Democrats Call For Congressional Vote On Trump's 'Illegal' War Against Iran

WASHINGTON ― Congressional Democrats questioned the legality and strategy behind President Donald Trump’s decision to launch surprise military strikes against Iran on Saturday night, with some lawmakers going so far as to call for his impeachment.

While Republican leaders and many rank-and-file GOP lawmakers stood by Trump’s bombing of Iran’s major nuclear enrichment facilities, Democrats condemned his actions and called for a vote under the War Powers Act, which limits military action without the consent of Congress.

“No president should be allowed to unilaterally march this nation into something as consequential as war with erratic threats and no strategy,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), a longtime Iran hawk, said in a statement. “Confronting Iran’s ruthless campaign of terror, nuclear ambitions, and regional aggression demands strength, resolve, and strategic clarity. The danger of wider, longer, and more devastating war has now dramatically increased.”

“We must enforce the War Powers Act and I’m urging Leader Thune to put it on the Senate floor immediately. I am voting for it and implore all Senators on both sides of the aisle to vote for it,” Schumer added, referring to Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), who praised Trump for the military action.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), the top Democrat in the House, accused Trump of misleading the nation and called for a briefing for members of Congress. The Trump administration briefed top Republicans before the Iran strikes, but not Democrats.

“President Trump misled the country about his intentions, failed to seek congressional authorization for the use of military force and risks American entanglement in a potentially disastrous war in the Middle East,” Jeffries said in a statement.

Prominent progressives reacted more sharply to U.S. involvement in another war in the Middle East, with some lawmakers calling for Trump’s ouster.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said Trump’s move is “absolutely and clearly grounds for impeachment.”

“The President’s disastrous decision to bomb Iran without authorization is a grave violation of the Constitution and Congressional War Powers,” she wrote in a post online. “He has impulsively risked launching a war that may ensnare us for generations.”

Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.) added: “This is not about the merits of Iran’s nuclear program. No president has the authority to bomb another country that does not pose an imminent threat to the US without the approval of Congress. This is an unambiguous impeachable offense.”

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), an Iraq War veteran, called the bombing “illegal and unjustified” and said it put U.S. troops at risk of retaliation by Iran.

Only one Democrat ― Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania ― openly praised Trump’s military strikes against Iran, calling it the “correct” decision.

“Iran is the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism and cannot have nuclear capabilities,” Fetterman, a vocal supporter of Israel, wrote in a post online. “I’m grateful for and salute the finest military in the world.”

Meanwhile, Republicans almost unanimously praised and defended Trump’s military strikes against Iran. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) claimed that Iran presented an “imminent danger” and that the U.S. could not afford to wait for a vote in Congress.

“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 wrote in a post online. “The President fully respects the Article I power of Congress, and tonight’s necessary, limited, and targeted strike follows the history and tradition of similar military actions under presidents of both parties.”

But a few House Republicans pushed back on that argument.

“Why didn’t you call us back from vacation to vote on military action if there was a serious threat to our country?” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) wrote in an online post replying to Johnson on Saturday.

“I introduced a War Powers Resolution on Tuesday, while Congress was on vacation. We would have had plenty of time to debate and vote on this,” he said.

“While President Trump’s decision may prove just, it’s hard to conceive a rationale that’s Constitutional,” added Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio).

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), a top Trump supporter, also suggested the president’s unilateral military strikes against Iran flew in the face of his campaign promises to keep the U.S. out of involvement abroad.

“Every time America is on the verge of greatness, we get involved in another foreign war,” she wrote. “There would not be bombs falling on the people of Israel if Netanyahu had not dropped bombs on the people of Iran first. Israel is a nuclear armed nation. This is not our fight.”

In a speech on Saturday, Trump defended the strikes as a means to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon but offered no legal rationale for their basis. He also warned that the U.S. could still attack other targets in Iran if its leaders don’t stand down.

“Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace,” he said at the White House. “If they do not, future attacks will be far greater and a lot easier.”

Vice President JD Vance also disputed the notion that the U.S. is at war with Iran despite launching unilateral military strikes against the country.

“We’re not at war with Iran, we’re at war with Iran’s nuclear program,” he said in an interview with ABC’s “This Week,” calling the bombing campaign “narrow and limited.”