Sen. Mark Warner says he saw 'no intelligence' of imminent threat from Iran

Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Sunday he had not seen any intelligence indicating that Iran intended to launch a preemptive strike before the U.S. and Israel launched a joint military operation against the country.

“I saw no intelligence that Iran was on the verge of launching any kind of preemptive strike against the United States of America,” Warner said in a Sunday morning appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

President Donald Trump said in a video posted to social media early Saturday morning that his objective in launching the attack was “to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime.” But his administration has yet to present any public evidence that a possible attack from Iran on U.S. assets or allies was impending.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Saturday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio briefed seven members of the Gang of Eight — a group including the top leaders of each chamber and the heads of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees which the administration is required to notify of most intelligence operations — before the attack.

Warner called on Trump to “come before Congress and the American people and ask for a declaration of war,” calling the attack on Iran “a war of choice.”

"There was no imminent threat to the United States,” he told host Dana Bash on CNN. “So the decision to put our service members in harm's way and bases around the region in harm's way was entirely based upon the president's decision, not an imminent threat to America.”

Speaking before Warner on “State of the Union,” Senate Intelligence Chair Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) defended the administration’s justification for the attacks, telling Bash that Trump was right to act before Tehran developed intercontinental missiles.

“What we know they have is thousands of missiles that can hit not just our bases right across the Persian Gulf, but bases as far flung as Western Europe and the Indian Ocean,” he said.

Briefings for several congressional meetings were scheduled for Sunday, and key congressional leaders are set to hear from administration officials as soon as Monday, with a briefing for the entire House also in the works. But Democrats are demanding the administration go further, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer asking members of the administration to testify publicly before congressional committees.

Both chambers are also planning to vote on war powers resolutions in the coming days, with a wide swath of Democrats swiftly announcing their intentions to vote against an authorization for the Trump administration.