“This president talked about that. He talked about running to end wars and exposing the pedophiles. Now you’re starting wars and covering for pedophiles.”

PHOENIX – Today, Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ),a Marine Corps combat who fought in Iraq, joined CNN’s State of the Union with Dana Bash to underscore the human cost of Trump’s illegal war with Iran.

Through interviews and statements over the weekend, Gallego has highlighted that President Trump, who promised no more forever wars, has illegally dragged us into another one without congressional authorization and no long-term strategy.

Watch the interview HERE and read highlights below:

BASH: “First, I want to start with your reaction to the news you just heard that three U.S. servicemembers are dead.”

GALLEGO: “This is always the fear, and this is why it’s so important that we actually have real leadership that understands the consequences of war. As someone, unfortunately, who had to experience an illegal war, there’s nothing worse than seeing your friends die for a cause that isn’t in the national interest of this country.  

“I was actually with my mom this morning at breakfast, and she reminded me about the feelings that she had knowing that I was in the middle of a war and not knowing if I was alive or dead for a couple of days. Now we’re putting potentially tens of thousands of our families through that with the President.  

“By the way, he has not had one real press conference to really explain to the American public, why are we putting our men and women in danger? What is the national interest of our country going to war right now, and why are we going to expend potentially the blood of Americans and potentially destabilize a whole area. There is no leadership right now that’s coming from this president, and we’re in the middle of dropping bombs right now, and men and women are dying.”

GALLEGO: “The President actually had an eight-minute conversation – a one-way conversation – without taking questions. But then went to a long fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago. The whole time he spent more time raising money for millionaires than talking to the American public who are about to send these poor, working class kids to go defend the interests of whom? The United States, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Qatar? We don’t know, and we don’t know what the end result of this. There is no plan. There’s no clarity of the decision or where we’re going. There’s no clarity of who’s actually going to take over. In Iran, we may have made things worse, not better, because sometimes the persons that take over tend to be the hard liners, because they’re the ones that are surviving.”

GALLEGO: “This was a BS reason for us to go to war. This president talked all the time about how he was going to keep us out of war. All the time. He also talked a lot of time about exposing the pedophiles on the Epstein list. Coincidentally, that’s also [not] happening right now. This president talked about that. He talked about running to end wars and exposing the pedophiles. Now you’re starting wars and covering for pedophiles.”