Senator Mark Warner

I very much appreciate it as well.

Thank you, Emily.

Well, first of all, Emily, I am down in Hampton Roads, part of Virginia, where most of the sailors who are in the conflict area are from.

Literally, I had four events today.

Half the crowd in every one of these events knew people who were deployed.

And

They have no idea why their sons and daughters are being put in harm's way.

You know, the president a week ago said this was about Iran's nuclear activities, which he had claimed had been obliterated seven months ago.

He then switched to saying this is about Iran's ballistic missile capacity.

And now, in the last 36 hours, he says it's about regime change.

You know, why are...

These sons and daughters now casualty some of them in harm's way.

What is the essential criteria for America being in this war?

I can tell you as somebody who was part of the Gang of Eight, there is and was no imminent immediate threat from Iran against America.

So why take this action now is the question I'm getting from the parents and friends of sailors deployed, and I don't have any answer for them.

Well, I make of it the fact that this is a war of choice chosen by Donald Trump in the Middle East where our record has not been great.

Again, there was no intelligence that showed an immediate imminent threat.

That should be normally the criteria.

As a matter of fact, if the president had chosen to take action back in January when the Iranian people were on the streets in record numbers, he would have more of a case, but he couldn't do it then.

Because the aircraft carrier that was needed was off the coast of Venezuela, and our allies that would be normally supportive were concerned rightfully about Trump's plans on Greenland.