Rage and mistrust course through Congress on Iran
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This is Chuck Schumer. Photo: Allison Robbert/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Skepticism is raging in Democratic quarters that U.S. strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities were not as successful as President Trump described them.
Why it matters: On nearly all issues, foreign and domestic, there's a massive trust deficit between the White House and congressional Democrats.
- Add Iran's nuclear capabilities to that list.
- Those misgivings will have implications if the situation in Middle East deteriorates and Trump should ever need bipartisan support from Congress.
Driving the news: Reports in the New York Times and CNN that Trump and senior officials exaggerated the damage from the bunker-busting bombs spread across Congress this afternoon.
- The White House both criticized the reporting of a classified assessment and denied the reports' accuracy.
What they are saying: "If the press reporting about the impact of last weekend's strikes in Iran is true, and I cannot confirm them, then that might be the reason why the administration postponed our classified briefing today at the very last minute," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on the Senate floor.
- "I'm very concerned about [Trump] distorting, manipulating and even lying about intelligence," Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) told Axios on Tuesday. "We've been here before. We went to war in Iraq under false pretenses."
- "I think we might be less worried about that had we not seen an administration lie us into a war in Iraq in 2002," Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) told Axios.
- "He has completely stiff armed and stonewalled Congress, and he canceled a briefing that was supposed to take place today," Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) told Axios. "There's a lot of mistrust simply because he failed to inform us."
Zoom in: Senators and lawmakers are still waiting for their separate classified briefings on the strikes, which were originally scheduled for Tuesday.
- They were delayed until Thursday in Senate and Friday in the House, with expected briefings from Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, both of whom are attending the NATO summit in The Hague with Trump.
- Still, Democrats expressed outrage at the delay.
- "The real reason?" said Rep. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.)) "He claims he destroyed 'all nuclear facilities and capability;' his team knows they can't back up his bluster and BS."
Zoom out: In justifying the strikes, Trump cited his constitutional authority and his inherent presidential prerogatives.
- He briefed Republican lawmakers ahead of Israel's military action and before the U.S. strikes on Iran's three known nuclear facilities.
- But Democrats said they were either left in the dark about the Pentagon's weekend mission or received what they deemed to be a perfunctory notification.
- Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Tuesday he thinks the War Powers Act is "unconstitutional."
The bottom line: Kaine still expects a vote on the his war powers resolution this week, which will allow Democrats to formally register their dissent.
