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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Trump touts Soleimani killing at Ohio rally

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Trump touts Soleimani killing at Ohio rally
Trump touts Soleimani killing at Ohio rally

U.S. President Donald Trump kicked off the election year with a boisterous rally in Ohio, where he delivered a tough-on-militants message and lashed out at his critics.

Eve Johnson reports.

U.S. President Donald Trump talked tough at his first election year rally on Thursday (January 9).

Before a sea of cheering supporters in the battleground state of Ohio he trumpeted the killing of a top Iranian general.

Qassem Soleimani was taken out by a U.S. drone strike last week.

Trump called it 'American justice.'

(SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, SAYING: "Soleimani was actively planning new attacks and he was looking very seriously at our embassies and not just the embassy in Baghdad, but we stopped him and we stopped him quickly and we stopped him cold." Iran retaliated this week with a missile strike on U.S. bases in the region.

Trump hinted it was good thing for Iran that no Americans were killed.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, SAYING: "They hit us with 16 missiles and I said how many?

We were ready to go.

We were ready to go.

I said, how many?

How many died?

How many were wounded?

Sir, none.

How many were hurt?

None, sir.

So, we didn't do anything.

A lot of people got very lucky." Trump's decision to order the killing without consulting Congress first has sparked outrage among Democrats.

But in Toledo, Trump struck back at critics who say his overstepped his authority.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, SAYING: "They're all trying to say how dare you take him out that way, you should get permission from congress, you should come in and tell us what you want to do.

You should come in and tell us so that we can call up the fake news that's back there and they can leak it." Democrats say they're trying to prevent the conflict from escalating.

Only hours before the Ohio rally, the House passed a new resolution to keep Trump from edging closer to a war with Iran.

ENDS

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