White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham claims
Democrats are "almost taking the side of terrorists" after a controversial retweet from President Trump.Trump on Monday retweeted a doctored image of House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) in front of the Iranian flag wearing traditional Islamic garb. The tweet read, "The corrupted Dems trying their best to come to the Ayatollah's rescue." Asked about criticism over this retweet on
Fox News, Graham claimed Trump was "making clear that the Democrats have been parroting Iranian talking points and almost taking the side of terrorists and those who were out to kill the Americans." Trump had previously claimed Pelosi was "trying to defend" Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a drone strike authorized by Trump earlier this month, but Factcheck.org noted that "we were not able to find any examples of Democrats who have defended" Soleimani. Pelosi had criticized Trump for authorizing the strike, saying it "risks provoking further dangerous escalation of violence," but called Soleimani himself a "terrible person."Among those who condemned Trump's Monday retweet was Dana Shell Smith, former U.S. ambassador to Qatar, who wrote, "the president of the
United States is engaging in hate speech against an entire religion. And because he is president, it is in our name."