Marco Rubio speaking to reporters during a press event, surrounded by journalists and onlookers in a crowded setting.

Marco Rubio speaking to reporters during a press event, surrounded by journalists and onlookers in a crowded setting.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio schools CNN’s Manu Raju after the liberal hack mischaracterizes his Iran statement. Credit; CNN screenshot

CNN hack Manu Raju, whose life goal appears to be trying to embarrass every Republican with slanted questions, got called to the carpet by Secretary of State Marco Rubio after a misleading question during a press conference.

As The Gateway Pundit reported, Rubio delivered a blistering rebuke to critics on Capitol Hill Monday, dismantling claims that the Trump administration failed to properly notify Congress before launching decisive military strikes against Iranian targets.

Speaking to reporters, Rubio revealed that the administration followed established protocol by notifying the Gang of Eight, the group of congressional leaders and intelligence chairs, well in advance of the operations.

Rubio added that U.S. officials knew Israeli action was imminent and that retaliation against American forces would follow. The only strategic option, Rubio argued, was to act first and avoid higher casualties.

Per National Review, Rubio was then asked whether he stated that the U.S. was forced to attack Iran because of Israel. He said no and added:

That’s the question of why now, but this operation needed to happen because Iran, in about a year or a year and a half, would cross the line of immunity, meaning they would have so many short-range missiles, so many drones, that no one could do anything about it, because they could hold the whole world hostage. Look at the damage they’re doing now.

And this is a weakened Iran. Imagine a year from now. So that had to happen. Obviously, we were aware of Israeli intentions and understood what that would mean for us, and we had to be prepared to act as a result of it. But this had to happen, no matter what.

On Tuesday, Raju attempted to pay gotcha with Rubio by twisting his statement. The CNN hack tried to get Rubio to admit that he claimed the US was forced to attack Iran because of Israel.

Rubio refused to play along, though, challenging Raju to read the full statement. This caused Raju to frantically scramble to get back on track.

WATCH:

RAJU: I want to just clarify what you said. I want to clarify what you said, because you said…

RUBIO: There’s nothing to clarify.

RAJU: You said…

RUBIO: Read the whole statement.

RAJU: Your quote is about, we knew that there was going to be an Israeli action. We knew that would precipitate an attack on American forces.

RUBIO: No, I understand…I had a very specific question from this gentleman.

RAJU: But the President said…

RUBIO: Let me answer because this is my press conference.

RAJU: Sure.

RUBIO: I was asked a very specific question, so you guys can be misrepresent it, but I was asked a very specific question yesterday. The bottom line is this: The President determined we were not going to get hit first. It’s that simple, guys. We are not going to put American troops in harm’s way.

If you tell the President of the United States that if we don’t go first, we’re going to have more people killed and more people injured, the President is going to go first. That’s what he did. That’s what the President will always do. He will always put the safety and security of our men and women in uniform and of all Americans before anything else.

He’s always going to do that, and that’s what he did here. In addition to that, I would argue that this threat from Iran — they are hiding behind these missiles and hiding behind these drones. They wanted to reach a point where you couldn’t touch them, and then they could do whatever the hell they wanted with their nuclear program.

And there was no way in the world that this terroristic regime was going to get nuclear weapons, not under Donald Trump’s watch. That’s for sure.

The post WATCH: Marco Rubio Puts CNN’s Manu Raju in His Place After the Liberal Hack Slyly Misrepresents Rubio’s Statement Regarding Iran and Israel appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.