GOP leader Kevin McCarthy is now straight-up arguing the 'wag the dog' theory of the Iran crisis
Maybe the U.S. wouldn't be in its current mess with Iran if House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) hadn't been so focused on impeaching President Trump these past few months, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) suggested Tuesday.
During an appearance on Fox & Friends, McCarthy responded to some comments Schiff made criticizing Trump's decision to kill Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Iraq last weeks, which escalated ongoing tensions with Tehran. The GOP leader didn't appear to have much patience with his fellow Californian, arguing that if Schiff had been using his role as House Intelligence chair to help protect the U.S. and its allies from previous attacks by Iran and Soleimani, Trump wouldn't have had to make the move. McCarthy made the case, without evidence, that Schiff and his fellow Democrats got so caught up in impeachment, they ignored the Iranian threat.
Several Democrats, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), have questioned the timing of the airstrike against Soleimani, and are at least considering the theory that the Trump administration was seeking a distraction from impeachment.
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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.
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