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Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., avoided answering whether he believed Iranian officials over President Donald Trump regarding war discussions on CNN Monday.
Van Hollen was asked by CNN’s Kasie Hunt on her show “The Arena with Kasie Hunt” who he believed was telling the truth regarding discussions to potentially end the war. Trump reported that the U.S. had “very good” talks with Tehran, but Iranian state media has denied any talks took place.
Though Van Hollen did not specify whether he believed Iranian officials, he emphasized that Trump was “lying” about the war.
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Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., repeatedly claimed President Donald Trump was lying about issues regarding the Iranian war. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
“Unfortunately, we‘ve learned that Donald Trump has been lying to the American people from the start, and he keeps lying to the American people, which is never a good thing,” Van Hollen said.
“Do you believe the Iranian officials over the President of the United States?” Hunt asked.
“I believe that based on all the information that’s available and Donald Trump‘s track record of lying, including the big lie, which he told the American people during the campaign that he was going to keep us out of war in the Middle East. He broke that promise,” Van Hollen answered.
He added, “He lied about Iran being an imminent threat to the United States. And Israel launched this strike. He lied about Iran being on the precipice of getting a nuclear weapon. We know that because Tulsi Gabbard just testified just the opposite recently. And yes, we know he‘s lying when he says that the Iranians are talking with us, and they‘re about to give Donald Trump everything he wants. Yes, that‘s a lie.”
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President Donald Trump announced a five-day pause on military strikes after having “very good” talks with Iran. (Jim Watson/AFP Via Getty Images)
“Fair enough,” Hunt remarked.
When reached for comment, the White House made a pointed reference to Van Hollen’s meeting last year with deported migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
“As someone who enjoys sipping margaritas with terrorists, Chris Van Hollen has zero credibility on this topic or anything else,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told Digital.
Digital reached out to Van Hollen’s office for comment.
Trump announced on Truth Social early Monday morning that he would be postponing military strikes against Iran’s power and energy infrastructure for five days after having “very good and productive conversations” with the country that could lead to “complete and total resolution of our hostilities.”
He also denied Iranian state media reports that no talks took place in a comment to Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo later that day.
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Iranian state media denied President Donald Trump’s reports of peace talks taking place. (Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters; Mohammadali Najib/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
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“When I asked about the Iranian TV saying that no talks have happened, he said it’s hard to get any information there because of the U.S. is blowing up so much of their infrastructure. So again, he wasn’t sure what Iran State TV was talking about, because the most recent talks, he said, happened last night with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner,” Bartiromo said.
