Chairman Risch in Floor Speech: President Trump’s Strikes on Drug Trafficking Terrorists are “Fully Justified” and “Constitutional”

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, spoke on the floor of the U.S. Senate in support of President Trump's constitutional authority to authorize strikes on narco-terrorists trafficking drugs into the United States. Read his full remarks below:

Click the image above to watch Chairman Risch's floor speech.

"Mr. President, we're here today to talk about a resolution put forth by the Democrats that is very, very not well taken. We're all aware in this body that on September 4th, President Trump notified Congress of his initial strike against narco-terrorists who were bringing deadly and illegal drugs into this country, the first of four such strikes.

"My colleague referred to the fact that the President can, if there's an imminent attack on our country, strike. This wasn't an imminent attack. This was an actual attack. It was in progress. It was going on. People were attacking our country by bringing in poisonous substances to deposit into our country that would have killed Americans all over America, including your constituents. Fortunately, most of those drugs are now at the bottom of the ocean. Had that not happened, I guarantee you there would have been hundreds, maybe thousands, of people in this country who would have been killed with the tremendous amount of drugs being brought in.

"The facts of that are obviously well-known, well-reported. The people carrying those drugs were terrorists, plain and simple. They were trafficking drugs that finance a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization. These strikes were fully compliant and fully justified under the President's Article II constitutional authority, and not only authority but duty as Commander in Chief of our Armed Forces to defend this country, and he took an oath to do so.

"Today, we're looking at a resolution saying that he [President Trump] can't do this anymore. This is nonsense. It is unreasonable. It's why the American people look at Congress and think we're crazy. The President of the United States is trying to do something about this terrible scourge going on in America, yet members of Congress are saying, 'don't do that anymore unless you come here and ask us for permission to do it.'

"These actions here are political, pure and simple. This was a good decision on the part of the President, and he acted legally. So, what are my Democrat friends doing here? They're putting forth this Joint Resolution Number 83 to stop the President from acting in the way he has just acted to stop these drugs from coming into the country.

"Let's look at the actual language: 'Congress hereby directs the President of the United States to terminate the use of the United States Armed Forces for hostilities against any organization designated on or after February 20, 2025, as a Foreign Terrorist Organization or Specifically Designated Global Terrorist, any states in which these entities operate, or any non-state organizations engaged in the promotion, trafficking, and distribution of illegal drugs.'

"You're telling the President to stop using this against organizations and people who are trafficking drugs for distribution and on the way to the United States. It goes on to say that he can't do this unless explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or specific Authorization for Use of Military Force by this organization. How long do you think it would take him to get that?

"Those drugs not only would have been delivered to the United States, they would have not only been distributed in the United States, but there would also be dead Americans, and we'd still be here yacking about it.

"Even if this passed, and it's not going to, but if it did, he's not going to obey this order. He can't obey this order. He took an oath to defend this country.

"When he sees an attack like this coming-an attack of drugs or explosives or anything else that's going to kill Americans-he not only has the authority to do something about it, he has the duty to do something about it.

"We should have a resolution out here not condemning what he did and telling him don't do this anymore. We should have a resolution out here thanking him for the hundreds, probably thousands, of lives that he saved with these four attacks, including constituents in your districts.

"Thank you, Mr. President, for what you did. Thank you and continue the good work of taking these drugs out of the traffic and putting them on the bottom of the ocean. My friends, this is Trump Derangement Syndrome. These people hate President Trump. I get that. But simply because you hate him, you should not wallow in that hate like you have and produce this kind of a product that stops the President from doing what he is supposed to do. This is shameful and it should be defeated, and it's going to be defeated."

These remarks have been lightly edited for clarity. Delivery of these remarks are available at youtube.com/@SenatorJamesRisch.

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