WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump\u2019s decision to launch a military strike on Iran\u2019s nuclear sites without fully consulting the US Congress layered a partisan approach onto a risky action, particularly because the White House briefed top Republican leaders beforehand while leaving Democrats with little information.
\nWhile House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Republican leader John Thune and the GOP chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee all were briefed before the action, their counterparts were not. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer was given a perfunctory heads-up by the White House shortly before the strikes were made public. And House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries\u2019 office received a \u201ccourtesy call\u201d before Trump announced it. The so-called Gang of Eight congressional and intelligence leaders were not notified before the mission, according to two people familiar with the situation and granted anonymity to discuss it.
\nOne, Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said he learned of the strikes on social media, which he said \u201cis an uncomfortable thing for the ranking member of the Intelligence Committee.\u201d
\n\u201cBad enough that we weren\u2019t informed,\u201d Himes, of Connecticut, said Sunday on CNN, \u201cbut unconstitutional that we didn\u2019t have the opportunity to debate and speak, as the representatives of the people, on what is one of the more consequential foreign policy things that this country has done in a long time.\u201d
\nIt\u2019s a highly unusual situation that is complicating the difficult politics ahead for the president and his party as the US enters an uncertain national security era with the surprise military attack on the nuclear facilities, an unprecedented incursion in Iran.
\nTrump faces a vote in Congress as soon as this week on a war powers resolution from Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, that would \u201cdirect the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities against the Islamic Republic of Iran that have not been authorized by Congress.\u201d Another resolution has been introduced by lawmakers from both parties in the US House. And at least one Democrat, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, said Trump\u2019s actions are \u201cclearly grounds for impeachment.\u201d
\nAt the same time, the Trump administration is expecting Congress to send an additional $350 billion in national security funds as part of the president\u2019s big tax breaks bill also heading soon for a vote. Senators are set to be briefed Tuesday behind closed doors on the situation in Iran.
\nWhite House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Sunday that the White House made \u201cbipartisan courtesy calls\u201d to congressional leadership. She said in a social media post that the White House spoke to Schumer \u201cbefore the strike\u201d but that House leader Jeffries \u201ccould not be reached until after, but he was briefed.\u201d
\nWhile the president has authority as the commander in chief of the US armed forces to order specific military actions, any prolonged war-time footing would traditionally need authorization from Congress. The House and Senate authorized actions in Iraq, Afghanistan and beyond after the Sept. 11, 2001, attack.
\n\u201cCongress should be consulted,\u201d Kaine said on CBS\u2019 \u201cFace the Nation.\u201d \u201cWe were not.\u201d
\nAs soon as Trump announced the actions late Saturday, he won swift support from the GOP leadership in Congress. Johnson, Thune and the Senate Intelligence Committee chairman, Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, were all briefed ahead of time and sent almost simultaneous statements backing the military campaign, as did the House Intelligence Committee chairman, Rep. Rick Crawford, also of Arkansas.
\nBut by apparently engaging with only one side of the political aisle, Trump risks saddling his Republican Party with political ownership of the military action against Iran, which may or may not prove popular with Americans. Rather than rally the country to his side, Trump risks cleaving its already deep divisions over his second term agenda.
\nJohnson, who praised Trump\u2019s action against Iran as \u201cthe right call,\u201d said the president\u2019s targeted strike was within his authority and in line with past presidential actions.
\n\u201cLeaders in Congress were aware of the urgency of this situation and the Commander-in-Chief evaluated that the imminent danger outweighed the time it would take for Congress to act,\u201d Johnson, R-Louisiana, said on social media.
\nTrump himself has shown little patience for political dissent from within his party, even as criticism rolls in from among his most trusted backers.
\nThe Iran military campaign threatens to splinter Trump\u2019s Make America Great Again movement, which powered his return to the White House. Many Trump supporters aligned with his campaign promises not to involve the United States in overseas actions and instead to be a peace-making president.
\n\u201cI think I represent part of the coalition that elected Trump,\u201d said Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky, on CBS. \u201cWe were tired of endless wars in the Middle East.\u201d
\nMassie and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California have introduced their own war powers resolution in the House, a sign of how close the far left and far right have bonded over their opposition to US campaigns abroad, particularly in the Middle East.
\nThe Trump administration insisted Sunday the US is not seeking a war with Iran. \u201cWe\u2019re not at war with Iran. We\u2019re at war with Iran\u2019s nuclear program,\u201d said Vice President JD Vance on NBC\u2019s \u201cMeet the Press.\u201d
\nAnd Trump swiftly attacked Massie, who is one of the most steadfast non-interventionist GOP lawmakers in Congress \u2014 along with Sen. Rand Paul, also of Kentucky \u2014 and the president suggested he would turn his Republican Party against the congressman.
\n\u201cMAGA should drop this pathetic LOSER, Tom Massie, like the plague!\u201d the president said on social media. \u201cThe good news is that we will have a wonderful American Patriot running against him in the Republican Primary, and I\u2019ll be out in Kentucky campaigning really hard.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump\u2019s decision to launch a military strike on Iran\u2019s nuclear sites without fully consulting the US Congress layered a partisan approach onto a risky action, particularly because the White House briefed top Republican leaders beforehand while leaving Democrats with little information. While House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Republican leader John Thune and …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":82699,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82688"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82707,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82688\/revisions\/82707"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}