] likely be more but we’ll do everything possible where that won’t be the case. 

“But America will avenge their deaths and deliver the most punishing blow to the terrorists who have waged war against, basically, civilization.”

The president also told The New York Times on Sunday that the Pentagon expects more casualties in the conflict. 

“Three is three too many as far as I’m concerned,” Trump said. “If you look at projections, they do projections, it could be quite a bit higher than that.”

Ryan also criticized the president for bypassing congressional approval and carrying out the strikes in the first place, arguing “this is not the way it had to be.”

“This decision was wrong on every level,” he added. “It was wrong strategically; it makes us less safe. It makes the American people less safe. It was wrong procedurally, certainly, in that he totally ignored the Constitution. And then I think there’s a moral piece of it, too.”

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