Senator Rand Paul has come out against President Donald Trump’s decision to attack Syria Thursday, calling it unconstitutional.During an interview on Fox Business, Paul said Trump should have gotten approval from Congress before attacking.
Paul said, “The president really doesn’t have the authority under the constitution to initiate war.”
The U.S. military launched the surprise air strike on a Syrian airfield Thursday evening.
The move came in response to a chemical weapons attack on civilians. The weapons killed dozens of people, and the administration believes they were launched by Syria’s embattled leader, Bashar al-Assad.
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell threw his support behind Trump’s actions, calling it well-planned and well-executed.
McConnell also said he couldn’t see a resolution to the conflict that keeps Assad in power.
In a press conference McConnell said, “I just can’t imagine after all the butchering of his own people that he’s been doing now for four, five years that there could be any successful conclusion to this chaos with him still there.”
The U.S. has conducted airstrikes against the Islamic State in Syria since 2014, but Thursday’s was the first against the Syrian government.
