Trump's go-it-alone strategy on Iran risks dividing an already split
Congress
[June 23, 2025]
By LISA MASCARO
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 while
leaving Democrats with little information.
While 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' 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.
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Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., and the Republican
leadership depart a news conference after defending President Donald
Trump's handling of protests in Los Angeles by sending thousands of
National Guard troops and 700 active duty Marines to quell the
immigration protests, at the RNC near the Capitol in Washington,
Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
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.”
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Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this
report.
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