**Scary as Hell**......What's Inside Trump's Secret War Powers Memo?

[spanone]

The answer appears to be a strikingly broad legal argument to strike virtually anywhere—without Congressional say-so.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson informed a senator in a recently-revealed letter that President Trump considers himself to possess inherent constitutional authority to launch military action without any act of Congress, a sweeping assertion that appears to resurrect from the early George W. Bush years the most imperial notions of the presidency.

Now a group comprised mostly of former Obama administration attorneys is suing to force disclosure of a seven-page Justice Department document they believe codifies the broad legal claim. As they await a judge’s verdict, they believe the secret opinion they seek provides a blueprint for the presidency to put the final nail in the long-constructed coffin for Congress’ own constitutional authority over American war.

Last April, Senator Tim Kaine watched Trump launch a cruise-missile fusillade against a Syrian airbase firmly under the control of regime dictator Bashar Assad. Trump publicly justified attacking the airbase as a means to impose costs on Assad for his chemical weapons attack.

Significantly, doing so bore no relationship to any congressionally-authorized war—not any adversary targetable under the 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF)—nor any defense of the U.S., its allies or its articulable interests. A 1973 law called the War Powers Act permits the president substantial unilateral authority to launch military action within a 60-day window, meaning that Trump had the force of law on his side. Still, Kaine wondered: what was the administration’s legal basis for striking the Shayrat airfield?

https://www.thedailybeast.com/whats-inside-trumps-secret-war-powers-memo?ref=home

[Iliyah]

1. If he is not stopped, a lot of people are going to die,

and we know the GOP ain't gonna do anything.

[spanone]

2. this is true insanity. congress needs to be a bumper for this ignorant fool

[dhill926]

3. So Congress, you just gonna let this lunatic...

do whatever he wants? This is totally fucked.

[OhNo-Really]

4. Where's John Yoo when Trumpkin needs justification for anything

[ProudLib72]

5. Ask the deplorables if he has the authority to start a war

I'm willing to bet over 80% believe he does or, at least, should have that power. For them congress is just a roadblock.