Video: Sen. Tim Kaine Warns of “red flags…by the dozen” in Saudi-U.S. Nuclear Deal; Says Trump’s “triply breaking the law” on Iran War

See below for two videos, the first of which has Sen. Tim Kaine on MSNOW commenting on the Trump administration’s reported deal with Saudi Arabia ” that would use American technology and expertise to establish a civilian nuclear program in the Gulf country, a move that has caused alarm across the Middle East and through the corridors of power in Washington”; and the second of which has Sen. Kaine (in his weekly press availability) discussing Trump “triply breaking the law” – as well as the constitution – with respect to Iran.   Here’s what Sen. Kaine had to say (bolding added by me for emphasis):

• [Q: “What is up with this with this deal with Saudi Arabia? Are you concerned about about the potential for nuclear uh proliferation in the region with this this Saudi Arabia deal that that we’re hearing about now?”] “Yes. Civilian nuclear power nations should be able to use it as they see fit. But the sort of gold standard for the US in transferring technology has been to ask for two things. One, don’t do your own enrichment of uranium or reprocessing of plutonium- we can provide that to you. But if you do your own enrichment and reprocessing, it can be used to proliferate nuclear weapons or inspire others to do the same. That’s goal one. Goal two is if you’re going to have a nuclear program, allow the International Atomic Energy Agency to do inspections that meet something called the additional protocol, which is designed to ensure that nobody cheats. This deal allows the possibility of the Saudis to enrich and reprocess. And the Saudis have also not agreed to allow the nuclear inspections that are necessary to make sure nobody cheats. When somebody says, ‘I won’t agree to the inspections that guarantee my program is peaceful,’ the red flags start going up by the dozen. So, I’m very, very worried about this deal not containing those two elements to protect against proliferation.”

Sen. Tim Kaine:

“I continue to  press my colleagues to stop this president’s illegal war in Iran. And some good news. The House just passed another war power resolution directing the president to either withdraw troops from the war or seek a congressional authorization. Thus far, the president has refused to do either. We’ve passed a binding House resolution that actually came to the Senate. The Senate voted on it as well, declaring that this war is illegal without a congressional authorization. And the president is breaking the law. In fact, the president is really triply breaking the law. One, he began this war on his own initiative without seeking the congressional authorization that the constitution requires. Two, the War Powers Resolution arguably might allow a president to conduct some military operations for 60 days, but the statute makes plain that at the end of the 60 days, the president must stop the military operation if Congress hasn’t approved it. We’re well past the 60-day deadline. So, the president is not only violating the Constitution, he’s also violating War Powers Resolution. And third, once Congress passed the House Concurrent Resolution, both houses under Republican majority saying that the war is unlawful and directing the president to remove troops from hostilities or seek an authorization. He has chosen to do neither. So, he’s violating both the Constitution. Actually, not both. He’s violating the Constitution and the statute and the recently passed bipartisan War Powers Resolution that…Congress passed.

All right, so what does that all mean? Well, the president can break the law and the president can ignore the law, but the president can’t change the law. And so we need to continue to force votes, but also now if the president is intent on ignoring or breaking the law, we have to use the appropriations process that is…pursuant to the Congress’ ability to keep funding an illegal war. The war is not only illegal, it’s unnecessary. We had the Straits of Hormuz open and we had a diplomatic deal with Iran about its nuclear program. The president tore up the diplomatic deal in his first term and we warned him, you would be leading us to an unnecessary war if you did so. He didn’t listen. And then the president decided to launch this war on February 28th with no congressional notification or approval, no support from allies, no clear plan, no clear rationale.”