{"id":39791,"date":"2020-01-08T22:45:57","date_gmt":"2020-01-08T22:45:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/01\/08\/dems-gop-divided-after-iran-briefing-from-trump-administration-officials\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:58:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:58:23","slug":"dems-gop-divided-after-iran-briefing-from-trump-administration-officials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2020\/01\/08\/dems-gop-divided-after-iran-briefing-from-trump-administration-officials\/","title":{"rendered":"Dems, GOP divided after Iran briefing from Trump administration officials"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2015 The U.S. and Iran stepped back<\/a> from the brink of war Wednesday, but some lawmakers were left with questions about the administration\u2019s strategy toward Iran and whether or not the U.S. is safer for having killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley and CIA Director Gina Haspel briefed the House and Senate behind closed doors Wednesday, lawmakers were, for the most part, split on partisan lines regarding their concerns about Iran and whether the president\u2019s actions were addressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWithout commenting on content, my reaction to this briefing was it was sophomoric and utterly unconvincing, and I believe more than ever that Congress needs to act to protect the Constitution\u2019s provisions about war and peace,\u201d said Virginia Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly, who serves on the House committees on Oversight and Reform as well as Foreign Affairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The successive briefings happened as President Donald Trump indicated<\/a> he would not respond militarily after no one was harmed Tuesday in Iran\u2019s missile strikes on two Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops<\/a>. Congressional Democrats have been mulling measures to check Trump\u2019s ability to wage war on Iran after he authorized a drone strike that killed Soleimani, the head of Iran\u2019s elite Quds Force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., reasserted Wednesday that the House would move forward with a war powers resolution to limit the president\u2019s military actions regarding Iran<\/a>. The resolution is led by Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., who is a former CIA analyst.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democrats have largely been arguing Congress must reassert its power under the Constitution to decide when war is declared. However, administration officials and many Republican lawmakers argue the president was legally empowered by the 2002 Authorization for Use of Military Force in Iran, and the president\u2019s powers as commander in chief under the Constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Democratic US Senator from New Jersey Cory Booker speaks to reporters as he arrives for a vote to overturn President Donald Trump’s veto of a resolution to end US participation in Yemen’s civil war, at the Capitol in Washington, DC, on May 2, 2019. (Photo by NICHOLAS KAMM \/ AFP) (Photo credit should read NICHOLAS KAMM\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At least two Republicans, Sens. Mike Lee of Utah and Rand Paul of Kentucky, said they were so put off by Wednesday\u2019s briefing and that they would support a resolution curbing Trump\u2019s ability to act against Iran<\/a>, offered by Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Richard Durbin, D-Ill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An animated Lee said it was \u201cinsulting and demeaning\u201d that the briefers asserted that congressional debate over the war powers resolution would embolden Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is not acceptable for officials within the executive branch of government \u2015 I don\u2019t care whether they\u2019re with the CIA or the Department of Defense or otherwise \u2015 to come in and tell us we can\u2019t debate the appropriateness of military intervention against Iran,\u201d Lee said. \u201cIt\u2019s un-American, it\u2019s unconstitutional and it\u2019s wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., argued that no new authorization is necessary, as U.S. troops in Iraq can defend themselves under the 2002 war authorization for Iraq. \u201cYou may need one to invade Iran, you may need one for an extended campaign in Iraq and Afghanistan, but you most certainly do not need one to prevent or counter attacks against Americans,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, killing Soleimani “was profoundly important for keeping our country safe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe had a long pattern of killing Americans \u2015 according to the Department of Defense, over 603 servicemen and women \u2015 and he took the life of an American contractor in the Middle East; he had directed an assault on the United States embassy [in Iraq]. We heard considerable testimony concerning an imminent threat to Americans that the administration acted to prevent by taking out Soleimani,\u201d Cruz said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 08: Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) speaks to the media after attending a briefing with administration officials about the situation with Iran, at the U.S. Capitol on January 8, 2020 in Washington, DC. Members of the House and the Senate were briefed by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, CIA Director Gina Haspel and Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire. In response to the U.S. killing of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, Iranian forces launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles against two military bases in Iraq early Wednesday local time. (Photo by Mark Wilson\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Democrats said the briefers presented a case that relied on the past actions of Iran and Soleimani, but they were less convincing when suggesting his recent actions amounted to an imminent threat. Some lawmakers said the briefers declined to share detailed intelligence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m not convinced, based on what I heard, that the measure taken matched the threat,\u201d said House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss. Thompson said he was disappointed the briefers gave no analysis of Trump\u2019s options ahead of the strike or their potential second- and third-order effects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis was a wholly unsatisfying briefing, where there was 75 minutes where I was presented with no evidence about this threshold, imminence, and that\u2019s very frustrating,\u201d said Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., who is currently running for president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the flip side, House Armed Services Committee ranking member Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, said: \u201cI am persuaded that we had strong intelligence that meant we had to take action.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While lawmakers generally agreed the U.S. and Iran are taking a pause in conventional fighting to recalibrate their respective approaches to the crisis, Thornberry and lawmakers of both parties said Iran could attack again through its regional proxies, like Hezbollah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere have been some hopeful signs from what the Iranians have said and done, but I think all of us are cautious that while direct missile attacks from Iran may subside, using proxies may continue or escalate in some ways,\u201d Thornberry said.<\/p>\n\n\n\t