KDKA Exclusive: Congressman Conor Lamb Discusses Syria, Impeachment Inquiry
MOUNT LEBANON (KDKA) -- KDKA's Political Editor Jon Delano spoke with Rep. Conor Lamb about the decision to pull United States forces out of Syria and the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.
Lamb believes the decision to pull forces out of Syria undermines the credibility of the American military, but the United States itself.
"I look at what the President's done and like pretty much everyone in Washington on both sides of the aisle, I'm thinking to myself, 'How can anyone in the world consider us to be no better friend if we cut and run as soon as it seems like the fight is over?'" Lamb wondered. "So I disagree with what the President has done. Many of us are getting together now to try to stop it or try to fix the situation. It's too urgent, it's wrong, there's still a huge threat from ISIS in that area that the Kurds were helping us with and our role is to balance those two situations. Turkey is our ally, too, but many administrations have been able to balance these two things and I think that's our job.
DELANO: Are you worried about the potential loss of life over there?
LAMB: Absolutely. I'm worried about the reputation of America abroad.
The President, however, has said he's going to try to stop the Turks from doing something bad.
Lamb recalled the words of General Mattis: "You want the United States Marines to be your best friend and worst enemy."
"The President needs to stop this now, he has the power to do that," Lamb added.
WATCH: KDKA's Jon Delano sits down with Rep. Connor Lamb.
And for Lamb, the impeachment debate goes back to President Trump's blocking of congressionally authorized military aid to Ukraine.
"When we made the decision as members of Congress to support the sniper rifles, ammo, grenade launchers and the things we were sending, and then we learned the administration didn't actually send them and held onto them, we've got a problem," Lamb said.
Lamb wants to know if President Trump held up that money to push or bribe Ukraine to dig up dirt on Joe Biden.
"I don't understand why the administration wouldn't just come forward and tell us or let their witnesses testify if they did nothing wrong," Lamb said. "Tell the American people the truth. And then they can make a decision."
Lamb said the whistleblower's complaint was corroborated by the partial transcript of President Trump's phone call to Ukraine's president.
"It's about a lot more than one phone call," Lamb said. "This is really about whether this administration is protecting the American people in the Ukraine and elsewhere. People have doubts about that now. We need to put those doubts to rest."
But it's harder to get the truth when the President won't cooperate, Lamb said.
DELANO: You were an assistant U.S. attorney. Your office issued subpoenas. What would you have done if someone ignored a lawful subpoena?
LAMB: I would have taken it right to the judge and asked for an order that they be forced to comply. That is what we have done. It takes a while. It doesn't necessarily follow the political calendar, but that's OK. This isn't about politics. It's about getting to the truth no matter how long that takes.
