Abby Phillip and Scott Jennings went back and forth on Wednesday’s (April 1) edition of CNN NewsNight, arguing over whether NATO should have been consulted about President Trump‘s attack on Iran.
Since the U.S. and Israel launched their attack on Iran on February 28, Trump has continued to slam European and Asian allies for not backing him up in his war. A particular point of contention has been the Strait of Hormuz, with Trump recently saying other countries “should take the lead” on unblocking the oil shipping channel.
“You know why NATO should care about this? It was just a couple of weeks ago that we learned that Iran has ballistic missile capabilities that can reach most of Europe,” Jennings said on Wednesday’s show, per Mediaite.
The conservative commentator said he finds it “agitating” that “we spent billions and trillions of dollars over decades” to help allies “and then when we decide that we need to do something that is in our national security interest, you have supposed friends of the United States saying, ‘You can’t use these bases, we’re not gonna permit this, we’re not gonna help you on that’? It is agitating.”
Phillip fired back at Jennings, asking, “But doesn’t NATO have a say in how they deal with the threat?”
The CNN anchor said she didn’t disagree with Jennings about Iran’s threat, but reiterated, “Shouldn’t [NATO] be consulted? Aren’t they not right to wonder why weren’t they consulted before Trump decided to wage a war? It sounds like you think it’s in their defense. Shouldn’t they have been consulted?”
Jennings dodged the awkward question, arguing that the war “is in the defense of all of Europe now that we see that the ballistic missile threat is real.”
Phillip attacked him, saying, “But Scott, should they have been consulted?”
“Consulted?” Jennings replied. “I mean, look, we decided it was in our national security interest. Why they don’t understand that it is in theirs is beyond me.”
The debate continued as Phillip retorted, “Oh, okay. So if it’s about our national security interests, that makes sense, right? But if it’s in theirs, they should be consulted. If this war is about Europe’s security, shouldn’t Europe be consulted?”
Jennings stated it is about the U.S.’s national security, “but along the way here, what we’ve all learned is that Europe is under threat.”
“If this is about us, this is our war,” Phillip shot back.
Meidas Touch’s Adam Mockler then chimed in, addressing Jennings, “You said this was our national security interest… Okay, so then why is the onus on Europe to clean up our mess?”
You can watch a clip of the segment at this link.
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