Monday on CNN’s “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer,” Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) said President Barack Obama needs to “get over it” and come see Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu address a joint session of Congress.
Chaffetz scolded the president, saying, “We are talking about semantics. Get over it. Get over it. He’s going to come here and speak.”
Chaffetz said, “There are 535 members between the House and the Senate. So yeah, you have a couple that are not going to show up, which I think is a broad mistake in the context. Remember, it was just our embassy in Yemen that we had to flee because the Houthis were coming to take over, supported by Iran. Iran has not been a friendly player. You saw the video, out there in the Arabian sea where they are blowing up a would-be gulf carrier there for us. This is not a regime that we can continue to appease and give them what they want, more than anything else, which is time. President Obama has given the Iranians time. That’s what I worry about.”
He continued, “The biggest problem that we have on the face of the planet is Iran getting a nuclear weapon. We have to do anything and everything we can do in our powers to make sure that that doesn’t happen.”
Saying he would support a preemptive strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities, the congressman added, “Absolutely. We negotiate from a position of strength. We do not do this through appeasement and bickering about what time the speaker called the president to say that Benjamin Netanyahu is going to show up. That is a distraction. I think the president miscalculated on that. Get over it. He’s coming to speak to us and we look forward to hearing him.”
“If it was up to me, if I was the president of the United States, I would take out that threat. You have to deal with it in a realistic thing. We believe them when they say they want death and destruction to the United States. When the Ayatollah says that November of last year, believe him. When he says it to the United States of America and the Houthis are coming in and kicking us out of our embassy and they are going to take us out, believe them. Yes, you take out that threat,” he concluded.
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