Video News Clips: In Their Own Words

Newt Gingrich Explains Why Left Is ‘Desperate’ To Attack Trump Over Iran

Newt Gingrich Explains Why Left Is 'Desperate' To Attack Trump Over Iran (Screenshot/Fox Business)

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Thursday that members of the left are grasping for reasons to condemn President Donald Trump following U.S. military action against Iran.

Democratic leaders criticized Trump’s strikes on Iran, saying he failed to seek congressional authorization before launching the military operation. Gingrich said on “Kudlow” that people on the left are desperate to attack Trump over his military action because they panic over virtually anything he does.

“If Trump wanted a picnic, they would panic. If Trump were to go ride a boat down a river, they would panic. It’s where we are currently in our politics,” Gingrich told host Larry Kudlow.

Gingrich said Trump’s critics should confront Iran’s decades-long record of terrorism, noting that the United States Department of State has repeatedly identified the regime as the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism.

WATCH: 

“Everybody on the left who wants to attack this should be asked a simple question. Since 1984, the United States State Department, every year since 1984, has said the Iranians are the largest sponsors of state terrorism in the world,” Gingrich said.

Gingrich said Trump is taking a historically significant step.

“Now, if somebody’s been the leading sponsor of terrorism since 1984, by their own definition, they’ve been at war with us since 1979, it seems to me fair to say that a president who has the guts to end it is, in fact, doing historically an extraordinarily important thing,” Gingrich said. “And the fact is, we will get the Strait of Hormuz under control. We will get back to exporting oil. And as you pointed out, because of our policies of drilling, we actually have a tremendous amount of oil available and natural gas available, and everything will balance out.”

In 2024, the Department of Justice charged several individuals connected to an Iranian-linked network accused of plotting to assassinate Trump. Prosecutors said operatives tied to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps directed a criminal network to surveil and potentially target Trump in retaliation for the 2020 strike that killed Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani.

(Featured Image Media Credit: Screenshot/Fox Business)