of discussion that in regard to syria, if president obama put troops on the ground in syria without congressional authorization, it would constitute a foundation for impeachment. we had members of the senate, including members of our armed service committee, members of the house, and i just quote one of them representing walter jones said no president or democratic republican should have the authority to bypass the constitution or the will of the american people. and he said, if one of our troops goes to syria and is killed, i will introduce articles of impeachment. so at the time of that discussion, did you share the view that for president obama to put troops on the ground in syria would be a violation of the constitution? senator, i don t recall if i did or if i made a statement with respect to that at that time. i simply don t recall. but just to clarify, in the case of libya, you did see there was a line being crossed? yes, senator, i believed
legitimate for the u.s. to respond to the current necessity posed by north korea s nuclear weapons by striking first. secretary of defense mattis had a different view saying war with north korea would be catastrophic. do you lean more toward john bolton s view or secretary of defense mattis view? can i lean more closely to the president s view, which is to continue to pressure the campaign, to build a diplomatic coalition around the world to put pressure on kim jong-un such that we can achieve the united states goals without ever having to put one of our young men or women in harm s way. does the president have the constitutional authority to conduct a first strike on north korea without authorization from congress? senator, again, i m not going to comment on hypothetical situations or complex legal matters. well, you ve done so before bark a while when the question was in regard to committing
don t have it confirmed. kevin, virginia democrat senator kane issued a statement a short time ago. without congressional authorization, any military action president trump takes in syria, that is not in self-defense, is illegal. spending the morning talking to russia on twitter should be presented a serious strategy to congress. while at it, release the secret legal memo reportedly justifies the air strikes on syria last year which clearly had not deterred assad and the president is using this precedent for unilateral military action. is this valid? does the president have the right to take military action without congressional authorization in syria once again? you want to talk war powers as a resolution, look, the presidentsfrik strike anywhere in the world. any action against assad in
legislation which basically would prevent the president from launching a nuclear first strike without congressional authorization. what do you think of that proposed bill? that s not going anyplace. the president of the united states has a right to protect america and the fact if he thought there was a nuclear strike inbound toward the united states about to be launched and he had to do something about that he has the complete authority now to do that. no one will take that away from him. nobody. that s malarkey on congressmen exercising muscle. it s an empty bag. julie: i want your reaction to the congressman s tweet. he had several last night. this got so ugly. he writes dear donald trump. if the u.s. used nuclear weapons in north korea it could cause china or russia to miscalculate. they have a nuclear button that
can that be done through legislation? i think it s very difficult to practically or logistically restrain his authority. i think we can make clear to this administration that just because north korea potentially ultimately obtains a weapon that could reach the united states, that doesn t mean that he can use a nuclear weapon without congressional authorization. i think the administration seems to be trying to expand the authority that it has to launch a pre-emptive strike against north korea. we can pass legislation that would curtail that authority. senator murphy, thanks for joining us. thanks a lot, wolf. all right. we re following the breaking news. we ll resume our special coverage right after this.