House Dems fume at Trump admin's "bullsh*t" Iran briefing
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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth arrives at the U.S. Capitol to brief lawmakers on Iran on March 3. Photo: Heather Diehl/Getty Images
House Democrats left a Tuesday night briefing on Iran expressing even greater frustration towards the Trump administration than they had going in, with several lawmakers describing it as "bullsh*t."
Why it matters: Democrats are full steam ahead on forcing a vote this week on a resolution that would constrain Trump from unilaterally waging war with Iran.
- Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.), one of House Democrats' most vulnerable battleground-district members, said his thinking was "not at all" changed by the briefing and that he will be "supporting our resolution."
- 'They're coming in and bullsh*ting us just like ... they did with Venezuela," said Rep. Dave Min (D-Calif.), another swing-district Democrat.
- Even Rep. Jim Costa (D-Calif.), who is backing a softer, centrist alternative to the war powers resolution that Democratic leadership is pushing, said coming out of the briefing that he supports both measures.
State of play: Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Joint Chiefs chair Dan Caine briefed senators on Tuesday afternoon and House members later that evening.
- "It was one of the most productive briefings I've been a part of," Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) told reporters. "I think that they assuaged a lot of concerns."
- Republicans and Democrats alike pressed the briefers on the administration's plan to evacuate Americans stuck in the Middle East, according to multiple lawmakers.
- "A couple of Republicans asked that question. ... 'How are we going to get those people out, I'm getting calls from constituents,'" Rep. Gil Cisneros (D-Calif.) told Axios.
Yes, but: Other than that mild pushback, the briefing went pretty much as one would expect, lawmakers said, with Republicans largely praising the operation and Democrats feeling ignored and uninformed.
- "When the Republicans came up to ask questions, they just wanted to kiss Donald Trump's and Pete Hegseth's ass," said Min. "They stonewalled on Democratic questions and just said, 'No that's not true.'"
- One GOP question "seemed straight like it came from the Oval Office," Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) told Axios, adding that he would be "better [off] spending my time watching CNN" than hearing from the briefers.
- Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) called the briefing "thoroughly unconvincing."
The bottom line: Going into the briefing, Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) turned to Cohen and said, "Ready to consume some bullshit, Steve?"
- Coming out, he told Axios: "Yeah, there was some bullsh*t involved, some editorializing ... and a lot of, frankly, questions from Republicans that are just cheerleading speeches."
