Appearing on MSNBC with Andrea Mitchell, Sens. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) and Joe Manchin(D-WV) explained their opposition to PresidentBarack Obama’s push for intervention in the Syrian civil war. They expressed their hope that the so-called Russian solution may avert a crisis. When pressed about the lack of enforceability or accountability of the Russian plan, Heitkamp said that the U.S. was not trusting Syrian PresidentBashar al-Assad to make good on his word. “We’re trusting the Russians,” she explained.
“Why would you trust Assad,” Mitchell asked Heitkamp. “Assad has, until this initiative, denied there was an attack, denied he was part of it, denied he has chemical weapons. Why on earth would we trust this man to tell us he’s turned them all over to international monitoring and that he is signing a treaty that he’s never redesigned?”
“We’re not trusting Assad,” Heitkamp explained. “We’re trusting the Russians to come to the table…”
“Whoa,” Mitchell interjected. “You’re trusting the Russians?”
“We’re trusting Russia’s intent at this point to actually deliver the right set of circumstances,” Heitkamp clarified.
Manchin stepped in and clarified that the U.S. does not have a trusting relationship with Moscow, but the international community should back up the Russian proposal.
Heitkamp further explained that she does not believe “we should trust what anyone says,” but that “we should trust what they do.”
Watch the clip below via MSNBC:
PIERS MORGAN: Here's the problem, Senator, is that you sound eminently reasonable and your actions endorsed the fact that you've tried to get through this and ultimately have been successful as have some of the Republicans you've been dealing with. Mitch McConnell today was very reasonable with what he said. He said, "There will be not another shutdown." This is all fine. But you guys aren't the problem. The problem is Senator Ted Cruz who has his gander up, he's got a popular vote now. He's massively more famous than he was two weeks ago. He's getting loads of money pouring in, he's the darling of the Tea Party. And he today is saying "Well, let's not too hasty," because he thinks that getting the shutdown was good business for Ted Cruz, Incorporated. What are you going to do about this young renegade who doesn't really care about being reasonable?
