After the first round of US-Iranian peace talks in Pakistan collapsed last weekend, Vice President JD Vance is expected to return to the negotiating table in the coming days as the April 22nd ceasefire expiration date looms.
Vermont Democratic Senator Peter Welch, a co-sponsor of the Justice for Hind Rajab Act, has been outspoken against Trump’s illegal war in Iran and the US’s complicity in Israel’s war crimes in Iran, Gaza, and Lebanon. “That is totally and utterly irresponsible for a leader of a country – in this case, Trump – to basically kowtow to the leader of another country when their agenda is totally different than what our needs are,” he tells Mehdi.
He was also one of forty senators who voted yesterday to block weapons sales to Israel, and while the measure did not pass, he nevertheless described it as a “historic moment.” He explains, “When we started out on this… there were three of us, Bernie Sanders, Jeff Merkley, and me, who voted no. Now we have 40.”
As the Democratic Party distances itself from Israel, Welch, who has never taken AIPAC money, encourages his fellow lawmakers to do the same: “AIPAC is not advocating a position so much as its position is to advocate for whatever the Netanyahu government wants.”
But Israel and the war in Iran aren’t the only topics the two discussed. In this wide-ranging and challenging interview, Mehdi also presses the senator on:
Chuck Schumer’s leadership
Joe Biden’s legacy
The House commission on presidential capacity
And Trump’s threat to midterm elections.
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