Charlie Benante Says TRUMP Ordered SOLEIMANI Killing As 'Distraction' From Impeachment

ANTHRAX drummer Charlie Benante has implied that President Donald Trump was thinking of his own political future when he authorized the killing of Qasem Soleimani , the commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Quds Force.

Trump personally ordered the killing by airstrike of Iran's top general, who was viewed by the United States as a ruthless killer. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi released a statement saying that Trump ordered the airstrike "without the consultation of Congress."

Benante suggested on Friday that Trump may have ordered the killing distract the public from impeachment proceedings. He tweeted out the definition of "distraction" as "a thing that prevents someone from giving full attention to something else" and added the hashtags #chooch and #iran. He later tweeted out a link to this story after it was initially published and included the comment: " Clinton did the same thing btw"

Charlie 's tweet was met with a mixed response from his Twitter followers, one of whom wrote: "Yes Charlie he was hoping that our embassy was attacked and an American killed in the region so he could pull off this 'distraction' " Another added: "Orange head is a corrupt lunatic. Period." A third said: "Wow, must have missed the part where they attacked Americans and killed a few while they were at it. We should just let that slide though, right?" A fourth tweeted: "We are in Deep Shit!! #chooch #WorstPresidentEver #WorldWarThree" A fifth wrote: "Yes, he arranged for the embassy to be attacked to distract from being impeached for doing nothing wrong. Try again and next time, don't be so silly." A sixth said: "My cats litter box has more brains than Charlie . My god what a dumb ass."

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday warned that a "harsh retaliation is waiting" for the U.S. after the airstrike that killed Soleimani .

Back in November 2018, Benante told Ireland's Overdrive that he no longer shared his political views online because he didn't want to come under criticism from his fans. "I've stopped posting things about my own beliefs and political standpoint on things because of the bashing I think I'll take for it, and I don't think that's fair," he said. "I'm an American, I pay my taxes and all of this stuff affects me just as much as it affects the next person."

Benante went on to say that he got slammed for voicing his opinion "just because other people happen to work in an office or work construction and no way shape or form do what I do or understand that playing music is also a job. I get the same shit that other musicians or actors get for expressing their opinions and I think it's really unfair," he said. "It's like they think we should just shut up and play our music or whatever, like it's not a real job. The feeling from this people is, like, 'We don't want to hear your views, just play music.'"

He continued: "The whole thing that they misunderstand is that I'm not trying to bash anyone in the political field; I just have my own opinion on things, and if they keep an open mind, it may open some new ideas or thoughts of which they haven't thought of before, just like when I listen, watch or read some other person's opinion, it makes me think and assess my own feelings.

"Don't get me wrong — I'll say shit about Democrats just as much as I'll say things about Republicans, and at the end of the day, that's my opinion," he added. "Those other people that can't handle any other opinions but their own are just ignorant. These are the same people that don't own a passport. They don't travel abroad and have just one very closed-minded view on life. That's just so depressing when you think about it. How are they going to understand the world or other cultures if they have never travelled anywhere? It's just bizarre."

Nearly four years ago, the drummer spoke about the 2016 presidential election, saying that it was "a very, very scary time out there" and slamming the Republican party for "never [giving] Obama a bit of a chance to really do things." He added: "Maybe this whole Donald Trump thing is meant to destroy the Republican party, what it's become. Maybe this is what he's trying… Because he was a Democrat, and he went over to the Republican party. Maybe this is… He's sabotaging them without them even knowing it."

At the time, Benante went on to criticize the two political parties for being unwilling to work together, both sides wanting things to go their own way entirely. He said: "Things have been heating up and heating up. I always thought that the Republicans never gave Obama a bit of a chance to really do things. And, of course, even me just saying that, if people read what I just said, they would come down hard on me for saying that, because they hate Obama so much. And, I mean, he has done some things that have been good, but other people would look at it as, 'No. He's the worst.' But I don't think anyone was as [bad] as the way George [W.] Bush fucked this country over. And these Republicans don't even acknowledge that — that he fucked this country up so much. He put us in a war that we didn't have to be in. And I truly think that ISIS and all that is because of that whole situation."