Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday said the administration could not share all of the intelligence during briefings to members of Congress about the drone strike that killed Qassem Soleimani because some of it was too sensitive.
He was responding to criticism from Democratic and some Republican lawmakers that the briefings failed to provide sufficient evidence justifying the attack against the top Iranian military commander.
“Some of the most compelling evidence that Qassem Soleimani was preparing an imminent attack against American forces and American personnel also represents some of the most sensitive intelligence we have,” Pence said during an interview on NBC’s “Today” show. “It could compromise those sources and methods.”
Pence said he has “tremendous respect” for Sen. Mike Lee, a Republican from Utah who called the briefings “insulting and demeaning.”
But “those of us that have seen all of the evidence in real time know that President Trump made the right decision to take Qassem Soleimani off the battlefield. America is safer,” Pence said.
Lee joined Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) in blasting the briefing given by administration members.
Lee said it was “probably the worst briefing I’ve seen at least on a military issue in the nine years I’ve served in the United States Senate.”
Donald Trump, joined by Mike Pence, during a meeting with senior White House advisersEPASpeaking to the nation from the White House on Wednesday, Trump said, “We took decisive action to stop a ruthless terrorist from threatening American lives.”
“In recent days, he was planning new attacks on American targets, but we stopped him,” Trump said.
Soleimani, leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard, was killed in a drone strike last Thursday in Baghdad.
In retaliation, Tehran on Wednesday fired more than a dozen missiles at two Iraqi bases that house American and coalition troops.
There were no casualties in the attacks.
