A video clip of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi resurfaced online of her defending former President Barack Obama’s decision in 2011 to strike Libya without congressional approval.
Pelosi recently said that President Donald Trump should have gotten approval from Congress before striking Iran.
“President Trump’s decision to initiate military hostilities into Iran starts another unnecessary war which endangers our servicemembers and destabilizes an already fragile region,” she wrote on X. “The Constitution is clear: decisions that lead our nation into war must be authorized by Congress.”
The video that resurfaced is from 2011 and shows Pelosi at a news conference, according to Fox News.
“You’re saying that the president did not need authorization initially and still does not need any authorization from Congress on Libya?” a reporter from the video is heard asking Pelosi in 2011.
“Yes,” she responded.
Her office said there are clear differences with Obama’s 2011 decision andTrump’s strikes.
“There is an absolute distinction between the limited military operations in Libya and the broad, escalating war with Iran initiated by President Trump,” Ian Krager, a spokesperson for Pelosi, told Fox News Digital. “Speaker Pelosi’s position has been consistent: when the prospect of expansive or prolonged hostilities exists, the Constitution and the War Powers Act are clear that Congress must authorize it.”
Last weekend, the U.S. and Israel conducted joint strikes on Iran. This was because concerns about the country building a nuclear weapon.
Iran has retaliated and multiple countries have been hit as a result. Americans have been encouraged to leave countries in the Middle East as the conflict continues.The countries Americans are asked to leave are Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. Palestinian territories in the West Bank and Gaza are also included.
Trump has not weighed out boots on the ground in Iran, according to an exclusive interview with the New York Post. He said that the attack was necessary on Truth Social and criticized Democrats who were against the decision.
“The Radical Left Democrats, a Party that has completely lost its way, are complaining bitterly about the very necessary and important attack, by the United States and Israel, on Iran,” Trump said.
A 1980 video clip of Trump has been going viral amid the conflict in Iran. Between 1979 and 1980, 52 American diplomats and citizens were held hostage by revolutionaries in Iran for more than a year.
“The Iranian situation is case in point that they hold our hostages is just absolutely and totally ridiculous that this country sits back and allows a country such as Iran to hold our hostages, to my way of thinking is a horror,” he said then to an interviewer who proceeded to ask Trump if the United States should send troops into Iran.
“I absolutely feel that, yes,” Trump said. “I don’t think there’s any question.”