GOP lawmaker gives up war powers to Trump: 'Can't get votes to say sky is blue'

A Republican lawmaker surrendered congressional war powers to president Donald Trump, saying that he and his colleagues would never be able to come to an agreement on attacking Iran.

The president has set a two-week negotiating window before he decides on striking Iran, and Rep. Mark Alford (R-MO) indicated to "CNN News Central" that he would not oppose military action and did not think Congress should exercise its constitutional role in deciding whether to declare war.

"They want us dead, we're the 'great Satan' in their eyes," Alford said.

Alford conceded that he had no reason to believe Iran could launch a missile that could reach the U.S., but he argued they might some day be able to do so.

"Look, it is best to to chop the head off the snake now before it turns into a Medusa," Alford said, "and once that starts, there is no turning back. I would rather deal with the situation now, a problem that we've been dealing with now for four to five decades, and and get a leader in Iran who can truly lead the people and the will of the people who want normalcy, and I was just over there in October in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, meeting with leaders, the president of Egypt [and] King Abdullah [of Jordan]. They want normalcy in this region, they want someone to deal with Iran. They won't come out publicly and say remove the ayatollah, but they want some normalcy."

CNN's John Berman asked the congressman directly whether Trump had the power to attack Iran without congressional authorization, and he readily surrendered that authority.

"Well, look, I don't think we should tie the president's hands if and when he makes the decision," Alford said. "We're not going to agree in Congress, we can't get 218 votes to say that the sky is blue right now, so, and we're dealing with all these other issues, this will be the president's decision with wise counsel that he is getting, talking to the top generals. I assume he is talking to our chairman of the Armed Services Committee, Mike Rogers – they're friends."

"This is not a president who is going to act out of ignorance," Alford added. "He is going to act out of informed, wise counsel."

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