Klobuchar says Trump is ’10 minutes’ away from going to war

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) on Wednesday said President Trump is “10 minutes” and “one tweet” away from getting the United States involved in a war. 

“This president is literally, every single day, 10 minutes away from going to war, one tweet away from going to war,” Klobuchar said at the first 2020 Democratic debate Wednesday evening in response to a question about heightened tensions with Iran.

{mosads}“I don’t think we should be conducting foreign policy in our bathrobe at 5 in the morning,” Klobuchar said, prompting a round of applause from the audience.

Klobuchar and other candidates criticized Trump for withdrawing the United States from the Obama-era nuclear agreement between Iran and other world powers, saying that the move has led to escalating tensions between Washington and Tehran.

Klobuchar said she would renegotiate the 2015 deal if she were elected president, describing the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, as a good but “imperfect” agreement.

“It was imperfect, but it was a good deal for that moment,” Klobuchar said. “I would work to get longer sunset periods.”

Klobuchar asserted that Trump “has made us less safe than we were when he became president,” referencing recent comments by Iranian officials that Tehran will soon surpass the caps on uranium put in place under the agreement.

Klobuchar also said she would go to Congress for an authorization for use of military force if there were any possibility of an armed conflict with Iran.

Trump told Hill.TV in an exclusive interview earlier this week that he does not need congressional approval to strike Iran.

“But we’ve been keeping Congress abreast of what we’re doing … and I think it’s something they appreciate,” Trump said. “I do like keeping them abreast, but I don’t have to do it legally.”

Late last week, Trump ordered a strike against Iran but later reversed his. The strike would have been in response to the downing of an unmanned U.S. aerial vehicle over the Strait of Hormuz.