Trump's go-it-alone strategy on Iran risks dividing an already split Congress

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's decision to launch a military strike on Iran's nuclear sites without fully consulting the U.S. Congress layered a partisan approach onto a risky action, particularly because the White House briefed top Republican leaders beforehand without doing the same for Democrats.
While House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Republican leader John Thune and the GOP chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee were all 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' office received a 'courtesy call' 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.
One, Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said he learned of the strikes on social media, which he said 'is an uncomfortable thing for the ranking member of the Intelligence Committee.'
'Bad enough that we weren't informed,' Himes, of Connecticut, said Sunday on CNN, 'but unconstitutional that we didn't 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.'
It's a highly unusual situation that is complicating the difficult politics ahead for the president and his party as the U.S. enters an uncertain national security era with the surprise military attack on the nuclear facilities, an unprecedented incursion in Iran.
Trump faces a vote in Congress as soon as this week on a war powers resolution from Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., that would 'direct the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities against the Islamic Republic of Iran that have not been authorized by Congress.' Another resolution has been introduced by lawmakers from both parties in the U.S. House. And at least one Democrat, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, said Trump's actions are 'clearly grounds for impeachment.'
At the same time, the Trump administration is expecting Congress to send an additional $350 billion in national security funds as part of the president's 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.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Sunday that the White House made 'bipartisan courtesy calls' to congressional leadership. She said in a social media post that the White House spoke to Schumer 'before the strike' but that House leader Jeffries 'could not be reached until after, but he was briefed.'
While the president has authority as the commander in chief of the U.S. 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.
'Congress should be consulted,' Kaine said on CBS' 'Face the Nation.' 'We were not.'
As 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.
But 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.
Johnson, who praised Trump's action against Iran as 'the right call,' said the president's targeted strike was within his authority and in line with past presidential actions.
'Leaders 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,' Johnson, R-La., said on social media.
Trump himself has shown little patience for political dissent from within his party, even as criticism rolls in from among his most trusted backers.
The Iran military campaign threatens to splinter Trump's 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.
'I think I represent part of the coalition that elected Trump,' said Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., on CBS. 'We were tired of endless wars in the Middle East.'
Massie 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 U.S. campaigns abroad, particularly in the Middle East.
The Trump administration insisted Sunday the U.S. is not seeking a war with Iran. 'We're not at war with Iran. We're at war with Iran's nuclear program,' said Vice President JD Vance on NBC's 'Meet the Press.'
And Trump swiftly attacked Massie, who is one of the most steadfast non-interventionist GOP lawmakers in Congress — along with Sen. Rand Paul, also of Kentucky — and the president suggested he would turn his Republican Party against the congressman.
'MAGA should drop this pathetic LOSER, Tom Massie, like the plague!' the president said on social media. 'The good news is that we will have a wonderful American Patriot running against him in the Republican Primary, and I'll be out in Kentucky campaigning really hard.'
__
Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Winnipeg Free Press

34 minutes ago

• Winnipeg Free Press

Sometimes we're left with the power of words

Opinion I'm not a head of state. I'm not a general. I'm not a billionaire. I'm a writer. And in times like these, that is both a burden and a responsibility. The world is on fire — again. Israel and Iran are locked in a war that has already killed hundreds, including civilians, children, and hospital patients. Missiles have struck medical centers. Entire cities are bracing for what comes next. In Gaza, the death toll continues to rise, with over 55,000 Palestinians killed since 2023, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. And still, more than 50 Israeli hostages remain in captivity in Gaza — some confirmed alive, others feared dead — while their families wait in anguish for a world too distracted to remember. In Ukraine, Russia's illegal war of aggression grinds into its fourth year. Russia continues to bomb civilian infrastructure and resist ceasefire proposals. In recent weeks, Kyiv and Kharkiv have seen some of the deadliest strikes since the invasion began. Apartment blocks flattened. Hospitals hit. The United Nations reports that more than 16,000 Ukrainian civilians remain imprisoned inside Russia. At least 19,000 Ukrainian children, in age from four months to 17 years, have been forceably moved in a systematic campaign into Russia, fracturing their connection to Ukrainian language and heritage through 're-education, and even disconnecting children from their Ukrainian identities through adoption,' notes the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab. And still, the bombs fall. Meanwhile, in the United States, the Trump regime has launched what it proudly calls the 'largest mass deportation program in history.' ICE raids have escalated in Democratic-led cities. National Guard units have been deployed to suppress demonstrations. Daily arrest quotas have tripled. People are being detained en masse — not for crimes, but for where they were born. This is not a dystopian novel. This is the news. And yet, I worry we are becoming numb. That we are scrolling past suffering. That we are mistaking fatigue for neutrality. So I write. Because I believe, as James Baldwin said, 'Nothing can be changed until it is faced.' And I believe that facing it begins with naming it. Let's name it. Let's name the fact that the United Nations Human Rights Office has warned of a global collapse in accountability. That civilians are being deliberately targeted. That starvation is being used as a weapon. That executions are on the rise. That civic space is closing in country after country. That the world is not just in crisis — it is in retreat. And as the planet records its hottest year yet, the climate crisis continues to accelerate — fueling floods, fires, and famine — while the world's largest banks pour billions more into fossil fuels. Let's name the fact that economic injustice is not a side issue. It is the soil from which every cruelty grows. The richest one per cent now control almost half of global wealth. The poorest 50 per cent own just over one per cent. This isn't just inequality — it's economic apartheid. And when people lose faith in fairness, they lose faith in democracy. Let's name the fact that authoritarianism doesn't always arrive with tanks. Sometimes it comes wrapped in a flag. Or disguised as policy. Or piped through a social media algorithm. Sometimes it comes with a smile and a slogan. And let's name the fact that silence is not neutral. It's a decision. And it's one that history rarely forgives. Even here in Canada — my home, my hope — we are not immune. We remain a bastion of liberal democracy, of pluralism, of dignity. But we are also a country still reckoning with the legacy of residential schools, with inequality that cuts along racial and economic lines, with disinformation and political polarization. Our democracy is not unshakeable. It survives only because people believe in it. And act to protect it. I take comfort — and courage — from those who came before me. From Émile Zola, who risked everything to write J'Accuse! when France betrayed justice. From Anne Frank, who believed in goodness even as the world collapsed outside her hiding place. From Margaret Atwood, who reminds us that dystopias are not predictions — they are warnings. From Salman Rushdie, who nearly died for his words, and still refuses to stop writing. These writers didn't just describe the world. They challenged it. They didn't just bear witness. They bore consequence. And so must we. I don't pretend that writing alone can stop a war. But I do believe writing can stop forgetting. It can preserve the truth when propaganda poisons the air. It can remind us that history only moves forward when people pick up the pen — and use it. Anne Frank once wrote: 'How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.' She was fifteen. She was hiding. And she was right. So I write. Because I refuse to wait. Because I refuse to forget. Because I refuse to be silent. And if you're reading this, I hope you'll write too. Martin Zeilig is a writer and journalist based in Winnipeg.

Winnipeg Free Press

an hour ago

• Winnipeg Free Press

President Lee picks South Korea's first civilian defense chief in 64 years

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean President Lee Jae Myung nominated a five-term liberal lawmaker as defense minister Monday, breaking with a tradition of appointing retired military generals. The announcement came as several prominent former defense officials, including ex-Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun, face high-profile criminal trials over their roles in carrying out martial law last year under then-President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was indicted on rebellion charges and removed from office. Ahn Gyu-back, a lawmaker from Lee's Democratic Party, has served on the National Assembly's defense committee and chaired a legislative panel that investigated the circumstances surrounding Yoon's martial law decree. Yoon's authoritarian move involved deploying hundreds of heavily armed troops to the National Assembly and election commission offices in what prosecutors described as an illegal attempt to shut down the legislature and arrest political opponents and election officials. That sparked calls to strengthen civilian control over the military, and Lee promised during his election campaign to appoint a defense minister with a civilian background. Since a 1961 coup that brought military dictator Park Chung-hee to power, all of South Korea's defense ministers have come from the military — a trend that continued even after the country's democratization in the late 1980s. While Ahn will face a legislative hearing, the process is likely to be a formality, since the Democrats hold a comfortable majority in the National Assembly and legislative consent isn't required for Lee to appoint him. Among Cabinet appointments, Lee only needs legislative consent for prime minister, Seoul's nominal No. 2 job. 'As the first civilian Minister of National Defense in 64 years, he will be responsible for leading and overseeing the transformation of the military after its mobilization in martial law,' Kang Hoon-sik, Lee's chief of staff, said in a briefing. Ahn was among 11 ministers nominated by Lee on Monday, with longtime diplomat Cho Hyun selected as foreign minister and five-term lawmaker Chung Dong-young returning for another stint as unification minister — a position he held from 2004 to 2005 as Seoul's point man for relations with North Korea.

Global News

an hour ago

• Global News

Global News Weekend at 6 Calgary: June 22, 2025

Just two days after announcing a possible two-week timeframe to determine whether or not to get involved. U.S president Donald Trump undertook what's been called, operation midnight hammer. American bombers attacking Iranian nuclear facilities. Iranian Calgarians continue to watch in fear after their home country was bombed by the United States. The City of Calgary received more than 350 calls due to significant rainfall on Friday and Saturday.