Washington – Several members of Congress in both parties on Saturday questioned the legality of President Donald Trump’s movement to launch military attacks on Iran.
While the Republican leaders and many base members resisted Trump’s decision to bombard Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facilities, at least two Republican legislators joined the Democrats throughout the spectrum of the party by suggesting that it was unconstitutional for him to bomb Iran without the approval of the Congress.
“While President Trump’s decision may be fair, it is difficult to conceive a logic that is constitutional,” said representative Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, who usually aligns with Trump, said in X. “I look forward to his comments tonight.”
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Representative Thomas Massie, R-Ky., Said in response to the publication of Trump’s social networks announcing strikes: “This is not constitutional.”
Massie introduced a bipartisan resolution this week that seeks to block the military action of the United States against Iran “unless he is explicitly authorized by a specific warfall or authorization for the use of the military force against Iran” approved by Congress.
In short comments from the White House on Saturday night, Trump defended the strikes, but did not mention the basis of his legal authority to launch them without Congress having given him that power.
Senator Bernie Sanders, I-VT., Reacted in real time during a speech in Tulsa, Oklahoma, criticizing Trump’s actions as “very unconstitutional.”
“The only entity that can lead to this country to war is the United States Congress. The President does not have the right,” Sanders told the crowd, which broke out in “No more war!” songs.
Some Democrats called him an accusable crime for the president to bomb Iran without the approval of Congress.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, DN.Y., said Trump’s measure is “absolutely and clearly reason for the accusation.”
“The disastrous decision of the president to bomb Iran without authorization is a serious violation of the Constitution and the War powers of Congress,” he said in X. “He risked impulsively to launch a war that can catch us for generations.”
The representative Sean Castten, D-Bill., Said on social networks: “It is not about the merits of the Iran’s nuclear program. No president has the authority to bombard another country that does not represent an imminent threat to the United States without the approval of Congress. This is an improvisable unequivocal offense.”
Castten called the president of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, Republican of La-La., “Grow a spine” and protect the war powers reserved for Congress.
Johnson said Trump respects the Constitution while sought to lay the foundations for defending his decision to act unilaterally.
“The president completely respects article I Power of Congress, and the necessary, limited and specific strike tonight follows the history and tradition of similar military actions under presidents of both parties,” he said in a statement.
Johnson’s comments, together with the support of Trump’s movement offered by the leader of the majority of the Senate, John Thune, RS.D., indicate that Trump can have sufficient political coverage to avoid the setback of the congress controlled by the Republicans.
The minority leader of the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, Dn.y., said Trump “could not seek the authorization of Congress for the use of military force and risks in the American entanglement in a potentially disastrous war in the Middle East.” But he stopped in labeling illegal or unconstitutional military action.
The minority of the house, the whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., Was more direct about the legal issue.
“The power to declare the war resides only with Congress. Donald Trump’s unilateral decision to attack Iran is not authorized and unconstitutional,” Clark said, Democrat number 2. “In doing so, the president has exposed our military and diplomatic personnel in the region at the risk of greater escalation.”
The leader of the Senate minority, Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., replied by supporting a resolution of Senator Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, to demand the approval of the congress for Trump to take military measures in Iran.
“No president should be allowed to march unilaterally to this nation to something as consistent as war with erratic threats and without strategy,” Schumer said in a statement. “We must enforce the law of war powers, and I am urging the leader Thune to put him on the floor of the Senate immediately. I am voting for her and implore all the senators on both sides of the corridor that votes for him.”
Appearing on Saturday night in MSNBC, representative Rost Khanna, Democrat of California, who was co -author of the resolution with Massie, wondered if the voters against the war who support Trump would support his movement.
“This is the first true crack at the Maga base,” he said, and pointed out that Trump’s rise in the 2016 primaries was helped for his movement to Slam President George W. Bush for the Iraq war.
