Bill Maher flips script on Adam Schiff with quote from Obama administration on Libya and war powers
Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., was prompted by "Real Time" host Bill Maher on Friday into critiquing a quote from the Obama administration about its war powers in Libya, seeming to assume the statement was from the Trump administration about Iran.
"This statement from the administration: ‘The president had the constitutional authority to direct the use of military force because he could reasonably determine that such use of force was in the national interest,’" Maher said. "That’s too vague for you?"
"Totally vague…" Schiff responded before being interrupted by the host.
Before Schiff could get his entire thought out, Maher interjected, saying, "Okay. Because that’s from Obama about Libya."
The full quote from the Obama administration is dated April 1, 2011. It comes from the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel: "The President had the constitutional authority to direct the use of military force in Libya because he could reasonably determine that such use of force was in the national interest."
The senator quickly shifted the conversation to Syria, saying former President Barack Obama initially argued he could "go into Syria without an authorization" from Congress until he and other officials pushed back.
"Ultimately, he did not go forward with going after [former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad], even though Assad was gassing his own people, because he thought he may lose the vote in Congress," Schiff explained.
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"But I respect the fact that — that was important to him, and the fact that he did not have the support of Congress meant that we weren't going to go forward."
Moving the conversation to President Donald Trump's strikes on Iran, Schiff asserted that "we are unquestionably at war now," and that America's Founding Fathers made the "extraordinary decision" to give war powers to Congress instead of the president.
He noted that Alexander Hamilton warned that presidents would grow "too fond of making war" if they had the ability to do so without congressional approval.
"After Venezuela, after the earlier Iran conflict, after bombing Nigeria and Iraq and Syria, [Trump's] grown too fond of this," he argued. "And Congress… needs to step up, assert its role, or it's going to be gone for good, and then anytime a president, for any reason, anywhere in the world, for any length of time — will feel free to make war. And that would be hugely dangerous for the country."
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On Thursday, the House of Representatives narrowly voted to allow Trump to continue Operation Epic Fury in Iran.
A bipartisan resolution led by Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., failed to pass after four Democrats joined most Republicans in sinking it, 212 to 219.
The legislation was aimed at blocking Trump from using the Armed Forces in the joint U.S.-Israeli operation in Iran, which would likely force the strikes to grind to a halt.
The Trump administration, as well as the majority of Republicans in Congress, have insisted that the president has acted within his authority so far and are hopeful he will continue to do so.
Fox News Digital's Elizabeth Elkind and Alex Miller contributed to this report.