(Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

(CNSNews.com) – Shortly after House Democrats passed a nonbinding resolution attempting to limit President Trump’s ability to strike Iran without authorization from Congress, Trump explained his reasons for failing to inform Congress before the strike that took out Qassem Soleimani.

He didn’t have time; he didn’t trust the Democrats who are too busy trying to impeach him; and he feared leaks, he explained to his supporters at a Toledo, Ohio rally.

Trump acknowledged that Democrats are fuming -- "how dare you" take out Soleimani that way without telling us? he said, echoing Democrats' criticism.



"You should get permission from Congress. You should come in and tell us what you want to do. You should come in and tell us, so that we can call up the fake news that’s back there, and we can leak it.”

The crowd cheered his sentiment.

“So these are split second decisions, you have to make a decision," Trump continued. "So they don’t want me to make that decision. They want me to call up – maybe go over there – let me go over to Congress; or come on over to the White House, let’s talk about it.

"When can you make it? Well I won’t be able to make it today, sir, how about a couple of days? Oh sure, come on over.

"We got a call; we heard where he was; we knew the way he was getting there. And we had to make a decision. We didn’t have time to call up Nancy, who is not operating with a full deck,” Trump said, drawing cheers.

“Now they want us to call – can you imagine calling crooked Adam Schiff? He’s so crooked. So crooked. Shifty Schiff."

Trump imagined how that phone call with Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) might have gone:

Say, gee, Adam, how are you doing? Listen, we have the world’s number one terrorist, killed thousands and thousands of people. We’d like to set up a meeting so we can discuss his execution. Would you be willing to meet? Well I won’t be able to make it this week. Well, you know, he’s traveling fast. We’ve got him lined up, Adam -- you little pencil-neck. Nine inches. He buys the smallest shirt collar you can get, and it’s loose. Now come on, Adam, we’ve got to meet faster, Adam, we’ve got him lined up, we’ve got to take this guy out. We’re not going to have another shot at him maybe ever again. But I can’t make it now because I’m trying to impeach Trump. Even though he did nothing wrong.

(Trump fumed that the impeachment case is “so weak” that Pelosi doesn’t want to send the articles to the Senate for trial. “They’re so pathetic,” he said about the Democrats.)

"So they want us to call them," Trump resumed:

Now, Schiff is a big leaker. You know, He leaks to crazy CNN -- see, with the little red light on? Not too many people are watching CNN. But he leaks, so he’ll say, you know, off the record -- I’ve got to hurry up because everyone’s watching me in the hallway on my cell phone – off the record, they’ve got the number one terrorist in the world, Soleimani. And they’re going to get him, they’re going to take him out in the next ten minutes. Ahh, please don’t tell anybody I told you. So we have breaking news. President Trump within the next 20-25 minutes looks to be taking out terrorist General Soleimani. He’s going to do it – it should be happening in the next 20 minutes, 19; 18; 17. Then we get back to the battlefield, how did you do fellas? I don’t know, he disappeared. I don’t know what happened. They want us to tell them so that they can leak it to their friends in the corrupt media.

Here Trump repeated his oft-invoked criticism of the media for “writing things they know are wrong.”

Trump concluded his remarks on Soleimani with a promise:



“But under my administration, we will never make excuses for America’s enemies. We will never hesitate in defining American lives. And we will never stop working to defeat radical Islamic terrorism."





