Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) has admitted he’d be “apoplectic” if former President Joe Biden had authorized deadly strikes on alleged drug-trafficking vessels without consulting Congress, as President Donald Trump is doing right now.
The Trump administration “needs to give insight into Congress,” Lankford said on C-SPAN’s “Ceasefire” show. At least 40 people have now been killed in 10 strikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean.
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“If this was happening with this level of insight under the Biden administration, I’d be apopleptic,” he continued, stressing the need for consultation with lawmakers as “important.”
“We’re all elected officials,” he said. “We’re in a co-equal branch of government and we’ve got to be able to have that kind of coordination.”
Lankford said he broadly agreed with Trump’s attacks on drug smugglers, even though they’ve been slammed as “summary execution” by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). Trump has teased expanding the strikes to land targets.
“We need to be able to engage on drugs,” said Lankford. “I have Oklahomans that are dying from methamphetamine, from cocaine, from fentanyl and from different drugs that are laced with fentanyl on it and mixing it in. That’s happening in my state as it’s happening all around the country.”
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Trump’s tariffs “on countries that are allowing the precursors to be able to come over into North America” and his “direct action against those folks that are trying to deliver the drugs that are killing Americans” are “entirely appropriate to do,” he continued.
“What we’re missing is the communication, the coordination and the ability to be able to say, ‘Let’s talk out loud about this,’” he added. “We’re not his opponent on this. We’re an ally in this to be able to solve it, but we need to be able to have a voice on it as a co-equal.”
Lankford suggested multiple Republicans in Congress shared his view.
Watch from the 22-minute mark here:
