President Trump addresses drone strike on Iranian general at Miami campaign event

MIAMI (CBS12) — President Donald Trump held his first campaign event of 2020 at a Miami megachurch Friday and quickly addressed the controversial U.S. drone strike that killed prominent Iranian General Qasem Soleimani.

“He was planning a very major attack and we got him,” President Trump said to a crowd of supporters for the Evangelicals for Trump kickoff.

His remarks at the campaign event marked the second time Trump spoke publicly about the airstrikes heordered to kill Iran’s foremost military leader. The head of an Iraqi militia group was also killed in the strike.

Soleimani was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American service members and allies in Iraq. He directed proxy militias that pioneered the IED.

After his death, the Iranian government promised reprisals, part of a string of tensions that have been building for the past two weeks between the U.S. and Iran. Much of the tension has mounted while the president has been at Mar-a-Lago, his Southern White House in Palm Beach County.

"We don’t seek war. We do not seek nation building. We do not seek regime change. But as president, I will never hesitate to defend the safety of the American people,” Trump said.

Before leaving Mar-a-Lago and boarding Marine One for the church, Trump held an impromptu press conference inside of his Palm Beach club, addressing the Soleimani strike.

“Soleimani made the death of innocent people his sick passion, contributing to terrorist plots as far away as New Delhi and London,” Trump said. "We took action last night to stop a war. We did not take action to start a war.”

At his campaign event, the president’s mentions of Soleimani made up only a small part of his hour-plus remarks. He also touted his administration's work on religious freedom, discussed prayer in school, his impeachment and lashed out against 2020 Democratic rivals.

“I’m supporting President Trump because I believe he is the one who can support us and defend our freedoms,” said Bettina Rodriguez Aguilera, the former vice mayor of Doral, who attended the event.

“We back him up. The majority of the nation backs him up because we didn’t want to have a second Benghazi,” Louis Medina said in reference to Trump’s decision to strike Soleimani.